Dogs

We definitely need to build a fence to keep the dogs out of the plots. I planted a bunch of lettuces in the shady area of the garden the other day and the dogs have since tromped through the plots. Luckily it was just seed, so it's probably only scattered. Hopefully we can get something up this week to keep them out. I have so much more I want to do out there, but I don't want all of my work undone by dogs. Plus keeping the dogs out of the garden space is good because that's where the chickens will be when they move into their coup. I think those dogs would really try to eat them.

Went to farmers market yesterday and picked up some strawberries, cherries, lemon cucumbers, some local honey and some fresh eggs. I've never seen eggs at the market before. Eggs laid only two days before! Came home and made egg sandwiches. Yummo! It really does make a difference. I cannot wait for our chicks to start laying. It'll be some time still. They're very little. But the wait will be worth it. I hope we have enough to share.

Our corn is getting big and soon I'll be shaking pollen all over so the kernels with grow on the ears. I planted more corn in the back, but a different variety that is popcorn. I hope we have lots of movie nights once it's ready.

That's all for now. More to come this week as we put up the fence, finish the coop and move the chicks outside.

Holy Hail Storm!

I awoke to chaos. I could hear a noise that I can only describe as someone frying something, but amplified. I saw a flash through the window and it hit me.....storm! My adrenaline started to pump. Heart racing I woke Jerod, "Jerod, can you hear this??" He sat up with a purpose, not quite realizing what was going on and then it hit him.....storm!!!!!

We quickly made our way to the front door and out to the porch. I cannot possibly do the scene justice with words. It was amazing! Hail was pouring from the sky. The lightening was flashing over and over and the rumble of thunder was constant except when it boomed louder. The wind was blowing and the noise outside was deafening. I reached out to try and catch some hail. I couldn't catch any.

Jerod ran inside to grab the video camera and I took some video of the lightening and tried to get some shots of the hail on the ground, but it was really dark. The thunder was non stop. It just rolled and rolled and rolled except to take a break long enough to boom and then roll again. It sounded like a jet plane was constantly hovering over the house. The lightening was spectacular. It would light up the whole sky only to brighten it again a second later. The wind was howling, hail falling, lightening and thunder. It was a sight I've never seen before.

As it started to die we reluctantly came back in to try and settle back down for bed. Jerod opened the window in the bedroom so he could watch the sky while he slept. With out clothesline in the back (with clothes on it still) he said it was a sight he'd never seen before. It was like being out on a farm.

As stunning at it all was it did do some damage. The back garden that I just planted seemed to weather fine. But the side garden with more mature plants suffered some blows.

Our cucumbers didn't do well with the hail. They'll probably be ok with a little tlc.

Big holes in the leaves of the zucchini plants
Here's a pile of hail that was left after coming down the down spout during the storm.

I'm a planting fool

Yesterday I posted about the things I had planted, so today I took some pics of what's growing already and what I did yesterday and today. I have a couple pots out in the front yard that I simply dumped some random seeds into.

They had fallen out of their packages and ended up at the bottom of the bowl I was storing them in. What's growing out of the pots are cucumbers and watermelon. They are doing great! I am letting them just spill over the edges and do their thing. I'm already growing watermelon and cucumbers in

I planted basil along the back fence on either side of my herb box near my clothes line

Fennel and chamomile planted around the blackberry barrel.Australian Violets all along the fence

This is our newest plot....well half of it. The other half is in the shade and I plan to plant lettuce there. It gets very hot here in the summer, so it will grow well in the shadey spot. I made a quirky little path along the side and through it. It's not level and I plan to leave it that way. In this plot we have beans, peas, popcorn, red acre cabbage, brunswick cabbage, parsnips, carrots, beets, radishes and some more herbs such as oregano, thyme and chamomile

I had two extra strawberries from the small patch I planted in the side garden so I placed them in a container. They are doing better than the strawberries in the side garden.

I planted our blueberry bush in the half barrel beside Jade's little house. Depending on how it grows I plan to trellis it in an arch from the pot to the fence for a tunnel. I'm not sure it that will work, but it's worth a try. I also planted Australian violets in a container under her little window. She waters them every day.

This is the herb box I built for oregano and thyme

This is the plot from the picture above before I planted it.

Onion flower

Pepper

strawberry patch

zucchini

'maters, 'maters everywhere

Eggplant flower

heirloom tomato (brandywine)

A Little Garden Poem

Out to the garden go we
Out to the garden we three
Out to the garden to tend
The land to see what it lends

I'm addicted to gardening!

Today I put in everything I had left in my starter flats. I lost the paper that had the diagram of what I planted, so anything goes for the most part. I do know there are peas, beans, popcorn, cabbage (red and brunswick), beets, radishes and canteloupe. I planted the rest of my herbs that I started indoors as well.

The chickens are really getting big and their feathers are coming in.

That's all I have for today, just a short note to say what's happening. Everyday it's something new!

Peep Peep Peep

We brought home five baby chicks on Saturday May 23rd. Jerod began building the coop Saturday afternoon. The chicks won't be able to move in for a couple more weeks, but the coop is looking beautiful. Here are some pics of what's happening on the Lea Urban Farm. This post is very late because Jerod had most of the pictures of the coop being built on his camera and didn't get them to me for a while. Enjoy!

Anyone home??

Jager and our neighbor's son, Seth seeing the chicks for the first time

Our neighbor's other son, Shannon

This is either Rosa or Izzabella (yes, it's spelled wrong on purpose)

Twitchy, Bossy, Rolley Polley, Rosa and Izzabella

They actually look so different now than from this photo. They are getting their feathers already. I'll post those later.


Rosa
The beginning of the coop

Jerod used dowels to hinge the door
Getting ready to put the roof on

ready for the roof

How the door opens to the house

Beginning the roof

Other side

top of the roof

How the door opens with the roof on


door to the yard

Moved into it's permanent location

Just a bit more to do and it's done

Barefoot Gardening

I know this is a strange post, but I want to talk about gardening barefooted. I love it. My feet look like trash all spring and summer long, but there's just nothing like feeling the heat of the soil on my feet. I love the way the mud feel squishing between my toes when I water the garden. I have heard and read that walking barefooted is good for your balance physical as well as mental and spiritual. It's a direct connection with the earth that, as farmers, we are working so hard to keep healthy. Living in a semi urban area I can tell you the reactions I get from people about how dirty my feet always look. I love pedicures. They feel great, but they are honestly a waste of money for me because literally hours after getting one I'll be ankle deep in mud or something. Over the last several weeks we have made some great progress in our garden. Here's what's been happening around here...

Here are some of our seedlings ready to go in.....now I just need the beds for them

Starts for herbs. These will mostly go near our clothes line to help keep our clothes smelling wonderful while drying outside

Sunflowers that popped up in the garden from last years flowers. I moved them to the front yard to grow.

I had a bunch of seeds that had spilled out into a bowl. I couldn't tell some of them apart so I threw them into two of these containers and it looks like I've got cucumbers and watermelon so far.

Here is our thornless blackberry bush. It's supposed to yield a good crop the first year. We'll see.

Our clothes line. I haven't used my dryer in over a month.

I made this trellis for squash, but I'm not sure they'll need it. Luckily I can move it to another bed to use for peas if it doesn't prove useful here.
Zucchini flowers. They are so stunning.

CornJust put these strawberries in. I'm hoping it wasn't too late in the season. It gets really warm here.
I made my own upside down tomato. Honestly I'm not sure I like these yet. They haven't proved to be all I had expected. Time will tell
This is the view of our side garden. We started this garden for the first time last spring and this is the garden for this year. We are expanding into the back.
upside down tomato
We released ladybugs into the garden a little over a week ago. It's a fun thing to do with the kids. My best friends kids were there along with our neighbors kids and ours. What a fun night.
There are 1500 of them in these packets