The Garell Stretch: Spring Finally Sprung

Spring has Sprung

We have been super busy out here stretching away. So busy that I have had no time or energy to update the blog. We were so excited to have Spring arrive, the sun and its warmth has brought us lots of joy on the homestead. Lots of building, clearing, growing, "chickening," and playing.

Chicken Fun

I am sure lots has happened this Spring, but nothing has distracted us more than our adventures in chickening. There have been some very sad times and some very happy times. No this is not a chicken blog...but I can see how people can devote entire blogs to sharing their chicken love.

Sad Time alert...our Easter was all but ruined when we lost our sweet Oreo to a predator. It was a bad day...or even a bad few weeks. Several of us had already been outside...including the Easter Bunny (hiding eggs) when our predator came at 6:50 with daylight approaching. It grabbed Oreo and pulled her through the coop. Monty was screaming and continued for several hours settling in to nearly a month of grief. I had no idea that chickens could feel emotional pain so deeply. I didn't expect the paranoia that would grow inside of us over the next few days. We had plenty of lights and night guards to deter night time attacks...but we made two mistakes.

Mistake Number 1. Our hardware cloth spacing was too wide. I know that Oreo regularly put her head out to collect bits of food. We spent part of our Easter rebuilding the coop.

Mistake Number 2. I had the coop outside of view of the house. I had started to prepare the garden for the upcoming crops and had moved the chicken tractor over that area for them to help prepare the plot.

The day didn't get better...who would think the day could get more challenging. We had a small service for Oreo with the kids (we included a couple of fish and one of our baby chicks in the service).

Our girl Oreo in her last days.

So what went wrong with the rest of our day? Monty continued to scream...a horrible sound that was clearing grief or PTSD. We were scared to let her live alone so we immediately called our chicken provider and he prepared a friend for her. The round trip drive is an hour and 45 minutes...but worth it to have a chicken from her old flock. So we reintroduced her to her old flock mate and things seemed to be going well...Daisy our dog was very happy about the new hen. Unfortunately, when we let them out together Monty attacked "Goldie" and blood was everywhere within seconds. We broke up the fight with a water hose. We always knew that Monty was difficult...we were never able to hold her...but we didn't see this coming.

Aside from our new problem it quickly occurred to us that we may never be able to introduce Monty to the new chicks that were still in the brooder. If she reacted with such aggression towards them they would be dead for sure. Our solution was to send Monty to the big farm and get one of Goldie's sisters to come live with us. They spent the night in the coop together...we kept Goldie in the dog crate for her own protection. The next day I made the trek one more time to pick up "India". They were happy to see each other upon my return...but Monty was still very upset.

Monty continued to scream back at her old farm. She fought her way through the flock and was eventually separated. When they locked up the coop that night they assumed she had settled down and was in there somewhere (they have a large flock) as you can see she chose to sleep alone.

She slept alone in their garage for awhile before she acclimated.

Our new girls...Goldie and India.

...And growing our flock with Ginger, Rosie, and Princess Bum Bum (and the baby that never got a name).

Really hard to get photos of the babies in the brooder...sorry about the red light. We made a brooder in our spare shower...worked great. We kept them there a little longer than I would have liked since we were traveling and didn't have a transition coop.

This is Princess Bum Bum, she always had tummy problems and her vent. She had pasty butt for about five weeks...no amount of water or probiotics would solve the problem. She received daily baths and had lots of love. The baths finally stopped when we started putting coconut oil on her bottom. But something still wasn't right. We noticed she was growing at a different rate then the others...she seemed taller, more dominant and louder. It wasn't long before her comb and feet gave away her maleness. Yes, we had to change her name to Prince Bum Bum.

Here is our little man ready for his new farm, we found a nice family
that was looking for a young rooster for their hens.

A few photos of the babies first days in the sunshine while momma hens watch over them.

Ginger and Rosie's first day free ranging and helping in the garden.

This is Rosie...she was our sweetest. Her sweetness got her killed, the day that the predator took her I was holding her and telling her that she was not brave enough to be a chicken and that she needs to stand up for herself. Two hours later the predator chased our girls down the hill towards the lake...while the others ran for fear of their lives she did not. It was daytime and people were active around the neighborhood. We ended up keeping the three remaining girls locked up for a good month...we still see our predator but are hopeful that our girls will survive it. It feels very wrong to keep them locked up all the time.

Our girl Ginger...still with us today and laying strong.

Just now a dark bird flew past the window...I went to check to see if it was a predator bird...nope it was our Leghorn, Ginger. We call her Ginger for short...fast little gingerbread man is who she makes us think of...or even a roadrunner and on a challenging day we call her the "bad baby." Nearly impossible to catch...she escaped when she was a four weeks old and it was still quite chilly out at night. I was secure in that nothing would catch her and have her for dinner but I was certain the cold air would get the better of her. Leghorns are a Spanish breed...very tall and lean and super heat resistant. We will see what Winter brings her.

Signs of Wildlife

Another one of our favorite pastimes is watching for visiting birds. We had lots of woodpeckers and Blue Jays visit this year, several different kinds and sometimes all at once.

We also seem to be running a bird hospital. We had several visitors this Spring that needed some help. Some made it, some are buried in our little pet cemetery.

This little guy flew into our picture window, we kept him warm and safe until he was ready to take off on his own.

This mama turkey was guiding her brood across the road but had one that tired out half way across. She left it, we couldn't leave it in the road to get squished. So we brought the sweet chirping thing home...it was very weak and died by evening. We were very sad.

Here is the baby abandoned in the road.

Here it is enjoying its last meal.

Mother Nature is amazing...we are in awe of the many signs that cycle us through the year...but even more amazing are the differences. This year we have had an abundance of deer, flies, and June bugs...while last year we had an abundance of spiders, hummingbirds and snakes.

The deer came early this year and stayed around...leaving droppings and ruins of hostas. They must have thought we planted them just for them.

These are two separate pellets with feather remains...we have had several pairs of mating hawks nesting nearby and obviously stopping by our yard looking for snacks...and leaving their old snack leftovers. Lots of baby geese down by the lake...we suspect this is what is left of them.

So many little visitors...

...we have a turtle that comes up from the lake regularly.

...lots of crayfish, this one was extra friendly.

...more passing deer.

...lots of large caterpillars, many varieties.

...a jar of little tiny snails that we pulled out of the worm bin.

...what appears to be freshwater bryozoan around the dock.

...a footprint from our predator (photo taken Easter morning after the attack).

...and the cutest of them all, a little newt.

Our worm bin that was full of snails.

And the Other Signs of Spring

We planted Creeping Jenny last fall...here it is back for its first year of growth.

This was our Thanksgiving mum...I am surprised it came back at all.

One of our sweetest smelling bushes...unknown ID. Open to your thoughts...was thinking it was Bradford Pear...but it smells great.

Hostas

Dead Nettle...nice sweet treat before it gets too warm.

Tulip Magnolia

Another unknown...but has beautiful flowers.

Our succulents survived the Winter under their leaf blanket.

Persian Speedwell (I think)

Good Ol' Daffodils

Always excited to see forsythia, it means that the ground is above 40 degrees and we can start planting snow peas.

Gardening

Speaking of snow peas...how did our Spring garden grow? It was bumpy...our Winter garden was more productive.

Our strawberries "berrily" made it...we actually ended up getting all new plants from a family member.

Our lavender came back strong.

Hard to tell, but this is our first planting of asparagus. It will be about three years before we get to eat it though.

Our low tunnel after I took the cover off...we had lots of kale and lettuce over the last season...hopefully it will keep up the good work.

We planted several kinds of beans...they produced through the season and beyond. We had to put forks in the ground to keep the chickens from digging them up all the time.

The year of the squash killers...we had such a great crop of squash plants. But lack of bees and an abundance of vine borers, squash bugs, and cutworms took our entire crop in one way or another. Now that the ground could have eggs in it I have to skip squash next year and do some kind of ground treatment. I wonder if the chickens will take care of this problem.

Another garden fail...our tomatoes of heirloom variety stunted early...not quite sure why. We only got a couple of good tomatoes. Last year the tomatoes grew fantastic in this location.

One of our top vegetable choices in our kitchen struggled as well. Our cucumbers started strong had lots of flowers...then poof the fruit stunted and never turned green. Eventually cucumber beetles cleaned up the mess.

Potatoes came back on their own...looking forward to digging around and seeing what we have underground.

Again, more nightshades stunted. Only enough to toss to the chickens.

We planted blueberries as well...hopefully we will have many years of tastiness from them.

Finally got all the "Back to Eden" layers set in the garden. This means less watering and less weeding. Over time it will build good soil and hopefully a more productive yield.

Surviving...Mother Nature is Amazing

My husband started the great unraveling of the honeysuckle. The forest that created a great barrier between us and the road was over run with honeysuckle...it is like Christmas every weekend when he uncovers new gems.

This beauty finally got some attention.

This is before the honeysuckle removal...looks like we will have lots of azaleas to tend to after a couple of growing seasons.

Several rhododendron anxious to show off their beauty.

Mother Nature is amazing...she always finds a way to awe us and take the earth back and survive despite it all. Our littlest daughter was very excited to see Santa and his sleigh in the clouds.

A little flooding one afternoon...fun to see where water settles.

Lots of fungus among us...I hope to do a mushroom study one day. We have so many varieties out here.

This is our pear tree surviving the honeysuckle...do you see the tiny little pear?

We found this pea plant and some wheat growing in the woods...the chickens must have left some scraps.

Friends, Family and Fun Times

Lots of room for entertaining.

Family enjoying the warm sun.

Love that we can do our homeschooling out in the sunshine.

We found this little Buddha in the garden...it keeps an eye on things.

She Shedding

What is "she shedding"? That is what we call it when our oldest daughter decides she wants a music studio in the back yard and wants to build it herself. We agreed that it would be good for her to leave home one day with some basic building skills. Lots of friends and family have all pitched in to help.