Mind-reading Chickens

After several months of receiving one egg a day from our seven hens, Mr. Man and I had a serious discussion about the cost of organic layer feed and a stock pot, and lo’ and behold the girls are suddenly laying.  Last week I was greeted with 3-4 eggs per day, and this morning there were five!  Even Letty, my White Leghorn who hasn’t laid in over a year is producing—I know when she is laying as she is the only chicken I have that lays white eggs.  I’m so happy they read my mind and are once again earning their keep.

We have had a tremendous pecan harvest this year.  Our one tree has produced so many pecans that we’ve had difficulty keeping up with them.  In all honesty we haven’t been all that interested in harvesting them in the past. We’ve had friends come over to harvest, and our old lawn guy always took home a couple bags, but for us they’ve always been more of a pain in our asses—some years the squirrels will pick them while they’re still green, take a couple bites and throw them down, making a huge mess of the patio.

The first few pecans to fall along with the last of the Shitake mushrooms and peppers from the garden

This year I started thinking about what a welcome source of additional protein pecans would have been during a hard winter to people before the days of supermarkets.  So, I started collecting them; first just filling up a bowl or two.  Then we had a good storm and the next morning the ground was literally covered in pecans.  I collected two big baskets, and between my brother and I, shelled them all, resulting in nine quart-sized bags.

After sharing some with family, I pulled out the food saver and threw the rest in the freezer.  The next storm had the same result, with big gusts of wind sending pecans down on our heads while we harvested.  Over Christmas, my daughter collected a big bag for her girl-friend’s father and I collected a big bag (about 5 pounds) for freezing.

It took me several days to shell them all, not that I mind; it’s a good excuse to watch a couple of episodes of “Friday Night Lights.”  Marley has taken to hunting out any that have cracked open upon hitting the patio—I usually leave these for the squirrels.  And, just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be any pecans left on the tree, this morning I walk outside to yet another small crop.

Off to shell pecans…

Making Room for Tomatoes

The front yard has begun its metamorphosis. Ligustrum and holly bushes have been removed and loropetalums transplanted; I love the purple color of this low maintenance shrub. I allow mine to grow freely as I find their natural growth pattern a better fit to the casual feel of my front garden, but it can pruned into a hedge for a more formal look.



Cypress, knockout roses, smoke tree & rosemary

The rosemary benefited from a much needed pruning, although it is hard to tell it’s still so big. The sky pencil holly—the only one of three to survive—has been moved to a pot on the steps and the knock-out roses have been transplanted to the side of the porch. I hated doing such a hard pruning as they were in beautiful bloom, but it’s necessary for a healthy comeback. They cypresses are gone as well and now all’s that’s left to do is amend the soil and plant tomatoes!



Transplanted knock-out roses

New space for tomatoes

Former location of Loropetalums

Truthfully, there are a couple of other things to move but only for aesthetics and balance, and that can wait until later this summer. We also planted lavender along the front walk and creeping time in the front beds.  If I’m successful in having a tree removed, there will be some hosta, ferns, and coral bells that will want to make their way to the back garden as well; making room for cucumber trellises.

Jamie and Michael fromt he co-op drove to Tennessee a couple weeks ago to a Mennonite farm to buy transplants and picked up a few heirloom variety tomato plants for me. I picked up a few more at Farmer D’s yesterday—Cherokee Purples and Brandy Wines—along with 10 bags for beautifully composted garden soil. All this rearranging gives me room for 10 tomato plants among the roses, herbs and flowers in the front yard. I can't wait.

The garden is a long way from where it was 13 years ago when we moved into this house…guess I’ll never really be done with it.

A Tiny Urban Farm in Downtown Atlanta

I’ve put in a couple days a week at the Wolfscratch/Blackwell farms since beginning March 5th. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, not that I mind.  Thus far I’ve helped build deer fencing, learned to move the electric moveable fences for the goats, mucked the goats’ stall, turned the field with a shovel, and planted fruits and vegetables, among other things. Everything I’m learning on the farm I apply to my own tiny urban homestead—when we fertilize the vegetables there, I fertilize here.  After pruning blueberry bushes there, I came home and applied the same techniques to my blueberries.

Goats at Wolfscratch Farm

Last week we dug up an overgrown strawberry patch at Blackwell Farm, and I was lucky to come home with several plants.  Mr. Man and I amended the soil and carefully mounded the dirt around our new transplants.  Hopefully, come June we will see results in the shape of sweet, red strawberries.  We grow mostly in our backyard, where unfortunately there is no one location that gets a whole day of full sun, but we plant anyway.  While we don’t get the yield we would were we lucky enough to have full sun, we do get a decent crop. The trick has been in learning what grows best in the area we have.  This year we’ve planted lettuces (always a safe bet), lots of herbs, a variety of peppers, and eggplant.  The onions, planted last fall, are doing well. And the border of lavendar has managed to not only survive in our clay soil, but is budding and soon we should be rewarded with beautiful purple flowers.

Expanded beds (additional 32 sq. ft.)

We have decided to dedicate more space in the front yard, which gets full sun between 10am and 5pm., to vegetables.  Originally thinking this would be unsightly, we will work to keep and incorporate our existing perennials and roses among the vegetables—creating a true cottage garden.  Foundation work and planning has to be done this year—removing some foundation shrubs and moving a few roses.  This means we’ll probably only put tomatoes out front for now, but next year we are hoping to include carrots, beets and whatever else we can squeese in. We’ll have to be patient for now.  Of course, this will be helped by the harvest I’ll be bringing home from Wolfscratch/Blackwell Farms.


Shrubs to be removed



The pride of the spring garden

I’m on the lookout for three hens to add to our little flock, which will bring us up to six (having lost Buffy during the winter). More on that later.