Arizona Chickens

[Mahonri]

Quote:
peas, beans, squash, watermelon are all seeds the rest are starts.

 

[5pinkarrows]

TT! :

I just found out that Moms get FREE amazon.com Prime accounts. That means free 2 day shipping! Hooray!

Plus, it qualifies you for 30% off diapers and wipes (you just have to subscribe so they can delivery them every few months, but you can cancel the subscription after the first one ships - you just click unsubscribe).

I just bought Earth's Best diapers for the same that I usually spent on the Target brand. Yay!

Why is it that any time I mention disposable diapers, I feel the need to point out that we used cloth ones for the first year and a half?

Mahonri -I'm super jealous of your garden! What did you plant?

5pinkarrows - awesome. I'll definitely hang onto the clothes until you are in or around Tucson

How did you find out about the free prime? And how do I sign up? That is sooooo cool!

I will probably be in Tucson on Monday afternoon. I have to stop in Green Valley and get a passport first. I got yelled at today by a Customs officer. I didn't tell him my husband works there, too. HAHA! My husband is a canine officer, but the guy yelling at me today probably would have known him. I was afraid he would be that mean to my husband. He was mad that my daughter (12) didn't have a school id, too. He said he needed that because birth certificates are easily forged and he got really angry when I said she didn't have one since she is homeschooled. Apparently, school id's are much more reliable than a birth certificate and harder to forge. Since we call our school Brister Academy, I think I will make her an id with her picture just for him.

Anyway, back to the Tucson visit. I have to go to Costco. I usually go to the one on Orange Grove. Is it possible to meet up with you some time that day?

Oh! And for those who were wanting to know how to help in Mexico, I had THREE people come up today and ask me for craft supplies. I brought some craft stuff for the kids. They went NUTS over fuse beads. Who knew? There were other options, but that was the hit of the day for sure. It was even better than sausage, which we call gringo chorizo when we serve it there.

 

[5pinkarrows]

Quote:
Yes, they go to public school. It is not like schools here, though. There is one girl in the neighborhood named Alma. She is 14 in such a sweetie. She LOVES school. When she first moved there, she couldn't wait for school to start. Sadly, when she got there, they didn't have enough chairs. Then, she ended up having to go home because she didn't have a pencil. They didn't own one. Because of her, we did a school supply drive down there in August. I actually had her get involved and make out the lists of needed supplies for each level and she helped to distribute them. I was blessed to be able to present Alma with a backpack full of supplies. She was so very thankful, and I can't tell you what a blessing that was for me to be a part of. I do take down pencils and crayons all year, though. I wish I were closer, too, but then I'd be further from Mexico and not able to go so often. I don't know how you are on space to store donations, but I will be in that area for sure in July for the homeschool convention. Do you go to that? I would love to come pick stuff up and meet your flock.

 

[NoSkiveez]

I haven't been to that yet. I haven't met too many other families that are homeschool families. We started home schooling after Christmas break last year, so its been only a full calendar year.

I will start collecting things as I come across them and save them for you.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Good morning Arizona. I've been wiped out, flat on my back, with a respiratory illness. I haven't been this ill in years. I think I'm turning around this morning though.

Just as a heads up, the average last frost date in Phoenix is Feb. 5 and in Tucson it is Feb. 28. That means its time to plant seeds inside for the summer garden if you haven't already done so!

I started started some seeds a couple days ago for transition type things, but I think I'll get to the main vegetables today: Tomatoes, egg plants, peppers. I think I'll wait a bit for the cucurbits and maybe even put most of them directly in the soil.

Does anyone out there know about or eat Purslane (Portulaca oleracea), also known as Verdolaga? I'm wondering if it's the same species of Purslane that grows here in the Southwest and even if not, is it edible?. I eradicated it from my yard and now I'm reading a lot about it and wondering if it might be great for the chickens--and us too. I planted some from Seeds of Change to try, but it'd be great if it grew wild in the quantities that I found when I first moved into this place.

I also wanted to rave about a local seed store called Native Seed Search (http://www.nativeseeds.org/). They collect seeds from the southwest that have been grown here for generations, sometimes thousands of years in order to preserve their unique traits and histories. The great thing is most of the plants are drought tolerant and adapted to our environment. For example, the tomatoes I've grown from there far outperform anything I could get at the local big box store. The yields from the wild tomatoes aren't that great but you will never forget the flavor. The wild birds ate a lot of them and now I have them growing in various parts of the yard and back alley.

Mahonri--good luck with the garden! I'm hoping you guys are done with frost for the year.

Bob's Henhouse and Chillmiller--Thanks for letting me live vicariously through your man toys. Chill, my property isn't even big enough to park all those vehicles!

To all of you organizing supplies to help the less fortunate:

O.K. here are my gratuitous garden pics for the day:

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I just found a great page on Purslane here in the SW: http://desertortoisebotanicals.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/verdolagas-purslane/ If you have personal experience with this plant, I'd still be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

 

[5pinkarrows]

Gallo--I'm so sorry to hear you have been so sick! I really think this is the worst year ever for illness. Get better soon! Your garden is beautiful! Do you live in the city? I want a garden so badly. I tried it 3 years in a row and I think I may have gotten about 3 green peppers and 2 cherry tomatoes all together. The cows did the most damage when they completely flattened my fence posts to the ground and ate everything, but the javelinas, birds, and my kids' dog are good at taking out the rest. Free range cattle are a nuisance. The javelinas are so bad here, too. They have a spot where they dug under my fence and pushed it up to make a hole for themselves to have free access to our garbage. They are always digging at our chicken coops and trying to get in after the feed. They kill my rose bushes every year by stripping off every leaf until the plant just can't sustain itself any longer. Some survive, but we lose one or two each year. There were about 20 of the stinky varmits in my yard the other night. No matter what you do to them, they only leave for a few minutes and come right back. I used to shoot them with bb's. After shooting one in the face from 3 feet away and it didn't do more than flinch, we moved onto snake shot. That is atleast comical because they squeal and jump when they get hit and run off, but they are right back within 15 minutes. Did I mention that they come in the middle of the night? My dogs go crazy barking and wanting at them, but I know that isn't safe. So I usually end up with about 2 hours of sleep on those nights...and they win. No garden for me.

 

[squeakyballs]

SpankSparrows - I'm off all day tomorrow, I'll PM you with my number and meet you!

Gallo - I hope you are feeling better. I am so jealous of your garden. My broccoli got to be 3" in diameter and then made yellow flowers.

My parents and crazy grandma are coming to visit in a month which means everything has to be spotless. My husband thinks I'm on meth. So far I've swept the ceiling (little cobwebs), dusted all the hard to dust things like light fixtures, washed lamp shades, washed the windows, sandpapered the calcium rings out of the toilets, scrubbed the floors with a scrubbrush... I'm trying to get all the big tasks done so it will just be the normal maintenance. Plus, my mom has to *know* that I'm a better house keeper than she is.

I know, I'm insane. But I'm better than she is. *eye twitches*

 

[squeakyballs]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mom/signup/info Here's the amazon.com mom site (it is really for anyone but has perks for parents, like 30% off diapers).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info Here it is for students

Both have free Amazon Prime

 

[mclevinson]

TT! :

SpankSparrows - I'm off all day tomorrow, I'll PM you with my number and meet you!

Gallo - I hope you are feeling better. I am so jealous of your garden. My broccoli got to be 3" in diameter and then made yellow flowers.

My parents and crazy grandma are coming to visit in a month which means everything has to be spotless. My husband thinks I'm on meth. So far I've swept the ceiling (little cobwebs), dusted all the hard to dust things like light fixtures, washed lamp shades, washed the windows, sandpapered the calcium rings out of the toilets, scrubbed the floors with a scrubbrush... I'm trying to get all the big tasks done so it will just be the normal maintenance. Plus, my mom has to *know* that I'm a better house keeper than she is.

I know, I'm insane. But I'm better than she is. *eye twitches*

No TT! She's coming to MY house! Grab your broom, quick! C'mon!​