I'm jealous. We really could use some rain and some cooling off. My tomato plants look good but I'm not getting tomatoes. I still have I guess the grasshoppers eating huge chunks from them when they are green. Next year the tomatoes are going in a different garden. I can't seem to grow anything but plants and no fruit where it is.
I finally took my camera out while ago. I don't know if I mentioned the hen that was sitting on duck eggs. Here she is with her two day old offspring. So far so good. I'm afraid she won't take it to the water though to clean his beak out.
As you can see, she is either in molt or ridden hard. She's pretty naked but getting new feathers in.
One thing I learned about 3 years ago when I was trying to grow tomatoes, and had the same problem - beautiful, healthy looking plants with no tomatoes on them - is that if the soil is too nitrogen-rich, that's exactly what will happen. I thought back to pre-planting and realized I had emptied out the chicken coop into that spot and tilled it into the soil, making it just too nitrogen-rich for the plants to set any fruit. Since then, I've kept one end of my garden for other forms of organic additions - leaves, straw, hay etc, and only put the chicken coop bedding down the other end. Now, where I'm trying to grow green leafy things like Kale, Collards etc, I have a nitrogen-rich environment, and at the other end, where I'm growing tomatoes and peppers, I apparently have the right amount of nitrogen as I have both peppers tomatoes coming out of my ears right now.
I love seeing mothers of one species raising babies of another. I wouldn't worry too much about the duckling getting to water. I've found with mine that the amount of water in a quart chicken waterer is enough for them - at least I've never had an issue with that being their only water source.
Milomac I'd love to build a garage and the chicken building all together. But my DH doesn't like the idea. I think it would solve a lot of problems. He wants me to put my birds out away from the house. I think probably the next county would make him happier!! I'd save a lot of money on plumbing and electric as well, but I can't do it if I don't have his help getting some of this stuff moved around. I'd gone out yesterday and measured and figured if I made a 40 foot wide building as opposed to a a 30 foot wide and kept the same length. I could have a very nice large garage included. I guess I have to keep the peace around here but it seems a little lame to me to have to build again later. Another advantage to having it all together would be less time outdoors and walking through weather conditions. Maybe some way in the future I'll get a nice garage.
When planning the building, you might think about planning it in dimensions that are multiples of 8 rather than 10 - it will end up cheaper and you'll have less waste. Most lumber and materials come in 8' lengths so if your length or width isn't divisible by 8, you'll have to stop and cut each board or sheet as you go.
Well, I got 8 pints of crushed tomatoes canned. I had skinned and cooked 7 ½ pints so for the last jar I just cut up some raw tomatoes, left the skin on and packed them in the jar to fill it. I figure it will be the experimental jar, where I can find out how much I dislike (or don't mind) having the skins on the tomatoes. If we don't mind it, I might be able to save that step next time. Cooking them always seems to cook so much juice out of them as well and, not wanting that to go to waste, DH and I are drinking tomato juice over ice, which is mighty refreshing, I must say. It is nothing like the commercial tomato juice which is always so thick its like drinking Ketchup.
