The Old Folks Home

Same here up on the north coast! So far it's starting out to be a good, wet one here in Humboldt. Grass is growing like mad after the long dry summer, the neighbors' steers are gobbling it up and growing fat & shiny. Creeks are running nicely, tree frogs singing, dandelions springing up everywhere (love them, and so do the chooks!), autumn colors in the woods, lots of wild mushrooms sprouting - I love this season, except for the waning daylight hours to get things done outside. Rainy days let me cozy up with a book and the dogs, guilt-free!
It is very pretty over there!

My Brother lived in Arcata while going to college and had trouble growing tomatoes outside-- He needed some grow lamps!
 
Yesterday I cleaned out the little run I have for the Hens. I moved quite a few buckets out. It did get to be tiring after awhile!

The hens are much happier now but I do need to get some more straw now.
My lump sum cleaning today was to clean the clumps out of the clinical dog kennel coop for a rooster that is getting much needed rest for one of his legs. He's getting a B complex with C every day and he can't get that or rest if out free ranging like he has been since coming out of the brooder. Rooster Cogburn Just got out of it and is enjoying free ranging again and follows whoever has the feed going from coop to coop. His replacement in the Clinic coop has been dubbed John Wayne. John Wayne is an easy going young man like one of his brothers Phil Silvers. Phil has got the hang of being under foot for anything that might get tossed his way or spilled. Now we have an additional underfoot kid that is a solid white pullet with what I think is going to be a rose comb. I have no breeds that could produce that and I didn't order any thing resembling that so with all the other odd things I'm beginning to believe that when my order's box was going down the line it just got filled with whatever they thought was close. I'm going back to look at the order and make sure I checked the do not substitute box.

I'm hoping that everyone's day is going along well and everyone driving is keeping the shiny side up.
 
My lump sum cleaning today was to clean the clumps out of the clinical dog kennel coop for a rooster that is getting much needed rest for one of his legs. He's getting a B complex with C every day and he can't get that or rest if out free ranging like he has been since coming out of the brooder. Rooster Cogburn Just got out of it and is enjoying free ranging again and follows whoever has the feed going from coop to coop. His replacement in the Clinic coop has been dubbed John Wayne. John Wayne is an easy going young man like one of his brothers Phil Silvers. Phil has got the hang of being under foot for anything that might get tossed his way or spilled. Now we have an additional underfoot kid that is a solid white pullet with what I think is going to be a rose comb. I have no breeds that could produce that and I didn't order any thing resembling that so with all the other odd things I'm beginning to believe that when my order's box was going down the line it just got filled with whatever they thought was close. I'm going back to look at the order and make sure I checked the do not substitute box.

I'm hoping that everyone's day is going along well and everyone driving is keeping the shiny side up.
Rose combs are tricky!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-the-rose-comb-trait.65576/
 
Which kid is you?
Good question. Considering the relative ages, the girl tugging on Mom's skirt would be my little sister (one of them) and there are 5 more siblings out there somewhere. The baby is a girl. I'm too old to be the older girl if the boy is my brother.

I'm probably hiding in a closet reading on the sly. Since my parents used grounding from books as a deterrent, I usually had books stashed inevery conceivable spot.
 
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My Brother lived in Arcata while going to college and had trouble growing tomatoes outside-- He needed some grow lamps!
We discovered this area when our eldest came up to Arcata to attend Humboldt State (2008). It's the next town south of where we live now.

Most people around here use grow lamps for "another" kind of crop... 😁 😉 The Emerald Triangle and all that. The horticultural supply stores are pretty obviously geared toward cannabis producers vs. edible or floral growers. Regular garden centers take care of the rest of us quite well!

I can only get a decent crop of tomatoes to ripen in my greenhouse; our summer nights are too cool for fruit to set & ripen well, except for a few northern-adapted varieties. Summer highs generally in the 60s, nighttime lows in 50s to 40s and damp (fungus issues). People joke that coastal Humboldters will burst into flame if it gets over 75 degrees...🤒🤭
 
I need to plant a tomato patch this coming season so we can put up a stockpile of tomato products. Sauce and diced tomatoes especially. New jars are in stock on sight. Before I start I have to be smart and ask local friends what varieties do best here. The few I planted this year did not thrive. I've been saving 50lb paper feed bags for mulch to control weeds and help with water retention. I think a 100 plants to make sure if production is low we still get what we need to fill jars. Leftovers can be fed to the chickens for their treats. Those big hornworms grow really well here we found out.
 
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We discovered this area when our eldest came up to Arcata to attend Humboldt State (2008). It's the next town south of where we live now.

Most people around here use grow lamps for "another" kind of crop... 😁 😉 The Emerald Triangle and all that. The horticultural supply stores are pretty obviously geared toward cannabis producers vs. edible or floral growers. Regular garden centers take care of the rest of us quite well!

I can only get a decent crop of tomatoes to ripen in my greenhouse; our summer nights are too cool for fruit to set & ripen well, except for a few northern-adapted varieties. Summer highs generally in the 60s, nighttime lows in 50s to 40s and damp (fungus issues). People joke that coastal Humboldters will burst into flame if it gets over 75 degrees...🤒🤭
When we lived up North, we would go to there to escape the heat. We went to the Ferndale car show quite a bit back then.
 

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