What did you do in the garden today?

[Molpet]

We got a teeny drizzle last night too. I watered whats left out there - strawberries, greens, carrots & my venus fly trap.

I'm struggling with culling a couple old hens. One of them was laying very thin shelled eggs that were breaking, one day one ears and will break in her & it won't be good. I don't really want to feed them through the winter, I need more young chickens for eggs in the spring, but I've never culled anyone just because they were getting old.

It's not easy.
I culled a retired rooster and a jake this morning.
I should have done the rooster a couple years ago .

 

[jerryse]

Two whole kernels and a full half. From wild trees not cultivars. My method is to soak the cured nuts 24 hours before attempting to crack. The shell is a little more pliable resulting in a controlled crack not an explosion. This is more important than the type of nutcracker you use. Results in bigger pieces.

 

[cj2024]

It's not easy.
I culled a retired rooster and a jake this morning.
I should have done the rooster a couple years ago .

I regret culling a good-natured rooster with blue legs and keeping his fat brother with white legs as the main rooster. His fat brother turned out to be a biter and probably pulled on the Plymouth Rock side of the Cornish x/Breese cross whereas the good-natured roster pulled on the Breese side.

Out of the 5 hens I have left from this cross, I see one that has the body type of a large standard Cornish chicken. I am hoping to get some chicks from her and keep only the ones that pull on her body type. She motes differently from the rest by dropping most of her feathers and growing them back.

 

[cj2024]

Now, I am getting into sour dough pizza. I never made them before. I burned the first one and the second one stuck to the pan. The third one came out the best of the three, but still stuck to the pan. I will place the next one on a parchment paper and slide the pizza with the parchment paper directly on to my heated pizza stone with the oven temp at 480 for 10 minutes.

The cooked pizza slid right off the parchment paper and there is a nice tan color underneath. I used the back side of the pizza pan to carry and slide the raw pizza onto the pizza stone. In addition, the pan is now used as a serving plate instead of for cooking.

 

[Minanora]

I fell behind again. It's been super busy here. Getting ready for our first off roading camping trip this weekend. We had our first frost last night! We get our first rain sprinkle (less than a tenth of an inch) this weekend while we're gone.

I have a flock of slackers. I'm only getting one or two eggs a day. One of my girls I raised up this year is molting. Go figure!

Most of the seeds DS and I started are sprouted. It's going to be nice to have a full winter garden this year.

Caught another gopher yesterday!

 

[jerryse]

I have rain and not a dream. Slowly falling temps today and 30s tonight. Wild temp swings. The dry may be over. More rain coming Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

No rain here at all. It was cold enough for a jacket a few days but now Winds from the south have made it warm, in the 60s & 70s, but still drought conditions. I've watered some newly planted blueberries & the roses, fruit trees, etc. Not much time to do much else. Low energy too, that darn virus or flu really kicked my butt.

I have off work this coming weekend. Our annual Pigeon Club picnic is Saturday. I'm making deviled eggs, of course. Sunday I will be busy here, tend to shrubs & trees & rip out dead stuff in the garden, bring the Chickens & Guineas to help, they enjoy it & I enjoy time with them. Is there anything cuter than hens digging & scratching, dustbathing, or a Rooster finding a nice grub & calling to his ladies, or the flock running about to chase the hen with 1 measly cherry tomato? I get a kick out of their antics, love them so much.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

 

[Molpet]

I had rain too..

Well .05 is better than nothing I guess

 

[WthrLady]

We managed 1.63 inches of rain.
I just had to break up a doozy of a fight between the boys. It's mating season and whoever ends up on the bottom of the pile is the designated girl. UGH. One shop broom, a rope, and a bucket of cold water later and the spaced out offenders are in a time out in the locked pasture. I swear, I just want normal farm animals.