Progress

We finally have all three garden beds done! Are they filled with soil? - No. But, they are finished. With the heat wave in LA we weren't able to do as much as we anticipated this past weekend. In fact, I think we may have contracted heat stroke just from moving the one raised bed frame from the back patio to where it rests now.

The good news about the heat wave is that our pumpkins and watermelons are going crazy! I planted two different types of pumpkins this year - white and some kind of French heirloom variety. I got a late start on them, but I'm hoping if the warm weather continues we'll have normal-sized pumpkins in time for Halloween. My husband has been trimming the pumpkin plants, which is supposed to allow for more nutrients for the existing pumpkins, so hopefully this strategy will work out and we won't have to display mini-pumpkins on our front step.

I've also let the hens out of prison now that the plants are out of their delicate seedling phase. You can see Wanda lounging behind the not-so-effective chicken wire fence at the top left. They are very happy to be roaming free again, and we've been getting two eggs a day, which is fantastic. Check out the three beds and one of our pumpkins, below:

Hilarious Craigslist Ad for Chicken

I saw this on another board and had to post it. So funny!

House Chicken...thinks she is a cat. (Everett)

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Date: 2010-09-14, 9:34PM PDT
Reply to: sale-qekqa-1954715309@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

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This is difficult to do, but I have to rehome my beloved house chicken Milkshake.
She is about 9 months old and a white silkie bantam (if you are not familiar with what that means she is not the right bird for you).

Adopter must-haves:
1. Experience with chickens & cats: My partner and I adopted her and raised her by hand thinking that once the cute chickie look wore off she would just go out in the coop with the rest of the girls, but, alas, she thinks she is a cat. She refuses to go in the coop and will meow/squak at the back door when she wants to comes in.

2. Time and deaf or distant neighbors: Sometimes I have to go outside and grab her after dusk because patheticly she has little chicken skills and doesn't realize that chickens should not hang out outside in the dark. She thinks since the cats do it she should be able to as well. She does not really care to be in her cage, but rather wants to roam around the house. She will let you know this loudly in the morning, at night, and when you have company or get on the phone.

3. Hard wood or easy to clean floors: During the day she likes to come and go as she pleases, sometimes 'dust-bathing' on the carpet. She likes to hang out in the kitchen when you're cooking in case you drop anything and makes a better vacume than a chicken. We tried the whole I'm-an-urban-chicken-farmer-retard technique of making her wear a diaper, but she gets very angry and tempermental and would much rather shit everywhere as she pleases. Free useless diaper included.

4. Patience: She may like you, or may not on some days. She was incredibly prone to my (ex) partner and loved to cuddle on the couch and shit. She is nice to me when I feed her, but will bite my ankles if she doesn't get what she wants.

5. Thick socks

6. Room for a big ugly bird cage - big ugly bird cage included. I fill it with hay. There is no need to have a laying box because she doesn't get why there's a box taking up room in her cage. She would rather just pop out mini-eggs as she pleases, and wherever she pleases.

7. Must like Easter Egg hunts.

8. Must have a blowdryer: Because of her lack of chicken skills, she is not great at the dustbathing idea. She likes a warm bath followed by a complete low setting blow dry.

9. Lastly, must be willing to provide a forever indoor & outdoor home: she would make a horrible dinner - don't even think about it.

I have tried to incorporate her into the hen house but she doesn't give a damn about other chickens and refuses to cooperate. She likes shag carpet, raspberries, clean laundry (to poop on), dirty kitchen floors, and talking. If this sounds like a pet you want for some reason, maybe you're a stay at home dad with too much time on your hands, or a mom whose kids left the roost, or a cat-loving old lady that's allergic to cats, or maybe a geeky hipster that wants to be 'original' and 'hip' with a pet house chicken - whatever, just keep her forever and don't eat her. For consideration, send an email stating why you would be the best candidate to adopt my dear Milkshake. As stated she comes with a big ugly cage, a waterer, food dish, and some food crumbles. I can also provide some thick sock, but if you can't afford socks, you really shouldn't be getting a pet house chicken.

• Location: Everett
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Hot Chicks

My friends just got some baby chicks and placed a webcam above their temporary digs to document them. So fun!

Check out this link: Hot Chicks

Fancy Chickens

I originally saw this beautiful home, located in Santa Barbara, California, in my print edition of House Beautiful magazine, but saw the link on my Facebook page this morning and thought it would be worth posting. It looks like chicken-keeping is really taking off! (As an aside - I so wish my backyard looked like the photo at right from this home!) This exchange from the article was particularly giggle-inducing for me:

Interviewer Mimi Read: Hey, you've got interesting chickens! I hate to inform you, but raising fancy chickens is officially a hipster trend. Susan Orlean even wrote about it in The New Yorker

Home Owner Penelope Bianchi: I guess Martha Stewart started it. Mine are Mille Fleur bantam chickens. They're just so beautiful, with feathers on their feet! I had them sent to me in a taxi from San Diego.

I'm just picturing these squawking chickens in the back of taxi, rolling up the 101. I wonder what lucky employee got to make that trip with those birds?

Here's the link to the complete article and photo slideshow on the House Beautiful website:

A Mediterranean-Style Home with a Well-Worn Patina

The Bad Neighbors with The Bad Chickens

Thanks for the suggestions re: the deer netting and the discount soil. This project just seems very overwhelming at times, but I feel better knowing other people have had the same issues. We did get a second bed built last Saturday (photo left) but haven't had a chance to place it or buy the soil for it.

I know it will eventually get done, but it is frustrating looking out and seeing both my front and back yards in complete disarray. My neighbor asked my husband the other day - "Are you EVER going to plant anything in the front yard?" (Sigh, yes, but we either have to pay someone $$$$$ to do it for us or have the time and $$ to do it ourselves.)

I think I'm going to investigate using the deer netting over the chickens' area so they can't fly out. We first have to secure the bottom of the chicken wire so they can't dig or duck under. Railroad ties would be perfect for this, but I don't like the fact that they've been treated, so I'm on the lookout for something else at the moment. The chickens have been on lockdown since they escaped their pen and went on a seedling-eating rampage. (See photo of decimated seedling at right.) Grrr... I feel terrible they have to be confined, but hopefully we can finish the enclosure this weekend or next week. Their coop does have a small run, but I know they're happier with more room to roam.

Urban Farming Frustrations

AKA "Building Your Own Raised Beds"

This project seemed so simple at the beginning. We plotted out exactly where we wanted the beds, their sizes and wrote down the building materials. Then we want to the local hardware/building supply center on the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend. We thought we could buy all the materials and have the beds finished over the holiday weekend - ha ha ha ha ha ha....

First it took us forever to get someone to help us. Then we realized we couldn't fit the boards for the long sides of the beds into our car (16 feet long into a CRV - I don't think so!) so I arranged for delivery on Monday morning. I still had hopes we could build these suckers Monday afternoon. Well, Monday morning comes and I pull out from my car the small boards that did fit into my car, and noticed they are the wrong size. I wanted 2x6s, they gave my 2x4s. I had to call Anawalt, as they were going to deliver the wrong size long boards in the next few hours. I got the lumber issue sorted out and all the correctly sized lumber arrived that afternoon, along with a bout of the flu for my husband, resulting in instant building postponement as this is definitely a two person job.

So, last weekend we finally completed ONE bed! Yes, one. This one bed took 40 bags of organic potting soil ($$$$) so the resulting vegetables will officially be known as the "world's most expensive vegetables" - that is, when we get vegetables. We have so many other things to do that our slow progress and the overwhelming expense of this project is really annoying! We have to lay down wood to secure the bottom of the chicken wire fence (those little monsters keep escaping under the fence) and we haven't even begun to landscape the front yard. Arghhhhhhh!!!

Enjoy this slideshow detailing our pathetic journey in building one raised garden bed:

Line at the Ladies' Room

Looking out the back door the other day, I witnessed a line up at the door to the Eglu! It seemed all the ladies had to lay an egg at the same time. :) Maude was in the nesting box and Wanda and Lottie were waiting their turn outside. Eventually everyone got their time in the nesting box and we got three eggs that day.