Before I left for our family vacation I noticed that I had a barred rock chicken who was illin’. Because I was so focused on my garden eRATication efforts, I didn’t have the time to give my full attention to my sick chick, Batgirl. I thought she might be egg bound. And I actually gave …
Continue reading Sad day on my burgeoning homestead, but some hope, too
After I had committed to getting chickens, I had so many questions. How many chickens should we get? What kind of chickens? Where would I keep them? How do I get my little terrier not to pester or chase them? In the end I decided to get 8 chickens. We are a family of four …
I’ve been mostly writing about my garden because surprisingly this year I’ve gotten more food than almost ever before. Simply awesome! But I set up this blog with more of a mind to writing about my various making projects and my chickens. Because really since they were about five months old, the girls been giving …
At first it was just an odd three inch hole in our front lawn. We filled it up with rocks and wondered what would make such a hole. We have had critters get into our metal chicken feed bins if the lids weren’t secured. And we’ve spied raccoons, opossum and foxes in our garden over …
When we initially planted our four apple trees we had dreams of apple cobblers, apple pies and apples in our lunches, We planted four trees, two Gala and two Fuji, along the sides of the main stairs in our garden. After four years of nurturing and coddling I slowly came to the realization that we …
Continue reading Protecting Fruit Trees from Birds and Squirrels
My continuing passion to not just grow food but actually harvest it in my urban and tree-ful environment often poses all sorts of challenges. Early on I would spend so many hours planning, planting and raising my food crops only to lose all of it to squirrels or birds. All of it. Not some, or …
Continue reading How to protect your tomato harvest from marauding squirrels and birds
Each day I head outside I am trying to grow food for our family consumption. I am not growing it for the squirrels and birds (wild or kept). Over the years, I have tried a variety of techniques to keep some amount for our harvest. My attempts have been as varied as erecting scarecrows, to …
Continue reading How to protect your berries from marauding squirrels and birds
I’ve to wanted to grow my own food for ages. Well for a long while, anyway. Truth be told, in grammar school my motto was ‘yard work is the worst work’. Ok, now with that little confession out of the way, I want to be clear, I am obsessed with growing food. And not just …
Upping My Farm Girl 