Friday, April 27

Tail End of the Week: Get Your Friday Farm Fix #7

Welcome to the Friday Farm Fix, a new series on Farmgirl Fare where I share a random sampling of what's been happening around the farm during the past week. Just joining us? You'll find all the Friday Farm Fix posts here.

4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (1) - FarmgirlFare.com
Lokey and her 10 chicks (more chick pics here)

I've been under the weather this past week so I didn't think I'd have many photos for today's post, but I guess I was wrong; I found 21. Our three mama hens and their 14 chicks are still the main theme around here (probably because they're right up by the house), and Joe made the cutest little spur-of-the-moment feeder for Lokey and her 10 ravenous, rapidly growing babies using just an idea and some scraps of wood. That guy is hunky and handy.

Lots more photos below. . .










4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (11) - FarmgirlFare.comDaddy?

Henny Penny and her two chicks



4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (15) - FarmgirlFare.comCovering the six tomato plants that I (kind of foolishly) put in the ground on April 12th with buckets didn't keep them from being killed by April 23rd's hard frost, which was 8 days after our 'official' last frost date.

The lettuce, potatoes, and Dragon Langerie beans survived okay just being draped with sheets, and covering the sweet pepper and basil plants in the in the bed adjacent to the tomato plants with buckets and two layers of sheets did save them from all but minor frost damage, which surprised me. I didn't think covering the buckets would help. A good lesson learned!


4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (17) - FarmgirlFare.comLulabelle and her two chicks


4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (19) - FarmgirlFare.comMulti-tasking. I've been harvesting beautiful baby lettuce (and doing laundry) every day. I use these awesome Fiskars $10 Take-Apart Shears so much in the kitchen and garden I bought a second pair.

4-27-12 Friday Farm Fix #7 (20) - FarmgirlFare.comLove laundry line photos? Click here.


Have a great weekend!

Want a bigger farm fix?

© FarmgirlFare.com, home of the outdoor food photo shoot. Two favorite bread recipes coming soon!

22 comments:

  1. How cold did it get to kill your tomatoes under buckets? Our previous last frost free date was May 15 but has now been changed by the USDA to May 1. I've been pretty tempted to start some warm weather seeds and put in a couple tomatoes but so far have resisted. Recently we've had nights from 54 degrees
    all the way down to 32.
    Meredith

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    Replies
    1. Hi Meredith,
      I'm not sure what the temperature got down to, as the sun was already on the outdoor thermometer when I checked it, but I'm guessing below 32 - probably in the upper 20s. Tomato and basil plants really don't like it to get below 45 to 50°F.

      The thing about living 300 feet down in a little valley is that in the winter and early spring, if it's clear, we'll get nightly temperatures that are 10 to 15 degrees lower than the predicted 'low.' The night these tomato plants froze, many leaves on the trees down here all froze, but they didn't 'up top.'

      It definitely makes for a lot of guessing and 'better safe than sorry' decisions about whether to take the time to cover plants, etc.! :)

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  2. Love it all. Those chicks are so big already!

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  3. Gorgeous photos, so much green!

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  4. Great Pics,they seem very clear and bright today or maybe just the lovely Green everywhere, the last of Bert is perfect for the end. Hope you feel better,there is a flu going around ,we have it here in NY also.

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  5. Love all the pictures, the kitty on the fence, the irises, the baby lettuce, the bread photos outdoors, just everything! Hope you are feeling better this coming week!

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  6. Of all those awesome photos, I feel sort of *off* noticing the giant iris the most - but WOW - that's a gorgeous shot.

    I still want to huff those cute baby chicks though. Which I'll admit is a weird thing to want, but alas, I am a strange one.

    Happy Friday!

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  7. Ha! My dog loves to play with pop bottles too.

    Love your green, Things are starting to green up here where I am too. We are at 7,300ft so Spring comes a little later to us. It's so nice to see the growing things in your farm. Thanks!

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  8. Love, love, love your Friday pictures! I've gotten into the Saturday habit of getting a cup of coffee and checking out what you have posted for our Friday Farm Fix. Great way to start out the day - Thanks!!!

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  9. Great photos! That Bert is such a hoot! And love Bear too.

    The bread looks sooo delicious. What kind of bread is in the 6th photo? Whole wheat? rye?

    Whatever it is, it looks yummy.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Barb,
      I know - Bert just constantly cracks us up.

      That is our new favorite crusty bread. I call it Brown Sheep Ale Bread and it's a really easy recipe where you simply replace the water with beer. It adds so much flavor!

      Now that I'm working on my Post a New Recipe Every Week Plan, this bread recipe is near the top of the list (right after a couple of more seasonal favorites) - so I should hopefully be sharing it in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'd probably better keep re-testing - and re-tasting. ;)

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  10. I love the week in farm photos and especially the black kitty on the fence. We've been having unseasonably warm weather her in CO and even though my roses are blooming full on, I"m scare to plant my tomatoes yet, so I'll still wait until after mothers day.

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    Replies
    1. Hi FJ,
      Yeah, I probably should have waited on those tomato plants. Well, I guess since they froze to death, there's no probably about it, lol. We just had such a weird, hot March, that garden-wise, by the first of April it was starting to feel like we were heading right into June and it was time (or already too late) to plant stuff.

      Add to that the fact that for the past few years I hadn't gotten my tomato plants into the ground until June or (gasp) July, and I was just too antsy. ;) Then it (thankfully) cooled back down. I'm just glad I hadn't put out all 20 plants I'd bought in the ground yet - and that the pepper and basil plants miraculously survived.

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  11. Cynthia in Denver4/28/2012 12:52 PM

    How do you get your dogs to behave around chickens? We are looking for a good dog to be around our hens, but so far, they just LOVE to chase the chickens and now the hens are terrified of even my mom's little Shih Tzu, who is only interested in their poo and is afraid of the chickens themselves.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Cynthia,
      Ah, dogs and chickens - trying to get them to get along is not always easy! I've seen so many poor dogs who have been brought to the animal shelter because they've chased or killed chickens.

      Probably the easiest thing to do is raise a very young puppy up with chickens, so that he/she is used to being around them - and you can train the puppy right from the start to leave the chickens alone.

      Many people believe that once a dog kills a chicken they can't be trained not to, but I know from experience that isn't always the case. Shortly after we brought 6-month old beagle Bert home, he killed two young hens. The first time he broke out of what we thought was a very secure pen while we weren't home (actually, from looking at the damage to the pen, I'm pretty sure Bear literally helped break him out), and the second time, he took off while we were up in the woods, and ran so fast back to the farm that by the time we got back the chicken was already dead. When he first arrived here, Bert chased EVERYTHING.

      After he killed the second chicken, I whomped the heck out of him with the dead hen - which did not hurt him but did scare him. Then we worked really hard with verbal commands to teach him that he shouldn't chase chickens EVER.

      Once we were sure he knew that he wasn't supposed to chase them, we bought a remote control training shock/vibrating collar. There are all different kinds available. We ordered this inexpensive one, and it worked so well with Bert we only had to use it a short time, mostly on the vibrating setting. I think we only used the electric shock (which doesn't hurt the dog) two or three times.

      It's been over a year now, and I trust Bert 100% with the chickens - even when we're not home. I don't know what we would have done without the collar.

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    2. Update! That first dog training collar link in my comment above is no longer working. To see all kinds of dog training collars available, click here.

      And Bert is still doing great with the chickens. They LOVE him. :)

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  12. Hi,

    Hope you remember me..Sailu (http://sailusfood.com). Its been a while since I dropped by your space. How have you been doing? Just love your farm and the life you lead. Love the pictures. :)

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  13. Thanks for posting...I look forward to your photos and storytelling. Keeps a (former country and now city) girl grounded.

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  14. Hi Everybody,
    Thanks so much for all the nice comments. I really appreciate the feedback - and am thrilled that the Friday Farm Fix is a hit! :)

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December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

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