Bad Chickens, Cockchafers And Being A Domestic Queen.

      Oh where to begin!! Lets start with the bugs. Cockchafers- I had never heard of them before, but let me tell you what, they did a nice bit of damage to my potatoes. In grub form, they are huge. I mistook them at first for giant stag beetle larva, and was very concerned when I found so many- I could not imagine a swarm of giant stag beetles emerging from my garden. I researched a little more, and surprisingly, there are a number of beetles that start out in similar form- this form being huge grubs with large scary mouth parts. Because of the number of these little jerks, I decided I better dig up all of the potatoes immediately. I ended up with about 25lbs of good potatoes, and I had to toss around 5-10lbs because of the damage. Jerks.

damaged potato

 

    I also have bad chickens. They won't stay in my yard. My yard is huge- 2 and a half acres and most of it is lawn. One neighbor is fine with roaming chickens, but the other, come to find out, does not want to be "invaded" by my chickens. We put up a make-shift fence to block to main area they were accessing his yard- but they found out how to go around it. A better fence will come. Today though, I called them all into their run before I was going to leave for work, all of them except for the 2 barred rocks- Baby and Gerda. I ran like a fool all over my yard chasing and trying to shoo them into the pen. I finally got Baby in, and just as I was about to get Gerda in, all of the rest of them came back out!! I tried and tried, bribing them will all sorts of treats, but they knew my plan and they were not falling for it. They stayed out today. I hope they did not invade the neighbor....

Baby




   I truly enjoy baking, gardening and just doing things around my house, and I just had not had a chance to do any of it lately, but since this weekend I have been on a roll! I made bread and butter pickles, pickled beets, more english muffins, granola and I've got carrot and zucchini muffins in the oven as I type. I end my current job on friday, and I have myself a good 2 weeks before anything else starts up and I am seriously looking forward to my home time.




I always have my Granola with this Yogurt- so amazing! check out Kennebec Cheesery for more information.

this is the second year in a row that I did NOT plant Tomatoes, yet they continue to grow.

I guess I will have corn afterall, despite a very slow start.



destined to become pickles

Vacation Week

     It is Saturday, almost the end of my vacation week. I'm sure this week would not have flown by so quickly if I was at work!  I did some of the things I wanted to do- we made it to Cobscook, I cleaned the house ( a little) My mom visited.... I did NOT, however, finish weeding the garden, or replace the clothesline, or put away the camping gear....I won't bother to list the rest of the things I did not do, instead, I'll share more pictures!

It's really almost done now.

running of the chickens....

    

     The chickens have decided that they want to free range all the time, so we let them. So far, they have not found the garden...when that day comes I'm not sure what my plan will be!  When we wake up in the morning we can look from our bedroom window into their coop window and see them waiting. I call it the daily "running of the chickens" when Joe lets them out and they high tail it for the other side of the yard.

     Things are growing alright in the garden. I have been a little neglectful with the weeding, but it's been really hot! ( I know, excuses!) The cukes ( second planting) are growing great, and so are the beets as usual. The potatoes are doing well too except for the constant molesting they are receiving from numerous bugs ( thank god no potato beetles this year though!).  My corn, on the other hand, I worry about. It is very...short. I keep reassuring myself that even though I planted later, it should still mature at the same time that all those early planters get theirs, but it's just a little sad looking!

     I took the dog for a little hike at Jimmies pond this morning, it was humid and buggy, but still nice. We stopped at the small farmers market up the road, and then a lawn sale, where I made a huge score! 12 issues of Cooks Country for 2 dollars!