Hooray! We got Chicks!!!

Also, I managed to get some seeds in the egg carton starters. This I think will be great because it still seems to be just a tad cold outside to be starting things. The stuff I planted hasn't done, well, anything. I thought this might happen so I only planted a few things and just a tiny bit of each--no big loss. Yesterday I started all my tomatoes (a little late, but still they have at least two months before they can go outside, so no biggie) all the pepper seeds I had left from last year--lemon drop chilies and sweet chocolates--and also some cippolini onion seeds, as well as fennel and frisee. I could have planted the onion seeds outside but I was thinking it wouldn't hurt to give them a few weeks head start inside where it's warmer since I really should have started them a few weeks ago. They'll go faster that way. Oh and! Romanesco. Yum.

So, back to the chicks. We got three chicks on advice I was given that if we want to have two chickens, get three chicks. I am hoping that all goes according to plan and we really end up with three living hens all the way to laying age. We have sort of been telling the neighbors we probably would have two chickens, but I think once they get over the actual physical presence of them, having one more really won't be a stretch. We got started on the coop later than I would have liked, but we made ok progress yesterday even with the large time-gap of actually going to get the chicks, so in the next six weeks I think we will be on schedule with the coop if we can get in a couple of distraction free days.

The chicks are three different breeds. A Barred Plymouth Rock, a Rhode Island Red and a Black Sex-Link. I wasn't able to find the breeds I wanted this week, so I guess I'll have to plan more carefully next time around. I was a little disappointed at first not finding what I wanted, but once I acutally had laid eyes on the chicks and had them in a box on my lap in the car it didn't matter any more. The first barred rock we got was too aggresive so we had to turn around just a minute out of the feed store because she was pecking the other chicks eyes pretty non-stop. I knew there would be a little bit of "pecking order' establishment, but that was little bit much. It was the first time that the chicks had been in a space with chicks that weren't their own breed, so they had some buddying up to work out, and they all seem to be fine now.

They all have distinct personalities already. One chick, the barred rock (or bard rock as Joe likes to say) actually sleeps on her feet wuite a bit, which is hilarious. The red has the most wing feathers of them all and is a total loudmouth, and the third--the sex-link--is pretty quiet and little bit more meek than the others.They are living in a big plastic tub with pine wood shavings on the bottom, and we have them on organic feed/scratch mix. It's so exciting!

Now I gotta go back and check on them. It's been awhile and I get a little anxious when it's too quiet.

On Sunday I managed to get some things into the ground. Onion sets, radishes, peas and lettuce. Also put in some beet and carrot seed though it might be a hair early for those last two. We shall see. It was nice to be out in the blustery weather--I took advantage of the few minutes of sunlight that we were blessed with in the afternoon even though it was super windy and I got hailed on at least once. I love spring in the PNW because it is slightly unpredictable in an unusual sort of way. It is highly variable--as in 2" snowchunks falling Sunday morning, then almost 50 degree weather with 25 MPH winds in the afternoon and maybe some hail but definitely some rain. Even with this variance you at least know it will be unpredictable--you learn to always wear your raincoat because you just never know, do you? It can never make up its mind which I like. It does get tiresome though, when watering said seeds becomes an unpredictable schedule.

In addition to that, we spend a weekend on the coast checking out wedding stuff. We reserved rental chairs and dishes, which is great cause we can take that stuff back dirty and it's all reused and reusable. Also we reserved a picnic/kithcen shelter in a small state park with beach access for the actual ceremony/reception part. There are a lot of reasons this is good, the most awesome being that is a built in rain plan and there is a tavern up the street. Probably the only tavern for miles on the coast, which is awesome. We can't wait. Something funny has started happening--people will ask how wedding planning is coming and I say something like "oh you know, slowly but surely" and they almost invariably say "well, you still have lots of time" which is true, I technically do have almost six months still, but it goes by so fast, and a week can go by without doing a thing. On the other hand, which is that part that makes this sound really funny to me is this phenomenon: people will ask Joe if he is getting nervous because "the wedding is less than six months away and boy is that soon! " Like when you are the chick, the wedding can't come soon enough, but on the opposite side obviously the longer you wait the better. I think that is a total stereotype. I also think that I probably can do nothing to change it, so oh well.

So today I dug up a bunch of herbs. Last summer I established a couple different varieties of mint and a lemon balm. I also planted some kind of oregano and a rosemary and a purple sage. I dug the sage and the rosemary and about 1/3 of each of the lemon balm and each of the mints. I also dug up the parsley that may or may not come back. It was great all fall and winter and then started to flower and go to seed so I hacked it all off. It should come back but if not I've got a back up. A few weeks ago at the Tilth plant sale I bought a chive and a new cilantro and a lemon thyme and some other stuff I can't remember and so I will have a pretty rounded out herb garden once I get everything in the ground at the new house. I can't wait!!! I also bought some strawberries that I think I will just put in a pot for this summer (maybe I can get my hands on a half whiskey barrel) and then see what happens. I bought two varieties to see which one works best for the new house's growing conditions.
I also dug up some daylilies I found growing along the fence that separates our current house from the neighbor's yard. They were kinda growing right along the fence, some on either side, so I just dug up a bunch. They were growing underneath a bunch of overgrown bushes and I didn't even know they were there (they never bloomed) so I don't feel bad taking them. I wanted to bring them out into the light of day so we will see if the gardening karma gods look kindly on my plan. I also dug up some of the many many grape hyacinth bulbs and some of the tulips I had planted but none of the daffodils because they were freebies to begin with.

I also got a p-patch! Finally! So I have to start on that tomorrow. It is 200 sq. feet (10x20) of buttercup weeds. I am not joking. If I want to get anything edible or any flowers worthy of cutting out of there this season I have got some serious work ahead of me.

Also, scourge killed what I think was a baby rat today. I screamed, a classic scream, even though I knew it was going to be there because Joe told me. I couldn't help it.

Also, even though the heat has been great, I am ready for it to be about 5 degrees cooler. that would be awesome.