Cock-a-doodle

This morning I was given a free chicken as my friend Jon had one too many roosters. Why I needed another I do not know. Apparently New Roo had the same idea. When I let him out of his crate in the coop I'd failed to close the pop hole when I closed the door and he flew out.... Through the hole, over two fences, and squawking his little lungs out into the pine woods behind the chicken pen.

Can you say "............... Mrs. Fuzzy!" Yeah, I can't print the words I thought at myself as I gathered up a dozen or so cups, a jug of water, and some flagging to put water out for the frightened little guy. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Anyway, I spent an hour or more putting out little cups of water all over that section, pouring water into every little hollow that would hold it as I found them, and keeping an eye out for the little bugger.

Hopefully he'll discover the big water bucket near the pen, and the food I put out, and stick around even if he doesn't decide to join the flock. All we can do now is pray that he returns.

NOT a good week for chickens! I feel so stupid.

**UPDATE**

Mr. Cock-a-doodle Roo still has not come home as of Sunday mid-day but we hear him down by the creek crowing his freedom call. He sounds happy. Maybe he understands that he very narrowly escaped the soup pot? Late yesterday afternoon I went out to check on the chickadoos and did a little head count. Discovered that my missing hen, Rumpy, had returned. All their little wings are now clipped so there will be no more flights of fancy for this flock! Mr. Roo is due the same should he decide to join the flock. It's the price of access to the hens.

Outdoor Food Drying in Virginia

Hello beloved readers. Did you think I'd been crushed by a rabid zucchini?

The snap test indicated "not rabid" but those squashes do come on strong. Maybe five plants was a bit much? We had intended upon drying most of the surplus for use in winter soups and stews but we've run into a small problem known as "fog" and a larger problem called "rain" which sent our initial experiment of outdoor air drying into Boldy Moldy Land. At least it will feed the compost pile.

We have the greenhouse, which gets nice and hot this time of year, but it, too, has a little moisture problem when it rains. After much moving of clods previously known as "The Lawn" to the east side of the greenhouse to create a living sponge barrier, digging a trench to further divert runoff from the slope, and adding a whole lot of daylilies, red hot pokers, and a red Mystery Monocot we're almost ready to roll. (Or string, I suppose!)

Only problem now is to defeat the water that comes in the door. This might require adding a roof panel under the deck but I'm not sure. It's my next move and I do hope to God it works because otherwise I might give in and buy an electric dehydrator.

Until the moisture issue is resolved, the zukes and patty pans are keeping well on the counter for a week until we can eat them or give them to our few friends without gardens. We have an especially enthisiastic chiropractor "from the city" and a nurse neighbor who are happy to have them. (Thanks!)

Giant zuke, anyone?

Seedlings... or maybe not

Hi Guys! Remember my post a couple months back about Winter Sowing? Well, it mostly worked.

I learned that I can't start pole beans this way and the Hubbard death rate was pretty high too but the leeks, poppies, and lawn daisies have done really well. My eggplants are coming up now too so we'll see how they do over the next couple weeks.

The poppies and daisies went into the ground yesterday, mainly in my new border to fill in where the daffodils will die back. It'll be poppies and peonies this summer. How beautiful will that be if it takes? Extra daisies went into some bare spots by the big oak tree out front. I know our British friends won't agree, but you can never have too many daisies in your lawn.

Seed starting in the greenhouse, on the other hand, has been a total flop. I'm starting over and really glad I didn't put every seed in the soil. Instead of the rather vague planting instructions on the packets I've gone to the oldest gardening books I can find for plain directions. You know the ones I mean... ones written before everyone presumes you're buying well-started plants at Walmart. I'm finding the USDA Bulletin 409 (part 2) from 1977 to be rich in detail and The Rockwell's Complete Guide to Successful Gardening of 1965 excellent for telling me where I've totally blown it. I must write Mrs. Stratton and thank her for leaving the latter.

Elliot Coleman, Sunset, and even the venerable James Crockett (whose Victory Garden I watched faithfully as a kid) have all failed me. Oh the anguish! Why do none of the modern books tell you what will go wrong, and why, so that you can avoid such disasters as mine? I've had exactly 6 seeds come up and all have croaked within the day.

Thus, as you might guess, I'm getting ready to start seeds again. The peas are only just emerging so I have plenty of time left, right? This time I'm making pages and pages of notes on what to do for the vegetables. Wildflowers are wildflowers so I'm going to just sow them thickly into recycled soup cans and put them out of sight where they won't get really hot. Whenever I get a bunch of seedlings I'll pot them up to grow on until they're big enough to transplant.

Wish me luck!