No eggs yet

We have lost several ( a lot) of chickens this past year to a predator or two. We don't know exactly what is getting them, but sometimes they just disappear and sometimes there is evidence left behind. I got 27 little chicks through the mail in March. At that time we still had about 4 grown hens and 2 ducks. We lost all the grown poultry and 10 little chicks to a predator since then. My husband decided it was time to fight back. He put chicken wire over all the top of the chicken yard.

We still have all our little chicks, except one unfortunate chick the dog, June, got when we weren't looking. She thought we were playing catch the chickens when my granddaughters were in the yard chasing them. It has occured to us she may be the predator, but I just can't bring myself to believe that. I need more proof!

The roosters are beginning to practice their crowing, sounding similar to an injured animal. and the hens are not interested one bit. We are waiting anxiously for the 1st egg from this batch of biddies. They probably won't start laying till August. That's when they will be 6 months old. The time is coming to entertain the thought of reducing the rooster population. I got a neat vintage chicken scale that we can use when we are deciding which to turn into dinner.

Garden

We finished up the corn about 2 weeks ago and are trying to get to crops in this year. We planted them almost 2 weeks ago and they are coming up now. We have LOTS of weeds emerging too....meaning LOTS of hoeing.

We also planted some peanuts...they are coming along too. The sweet potatoes are beginning to sprout also.

Lots of activity going on in the cucumber & cantalope patches.

Peanuts, Grandaughters & Sweet potatoes

We had 5 of our grandchildren Saturday. The twins (2&1/2), Jasper (3), Hannah(7), and Isabella (8) the oldest. Their parents are training for an adventure race and they needed to practice their biking and canoeing skills. So we had the kids. We had a grand time.
We picked kumquats, the twins, Audrey and Emma, loved those. Jasper enjoyed picking them. We picked a few ears of corn and had some others that needed to be shucked, so they all joined in as my husband and I sat on the swing in the back yard. The corn was so tender we were eating it as soon as it was shucked. Of course there were a few worms, but Audrey wasn't scared at all, she wanted to hold them.
The 2 older girls wanted us to plant some more corn and some lima beans, so they stayed overnight to help us get them in the ground Sunday. We also had some peanuts that needed to be planted.
Hannah's and Bella's job was to drop the seeds in the trench and after Dan covered the seed they had to water them. Not a good idea. They got FULL of mud and started having a mud fight and a hose fight. They thought it would be funny to sit on my lap and get me full of it too. They had a jolly ole time and forgot all about the planting business, but isn't that what summer is all about? We finally finished the planting and all looked forward to a warm bath. The joys of the simple things, that's what grandchildren bring to us.
The next day, after they went home :) we got some sweet potatoes in the ground. That's our 1st try with those. We'll see how it goes.

I love staying home

I wish I didn't have to work outside my home 4 days a week. I enjoy staying home, doing homey things.
I like being home to see the weather changing so I can dash outside and get my clothes off the clothesline before the rain storm.
I like being able to have a nice meal on the table for my husband when he gets home from work.
I like watching the birds come to their nests in my birdhouses and watching them come to eat from the feeders.
I like checking on the growing things and taking care of them.
I like planning a menu for the week and getting the groceries.
I like taking a nap if I am tired.
Ohhhhh.....I guess I can try to wait 3 more years for all that sweetness.

Meyer Lemon Blueberry Scones

It's almost blueberry time again around here and I still have some frozen in our freezer. I need to try to use them up because they are only good for a year frozen. Friday morning I made some delicious lemon blueberry scones.

I don't recall where I got the recipe but it isn't very difficult.

Meyer Lemon-Berry Scones
Total preparation time: 10 mins Serves: 8
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 cup Juice from one Meyer Lemon and enough Milk to fill
1 cup Fresh or frozen Blueberries
1 teaspoon Grated Lemon Peel
1 Lightly beaten Egg
1 Egg White
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
Steps:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add butter and mix with pastry blender or fork until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Gently stir lemon juice-milk mixture into dough, along with blueberries, lemon peel and egg until just mixed.

3. With floured hands divide mix into six to eight rounded circles and place on baking sheet 2" apart. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

These are very good, not too sweet and just right for me to bring to the office for breakfast. I am going to freeze them individually and bring one a day.

Corn

We picked about 2 dozen ears of corn late yesterday evening. They are small and the ears are not filled out completely, but the silks are dark brown almost black. I don't think they were going to get much better and the racoons would have found them soon. There are a few ears still left on the stalks, but the corn is just about done.

Garden

I am day-dreaming about my vegetable garden. I want a beautiful weed-free garden. But then reality sets in...there are weeds as high as my knees, (almost). The corn is a fiasco....hubby decided to run the tractor over the rows while the corn was still short and got too close to the roots. We ended up with some stunted corn and the racoons have found what little we did have. I guess I can kiss the corn goodbye for this season.
I spent the late afternoon last Friday weeding one little raised bed with squash and tomatoes in it. I thought if I weeded after a rain the weeds would come up easier. It almost killed me. Truth be told, I looked like a very happy bovine. Mud was all over me and I was sore all day Saturday. There is another raised bed that needs my attention, but.....I dunno....
The strawberries aren't doing too well this year either. We get a few every other day, but only a handful. I really need to work on getting those runners rooted. I don't know if I should cut them off and pot them or just make a hole in the black plastic mulch and try to root them still attached to the mother plant.
The green beans are growing very tall, but no flowers yet. They are surrounded by weeds also.
Same with the cukes.
Tomatoes are flowering and there are few green ones on the bushes. The bushes look good. They are planted on black plastic mulch, so weeds aren't a problem.
We have harvested our first 3 peppers. Dan thought they were banana peppers, but found out they must be hungarian wax. They were medium hot. My son, Danny loves them that way. The other peppers have flowers on them now.
There are flowers on the yellow squash planted in the raised bed. I think I saw some small ones coming along.
The potatoes were really slow coming up this year. They are flowering now. I think we must have planted them too late. I dug one up and it had teeny tiny potatoes on it the size of pea. Will have to wait to see how those turn out.
We planted some blackberry bushes this spring too. They had some flowers on them and now I see some small green berries, but not too many.
The blueberry bushes finally have some blueberries on them. I planted them 2 1/2 years ago. Last year they had 2 berries ann the birds got them. This year we must have maybe about 30 0r 40. I fertilized them with some Ammonium Sulfate. It's supposed to help them take up the nutrients they need and acidify the soil.

I don't see any baby satsumas on our 2 trees and there are maybe 3 oranges on the orange tree. I fertilized those with citrus fertilizer last week along with the lemon tree which is loaded with little green lemons. That tree has been very productive for us the last 3 years. It is about 5 years old.