The five days of Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas, my big hen gave to me....

the first egg that we've been waiting for so anxiously.

On the second day of Christmas, my big hen gave to me...

a second egg, bigger than the first, yet ever so slightly.

On the third day of Christmas, my big hen gave to me...

a third egg, as we waited outside the coop impatiently.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my big hen gave to me...

a fourth egg, this is so much fun...eeee!

On the fifth day of Christmas, my big hen gave to me...

nada. zip. zilch. She's taking a break apparently.

It's been such an exciting week! Our "middle child," Henrietta started laying the day after Christmas. We have been waiting and waiting for an egg since we got the chickens in July. The first two eggs were pretty small so we were convinced they came from Dixie since she is the oldest and the smallest hen. But on the third day, we were lucky enough to witness Henrietta make her way up to the nesting box, shuffle around in there for a while, and then come back down; leaving a nice, warm egg behind. What a gift that she waited until this week while we're all home to experience this first-hand. Thank you, Henrietta.

Meet the brood...

I graduated from the University of Vermont. With a Bachelor of Science. From the school of agriculture. I was even inducted into Alpha Zeta. The agricultural honor society. Yet during my four years there. I never sowed a single seed. Nor handled an actual animal. Unless you count a hairy frat boy or two. After a night of quarters. Heck, I didn't even have a plant in my dorm room.

I wasn't a crunchy granola. I didn't wear Birkenstocks. Or live in Slade Hall. With the clove-smoking vegetarians. But I did attend of a few of their monthly pot lucks. Because my parents took off to Europe. And forgot to load money on my meal card.

I was basically a city girl. At a country school. But UVM was my school of choice. Because of the easy access to some great skiing.

Maybe it's karma. Maybe it's the residual fumes from Slade Hall. Maybe it's this damn fear of cancer. That prompted their adoption.

But we've had them about a month now. It's about time I introduced you all. So without further ado. Meet our newest family members.

Henrietta

Dixie

 and Lola

Also known as ...

Nugget, Patty and Fingers.

Yes. We have a sick sense of humor.

Ten on Ten: August 2011

It's Ten on Ten. August 2011 edition. Temps still hovering around the 100 degree mark. But we're busy at work on the backyard beautification project. So we spend the majority of our days dripping sweat. And taking multiple showers.

Will post about our exciting projects soon. For now it's all I can do to get these 10 photos up. And my head down on my pillow. Night peeps.

Ten on Ten: July 2011

I'm still alive. Couldn't let Ten on Ten pass me by. Hoping it will be the kick start I need to restart my blogging motor.
 
Ten on Ten. Ten pictures over ten hours on the tenth of the month. I have to admit. I cheated a wee little bit. The last few pictures were taken during the same hour. I couldn't resist. They were so much more exciting.

Does it seem like Ten on Ten often falls on a Sunday? Maybe I'm crazy. But I'm remembering a bunch of lazy, dazy Sunday Ten on Tens.

In any event, it was a great day. Beautiful weather. BSD finally home. Morning walk with a friend. Projects rebooted. Garden booming. Meals dictated by the day's harvest. All topped with an evening stroll on the beach. We live a charmed life. Indeed.

 (No. I didn't start the morning off with a margarita. Just a reminder of a fun evening with friends from the night before.)

Rockin' Robin...

She rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing her song
All the ballerinas on our little street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet...

On Friday it looked like this...

By Saturday it looked like this...

Today it looks like this...

Rockin' robin, tweet tweet tweet
Rockin' robin' tweet tweetly-tweet
Go rockin' robin
'Cause we can't wait for your babes to take flight.

What Am I Going to be When I Grow Up?

song writer

Flowers on the down low...

Do you know about the clearance racks in the garden section of Lowe's? It's like the TJMaxx of the plant world. Anything that's past season gets sent to the clearance section. Yes. Some of the plants are really better left for the compost heap. But others are simply done blooming for the season, and the store needs the space for the next season's stock.

So...plants that would cost you upwards of $12.99 now cost anywhere from $1.50-$3.00. Some of the smaller plants will only run you 50 cents. I've been slowly filling in my garden beds with perennials this way. But this year, I got smart and filled my planters with them also.

For $11.00 I filled the back of my car with these...

Which in turn filled my deck planters with these...

Is it exactly what I would have chosen? Probably not. But for one tenth of the price I am more than happy.

The perennial in this little pot ran me $3.00 out of the $11.00 I spent. Major splurge. But, it's called "Ballerina African Daisy." And you know if it's got ballerina in the title, I can't pass it up. Hopefully, some of the buds will still bloom this summer.

Of course, I blew the whole bargain-basement budget and brought home this planter too. But, for $12.98, hanging basket and liner included, I don't think I did so bad. 

How does your garden grow? Square Foot Gardening, Take 2...

This is the second year we're trying out the Square Foot Gardening method. Last year the veggies grew like gangbusters. We had so much fun with it.

Until the plague hit.

See that cute little green guy up there? I always thought they were good bugs. Turns out they're just buggers. They annihilated my garden last year. And I let them. Because I had no idea what they were capable of.

This year I'm armed. With knowledge. And a shoe. If those grasshoppers come back, I'm gonna whack 'em. You've been warned, grasshoppa.

I learned some other things from last year's garden. And I've made changes accordingly. I'm not following the Square Foot Gardening method as strictly this year because it got overcrowded. So here's what I learned...

• plant less plants
• plant only 1 tomato plant to each square
• plant all of the tomato plants next to each other at one end of the garden. They spread too much if you intersperse them and interfere with the neighboring veggie's sunlight and happiness.
• plant the other tall growing vines like green beans and cukes next to the tomatoes at one end of the garden also. Same reasoning as above.
• zucchini is an ENORMOUS plant. Make sure you plant it at the end of the garden where it will have room to wander.
• you need major supports for tomato plants. Those little cages they sell at the garden store are NOT big enough. BSD made super wide, super tall chicken wire cages this year. We'll see how those work.
• bean stalks will grow into the clouds just like they did for Jack. Be prepared. I'm not prepared yet.
• strawberry plants will stay in the garden all winter here and grow new strawberries in the spring. Great for the gardening ego.
• I cannot seem to grow lettuce. Spinach and Swiss chard, yes. But lettuce ain't happening. I need lettuce. What's up?!?

So...we planted this year's garden over Spring Break. The tomatoes and cilantro were little starter plants from the nursery. The rest we planted seeds. Here's how it looked a week later...

 I don't know why there's a border around this picture.

Those large plants in the foreground are the strawberries leftover from last summer. They are thriving and spreading. If the veggies don't pan out, in a few years, we'll just have a U-Pick strawberry farm.

I love the way this picture looks kind of Mayberry RFD-ish.

I'll keep you posted on how the garden grows this year. If anyone has any experience with grasshoppers, I'd love to hear how you got rid of them. Or any advice on why I can't grow lettuce?