Summer's on its Way!

The food forest is flourishing!

The ducks used to enjoy foraging in it.

...until their mean ol' ma decided they were too grown-up and destructive. But they certainly don't seem to mind foraging in the fields of long-growing weeds. (I think one of them tried to eat a snake this week!)

They have so much personality! I love to watch them.

Our most vibrantly coloured Welsh Harlequin drake.

They also explored the canoe for awhile.

Making their way home at the end of a foraging adventure.

Two tubs of water was all they needed to stay cool (and happy) on a hot day.

The goslings had a similar idea as the ducks for keeping cool.

I'm still not sure how they get as wet as they do with only their waterers, but they absolutely make a mess. The flock of little ones (ducklings and goslings) get along well.

We can't believe they are already coming up on two weeks old!

Roscoe's strategy for keeping cool doesn't generally involve splashing - he just lays low and lazy.

He doesn't like the long weeds so much. Prairie Dog!

Here's a different strategy for dealing with long weeds and hot weather.

Moving over to the plant kingdom... I was thrilled yesterday to see our first hill of corn (and squash, with beans to be added later) sprout to life! Green before Memorial Day!

The transplanted tomatoes finally decided to continue growing (with a fava bean or two in the background).

The lemon balm grows like crazy! (with its sentinel column of fava beans)

The fava beans planted at the trailer are already flowering. They have such unusual flowers (which, incidentally, color coordinate perfectly with our trailer). :)

Speaking of flowers, I didn't remember seeing a Mayapple flower before.

The Goldrush apple has blossomed as well.

I don't know what this flower is called, but it is beautiful! There is much growing in the food forest.

The comfrey is also flowering (especially since I have been able to keep the ducks from eating it!)

Many of the blueberries are flowering too.

Moving from flowers to fruit.... gooseberries!

Bush cherries...

Even grapes!

Summer is indeed on its way!

Sky

Mick woke up to a misty morning when he camped out with Steve and Jacob.

The sky was on fire when I arrived just after sunset to feed the ducks and chickens.

We love living in a beautiful place!

Animal, Vegetable, Fruit

Meet our newest arrivals! 13 Khaki Campbell ducklings and 5 American Buff goslings. (This brings the current animal total to 40! 1 dog, 1 cat, 2 rabbits, 5 chickens, 5 geese, and 26 ducks.)

They are very active - and cute! :)

Our Welsh Harlequins are developing the most beautiful colors! It is hard to capture in a picture because the color changes from purple to blue to green. Here, the ducks discovered a puddle to play in. Their favorite thing!

The ducks seem to be settling in with the chickens, and coming to grips with the chickens taking over the tractor. For her part, one of the hens seems to think the waterer makes for a nice roost.

Our hens have provided us with two delicious eggs so far! I love the yolk color and how firm the egg is!

The asparagus is absolutely out of control! I couldn't believe how quickly it shot up this past week -- I'm going to "have to" harvest some today! We were also surprised how thickly it came up -- last year the stalks weren't even pencil-thin.

These rhubarb stalks and their accompanying leaves were shading this year's new bed of asparagus.

I converted some of them into a Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie this afternoon.

We have also been astonished by the number of plants that are flowering this year. Much fruit has been promised! The bush cherries were the earliest to flower.

Native Plum

Gooseberries

North Star Cherry

Goldrush Apple! (I spotted those blossoms coming up the driveway, and Mick was shocked when I told him it was flowering.)

Also, I think we have the prettiest crabapple tree on the block. It seems especially happy for Mick's pruning attention last year. When the flowers were at peak, the branches hung so low they interfered with getting in and out of the car!

Cheers!

Wild Food

We enjoyed a delicious, (mostly) all-natural meal the night before Mick left for training. The meal was largely inspired by two things: an excellent video Jacob brought along with him last weekend, Forager's Harvest (thank you!), and a certain duck who had proven herself to be loud, annoying, stupid, and a poor converter of feed to meat.

First course: fiddleheads.

Second course: garlic mustard and leek greens.

Final course: duck.

It isn't easy to butcher an animal, even an annoying and unproductive one. But we are grateful to know that the animal who provided us with this meal lived a good and healthy life. Better for her, better for us.

Our Newest Arrivals (Surprise!) :)

Our very own laying flock of Buff Orpingtons! We weren't going to get chickens until next year, but Mick saw an ad on Craigslist for four hens and a rooster, one year old. Why wait for eggs when we can get eggs now? :) We enjoyed meeting Kathy, their former owner (who incidentally lives in view of a home we had looked at when we were house-shopping, go figure). The beautiful birds quickly made themselves at home.

As you can see, the rooster looks out for the hens. The hens don't seem to concern themselves in the least about predators. He always had his eye on us and takes good care of his girls. I was pleased that it's not as one-sided a relationship as I had thought (although he certainly takes his "payment" from them according to his pleasure).

One of our concerns was how the chickens and ducks would get along. Well, the chickens arrived to their shared pen in cat carriers. The ducks were quacking riotously, as usual, as we set the carriers down and opened the doors. The first hen walked out of the cat carrier -- not maliciously, not noisily, not particularly quickly, not particularly near the ducks and certainly not with any sort of deliberate motion in their direction. At the first sight of her, the ducks absolutely freaked out! They ran faster than I have ever seen them run, and our Khaki flapped her wings so furiously that she actually achieved lift-off! It was the funniest thing -- they've never acted so frightened of human or dog. Apparently chickens are ducks' most-feared predators. :) Too bad we couldn't get that on video!

In all of our readings, we have encountered many descriptions of otherwise dignified human beings chasing chickens around a yard attempting to herd them. Well, now we can sympathize! Herding chickens is (apparently) NOTHING like herding ducks. For one thing, they don't tightly flock together like ducks do. They also run FAST!!! It was an experience that I can not describe in words, but I will now read chicken-herding stories with a much deeper level of empathy. It certainly kept our minds off of Mick leaving for pre-mobilization training! :) Once we finally got all 5 chickens into the tractor (no idea how long it took, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took an hour), we decided to keep them in there for awhile. At least until they recognize it as home, a source of food and security, and choose to come back to it on their own. At the very least, until I have someone else to help me herd them!

After all of yesterday's drama, I was amazed by the sight that greeted me tonight!

I had a grocery-store coupon for a dozen eggs this week, but I don't think I'm going to need it. I am thrilled (and surprised, particularly after such a traumatizing herding experience!) that at least one of the hens already seems to feel comfortable here. The shell is a beautiful light brown color.

So in our current arrangement, the chickens have displaced the ducks from their tractor (where the ducks used to be shut in for the night). The ducks don't seem too pleased with this new arrangement -- tonight they were running in circles around the tractor hoping to find a way in. I guess their homelessness is beginning to overcome their terror of the Big Scary Chickens.

These pictures don't do it justice, but the ducks are beginning to develop beautiful colors in their feathers. It is amazing. I don't know why ducks have beautiful feathers, but we certainly enjoy it!

And so they don't feel left out, Sam (on the right) and Rosie are doing great too! They are very inquisitive and happy (and growing!) bunnies.

"Scattered Thunderstorms" make for a beautiful evening on our beautiful hill.