I HATE when that happens!

Lost a chicken this afternoon. Hawk attack.

Scene of the Crime

I certainly wasn't expecting to find a dead chicken today. Rouse the Spouse didn't have time to let the flock out of the safe zone and into the greater chicken yard this morning. I didn't go out until this afternoon to release them into the bigger yard. They were standing at the door of the safe zone awaiting my arrival. I was approaching, clucking at them and being by usual silly self, when I saw a big bird rise up out of the supposed empty chicken yard ...  a pile of feathers on the spot from which it had flown. One of the Dominiques had been taken down.

The question is … why was that hen in the chicken yard? Did she not go to roost last night? If not, why not? We usually close up the coop after dark, without taking attendance, assuming they're all in … because they always are! Or did the hawk get her late in the day yesterday, returning for the spoils today? Then again, the bird was not stiff. I don't think she'd been dead long. Plus, the hawk managed to eat only the neck before my arrival scared it off. The rest of the chicken was intact. Maybe she had somehow squeezed out of the safe zone? I don't know what would inspire her to do that. Strange that the hens did not seem weirded out at all when I found the gruesome sight. They were calm and eager to get out for free-range time despite the fact that a hawk had just been hanging out in their neighborhood. It's just another unsolved chicken mystery.

February in central NC

Now THIS is more like it! 70 degrees under sunny skies.

One week ago today we were in the midst of winter storm, Pax. Temperatures in the low 20's. Snow falling densely all afternoon, with accumulations of 5 - 6" around here, turning into a wintry mix of frozen precipitation that night, then an additional 2" of snow the following day. It was a beautiful mess!

The garden has been covered in a blanket of snow for most of the week. The mulch acts as an insulator to the warmth in the ground. As a result, the garden was the last place to thaw.

I didn't have much hope that the greens would survive this most recent onslaught of winter, especially since they've already been subjected to plenty of cold weather this season. I haven't peeked under the row covers in weeks. So it was with some trepidation that I removed the row covers today.

The lightweight fabric covering the raised beds allow for significant solar gain. I could feel the warm air flow out as I rolled back the covers. Miracle of miracles! Tatsoi, spinach, kale - even some lettuce - is still alive. And the weeds are thriving! Photo gallery to prove it …

Plenty of weeds mixed in with the good stuff.
I got busy and got rid of all undesirables.

Plenty of plants still surviving to give us a good head start in the spring garden

Cold hurt, but hanging in there!
Smooth & Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale

Red Russian Kale

Spinach and Tatsoi

Lettuces

Real Eggs

This is what real eggs look like when collected fresh from the hen house. They're often quite dirty and poopy!

Garden Under Snow

Winter Storm Pax has left the raised beds covered with a thick blanket of snow and ice, specifically 5 - 6 inches of snow at the base, a layer of ice in the middle, topped off by two more inches of snow. It is lovely! But I do wonder how many of the remaining plants will survive this latest round of extreme winter weather.

Moonflower Seeds

Years ago Andrew built a vertical "tower" in the garden using cedar posts. We wound grapevine around and through it creating a nest in which my silver gazing ball has rested. It's been a great support for flowering vines and garden art. In recent years it's been topped by a copper "garden angel". After many annual maintenance checks, consisting of changing out the grapevine and shoring up the entire structure, the time has come to tear it down.

This past summer the tower was the home of a healthy moon flower vine. Moon flowers are members of the same plant family as morning glories, but they bloom in the evening, producing large pure white blossoms. The seed pods are lovely, too … deep purple in color.

This time of year, though, the seed pods are brown and dry. I should've harvested the seeds long ago, but here I was today, tearing down the vine along with the cedar posts and thinking, "I wonder if these seeds might be good?"

In truth, many of the seeds were rotten, but I was able to salvage a handful. I'll plant these this spring and see what kind of germination rate I get. Nothing gambled, nothing gained, eh?