Seed potatoes have arrived in the mail!

Some Sugar Snaps emerging

We're experiencing a stretch of warm-weather days.  Dare I hope for an early crop of sugar snaps?

Second dead chicken in less than a week

Andrew West found it.  He was helping me with the chores and had gone to the chicken yard to dump the yuck-bucket.  He came back with a serious look on his face.  He had been greeted by a dead chicken just inside the gate.  This one was also pecked to death ... another victim of bird attack.  Very gruesome. 

Rouse said he had recently seen a Cooper's Hawk hanging around.  I thought we could run some wires across the chicken yard to deter the hawk from flying in to pick off another chicken, sort of like what they do over hotel pools at the beach to keep the gulls from messing up the property.  But when I googled "chicken predators" I found a chilling video that shows a hawk "hunting" in a backyard chicken coop.

It was eye-opening.  The hawk did not soar into the chicken yard from on high.  It ruthlessly scoped out the place from the top of the coop, then easily dropped down into the chicken yard and helped himself to a chicken.   Rouse said it reminded him of a velociraptor!  You can be sure my hens will be confined to the "safe" zone for awhile.  Watch this if you dare.  Advice for the squeamish:  Turn down the sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHFHPGgq7o&feature=related

Chicken Found Dead

Andrew and I went out late to close up the chickens.  We had gone out to dinner, leaving the chickens foraging in the larger yard.  We noticed a problem right away ... the door to the chicken coop was closed.  It wasn't latched, simply closed, but that meant the chickens could not get in to go to roost.

We used head lamps and worked together to find them in the dark.  Most of the hens were in the barn, and a couple were sleeping on top of the chicken wire covered "safe" zone.  But one was missing.  Andrew found her dead behind the chicken coop.  She had been pecked to death ... victim of bird attack.  Hawk?  Owl?

More Seeds on the Way

I can't resist Gurney's half-price sale!  Today's order:

• Eureka Hybrid Cucumber
• Sweetheart Hybrid Sweet Pepper
• Clemson Spineless Okra
• Jade Bush Beans
• Rattlesnake Pole Beans
• Fordhook 242 Lima Beans
• Li'l Sweet Hybrid Cantaloupe
• Gentry Hybrid Summer Squash
• Pride II Hybrid Zucchini Squash
• Sweet Basil
• Coriander / Cilantro

Black Raspberry Clean Up

Today I tackled the black raspberry patch.  I regret not doing a better job last year.  While the outer bands of the patch were a manageable tangle of one year's growth, the more difficult to reach center had turned into a neglected bramble thicket, fit for only the most agile Brer-Rabbit.  The berries-to-come in the middle of that mess certainly would not be "pickable" ... and I do hate to see good berries go to waste!

I crawled under canes and braved the thorns, which somehow managed to find their way between, through, and under my gloves, long sleeves, and sturdy shoes.  The vulnerable area between glove and sleeve was especially scratched and pricked.  Not very pretty, and painful besides!  But I persevered, cutting out all the old and broken canes.

I ended up with a thorny brush pile and a neat berry patch.  Next work day I'll focus on creating a few paths through this thicket to make it even easier to pick.  No berries left behind!

Groundhog Day

Phil Groundhog of Punxsutawney, PA, saw his shadow at 7:25am under mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 30s.  According to folklore, this means there will be 6 more weeks of winter.  Just as well ... we haven't had much of a winter here, yet.

Today is a glorious, sunny, blue-sky sort of day with temps in the mid 60s. I went out at 9:00am in my shirt sleeves to pick the garden.  There's plenty of green stuff to pick out there!

Although the central stalks of the broccoli are long gone, the plants are producing enough side-shoots to enhance an omelette or quiche or pot of potato soup.

And the greens are fabulous!  This morning I was thinking 'salad'.  I cut baby spinach and arugula to mix with the tender beet greens I recently picked up from our local farmer.  Time for lunch!