Tuesday, April 01, 2008

My Garlic is Up!!

Michael was looking out the back door on the porch. He told me to come and look. The garlic plants are poking their leaves up through the straw. If you click on the picture and make it bigger, you can see it better. I am so excited. I love to see signs of the newest season.

Here is a close up of the garlic plants.

The Wonderful Neighbor children spread out some large rolls of really old hay on my garden. They had a hard time steering them as they were so big. It looks like a bunch of runways that will bring disaster. =) I am hoping to get the last roll done and then try and cover some of the bare spots. This is to help with weed control.

My sheep were glad to see me out there. It makes me feel good when my animals respond to me. They should all lamb sometime this month. There is nothing more precious than a baby lamb.

This is my strawberry pot on the porch. Some of the plants are reviving. I am surprised as I let this sit out all winter and it was a very cold one.

Here are a couple more pictures of some daffodils. They are everywhere. I should have separated them last year.


These two don't like to stay in the coop with the others. McCoy, the rooster I think has been booted from the coop by the other roosters. He is either 6 or 7 years old. I think 7.

We love our Americauna chickens because they lay such pretty color eggs. They are not good winter layers for us though. We rarely get a green or blue egg all winter. I found this out in the sheep shed.

Tonight, Michael and I are going out to the coop after dark. He will take the chickens off the roost, one by one. Then I get to feel their pin bones in back to see who is laying well and who is not. If they are laying well (I can get 2 fingers or even 3 fingers easily between the bones) then they go back on the roost. If no, they go in a pen to be picked up tomorrow by someone who is going to put them in the stew pot.

Michael just brought this in to me. The first daffodil of the year!!

7 comments:

LadySnow said...

I am so excited that spring is coming! :D

Unknown said...

Well, the only thing I can figure is that you live SO FAR SOUTH of me that all your stuff is out and blooming and all that good stuff much sooner than mine.... When I saw this post earlier, I ran out and checked my garlic. It is just poking the straw up. I dug down a little and found some little bits of green and then I found some that had come up earlier and been bitten by a freeze. My daffodils look like they are about a week away from blooming. Well, enjoy! I am looking forward to mine, too.
:-D

Marci said...

Yes, Ginny, we are SO FAR SOUTH of you.... I believe it is a whole 7 miles.

Anonymous said...

Wow! it is exciting to see spring on your homestead. I was also excited about your way of telling which hens are still laying! We were just wondering how we would ever know who wasn't laying well with so many hens and no real way to tell who was leaving these gifts in such weird places. God bless,

Momkiss said...

Duh- I never thought about putting garlic in. Your blog makes me smile. I wish I were a better farmer, but just learning to be one. PS In NE OHiO we just got our first crocus!

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

I love spring and the signs of new life that come along with it!

Theresa said...

My Dad told me that he and his older brother would take the eggs from the hens and walk across the pasture to the woods and throw the eggs at the trees. Naughty boys! Grandma didn't know this and she thought her hens just quit laying. She always killed the ones that didn't lay. Then she would kill a hen and find an egg inside and wonder. My Dad thinks she never knew because they didn't get punished. But as a Mom, somehow I think Grandma must have known! LOL We are praying that God will ead us somewhere that we can have a large garden and some chickens some day.