Well, as you've probably noted, my promise of doing weekly updates from the patch this season didn't work out too well. There have just been too many things going on and life got in the way. In the long run that's a good thing as all of the "in the way" things have involved other outdoor activities or adventures.
It's been a dry time around the patch for the last month giving us a break from grass mowing and being able to concentrate on the edible landscape. But we've also noted some weird activity in the wild fauna department such as this mother mouse who decided to set up shop inside our gas grill for a very late genetic experiment. I had been removing her nest on a weekly basis for nearly a month not knowing whether it was bird or rodent. This last weekend I found her on there with a full liter of pups. The gecko would have enjoyed one of those "pinkys" and maybe even the chickens. But that would be mean so they were relocated to the wooded area to fend for themselves. I also had a few flash-backs to all of those long hours in the rodent rooms back in the 1980s!
The other big news is that the pullets have begun to lay; FINALLY! First there were two eggs per day and just this week we've been getting three so hopefully that last girl will not be too far behind. Pullet eggs are a bit small at first but soon gain size. That's a standard large-grade egg on top from one of our fellow backyard keepers. The two on the bottom are from our pullets. Unlike our first batch of chickens, we're hoping that these girls will be a bit more uniform. One of our last flock would lay a huge dinosaur egg while another would occasionally lay albumin blobs without shells. We're also training this group from the very beginning to not roost in the laying boxes at night (using the blocker panel). This means we get pristine eggs right out of the box just like in the movies.
The strawberry bed renovation also did well this season. We took care to pinch off all of the blooms on the Sparkle plants (true June berry) so that the plants would put all of their energy into root and side-shoot development. Same for the Seascape (day neutral) as they began to bloom in late summer. But now that the Seascape have established themselves, we've let them begin to fruit out. The quality and flavor is excellent and we're getting about a quart box every other day. Hopefully that will continue until the first hard frosts.
Next up we'll be reporting on our experiment with a low tunnel for overwintering and winter harvest. We're a bit behind calculating our local Persephone period but with some indoor kale starts I'm hoping to be able to catch up a bit. Eat well and eat local!
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