Summer Crops

What a wonderful time I had harvesting my beans, beets, and carrots. Beets are great steamed and drizzled with a simple salad dressing. The dandelion are flowering and it was fun to blow the fluff in the air.

MP3 on the Post

Left: Polly, 3, Molly

Right: Ruby's the bully.

Guess what I found when I was checking on the chickens this evening! Our three new chickens were perched on the post that John put up last year. He was sort of disappointed when the larger hens (Henny and Ruby) would not perch on it. Thought I share this with my readers who happen to love chickens.

MP3!

Left: Molly (yellow); Polly (brown); Penny or 3 (black w/white spots)

Here's an update of our new flock of chickens. They are exactly a month and eleven days old, and we let them out with our other hen, Ruby in the backyard. This will helps them adapt and acclimate to the outside temperature. It is really fun to watch them with Ruby when she towers over them like a mother hen. When the chicks are ready to go outside, we will put them inside the hen house with Ruby when it is dark. I used this method with my last flock of chickens, as in the morning the old and new chickens will get up and thought they'd known each other for years. Wish we humans are that easy to fool.

New Chicks for Ruby

Last week our local feed store brought in a load of fresh chicks in time for Easter. I bought three little cuties of the different breeds: Barred Plymouth Rock; Orpington; and Rhode Island Red. Most of these birds lay light to medium brown eggs. Their names are Molly, Polly, and Penny. We will introduce them to Ruby probably in the summer when they get bigger. We put them in a cardboard box with a heating lamp to keep them warm indoors. They are fuzzy and warm and so damn cute!

Fresh Eggs

After a month long of the cold and wet season, Ruby our only hen is out and pecking around. Her feathers have started to come back and she seems eager to see me. I gave her a pat on her back when she ate from my hand. And to my surprise, I found 3 eggs inside her coop. She must have begun her egg laying cycle early this week. We'll have enough tomorrow to make an omelette

Doves on Mother's Day!

Last Sunday, I found a pair of Mourning Doves gathering twigs to build their nest. It was perched up on top of the trellis by the side of our house among the Lady bank roses and Wisterias. The father bird was perched on top of our neighbor's roof guarding his mate. Doves take turns to sitting on their eggs and their nest is never abandoned. So it seems, that the female will take the afternoon and night shift, while the male in the morning. If you are lucky enough, you might just catch them changing shifts. They also have a tendency to keep really still when you are looking at them. I was touched and was thrilled that they find my garden a welcoming place to stay. The following day, I told my friend about the birds, and she told me it was a sign from a loved one is telling you that they are okay. I was choked and was in tears as the night before Mother's Day, I dreamt about my mother who had passed away last August in Malaysia.