A Tale of Two Roosters

Here was our first "hen" that appeared much larger than the others and then suddenly started saying, "Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!" He thought he was in heaven! 40 ladies to look after (okay, maybe he thought he was in hell.... =) ) a new voice to announce his presence... and then....

This "hen" who was also a bit larger than the others, realized he too had a voice! They both "cock-a-dooed" for about a day or so and then the white one stopped... we rarely hear it any more... I think this one got a hold of a mirror and decided that he was "prettier" and therefore had "cock-a-doodle rights"! =)Here's the first crower, silenced, but maybe enjoying just hanging out with the ladies, rather then keeping them in check! =)

***Little do they know, they will soon both be dinner, as they don't lay eggs, and eggs pay for their food! wink wink...

Here's what's grow'n!

Apples are starting to appear!BasilThese are the pole beans. To the left are the potatoes, to the right are some cucumber plants, corn and sunflowers

Blueberries! Yumm...Brocolli, we have already gotten to eat some of this. SO good!

Butternut SquashCabbage Carrots Corn- does NOT look like it is going to be "knee high by the forth of July"! We had sun for about 2 days and you could seriously see it growing! It grew over an inch in those 2 days...but clouds again today...  (Raspberries in background)

Lettuce-yes, it is suppose to be speckeled! Heirloom variety

More lettuce (and some weeds!)Peas- we have eaten about a handful of these, it is crazy how late they are this year... we need SUN!

Remember the branch trelises I made!? here they are with the peas growing all over them. I planted the peas in staggered time frames so they wouldn't all be ready at once, so some are further along than others.

Potatoes galore! We eat a lot of potatoes! There are a couple brocolli plants in there which are doing AMAZING! I read that they are good "companion plants"... this proves it for me! Also, with potatoes, you can keep mounding over the plants and burry them until about 1/3 is above ground, they will keep growing and you'll get tons more potatoes for your space. Mine are due to be mounded...

I put a lot of these plants in these containers mainly because I didn't lable them when I planted the seeds and I am not completely sure which are tomatoes and which are peppers! I am just now being able to tell the difference, so they will find a home in the garden plot soon.

Pie pumpkinStrawberries (and fushia plant)Elle wanted to take a picture of her "tractor" amongst the corn and pumpkins. Pretty good shot! =)

Well, there you have it! Everything grown from seed (other than the berries).

Making Jam

LOVE Spooner Farms Strawberries! This is about 1/3 of how many strawberries I got today! Two freezer bags in the freezer, jam to sell, jam for us and a BUNCH of strawberries to make sticky, red faced children!

Here's my little helper... we having matching aprons (thanks mom!).

Here we are sterilizing our used baby food jars and lids. Let me tell ya, the house smelled INCREDIBLE!Here's what we'll sell at the road side stand tomorrow along with some daisy flower boquets that Elle picked today. YUMMY! I had a peanut butter and jam sandwhich tonight....mmmmm mmm mmmmm...!

Here's the little rascels getting into the big pot of strawberries in the fridge! =)

Chicken Farmers...

Let me tell you what.... raising chickens is no easy or cheap feat! We lost 5 more to a racoon! 3 of our pullets that were just about to start laying eggs and 2 of the biggest, fattest meat birds (of course, therefore the slowest and unable to get away). We are now down to 9 meat birds plus the 3 we already butchered makes 12 out of 25 birds! UGG.... feed is expensive.... anyone who complains about the cost of TRUE farm raised, free range, organic eggs or meat.....let's just say.....it is a SCREAMING deal for what these farmers go through to get that product to you! It really makes me realize the extent of the "corner cutting" that must take place in order to provide 99 cents a pound meat from those commercial producers! (Is it really even "meat" ??? or....??? But that's a rant for another day...) I think we are going to butcher the rest of the meat birds tonight after the kids go to bed... I just can't bear to see any more wasted to the darn racoon! (not to mention the cost that was put in to those birds that will now not bring in a dime...)
On a lighter note.... we went to the most incredible farm this evening! Pigs, horses, cows, lamas, chickens, flowers, vegetables, blacksmith area, saw mill, cedar sauna shack, and more! What a set up! They sell their organic chicken eggs for $5/dozen and are thinking to move it to $6/dozen... we sell ours for $4/dozen, but the more thoroughly I am keeping records this year is teaching me that we are possibly losing money or barely breaking even. We'll see when those pullets start laying... It has been really tough to shell out $300/month for food for all the chickens and only bring in about $30/month from the 12 full grown chickens we already had.  OUCH! The pullets are suppose to start laying in July... so hopefully we'll make up for it. Anyway, I just thought I'd rant a little about it all. I finally made it to Kits Camera today to get my memory card in my camera put on CD so I can erase the card and be able to start taking pictures again! So I will try and post a lot next week to catch up on what is going on with the garden, the house and my new business that is just recently in the works... =) In the mean time.... know this.... those organic, TRUE/hands on farmers earned every cent you pay for their product.... happily pay it and question how anyone can offer it for such a drasticly lower price...