I visited the chicken coop this morning to open the door so the chickens could go outside and found Sally, our red hed, sitting inside one of the little nesting boxes. And beneath her? Our first two eggs!
I realize that two eggs aren’t that exciting to the seasoned chicken farmer, but for a city girl who’s doing all of this for the first time, this was VERY exciting. A little farm miracle that totally made my morning :)
Although the rainy, cold, west-coast season has arrived, there’s still a lot to do on the farm. The chill in the air has made it harder to get motivated to go outside, but the heavy rain held off long enough on saturday for Chris and I to get a second deep bed built (he did the building – I just helped hold things in place :). Two down, two to go!
We got a great deal on some beautiful yellow cedar which is what we’re using to build the deep beds out of. Our initial plan is to have four deep beds. We’re building them north of the barn and chicken coop. The soil in that area is already rich and healthy and it’s the highest point of land on our 2.5 acres which means better drainage than anywhere else.
We have a really great visual in our heads of what this section of the farm is going to look like when it’s complete. In addition to the deep beds, there will be a large trellis arch holding up our kiwi vines. Built in below the trellis will be benches and a large feasting table so that come next summer, we’ll be able to feast in the garden, from the garden. We’re also planting our red japanese maple tree in this area, building a better composting system, rabbit hutch and greenhouse. It’s going to be quite the transformation! Still lots of work to do :)
For now, it’s a dark, rainy monday morning. Here’s to being productive on a farm when the weather gets yucky!
Our little broad beans are well on their way! Next steps: regular weeding and the addition of compost tea to the soil around them. Thanks to my friend Guy (a hobby farmer in Quebec) for these compost tea instructions:
You need a bucket, a stick and a square piece of (~3X3′) burlap. Put a bunch of manure or compost into the burlap and hold and lift it from the four corners. Then tie the corners around the middle of a stick. You will then put the manure / burlap into the bucket with the stick resting on top of the bucket (you want to be able to lift the whole thing out without the manure coming out). Then, fill the bucket with water to the top. After a few days lift the stick out along with the burlap and manure so that only a dark liquid remains – the tea. Sprinkle this around the plants every couple weeks (or as directed) while plants in vegetative phase. You can make 2-3 teas from a bag of manure. The left overs can go in the compost! Good luck!
Compost should be relatively well decomposed (no smell, dark etc) so that the nutrients are easily liberated and so that pathogens / diseases aren’t passed on to veggies (of course never compost diseased plants!). Manure should generally be… moderately composted as well (e.g. a few months). Try to use manure from grass-fed organically grown cattle – less chances of E.coli contamination resulting from feeding with corn and medicating with antibiotics.
Also be sure to avoid getting the tea on the leaves of the plants to avoid contamination and in some cases, burning (though unlikely with tea).