Things grow that we don't plant: things don't grow that we do plant

We have really met some frustration in the garden portion of our farm. As I mentioned in our first blog we had ambitions of simply transplanting a full garden from our kitchen table to our garden plot. Unfortunately we saw most of it dampen off except some lettuce and kale. We got some tomato and pepper starts that seem to be doing marginally well and that has been encouraging. What we find humorous is the potato and squash volunteers that are all over the yard. Here is an example:

Lettuce was planted on purpose. The potatoes just decided to show up.

A tiny row of kale is front and center. It is doing quite well. There is a brussel sprout that is trying to grow but it is being overshadowed by the massive potato that is growing ominously next to it.

We don't have a problem with the potatoes and squash. It is nice to see the volunteers come up, most likely out of our compost pile. We will see how far they go so we can reap the benefit of nature when our own efforts fall short.

In livestock news our rabbit had a litter of two kits. One was still-born and the other died a few days later. We have decided to put the bunny breeding on hiatus despite our interest in rabbit meat. Our ducks, on the other hand, have adapted to the aviary with the chickens and cohabit quite nicely. Our chickens are in full egg laying mode and our ducklings are transforming into ducks. We are excited for eggs and the possibility of ducklings again at the end of summer.

Someone left the coup open! out came the flock

Proselytizing poultry and webbed additions

Being purveyors of poultry is pretty great. Last weekend my dad asked us if we could help home two chickens. Apparently Easter ends early for other suburban chickens and my dad was aware enough to know that we would take care of them. Whether that meant adding them to our flock or adding them to our stew pot really didn’t matter to us. Fortunately, I had been talking to a friend about adding a few chickens to his family’s backyard. The great thing about being a suburban chicken farmer is that it is very inexpensive to get set up with a few chickens, food, a coup, and even a run. His family got two “teenage” chickens for free and I would venture to say he spent about $100 to get all the supplies necessary to facilitate them. Their family will get fresh eggs nearly every day starting this summer for the next two or three years with minimal effort. If every suburban family in Portland got the three chickens that the city allows without permit I’m certain there could be an effective change in the way eggs come to market. It is so cheap and easy! I mentioned in one of our earlier blogs that our four hens give us about 90 eggs a month. We eat a lot of eggs. Even two chickens could probably serve a family of four adequately each month.
As far as our flock is concerned, I’m afraid that things might be getting a little crowded. Our new affinity for waterfowl might mean that a grumpy or under-producing chicken might end up in a stewpot this summer. Earlier this week we got our duck hens. We ordered a Pekin and a Rouen; both are supposed to be great general purpose ducks. The Pekin is the duck that you would be served in most culinary experiences. When we went to pick them up I fell in love with a Swedish hen. Our duck flock is up to five. We have a Rouen drake and four hens that are: Indian runner, Rouen, Swedish, and Pekin. This flock will create offspring that will be our future meat source.
There are many things we need to do to prepare to introduce the ducks to the rest of the flock. A larger water source, separate housing, and clean conditions are going to be essential to having happy birds. Once we have them, however, we will have excellent eggs from two varieties of poultry, ducks that will procreate and feed our family, and birds that have a better quality of life than what is found in any commercial operation

Dampened expectations; growing hopes

It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to sit down and write about what we have been doing. When the weather is right you have to take advantage and that means a lot of working and not a lot of talking about it. So here is an update on the extra details and then I will get to some plants. We trimmed some of our neighbor’s overhanging branches to create more direct sun in the yard. We are hoping that give our tomatoes and peppers a little extra encouragement. We also know that having a good suburban farm means having a nice suburban house. Last weekend we removed our worn out carpet to expose beautiful oak wood floors. The best part of all of that is guilt free dirt tracking into the house. There is nothing that a broom and mop can’t fix. We are really happy with the way our household is developing and we are really grateful to Carl, John, and Noni and their efforts to make our place better.
But there are plants to talk about! I have always been an anxious planter. Around the end of February I pray that there is no more frost when I plant peas and kale. I ignore the seed packets that tell me to wait until April to plant. Inevitably, I always am disappointed. This year was going to be different. This year we purchased start trays and planted in the warmth of our kitchen. The warmer house and natural light from the window made it seem that we would be much more likely to be successful. We had spinach, swiss chard, artichoke, and bok choy all up in a few days. By the beginning of the next week we had some tomatoes up as well as peppers. We were afraid that we wouldn’t have space for all of the successful plants we had growing in our kitchen. Then all disappointment broke loose. The lack of light and heat took it’s toll on the starts. We were lucky to salvage some kale and lettuce that was able to survive the dark and cold. By the end of the second week they had all dampened off. We replanted after every start once it was evident that everything dampened off. Again, we were excited and again plants came up, and again they died in a week. So we gave up.
Well, we didn’t really give up. We went to Home Depot and Drake’s Seven Dees and picked up eight different varieties of tomatoes, a bunch of peppers and an artichoke. All the tomatoes we are growing are heirloom varieties. We got everything from pineapple and black krim to pear and yellow stripy. Our hope is to have a huge variety of tomato flavors by the heat of summer. I also put all the start trays outside and planted some quinoa and sunflower that should be up in a few days AND SURVIVE! I can’t wait to see all the plants in our garden spot.
Soon I will write more about our birds. Our duck flock got a little bigger today and Carly has spent a little bit of time trying to imprint as mother hen of the flock. It is unbelievably cute and a had-to-be-there kind of moment. So much more to come.

We had one lonely pepper that decided not to die. I wonder if it will make it. If it does it will be the only pepper survivor out of about 60 seeds. Suburban farmers? More like suburban novices.