Garden on Corliss Homestead Journal

Nancy Reading wrote: You say that you wish that you had a roof on the run - is that to keep the chicken dry outside, or for another reason?

Having a semi-protected area in the run, especially in the winter, makes chicken keeping more convenient for me. I find my chickens hate touching the snow and if the ground is cleared they will spend time outside in the winter. We have open room under the coop itself that is sheltered but we have to stoop to tend to their feed and water. I have been frustrated when I forget to put the food under the coop and a rain storm comes through and turns the chicken crumble into cement clogging up the works.

I store their feed and feed accessories in two galvanized cans that are propped up off the ground with bricks. I keep burlap on the lids for both snow and chicken droppings. If eight inches of snow accumulate overnight, I just have to pull off the burlap and the can lid is clear. This doesn't work if it melts a little and refreezes overnight sticking the burlap to the galvanized lid. Then you scare the chickens with the loud clangs of trashcan lids being popped off the cans! A roof covering would eliminate that minor inconvenience.



It also would be neat to have a roof that can harvest rainwater off of. My chicken run is near my garden plot and having convenient clean water would be super.

It just requires work, and figuring out how much roof height I can get away with without taking away sun from nearby beds.

The start of the gardening year has begun.

In the early spring, I hedge my bets and try to get some spring seeds out into the ground just in case the last frost of the year is early. Peas are my canary in the coal mine so to speak as they are cheap, plentiful, and something I would eat if they are successful! I've spread a bunch around my various gardens and already have seen some success.

I've already raked back my straw mulch from my raised beds to give the soil an opportunity to start warming up. Various 'weeds' have already sprung up, with the mulch, that I will hand pluck here shortly.  

I have arranged for around 10 yards of compost/topsoil to be delivered this Saturday from a trusted farm in the area that is sorely needed in all sorts of spots. Some of the volume will be utilized to top off production beds but a good majority of it is to improve soil throughout my property. There are quite a few dips and low-spots that I have been smoothing out year by year with deliveries of material. I've managed to help sculpt the lawn to both shed water and hold it in certain gardening zones. A majority of this work is focused on the back of the property but the front also needs some tender loving care.

I'm intending on posting more photos of my progress as it happens. Stay tuned for the Saturday delivery.

Happy Easter to those who observe!

It was a wonderful weekend where on saturday my family all converged on my home an we enjoyed an early dinner of ham and fixings. We hosted an easter egg hunt for our nieces that they thoroughly enjoyed. After all the festivities, sunday turned into a day that could be enjoyed however we wished. I decided to start moving dirt.



The plan was to top off my raised garden beds, and move a lot of volume towards the forsythia line.



My wife helped me determine a line to follow with the topsoil to give it a gentle shape. We decided to also extend the garden space to around an existing wood chipped space because we had the material to do it. I spent the afternoon with a shovel and wheelbarrow moving material.





The sooner I get this dirt moved, the sooner I can start planting. I'm pleased with the consistency of the material. It is on the sandier side but there is quite a bit of organic material as well. I'm sure it will grow some fantastic vegetables in due time.

You can only live life once, get your broody hen some babies.



Say hello to Mama and her six new chicks! We have a standard Australorp raising six assorted bantams to adulthood.

This hen has been broody for a little over two weeks, even after kicking her off the eggs a half dozen times trying to get her to snap out of it. We brought her the chicks and stuffed them under her when she was in the nest box. Instantly, she was giving happy little clucks! We checked in on her a few more times and so far everything has been sweet!

In hindsight, I would of created a separate brooding box for just mama and the chicks so they could have everything in one convenient area. I have sense repurposed two of the nesting boxes by knocking out a divider and placing food/water for the chicks in the new larger box. When I put the things in there, mama moved herself and her brood into the box. The rest of the hens are doing well by not bothering the happy little family but they are attracted to the chick food. Mama has now used her body to wall off access to the food unless your a chick so problem solved!