And being a chump, I’ve been real busy lately. Sorry about that.
Also, our remodeled bathroom is almost done. We didn’t get the window ordered in time, and so we’re in a holding pattern until that shows up later, but the rest is just awaiting inspection. Anyway, my yard is a total mess, and I haven’t posted in a while.
I’m a poor excuse for a garden geek. So sue me.
Without further ado…
Welcome to my Tuscan resort. Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never been there. Ya gotta think it looks like this, though, no?
We have flowers. Mais oui. (Which is what they speak in Tuscany. French.)
Our second flush of raspberries is in full… uh… flush. These would be yer Tulameen, if I’m not mistaken, which I often am.
And what Tuscan resort would be complete without a fig tree? This thing has been VERY happy in the ground. She did not like her pot one bit.
The Asian pear espalier is (literally) dripping with fruit. This is, again probably mistakenly, a chojuro and a nijiseiki. Voila!
These blueberries did not get the memo that their season is over.
Every year I plant something because I find a couple of seeds lying around, and I think it’s really too late, but what the heck… and almost every time, it is not at all too late. These are papaya pear squashes.
This is your ready-made S-curve photo of a trombocino (which apparently means “penis” in Tuscan French) squash.
This is the one and only purple eggplant that I’ve seen from, maybe, five plants? We’ve eaten half a dozen or more of the white “Casper” eggplants. Normally, I’d expect to be chucking these at passing cars by now.
Brussels sprouts. Dammit, I am going to eat some brussels sprouts from my garden– aphids be damned. I always grow them, and I always end up eating two sprouts and then composting the plants because they’re all gross. NOT THIS TIME! NOT THIS ELECTION YEAR! WE NEED CHANGE WE CAN EAT!
Walla walla! Walla walla! Baby onions for next year.
Baby beets for this winter.
Baby leeks for… whenever they decide to be ready. Leeks are awesome. If you don’t grow leeks, you are a terrorist.
Mags and Ethel.
Dots and Chicken-Without-Name
So, Chicken-Without-Name (formerly known as Shirley) has stopped laying. Just like that. She hasn’t produced an egg for a week. The other girls crank out one a day. So, she’s either got an egg wedged in her sideways (that’s not good) or she’s got some other issue (probably psychological, given her personality).
The chances of me taking her to the chicken vet are approximately zero in one billion. I’ve got a cat that I have to give insulin shots twice a day. He’s had cryptococcal granuloma, tooth abcesses, and now diabetes. He is the $10,000 cat by now, at least.
I suggest daily to Shirley that I’m pretty much tapped out on the vet thing. She really outta reach deep down within herself, bear down, and start cranking out some ova. Tick tock.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
11 responses so far ↓
1 Farmer Jen // Sep 16, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I enjoy your posts and have missed you! You can’t let work get in the way of your blogging…
If Shirley is “egg-bound” I think she’d be acting listless and sick. The chicken books say that if she is egg bound, sometimes you can feel the egg and help it out of the hen if you gently press on her abdomen and massage.
Why did you un-name Shirley?
2 Rian // Sep 16, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Aw… thanks, FJ. That’s why you’re my new best friend.
She’s not listless. I don’t know what being a pain in the ass is a symptom of, but she has it. The egg thing is just her way of giving me the finger (not having fingers and all).
I unnamed her because I’m going to feel bad giving Shirley the thoracic squeeze or chopping block– whereas chicken-without-name will be no problem. It’ll be just like taking the top off a carrot.
3 Farmer Jen // Sep 16, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Oh, I could never do that! Makes my chest hurt thinking about it.
Let me plead her case…I think she will lay well again for you, as some hens are just sensitive to weather changes and other conditions that can affect their laying. Is this hen the blonde Buff Orpington I saw in the photo? My Buffs didn’t like laying eggs in the heat of summer, but laid quite well when the weather cooled down. Buff Orps lay fewer eggs per month, but lay longer in years than other breeds. Please give her a chance to improve her egg production. Also make sure your girls have enough oyster shell and grit available to keep them and their eggs healthy.
Keep in mind that she still performs a service even if she never lays another egg as she will till your garden, eat all the bugs and fertilize your soil, all for just chicken feed!
End of lecture. My case rests.
4 Farmer Jen // Sep 16, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Besides, chickens past the age of a few weeks don’t taste good anyway. It would be a waste of a cute chicken with an attitude. Give her to Danni instead. Danni needs more hens…hens with attitude.
5 Rian // Sep 17, 2008 at 11:21 am
Hey! There’s an idea! It’ll be a rescue chicken! Danni’s such a wuss, she’d have to take her.
She’s actually an Ameraucana and doesn’t fit in at all. When I put the other ladies in their tractor, chicken-without-name has to stay in the coop cuz she freaks out when I try to pick her up. She’s kind of a jerk, really. You know, for a chicken.
OK, tell ya what, I’ll give her some time in your honor. But she better step up, or it’s off to Critter Farm with her. Think of all the fun blog pictures– CWN in a sack arriving at the farm, CWN being pecked by the others, CWN in separate sleeping quarters, CWN in back of truck going to new home…
6 Farmgirl_dk // Sep 17, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Gosh, my ears have been burning and now I know why. Sure, bring the little girl on over here. Clearly, she’s in need of some love, a home-cooked meal, and possibly a chicken pedicure and I’m just the gal ridiculous enough to provide this.
Or….you could go take a look at my blog post from today and have hope that little Miss Shirley will be laying for you again soon…maybe you could let her watch the video. I asked Sparrow to send Shirley a few subliminal egg laying messages.
7 Farmgirl_dk // Sep 17, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Oh yeah.
P.S. Don’t eat Shirley. Your new best friend, Farmer Jen, and I have cursed her to taste like burning tires and rancid cat box, should you decide to try. Sorry. It was just something we felt we had to do.
8 Rian // Sep 17, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Funny, she looks just like CWN. CWN also drops them from a standing, often walking, position. I have this odd suspicion that I’m going to find out that she’s been sneaking out of the coop somehow and dropping them in a pile somewhere.
She seems perfectly healthy as far as I can tell (read: delicious in a stew), but she’s just not putting out.
Mmm… cat box…
Still, I promised Jen I’d give her some time, and I’m a man of my word (unless it benefits me to go back on it).
9 Farmer Jen // Sep 17, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Ameraucanas are supposed to be smarter than the average chicken, so maybe Shirley has an alternate nest/home where she lays her eggs to hide them from you.
What color were her eggs when you collected them before? Blueish green or brown like Danni’s Sparrow lays?
10 Rian // Sep 17, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Smarter, eh? Hm. Well, how smart is it to get yourself on death row? Ah HAH! I rest my case.
She laid about two dozen, I’d guess, blue-green eggs.
11 Farmgirl_dk // Sep 17, 2008 at 4:47 pm
What’s CWN again? Wait - chicken without a name. I got it. Poor Shirley. I bet she and Sparrow would be pals. And then I’d finally get some damn blue-green eggs.
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