After the flood

The rains finally stopped. After several dry days, our clay-rich ground is becoming hard as a rock. I had to take a hoe to the raised bed in the laying hens’ run yesterday so they could resume their dust baths.

Here is a picture of the last of the storms moving east on June 28.

Storm clouds to the east

The day after the floodwaters receded, Terry and I took the row cover off the bush beans. I wanted them to dry as quickly as possible. Beans get an evil white fungus when they are too wet. If the fungus on one plant touches another, the point of contact dies immediately. Evil.

Shriveld upper leaf of a bean plant after the row cover was removed

The beans looked pretty bad in spots when the row cover came off. Two days later, however, most of the leaves that were as limp and wrinkled as wet toilet paper had sprung back to life. I went down the row, clipping off the worst of the dead leaves. Initially, I thought the spotty damage was due to variety—some beans were just more susceptible to flood damage than others. After several hours of contemplation and close observation (I weeded the rows as I trimmed away the damage), I decided that it was where the wet row cover had rested on the plants. The good news was that I only lost one plant that had snapped off at the base when a piece of wood that had been next to the garden floated above the bean and then sat down on it when the water went away. All the rest had apparently healthy meristems (growing tips). I am expecting a full recovery, although the beans might be set back a bit while they replace the lost leaves.

Remarkable recovery of the plant, even though I cut off the leaves that had dead spots for fear of fungus

The apples and peaches are coming along. Both are the size of golf balls. We picked two quarts of Montmorency (tart) cherries on Sunday. I didn’t get a picture because I was too tired at the end of the day to walk upstairs for my camera.

Apples

Peach

The differences between the male and female broilers is becoming clear. While it’s hard to inventory moving chickens, I think we’ve got 9 roosters and 5 hens.

Rooster--note large red comb and developing caruncles (fleshy parts that stick out of the head)

Hen--smaller comb, less pronounced  caruncles

Here is a video of Jackie foraging in the grass, the afternoon feeding frenzy (which occurs after we add a little more feed to the feeder), and Jackie hitting on one of the hens. I’m getting the feeling that Jackie is a boy.