Settling in

The girls are adjusting slowly to their permanent run. I think they miss the space and shade of the orchard, both from the trees and from under Coop 2. For the first few days, which were hot and sunny, those that ventured out spent most of their time in the kennel. It’s been cooler the last couple of days. Here’s a picture from Saturday morning with Opal on the windbreak, Bella and Blanche by the coop door, Layla inside the kennel, and Rose and Angelica wandering the yard.

Hanging out on Saturday morning

A cluster of large weeds from the mustard family grew in one corner of the run. Sunday morning, Hilda bent the tops over so the hens could get at the seeds. They liked that a lot.

Eating the mustard weeds

I have picked up the pace on my course revisions for the fall and am making better progress. The consequence is that I have not done much in the garden this week. My big accomplishment was installing a pea trellis. Jane and I spent a great deal of time wandering around Menards considering our options. In the end, I decided on rabbit fence, which would serve the dual purpose of supporting the peas and discouraging predation. It won’t stop the damned ground squirrels, but we have rabbits a-plenty this year as well.

The pea trellis/rabbit fence

The cantaloupe seeds have sprouted.

Cantaloupe sprouts

We are trying watermelon again this year. I haven’t grown them since several failed experiments at our previous home. The season never seemed long enough to get them ripe. Jane found these Crimson Sweet seedlings at Kline’s. The tag said they would reach maturity in 80 days. If that’s correct, our summer is plenty long enough. We’ll see.

Watermelon

We have fairly good sized tomatoes coming on the New Girls. It makes a person think that tomato season is just around the corner, but of course it isn’t. It will be a good 6 weeks before they are ripe. So hard to be patient. 

New Girl tomatoes