Bigger and bigger

Chicks grow up so fast! In a week, I expect they will be fully feathered and ready to go outside. We have been hoping for rain because one storm front after another mysteriously divides and goes around us. It will be hard to get the posts in for the chick fence if the ground is dry and brick-hard.

Black Australorp--note how much bigger its tail is than last week.

Whiting True Green

Murray's Big Red Broilers--note that some are darker than others

The chicks do a lot of running with their wings pumping, but I haven’t seen any take off yet. I wonder if that is a surprise to them the first time they become airborne. All of the Murray’s Big Red Broilers are male (they grow faster), and they have chicken fights quite a bit. Unfortunately, they don’t do it on cue, so I am not able to get a video. They literally run right into each other head on. It’s hilarious!

The robin chicks have at least doubled in size this week. It even seems like they were larger today than yesterday. The nest is very crowded. I expect them to fledge any day now.

Robin chicks on June 22.

Robin chicks on June 23. No room! No room!

I caught a picture of the illusive female orchard oriole. While the female Baltimore oriole is a paler version of the male, the female orchard oriole is bright yellow with olive wings, and the male has a black head and wings and a rufous breast.

The female orchard oriole is smaller and yellower than the female Baltimore oriole

I did the big reveal this weekend. I took the row cover off the peas and cabbages yesterday. My first plan was to put fencing on one side of the peas as a trellis. I got to worrying that the rabbits would eat the cabbage and decided to extend the fence to include the cabbage as well. As with the landscape cloth, the pea trellis fencing was not quite double the length of the row. Jane was visiting and helped me by holding one end of the fence so it wouldn’t coil up on itself. She didn’t feel like she was doing much, but I assured her that her role was pivotal.

Beans, left; cabbage and peas in a fence; potatoes, far right

Today I uncovered the beans and Brussels sprouts. I gave up weeding and thinning the beans because the ground was too wet from the last watering. I had to constantly wipe mud off my weeder. Too much bother.

Brussels sprouts

This year, we planted the carrots and beets in a raised bed by scattering seeds. They grew thickly and must be thinned. The beet leaves were big enough that I put some in fried rice for dinner. Like all greens, they cooked down to nothing and were barely perceptible. I’m sure we got good vitamins and minerals.

Baby beet greens before cooking