Here a chick, there a chick

 So hot. So dry. So damn much wind. Not likely to change for a couple more days at least. We’ve finished up planting most of the garden. I’m waiting for a cooler, cloudier, less windy day to plant the basil. Basil is such a wussy plant. With the plants and seeds in the ground, we spend a good portion of our day watering, watering, watering.

Still, the garden looks pretty darned good, if I do say so myself. This picture shows the potatoes and tomatoes. The row cover (white) is over the cabbage plants and green bean seeds, not yet sprouted. I normally put on the row cover to keep off the bugs and keep the plants a little warmer during those cool early summer days. HA! At least they still have the bug protection. And some protection from the wind. You can just see the garlic peeping over the row cover in the back.

Our garden

I planted another batch of radishes. I laughed when I took a close look at this packet of seeds. The funny thing is that I don’t recall ordering Roxanne radishes, and I’m sure I didn’t order Silor cucumbers. This is why I always check the “no substitutions” box on the order form.

Odd substitution

The high tunnel is looking good. I’ve got two Crimson Sweet watermelon plants, three peppers designed for greenhouses, three tomato plants, and some Brussels sprouts, in addition to the peas, green beans, lettuce, carrots, beets, and herbs that I’ve previously reported. Will this be the year that I can keep a watermelon plant long enough to get a truly ripe melon? Stay tuned.

The high tunnel

The first planting of peas is wrapping up while the second planting is hitting its stride. We had enough peas for a decent-sized serving for two people today. The idea of the high tunnel is “succession planting.” One is supposed to plan ahead for what can be filled in where as each planting senesces. When the first peas are done, for example, I’m going to pull them off the trellis and train my baby cucumbers into that space. Speaking of, I harvested the first two baby cukes yesterday. The one we ate was exceptionally delicious, likely because we haven’t had a decent cuke since last year.

The first two baby cucumbers

The high tunnel does attract a number of not-very-bright visitors, such as birds and butterflies. They always fly for the top, which is exactly where there isn’t any opening. The birds have all managed to get out by themselves so far. This lovely black swallowtail didn’t make it out on its own, but it was cold enough the next morning for me to pick it up from the edge of the raised bed and put it outside. After a few minutes in the sun, it was on its merry way.

Black swallowtail

It’s too bad Hilda is gone because we have finally gotten the hang of growing strawberries. Last year, we learned that if a strawberry touches the ground, it will rot instantly. So this year, I put lots of straw under the berries, and they are just beautiful! Wait. Straw. Berries. Strawberries. More than coincidence?

Yesterday's strawberry harvest

The big excitement of the week was the arrival of the chicks. They were supposed to ship on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. But Monday was Memorial Day, so I figured that was a wash. Nothing on Tuesday either. I had an email on Wednesday that they were on their way! Thursday morning, I tracked the package to Minneapolis at 5:55 p.m. Wednesday night. When I didn’t get a call from the post office by 8:00 a.m., I called to see if there was any chance they would be in Harvard at all that day. The guy said that maybe they might get to Woodstock, and they would call to give me the option of driving in to get them. He assured me that the drivers were always careful to put any package of live animals up in the front with them, out of the heat.

So I waited. No call. By the end of the day, they were in Chicago. Chicago! I was up early again Friday morning, and the call came at 6:15. I was so anxious about their welfare that I hardly even thought about Hilda’s absence. The chicks were all fine. I dipped their beaks in water for their first drink, as always. I’m sure they were thirsty after their long trip. Soon I had them settled in the brooder box working on their first meal.

Chicks in the brooder box on their first day

Here’s 17 seconds of baby chick cuteness!

The layers for this year are three Dominiques, which all look alike.

One of three Dominiques

The Americauna (the blue-egg layers) are all different, and none of them will be white. That’s good. Chickens are kind of racists. Put another way, birds of a feather truly flock together, and they don’t take to chickens that don’t look like them. The lone white Americaunas that we’ve had always get picked on unmercifully. Poor Bianca finally died, as I have chronicled in this blog, and I don’t want to talk about it.

One Americauna

Another Americauna

The third Americauna

 In other news, the chipping sparrow eggs hatched a week ago. On Sunday, they were just little fuzz balls.

Newly hatched chipping sparrow fuzz balls

By Wednesday, they were begging for food whenever they felt their nest move.

Chicks go through a phase where they are all mouth

Yesterday they were covered with feathers. I felt bad getting this picture because one of the parents arrived just ahead of me with a big, juicy caterpillar in his/her beak. I backed away, but she still just flitted nervously around while her chicks went hungry. So I went in for a quick pic, and got out of there.

Feathers are coming in

More poppies are blooming. I love poppies. I posted a picture of one with yellow pollen and white stripes. Here’s the more common version with the black stripes and dark pollen.

The more common colors of poppy

I’ll wrap up this week with another picture of the doe and fawn. I got up to see if the hens were in bed, and saw what looked like a tall, thin dog in the middle of the field. Nope, it was the week-old fawn! Soon she and her mom strolled right by the garden, like they wanted to be sure I saw them.

Doe and fawn