Silvia and Spot's Big Adventure

 Almost the very instant that I posted that the pullets had not escaped from the run, Spot and Silvia were out on a Big Adventure. Terry found them in the grapes, quite a distance from the run. I would have thought they’d go back to the apple orchard. They proved me wrong. Terry was able to get them back into the run by himself. In a flash of brilliance, he threw some scratch grains in the far side of the run when he left the gate open. The rest of the chickens concentrated on eating scratch grains and did not notice that they could run free. He herded Spot and Silvia toward the gate, and in they went.

Terry felt that I should clip the wings of all the pullets on the assumption that if some of them were still small enough to fly, they probably all were. I, on the other hand, preferred to take the “innocent until proven guilty” approach and clipped only Spot and Silvia. Wing clipping is no worse than cutting a fingernail. There is no pain. Only one wing gets clipped, which renders the bird unbalanced and (in theory) unable to fly. I will admit that it has not always worked. In this case, however, Spot and Silvia appeared chagrined the next day, and neither has escaped since.

Silvia and Spot trying to look innocent with one of the Wyandottes

I don’t like to clip wings if I don’t have to because it detracts from the chicken’s appearance. I always clip their right side because I hold them under my left arm. My arm pins down the left wing, and I can use my left hand to pull out the right wing to be clipped by my right hand.

Spot's unclipped side

Spot's clipped side.

The Wyandottes were showing off their flight skills today, but stayed in the run. They still get to keep their wing feathers.

Two Wyandottes teetering on the shade shelter. They miss the apple trees.

My harvest is nearly finished. I still have to roast, skin, and deseed peppers for freezing. I will do poblanos and bell. The jalapeños will just be roasted. It took forever for the bell peppers to turn red. Even now, there’s only two. We are supposed to see temps in the 80s again this weekend, which may motivate them to get on it.

One of two red bell peppers

I already pulled two of my zucchini plants that were succumbing to stem borer. I will pull the rest when I get a moment. One of they is getting weird tumors on the fruits. I don’t know what causes these malformations, but I am hesitant to eat them. It’s probably completely harmless. Still, it isn’t appetizing.

Two tumerous zucchini

In a cruel twist of fate, the Divino Brussels sprouts had poor germination, but the three survivors have nicely developing sprouts.

Divino Brussels sprouts

The Long Island Brussels sprouts germinated well, but are currently doing squat in the sprout department. I’m hoping they will start Brusseling in the cool weather. If it doesn’t get too cold too soon, we might get sprouts that are larger than marbles.

Weenie Long Island Brussels sprouts

Terry’s harvest is ramping up now. The pumpkin vines are dying back. One of them is still blooming bravely. I was impressed with the size of this flower. It was probably 6 inches across. It is doomed to die without having the fruit mature. It’s just too late in the season.

The last pumpkins in the garden plus one huge pumpkin flower

Here’s the pumpkins and squash that Terry has picked.

Pumpkin and squash harvest

We’ve been picking raspberries every other day.

The raspberries are better than expected, given the summer drought

I made a raspberry pie Sunday to share with guests. I love raspberry pie.

Raspberry pie topped with whipped cream. Mmm.

Terry has also started the apple harvest, which is not, praise be, as large as last year.

Apples

I went out to look at my native plants today. The second spike of cardinal flowers is blooming. The spotted appearance is from water droplets.

More blooms on the cardinal flower

The obedient plants are blooming.

Obedient plant

These are supposed to be orange coneflowers. They look yellow to me. In any case, we can say for certain that they are not purple coneflowers, which was the other variety that came in the assortment.

Alleged "orange" coneflowers

The pink milkweed had odd orange-yellow bumps on the seed pods and stems.

Orange bumps on pink milkweed

Closer inspection showed the bumps to be aphids. 

Aphid infestation

At this point in the season, I don’t think they can do much harm. The seeds will probably mature. Aphids have the ability to produce an entire generation from one female, who reproduces asexually. Under some conditions, sexual reproduction occurs. Whenever I see aphids, I remember being in a store with Peg, a plant pathologist. We saw a Noah’s Ark toy, complete with pairs of many animals. Peg said, “You only need one aphid.”

 

Signs of fall

There was a time when I would have described a day such as this as dark and dreary. After a summer of drought, however, the rain is a beautiful sight indeed. We’ve had over an inch, and it is still coming down. I stare out the window every time I hear a downpour, just for the novelty of it.

The rain is too late for the soybeans that have already turned yellow. Some of the corn is also turning brown. These are the concerns of our neighbors. I think there’s enough life in our trees yet to benefit from the moisture.

I have harvested the last cantaloupe. There were 79 in all. Most went to the food pantry. Others went to friends. I ate some, of course, and the chickens got the ones that split and went bad. Some are still in the refrigerator while I ponder what to do next.

Fall is a sad time. We moved the chickens from the apple orchard to the small run by the house. I felt bad for them. The pullets didn’t have trees to hide in when the hens harassed them. However, things seem pretty calm. I haven’t seen much hen-on-pullet aggression. The pullets have brief chicken fights with each other, but those are over quickly. The pullets are nearly full size. They should be laying in another month or so. They look so pretty at this stage, every feather perfect. I love the black pantaloons of the Golden Wyandottes.

Golden Wyandotte with black pantaloons

Compare her appearance with Dottie, a Silver Wyandotte who is losing that clear black border on her white feathers. The one-year-old who really looks worse for wear is Goldie. My guess is that she was low girl in the pecking order and has the lost feathers to prove it. I’m hoping the Silver Wyandottes were not her harassers and that she will grow her feathers back this winter.

Dottie, whose feathers are no longer neatly outlined in black

Poor bedraggled Goldie

We were concerned that the pullets would be constantly flying over the net to escape the hens, but we’ve had no pullets on the lam so far. We were especially concerned about the Ameraucanas, who, you may recall, perched on the coop roof at night until I caught them at it.

Silvia and Spot grazing contentedly inside the run

Penny, our third Ameraucana pullet

I’m pleased that the pullets seem to have taken to the perch. They spend a lot of the day there. I haven’t been out to check at night since they moved.

Spot, Silvia, and two of our three Golden Wyandottes perched in the coop

The two groups of chickens remain segregated. Here is a picture of four of the pullets hanging out by the waterer. As long as they aren’t attacking each other, I’m have no problem with them staying in cliques. No harm done.

Pullets by the waterer

Not everything about fall is sad. I’m pleased as punch that the partridge peas have completed their life cycle. These were the only native annuals I planted, so if they didn’t set seed, my efforts would have all been for nought. Yesterday I saw that the pods had split and curled, scattering the seeds of the next generation. Now we wait for spring.

Partridge pea pods, split and curled to release seeds

I have waited all summer for the cardinal flower to bloom. And here it is. I can still recall seeing it for the first time many years ago when I was hiking through a wetland. Its vivid red grabbed my attention, and I said, “What is that?”

Cardinal flower with a few drops of rain on the petals

Whoever I was with, possibly my parents, didn’t know. I may have had a field guide with me, because I was able to identify it. God knows this was decades before we were snapping digital photos right and left. I doubt if any of us even had a camera. In any case, it’s been a favorite of mine ever since.

The oaks have dropped their acorns. The deer come around to eat them from time to time.

Deer eating acorns under the fifth oak

The garden is winding down, and not a moment too soon. Yes, I will miss the fresh veg, but I’ve been spending way too much time with my canner. I’m ready for the change of seasons.

 

Back to the garden

 Once back from vacation, I dove headlong into the gardening. It took a week and a half to catch up from being gone a week. Sort of like the 147 emails in the in box when you get back to your job, only with more dirt and sweat.

The hummingbirds are busy bulking up for their trip south. They usually disappear for awhile in July. I suspect they are feeding babies. Then the adults and juveniles positively swarm the feeders. They also like the black and blue salvia that we have on the deck.

Hummingbird at the black-and-blue salvia

Probably one picture would be enough, but I have so many…

Going in for the nectar

Just one more.

On to the next one

The house finch fledglings are also at the feeders. I call this one Javier because he reminds me of my one-time department chair who had quite spectacular bushy eyebrows.

Javier, right, with his mom

After butchering day, we moved the pullets down to the orchard with the big girls. We kept the two-year-olds for another two months so we would not be short on eggs. Things were tense in the coop. I discovered one night that the Ameraucana pullets were camping out on the coop roof. I managed to grab two of them and put them inside. The third one was more difficult, and I had to resort to opening the coop door manually so she could go in. Then I had to figure out how to reset it so it would open by itself in the morning. It was hard.

Spot and Silvia on top of the coop

We gave the two-year-olds to a friend at the end of August. With more space, the pullets go right in at night.

The effort of early summer is now paying off in spades. It’s a scheduling challenge—what needs to be taken care of right this minute, and what can wait? In this challenge, the tomatoes are neediest. So far, I have not seen any fruit flies, which is my goal. But the season isn’t over.

The cantaloupe are ripening quickly. Cantaloupe are easy. They fall off the vine when they are ready. Not like watermelon, which are a total guess. In any case, once the cantaloupe start, they increase exponentially. The first day, I harvested one. Three days later, there were 12. Then 13. As of this morning, I have picked 58. I took a dozen to the food pantry last week, ate some, and gave some to friends. I still have over 30 in various refrigerators. The food pantry isn’t open again until Tuesday, and there are still 20 in the garden.

Cantaloupe

Watermelon have an odd, non-functional tendril just above the fruit. My mother called it “the little piggy tail” and said that when it dries up, the melon is ripe. I was skeptical, but so far, it’s been working out. This is the first time in my life that I have successfully grown watermelons, probably due to the unusually hot summer.

My first successful watermelon

My experiments with poblano varieties paid off.  This one is called Trident, and it has produced some beauties.

Trident poblanos

My proudest accomplishments have been with my native plant experiments. I had 100% survival of the expensive plants in the rain garden that never got any rain all summer. Not all of them thrived in their first year, but many are blooming.

Great blue lobelia

Bumblebee on the lobelia

Meadow blazing star

Obedient plant

Sneezeweed

Better yet, I successfully started some natives from seeds I ordered. The partridge pea has set seed, which is good because it’s an annual. All the others are perennials, so it doesn’t really matter if they bloom in their first year or not.

Seed pods on partridge pea

The wild senna finally bloomed,

Wild senna

Close up of senna flower

And also set seed.

Developing seed pods on wild senna

Cup plant gets huge, so I wasn’t surprised that it spent its first summer working on (presumably) its roots.

Cup plant

Joe Pyeweed is notoriously fussy, and it was touch and go at first. Such tiny seeds and wussy little seedlings! But I got one to bloom, and the rest are looking robust. Victory!

Joe Pyeweed in bloom!

Best of all, I grew two species of milkweeds from seeds I collected from my own plants. I’ve done butterflyweed before, and like Joe Pye, it is a slow started. I was surprised that one of the plants flowered in its first season.

Butterflyweed in bloom in its first summer!

The rose milkweed grew faster and bloomed prolifically.

Rose milkweed with bumblebee

Recently, it is showing the best seed set I have ever seen, possibly because of all the pollinators in that small patch of plants.

Just look at all those pods!

I feel so empowered! I went out and collected a bunch more seeds. I plan to scatter some this fall and grow some for spring planting. I will also study the catalogs and order seeds of plants I don’t have yet. Nothing can stop me now!