Speaking of eggs (they've simmered down ...well maybe not), I am 99.9% sure we have a little banty hen brooding on 6 banty eggs. That is so exciting for us! We got a Little Banty rooster for our three hens about a month ago. His name is Eli and we got him from a chicken rescue for free. We just put the word out in our area and someone contacted us. He fit right in with the hens. No fights or anything which is great. We aren't really raising these chickens for eggs or meat. The chickens are so small there really isn't much use for the meat, and it takes 4 eggs to equal 2 large eggs. I usually reserve the banty eggs for baking. The little guys are fun though, provide manure, and eat bugs too; so still worth it. We've had a few offers on chicks when they hatch, primarily for any that are lavender colored as we have a lavender hen. Now if we can just get the full size hens to sit on some eggs, that would be great! We do have three chicks we recently incubated. It produced, I know for sure, one rooster, and one hen. The third is still a toss up, but I'm leaning toward rooster. Little disappointing if that's the case. Roosters mean meat for the freezer, but not something we look forward to. It is something we accepted though when we chose to raise chickens. If we can't get a hen to sit, we plan to incubate again in about 14 weeks. We prefer a hen do it, but we will incubate if need be.
On the garden front, I have 90 tomato plants currently being planted on this off and on rainy day. They have gotten so big, I need to either plant them or re-pot them. I don't think I have enough pots. So in between rain showers I'm planting tomato plants. I have 29 left to plant. Any tomato volunteers in the garden are getting the ax. I know they are cherry tomato plants, and I don't need them. Out they go. I only have room for the tomato plants I am planting. Well those and the 46 pepper plants I also have to find a home for. Yea, I am not playing this year. I need tomatoes, peppers, and beans. I have plans for tomato sauce, salsa, ketchup, tomato soup, chili, BBQ sauce, etc all put up for winter. I'll also freeze a large amount of peppers to cook with. The beans are starting to poke their heads out. I have 12 speckled Lima beans (a good substitute for pinto beans) coming up from last year. They get to stay.
In addition to all this, I am harvesting spinach, asparagus, and a few beets in the garden. I have garlic growing like crazy, as well as a parsley plant held over from last year (they are a semi perennial).
Blooms are on my strawberries! Yay! I've even seen a few baby strawberries, and my blueberry bushes are covered in baby blueberries! I can't wait! I also have apple blossoms on my apple trees! Now if the deer will just leave them alone. No peaches I guess. They bloomed too early and a late freeze got them.
On the home repair front, we now have a new deck on the front of the house as well! I can't stain it yet. I have to wait about 6 weeks. If it ever dries out long enough, I can go ahead and stain the back deck. It's new too from this past October.
