In Stride

The garden seems to be hitting it's stride, finally.  Yeay!  I thought I'd share some updated pictures with you, so you can see too.

This is the garden, right after it was put in, May 31st.

Dirt, dirt, dirt.  So discouraging.

This is the garden on the 24th:

Less dirt!  Yeay!

Ok, let's take a walk around, shall we?

As we get a little closer, we can look to one side:

Oooh!

And the other side

Aaaah!!

Let's get closer.

The eggplant and zucchini used to look like:

 
But now, kablammo (ish)!!!

Actually, I think they've gotten bigger since I took this picture.  If not, I'll just keep telling myself they did.  It makes me happy.  :)

The beans back then:

What beans, you say?  These beans!!

Kapow!

The tomatoes and garlic last month.

Wait, you say, I don't see tomatoes.  I see sticks and garlic.  Well, take a look now, baby!

Bango!

How about the pumpkins and corn?

Yeah, not much to see there.

How about now??

Kachow!!

Potatoes anyone?

Not then.  It was dirt.

But now!

Bazingo!

And the cucumbers back then?

 Not so much.

But now

That's more like it!

Let us look at the lettuce.

Then:



Eh.

And now:

Yeay!!

The field corn also came up:

Whoo.....uh...nevermind.

It is fairly pathetic, though.  I overestimated the amount of sunlight that patch actually gets.  In reality, it's not enough.  So I wait to see what this patch does, but I don't have much hope.

What have I learned so far?  The importance of mulch.  Mulch, mulch, mulch, everyone.  Just mulch--that's going to be my answer to every question from now on.

How do I get my garden to grow?
Mulch.

Why are those tomatoes so big?
Mulch.

What's 8 times 5?
Mulch.

See?  It works for everything.

I use old leaves, grass clippings, compost, old chick bedding, old duck bedding, rabbit poo, yeah pretty much whatever I can find.  I'm not proud.  Also, constant weeding.  Weeding, weeding, weeding.  It's annoying.  I can't get ahead.  But I try anyway.  Next year, I am going to try to put newspaper down under the mulch.  I do it in all my perennial gardens, and it works to keep the weeds down.  That will be what I do next year to see if it will do the same in the vegetable garden.  Someone remind me of that, will you?  I'm know I'm going to forget.  

So, so far, so good.  I'm pretty pleased with it.  In fact, it's almost to the point where I'd like to put a chair in there and just sit with the plants.  Almost, but not quite.  If it gets to that point this year, though, I know it was a success.  Last year all I wanted to do was put a big blanket over the garden and hide it.  We shall see.

What else did I learn?  The garden is not big enough, unless the yields are higher than I think they will be.  So the question remains; do I take the front yard over (in part), or do we clear some trees and use the acreage we're not using?  Questions, questions.  That's a toughie.  For now, though, I am happy as a clam. 

Be well, friends!!  Go outside and mulch!!

Oops! I Built it Again

Singalong time!  Put on your best pop starlet and sing with me, won't you??



It seems I built it again.

The ducks needed a house, theirs was falling down

Looked crappy

So I grabbed up some wood

Grabbed up some screws, made some cuts

And I put it together

And well now, right here it is

Oh duckies duckies

Oops!  I built it again

I played with my saw, played with my drill

Made quite a mess

Oh duckies duckies

Oops!  You'd think that it's square

You'd think that it's plumb

I'm not that talented

You see my problem was this
The house didn't match
The other two, and well I've got a thing

Plus it was too small
For all the new duckies that are living here
So I got on my work clothes
And sort of followed a plan

A plan, oh

Oops! I built it again

 I played with my saw, played with my drill

 Made quite a mess

 Oh duckies duckies

 Oops! You'd think that it's square

 You'd think that it's plumb

 I'm not that talented

***My apologies if that song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day

Percy Catches a Mouse And....

...decides to hypnotize it.

"Look into my eyes.....you are getting sleepy...."

...tries a Vulcan mind meld.

"Open your thoughts to me....."

...falls deeply in love.

"Do you know, I've never seen a more beautiful creature than you.  Your eyes, your fur....shall I compare thee to a summer's day?...."

...forgets what the hell to do with it, since it's been years since he's caught one.

"Ok, bear with me a second.  You're a mouse, right?  Now, I KNOW there was something I was supposed to do with you.  Oh, WHY can't I remember?  Don't suppose you wanna help me out, do you?"

...stumbles upon a true fellow lover of philosophy.

"No, I agree.  You do take your right arm in, and you do take your right arm out.  I only question if that really is what the Hokey Pokey is all about?  And why pokey in the first place?"

Or....????

Give me your best shot.  There's a world of possibility here!

Boys!

Boys will be Boys, right?  Yeah, well, they never accounted for male turkeys, but they probably should have.  The turklets are 7 weeks old and starting to hit their stride, which means the testosterone is FLYING.  This has become a fairly common scene around here, between the two turklets we're pretty sure are males.

___________________________

One turkey boy says something rude to the other one.  Something like "Your mama was so ugly, that your dad had to put his snood over his eyes just to mate with her!"

This, of course, totally ticks off the other little turkey boy, and he curses back or says something just as rude.  After a minute or two of barbed comments, the fight ensues.

One goes high, the other goes low.

They dance around one another, wings down and tails at the ready.

They charge.

They meet and jump on top of one another's heads.

The way to win the fight?  Grab the back of the opponent's neck and hold on until he cries "Uncle!".

They both go for the advantage.

Now Gus (the poult with the orange band) has taken the lead and has gotten a grip on Turkey Boy's neck.  Normally, Gus will just hang onto Turkey Boy until Turkey Boy lays down--a sign of submission.  This time, a chicken broke the fight up and Gus didn't get his victory.

Which meant it wasn't really over, and he knew it.  Once the chicken was gone, Gus stalked Turkey Boy back and forth, not really starting with him, but not letting him completely off the hook, either.

Yep, he chased him to the edge of the deck, and showed him who was boss.  This is Gus in half display.  I wasn't quick enough to catch the full monty.

He continued to threaten Turkey Boy, but the fight kept being interrupted by chicken after chicken.  Gus soon gave it up.

Minutes later, since they couldn't fight anymore, they took a nap together.

That's Gus watching me, because he saw me take the camera out.  The thing fascinates him, and he sticks his face right in it every time I bring it out.  If I want to get any "unposed" pictures of Gus (ie; pictures that are not of up Gus' nose or in his mouth), I have to do it from inside the house.  He went to sleep right after I put it away.

If you're wondering why Gus has a band and Turkey Boy does not, it's because we identified Gus as a boy early on.  He's also the tamest, and will sit in anyone's lap and talk to them.  To be sure I knew which one he was when they were all together, I banded him.  I believe Turkey Boy is also a boy, since he's the only one Gus takes on.  But until I'm sure, he'll be unbanded.

And yes, Gus did win this fight, even though it was interrupted.  Gus, who is a bit smaller than Turkey Boy, wins every fight.  He's small, but mighty, it seems!

Nap

Turkeys take their naps very seriously.

zzzzzzzzzz.....

Wha...huh??

Can't you see I'm sleeping here?  Jeez, woman!

So do kittens

What hard lives they all must lead.