Chili weather

Lambsquarters are big lanky weeds that come up everywhere. I have some in
the dog run just outside my office window. They are about 6 foot high.
They have small green flowers that don't look like much but must turn into
some tasty seeds because the ones outside my window are filled with tiny
birds. Goldfinches, sparrows, and other small birds seem to be eating the
seeds. My canary is right by the window and he keeps singing his head
off. He's probably trying to warn them away.

I am eating some trail mix with sunflower seeds in it. My little canary
loves me to save him a few. He eats mostly fruit flavored complete and
balanced pellets for birds. That's got to be pretty boring but I can see it
makes less mess- no seed hulls. The sunflower seeds are hulled too. I
think the canary recognizes the package the trail mix comes in and knows he
is going to get a treat. He was eating the pellets when I got him so I have
kept him on them.

My chickens have started to ay again. I broke down and bought a box of eggs
and sure enough the next day there were two eggs in the nest. At least 2
white and two brown egg laying hens are back to laying after the big dog
scare. One of them has to be a new layer- one of the hens who hadn't
started laying yet. The one young rooster who survived has not crowed since
"D" day - I wonder if he will start again soon.

The weather has been cloudy and cool but basically dry. We had some good
rain last week but it wasn't enough to make up the deficit. Our pond is the
lowest I have ever seen. The herons are down there every night looking for
fish in the shallow water but there isn't much I can do about it. I am
actually hoping for rain from one of the hurricanes to make it up here. I
will actually have to drag the hose around this evening even though it's
about 60 degrees.

The tomatoes are ripening more slowly but my new crop of lettuce is growing
like crazy. I can't ever seem to get the two of them ready for eating at
the same time. I was making tomato sauce and freezing it just last week -
then the tomatoes stop ripening because of the cold and cloudy weather. I
dug all the potatoes though and we have been doing some good eating.

I think I will use some of my delicious tomato sauce tonight and make a big
pot of chili. Sure seems like chili weather to me.

update on the hens

Well 8 hens and a rooster survived the first great dog attack. We have not had any eggs since that date and it’s been 2 weeks now. Three of the hens were laying before the attack and should have recovered from the shock - everyone looks fine- but no eggs. Hopefully the 6 hens who weren’t laying will begin soon - at least.

Then there was the second attack. My husband let Ginger - one of the terrible terriers get by him as he went out the door. She was a participant in the last attack and must have been remembering the fun. She hasn’t done that in a long while. Anyway I was at work and the turkeys and their frizzle escort rooster just happened to be walking by the back door as she darted out. The fun began.

As my husband hurried to get his wheelchair down the ramp he hit one of my plant stands filled with a large geranium at the bottom of the ramp. It caught in his wheels. As this was going on Ginger nailed Frizzle in the driveway. My husband thought he was dead. Then she took off after one of the turkeys, chasing her down the dirt road. The other turkey flew up to the roof of the house.

When Steve got the bent wire stand out of the wheel chair he decided he better get to the barn before Ginger came back and got into the coop again. He waited for about 15 minutes before she showed up hot and tired and he was able to corner her in the barn. The hens had no trauma this time. After Steve got Ginger locked inside the house he went out to see if he could find the remains of the one hen turkey and Frizzle.

Much to his surprise Frizzle was gone. He followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road but didn’t find a body. With his chair he couldn’t go into the high weeds and he could only hope the turkey had escaped into them. He couldn’t find Frizzle either. He then called me at work to get me all upset.

When I came home for work I looked for Frizzle then followed the trail of turkey feathers down the road. They crossed the road and I could see piles of them in the neighbors horse pasture. She had to pass several nice trees that she could have flown up into, but once under the fence, which was 3 straps of electric webbing, she had only a well grazed pasture in front of her. I didn’t think it was worthwhile to roll under the fence to look for her. There were big clumps of feathers everywhere and the dog had been gone for a good while. I couldn’t see a body but I assumed it was there somewhere.

At sundown the other hen turkey came down off the roof and took her regular perch on the fence rail by the barn. And lo and behold Frizzle appeared out of the butterfly garden, looking none the worse for wear. He must have played dead. But no dark turkey hen.

The next day I listened for turkey calls as the girls are usually very vocal when separated. But there were none. It was very quiet and Frizzle decided not to leave the barn where he roosts each night. But when I went out to our horse Lilies stall in the evening there stood the dark turkey hen. She had survived. She walked a little stiffly but surprisingly it seemed like most of her feathers were there- despite the large amounts by the road. Even her tail was intact.

She went over to the outside gate of the chicken run and made it obvious she wanted to be let inside. Normally she would have flown right over so she was hurt in some way. The hens have not been let out into the run yet this year, because I always wait until they are laying well in nest boxes before giving them outside space. I gave her some food and water in the run and the lighter colored hen jumped up on the rail to talk to her.

She has stayed in the run the last few days; I guess it makes her feel safe. The lighter hen visits from time to time and stays close by. Neither the turkeys or Frizzle have strayed far from the barn area. It’s a miracle she survived. I think the big brown mare that resides in the pasture the dog chased her into may have chased the dog away. I have seen the horses over there chase dogs a few times. I hope she gave Ginger a good scare.

Everything was quiet until Saturday when Lily, ( our horse), decided to bust the latch off her stall door and get into the front part of the barn. She was eating dry cat food when I found her. She has never done that before- what is going on here? But fortunately she didn’t founder from her food indiscretion and seems fine.

Well life is fun here.

dog days of summer

Yesterday was not a good day. To start off it was 90 degrees with a
relative humidity of 70%. I had to get up early to drive to the fairgrounds
and help break down the Master Gardener exhibit, load my car with some very
heavy stuff and drive home and unload. Then after doing a bit of housework
I went into my office to write and my husband went to take his afternoon
nap.

Now had we been a little smarter what happened next wouldn't have happened.
In the last few days I kept remarking to my husband on how dirty some of the
dogs were, I asked them if they were digging holes to keep cool, I even
remarked to my husband that they were probably up to something. Jack
Russell's are usually up to something. But it was hot and we were busy
during fair week and neither of us pursued the matter. Besides, we hadn't
had any breakouts for over a year, since we installed hot wire on the top
and bottom of the backyard fence.

Well three of my darling little Jacks had discovered that they could dig
near the bottom of the fence in the corner by where the dog door from the
house exits. There was a short stretch where we left out hotwire so our
older dogs coming and going from the house wouldn't get shocked. Our
garbage bin was on the other side of the fence there and we had laid down
some aluminum panels on the dog's side of the fence. Seemed pretty secure
and so it was for about 15 months. Then some how the panel got shifted and
the dogs began their tunnel to freedom.

We figure it took them about three days. That's when I noticed how dirty
they seemed to be. They had to dig a tunnel under the fence then under the
trash bin on the other side. They are nothing but ambitious even in the
sweltering heat. Although I walked by that stretch regularly on my way to
the barn all the clandestine activity was hidden behind the trash bin. Then
as my husband and the big dogs lay down for their nap and I disappeared into
my office the great escape began.

I heard some excited barking but that's not unusual here. Suddenly it
dawned on me the barking seemed a little more excited than usual and farther
away. I hurried outside and realized the barking was coming from the barn
and my heart sank.

Inside the barn and inside the chicken coop- standing on top of the nest
boxes- was Susan, Ginger and Tina. They were barking at a hen who had
managed to fly up to the ledge by the loft rafters. The pen where my
banties had been was torn apart and the dead birds strewn across it. On the
coop floor below them were the bodies of my dead and dying hens. Feathers
and blood were everywhere.

I didn't have much trouble catching the culprits. They were pretty hot and
exhausted. I could only carry two of them but Tina was content to follow us
back to the house. There, after I threw them into the spare room I screamed
and yelled at them for a few seconds, and at my husband to get out of bed.

I brought a big muck bucket with me to the barn and began picking up dead
bodies. Besides the hen that flew up into the rafters another had flown up
onto the highest perch and was safe. Had more of the birds went up high
they would have been safe. Instead they piled under the nest boxes, which
begin about a foot from the floor. There they were pretty easy pickings,
but the sheer number of them managed to protect a few of them, who were
still alive when I began pulling out bodies. I placed the injured birds in
nest boxes to calm down and offered them water about 30 minutes later.

When my husband came out he found one hen outside in the yard which seemed
unharmed. I still can't find one of the tiny banty hens - she may be
hiding somewhere. Our resident roaming turkeys and frizzle rooster were
also unharmed. All in all 10 birds were killed, 9 birds are left, and some
of them have some nasty wounds and may die. One bird is missing.

Our egg production was just getting good. I had actually sold off some hens
because I figured we didn't need them. I just sat down and cried. Such a
waste. I don't know how the dogs got inside the coop- we figure they
squeezed through the door at the bottom.

The dogs were punished by being left locked in the spare room with only
water until we went to bed. They hate being away from the pack. I went to
bed scheming about ways to really punish them, like hiring strangers dressed
in giant chicken suits to chase them around or strapping them to a board on
their sides with vet wrap and putting them in a chicken coop full of hungry
chickens.

Don't worry- none of that happened. We spent the morning filling in a
tunnel, strengthening the coop door and burying chickens. And Tina,
Ginger and Susan are being watched more closely than ever.

Canary song in the office again

I bought a canary today, a small yellow male who is a few years old. He
started singing when we put him in the cage I brought to carry him home and
he has been singing here in my office on and off all afternoon. I love to
hear the song of a canary or similar small birds and I have missed having
one in the house since my green singing finch died a few years ago.

My husband and I used to raise a number of small birds. Twenty years ago we
had a basement full of aviaries containing finches, canaries, pekin robins,
Java rice birds, crested parakeets, Bourkes parakeets and assorted other
birds. We had mostly small birds although I did have two conures and an
African grey parrot . When we moved we had a month between our old house
and our new one in which we had to live in a trailer. So we sold off most
of the birds.

When we got to the country we were so busy trying all the larger livestock
and raising things like peacocks and pheasants that we didn't get small
birds again although I had my green singer and we had Cruiser, a Senegal
parrot. We began raising dogs and our choice- Jack Russell Terriers - made
raising any other small animal in the house with them hard.

But recently after I remodeled my office and had some tall bookcases put in
I decided I really missed birds. Although the office contains a yorkie and
her son, a yorkie - jack cross because they do not play well with other
dogs, I decided the tall bookcases would be a safe place for a bird or two.
My dog groomer had a male canary for sale and so here we are again.

Hardy, the male office dog has not stopped staring at the bird cage since I
set it in here and that has been several hours. Cricket, his mother, has
basically ignored it. I do hope he doesn't kill himself or make a mess out
of things trying to reach the cage. It is 5 feet off the ground so I think
it will be ok. The little bird is used to dogs, being from a grooming
shop. He is already eating and drinking and singing so I think he feels at
home.

The good thing about canaries is that they are perfectly content to be the
only bird around. Even males and females fight unless they are in a huge
flight cage. I do intend to find a few females that I will house
separately, and eventually breed to him but there is no rush. I will get to
hear his wonderful singing as I work.

no longer organic

It’s very hot and humid here today. This weather is hard on people and animals alike and even though the garden is growing like crazy the humidity and heat are also excellent for diseases in the garden. Today I participated in a conference call about how to make homeowners aware of the serious tomato and potato disease late blight. Michigan State University Extension folk want everyone to be aware that the disease is in the state again this year. Controlling it on a homeowner level helps protect farmer’s crops. And homeowners knowing about how to control the disease will let them harvest tomatoes and potatoes this year. Last year many home gardeners lost their entire crop of tomatoes.

We discussed whether or not there was a good organic control and the consensus was unfortunately, is that there is not. When late blight hits your entire tomato or potato crop is usually gone in a few days. It’s too late to spray with chemicals after the disease attacks a plant; you can only protect plants with preventative sprays. For the first time in my entire adult life I am spraying my tomato plants with a fungicide on a regular basis. Last year I tried neem oil, considered to be organic- but I lost all my plants to late blight. Organic controls have to work and be readily available to consumers as well as affordable. Copper sprays and blends have some effect, but usually only delay plant death a short time.

I like being organic. I wish no crops had to be sprayed. However working on the front line and seeing the devastation of home gardens last year I am also a realist. I like fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. If I don’t grow them at home and go out to buy them at the farmers market you can bet that that farmer has treated the plants with something and probably something a lot stronger than I can buy and use at home. ( If you want recommendations for late blight control see my article on it here
Hopefully in a few years researchers will have bred late blight resistant plants and will have discovered cultural and organic controls that deal with it effectively. In the meantime if you grow tomatoes and potatoes- or cucumbers- which have their own new deadly disease called downy mildew- and you want to be sure of a crop you need to spray them preventatively. Don’t beat yourself up over not being organic. If you follow the label directions and wash the tomatoes well before eating you won’t be getting any more chemicals than when you apply most make up, shaving creams, and hair dyes, which most consumers do without thinking twice about.

Middle of a warm July

The smell of the oriental lilies blooming in front of the house keeps
wafting around on this hot, humid air - oh so delicious a smell. Almost
makes the heat and humidity worthwhile. We had a storm blow in last
evening- not too bad and it left about an inch of rain, which was nice
because I didn't have to water. The grass is starting to green up again.
I made sure we bought some bacon at the store today so we can have bacon and
tomatoes for breakfast tomorrow- I have a few ripe ones.

My rose of sharon is blooming and the buddleia is about to bloom too.
Everything is so early- I wonder what will be left to bloom this fall? And
I think it will be a long, warm fall.

Our 6 oldest hens are laying about 4 eggs a day now - although only one is
using a nest box. We have 6 nice nest boxes and they won't use them. I
explained to them politely that if they ever want to go outside and roam in
the big pen they need to learn where to lay their eggs. The younger set
should start laying soon. Just found out that one of them is actually a
rooster - saw it crow today- and I suspect another is too. They are
Ameraucanas. That makes a couple fewer hens than planned but we should
still end up with 14 hens.

Tomorrow morning, when its cooler I am going to experiment and move the nest
boxes to another spot. I may need to adjust the lighting so the boxes are
darker. They are laying on the floor down by the roosts and it is darker
there.

Frizzle, the old rooster and the two turkeys are roaming around the back of
the barn still. They jump over the outside pen wall and sit looking in the
grate that I put over the hole to the outside pen at the new chickens. I
don't want them inside because the turkeys eat eggs. And I think the young
roosters would make mincemeat out of Frizzle. So I have some decisions to
make soon.

I am trying to find some canaries to buy. I want one for my office and
maybe to start breeding them. I used to breed them as a kid and then we had
some when we had the big finch aviary but that was almost 20 years ago.
They have gotten scarce and expensive since then- or I just don't know where
to look. My dog groomer has a few but she didn't have any luck breeding
them this year. Maybe I can find someone who wants to trade roosters for
canaries- or turkeys for canaries, now that would work.

hot weather

I do not like hot weather. My plants are enjoying it but I am not. I have
never seen such happy thriving tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and melons. If
they don't get hit by one of the awful fungal diseases floating around
harvest should be good.

Our weather has been hot, humid but just on the edge of being too dry. We
get browning grass then a moderate rain helps out. I water for a few days,
then get a day or two off. Everything is 2 weeks a head of schedule in
blooming. By the end of summer there won't be any flowers left in the
garden. But I should be too busy canning and freezing the harvest to worry
about that - right?

Our oldest of the new hens are starting to lay fairly well. I am having
trouble getting them to use the nest boxes though. We have lost all but one
of the barn cats to some disease, even the cat we call the "visitor" seems
to have contracted it, she is still alive but has difficulty with balance
and walking and seems to be hanging around here full time so I can bury her.
I always thought she was immune to those diseases.

The barn swallows have came back to the nest they had last year over the
light in the horse stall. They are adding long hairs from Lily to the nest.
I am seeing a kingfisher on the pond quite often and that seems odd. It
doesn't seem like the habitat they would prefer. I also have a pair of
night herons nesting somewhere down there.

Saw a doe with a new, still spotted fawn on the way to town this morning.
It was a rainy, dreary morning and deer were in all the fields. The people
who think that deer are scarce- the stupid ones- should just take a drive
down our roads on a day like today. Deer are smarter than you think. If
you just drive by them and don't stop they ignore you pretty much- except if
they are trying to commit suicide. But if you stop and try to roll down
the window to take a picture they take off. I snapped a couple this morning
but they aren't very good.