Ah, on to the heart of the matter

I got this whole blog started in the fall, shortly after a move, so needless to say there wasn't a whole lot of gardening going on. Fall and winter tend to be about baking and cooking for me. Which explains both the first few posts and the probably 15 pounds I gained this winter. That is not the case now. I can say we are well on our way to getting our set up going. We moved into the house in late September. It was a large square lawn, gotta love a blank slate. Having had started more then one garden by now I new we needed to get the beds built sooner then later, so we got those done right away in October before the weather went sour.

The last few weeks have seen the compost bins completed, a major A one priority. The new batch of worms arrived for the worm bins. I have been doing vermiculture for years but had to let them go 2 years ago due to a move and subsequent housing arrangements. I am happy to have those little gold minds back in action. I also have a couple new ideas for outside arrangements for these guys, so I am going to be doing some testing, I will surely update here as those come to fruition.

We also started the fencing that will go around the garden area. This is going to serve three functions, keeping the dog out when needed, keeping the chickens in when needed and growing Raspberries on, which is yummy and needed. The fence will get set next weekend just in time to plant the Raspberries.

The baby chicks are on order, they arrive March 3rd. This too I am excited to do again, this will be my second batch of chicks and I am looking forward to using what I learned the first time around, which was a lot. The biggest thing I learned is it isn't difficult, just messy. I am brooding a total of 15 chicks (double what I did last time) - 3 for me (which is the urban limit in Portland), 2 for my aunt who became the owner of my original flock after my life upturning move and she wants to add a couple more to the group and I am brooding 4 or so for a friend that needs to replenish her flock on her farm. It works well, she doesn't have the time and I get farm stuffs in trade (i.e plants for my veggie garden, since I don't yet have a greenhouse going, although that too is a changing this spring). I am also going to raise 5 Cornish crosses for meat. This is an experiment I have long wanted to do. We have future plans for moving to land with the aim for permaculture and self sufficiency (as much as possible), this will require raising our own meat. So we need to find out if we can do it. This first round will not be butchered by me. There is a local place that does the whole deal, drop off live birds and pick them up ready for the freezer. I am going this route for two reasons. One I am not educated in the right and humane way to do the deed, which is critical to me. Also, I need to find out if I can even raise something and have some one else do it. I figure if I can get the brids to slaughter, and still eat them then the next stage is going through the process with someone else so I can learn and experience it myself, THEN I will consider processing my own.

Next weekend is building the brooder for the chicks. Going through the experience with just a handful of chicks last time was a great learning experience and the Rubbermaid tub brooder I set up worked well.......to a point. I now know much more about what this will require. We will see if my new idea for a brooder works any better. I am sure the next post will be all about the brooder and the chicks arriving.