Cowland

Cowland

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Spring continues

Spring work continues here in Cowland.  We have been very busy the past week with weeding all the lovely spring weeds and removing the last of the leaves from fall.  Some painted daisy seeds have been planted under the front fence and green onions and basil in the herb garden.  Also some lettuce seeds in a small patch with the rosemary.  The first till of the newly enlarged garden has been done and four or five wheelbarrow loads of grass roots removed.  The Bradford pear trees and the cherry trees in the front are all but done blooming as well as most of the azaleas.  The blueberry bushes are looking like a good crop for pretty new bushes this year, lots of leaves and flowers for berries.  The daffodils are hanging on a little and other bulbs are coming up.  It looks GREAT around here.  We even had our first lawn mowing already!  The baby chicks are growing; we've had them a week now and some feathers are coming in on their wings.  They are almost outgrown the box they are living in.  We hope to have a new box tomorrow - much bigger!  Chicken Condo work begins this weekend - should be a very lovely place for them to live in.  We now have all of our seeds for the garden but we have more work to do before planting!

Friday, March 23, 2012

The Chickens are Here!

Our new chickens arrived yesterday.  However, instead of the six we were planning on, we upped the number to eight.  They are all so cute and tiny.  It makes the 50 pound bag of chicken feed look a bit to the extreme.  They had to be taught to eat and drink which only took about an hour.  They are pooping machines!  So far, three of the eight have names and they are Charlotte, Splashy and Zelda.  Our granddaughters will be naming the rest.  Their home is a lovely really large cardboard box in the garage with a "red light" district to keep them warm.  They seem to like about 82 degrees.  So, next up is building them their chicken condo.......

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring Has Arrived!

Today is the first day of Spring - although spring weather has been here for a while.  We have started cleaning up the yard from the "winter" winds and old foliage.  The cherry trees, Bradford pears, azaleas and forsythia are in full bloom, as are the daffodils.  The crocuses - both purple and white are already finished.  It is beautiful here.  Temperatures have been in the low to mid 70s and mostly sunny with occasional showers.  Perfect!  We have most of our seeds purchased for the vegetable gardens, pretty much we just have to get the tomato plants, peppers, sweet potatoes and patty pan seeds.  It is still too early to plant the gardens, but we are having just the weather to get the soil worked with Black Cow and peat moss.  Canning has already begun, though.  The Florida strawberries are so sweet, so today we made 4 1/2 pints of strawberry preserves.  We hope this will be a good summer!