First Day In The Sun With Mum...

The chicks are doing well so far and Alfie is teaching them everything they need to know about being a chicken. Today I took them outside onto the lawn for a look around and to give Alfie some time to forage, it didn't take long for them to learn that if you scratch around long enough you are bound to find some tasty morsels.

Now they are getting quicker and it is making it quite difficult to take a good photo. Just when I get myself positioned and ready to snap...*Neeeroooom* and off they go again. Kentucky reminds me of road runner, long lanky legs and incredibly fast. Princess Bella is not quite as quick and is starting to resemble a penguin. Marilyn can move when she wants to but seems quite content just sitting back and watching everyone else do their thing.

I brought chick crumble when they started to hatch but since then they have been eating a variety of extras. First I started them with a bit of apple and some kiwifruit which they loved, especially the apple...they also liked a little bit of bread. A lot of people say their hens like greens from the garden but mine never have. Apart from carrots, peas (they love my peas!) and fresh corn they turned their beaks up at anything else.

Now I have the chicks and some greens in the garden I thought it would be a good time to try getting them into some so I grabbed some leaves of red chard and foodhook silverbeet and sliced it very finely...and what do you know, even Alfie wolfed it down. They really like the small chunks of stem I noticed and the bonus will be no waste of older leaves or stems for the garden.

Though they didn't stray far from mum today, they did wander off a little way exploring. Alfie found a shaded spot under a tall grassy plant and showed them how to scratch around and find bugs and worms...and when she found one she gave it to them until they got the hang of it themselves...and that didn't take long. Kentucky might be the fastest but Princess Bella is fast and sneaky...she knows to nab it and RUN!

They make a complete mess in their food bowls thanks to their mum, she has showed them to dig around in the crumble to get the small bits of corn so food goes flying everywhere...they do eat it all in the end so its not a problem and whatever is left when I change their food and water bowls get thrown out for Lola and Petunia...whose gas gauges are always on E. 

From The Garden...

The first pea pod of the season...there is nothing like the taste of fresh peas eaten straight out of the pod. Like the asparagus, I doubt many will make it into the kitchen.
 

A sea of purple and blue. The borage plants are bringing so many bees and bumbles to the garden, it must be like a pollen paradise for them.

The Urenika potatoes are growing quickly and will need mounding up soon. These ones were planted earlier so are a little more established but the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago have started pushing their way up through the soil now and hopefully will take over the raised garden bed.

Lipstick happily munching in the sun, never far from her goat buddy Sugar. They have become such good friends that she stands on Sugars back occasionally and tries to groom her.

The Moment We Have Been Waiting For...

First came Kentucky...

Then came Princess Bella...

And then Marilyn...

Oh Catnip...How I Love You!...

I've had to put the nip on lock down...someone was getting a little too friendly with it!

"Your Garden Looks Awesome!"

It was the highlight of my day when my eldest niece hopped out of the car and declared "Oh aunty, your garden looks awesome!". Moments like those are just magical...Its a reminder of where you started and how things have evolved.

The start of the three sisters garden (only two sisters at the moment) used by Native Americans for many, many generations. A combination of beans, corn and squash are grown together...the corn giving the beans something to climb and the squash keeps the soil and roots of the corn shaded, therefore keeping maximum  moisture in the soil during warmer months. This is honey and pearl saved seed from last year.

Well, I'm not sure what happened last year but here are the successful oil seed pumpkin plants...all eleven of them!!! Lord only knows what I will do with them all but I am absolutely freakin chuffed.

Four little Luffa's growing slowly but steadily...I will have loofa's if it kills me!