Our kale went crazy on us since going to seed. I had no idea they would grow such bright yellow flowers.
The butterflies have been flocking to them every day, too.
In case you're wondering about our vegetable boxes... they're designed according to the square foot gardening method found in Mel Bartholomew's book by the same name. It's great for small backyards like ours. I'll let Alan write about this method later since he's done the research and built the boxes. I just cook and eat the vegetables.
We inherited a large rhubarb plant from the previous owners of our house. It's almost ready to harvest. Our neighbors like to use it for making rhubarb strawberry jam and my mom and sister both take stalks throughout the summer to make pie and pudding. Yes, there is such thing as rhubarb pudding and it is delicious. I'm hoping I can entice my mom to post the recipe here.
As for the chickens...they are getting a lot bigger! They love exploring our back room and backyard, and they are even learning to read :-)
Love the blog. I was contemplating getting chickens too! Can I buy them grown and ready to lay eggs or do I need to get babies. The coop is another issue. Do squirrels steal the chicken feed.
ReplyDeleteHere's another thing to do with rhubarb that is lower sugar. I grew up with rhubarb in our yard. It was great!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sweet-tart-rhubarb-and-berry-dessert-sauce/#axzz1tiu3valL
Thanks for the recipe, Beck. I'm salivating over the pictures.
DeleteBelmont Feed and Seed, 3036 W. Belmont, 773-588-1144, sells full-grown chickens. You want to be sure and get a winter-hardy breed. Lidia and Dan are the owners and they'll be able to give you all the info you'll need. There's a variety of options for coops on the web or you can improvise. I know someone who keeps their chickens in a kids' play house. You're welcome to come check out the coop Alan made or look at the pictures on our blog.
I haven't heard about squirrels liking chicken feed, but if you have the coop enclosed with mesh, they can't get in to eat it. Rats have been known to like the feed, however, so you may want to keep that in mind when securing the coop.
Since we're just starting out with the chickens, we haven't had a lot of experience with them yet to see what works and what doesn't. We'll let you know as time goes on... Hope that helps!