85 degrees and sunny...

Summer arrived this week, and it looks like it's here to stay! The plants in the greenhouse are happy about this... pictured is our lettuce crop and the flats of baby tomatoes and peppers. These will go into outdoor beds over the next month now that the danger of frost has passed. I'm waking up at 7am to 70 degrees already!

And now for the Chicken of the Week:
Meet Alpha, Queen Bee of the Roost and now our only remaining chicken. We learned a hard lesson last week: that no matter how stupid you think a chicken is, they're actually even dumber than that. We let the chickens out of the coop while Chris was doing some repairs, and, long story short, the chickens never found their way back. Last I saw them they were huddled on top of a nearby compost pile 10 feet from the coop, and in the morning, all that remained were feathers. (you try herding chickens in the dark some time...) Alpha strolled back onto the field around 10 am, and eventually made into the coop where she's been secure ever since. With the giant chicken project on the horizon, I'm glad we learned this lesson early, although the situation is rather sad.

Brendan and I spent much of last week (between weedings) building our Humanure compost pile. We are now independent of municipal sewers but are confident that our 'outhouse' method will be safe and, in the long run, much cleaner. More pictures and details on Flickr.

The season is moving at a real clip. We had to trellise the peas this week, and are expecting broccoli florets within the next 10 days. Broccoli lovers (you know who you are), check Flickr for more pictures of baby plants...
Jacob arrives tomorrow and we are planning a mini-roadtrip through the Smokey Mtns later in the week. It will be nice to get away for a minute and reconnect with The Boy; this month has been non-stop action!

Back to Business

First of all, sadly, today the Guerrilla Gardening Bike Race was rained out. (It's not Seattle, after all.) So you'll have to wait until next week for the details!
Back to business... Brendan and I spent the week making mushroom logs for a Fall-harvest crop in the woods of Chris's property. We plugged over a hundred 4 foot white oak logs with Shitaake, Pearl Oyster, Phoenix Oyster, Blue Oyster, and Lion's Mane Oyster mushroom mycelium- infused wooden dowels. How's that for a mouth full?
Tomorrow we'll begin to set them up, Teepee- style, in mulch covered "fallows," or water-ways, in the woods. The logs will draw water up from the ground, keeping the mycelium moist as it colonizes the logs. About six months into their respective lifecycles, the logs will begin to "fruit" and we'll have delicious mushrooms! The idea is to make the operation as self-irrigated as possible, so we'll be building a water-catching system in the nearby field to direct an extra amount of water to the woods. We're thinking 10x10 lean-tos with gutters that drain into a series of 55-Gal drums. More later.
Most excitingly, of course, are my new digs... the Skamper!
A photo-montage of this vintage but very comfortable little camper:
I've been exploring the country roads on the bicycle, and really enjoy the quiet beauty of the area and the farm. No crickets or fireflies yet, but most importantly, we're still mosquito-free.
On the horizon: transplanting the tomato crop to the field and getting 'brooding houses' ready for the arrival of our baby chicks! I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about how to be a Chicken Mom... any suggestions?
Also next week: the last installment of Chicken of the Week for a while. Yes, I know we just got started, but it's not over forever, and I'll explain later.
For those of you who want a more visual experience, my Flickr site is now equipped with a Farmblog companion slideshow. Check it out!

And now, I leave you with the best photo so far... Enjoy!

The Inagural Chicken O' The Week Post

And boy is it a doozy! May I present to you the World's first lesbian chicken couple: Portia and Ellen!

















These lovely ladies are our greenhouse chickens. Besides keeping things exciting, they help keep the insects and worms away from our lettuce. Portia is the Partridge Rock (dark brown with textured feathers) on the left, and Ellen with the auburn coloring. Props to Brendan for so aptly naming the girls...

Well, Chris was right about a last late frost. We're expecting lows in the 20's and snow the next 2 nights. Today was spent frantically building a warming 'shed' within the greenhouse to keep our recently (and frantically, by yours truly) sowed tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants from freezing alive.















After all, who wouldn't want to save a tomato named "Radiator Charlie's Morgage Lifter"?!

"Murckles"

What's slimy, brown, and looks like a gnome?







According to Appalacian lore, they're called 'murckles'(pronounced miracles in everyday English), because they show up on a mountain side every April, last for one day, but, once dried, last all year long. We know these beauties as Morel Mushrooms, the only culinary mushroom that completely re-constitues to its fresh form after being dried. Oh, and they're delicious and worth $30 a pound.
This morning Chris and I rose before dawn to visit a secret 'patch.' It was prime mushroom hunting weather- cold, windy and misty- just like home! After about 2 hours of stooped walking up wooded hills, we had wet heads and almost three pounds of fresh black Morels.
Later, after lunch, Chris made contact with the Blackberry Farms resort, a shwanky place in the Smokeys. The head chef wants 5 pounds of our foraged Morels a week... that's $150 extra Farm Income as often as we can find them!


Stay tuned for the first installation of Chicken of the Week!