Hello everyone,
A bit of a garden, chicken and otherwise update:)
First up! Garden stuff update :).
Our first cucumber! This pic is a few days old, so it's just about ready to pick now and I've spotted 2 more coming in too :)
First patty pan squash :D with luck this years the year we are able to actually eat a few squash from the plants before the squash beatles arrive! :D
Sweet potato starts in the ground. I may need to put a bit of a shade cover and will be planting at least one more tuber to kick start the greens.
These very pretty wasps (who I believe is a yellow paper wasp if internet search has led me well.) Arrived. Very beautiful, but unfortunatly like the yellow bellied assassin's I will need to keep an eye out for them and potential nesting habits. For the safety and comfort of human neighbours and self, rather than protecting the rare native Bees we see. Thankfully It looks like this one was just hanging out for a few minutes.
Three more assassin's were spotted and swatted over the last few days. Morning has been the best time to look for them so far as I can see or tell.
My funny shade/seed/chicken bed. It looks a bit rough but the goal for this area is mostly to fill the empty space with something that is
1) edible to us or the chickens.
2) managing some sort of eco aspect of our space (shade, water retention, soil cover, beautification)
3) medicinal in some way ( soapmaking or makeup)
4) is fairly leave it alone/set it and forget it.
I'll need to reseed some new stuff soon though as the kale and chard are just about done I think.
Some of the tossed out sunflowers by the watermelon patch.
The melon patch I started (that the chcikens dug up entirely 😭 ) is being fully dug out right now to make a better grow space long term. Given that it's hot out (already 100*f regulalry) and daily life business, I've been working on it as the sun's been going down. It's taking a bit, but a bit at a time makes the work pass by. The dirt being dug out is being used to fill in chicken potholes for the yard and coop. When it's fully dug out I'll be making a similar growbed box like I did for the sweet potatos. Most likely also with a short shade cover.
And last, a chick pic update :) these ones have been much hardier than the last batch so far and a lot less skittish. They got their first hand feeding of crickets and mealworms, plus some peices of apple.
That's it for today
🌱🌻Happy Homesteading and Gardening 🌻🌱