My Urban Farm 2011

my garden is so small compared to last years, but, it is very manicured compared to last years. i have potatoes, onions, pole beans, petite pan squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, arugula, asparagus, raspberries, and herbs. the asparagus has had it's week of picking and now it is just growing. this year i dug a trench around the garden and put flat cement bricks around to keep grass out. it has helped a lot. i also am gardening in the chicken coop wintering site. it is a fertilized soil dream. the bees live close to the garden, i hope it helps. i have the 2 hives close to each other, but not too close. there is a big galvanized bucket between them for the bees fresh water. i also put styrofoam peanuts in the water to give the bees floating islands to land on to drink. since this is their new home they have a big mason jar of sugar water shoved in each of their entrances to feed them and make them happy. i wish i could sit out there and watch them but i have to give them their room for right now. i can't wait till they are firmly established so i can sit out there and watch them fly in and out. i swear, watching my chickens outside is one of the most relaxing things i love to do, they entertain me to no end! now i have these insects i am in love with to watch. i have this small working urban farm. it makes me so happy, it makes me feel like i am doing something good for me. besides the hours of endless entertainment my chickens, bees, and garden give me, the nutritional gifts i am given in return are amazing.

Tulsa Farmer's Urban Chicken Coop Tour

if you or someone you know has an urban chicken coop, please have them contact me. i want to do an urban chicken coop tour of tulsa this summer and start an urban farming group here in tulsa. please have them email me sachafoo@gmail.com

Happy Chickens

i guess my chickens are happy being bundled up in their coop this winter. saffron, foo-fa, chocolate, suzie, blueberry, and tootsie. i found eggs in the nesting boxes this morning, but they were frozen. that is awesome! i put fresh hay in every week so they can pick through it and scratch it to dust. i never moved the tractor when it got cold so the ground would be warm where they were and dry so they can take their dust baths. i should have been out there earlier and i could have had yummy eggs for breakfast, tomorrow then.

Sadness and a Lesson Learned

Clementine, who was sick a week ago, and Sourpuff died yesterday. 2/3 of my ameraucanas are dead. i moved tootsie, the living one to the big coop in hopes of companionship and warmth. please other chickens, don't kill her! i don't know if they are cold weather hardy like my others, they are originally south american chickens. it kills me to have our chickens die. it is something i have to come to terms with as a "farmer." we have lost chickens due to dogs, possums, vanishing into thin air, and now negligence on my part. i vow never to get chicks in the fall again. spring chickens are for me, raise them through the summer so they are mature for our winters. this sucks. i guess i need to start a chicken grave yard. i know i will loose more eventually. chickens are a part of my life now, i can't imagine living without them.
new creatures are coming to our "urban farm" this summer. i am taking beekeeping classes with the NEOBA. i have been wanting bees forever. i have just been scared of my hive dying. i took the leap though, i have to get over the death of my animals. More on my bee adventures...

Winterizing My Garden

i've pulled most of my plants, and started putting down my ground cover for the winter. i use hay, lawn clippings, wood ash, and leaves. i'm still getting okra, so it's still up.

my corn stalks are being burnt for ash.

my asparagus has been weeded and a cover put down.

i will put plastic all around the coop. not sure if i will put it in the garage or in the garden so they are on a dirt ground. whatever i choose, i will give them lots of hay and let it build up with poop to make an insulation for warmth. what i really need to come up with is a heated chicken waterer.

my old pine tree that was totally dead. i loved the way it dropped branches every now and then for me to make fires in my outdoor fireplace with.

now it is gone and i have to make shelter for my firewood.
winterizing is lots of work, i have lots more to do. thank goodness the weather has been awesome!

DIY Day

what another great afternoon. it is 75 degrees and beautiful. popi and i are inside having snacks and watching "station agent" with the gorgeous peter dinklage. love that movie. this morning we did some do-it-yourselfing!

i really love *bucks' peppermint mocha lattes, but hate the price tag. i finally decided to make my own! and the amazing thing is that it worked:) fresh pressed coffee, ghirardelli ground chocolate, peppermint extract, and frothed whole milk. delicious.

my Greek has many keys. this picture is not even half of them. i love him, so i made him a key thingy. i found this old racket holder and put some hooks in it, hung it up, and voila! a place to put keys.

my most exciting craft today was my automatic chicken waterer, the avian aqua miser from the walden effect, one of my favorite blogs. it is in the corner of their cage that i finally got back from a friend. it allows the chickens to drink from a container that can't get poo in it! i made one for the chick's cage and i am making two others, one for the coop and another for outside when they are free ranging it.
what a great day!

Americaunas

welcome sourpuff, tootsie, and clementine to our crazy urban farm. for the time being these three little ones will live inside with a warm heat lamp on them. when they get their adult feathers they will move outside to the above ground hutch till they get huge, then we will try to incorporate them with saffron, chocolate, foofa, blueberry, and suzie in the spring. oh goodness. aren't they adorable:)?

New Coop

we finally brought our new coop home! foo-fa, chocolate, saffron and blueberry now have a safe place to reside. suzie still lives in the garage:)
it is cool because it is a large tractor type of coop, so i can move it around the yard as needed for fresh grass grazing. also there are many places to roost in there, which they love.

it is super cool to go to one spot, open the door and there are eggs! no more easter egg hunts every day. i know that sounds fun, but really it is kinda annoying when you can't find eggs for breakfast and spend way too much time looking in the yard for one.

blueberry finally started laying, see how small her egg is compared to the others.
i love my chickens!!!!

All The CHickens Eating Breakfast

i put breakfast out this morning and everyone showed up:) even susie.

chocolate eating in her confinement.

here we have all 3 babies eating in pecking peace with foo-fa and saffron!

Broody Chicken

i have a broody chicken. did i mention that before? having a broody hen in your midst is like a woman with bad pms. all this chicken does is sit in a corner of the girls' playhouse, yells at you, ruffles her feathers at you, pecks at you, and poops where she is sitting, which makes heat spots on her underside . she gets up maybe, once a day to eat, drink, and potty. other than that she is in that one dirty corner. "why?" you ask? she thinks she going to hatch a golf ball. yes, a golf ball. there were eggs, but we removed them to try to get her to move, but she found the golf ball to sit on. those eggs were never going to hatch. and here is where we will have a quick lesson in chicken eggs. i have found out that many people don't understand the chicken egg. some people think all chicken eggs will lay a baby chick. not so. you HAVE to have a rooster in your midst to fertilize the egg, the same way human males fertilize a woman's egg...need i say more? so the chances of you actually coming across an actual chicken embryo for breakfast is slim to none, for commercial hens are no where near roosters. on the ole farm or urban homestead they have their ways of keeping things in check. me, we don't keep roosters. well, i'm not suppose to. i have 2 baby boys i don't know what to do with, more on that later. anywho...chocolate(broody hen) has been sitting in that corner forever. i'm so tired of it. the kids can't play in their playhouse and i'm not getting my eggs from her. i heard you could put ice cubes under them, remove the eggs(check), wait it out(check), or remove them from the nest. putting ice cubes under my mad chicken did not sound like fun, so i braved the wrath of chocolate, picked her up and put her in a locked pen with a roost so maybe she could cool her featherless underside. we'll give her a week to get over her broodiness and see what happens. i just want my eggs back.

my backyard

our airstream rv

i love my back yard, and the things in it. if i am not working at the scooter shop, i am usually out back. there are many reasons for me to be out back. one, my neighbors. there are about 6 of us that our backyards back up to each other, so i always know what they are doing. we will chat, share a bottle of wine, eat snacks, give gardening advice, or give away extra plants or eggs. i love it. another reason to be out back is to watch the chickens. i let the chicks out to play for the first time today. they were so cute, taking a dust bath or pecking at the dirt. thirdly, being in the backyard is where my garden is, and being in the garden takes up a lot of time right now. so most of the time when i am out back i will be sitting on my tushy digging in the dirt, if not i feel too guilty to do anything else. if it is sunny out i will do double duty and put my bikini on and absorb some vitaminD while digging. reason number four is the kids. they are always in someone's back yard. i know they are okay, but i feel like i should be outside listening just in case...when will i get over this mother hen attitude?!

my lighthouse my Greek gave me for mother's day 3 years ago

the planter i made for the asparagus

the peas, carrots, and broccoli

playhouse/mudpie restaurant/laying nest

the baby girls, well i hope they are girls

wink! he wanted to play.

so, being in the backyard rules right now. as we know i love the front porch, but no rest for me till my chores are done out back.