Random Autumn Flashbacks From My Garden Journal

No, not from my garden - I took this picture in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains. The edge of the field was filled with two dozen or so of these butterflies flitting from place to place. They did not sit still long, being much preoccupied with eating! Out of 100 photos taken over the course of an hour, I think I got 4 that are pretty good. This is probably the best photo I've ever taken.

---

Some old journal entries - in order by day of the month. My current comments in [brackets]. Spelling is as written in my journal - no spell check when writing with a pen!

---

2007-09-30 7:03 a.m. Well, I guess one cannot argue with 25*F - That is a killing frost with no ambiguity. The sun is up - I am not looking forward to seeing the damage.

On the up side, this will mean that I can procrastinate no further on ripping out marginal items and planting out garlic.

Soaked peas last night - 150 are ready to go. I guess I shall find out if they can germinate this cold. [No, they didn't]

Trees have been full of rich, green leaves - will the frost signal them to change color? So far, just a very few yellow leaves on the apple tree and only 2 orange ones on the nectarine.

Days will hopefully warm up. no wind, but cold right now. I should go do something useful in the garden or yard.

---

2006-10-01 Bought a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer last week - need to set it up and start checking highs and lows [presumably to help predict frost].

Funny how much you can get done when you are motivated - D. got a job offer for a job in Iraq, so this weekend we got

• 5 posts for enclosing my garden up
• concreted the edges of the dogs' pen (one more side to go, but I can do that side)

Things to do

• Move the 1/2 barrels to the garden area and use for garlic - make drainage holes [There's a notation that this did not get done.]
• Plant plant gifts from James W. of Dave's Garden [www.DavesGarden.com]
• Top dress bulbs with low nitrogen fert. (bonemeal)
• Look at the weather report (definately fall, but no hard frosts yet)

---

2005-10-05 The sweet gums [trees] are looking decidedly perky this morning. I was concerned that yesterday's dry winds would have been hard on them, but I guess the cooler temps and deep watering helped them. Of course, I took pictures yesterday. Need to add them to my [photo] database. 2006-10-05

• Watered back yard & fruit trees
• Watered most east sweet gum [presumably the sweet gum tree to the East of the group]
• Watered front poplars (south)
• Irises from Dave's Garden arrived today - about 20 lbs worth
• 1300 bulbs to go into the ground

All this and David leaves for South Carolina in less than two weeks and then on to Iraq 4 weeks or so later. So much to do. So little time left to be together. A year apart - with the chance of it being permanent. So I plant and plant and grow babies to fill the emptiness.

---

2007-10-06 21:00 ish After a good nap...This year was the first year in a long, long time that I had a real garden. I am totally so very blessed. To be able to come home from work and eat a few cherry toms from the garden, water the trees, take photos of a sunflower, spy on a lizard. What a joy. To have hopes and dreams. To feel, smell, taste the cycle of life. Delicate yellow tomato flowers, lush green growth, baby tomes smaller than a finger nail, sweet yellow fruit bursting in your mouth, frost blackened leaves and deep roots chopped for the compost pile...seeds for next year. The dance of rain and cloud and wind and sun. Birds, lizzards, tiny spiders, giant grasshoppers - if you build it, they will come. Butterflies, catterpillars and ants. If you grow it, they will come. Solitary bees, irridescent wasps, tiny flies. If it blooms, they will come. There is not lack of life in the desert, although conditions are harsh and existance is tenuous. If you provide an oasis, it will be recognized far and wide, and the denizines of the high desert, they will come. I have no idea where they hail from, but across sand and arid winds, they find this tiny island of green and in droves, they come. If 3 4[foot] x 8 [foot] beds - not even 100 sq ft out of 180,000 sq ft of our land - brought such diversity to our land, what might I expect with a garden twice as large [as those three beds]? And if I add more flowers, will that increase the draw? If I spied a dozen wasps and one hawk moth at one of 7 sunflowers, who and how many will visit if I grow 20 sunflowers, 50, 100 or more? If I grow a veritable forest of sunflowers, what will happen to the insect population? And will lizzards take up household there to dine on some of them [I can say that yes, the lizards are in the garden to stay]

Chicken Portraits

Remember, you can click on the photo to see a larger version of it. Well, I think the Princess Chicken turned out to be a rooster after all. It is growing spurs and also does still occasionally crow. The feathers on its neck look more traditionally male than female. On the other hand, it doesn't strut around like the other 3 roosters. In fact, it acts decidedly hen-like, even though its tail has elongated to rooster proportions and it has other "roostery" attributes. Nice example of a classic "rose" comb here - but also note absence of wattles. Could it still be a hen - just a hen with extra testosterone? If it is a rooster, it isn't even really number 4 of 4 - the other 3 roosters don't even treat it like it's a rooster. My friend says that maybe "he" is a San Francisco Princess. In any event, the Prince/Princess is healthy and happy.

Silver Laced Wyandotte Pullet (Hen) - she is puffed out and settled down for the night. Note the small "rose" comb and dark beak. Generally speaking, these are the first ones to come running when I head towards the chicken run with "goodies."
Maran Pullet (Hen) - of the three types of hens in my flock, these are the most aggressive towards other hens. The Top Hen is a Maran and roosts on the ladder, higher up than even the roosters. They don't have true "rose" combs, but have a little "mini-comb." The Maran rooster has a full comb and full wattles. You can see the hen barely has any wattles (the red skin flaps that hang from their cheeks).
Head Rooster ready for Sleepy Time. He is a Maran rooster and is the "Top Dog" in the chicken coop. Note full comb and wattles. I hope they don't get frost bit this winter.
"Easter Egger (EEs)" rooster. The EEs were sold as "Ameracaunas," but I am not sure that they are truly such. In any event, this is my prettiest rooster. In fact, he is the prettiest chicken in the whole flock. I am hoping to breed him to the white EEs in the summer. He is 3rd out of four on the hierarchy ladder.
Speaking of ladders, here is a Silver Laced Wyandotte peaking out from her nightly roost on the ladder.
An Orange/Brown EE Pullet (Hen) - The brown EEs seem to have an attitude issue. The white EEs don't seem to have this problem. Perhaps they are not related to the Orange/Brown ones. This one tends to come up behind me and pick at the rivets in my jeans or painfully pluck at my wedding ring.

White "EE" Pullet. A bit less agressive than their darker cousins.

22°F this morning in the coop

From Left to Right: White & Blakc Ameraucana, Maran Hen, Maran Rooster, back end of a Silver Laced Wyandotte, White Ameraucana (aka The Princess Chicken).

Of course, that was too cold for me to go mucking about in the wane morning light. All of these pictures were taken in the coop in the evening while it was a balmy 34°F.
Closer view of the Maran Hen (left) and Maran Rooster (right). It's difficult to tell in this photo, but the hens are all quite a bit darker in coloring, with little rose combs. The rooster is a lot larger than the hens, and his comb is traditional rooster looking, not rose at all. And, of course, he crows. A lot. And not just at sunrise, but whenever he darn well feels. He crows at me when I enter the coop and startle him, and he crows at my german shepard. I think he just likes to hear himself crow. The other two roosters don't crow nearly as much.
A trio of Silver Laced Wyandotte hens. They have almost no combs. I chose the Marans both for the dark brown eggs that they lay, and also, because, like the Wyandottes, they have small combs. I'm hoping this will help avert frost bite.
Closer view of a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen. Note her red earlobes. She will lay traditional brown eggs (not nearly as dark as the Marans).
Left to Right: Ameraucana rooster, Maran hen, Brown/Orange Ameraucana - all puffed out and mad because I woke her up - two Silver Laced Wyandottes.
Brown/Orange Ameraucana and a Silver Laced Wyandotte - I stuck my finger under the Wyandotte - nice and toasty under the feathers and in her down. Feet all warm, too. They are perched on 2" x 4" boards with the wide side parallel to the floor so they can cover all of their feet when roosting. Supposed to help prevent frostbite on the toesies.
And, of course, no photo shoot could be complete without a photo of The Princess Chicken. Since the roosters have started crowing and growing spurs, she (we still think she is a she) has stopped crowing. She is acting more feminine, too - not nearly as agressive as she used to be. Still, we don't have eggs from her, yet, so she still might be a he. White Ameraucana. Ameraucanas lay blue or green eggs, with the color being specific to the hen (i.e. she will lay all blue or all green eggs, and not a mixture).
Maran hen on top of an 8 ft ladder. She's the top hen and she always wants to roost as high up as possible. I left the ladder in the coop after adjusting the heat lamp (the ladder is far from the lamp) - and now she has taken over. I guess I will have to presure wash and bleach before returning it to my husband!

By the way, the heat lamp doesn't really heat the coop, but it does keep the waterer mostly deiced - meaning that I won't usually have to go chip ice for them in the wee hours before work.