Giving Thanks

So, here it is Thanksgiving 2007 and what do I have to be thankful for?

Well, how about I start with this wonderful rain that is coming down. We haven't been in quite the same straits as parts of the Upper South but we've been in a drought just the same. If there is anything growing here at Dun Hagan lately it's because I've been watering it.


What else? How about a good harvest? Here's a bucket of limes I took off my potted citrus recently. They're a mix of Key and Tahiti (Persian) limes. Most are riper than I'd normally pick them but we haven't been eating them fast enough so some of them went full ripe. I'll juice these out soon and freeze it. I have about that much more of Eureka lemons to harvest soon as well for some of that good wintertime lemonade.


Last weekend the Kinder Major and I recovered the hoophouse so I've been prepping the container citrus for the move. They've been cleaned up, pruned, fertilized, and will soon be given a good copper spray to see if I can beat the greasy spot that afflicts the Key limes every winter. On the sunny days the hoophouse can be rather humid which seems to promote the disease. I also have three citrus to be repotted for which I have been prepping some coconut husks and coir.


This evening I mixed some nutrients into the chips below and repotted the citrus pictured above.


If you're growing citrus in containers or just about any other sort of largish perennials in pots these chips are worth searching for. I have to go all the way to Orlando to get them and they need some prep work before they are ready to use, but compared to all of the other media I've ever used they are easily the best. It's nearly impossible to over water yet they don't dry out rapidly either. They're fairly slow to break down as well compared to other media such as pine bark nuggets. Sure wish they were easier to find though.

The winter garden is coming along well. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, elephant garlic, and onions. As soon as they are a little bigger I'll get a photo. I need to get out there and weed out the sprouting oats that the chickens missed when they were still in the garden.

Speaking of the birds the new flock are laying like champions and the old flock is coming out of their molt so egg production is picking up nicely. This is especially good considering that I'm selling every decent egg we can produce.


Cogburn is still the boss of the old flock and the top cock over all. He's in the middle of his molt at the moment though which is why he is sans tail feathers. Most of his hens are about done, but there are still a few running around a little bare.

This is Leroy and some of his ladies and the first tractor in the background. At the moment I have him and eleven hens in their and will add three more when I have the birds.

This is Jaques le Coq with some of his ladies. He is the last of the Cuckoo Maran roosters that I started with from last year and has matured into a handsome bird. His flock are in the second tractor which you can see here:

The focus is a little soft due to the rain fogging up the camera. It is essentially the same design as the first tractor with the only real differences being in the way I put it together which makes it easier to move. I also used a tarp cover rather than the tin that I used on the first tractor. As much as I like it, the metal runs the weight up too much for easy moves.

Here's the second tractor again with a corner of the first one in the foreground. That's Leroy in the background under the persimmon tree with some of his hens. On the right is Noodles, one of the bachelor roosters and a real scamp that all of the flock bosses have to keep an eye on for trying to jump one of their hens! In the foreground is Picky, also one of the bachelors. He's a bit better behaved towards the ladies, but if no one happens to be looking well...

And lastly there is Fred Barred Rock. He's a handsome boy and quite personable. As soon as I have another tractor built he'll be promoted out of the bachelor pad. We have been rather lucky to have so many roosters and none of them being aggressive towards the kids. In fact they're all rather well behaved now that they've settled their pecking order issues among themselves.

So in spite of being a somewhat rocky year we have a lot to be thankful for, most of all we are thankful that the children are growing well, we're all healthy, employed and living in our own home. There are a lot of folks who can't say that.

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving too.

.....Alan.