March 16, 2008

Spring & 4-H showmanship

Even though we are getting down to freezing almost every night, it is spring here. The annual "pull out the winter veggies and prep beds for summer stuff" ritual has begun. The chickens think this is great!

Our 15 hens reduce a pile like this to stems in no time. We are averaging 12 eggs a day now, so there are a lot of egg white omlettes and happy yolk-eating dogs. Yummmm!!!

The small orchard we planted 14 years ago is in bloom. This year we painted all the tree trunks with white latex paint to prevent additional problems with sunburn. Living in the desert our sunshine is so powerful that it literally will kill bark that's exposed to it during the summer. I think that this makes the trees proud of their looks too, in an odd way.

It's the same with anything that you spend time tending, the animals or plants respond to your care and thrive. Our garden has overhead sprinklers and we can fertilize all we want but it only really thrives if we get out there once a week and hand water. My husband takes care of that benefit, the garden is bursting with greens and the broccoli plants we are pulling out are on their fourth flowering.

This week I got another wonderful letter. It is so gratifying to hear from people who like my little video...

Thanks for sharing this great picture, Jim. Your son's bird appears to be a full sized rooster that is very handsome -- but your son may do better with a bantam rooster for showmanship. Watch the "choosing chicks for show" section of the DVD to find out why.

Cheers for chickens!