My latest adventures

We have been raising chickens for a year now. They have been super fun. Low maintenance especially because we let them wander around the yard eating our weeds. This year we got 10 new chicks (we plan on eating 8 in the fall). My favorites are the 2 buff colored ones. This is what they will look like in a few months. But the best is we have decided to get one rare bird each year. I want a maran this year. They lay chocolate colored eggs and they are pretty. I've come across a lot of endangered chickens I want to try out. Plus some really funny looking ones too. It kind of sounds lame but it is fun. My neighbor wants to buy eggs from me this year too, which is cool.

My other new adventure is Square foot gardening. We saw a special on PBS about it and I've been excited to try it out ever since. This picture gives a good idea of how it works. Instead of planting rows you plant each crop in a square foot or two if you want more. Some plants need a little more but almost all can grow in just 6 in of soil. They even have plans for potatoes, melons, pumpkins, corn and berries. Plus I might grow some flowers in some spots so I can have some to pick and bring inside. One other plus is we don't have to use our clay soil we have down here. In past years it has been super hard to grow things in. I think I'll have 4-6, 4 ft boxes in my back yard where the drive way used to wrap around or spaced apart down the side of my driveway. I'm not sure yet which spot to use. Top of my list of plants though is Tomatoes, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Rasberries, and peas and a few others. I know I'll forget important plants if I don't ask. So what else do you think I should plant?

Anyway I have used all this planing to keep busy as we wait for our kids. They keep saying it won't be much longer but we will see. In the meantime we have school, scouts, church, and just being Mom to be busy with.