A lot has happened here on the homestead since last month's post about our first spring chore day. The new growth had me so giddy that I found myself constantly whipping out my phone to take pictures. Here's a peek at what we've been up to:
At the end of April, the ten little chicks moved outside to the brooder where the pullets (aka the teenagers) had been and the teens moved to the guinea fowl coop. Eventually, everyone will live together as one big happy (we hope) family.
A few days later we let the teens and old hens have a meet and greet. It didn't take long for the hens to assert that they are the top of the (literal) pecking order.
By mid-May, the teen roosters had filled out even more and began to practice crowing. It's an awkward sound, not unlike a human male going through puberty (think voice change).
Dave devised a divider out of pallets to keep the hens and teens separate, while allowing them each access to fresh air and sunshine.
Two males and one female live in this little coop.
Occasionally, an old hen crosses the wall.
Luckily, we have a resident chicken wrangler to get them back home.
The girls
The first weekend in May, we relocated Maple & Daisy to a new pasture. It was the first time they moved since November. As you can see, the grass is MUCH greener on the other side.
Needless to say, they were quite happy, quite happy indeed.
Two weeks later, the girls needed to be moved again. They roamed free by the tall spruces while Dave moved their fence.
Maple & Daisy love this pasture, as the hickory tree offers them lovely shade during the hot and sunny days we have had.
On a recent warm evening we took the girls for a stroll on the old road. Walking on gravel helps wear down excess hoof.
Daisy stopped me quite often so she could nibble leaves from low-lying branches.
the garden
First week of May:
The small garden out back needed A TON of work to get ready for the season...
...the leaves were raked into a mulch pile and everything was weeded.
We cut our first asparagus!
Blossoms started to pop out all over the place. This is our currant bush.
Our biggest/oldest cherry tree.
Our hardy almond tree, a nursery mishap.
The peach tree we planted last year.
One of our blueberry bushes (and a wee ant).
The rhubarb is really coming along. This is one of the two original plants from three years ago. Last year Dave divided the other one into three new crowns. They are healthy and happy, but we don't know yet if they will be mature enough to cut from this year.
Second week of May:
Currant progress.
The strawberry plants are blossoming.
Our grapes have begun to develop.
A few weeks back, Dave ordered a bunch of new plants. We were lucky that the weather was nice the day they arrived. Four of us spent the evening outside getting everything in the ground. In total: four rows of red summer-bearing raspberries, one row of red ever-bearing raspberries, a new blueberry bush, five more rhubarb crowns, and three gooseberry bushes.
The rhubarb was ready to cut! We got 3 ½ pounds in our first go.
Third week of May:
Considering last year was our first cherry harvest and we only got two lone specimens, we are quite optimistic that this will be our best year yet.
That Tanglefoot sure works well, doesn't it?
Our row of mature raspberries are starting to bud out.
The grapes are progressing nicely, too.
Where the currants are now.
what we did with our bounty
Some asparagus was simply roasted in olive oil, salt + pepper. To gild that perfect lily, we tossed it in homemade ramp butter afterwards.
This was spring on a plate: sautéed asparagus and fresh spring pea ravioli I picked up from Bongo & Capacci at the Muscoot Farm Market, all tossed with the aforementioned ramp butter. So, so good.
That first haul of rhubarb was so great that I was able to make three awesome things in two days. The cool thing about two of them was that it was a two-for-one. I made rhubarb syrup and rhubarb jam in one fell swoop.
I also made two "Rhuby Razz" pies from the awesome Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book. The raspberries were frozen after our harvest last year.
When I made the following dish it was early evening and the sun cast a beautiful light into the cast iron pan on the stovetop.
We called this "one bed pasta". I made a pesto out of the sheep sorrel I pulled out from the asparagus bed and served it over pasta with the veggies I cut at the same time.