Freedom and Squashtopia

The girls got a little freedom this morning.  Funny how they stayed so close to their run.  They could have gone into the whole rest of the backyard but just stayed on the hill outside their run.  Do they spend their days longing for the grass on the other side of the wire? 

While they poked around, I planned the squash invasion.  Only three of my squash seeds (yellow straight-neck) sprouted so I decided to go get some transplants.  I picked up some butternut squash and slicing and pickling cucumbers.  I also picked up some sherbet watermelon and mini pumpkin seeds.  Hopefully those do better than the first batch of seeds I put in. I threw in the mini pumpkin seeds and tried again with the pattypan seeds.  I put the watermelon seeds in a different part of the garden.  I've dedicated this entire box to squash. 


They came in 6-packs but I got more than I was bargaining for as each little pack had two or three sprouts in each compartment.  I planted all of the cucumbers in hopes that I will have an abundance for pickling and snacking all summer long.  I planted three of the butternut squash so they'd have room to grow.  Gotta find another place to put the rest.  I already made a little makeshift area for a couple zucchini.  I'm thinking I may have to do the same for these. 


I know I may regret going full steam with all these squash plants.  Experience tells me that even two zucchini plants is one more than anybody needs.  But here goes nothing! 

LET THE SQUASH INVASION BEGIN!!!

Let's meet the girls

Our little flock includes 3 three-year old hens and 3 seven month old hens.  We adopted the three older hens and bought the three younger hens from Sandy, our chicken guru.  We thought we would start out slow with three older hens that were already socialized with children and maybe next spring add to the flock.  But we got the chicky bug bad! 

My hubby designed and built us a totally custom coop and run.  It fits six perfectly.  We could probably push to eight but I don't think we will.  Another day, I'll write about the coop build.  It was an intense two weeks.

So back to the girls.

Cleopatra (Cleo):  Cleo is an Easter Egger.  She's on the top of the pecking order for sure.  Cleo is the name she came with and we kept it because she is beautiful but fierce.  She lays large green eggs.

Wilma:  Wilma is our other Easter Egger.  She loves to eat.  She pushes over anyone to find out what treat is being brought her way.  She lays large blue eggs.  She's Cleo's flunky.

Betty:  Betty is our Buff Orpington.  She was at the bottom of the pecking order when we first got the three older girls.  We were actually concerned that she may not be able to stay because their previous owner said that the Easter Eggers and her did not get along.  Turns out Betty was ill when we first got her.  I didn't know enough about chickens to recognize it at first.  I did notice however that her comb was half black and droopy.  After about ten days of good food and water, I noticed her comb was back to a perky red and she wasn't getting picked on so much.  It took her almost that long to start laying again when we got her.  She lays large brown eggs.

I'm still getting to know the three younger girls.  They all lay medium brown eggs.

Frida:  A Rhode Island Red.  She seems to have a gentle spirit.

Jade:  Jade is a beautiful Black Austerlorp.  She's quiet.

Pepa:  Pepa is a Silver-laced Wyandotte.  She thought she was at the top of the pecking order when she arrived with the other two little ones but she was quickly put in her place by Cleo and the other two older girls.  The merge was the toughest on her.  She's doing okay but I think the descent to bottom of the totem pole has been rough.

Back at it. Now with Chickens!

Well...I got a little sidetracked.  I had a baby.  He's two now.

A lot has happened in the two and half years since I last posted to this blog.  But as I read what I wrote in the About Me section three years ago, I realized that not much has changed at all.  I still love my garden, get inspired by sustainable living, creativity, and people living outside of the box, and am creating the life I want to live on our little piece of land in the Grove.

Our garden is still going well.  That winter garden I talked about planting in 2010 never happened.  I got pregnant and couldn't stomach vegetables.  So I didn't see much of a point.  We finally got around to planting a winter garden this past fall 2012.  It was AWESOME!!!  We planted kale, chard, collards, cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce.

The Napa cabbage was amazing.  I only planted a couple but next year I will make sure to plant much more.  The broccoli was very tasty, much sweeter than store bought.  The most impressive though has to be the rainbow chard.  It's the plant that just keeps on giving.  It's still going strong with all of the new spring plantings arranged around the chard.  I just couldn't bring myself to pull it out when it is still producing so well.  Besides, the chickens LOVE it!


Speaking of chickens....Yep, we got chickens!  

We started with three that we adopted from a family that was moving and just a few weeks later we decided we needed more!  Now we have six:  Cleopatra, Betty, Wilma, Frida, Jade, and Pepa.  They are awesome and although my chores have increased, I am having a great time!  The chickens are actually what brought me back to the blog.  They are an adventure and if my hubby has anything to say, that adventure may continue with rabbits and a turkey too.  My little garden is turning into a little farm!  That's good stuff!

Winds of change

I've been super busy the last few weeks with work starting up again.  Unfortunately that means my garden has been neglected.  Here's what happens when you don't pay attention to zucchini for awhile.

To the left you can see some normal size zucchini in the pot.  The ones on the counter are about 2 feet long.  Ahhhh!!!! I'm so over zucchini.  We gave all of these to a friend.  He said he wanted 1.  We gave him all of them plus a pumpkin, some cucumbers, and some tomatoes.  We're ready for new crops!

The next round of crops will include winter squash, cabbage, beets, onions, spinach, chard, and lettuces.  I'd also like to put in some cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts.  I may look into buying some transplants for those.  I thought I was going to have a new planter box where I was going to put all of the greens.  But that's not looking very probable right now, so I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to organize the garden.  All of these seeds say to plant in September in my area.  I've only torn out 1/3 of my summer garden so far.  I think I'm just going to completely tear out the zucchini.  That will give me tons of room.  I was trying to research if it's okay to plant winter squash in the same place that I just had summer squash, but I haven't found an answer yet.


It will be very interesting to see if my fall garden is as prolific as my summer garden was.  It's like starting from scratch again!

Moving to the Safe List....I think?

This summer I have been diligent about reading labels, cooking from scratch, and gently testing certain foods for reactions.  In the last couple weeks in particular, I haven't had a breakout of hives at all! Here's what I've learned:

CORN:  Yep, definitely react to this.  Especially, corn syrup, cornstarch, maltodextrin, and modified food starch.  It seems however that some of the derivatives don't bother me.  I'm not as worried about citric acid, guargum, xantham, etc.  They don't seem to bother me.

SOY:  The jury is still out.  I seem to do fine with Soy Lecithin and haven't noticed reactions from Soy Oil in products.  I will still limit it's consumption anyways since it's not supposed to be beneficial for thyroid function.

EGG:  This was extremely borderline in my testing.  The technician told me she only added it to the list because it was one of the ones that I came in questioning.  My reaction was 5/8.  Not even close to my reactions with all the other allergens.  I'm definitely moving EGG to the safe list.  This is such a relief as far as breakfast goes.  But I still won't have it everyday.

I think this is good progress.  I'm feeling better, have learned lots in the kitchen, and am leading a generally healthier life.

What a week away can do.

I just got back from a week visiting my sister in St. Kitts.  I left my garden in the hands of my husband.  I knew he could do a good job, but was a little concerned since I knew he was super busy with work.  To top things off, I have been combating a case of powdery mildew on my pumpkins.  I was a little concerned that my garden would not be the same when I returned.

Well I was right!  It wasn't the same.  It was even BETTER!

The eggplant has taken off.  There were two more large pumpkins.  The tomato plants have replenished their leaves.  A whole new batch of tomatillos were ready.  And three bell peppers are taunting me.

Oh and remember the basil that I had so many problems with?  The earwigs attacked it.  I transplanted it after it was overshadowed by the huge tomato plants.  It hung to life with one half eaten leaf.  Well, it has gotten over its shock and is now flourishing.

We also got our first fig harvest.  I had never had fresh figs before.  They are DELICIOUS!

Maltodextrin is a NO!

So I'm still doing trial and error with the whole food allergy thing.  If you go to a corn allergy website you will find a list a million miles long of all the products that are derived from corn.  At first I was trying to stay away from all of them.  That was overwhelming and frustrating.  Now I am learning which ones seem to cause a reaction and which ones don't.

I have clear evidence now that Maltodextrin is a big NO for me.  I have already learned that I can't use Splenda powder.  I was pretty sure it was the maltodextrin, but not totally.  I have recently been testing two different water flavors that you can add on the go.  One is Aquafusion and the other is Crystal Light PureFitness.  The Aquafusion has Maltodextrin as its first ingredient.  The PureFitness uses evaporated cane juice and stevia.  Well it's official, on the days that I only used PureFitness, no hives.  On the days that I only used Aquafusion, hives.  They both have other ingredients that could possibly be corn derivatives but if those were bothering me, I would get hives on both days.

So yay for me!  This is a big help.  Now I know that corn syrup, cornstarch, and maltodextrin all give me hives.  I'm so happy that more products are using stevia and real sugar.  Now I know which ones to choose, instead of having to skip them altogether.

I'm going to test eggs next.  They were very borderline on my skin test.  Last time I tested eggs, I was having Splenda everyday, not realizing about the maltodextrin.  Maybe I'll be able to take eggs off my list to avoid.  Boy that would make breakfasts a lot easier!