The babies are coming...

I'm a little bummed that I'm heading on vacation at this critical time during the baby veggie's birth, especially since they're finally poking their heads up.

Between the mold and first over watering and then under watering the little buggers, I'm surprised to see so many green heads looking for the light. But here they come, despite my accidental attempts to murder them.

I hope that when we get back they'll all be waving their little shoots at me, getting ready to go into the ground in a few weeks.

Here's where we are with some of the over-achievers:

The broccoli clan is the biggest and most boisterous of the bunch.

 

The Rutger tomato is on the left and the yellow cherry is on the right. YUM.

And Sweet Basil is the first of the herbs to start coming up.

In other news, the first person I emailed with from the county that said chickens would be OK, forwarded my message to someone in Zoning and now Zoning says chickens are NOT allowed in our residential area.

After doing much research, I've drafted a letter asking for an exception and a change in the zoning laws for the county, so we will have to put the chicken adventures on hold while I fight with the county administration.

I will prevail! It will just take some time. Vote for chickens!!!!!

Hens - We have them

We've been on the fence about getting chickens, so I decided we should go meet a few to see what we thought.

I knew I didn't want babies for a number of reasons which narrowed the field tremendously. I came across a few local farmers on craigslist and connected with a nice couple in Leesburg that had a few 8-month-old hens for sale.

Why not visit and just see what they're like? We can decide if we want them after we leave, right?

Three minutes after stepping into the chicken coop, I have a hen in my arms and I'm saying, "We'll take them." As soon as Jae and I were in the car, he turned to me and said, "I thought we were going to think about it, first."

So did I, but their soft feathers and total trust when they were in my arms just won me over. Could you resist THIS?

Exactly.

The problem is that our coop fell through and we're leaving in a few weeks to travel. 

Thankfully, the Bennett's offered to house the two hens (Buff Orphintons) until we get back from our trip. Which gives us a few more weeks to figure out where we'll house them and what the hell we need to get to keep them safe and happy.

On a side note, the Bennett's had a bunch of other animals including a one-day-old lamb! Isn't he cute?!?!?! Momma sheep wasn't too sure about us invading their stall, but baby was super sweet and loved all the attention.

As we left, the Bennett's gave us eggs that our two girls had laid just that morning. 

Our first eggs!!!

IN MY BELLY!

I've downloaded some plans to build our own chicken coop. It will be a lot cheaper, but I'm not sure our relationship can survive the cooperation that will be required. HA!

So, ready or not, I'm a chicken momma now.

Chicken Coop Drama

Well, I was all excited about chickens. I did tremendous amounts of research, connected with a few local folks that have backyard/urban chickens, and bought a chicken coop.

Then, I was panicked. What the HELL am I going to do with CHICKENS? In my yard? In suburbia? Who's going to watch them when we're on vacation? I don't think we have racoons in the area, but what if we do and they try to kill my flock?

I called to cancel my chicken coop order, but they informed me it was already on the freight truck and it was too late.

This must be a sign from the universe that I'm meant to have a few clucking little hens wandering the yard. I'm leaning towards naming them Thelma and Louise. If I'm going to have hens,  I might as well make them badass, men-hating crazy gals, right?

Anyway - here's the coop I ordered:

The reviews all said good things like: easy to assemble, spacious, sturdy in high wind, easy to move. I plan on making a few modifications to add a reflective roof that will help deflect heat in the summer and increasing security so potential intruders can't get in (racoons, stray cats, etc).

Let's use this image as our baseline. Once I get the coop and assemble it, we'll have a little comparison to see if I am capable of following directions.

I ask myself this question at least once a day: What the hell am I doing?

New beginnings for a non-gardener

I'm terrified of spiders. I hate to sweat. Bugs bother me, too. I enjoy my pretty, well-cared for finger nails. I have a bad back. I've killed almost everything I've ever attempted to grow. And, I'm horribly allergic to mosquitoes.

Add all of that up and what do you have? A crazy woman who is stupidly attempting to homestead.

Here in Northern Virginia, I have about a 1/4 acre lot (just a tad over) with a very modest home. I've got decent sun on part of the property and until now, I've done everything in my power to avoid being out in the yard.

So, why the change?

Frustrated with the lack of organic produce at my local farmers market, tired of paying premium rates for organic produce in the super market that's being shipped from halfway around the world, and a chance encounter with a magazine called Urban Farm led me to pull on my big-girl panties and give this a try.

Being more excited about shopping for products than executing the actual garden, my first step was to decide on seeds.

Everything I've read about organic gardening stresses the importance of companion planting, diversity, and crop variation. I am also a big opponent of Monsanto (read more here), so I opted for heirloom seeds wherever possible.

At this point, I now have seeds for the following:

Arugula, Basil, Green Tint Squash, Sweet Pepper, Cherokee Purple Tomato, Striped Beets, Broccoli, Purple Snap Beans, Bunching Onions, English Peas, Musk Melon, Jalapeno Pepper, Magenta Lettuce, Wild Cherry Tomato, Peppermint, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Sage, Yellow Squash, Pear Tomato, Bush Bean, Lemon Balm, Icicle Radish, Onion, Shallot, Cayenne Chile, Cucumber

Also, I've picked up a handful of flower seeds that are supposed to help with organic pest control.

 

The first half of my seeds. The second half are in transit from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Virginia.

I want to start germinating my seeds now since it's only about 7 weeks to the last frost, but we will be traveling to Japan for a week during this period and I'm worried about the seeds drying out (and dying). I'll have to consider what to do about this.

Germinating seeds will happen in these peat pot trays with coir (coconut fiber) filling:

This blog will follow my adventures as I attempt to homestead; a place to share my successes and failures.

My yard has horrible soil, but it's pretty bare so before pictures are coming up next.

Additional plans include worm composting, full composting, organic growing, landscaping, building, raising chickens, installing rain barrels for water collection, and getting down and dirty with Mother Earth.

For every bug, there will be screaming. For every green shoot and edible that pokes through the earth, there will be tears of joy.

I am a most unlikely gardener. This is my adventure.