What I Did On My Summer Vacation by Amy Jo

I know it seems silly to be recapping my summer vacation when the season only properly began a few days ago, but trust me we've already crammed an entire summer's worth of stuff in! At the time of my last posting, the big children were just wrapping up school. We got them home just in time to ditch the boys with their grandparents and whisk the girls away to Hilton Head for a few days. It was non-stop beach going, swimming, sandcastle building fun.

We got home early Tuesday afternoon, said hello to the boys, got cleaned up and headed out for a fun filled night at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, featuring Ben Folds. We were exhausted, but it was amazing!

We slept like a ton of bricks that night, got up Wednesday, and got straight to work. SOB was off the rest of the week, and we had many projects to tackle. We planted EIGHT MORE SHRUBS (we've been kind of on a shrub planting tear around here), we spread 8 yards of mulch inside the garden and around the new shrubs, we pulled up all of the carpeting in the basement and on the stairs leading there, then SOB fixed the sub floor down there in anticipation of our brand new carpet that was supposed to be installed yesterday but still isn't here, we bought new couches, we mowed and weed whacked many blades of grass, harvested many peas, cleaned out the entire garage, and SOB (with the help of my dad) built me an amazingly awesome new chicken coop out of reclaimed doors from this very house that we live in! 

The little chickens aren't so little anymore, and keeping them in the garage was keeping the garage very filthy. Now they can all live happily outside! 

(Related: do you know anyone who might want a few roosters?) 

Oh, and I also shot a wedding all day Saturday, with the help of my lovely and talented new assistant, my sister-in-law Tori!

Then first thing Monday morning, I dropped three kids off at camp and headed to court for the very first time in my life! It was nerve-wracking, even though I knew the outcome mattered nil. I just had to make an appearance so that one of many bureaucratic boxes could be checked off. 

Today Sam is off on an amazing adventure, and I'm all super mixed emotion-y about him growing up and having experience on his own, but that's another post for another day. I'm stuck here waiting (still) for the afore mentioned carpet to arrive and be installed for a little bit longer before camp pick up. If the sun stays out maybe we'll go swimming tonight. 

Summer, you're pretty bitchin' so far.

The Big Dig

So I mentioned a few weeks ago about how we expanded the garden...

I thought I'd provide a little visual evidence. As you can tell by the different colors of wood, the six boxes in the center were the original, and the five (soon to be six) boxes on the perimeter are new. It's  a little hard to see, but behind the original six boxes ( heretofore known as O6, boi) is a long row that was put in last year. This year we also added two more rows along the far side. Plus, the fence, while still temporary, is much prettier and more pest resistant than last year. We've covered the grass in between the boxes and are planning to mulch all along those pathways to help keep mowing and weeds to a minimum. Everything looks great, but because of the cold spring we've had, all of the plants are puny. Most of the things I planted stayed the same size for weeks, and didn't start growing much until recently. At this time last year my peas and beans were twice the size they are now. Luckily, I had a huge number of volunteer tomato and tomatillo plants, and those are doing great! I had to replace most of my pepper plants with store bought ones, because my seedlings were seriously weak. My cucumbers, too. At this rate, I doubt I'll be getting much in the way of produce until August.

If we have an early fall, I'm going to be so pissed.

Urban Farm Living

It isn't even May yet and already my garden is eating up most of my free time! Last year was great, but this year we decided to expand operations a little more. I was cramped, needing more beds in the plot, and more space to walk around. Last year we had six 4x4 foot beds and one 1.5x10 foot row. This year we've almost doubled that. And we added a chicken coop. Because we weren't crazy enough with our giant front yard garden.

These are some of our silkies. We currently have more chickens than we will ultimately want, but since we got them unsexed, we bought extra. We are only keeping ladies, and probably only about 5 of them. But there are more than that right now, so, yeah, we're going to be eating some really fresh chicken dinners some time this summer. 

These are some of the second run of chicks we got to replace the fellas from the first run. Plus, somehow we ended up with all one breed in the first run, even though they were supposed to be assorted. The second run has three different breeds, so we will have a little more variety.

Speaking of variety, the vegetable varieties have increased dramatically this year. Since we'll have more room, I let each kid pick something new to try and grow. Sam chose brussel sprouts, Lucy chose purple cauliflower, Maggs chose watermelon, and Fred chose peppers. We already grow those, but he didn't really understand that. Plus we have five tomato varieties, tomatillos, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, corn, zucchini, pumpkins, two hot pepper varieties, two sweet pepper varieties, and blueberries. I saved seeds from all of last year's tomatoes, and luckily everything sprouted! If everything goes well, we should be getting fresh eggs sometime in August. It should make for a tasty summer! 

Mother Hen

Over the weekend, I quelled my urge to have another baby by picking up eight adorable baby chicks. 

We have been planning all year to get chickens, and the stars aligned on Saturday morning. Right now they are residing in a kiddie pool in our garage, under some heat lamps, nesting comfortably in our old shredded documents. There is a coop to be built, but they won't be big enough for outdoor living for 4-5 weeks, so we have time. The county ordinance states that we can have 5 hens and no roosters, but we got unsexed chicks so I bought some extra to hedge our bets. Plus, we already have one babe who looks like he/she might not make it. The kids are standing vigil, but have already started planning where to bury him/her. (Edited to add: he/she didn't. Super sad face.) 

They are so cute and fluffy, it's hard not to get a little attached. Fred has even been singing them lullabies! You go ahead and try not to get a little misty watching this! 

I had to cut off the cuteness because the furnace kicked on, and since I was sitting nearby, it drowned out all of the extra cute names Fred had given the chicks.

Yes, I have to check their butts to make sure they aren't clogged up, and yes, we may have to deal with an unpleasant situation if and when some turn out to be roosters, but still? I heart them.