Finding Rhythm

There's a definite rhythm to life around this place, I'm noticing. In the mornings, after Alex leaves for work, instead of rushing around to do the same thing, I'm now able to take a more leisurely pace. I head down to my studio/office and drop off my mug and notebook, then outside to let the chickens out and make sure everyone has water and food for the day. When I come back in, I like to spend a few minutes just watching all of the animals -mine and the wild ones- get their days going. It's a pretty busy place for a while, and then things settle down again and I can get to writing.

A Nuttall's Cottontail outside my window.

From my window, I can see both sets of chickens as well as the rabbit hutch. Right now there's a little wild rabbit (a Nuttall's Cottontail, I think) running around the outside of the chicken run fence with Steve, the resident buck rabbit who lives inside the run. Before we moved him from his winter hutch to the run, I'd often see three or four wild rabbits inside the fence in the mornings. It's a pretty big area, with trees and bushes, so between the safety factor and the free food, I don't blame them one bit.

Wild rabbits can be a problem in the garden, and as much as I like watching them, that's just one place I really don't want to see any. To keep them out of my veggies, I sprinkle blood meal around the perimeter of the garden fence. It's pretty stinky, but it's non-toxic and it works. I'm still trying to come up with a good way to apply it; shaking it out of the box works, but it's dusty so I have to wear a dust mask.

Last year was a big year for wild rabbits around this area. Their population tends to spike every 7 years or so, waxing and waning in between peaks. We should start to see a decrease this season, kicking off another cycle of decline for them. It's all a part of the rhythm.

Do you have wild rabbits in your yard? What do you do to keep them out of your plants?

Grit Post

There's a new post over on Grit; click here to check it out!

While you're here, this is exciting news too: Grit has given me a pair of tickets to go to the Mother Earth News Fair down in Puyallup, WA at the end of this month! Click here for the Fair's official website. There's a fantastic lineup of speakers (I'm really jazzed about finally getting to see Joel Salatin!) and workshops of all sorts. You can bet I'll be taking lots of pictures and notes to share with you! If there are any particular topics that interest you- at the Fair or otherwise- please drop me a note in the comments or on Facebook so I know what you want to read more about.

More to come!

Soggy Spring

Last year, I planted my first round of peas in February, due to some unusually mild weather. This year, we're having a more typical season... it's been raining quite a lot, and the temperatures have been cool. I planted peas a couple of weeks ago, with my fingers crossed that it wasn't too early. It was. The soil is still cool and I've *just* started to see a few sprouts peeking out of the ground. Ditto for the green beans, both of which usually amaze me with how fast they germinate. Not so this year, sadly. On the news this morning, they said that our normal rainfall total for the month of May is 1.94 inches... and we reached that yesterday, only 4 days in. Sorry, California- for as dry as you are, we're a bit soaked. I'd send it your way, if I could.

This guy doesn't mind the extra rain.

All of that time in the cold wet ground is not good for seeds, at all. Concerned that they might be rotting, I poked around at the end of a row, until I found one. Not even a hint of a root, after two weeks in- that really surprised me! So, I looked even closer, and I found a few millipedes around the place that I dug this one from. Millipedes are usually a gardener's friend; they break down decaying plant matter and rarely bother healthy plants. This time, though, they were attracted to my waterlogged peas and have started munching on them. Inconvenient, yes, but not the end of the world. I'll pick up another packet of seeds at the feed store later this week, and start over when the forecast calls for some warmer weather.


We did have two beautiful days last week, where the temps were in the high 70s during the day. That sure was a nice change of pace. This week, though, we're back to cool and wet- the highest we're going to see is 65 or so, and the lows at night are still in the mid-40s. Even with the raised beds, that's still just too chilly for most of my summer plants to handle. So, what's a gal to do, you ask? What I should have done in the first place, which is plant my cool weather seeds. I planted kale, chard, carrots, kohlrabi and the rat's tail radishes at the beginning of this weekend. They should do just fine while the weather works itself out.

What has your spring been like? I'd love to know what you've planted so far.