Chicken Math and a Neglected Garden

I swear, this blog wasn't intended to be a farming blog. But here we are.

Today was another crazy, busy day on the Sprigg farm. Since it was my 'day off', Honey Bunny and myself decided to do something nice for the chickens who have been stuck in cages and chicken tractors for so long. So, we built them a couple of fenced-in areas where they could wander around and chew up the grass. Two of them; one for the meat birds, one for the layers and dual-purpose birds. Oh, and the bunnies, too.

These are the Orpingtons and Bovins that we've been raising. Notice the two roosters in the middle (the brown ones with white tops and tails). There's a third rooster, who is only partly visible by the chicken tracotr and the plywood pretending to be a door. The bunnies are in the back, near their hutch.

And these are the meat birds (plus our sole remaining pure layer, Pecky Lynch). As you can see, the birds are voluntarily racial segregating themselves; the white birds are all at the far end, except for one rebel who's hanging out near the water, and the others near the front. The black ones (and Pecky) live in the tractor at the back, while the white ones are in their temporary cages that we put in the enclosure at bed time. Sure, it's not the most comfortable quarters, but they're only going to be with us for a few weeks before they take a trip to the freezer.

Meanwhile, I have a garden, too. And thanks to all the livestock issues for the past few days, I haven't spent much time with it except one evening of watering the plants. I de-tasseled the corn today, for which the pigs were grateful. They'll eat anything. Except green beans, for some reason. How am I supposed to get my kids to eat green beans when even the pigs won't eat them?

Anyway, I decided to apologize to the veggies for neglecting them for half a week. Little did I know what I would find...

For the uninitiated, that is a zucchini being held by a nine-year-old. And yes, it's that big. No trick photography. I found a few of them like that. And I was worried that the soil they were growing in wasn't going to give us top-quality stuff. Holy crap, was I wrong.

I also got a bunch of summer squash that just kept growing and growing and growing. Eighteen of them, all oversized and massive. The piggies are going to eat very well here. Beets, Swiss chard, carrots, onions, corn, tomatoes...and pumpkins. Lots and lots and lots of pumpkins. Even the bean plant is growing now.

It's quite a miracle, really. And yet, it's so commonplace. It's such an amazing feeling to go out and see all the things that are happening out there. And I still can't believe that I'm the one doing this.