The gals are growing gangbusters and looking great. We got our picture taken together this morning for the Dallas Morning News...LOL...The photographer was a real peach and very patient with all the chicken wrangling required to get those shots! I'm hoping she didn't take any of me crawling into the coop, sunny side up, to grab them. BTW, we now carry the Ark, feeds, waterers & feeders, hay, etc. for backyard chicken keeping at North Haven Gardens, here in Dallas. We're having a chicken keeping program on Saturday, May 23rd, and Dan Probst will be selling juvenille birds that day...I'm just sayin'!!

Here are a few photographic updates...

The "Ark" and run.

 

Phyllis and Einstein

Let me just confess that a respectable percentage of my reason for blogging here is to get free advice from Leslie without driving her to acquire a restraining order.

Having said that, I'll introduce myself. I'm Julie, and my oldest child has referred to me variously as a "salad geek," a "compost-obsessed weirdo," and a "crazy chicken lady." Which is probably all the introduction I need. Mine is not the garden of a professional horticulturist, by any stretch. It's full of nutty experiments -- straw-bale raised beds, cucumbers growing on the compost bin, and hey, what happens if you bring home all the stale bread from church and stick it in your compost tumbler right before leaving town? (Answer: rats have amazing teeth.) I have three little helpers and one very busy husband who's always willing to help but seldom available. I aspire to create this in our patch of East Dallas, but for now I'll settle for a really good homegrown salad, like the one I made for dinner last night.

Behold...the teeny tiny sorrel seedlings that Julie gave me...the ones the chickens immediately destroyed...have been reborn. Against all odds, a few of them managed to come back from the crowns. SHUT UP. I'm sure Julie will be a very proud grandma. Viva la Sorrel!!

that's how much I was paying attention to it...it's sorrel, not spinach..lol

One of the many projects I worked on yesterday was this little patch in the corner of the front yard. This spot is compacted and never seems to absorb much water in the summer...leaving mostly died out grass and bare patches. SO, I thought, why not stick some dry garden succulents there? I found these "stones" on property just outside the back gate when we moved in. They've been sitting there ever since, but I knew I wanted to use them for something. We hauled them upfront and I rolled them around until I found a configuration I liked. Roughed up the soil and added some compost, shale and decomposed granite I had on hand from our pathways and patio work. Planted are an assortment of Agave parryi var. truncata, Agave salmiana var. Ferox, Agave ovatifolia, Aloe 'Pink Blush', and a few other species...I'll have to run out and check later....I call it my Stonehenge...

Because I garden organically, there is much wildlife activity in my garden. Anoles are everywhere, especially in the front yard. On the day I took this photo, about a week or so ago, I was surrounded by them in the beds. Babies everywhere! This was my favorite of the shots I got that day. This little guy..or perhaps gal due to the more subdued coloring, decided that this batch of irises was theirs...

The backyard is starting to shape up these days. Still have a few projects to do before the garden tour next weekend. But overall, it's becoming a nice place to hang out. It's difficult to get good photos due to the size and shape of the space, but here are a few snippets...

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/garden/07starter.html

Dallas Observer:http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/05/friend_of_the_show_leslie.php

My new little flock of chickens has been quite the adventure...they are a hoot. For the first few days, while they were getting used to their new surroundings, they were quite docile and easy to catch. The Polish hens would ride around on my shoulder no problem. However, they seem to have gotten a bit more skittish since. I think they are still getting used to having a "free range" environment and perhaps feel a bit vulnerable. They have, however, discovered gourmet greens....LOL..when I pull bolting lettuce out of the garden for them, they actually come running to me for it and will eat it out of my hands. They seem to prefer the lighter colored more tender greens (noooo, they're not picky...). Unfortunately, the little gray Ameraucana...named Scooter...has developed a case of lice. Yuck...so I'm trying to get her treated. Hopefully I can get her bouncing back soon. I've yet to name the two largest hens..but here are some updated photos.

"Phyllis" and "Einstein" - with all the rain we've had the last few weeks, these gals have had a time of it keeping their hair did...you should see them all soggy and floppy haired...pathetic!

Unnamed 1 and Unnamed 2 - The gal on the left is the biggest and oldest of the bunch. Definitely queen of the roost. She's awfully pretty and the least timid about coming to me when I have food she wants. The rest seem to follow her lead. The gal on the right came to me with some pecked out spots on her neck and tail...obviously getting picked on by some of her previous neighbors. Kind of surprising considering she's got some size on her. But since coming home with me she's started to grow some new feathers on her behind. Should be pretty once they're in.

And...poor little Scooter...she's just not happy...I've treated her and all the others with DE...scrubbing out the roost...etc. I'll probably have to smear her up with Vaseline this week. Lice are gross....now, wish me luck that I don't "catch" them!  UPDATE: Scooter is much improved. After a couple of treatments of DE she is all of a sudden her perky self again. Appetite is back full force and she's scooting all over the place. They all still have a few mites on them so we followed up with what we felt was a necessary treatment of permethrin to nip the population in the bud. Scooter seems to be the most docile of the bunch and just may end up being my little sweet heart...