I don't have much to say about the abundance of strawberries we've had this year except YUMMMMMM!

PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Here are a few updated shots of the girls from this morning. They had another spaghetti eating frenzy so they're in a pretty good mood! No eggs yet, but surly Eunis should start laying any day now. With her nasty attitude she'd better start making herself useful quick! The big bully has started pecking all the other's tails to a nub. Not good. Also, I think I'll be building a bigger coop, possibly next weekend. I've decided I'd like a walk-in, which will also make daily care easier for those who have to babysit if we're away.

Einstein the Houdan
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Einstein the Houdan in all her crazy glory...she does like to pose for the camera.

Einstein the Houdan
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Mean, mean Eunis...she even looks mean in her pictures. And Phab Phyllis doin' her thang.

Eunis the Mean
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

And my sweet little Scooter. This morning there were some drops of water on my arm from refilling their waterer...she actually drank them off my arm, all gentle like. It was adorable. Yeah, Sean doesn't get to eat her! Didn't manage to get a good shot of Pecker this morning..she's always freaked out.

Phyllis the Crazy
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Scooter the Sweet
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

And my sweet little Scooter. This morning there were some drops of water on my arm from refilling their waterer...she actually drank them off my arm, all gentle like. It was adorable. Yeah, Sean doesn't get to eat her! Didn't manage to get a good shot of Pecker this morning, she's always freaked out.

Here is what happens when you forget to stay on top of your zucchini/squash harvesting...you begin to find zucchini the size of boats in the garden! Ah, but the good thing about zucchini is that the rind doesn't get tough on you past the size of a cucumber like most summer yellow squash do. You can let these babies get huge and they still taste great...and you can float them to the Bahamas, which is where I wish I was floating away to right now! Or Paris...Paris would be good...but I don't know if my zucchini could get me that far...hmmmm..

Huge zucchini!
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Anyhoo, this is a really outstanding bush type zucchini I'm testing. For those of you who have limited space, or haven't had much success with the vining types of squash/zucchini, try sticking with "bush" types. They make plants about 2 1/2 feet tall and wide, so they are great for containers or small space veggie gardens. I fried up some of this zucchini two nights ago and it was superb. Nothing like summer vegetables giving me the excuse to eat something fried. Now I have to go run it off!!

Ok, so I had a bowl of spaghetti noodles in the fridge from yesterday...and I keep hearing that the chickens love cooked rice, noodles, that sort of thing. I decided to see if THIS would be enough to bribe them to love me...lol. So far, many items I've tried given them have been met with total disregard, so I wasn't convinced they'd actually eat the spaghetti. They run to me for salad greens from the garden, but nothing else has interested them.

Chicken noodles!
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

After they looked at me like I was crazy for a while, I finally just threw a pile of noodles into the run for them, let them out into the yard to run around and walked away to water in the garden. A few minutes later I looked over and Einstein had gone back in the run by herself. Wow..it was like giving a 1-year old their fist piece of birthday cake! She kept grabbing one noodle, then running with it back into the coop with it as if to hide it from the rest of the gang. It was funny watching her try to negotiate eating the whole noodle at once. She ended up scarfing down about half the pile by herself before Phyllis started to show some interest. That's not a bad thing...Einstein needs to put on a bit more weight. (Eunis..the big one, has started really pushing everyone else around. They're a bit afraid of her right now and I'm worried they might be getting bullied out of some food).

Investigating...
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Once Eunis noticed Einstein and Phyllis digging into something that was obviously good, she came over to see what the fuss is about. Pecker and Scooter follow her wherever she goes, so they came along too. That is Pecker in the above photo as I baited her out from under the door. After just a little while, they were all eating it out of my hands and couldn't get enough. Even Eunis, who has really just been a mean bossy you know what for the last month, was coming to me to eat it out of my hands. Scooter, the little blue Ameraucana is always sweet though and actually seems to prefer me feeding her directly.

I guess I'll be cooking spaghetti more often!

I've been so busy that there has hardly been time to keep photos posted quickly enough! So here are just a few random shots from this past spring. The first few are from May and others from random times through the spring. Enjoy.

Ok, I do actually have things other than squash in the garden right now! This was my dinner last evening...still harvesting the last of the salad greens, baby style. Pulling the last round of carrots young as it's getting quite hot here now. Peppers, Swiss chard, basil and the first an orange cherry tomato.

All varieties are test subjects for Organic Gardening magazine, so you know the drill, can't tell you what they are or else I'd have to kill ya.

Exceptions: 'Spicy Globe' basil and 'Big Bertha' pepper. The carrot is a long and slender type which, in our soil/climate, needs to be grown either in containers or raised beds. I usually grow the stubbier heirloom Chantenay types because they are easier to grow here. But this variety is doing well so far. The tomato is super tasty, although plants are kind of wimpy.

Priorities people. I've already cooked several large stew pots of squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and chard with fresh oregano...but the squash keeps coming. I took a lovely photo of the concoction whilst it was stewing...but now can't seem to find it. I harvested an armful load this evening after work, chopped it up until I realized the pot would hold no more. So I went back outside to harvest more...and more...and more...

The bins are full...the shelves are filling up...and there is still more in the garden that should be picked. At least they left a little room for the wine...

The Spring Summer Shoulder Season

May is sort of the sweet spot in the summer vegetable garden in our climate. Yes, I know for many of you May is barely summer! But for us here in Texas is already summer, but we have an overlap of harvests from early spring planted veggies and herbs.

It's warm enough that summer vegetables likes cucumbers, squash, zucchini, corn and beans are coming on for harvest, as well as the first tomatoes, but not yet hot enough to melt everything down into scorched earth, as will be the case soon enough. I'm beginning to be rewarded with more squash and zucchini than I will be able to consume fast enough, but I'll happily try.

Summer corn
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Squash Zucchini harvest
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Cucumbers on the vine
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

It's also the time of year where the last of the cool season crops, such as broccoli, chard and the last of the lettuce greens, overlap into summer. Yes, that's right BROCCOLI!

Broccoli harvest
PC: Leslie F. Halleck