I have been letting my seed potatoes sprout in the back room with indirect light for a couple of weeks now. If you do that, the sprouts stay short and turn green which is called 'chitting'. Evidently this gives them a bit of head start.
Since I am not tilling my garden this year, I had to dig my potato trenches by hand. Whew!
Here's the lineup:
There are red potatoes, russets, and yukon gold.
I planted some of them pretty close together, because I intend to eat those fresh this summer. The others are my storage potatoes, so I gave them more room to grow bigger.
***
In other news...
I didn't mention it right away, because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But last week I decided to spring Jane out of jail (which was not working by the way) and give her a chick to raise.
(Are you stark raving mad?)
Yeah, pretty much.
But just look at them....
They had just met in this picture.
A few minutes later, the chick was burrowed under Miss Jane.
I was pretty worried for a few days, because Jane would NOT get out of her broody squat, and was not teaching the chick to eat. Though this chick is no dummy. She was snagging bugs practically from the moment she touched the ground. She's a Welsummer which is a breed from Holland. I say she, because that's what the feed store said, though as everyone knows, you can't be 100% sure about these things.
I was still worried about Jane's ability to be a mom, as all she was doing for the last three days was staying flat on the ground. Which was okay, as the chick could keep warm, but there's more to being a mother hen than that!
But this morning, as it began to get really warm, Jane decided to stand up and walk around. I took a shovel full of dirt and worms from the compost pile and put it in with them. That little chick knows EXACTLY what to do with a worm! And Jane was finding them for her and plopping them down in front of her at last.
I made a pen, just outside the run for them to be alone. I take them in at night.
But here's the thing.
If another one of the hens goes broody this year. Well, I'm going to go all Zen about it. Let them sit around on a nest all the live long day. I'm not giving them any fertile eggs or chicks.
I don't NEED any more chickens right now!
(What you NEED are more functioning brain cells. Order some immediately.)
I'll get right on it.
There are red potatoes, russets, and yukon gold.
I planted some of them pretty close together, because I intend to eat those fresh this summer. The others are my storage potatoes, so I gave them more room to grow bigger.
***
In other news...
I didn't mention it right away, because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But last week I decided to spring Jane out of jail (which was not working by the way) and give her a chick to raise.
(Are you stark raving mad?)
Yeah, pretty much.
But just look at them....
They had just met in this picture.
A few minutes later, the chick was burrowed under Miss Jane.
I was pretty worried for a few days, because Jane would NOT get out of her broody squat, and was not teaching the chick to eat. Though this chick is no dummy. She was snagging bugs practically from the moment she touched the ground. She's a Welsummer which is a breed from Holland. I say she, because that's what the feed store said, though as everyone knows, you can't be 100% sure about these things.
I was still worried about Jane's ability to be a mom, as all she was doing for the last three days was staying flat on the ground. Which was okay, as the chick could keep warm, but there's more to being a mother hen than that!
But this morning, as it began to get really warm, Jane decided to stand up and walk around. I took a shovel full of dirt and worms from the compost pile and put it in with them. That little chick knows EXACTLY what to do with a worm! And Jane was finding them for her and plopping them down in front of her at last.
I made a pen, just outside the run for them to be alone. I take them in at night.
But here's the thing.
If another one of the hens goes broody this year. Well, I'm going to go all Zen about it. Let them sit around on a nest all the live long day. I'm not giving them any fertile eggs or chicks.
I don't NEED any more chickens right now!
(What you NEED are more functioning brain cells. Order some immediately.)
I'll get right on it.