Tragedy strikes.

 A raccoon got into the hen house last night and killed my two hens. They were affectionately named Fatazz and Token. Fatazz was one fat chicken. She was the sole survivor of my first batch of chickens. She laid the biggest eggs ever. Token was a mostly black chicken with  beautiful markings.
 They will be sorely missed.

RIP girls.

Governor grants a pardon.

 For those of you, like my dear wife (DW) who were concerned about the two roosters' fate, they have gotten a last minute pardon from the governor (me). They will not face the executioners blade this weekend thanks to the hard work of their dedicated counsel (DW) who has found them a new home with a friend of a friend. He will be coming to pick them up tomorrow. And the best news is, he has plans to breed them with his hens. So all is well for them as they are destined for a life as studs.

Turning under the cover crop

The top photo is the cover crop, red clover, and the second is the bed next to it which has had the clover tilled under. I will be planting the spring garden in this bed. From back to front will be potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, chinese cabbage, kholrabi, lettuce, spinach, beets and carrots. My peas will go into the 'bean' row, the one just to the right. I'll planting the potatoes in about a month, and I wanted at least that long for the clover to break down in the soil. It won't be long after that when I transplant the broccoli and cabbage that is currently growing in the seedling racks under lights. Then the seeds for the rest will go in the beds and spring will be just around the corner. By the time all that is harvested, it will be time to plant the fall crop of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, and some pumpkins for Halloween, and I will get a second harvest from this bed. After the pumpkins, it will back into a cover crop for the winter and the following year, this will become the 'bean bed'. The 'tomato bed' follows the next year and the last in the rotation is the 'melon bed'. 

 As you can see below, my brussel sprouts still won't form heads. I am relatively certain this will be my last attempt at growing these. While I will eat them, I am not so crazy about them that I must grow them and seeing as how I have had zero success in doing so, it is a good thing I'm not. So no more trying (and failing) for me.

This is a picture of the last of my sprouting broccoli plants. It has about a meal's worth of small sprouts on it.

These are my two hens and two roosters. Say goodbye to the roosters. Their days on this earth are limited (because my budget for chicken food is limited, as is my patience for crowing roosters).