New Hens and First Big Planting

Say hello to the newest additions of our farm family....  Red 1, 2 and 3-

Post of what happened to our previous hens HERE.

Three young Rhode Island Reds given to us by a friend.  No names yet because they look so similar.

Somewhat sociable, as much as our last hens I guess.

I did love our heirloom hens that laid colored eggs, but they were not the best layers.  These ladies are very hardy and should lay everyday throughout most of the year.  Not as glamourous but very efficient.
Happy to have fresh eggs in the frig again.

You know what soft eggs and/or over easy eggs go well with.....  Asparagus!
We add some cream sauce too (sometimes with a bit of dijon mustard).  Plenty recipes on the web and I encourage you to give it a try if you have not.

Photo courtesy of Poorgirleatswell.com

Please share your favorite asparagus recipes.  This is another new vegetable for me to use regularly.  I made chicken, asparagus and bell pepper stir fry just tonight.  Kids ate it up.

We are getting lots of strong shoots.  I have made about 3 side dishes worth.

Along with our asparagus shooting up daily (though we are reframing from picking too many since they are young plants building strength) we worked up a section of our garden this past weekend.  We had the garden covered with a clear plastic sheet/tarp (from Lowes) for about a month to help heat the soil and keep it dry.  It worked.  Soil under the plastic was ready to work unlike the soil that was not covered.  Also, our cover crop of winter rye was thicker and taller on the side that was covered, because the soil was warmer (yes, it grew just fine under the plastic laying directly on top of it).  Why a cover crop post HERE.

As you probably know, DO NOT TURN OVER WET SOIL.  Reason why HERE.
Ideally you should turn it over, let it set about a week to allow weeds to rot, add organic matter/fertilizer, then turn it over again before you plant.  We planted immediately after turning it over which will result in us having to pull more weeds in the near future.

The strong man behind the tiller said the soil was much looser and easier to turn over than previous years.

This is what we got planted (still just cool weather plants):

• More leaf lettuce
• Radishes (not a fan but giving home grown ones a chance)
• Carrots

• Red potatoes
• Sugar snap peas
• Beets
• Garlic (yeah, behind again this year by missing out on planting them in the fall.  hopefully it will still work)

Planting sugar snap peas.  He planted an entire 20' row himself with the help of a 'spacing stick'.

Hope to see some plants popping up anytime now.