Monday, August 21, 2006

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that the hens have started laying eggs. Seven lovely, tiny little eggs - one and a half ounces each.

The bad news is that the evil
rooster really nailed me yesterday. I thought I was winning by keeping a sharp eye out for him but I had to laugh when I went out yesterday and realized I was sneaking out the side door, tiptoeing and looking over my shoulder. When I got home I was keeping an eye on him. He was twenty or thirty feet away as I got out of the car. Being cautious, I went around to the passenger side, putting the car between me and him. I looked away from him for a second to reach in and get my things out of the car and WHAM! He hit my shin with his spur. I'm really limping today. But wait. There's still good news. The evil rooster is now in rooster-jail.

And in further good news, the garden is just bursting with goodness. Yet more blueberries - three pints. About a pound a day of pole beans. Damn, I forgot to put them in the picture and they're really gorgeous. Another quart of cherry tomatoes, half a dozen paste tomatoes and a couple of slicing tomatoes. A pile of cucumbers - I guess I'll have to make some relish. Three summer squash. I don't know what's going to become of them. And these amazing carrots. In May I saw a magazine article with a beautiful photo of various colored carrots. I was inspired and ran out to buy seed. These are, Purple Haze, Danvers and Yellowstone. I wonder if they'll taste as distinctive as they look.

5 comments:

David Makar said...

(jealous)

And you haven't even started using my vegetable gardening book!

Maggy said...

That's a pretty amazing harvest already!

How did you get the rooster in jail?

Pam in Tucson said...

Hope the rooster wound heals quickly. Does he understand "jail"? What a wonderful harvest! Congratulations! I didn't know that carrots came in vintage colours - awesome. Let us know how they taste.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Dave, wait 'til you see me next year!

Maggy, Belinda's fishing net is a perfect size to trap the rooster. (Good thing she's out of town this week.)

Pam, it's hard to say if he really understands jail. He can't be too thrilled that he's only eating commercial chicken feed - no leaves, no bugs or worms, no succulent seeds and berries. He seems to be crowing less today than yesterday. But it remains to be seen if he can be rehabilitated.

The carrots... eh, they're carrots. Maybe the purple one's a bit sweeter - or maybe I'm imagining it.

LauraHinNJ said...

What good are roosters, really? My brother keeps a few chickens and used to have a rooster like yours (carry a stick with you in the yard, Mary Ann!)

Do they make the hens lay better?

Beautfiul veggies, btw.