garden "before" and retrofitted coop shots

    
Coop retrofit (only porch shots today)

    

Divided and conquered!! woo-hoo!

Fanny, the feather plucker. But friendly to people--sociable and chatty. =)

SO not fancy new chicken run.

 It'll work for now, though, esp. once I add a little water to the situation...

The above retrofit means I can turn my chicken run back into a garden.

Very much a "before" picture.

(one hopes... =) )

All those stakes in the ground were to protect growing broccoli from hungry and adventurous chickens, fall before last. Didn't work. They stormed the castle and I didn't have the heart to deny them the broccoli they SO love. =)

So, right now it's blasty sunny and hot so I'm hiding, but I'll be back out later today and any progress will be duly documented and shared.

How about you? Do you have a garden this year? Have you had one before? What are you growing?

Also, is there anything you've always wanted to grow but haven't? And if so, why not? I ask 'cause I have a few of those...

Please DO tell in the comments. Enquiring minds want to know! =)

biobabbler

it is time!

 
I FINALLY have MOVED the red hen

into the freshly divided coop, so as of TODAY I have free reign of the chicken run/garden to convert it back into it's previously lush (if amateurish) green bounteous self!

September 2008

It's been TWO YEARS.

Right now it's in an Oaklahoman-Dustbowl-State. I may take a "before" shot, however humiliating that may be to share. =)

Watered one plot yesterday, watering another today. Starting with plots that are wired against gopher (hoping it works).

Can I tell you how excited I am just to be able to prop the freakin' garden door open, since there are no chickens to escape?

Much work to come. Will document and share.

But I just had to say, at last:

LET THE GARDENING COMMENCE!

biobabbler

Divide and conquer... and encounter Lepidopterans!

Spent almost 4 hours yesterday working on coop divider technology. That'd involve sawing, thinking, sketching, sawing, gluing and hammering.

This relates to the biobabbler blog 'cause a) it's chicken-related, but mostly because b) once I get my chickens into the same coop, I can reclaim the chicken run and return it to a GARDEN. And that I am SO going to blog about.

So, the above is the divider for the largest part of the coop interior. Thrilling, I know. =)

As it happens, of course, I encountered nature. And thus have ANOTHER MYSTERY MOTH! =)

Resting between the two plywood boards I'd placed against our house was this creature.

Whom I then discovered was d.e.d. (that's "dead" to normal people).

Here's a shot of his/her underside (toes up):

And one last shot of our dear departed moth friend.

That's where I lay him out to rest (to eventually be discovered by Moby Chick, nabbed, and run off with to munch in peace). So now the moth is part of a large, happy white chicken, and got to take a fabulous dust bath yesterday, to the sound of a crosscut saw zipping through particle board.

So, moth-people, any guesses?

Thanks in advance!

biobabbler