Housing Chickens (and their friends) in Style

So this past weekend I toured some of the finest in poultry accomodation in the Portland Metro area.

Without exception the coop owners were a gracious, gregarious bunch. Most of them had a whole sustainable, green gardening scene going on in their backyards.

Here are some of the highlights.

This Japanese / Craftsman coop was ingeniously constructed and the hens seemed to love it.



Lovely hens.














And not just hens, but ducks too. Runner ducks and French geese.

All hard working employees of this remarkable mini-farm. They all help control kitchen leftovers and slugs. And they all contibute fresh, delicious eggs.

Tour de Coops

Here's what I'll be doing next Saturday. Checking out the city chickens in Portland.

And then I'll be adding chickens to my own backyard.

More info here
Tour de Coops

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Are These Bees Italian?

Besides the Borage in my garden, the bees really seem to go for the oregano. I have a big oregano plant that keeps coming back every year bigger and bigger.

Once it goes to flower it is bee heaven, hundreds of them swarm on it all day.

Bees like small flowers, like the ones on dill and fennel and this oregano has tiiny white flowers in abundance. So I let it go to flower for the bees and then I let it go to seed to make sure it will come back next year by reseeding itself.

Before it flowers I harvest lots of the leaves and dry them so I will have oregano to cook with all through the winter.

So plant some herbs for yourself and for the bees they will undoubtedly attract.

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The Taste of Summer in One Tiny Bite

Sungold cherry tomatoes, yum. What could possibly taste more like the very essence of a summer day...

Unless of course you think ripe, juicy peaches taste more like summer.

For me it's tomatoes, the smell of the plant as you brush against it, moving the leaves aside to get at the hidden treasure. The aroma of the rip fruit as you bring it up to your nose.

All my tomato plants are loaded with fruit, some are ripe and some are not yet. I just hope I am able to keep up as the ripening speeds up. Don't worry, I have some strategies fo dealing with an abundance of delicious home grown delights.

I pop the cherry toms like candy as I walk the garden, but my absolute favorite way to enjoy ripe tomatoes is on good bread with home made mayo and lots of salt and pepper. If the tomaotes are really juicy, you may need to enjoy this treat while leaning over the sink.

Hope you are hip deep in tomaotes by now.

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Borage Flower

Borage Flower
Originally uploaded by joeysplanting

Here's a beautiful borage flower from joeysplanting on flickr. On a typical borage plant there are hundreds of these gorgeous, luminescent blue flowers.

Borage Brings in the Bees

This winter as I flipped through the pages of my seed catalogs over and over I had bees on the brain. I'd been reading about CCD (colony collapse disorder) and all of the cascading problems that might result from a lack of bees. I knew I needed to make an effort to lure bees into my garden.

I settled on borage as an experimental addition and bee bait. It took a while to get going, but now I have several of these beautiful plants throughout my garden and they are always full of bees.

The other plant the bees seem to love is Oregano once it hace flowered. I have a large patch of Oregano that was planted last summer. This hardy plant wurvived the winter and is now host to hundreds of bees on it's tiny white flowers. I will always make a place for this Oregano in my garden.

1st Tomato is Ripe Today!

I know it's been way too long since I have reported. But even though I've been lazy, the garden has been busy. Between vacation and hosting visiting relatives I've spent most of my spare in the garden, and not writing about it.

Today I harvested my first tomato of this season. It came from my tiny, but mighty Siletz plant. This plant has the most fruit on it of all eight varities I grew this year. It was delicious and captured all of the thrill and anticipation of watching the miracle of a plant making something for you to eat.

Yellow bush beans are starting to appear. I better get my canning plan together before I am swimming in them.

Everything seems to have survived the 100+ temps on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, so from here on out it should be fast and furious food production.

More soon, and hopefully some picutres.