Hints of Spring — Janet Szabo

The farm store got chicks this week. I picked up a chick schedule when I was in there on Friday. We don’t usually get chicks until after the fire department auction—which is the first weekend in April—but I also have to factor in what weeks they are supposed to get what breeds from the hatchery. I am just about at the point, though, where I may start ordering directly from the hatchery myself. I had to incubate eggs in the spring of 2020 because the farm stores kept selling out of chicks as soon as they arrived. Last year, I was able to get chicks, but I had to get half Light Brahmas and half Black Jersey Giants, which I am convinced are actually Black Stars or Black Australorps that were mislabelled, because they are not as big as Jersey Giants should be. I try to get a different color breed of chicken each year so I will know how old they are, but we’ve got a mishmash out there right now. There are Buff Orpingtons left from 2019, the crossbreeds I hatched from 2020, the two breeds from last year, the diva show Leghorns we got last spring, and Dave. That limits the breeds I can get this year. My choices are Barred Rocks, New Hampshire or Rhode Island Reds, and Brown or White Leghorns. I’m also limited by how many chicks come in on which week. I said to the husband that it seems that the farm store is ordering fewer chicks of more breeds this year. I suspect that is to accommodate backyard growers who like to have lots of different breeds. My sense from reading the posts on the local Facebook poultry group is that there are a bunch of people looking for show breeds and also a lot of people who want chickens that lay lots of different-colored eggs.

I’ll keep any further comments about that to myself, other than to note that white eggs taste the same as blue eggs. :-/

The Light Brahma broody hen is still sitting on eggs. She was turning them yesterday when I went out to check and she let me know that my presence was not appreciated. Those hens get an A for effort, even if they never manage to hatch anything.

The rain finally stopped on Friday afternoon, and while it only got into the low 40s yesterday, that was warm enough for me to make a trip out to the garden and greenhouse to check things out:

Planting is a ways off yet. The snow is receding, though. I’m standing at the east end of the garden looking west. The greenhouse is to my right.

Part of the fence between the pig pasture and the garden came down; it looks to me like a deer tried to jump it and missed. It’s not a complicated repair.

I spent some time in the greenhouse organizing the growing supplies. We’ve got enough potting soil to get started, although we’ll need a few more bags. I mix it with compost and the seedlings seem to love it. I sorted out the pots we’ll use for the plant sale, because those tend not to come back. The husband promised to move out all of the stuff he stored in there over the winter. We’re going to need every square inch of horizontal surface. Mike, Ali, Elysian, and I all start our plants in there and we’ll also have the ones we’re starting for the plant sale.

The greenhouse was warm enough that I had to open one of the doors for some air flow. I had a big flock of turkeys for company out in the garden and pig pasture.

While I was out in the greenhouse, the husband was putting the bumper guard on the new truck:

He ordered a new EGR valve for the BMW. Thankfully, the valve was in stock and didn’t have to come over on a boat from Germany. That part should be here in a few days and then he will see if he can get the car to stop throwing those drivetrain warnings. The EGR cooler still has to be replaced under the recall, but he said he doesn’t think that is very high on BMW’s priority list right now. Oh well, if my car catches fire because of it, they’ll have to buy me a new one.

We watch a YouTube channel called Just Rolled In. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The videos are compilations of cars that mechanics get in for service, and some of them are horrifying. Some people don’t do even the most basic maintenance on their vehicles.

Did I sew yesterday? A bit. I’m trying to keep current projects moving along, because my sewing time is going to become limited as they days get longer and I need to be outside.