This will be a quick one, folks, because I’m exhausted. I spent a good share of today shoveling pea gravel, mostly for underneath the ducks’ kiddie pool. After it’s done, I’ll show you pics.
The ducks are almost entirely gown up now. They still have a bit of baby fluff on their necks, and their voices are still in the process of changing to quacks. Maisie has her quack down pat, and she can really sound demanding! Millie is either a little more laid-back, or just hasn’t figured out her Human-Do-My-Bidding-Now voice.
They are having free-range time in the backyard garden now, and are so enjoying themselves!
So far they haven’t caused any real damage, just slightly squashed one lettuce.
Oh, and they are making an inventory of all the ornamental pools of water in my garden. Including dog bowls.
The new chicks are doing great.
Freddie.
Charlotte.
And Edith.
Who I am 85% sure is a rooster. Sigh. Her comb is bigger, her feet are HUGE, and she’s much more aggressive. Remember I said I can never get an Ameraucana in my flock because I always choose the one rooster among the bunch of supposedly sexed female chicks? I said I wasn’t going to pick one out because of this unfortunate penchant, but when I got to the feed store, I saw this one and just fell in love. Such puffy cheeks! Such an owl-like face! I told the clerk I wanted this chick…oh, and one of the others, a lighter colored one.
So at least the lighter-colored one (Freddie) that the clerk picked out is looking like a girl. I should hire myself out as a rooster-finder, for folks that actually want one!
I finally got the sign I designed and free-hand painted up.
I have one more sign for the chicken coop mostly done, and then I need to make two more: one for the ducks (Duckingham Palace) and another Out of Eden sign for the backyard.
My veggies are coming along well. This is my cabbage/runner bean bed. The picture is about a week old; the beans are almost as tall as I am now.
And the snap peas are even taller than me. They must be close to 6′, and producing peas like crazy.
I don’t seem to have a picture, but the tomatoes in the greenhouse are a couple feet tall, and setting teeny tiny little fruit. Outside, I have a few tomatoes that actually ripening cherry tomatoes! I think I’ll be eating my first tomato this weekend. So exciting.
The roses are blooming like mad right now. This is one of my current favorites. Belle Isis.
And the bees are out foraging.
The Big Spring Projects are (thankfully) winding down now. Which is good, because I’ll be leaving for Iceland, England, and Egypt in about three months. I’ve been too busy to even really think about it, and of course, once I get back, it’ll be time to start seriously planning the Big Spring Projects of 2016. Right now, it looks like we’ll be adding meat rabbits, and possibly a stock tank of Tilapia! I keep getting drawn to books on aquaponics, and finally I realized I don’t really want to raise plants with fish, but I do want the fish! Fresh fish, right from the backyard! How awesome would that be?
And even cooler, it turns out that species of Tilapia that is best suited for my area is also the same fish from the Sea of Galilea – which means I’d be raising the same fish that Jesus and the disciples fished and ate. I love connections to history like this.
Out of Eden 
everything looks so awesome! You are so talented! I have a question about your stone path. How hard was it to get the stones level? What was your technique? I just dont have the perserverance or back to do things that are too hard………..but I have pavers that i have had in front of my various entrances to my chicken coop and run…………and they just really are uneven. I have taken some up and plan to do a better job this year…………I havent figure out how yet! I probably could google it etc……..but yours look so awesome. If you can provide any tips , I am all ears! I love reading your blog and looking at all your pics and videos —so much fun! Lisa
It’s a pretty hard job to get them even. Mine are not really that even, because as long as they are even enough not to be a tripping hazard, I really don’t care whether they have dips and valleys. Like one of my friends says: the rest of my garden is imperfect and cottage-y – so it would look weird if my new pavers were flawless! 😉 Mom is the major leveler, I mostly hauled stone. She laid some gravel in the the really low areas, then spread some sand over all the area underneath the pavers. By adding/subtracting sand as you lay each one, you can make them fairly level. It’s pretty much impossible without sand. They sell paver sand and gravel by the bag where they sell pavers. It’s a big job, but the worst thing (back-wise) was hauling the stones and sand back to the site. The rest is tiring and tedious. It’s worth it though, because my path and in-front-of-the-coops-patios make my life SO much easier now!