The theme this month is macro lighting.

I spent all winter thinking about my garden and how I would need to make a chicken run.  I mean, the chickens are great and everything, but I need to dig and make things grow.  So I had to devise a plan because, unfortunately, there is nothing I can download from the internet to tell me how to make a run in my specific yard.  I knew I wanted to build the run along the south fence.  This is furthest away from our neighbors and is sheltered by a row of crepe myrtles and crossvines; important during Texas summers.  The mobile coop could be parked at one end and I would be able to roll it out to change the straw.  Cleaning the run was the tricky bit.  I couldn’t put on a real roof because of the trees.  What to do?  Here was my plan A:

I bought ten or so 1″X2″X8′ boards, 50′ of 4′ high cattle fencing, 10 u-fence posts and 50′ of plastic chicken netting.  These were all very cheap.  The most expensive piece ($30) was the post driver.  (But it was totally worth it because slamming posts into the ground is so fun I might just have to build random fences around the yard.)  This particular fence is parallel to the back fence, just outside the crepe myrtles.  I polyurethaned the wood, only because I had some leftover from another project.  Then I nailed the boards to the top of the cattle guard and attached the whole thing to the posts.  (The fence wire slips into tabs.) On one side of the run I cut the board and bent the fence to create a door/dead-end.

On the other end I parked the coop, blocking off half the exit.  To close off the run completely I built a door out of the scrap wood and cattle guard and attached it to the main fence.  This door allowed us to reach the coop doors so we could change their food and water.  The egg door was on the outside of the run.  As for the roof/cleaning situation, I attached lengths of 1x2s with hinges so they were perpendicular to the top rail of the run fence.  

They could swing down into the yard, opening up the area for cleaning.  Then they could swing back and rest on 4″ lengths of scrap 2x2s I had nailed to the back fence.  Brilliant!  Genius!

At this point we got to go crazy with the staple gun and attach the chicken netting to the hinged struts, basically creating a triangle from the back fence down past each crepe myrtle.   In some areas we also attached the netting between the front of the crepe myrtles and the run fence. Done.

We put the chickens in their jail.

They were angry and confused.

For the rest of the day they scooted back and forth along the fence, bokking pitifully, finally flopping down in a corner to stare at us with beady uncomprehending eyes.  Then I had to feed them, and I realized that opening up the gate and walking under the crepe myrtle branches while trying to keep them from escaping was tricky and annoying.  But I still had faith.

The next day Migas escaped.  She just jumped up from behind the trees, walked down the roof strut and jumped into the yard.  The others were livid, but couldn’t figure out what she had done.  We decided to temporarily enclose the area behind the crepe myrtles, even though it would mean I could no longer lift the roof to clean.  Rob’s parents were due to arrive and Graham’s birthday was coming up.  Neither of these situations work well with a backyard covered in chicken bombs.

This solution worked for a couple days.  Then HennyPenny (HP) escaped.  She figured out how to “climb” the crepe myrtles through the netting and pop right out into the yard.  (With this feather in her cap, she has risen in the pecking order, and now routinely commands first pick of any tasty bug or kitchen scrap.)  Still, we kept throwing her back in the run and adding more netting between branches.

We made it through the birthday party with the chickens in prison.  The next day, however, while Rob and I were on an actual real date, the in-laws witnessed a near disaster.  HP had climbed the tree to attempt another escape, but this time she got stuck in the netting and was dangling by the neck from the roof, screeching and flapping frantically.  Before anyone could figure out what to do, she freed herself.

Well, that settled it.  I wasn’t going to have a chicken run/death trap in the back yard.  So we’ve had to scrap the whole project and start again.  Will we succeed?  Kill the chickens?  A little of both?  I will report on the results.

My big gardening project this year was to build up a bed along the south side of our house.

I finally bought seeds & starts that actually have a chance of growing in this climate, rather than  basing my purchases on the catalog’s pretty pictures and hopeful descriptions.  So spring was a very successful season.

Aaaaand then the garden succumbs  to summer.  The bugs invade, the mold sweeps in, the heat scorches.  It’s a losing battle that we’re not actually supposed to be fighting.

So I’ve mulched the plants and stepped back.  I’ll water enough to keep them alive until the fall, when I’ll probably get a bumper crop.  Then I can begin the second gardening season in earnest.  How great is it that we get fresh produce through winter?  It almost makes up for living on the surface of the sun for 4 months of the year.

I got to see the dress rehearsal for “Jack and the Beanstalk”.  The kids were part of a test audience.  They were completely thrilled and (incredibly) sat still for 45 minutes, thanks to a fast pace and lots of audience participation.

My good friend Nancy has put together this community theater and produced their first play.  She has been slaving away for months and brought together a great group of people.  How she accomplished this with two little kids is beyond me.

The premier is this Saturday, May 30th at 5pm at Brentwood park.  Come, bring a blanket, a picnic dinner and enjoy the show.  There are also performances at the Triangle farmer’s market Wednesday, June 3rd at 7 p.m. and the downtown farmer’s market Saturday at 11 a.m. on June 6th.

Support local theater!

We still have the rectangular outline in the grass from the sunflower house.  I reworked the soil and made a few (only technically illegal) trips to a nearby bamboo grove for fallen poles.  That night I soaked the morning glory seeds.  The next day we tried and failed to erect a something structurally sound.  A week later, with the help of Rob’s civil engineer father, we succeeded.  My final plan turned out to be two tepees, side by side.  The bases are staked into the rectangle, and a cross bar connecting the tops removes the need for a support in the middle.  (Hopefully.  Our engineer refused to sign off on the project.)  I’ve wrapped string around all the poles, in a kind of ladder design that the vines will climb.  If everything works out as planned, the kids will be almost completely hidden in their little house of flowers.  (In case you are thinking I’m completely altruistic, a major goal for this endeavor is that the kids will entertain themselves outside for long long periods.)

Of course I over-soaked the morning glory seeds after the first unsuccessful attempt at building the tepee.  So Rob and Violet planted more at the base of each pole.  Two weeks later only three seedlings have come up.  Add this to the spectacularly unsuccessful flower bed and I’m about to get discouraged.  Right now I’m blaming the weather instead of my black thumbs.  We’ll see how long I can continue to do that.

I’ve had a working herb garden for a few years now.  But it needed help.  There was a mysterious plant that may or may not have been an herb.  I ripped it out.  The kids kept trying to eat the lantana.  So I moved it to the flower garden.  A giant spider was living in the dirt.  It’s dead now.

I also reworked the soil.  (This is what I should have done every year rather than throwing seedlings in there and wondering why they didn’t last long. )  I’ve got the basics: dill, basil, parsley, mint, sage, oregano, lavender and rosemary.  I just added cumin, cilantro, feverfew, salvia and chive seeds.  I kept a close eye on Violet as she helped me sew.  Last time she planted seeds they ended up like this:

WRONG.  Turns out the gutters were a little stopped up (strange, since there are no trees in the back).  So a Niagra Falls dumped itself on my tiny seedlings.  Behold the carnage:

Not only that, but the water rushed down the bed and poured through a break in the railroad ties.

Now, if anything else sprouts, it will be in a big clump on my lawn.

*$%(#*$@*#&^$*#^(@#*$^()$!

So it was worth it to buy three lengths of cedar, some L brackets and a few screws to throw together a new bed.  It should last for many years and, well, it looks a lot better. 

I’ve planted cooler weather veggies: radish, chard, broccoli, lettuce, bok choy.  Hopefully the heat will hold off until I get a few salads.

So my fingers are itching to dig in the dirt.  The kids and I did this the other day.  Violet made mud pies, wiggled her toes in the dirt and begged me to find her worms.  Graham cried at the sight of potato bugs and complained of dirty hands.

My winter garden consisted of a dozen plants hastily purchased and thrown in the raised bed.  Seeds were just not going to happen this year.  But at least we got some delicious salads out of the deal.  And it’s worth it to see Violet eat peas or Graham inhale a half a head of broccoli right off the plant.

Last night I ordered seeds.  Spring planting to come.  Woohoo!!