A wee little egg

There's another hen in the coop! (I think it is Pippi but can't say for sure.)

Dan came home from work Friday and found this cute little egg, seen here next to an egg from Sophie and an egg from one of the experienced hens. This egg is much tinier than even Sophie's first egg, which was smaller than Hyacinth's first egg. I think now that Ayla is the only one who has yet to lay an egg, she's a late bloomer that one! Maybe she's waiting for a cute rooster name Jondalar....

The girls are getting along better these days. All 8 are roosting together, there seems to be less harassment from Iris and Hyacinth over treats, and the new girls are becoming more savvy. This morning from the breakfast window I saw a hawk after a delicious meal of tender free-range chicken. I ran out and startled the hawk, which at first settled on a nearby tree, then flew begrudgingly off as I approached. Six of the hens were hiding in the shrubbery, and Iris and Poppy were in the coop. They are learning how and where to hide. I'm glad I chased the hawk off, though, he can find some other food-source than my girls, and maybe he'll give up if he continues to be unsuccessful.

Not much other news here at Henbogle. It was a super busy week at work with a lecture by Madeleine Albright on Thursday, and another big panel discussion looming on Monday on a hot development topic here in Maine. I've also been getting ready for a trip to Massachusetts for my best friend Holly's wedding next Saturday. I am working on a longer post about the new garden bed and a review of the flower gardens, when I get to it.

No wonder they died young....

The home-preserved tally thus far:
* 16 pints of Dilly Beans, + ? lbs. processed wax & green beans in the freezer
* 28 quarts of grape juice
*13 1/2 pints grape jelly
* 5 pints pickled pepper rings
* 7 pints of roasted tomato sauce
*8 quarts of roasted tomato sauce

Frankly, I'm pooped. It's no wonder earlier generations of Americans died early. If they did not succumb from childbirth or improperly processed tomatoes, no doubt they died of exhaustion.

Still on my list: 2 batches of pepper jelly with my gorgeous lemon drop peppers. I have a sinking feeling I'll see that hope flash by given the speed of events these days. Over the weekend, I processed another 5 quarts of roasted tomato sauce. I roasted the tomatoes Friday evening, then refrigerated them until this morning, when Dan helped me run them through the tomato mill to remove seeds and skins, then put it on the stove to simmer for the day while we attended to other items on the list.
The above tally does not include the large tubs of potatoes, carrots, and (yikes!) a few more tomatoes in the barn, nor the remaining leeks in the garden.

I picked the last of the Swiss Chard early last week, after realizing the hens love Swiss Chard, and any left in the garden would be reprocessed into eggs. The few remaining heads of broccoli are already eggs, sigh. I need to remember that next year. Still, the girls are doing a wonderful job cleaning up the garden, and they are so happy while they do it, what a treat to watch them at work.


As the sauce gently bubbled away, we loaded the truck with the mildew-riddled squash and pumpkin vines, and trundled off to the town transfer/composting station. As we pulled in to the yard waste area, we gleefully spied a fresh load of pine needles --just the thing for mulching the blueberry hedge, which Dan had weeded last week. I hope the pine needles are less conducive to the insidious creeping Charlie, (aka ground ivy, gill-over-the-ground and one hundred other names), since it thrives in compost and doesn't blink at shredded bark mulch.

Once we dumped the squash plants, we loaded the truck up with armloads of gorgeous pine needles and headed home. Within a matter of minutes the blueberries were mulched for the winter. I hope that in addition to the preventing charlie encroachment, the pine needles will add to the acidity of the soil as they break down, making our blueberries happy and productive. I still need to add 2 plants to the row, I've got to remember to look up the variety I need. All told, it was a pleasant and productive day in the garden.

The glorious maple

It was a perfect fall day today, clear blue skies, a slight breeze, warm enough for shirtsleeves.



The unseasonably warm fall has delayed the peak of foliage season statewide, and in my opinion, mid-coast Maine peaked this weekend.









Our lovely maple is breathtaking, even though a gusty rainstorm Friday stripped lots of leaves.

Wild chickens

After crowing about our success in finally integrating the new chicks with the old, we have a few strange behaviors cropping up.

Roaming in the vegetable garden, the old hens have begun laying their eggs amidst the remaining plants, mostly herbs at this point since we had a killing frost on Tuesday night. Whichever new chick(s) is laying (2 eggs now) is using the nest boxes.

And to top off this weird behavior, now the old chickens have taken to sleeping in the rough in the vegetable garden. Last night three of them were in there, with Iris (Iris!) happily roosting with the new chicks.

How weird is that?!

Sunday's Harvest

As usual, I don't have time enough to accomplish all the things on my list, including a comprehensive post on the veggie garden. For now, here's what we harvested on Sunday:

Potatoes (Carola, Austrian Crescent, Rose Apple Finn, Red Norland), Carrots (Atomic Red, Mokum, and Rainbow Mix), some Beets, with more awaiting us (Detroit Dark Red and Burpee's Golden), Pole Beans for seed saving (Gold of Bacau and Michael's strain), and more Tomatoes for a final batch of sauce. I also cut large bunches of thyme, parsley, and catnip for drying. I have oregano and rosemary to cut and then once the ground is frozen, I'll heavily mulch the rosemary in hopes it will overwinter.

One of the Carola potatoes is the largest potato I've ever seen, it was huge, with many other 1-plus pound taters. We had some that night and they were yummy! The garden sink again proved its worth, providing a great spot to pre-wash all the taters and carrots.

Frost hardy plants still producing: Swiss Chard Bright Lights), Leeks (King Richard), and the aforementioned Beets.

With most everything harvested, we decided it was time to turn the chickens loose in the garden to help put it to bed. We were able to rig the gate into the chicken run in such a way that it could serve as the garden and chicken run gate and allow the hens free access to the garden.

The big girls were thrilled to get in, they made a beeline for the potato patch and went to town digging and worm hunting. In no time, they'll have done most of our weeding, cleaned up a lot of bugs, left some fertilizer, and scratched up the mulch, encouraging it to break down into the soil. They are like deluxe rototillers, but way better.

One of these eggs is not like the others...

It's smaller!

One of the new chicks laid an egg! Was it Dorothy, Pippi, Sophie, or Ayla? Based on her behavior of late, I think it was Sophie.

Over the past 2 weeks, we successfully integrated old and new chicks. We began by removing the fence that divided the chicken run in half. Iris and Hyacinth occasionally harassed the new chicks, but the little chicks had plenty of escape routes and spots to hide, so only a few squawks ensued.

At night the little chicks were secured in their baby pen. After two weeks of this, it was time to complete the integration process, so one night after dark, when all the chickens were sleepy and roosting, we removed the little chicks from their pen, and placed them in Henbogle coop. A few squawks were heard, but not many, and the next morning, there appeared to be little in the way of physical damage to the little chicks.

After 2 nights of the midnight transfers, we closed off the little coop, and at dusk, we went out to make sure they were in Henbogle Coop, and they were. The first few nights the little chicks huddled together in the nest boxes, but now seem to be making themselves comfortable on the roost. We managed the transition just in time, I'm sure more eggs will soon be following.

Our first Frost Advisory of the season

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
304 PM EDT TUE OCT 16 2007

...A FROSTY NIGHT IS ON TAP FOR SOUTHEAST NEW HAMPSHIRE AND
SOUTHERN MAINE...

.HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE REGION FROM QUEBEC WILL RESULT IN
CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS TONIGHT. THE COMBINATION WILL LEAD TO
THE DEVELOPMENT OF FROST OVER MUCH OF THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND
EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.

...FROST ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT WEDNESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAY HAS ISSUED A FROST
ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT WEDNESDAY.

LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S WILL RESULT IN AREAS OF FROST ACROSS
THE REGION LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.

A FROST ADVISORY MEANS THAT FROST IS POSSIBLE. SENSITIVE OUTDOOR
PLANTS MAY BE KILLED IF LEFT UNCOVERED.

Garden porn

Check out the zinnias, still blooming like crazy!



We worked like dogs in the garden today, and I've got lots to write about, but I'm too pooped.
For now, I'll just share some home grown loving.


Scroll down.




Don't look if you're distressed by tubers!






A Red Norlands and a Rose Apple Finn potato. Apparently, inconsistent moisture causes knobbiness in potatoes. Whatever, we laughed and laughed and laughed.

Pimped out pumpkins

Who needs a Harley? Here in Maine, you can grow your own boat, aka giant pumpkin, and paddle it. Yes, the man in the photo is in a giant hollowed-out pumpkin, in this case, a motor pumpkin.

Next year I simply MUST plan on attending the Damariscotta, Maine Pumpkin Festival on Columbus Day to view the vegetable spectacle. Photo from the WCSH-TV website

And for posterity, the recipe

Pickled Pepper Rings

Prepare 5 pint jars and lids.

3 lbs. mixed sweet and hot peppers
5 c white vinegar
1 ¼ c water
5 t canning salt
5 T mustard seed

Wash and slice peppers in ¼ inch thick rings. (I deveined my peppers and removed most of the seeds).
In a large non-reactive pot, bring brine to a boil.
Place 1 T mustard seed in bottom of each jar. Pack pepper rings into jars.
Cover with hot brine, allowing ½ inch headspace.
Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Allow to age gracefully for 3 months.

Pickled pepper Rings

There's nothing better than some hot pepper rings to lift an ordinary sandwich into a new realm of taste excitement, so with all those gorgeous garden peppers, this morning I made Pickled Pepper Rings.

I had several varieties of peppers to choose from. Carmen Sweet Peppers from Johnny's Selected Seeds, of which the catalog says "A beautiful new pepper of the Italian "bulls horn" (corno di toro) type from Johnny's owners and plant breeders Janika Eckert and Rob Johnston. Carmen has a lovely sweet taste for salads and roasting, especially when partially or fully red-ripe. Tapered fruits avg. 6" long x 2 1/2" wide, 5 oz. (142 gm), and ripen from green to deep carmine red. Maturity is early on an upright, medium-size plant. Days to Maturity or Bloom: 60 days green, 80 days red ripe."

Italia, also from Johnny's, of which the Johnny's catalog says "Long, avg. 2 1/2" x 8", fruits are green, and ripen early to a dark crimson red. Corno di toro type, with wide shoulders, reminiscent of a colorful bull's horn. Sweet, full pepper flavor that expresses itself well in pasta sauces and stir-fries. Days to Maturity or Bloom: 55 days green, 75 days red ripe."

Why two of the same type of pepper you ask? Because I purchased the plants from Johnny's and they did not have full six packs of either, so I was given the Italia's even though I really didn't need more... and of course once they were home, well, I couldn't not plant them...right?

Lipstick, according to the Johnny's catalog "Heavy, attractive, dark green fruits are about 4" long and taper to a blunt point. They ripen to a glossy, rich red. Thick, juicy, and sweet for salads and cooking, and perfect for roasting and salsa. Dependable, early, heavy yields, even in a cool summer season. Days to Maturity or Bloom: 53 days green, 73 days red ripe."

Sweet Banana also purchased as seedlings but from where I don't know. Days to Maturity: 75.

and Lemon Drop, from seeds I saved and gave to my gardening pal Michael. I was unable to get any seeds to germinate, but he was successful and gave me 3 plants. These plants were incredibly prolific, early, as the peppers themselves ripened earlier than the above peppers, beautiful, and hot, hot, hot!

I'll report back in late December when these jars are ready to crack open. Until then, I'll need to admire frequently!

End of the garden

We started putting the garden to bed yesterday, harvesting the remaining veggies and then pulling the plants. On the left are the Lemon Drop peppers. The orange are the riper peppers, the remaining are a light greenish yellow. On the right are the sweet peppers, a mix of Johnny's Carmen, Italia, and Sweet Banana.


It is so sad, but now we have the fun of thinking and planning for next year, and of course, savoring the foods we've put up for the long winter months.

We picked most of the remaining peppers, but I left a couple of plants with small peppers growing just in case the warm weather continues and delays a killing frost.

We pulled the zucchini and pumpkin vines. Our fabulous zucchini, riddled with powdery mildew, was still producing squash, and amidst the dying vines, I found 2 more pumpkins.

We also harvested all of the basil plants, somewhat ravaged by the evil Japanese beetles, but finally with enough leaves to make pesto.


Sunday we will tackle the tomato plants, and make some additional roasted tomato sauce. I also hope to make a batch of pickled peppers and some hot pepper jelly.