Odelia had a great year taking care of layers and selling eggs but she wants to take a rest and so Tiffany is taking over.  This year, we add 1 more layer to the flock (15 in total) so Joshua can have more eggs .  So far we have 6 eggs per day.

Time flies and summer is over.  The cooler fall weather means harvest and also better growing condition for cool weather crops.  I planted some beets and lettuces in early September.  Here we are harvesting some fresh vegetables in our garden.

Swiss Chard
Savoy Cabbage.
Kale.  Kale can stand frost pretty good.

We had a mild winter and thus spring is early this year. Consequently I can start seeds a couple weeks earlier than last year. I planted some peas, potatoes, spinach, Swiss chard and carrots in the garden, covering them with straw or vapour barrier.

Growing sweet potato slips along window side.
Starting cucumber and tomato seeds.

We ordered 25 meat birds this year.  However it is not avilable until end of September.  There were some cold nights and rain, so 3 of the baby chicks died.  However, the rest of them are strong and like to catch grasshoppers.  Sonia is my helper this year to bring the water and turn on the electrical fence. 

After 2 years of failing, we are able to grow sweet potatoes in our garden. I grew the slip directly from a store bought sweet potato (read here and here) and used 6 mil clear plastic film to cover the soil for the entire season. Although most of the tubers are small, I count it as a success because the bed has only 5 inches of soil and the slips were close. Sweet potatoes are nutritious and hard to grow in warm climate countries. They do not need fur tile soil and can withstand drought. It is a wonderful gift from God, same with everything else.

Again, we are going to raise some meat birds this year on the pasture. I put 2 extra wheels onto the mobile coop and have decided to use the tractor to pull it across the pasture when it comes to the end of a line, rather than manually tilt it up and push. The daily move is still done by hand. The electric fence is setup and we are waiting for the birds to arrive. Finally today is the day.

The 2 weeks old White Rock in the box.
Tiffany holding a chick.
Sonia holding a chick.
Viviana holding a chick.
Odelia holding a chick.
The chickens in their new home.

The new layers start to lay eggs. We get from 2-4 eggs everday and they are small. But, it is still excited for me even though this is my 4th year keeping chickens.

Odelia’s very first box of eggs. Way to go!

It is now end of summer and empty spots start to show up in the garden as harvest is in progress. I cover some of them with the chicken manure compost and for some squares I am going to plant buckwheat and oats as green cover.

We started the marigold from seeds and now it gives many flower heads. Viviana always like to cut the head and spreads them everywhere.
Brocolli finally starts to form head.
Cauliflower also starts to form head.
Tiffany planted some sunflowers.
We have lots of cabbage butterflies this year so the kale are not doing too well. Lots of eggs and small catepillars.
The tomatoes are giving lots of ripe fruits.

Summer is close to end. We have harvested the potatoes and carrots. I would say the harvest is not bad this year. Although as our family grows, we can finish the harvest within 3 days 🙂