Growing garden and uh...chickens!

Things have been gearing up in the garden. Just a week ago I left to go out of town and left the garden in as good of shape as possible. I tried to tie the vines of the butternut squash plants and melon plants to the arches, and give the tomatoes extra support by tying them to their cages. Imagine my surprise when I returned yesterday to find that my plants had pretty much doubled in size!!! The pumpkins are sprawling, the butternut squash plants have little miniature squash on them, there are little yellow crookneck squash growing, and several blooms on my tomato plants! And I have peppers ready to pick, along with greens, and oodles of herbs! It's amazing, and I am loving every minute. I have posted pictures at the link below to see the progress of the garden.

So I guess I should mention our OTHER addition...chickens! I will never forget the day Kris sent me a text while out of town and asked what I thought about having chickens in the backyard. The reality is, I had never given it much thought. His prompting led to rigorous searching on my end and pricing things out. We ultimately decided that since the laws were gray concerning raising chickens for eggs only within the city limits and the price was high to build a coop and get everything started, we would wait a year or so before considering it further. Then, one day, out of the blue, a friend of a friend sent me a facebook message to let me know that she had 4 hens needing a home. Her dad had built the coop, and the hens were about a month away from starting to lay eggs. She gave me a really great deal for all of the supplies and the hens. Later THAT DAY we were the proud owner of two Barred Rock Hens and two Buff Orphington Hens. So far, they have served as great entertainment to my family and today we received our very First egg!!! It has been so fun and we are looking forward to our many adventures with Peggy, Goldy Locks, Aretha, and one that has yet to be named. If you have good suggestions, let me know!

Click for pictures!


*PS all my law abiding friends in Nashville, please know that I studied quite a bit about the laws around chicken ownership in Nashville. The laws are very gray, and fortunately I have great neighbors that are excited not frustrated about their presence. So we're going to tread lightly and hope for the best.