The Random Report

There's a local radio station that plays something called the "Random Report". And it is random, as is their musical selection. Probably explains why I like the station. Anyway, I'm often given to making random reports as well...and they look something like this:

Mint Ice Cream
Verdict - Not very much like storebought mint ice cream, not even like the "All Natural" storebought mint ice cream. It is green, even without additional coloring. I liked it, though I found it took a bit of adjustment. It tastes like a mint plant. Not like mint extract, not like mint candy, but like a mint plant. It's good, but chlorophyll-esque, which might put off some folks. It was soundly rejected by my four year old. Husband liked it, except he spit out the chocolate I added. Best friend tasted it, and proceeded to finish off the remainder of the container, so I assume she also approved. She did comment that the texture was good and smooth. Yay for first ice cream efforts! Next up...fresh strawberry ice cream made with my own strawberries! And then perhaps some rosemary lemon sorbet.

Deer Repellent
The repellent seems to have been a success. Whether it was the "100% Dried Blood" stakes or the spray, there's been no new damage this week. I will re-spray the plants weekly and hope to simply encourage the deer to eat elsewhere. Our neighbor says his garden is pretty much decimated, so while I feel badly about that, it does kind of let me know that I am making the deer pick tastier salad bars. Oh, and the whole idea that the concoction gets better upon ripening in the sun? If by "better" they mean "smells like something ate it, threw it up, rolled in it and then died", that'd be accurate.

Broody Hen
I have a hen who has decided she's going to be a Momma. Without my intervention, this is an impossibility for a couple of reasons. First, we have no rooster, so we have only infertile eggs which will never, ever hatch no matter how long the hen sits on them. And second, she's actually sitting on a couple of golf balls.

Okay, for those of you who don't know chickens, that might need some explanation. Yes, hens do lay eggs without having a rooster present. That's all hens are built for: eating, sleeping, pooping, and laying eggs. Good layers lay approximately one egg per day for several years. Poor layers lay a few a week for several years. They are not smart critters, though...the golf balls are there as a prompt to let them know where to lay their eggs.

Having a rooster present does several things for a flock of chickens including providing some protection from predators, but primarily it's how the eggs become fertile and available for hatching. However, most chickens have been bred to NOT sit on their eggs, so they wouldn't hatch out without help from humans anyway. Every once in a while, though, a hen goes "broody" like mine. She thinks she's building up a pile of eggs to sit on, and she pecks me when I open the egg door to gather the eggs, and refuses to get off the nest. What to do with a broody hen? You can give them a bath and remove them from the coop for a few days, and that usually breaks the broody cycle. You can wait it out, though while they are broody they aren't laying, so if you miss the eggs you'll want to choose another option. Or you can do as I'm attempting to do: give her some actual fertile eggs to sit on and see what kind of a momma she really can be. More reports on this later, if I acquire some eggs while she's still broody.

The Bees Knees
The bees continue to fascinate and amuse me. They have now managed to attach the first three combs nearest the observation window all the way down the window itself. They've got six open bars towards the back they haven't yet touched, and the rest have comb built or being built. Watching them create the comb is really something. The comb is created by young worker bees, who secrete the wax between their bodily plates on their abdomens, and then chew it before packing it into place where it needs to be. Really industrious little geometricians! So far the edges of the combs aren't full, so I can't see exactly what's going to be brood and what's nectar and honey at the moment, but shouldn't be long. I do wish I'd gotten another hive up and going this year, but next year for sure!

One thing I love watching the bees do is "sweep". They get busy on the floor of the hive and make little scooping, kicking motions with their front two legs, sweeping junk and dust out of their way. I am not entirely sure what they're actually trying to accomplish, but it looks for all the world like they're simply sweeping the floor.

Oh Deer.

The garden is proceeding wonderfully. All three sections of raised bed are finished and filled with compost, a three-way soil mix (dirt, compost, and sand) and vegetables. A lot of work, to be sure! Apparently I'm incapable of doing anything halfway, given the quantities of everything I've planted. For example, we have a three person family consisting of myself (a known hater of vegetables), my four year old daughter (likewise), and my husband. And we have, among many other things:

• 42 tomato plants of various strains including Stupice, Beefsteak, Yellow Brandywine, Brandywine, and Roma.
• 18 Cabbages
• 24 pole beans
• 48 pickling cucumbers
• Rows of carrots, lettuce, chard, radishes, peas
• 10 dozen Walla Walla Sweet onions
• 5 dozen each white and red onions
• 3 dozen asparagus plants
• 3 rhubarb plants (huge)
• Several dozen strawberry plants
• Peppers including a habanero, half a dozen jalapenos and about that many serranos and anaheims
• At least 7 squash plants plus 3 (really weak and sad and potentially dead) zucchini plants
• A whole herb bed including 2 kinds of lavender, 2 kinds of rosemary, purple sage, pineapple sage, feverfew, chard, bee balm, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon catnip, 2 kinds of thyme, cilantro (EW!), horseradish, 16 basil plants, and 4 kinds of oregano
• Other things including an eggplant, 4 cauliflowers, 3 soy beans, 18 potato plants, some trees and berry bushes yet to be planted.

Why so much if I don't eat many vegetables? I get a kick out of giving food away, out of processing it down into jams and jellies and sauces and eating it that way, and out of drying it for future use in soups and whatnot. It's healthier and better tasting than the limp stuff that comes from the grocery store, and I actually tend to eat more of it when it's freshly grown than I do when I lug it home from WinCo.

So today, I was out watering the part of the garden that gets missed by the early morning wave sprinkler. I know, I know, drip systems are better, and wave sprinklers are wasteful, and top watering is bad, and so on and so forth. Well, we're putting in a drip system eventually, but right now the garden needs watering and we have other projects more pressing, so a wave sprinkler it is.

Anyway, Todd pointed out to me that the tops of some of my newly planted tomatoes were snipped off. AUGH. We further determined that there was damage to our two small cherry trees as well, and deer prints in my garden beds. While I do like deer, and I don't actually care much if they're wandering around in my yard, and I don't even mind if they eat my ornamentals or poop in my lawn, they best be leavin' my veggies alone. Now I'm on a mission to find deer deterrents that actually work.

Todd's bringing home "repellent stakes" for the edges of the garden. I asked him to call me from the store to read me the ingredients, as I dislike using chemicals in the yard. These contain, and I kid you not, "100% Dried Blood". I tried not to think about what kind of animal might have once been using the blood, and told him to bring some home. While the ew factor for me is a bit high, the plus side is that I don't have to spray it on anything and it's chemical-free.

I'll also be making Deer Repellent Spray at home. I'll post the results after I find out whether it works or not. The spray I'm trying first:

• 3 large eggs, shells included
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 2 cups of fresh green onion tops
• 2 cups of water
• Bar of deodorant soap (like Dial)
• 2 Tbls chili powder or cayenne pepper

Put the first four ingredients in a blender or food processor and liquify completely. Pour into a bucket, add 2 quarts of warm water. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the soap and add to the bucket. Stir well. Add chili powder or cayenne pepper. Stir well again. Pour into a sprayer and squirt your plants well. If there are still chunky bits of shell, use a watering can with big holes to pour some of the mixture around the plants. Use every 2 weeks, works year-round. Rumored to be effective against Voles and Rabbits as well. Also rumored to be more effective if left to "ripen" in the sun for a few days before use.