Well! After a week of teaching Rufus, Molly and Delilah how to swim in our utility sink, we finally had a warm and sunny enough day to introduce them to the kiddy pool! What fun! Delilah, being the smallest of the bunch, stuck mainly to the shallow end of the pool while Rufus and Molly had a ball diving and ducking in and out of the deep end. Steve and I had just as much fun watching them splash and play.

Tex and Rosie wandered over from next door to see what all the commotion was about. As we've been working the two into a respectful relationship with the birds over the past few weeks, we decided now would be a good time to give them some unrestrained, but closely watched, contact. Both Tex and Rosie did beautifully, giving the birds their space and generally not eating them like ducknuggets. Tex however decided the ducks needed some loving and took to licking them all over with his big soggy tongue. We ended the day's events with a nap in the sun.

 The little chicks spent a day outside in the greenhouse, soaking up some sunshine and eating bugs and weeds. They're starting to look a little awkward and scruffy as their feathers start to come in.

 It's fun to watch them trade out their racing stripes for the new gold and brown spotted plumage.

Looking forward to some pretty girls on the farm.

Rufus, Molly and Delilah have quickly turned the brooder into a swamp, much to the dismay of the little chickies. So we decided to start giving the ducks some bathtime.

We filled the utility sink with a couple inches of water and set the ducks afloat. How adorable! By instinct they knew what to do right a way and were splashing and paddling around the sink within minutes.  

 

Today was our babies first day outside. The sun came out and warmed up our still empty greenhouse, making it a suitable environment to introduce the fledglings to the big outdoors. There was first confusion, and then a massive awe and excitement at the discovery of TASTY BUGS AND WEEDS!

And then, there was dust bathing, and all was right in the world.

Well here's the greenhouse, shelves and seedlings installed. Lights are on in the early evening to extend day light and intensity to get the little seedlings off to the right start. 

The thing looks like a UFO all lit up in the night... and a nickname for the greenhouse is born.

Another winning project by Steve. Two sets of shelves to hold my seedlings in the greenhouse. They really turned out lovely and I can hardly wait to put them to use. 

Thanks Steve!!

 

 He got all crafty with the recycled wood and built the whole thing out of ripped up pallets.

 

 Slatted shelves make cleanup and ventilation easier, which will help prevent dampening off, molds and mildews.

Spines running along the tops of the shelves will support grow lights used to supplement the low light intensity here in the Pacific Northwest.

Blegh! Slugs! Found this guy near the garden! I really quite like slugs, I think they're fascinating creatures, it's fun to watch them move so slow. But not in the garden!! They do some serious damage, especially to my tender young baby lettuces and broccolis. I've picked a few out of the beds and fed them to the ducks, who we are trying to teach to be cold-blooded slug killers.

No, we don't have cockroaches, ants or fleas in our gardens. But diatomaceous earth is good for more than just those guys. 

Diatomaceous earth is the fossilized remains of diatoms, a prehistoric hard-shelled algae found in siliceous sedimentary rock. The tiny particles of silica have very sharp pointy edges. When bugs come into contact with the diatomaceous earth, these sharp bits get caught in the joints and cracks of their exoskeletons. With their water-tight protective coat compromised, the bugs lose internal moisture, dehydrate, and die.

The silica particles in diatomaceous earth are small enough that contact with human or animal skin, is not harmful. However if you or an animal breathes in a big cloud of it, it will irritate your lungs as it becomes lodged in your bronchioles, and can do long term damage if breathed often. Diatomaceous earth has several health benefits, including strengthening hair, skin and nails, and acting as a natural dewormer as it passes through the gut. For this reason, in it's food grade form, it is often used as a supplement in livestock feed to help control worms and other internal parasites. Silica is a beneficial supplement for humans as well. Another rich source of silica, commonly used in humans is the horsetail (or shavegrass) plant, often used as teas or in capsules.

Diatomaceous earth is a non-toxic, naturally occurring and chemical free pest control option. Normally, diatomaceous earth is a rather ineffective method of pest control in the garden in the Pacific Northwest region. Frequent rain and high moisture content saturate the diatomaceous earth, turning it into a paste, which does not rub off on pests as effectively as it does when dry.

Because our raised beds are temporarily covered in low tunnel hoop houses, they receive relatively little water from above, except for when I go around with the hose to water them. Because the plants stay reasonably dry, I decided to give the diatomaceous earth a try, in an attempt to keep the crawlies from doing to much damage to the young, tender plants. After watering, I go around with my box of diatomaceous earth and dust all the plants. It's a labor intensive option, but it seems to be somewhat effective , and I have noticed fewer slugs and hard bodied bugs in the beds.

 The little chicklets have been spending a lot of time perching on top of their feeder and waterer lately, so we decided to build them a little perch. We hope this will help them learn to roost, so when it comes time for them to move outside into their big chicken house, they'll have had some experience sleeping up off the ground at night.

The ducklins were quick to inspect the perch while the chicks cowered terrified in the corner.

 

Mommy Steve was in charge of teaching each chick how to clasp onto the perches. Some were more apt than others, but at least they all tried.

One of the little Amerucana chicks especially liked the perch, and took to hanging out there for quite a while.

Time to give our little onion seedlings a haircut

We enjoy the neighbor dogs so much here. Every morning they come strolling up the drive to meet us out by the barn for horse chores. All big dog smiles and wagging tails, they find each of us to say hello and get a morning snuggle, scratch and smooch. They'll wait patiently with us as we finish up our chores. One of the two usually rests their head in my lap as I sit in the tack room logging updates on the horses. For the rest of the day they run between their home and the property here. Always joining us for garden work, taking Easter the horse for a walk, and especially putting the chicks outside for some sunshine. 

They're good dogs and keep us laughing every day.

 Another busy day! We completed our greenhouse doors and attached them.

 The doors were constructed on 2x2 frames and slatted with pallet wood.

We had some eye-hook clasps left over from a quail tractor project that didn't pull through, so we used them to secure our greenhouse doors.

We picked up a few 3-point hinges from Lowes and screwed them right through the plastic stapled to the door. 

Beautiful! We decided to go with the split level doors so that when it gets too hot in the greenhouse, we can open one or both top doors for ventilation, without compromising the security of the greenhouse. We want a cool breeze, but no dogs.

Picked some worms out of the compost today to feed to the duck and chicklings. Good source of protein and all. They LOVED them! Fourteen little chickies running around with worms in their mouth was sure a cute sight to behold.

After days and days of sanding clips, we finally have enough to secure the plastic to our greenhouse!

 

 We attached the end pieces first, and then clipped the large body piece over the ends. After trimming the long edges off the plastic we stapled the plastic to the door frames

And cut holes in the plastic where the doors will go.

Plastic finished! Two doors and some shelves away from a seedling-ready greenhouse!

For the past few days, we've had some unusually windy, stormy weather. We're finding that our method of setting the sand bags on the corners of the hoop house plastic isn't enough to keep them from blowing open.

Our new method involves tying the sandbags to the corners of the hoop house plastic. Seems to be working well.

"What is this plant?", you might ask. Well, we have absolutely no idea. It sprouted up out of the coco peat next to our thyme starts about a week ago.

It is not something I planted, but I am suspicious that Steve stuck a giant pumpkin seed in there with the herbs, and just isn't telling me. He's been going on and on about these giant pumpkins. "But where will we put it?", I ask him, "the pumpkin alone gets to be five feet wide!". After foiling his plot to take over the yard with enormous pumpkins, I wonder if he's planting them behind my back. He pleads innocent, but we'll see.

With the coco peat being coconut husk and all, at first, we figured that it must be a coconut. Well we had a huge 'DUH!' moment a day or two later when we realized, "Ugh, don't coconuts actually grow from COCONUTS???". There definitely wasn't a whole coconut in there somewhere, so it has to be something else. 

The coco peat comes from India, so our next guess is that it is a tree or plant native to India. I sent some pictures off to my mom, who lives there, and might know an Indian tree expert. We'll see if she can find us an answer. 

We'll continue to post updates on our mystery plant. Hope we can keep it alive!

 Here's a quick photo update on our chickies, who are starting to get their first feathers.

 

Whoohoo!! Finished up the greenhouse frame last night! 

Another success spawned from some messy scribbles on a yellow legal pad. Here's our design sketch. Dimensions at 6' wide by 8' long, and modified to be 6.5' tall at the center, so Steve wouldn't have to duck to stand inside. Well that, or so I would have some space to hang a disco ball and some christmas tree lights :-D

The base is made from pressure treated lumber to prevent rot, as it will come in direct contact with the ground. We'd rather never handle the stuff again if we can avoid it. The warning labels on pressure treated lumber are scary. Ugh, chemicals.

The hoops are made from 1/2" 16' lengths of PVC. Five tightly secured hoops give plenty of strength to support plastic.

Step one: Cut all the pieces. 

I want to mention here that the fabulous chop saw is a loan from our awesome neighbors, the Jordans. We'd still be hacking pallets to pieces with a handsaw, and have crazy pop-eye arm muscles to prove it, had it not been for that chop saw. We are SO thankful!

 

 Step two: Put together the 6' ends with attached door frames and gussets.

 

Mom, if you are reading this, I want to tell you that those L-Brackets are the best thing that you bought me when you sent me off to college. The close runners up being the hammer, which has disassembled a ridiculous number of pallets, and the screw driver, which I used to attach all the hoops to my garden beds. I love you!

As you can see, we used L-brackets, in conjunction with 2x4 gussets to hold the frame together at it's base.

 

Here's Steve, attaching the gussets to the door frame. 

We used screws throughout the entire structure so it would be easy to disassemble and move in the future. 

 Step three: Attach the ribs to the base and the spine.

We attached a spine to the top of the door frames, to which we pipe-strapped the PVC hoops for extra stability. Hoops are also attached by pipe straps along the base. The hoops will give shape to the greenhouse when we cover it in clear plastic.

 

The final product! A beautiful finished frame, waiting in the driveway to be covered in plastic.

  

Here's a close up of the gussets holding the base frame together, as well as the pipe straps attaching the PVC hoops to the frame.

 Another shot of the door frame gussets.

 

We attached the spine to each door frame with a spacer between the two, which gave the inside of the greenhouse some extra height and allowed the PVC hoops to more easily retain their natural curve.

Although the frame is complete the greenhouse is far from finished. We still need to make about 40 PVC clips to hold the plastic to the frame. The clips are the same as the ones used to hold plastic to the hoop houses, just a size larger to accommodate the larger PVC used on the greenhouse.

Steve's dad sent him his Dremel tool, which has this nifty little sander attachment. This worked so much faster than sanding all the sharp clip edges by hand. I did exfoliate a few of my fingertips in accident though. Ouch.