Things are going like gangbusters here on the homestead right now, especially where fertility is concerned. I am pleased to report that Ellen is sitting on a small clutch of fertilized eggs which I got from the neighbors across the street. They lost several hens at once to old age and disease about the same time that Ellen went broody for the third time in her three-year life, and so I took four eggs from their non-broody hens and put them underneath Ellen who is happily clucking and mothering them under her fluffy wings.
We will see if this pans out; if these eggs hatch I am guessing it should be around May 15 or so (chicken eggs incubate 21 days) and I would love to see Ellen become a mother in her golden years. All the other times she went broody I had to break her of it, meaning she did not get to do what she most wanted to do, which in those cases was hatch a batch of sterile eggs, a pretty useless endeavor for something as energy-sapping as brooding is. We shall see!
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| Mama in-waiting. |
The other fertilization project is going on outside, in the vegetables. I have some peppers and eggplant with clear nitrogen deficiencies, but before I start monkeying around with organic fertilizer I am going to try a gentle, natural nitrogen booster, which is our own urine, diluted at a 1 to 10 ratio and used to water the plants around their bases. I do not use this on anything where we'd be eating the crop either from or on the ground, but with peppers and eggplants this is not a concern. (And it's probably OK to use for other crops like lettuce, I'm just concerned about splash-age and don't want to risk it.
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| Urine great shape, vegetables! Or will be soon. |
So hopefully we will have green vegetables...and maybe even some chicks running around here soon. Just two of the reasons spring is my favorite season. It's all about fertility...fertile earth, fertile animals, and hopefully fertile crops.
Fresh eggs and veggies - sounds yummy! Interesting about the nitrogen booster. I will have to pass that information on to my husband who will start planting in mid May.
ReplyDeleteI just purchased a Vitamix, which is a blender on steroids. There are a lot of vegetables I should be eating, but don't like. With the Vitamix, I can make a variety of green smoothie blends. I'm looking forward to experimenting with our garden vegetables.
Everyone I know who has a Vitamix loves it, for exactly the reason you gave -- you can blend healthy veggies you don't care for and make them palatable. I think it's a great way to get those daily veggie servings we all need!
Deleteyou will love that thing for years and years. Mine is going on maybe six years and still just as great as the day I bought it. Except they were WAY less expensive then! But an investment in health is a solid one.
DeleteSo much abundance this time of year! No one can accuse you of not conserving water! They'd be pissing into the wind with that accusation.
(Couldn't resist)
Lol Stephen!
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