Hoop Houses and Other Happenings Around the Farm

*I use the term "farm" lightly. Growing chickens, turkeys, hogs, gardens and kids on one acre may classify as a small farm I suppose.*

We've been working around the homestead hoping that the sun we're seeing (in between the bouts of rain) really is a sign of spring...with a summer on the way.

So, what have we been up to?
Well, first let's do a poultry count. These numbers aren't pretty folks. Over the last 2 months we've lost 2 ducks, 1 turkey, 1 hen and 2 chicks to different causes.

(A few of our older chicks that are in the coop already)

The last one though was hard to take. While the smallest chicks were free roaming just outside the barn the other day, it was breezy. Maybe more like windy. Windy enough to blow down a small piece of plywood that was up against a fence. Guess what was standing right under the plywood when it fell? Yep. Layton's chick for fair. How is it possible that out of the 14 or so chicks that are in there, the board had to fall on his one fair chicken??!

Well, it's a good thing that mama has learned from experience and when we got his chick for fair, we also got back up chick #1 and back up chick #2. While he still has a chicken to show, he lost all the work he had put into handling the first chick. Thankfully fair isn't until August so he still has time to work with this new one.
With the losses, we're currently standing at: 8 laying hens, 1 rooster, 22 chicks and 2 ducklings. I'm praying for no more losses!

Part of our problem with losing poultry is that the back of our property is not fenced. And around here, some folks allow their dogs to wander about the county without any thought. Dogs that like to kill chickens.

So, instead of sitting out all summer with a .22 we cross fenced the back.My husband is amazing. Have I ever said that? He is. His hands produce the most wonderful things. And our fence was no exception. Now all we have to do is fence the back of the property and I've got an amazing area for a small goat barn and pasture. Then I just need to convince my husband that goats milk really is wonderful.

Have I also mentioned before that we have a very short growing season here? Not Alaska short, but short. We start to plant late May/early June (when most of you are all already harvesting your first round of green beans and peas) so growing tomatoes here is difficult to say the least. Unless you grow cherry tomatoes in your garden. And we do. They are wonderful. But sometimes a girl longs for a huge, ripe, sweet, slicing tomato to add to a summer sandwich.
I think this may be my summer. We are going to build this hoop house:

The plans are from here. Just incase you want to build a quick, inexpensive green house for yourself. We're talking less than $150.00.
I can already taste the sweet goodness!

And it looks as if I already have my Head Waterer for the hoop house.

Sorry that this post is so long but I find that as the weather gets better, and the Lord works on my heart more about my jobs here at home, that I have less time to blog and therefore need to pack as much as I can into one post!