Wherever I May Roam

Zen Pastures Blog Launched

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:06:06 +0000

I’ve finally launched the blog for my micro farm, “Zen Pastures.” It is located over at blog.zenpastures.com.

Updates regarding my chickens and etc will most likely be over there from now on!

My, How They’ve Grown!

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:53:45 +0000

I it incredible to me how fast chickens grow. In my last post, the chickens were these tiny little creatures. Now it seems as if they are big birds that I can no longer fit within the grasp of my two hands!

Their coop is complete, which I am very happy about. The chickens now have a warm and safe place to sleep at night! It is actually a resin garden shed from Lowe’s that I am converting into a coop. I have a makeshift roost which works for the time being, and I will eventually install some nesting boxes!

I will most likely order some day-old chicks in late winter, that way I can start them off in a brooder indoors and then mid-spring move them outside when they are old enough. When all is said and done, I hope to have about 10 laying chickens. This way I have enough eggs to sell and still end up with some for myself.

Hens or Roosters?

admin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:36:07 +0000

I understood when I bought my chicks that they were too young to be sexed. This means of course that there is a 50% chance that any of them could be male or female. The woman I bought them from was pretty certain that I was receiving four females… I posted photos of the chicks on BackyardChickens.com and the results are not good! Several of the members are pretty sure I have a couple roosters. I am not entirely opposed to the idea of keeping roosters, but I’m sure the neighbors would file complaints over the crowing. And besides, I want edible eggs, not more chicks!

Chickens on the Micro-Farm

admin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:30:54 +0000

Raising hens for eggs has long been a fantasy of mine. My fantasy is now a reality! I picked up four chickens from a lovely family in Greene, NY. I purchased 2 Black Australorp and 2 Buff Orpington for $4 each. They are about 2 weeks old. For now they are inside with a 250w heat lamp, but once they have a full set of feathers they will be (almost) free range outside. Once I have the coop under construction, I will post photos of my coop and run. For now, some photos of the chicks:

Tomato Tragedy

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:46:37 +0000

Just a few minutes ago, my nephew Steven and I were transplanting some tomatoes into the ground. The oldest, most mature plant was quite heavy with fruit and unfortunately snapped during transplant. When it happened, we both froze momentarily, in shock over what had happened. It took me a moment to accept the reality of it.

It’s definitely a bummer, it’s like watching your kid crash a bike or something. I suppose in the end it’s not all that bad… I already harvested several delicious tomatoes from it, and the season is almost over.

Bird Feeder Photos

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:13:43 +0000

Last week, I bought a bird feeder and some generic bird feed from Lowe’s. This is my first bird feeder, which is pretty exciting to me. My grandfather was an avid bird-watcher, but I am just now getting in to it. My grandfather once told me, regarding bird feeders, “It takes a couple days for the word to get out.” His words could not be more accurate. It’s been about four days now, and now I am seeing constant activity on the feeder. I noticed a cardinal eyeing it from the power lines, but the Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) and Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla) are not shy! They will even eat from the feeder at the same time. I decided to grab my camera and snap some shots, so here they are:

Return to Civilization

admin — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:22:18 +0000

‘Twas a short trip to the Adirondacks… We decided not to stay another night, as there wasn’t any vacancy at The Hedges, and we didn’t feel like driving father north to Tupper Lake. It was still a nice getaway, from the hubbub of ‘civilized life.’

I have a bunch of photos to upload, but I can’t get iPhoto to upload the photos to Google’s Picasa Web Albums, so they may just have to wait. I would otherwise upload them here but I’d rather not use up the disk space! It’s expensive these day! ;)

Just Arrived at The Hedges

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:13:18 +0000

I just arrived at The Hedges in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. This is not the first time I’ve stayed here, but unfortunately my blog post about it was deleted in a fatal server mishap. Oops!

Anyway, the Adirondack region is definitely my favorite, and I am glad to be up here. I hope to take hundreds o photos to commemorate my stay here. Today is cloudy and windy so everything looks blah. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Looking Forward to Some Tomatoes!

admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:38:12 +0000

A few weeks ago, I purchased some cheap tomato plants from Wal*Mart. I’ve never grown a vegetable before, or any sort of ediblep lant for that matter. When I brought the plants home, I transplanted them into bigger buckets. Within the buckets was some of the fantastic Fox Farms Ocean Forest potting soil, as well as an adequate amount of perlite for drainage and irrigation. About a week after having the plants, I noticed yellow blossoms appearing on the plants. Research online taught me that this is where the tomatoes will apppear!

The tomatoes have since appeared, and I am amazed at their rapid growth. I can’t wait to harvest these babies, and enjoy them on my sandwiches!

There is a Bird Outside My Window!

admin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:19:44 +0000

Lately I’ve noticed that each morning around 8:30AM there is a House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) that hops around on the branches of the Lilac and Evergreen trees outside my bedroom window. In the beginning, I paid no attention to the chirping as it just blended in with other outdoor noises. But then I started to realize that he actually is there every day!

Who knows what he is singing, whether he’s desperately calling out for his lost friends, looking for a mate or simply chirping happy love song. Anyway, I snapped some photos of the Wren and figured I’d share them: