We have reached peak chicken this week. Thursday 30 more baby chicks arrived bringing our on-farm chicken total to 97 birds! On Tuesday, while Randy was cleaning up around the brush pile he found two secret egg stashes with 27 eggs all together. Over half of the eggs we have been collecting this week have been coming from outside the chicken coop, which makes every day a fun egg hunt, just like Easter! So far all I have been finding across the street are egg shells: something has been more successful in the egg hunt than I.
The field is still pretty soggy from our Sunday night into Monday all-day rain, so we have been finding other things to do. We ordered more seed garlic and onion seeds to start in the greenhouse. I disassembled the drip irrigation system for winter, and pulled out all the twine and t-posts used to trellis the tomatoes this year. We have to get the whole field cleaned up before wet winter soil comes to stay. Leaving dead plants in the garden is an open invitation for pests to cozy up for the winter. Randy has been cleaning out the eggplants and turning the compost pile. The hens have been thoroughly enjoying getting in Randy’s way as they jostle for compost pile goodies.
Our off-the-vine tomato ripening experiment has had good results. We have also been pleasantly surprised with the taste quality. It has been great to enjoy tomato sandwiches again. If your tomatoes are still a little orange, the flavor will be best if you allow them to completely ripen. A couple days on the counter should do it, or put them in a paper bag with a red apple for 24 hours. We are also thrilled about the return of salad season with our first cutting of lettuce mix this week.