February 10/2015

Winter is slowly coming to a close at Discovery Bay. We are seeing buds on some trees, daffodils are up and filling out and the honey bees come out for a lazy flyaround..
Gypsy has chased off some coyotes in the daytime and some of the roosters let off a racket when William forgot to put the chickens in the coop one night last week. Unfortunately we have too many roosters so Walter has put roast chicken on the menu for a Sunday dinner !!  He gets to be a hunter and gatherer all at once!!

February 16/2015

We had a full house for President's Day weekend but we like to think all found the farm romantic !!
Nothing better than watching 5 rooster's going after 18 girls  to make your valentine's Day!!  We still are planning  a roast chicken dinner but might wait until the 28th.   2 candidates have been chosen!! A little too much testosterone around so the docile Marin will be able to rule the roost for a little longer. I hope the daffodils will plump up and we can have a vase on the table.  I'll go to the Market at Chimacum Corners and pick up some local veggies.  They have great local seeds and may have some starts. I want to clean out my raised bed and plant a new spinach soon. I'll search the garden for some volunteer rainbow chard and transplant.  My strawberry patch is in need of a good clean-up and hope that my slowly mending wrist will be able to cope.

MARCH 04/2015

Looks like I didn't save my last post on Feb.23/15. However, more of the same about Spring. I picked some daffodils this weekend despite a cold north wind. The rhubarb is up to 4" stalks and I picked some young kale from last years plants. One of our silly pullets had 6 olive-colored eggs under her - I am not sure they are viable but we'll see in 21 days from Feb.26th.
My chicken expert says that there is a good chance that chicks from this group might turn up laying dark brown eggs!!
So stay posted.

MARCH 10, 2015


 Another nice weekend and we arrived to a very muddy yard with straw over it - the site of the routing of the soon to be new septic system.  Apparently the straw is a requirement so dust won't fly - when the chickens are in the driveway and see me coming they run for a handout and leave a dust cloud - I wonder if we'll  have to put down straw there too !!
It's lovely driving around and seeing what is in bloom - the bees are quite active and we'll have to check their honey stores and also see if the queen is laying. Ah, for next week plans!!

MARCH  17,2015

We wore rain boots all weekend, Saturday it pouted, Sunday it poured and Monday we slopped through mud !!  The new septic project has brought trucks and equipment and although we were happy it is nearly finished the digging, the chickens were ecstatic, looking for bugs and worms in the tire tracks. We have one hen who has been broody since Feb. 26th so this will be the weekend we candle the eggs and see if there are chicks present. The olive and dark brown might be difficult to see so it just might be wait and see. I pulled a few stalks of rhubarb for my elderly friend in hospital to have stewed rhubarb.  I found some old lettuce seeds and think I'll plant them and some scarlet runners this weekend.  Our friend has been picking nettles and we have again a fine crop so I might put on the rubber gloves and try them after blanching.

March 31, 2015

Our new chicks are 10 days old, 6 hatched but one was so small it didn't survive..  Now we are hoping they are all hens but we'll be lucky to be able to tell by 4 weeks. Another hen has been setting for over 2 weeks and 22 days will be up this weekend.so another nursery has to be prepared.
Our helper, Adrian, saw a marten out while he was chickproofing the chicken yard. I hope he ran away as they can destroy chickens quickly.
The apple, pear and plum trees are flowering despite all the trauma from having the yard dug up for the new septic system. The chickens love the new "bug" routes and aren't afraid of the machines.


APRIL 9, 2015

Well out of 5 chicks, it looks like we have 2 roosters - they are both red-heads so we will have a well-stocked freezer in 6 months.  My friend has corralled her roosters as she says they bother the hens so much that her egg production has dropped. Sounds good to me.
Walter and Adrian have been working on a new water line, sewage line and some propane pipe repair for the cabins these last 2 weeks and it looks like the new septic system will be turned on in about 2 weeks. With a rainy forecast for the weekend it will be rubber boot weather - again.  The chickens love the digging as they can scratch for bugs easily and are not afraid of the equipment.
Some of the lettuce and carrot seeds have sprouted and I'll be starting the seeds very soon. My bees dies this winter so I am not sure if our fruit trees will be pollinated - my friend, Judi, is using a wool duster to pollinate her cherry trees !!

APRIL 13, 2015

 The farm report is the marten is still around and the setting hen did not like impending motherhood and is off her eggs.
Walter and Adrian have spent over 2 weeks putting in a new water, septic and lawn irrigating system. They have leveled out  the surrounding areas and created dirt piles !!!
Rain didn't stop them but it will be nice to have all complete.
This coming  weekend, we welcome Fly fishermen to the motel. - I am not sure if it is a local event but will report back.

AUGUST 06, 2015

Here we are again !!  On Aug.03, mother hen came marching out from the high grass with 8 healthy chicks.  My friend, the chicken Guru, is busy trying to hatch rare chickens in her incubator and says hen-raised chicks are so much healthier.
 Our Transparent Apple tree has been dropping apples and the Gravensteins are looking ripe. The produce has been great at the Chimacum Market lately and they even had Beefsteak tomatoes for our hamburgers !!  Great time of year and a great place to spend a Sunday.