It's been raining like crazy lately, and my winter garden is very happy. In particular, my turnips have been doing very well.



The tops are starting to swell on some of them, so perhaps in a few weeks I'll be able to pull them up and roast them. I've also got beets, carrots and chard in my little garden plot. All are coming along nicely, and hopefully I'll have a nice root vegetable harvest by the end of February.

Up on the deck, I'm growing peas. The variety I picked are dwarf, so they should do well in pots or in the ground. I have a few in both places. Fresh peas are so delicious. I wish they would grow a little faster!



I also have chard in one pot, and some brussels sprouts seedlings slowly getting bigger and bigger. Oh, and some onions. Onions take a long time, so I started them about a month ago in small pots and will transplant them into the garden this spring once I pull the turnips and beets.

My arugula has been extremely happy in the cool weather. I've got several pots of it growing on the deck at the moment. I really like growing my own greens. They spoil so quickly in the fridge, so to be able to step outside and cut some fresh arugula for a salad or sandwich right when I need it has been great. My parsley, cilantro and chives are also quite happy, as you can see.



When the chickens grow up, I will be able to feed them weeds and bugs from the garden. And, in exchange, they can provide me with some excellent fertilizer. Of course, I'll probably need to fence in my garden plot so they don't gobble up my veggies when we let them wander the back yard.

The progress towards getting our chickens has begun. My first step has been extensive research. I received two chicken books for Christmas and purchased a third. All three seem like they will supplement each other well. I have one book, Keep Chickens!, which is written specifically for a keeper of a small flock of laying hens like me. The other two books are more like general reference books, but should be very handy. Those two are Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, given to me by Chad, and The Chicken Health Handbook, which Autumn gave me.

I managed to find one good LA-area article on backyard chicken keeping in the LA Weekly. Most of the other news stories and blogs I've found are about New York, Seattle or Portland urban chickens. Portland in particular seems to be a hotbed of city chickens. I did find one very nice blog of a chicken owner in Northern California, called Urban Chickens. It's nice because it's about a family that had never kept chickens before--like us--and details how they've been figuring it all out in an enthusiastic, personal style. Oddly, I have been unable to find a blog about raising chickens in Los Angeles. So, perhaps this blog will help other LA chicken novices in the future.

Another excellent site I've found is BackyardChickens.com. They have a TON of information and even a message board. So, they seem like a great ongoing online resource.

Speaking of resources, I was very excited to discover that a local pet store very near our house carries chicks. Their first shipment comes in this week, and the guy at the store said they would likely be Rhode Island Reds, which is the breed I am primarily interested in. So, that's exciting. I am going to see if they are open today so I can check if they have chick feeders and water containers and chick feed, which we'll need when we get our babies.

Next step, putting together the brooder for our chicks!

Today is the fourth anniversary of the day I adopted Nigel, the cutest dog ever. I got him as an adult dog from a Los Angeles dog rescue group called Perfect Pet Rescue. They found him at an LA County animal shelter.

Nigel is truly one of the sweetest, quietest, calmest dogs I have ever known. Plus, as mentioned above, he is the cutest dog ever. I am really glad that I was able to adopt him.

For his birthday, Nigel received a few tummy rubs and... a bath!


Poor guy! We'll have to give him a special food treat tonight as well.

Nigel is around 7 years old, we think. The other day the vet called him a "senior citizen," which he did not appreciate. He's still in good shape and we hope to have him for years and years to come. I just hope he doesn't get too mad about the chickens.

This is the first mushroom to grow from the shiitake mushroom log I got for Christmas from my Dad.

You can only "fruit the log" every 8 weeks, but the next time I fruit it I should get way more mushrooms. In the meantime, I have to soak it in room temperature water every two weeks to keep it moist. It's a bit complicated, but probably worth it. We ate this shitake after it got a bit bigger, and it was delicious!