Now that I've started harvesting a few veggies, I thought it might be a good time to do a winter garden update. The unusually wet December really helped a lot of my seeds get started this year, so I've got some successful crops growing. But, as usual, I've had some garden problems, too. Although, this time, my crop failures are not really my fault. It's those damn raccoons and squirrels! They're out to get me and my veggies.

One of my garden plots sustains frequent digging attacks--at least one a week--from raccoons (or possibly skunks). They come in the night and till up the soil so dramatically that all the poor seedlings don't have a chance. I have almost no turnips or beats growing, since, due to my attempts to rotate what I'm planting in each bed, I put all my root vegetables in the raccoons' favorite digging spot.

On the bright side, the critters seem to be pretty much focusing on that one plot, so I've managed to get some crops going in the other two. These include purple cabbage, which has been leafing out pretty nicely. I have never grown cabbage before, so I am not sure when the head of cabbage will start forming. Soonish, I hope.



Other crops doing well in the ground include spinach, mustard greens, broccoli, carrots and peas. As usual, my peas are reluctant to climb their poles, no matter how many I provide them. But, they're flowering nicely and starting to make pods, so I can't complain. Peas are so fun to grow because they're both easy and fast.



My container greens have been growing nicely, especially the chard and kale. I have two big wooden containers on the patio that are thriving.



Plus, I've got lots of small pots with mustard greens, spinach and arugula on the deck. I have had several sandwiches with arugula in the last couple of weeks, and I'm planning to make a very tasty, homegrown & home-laid spinach omelet in a week or so.



Tonight, we're having a meal from a great cookbook I received for Christmas from my aunt, uncle and cousins: Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. I've made three meals from it so far, and they've all been tasty. The lentil stew I'm currently cooking has "ribbons of kale" in it, which I picked from the garden this afternoon.



Tonight's dinner should be a healthy, delicious and cheap meal. Hopefully, it's the first of many from my winter garden. That is, if I can keep the raccoons away.

There hasn't been much chicken news around here lately, since the girls are all just kind of doing their usual thing. But yesterday, Peggy provided some fresh excitement by laying her very first egg. Because she's an Aracauna, Peggy lays green eggs. Her first one was large, hard shelled and quite lovely. Here it is.



We spent Christmas week in Texas, and got back on Sunday night. Our chicken sitter had a pretty easy time, since all she had to do was check their food and water every few days. We decided we could just leave the door between the coop and the run open while we were gone, and our chickens would put themselves to bed. Our chicken run and coop are so well fortified against animals and the elements, that they were quite safe.

On Monday morning, the coop needed to be cleaned out, so I set about washing the removable floor and changing the shavings. The hens free ranged for a while, and then I shut them in their run with the coop door closed while things aired out. I was up inside the house for a little bit when I heard some very loud clucking. I went down to see if there was something scaring the chickens, but they were all fine. I went back in, and, moments later, there was very loud clucking again.

After some sustained loud clucks over at least an hour, I decided to test my hypothesis that they were mad about not being allowed in their coop. So, I finished adding new shavings, closed the roof and opened the door between the coop and the run. Immediately, Peggy ran inside the coop and into the nesting box.

Ah ha! I thought. Peggy wants to lay an egg. I watched her mess with the shavings a bit and change positions a few times, trying to get comfortable, and then I decided to give her some privacy. About 20 minutes later, I came back and Peggy had laid her first lovely egg.

I had hoped that Peggy and Tina might start laying soon since they are 24 or 25 weeks old right now. Lisa laid much sooner than that, but I've heard the short winter days can keep hens from laying. I'm happy that Peggy decided to start egg production despite the lack of daylight. Perhaps Tina will follow her lead.

It's always cool to see new solar products appear on the market, and it's even better when they get cheap enough for regular people to buy. Last year, I searched around to see if I could find any solar-powered light strings to decorate the house for the holidays, but I didn't really find anything. This year, solar light strings were available all over the Internet. Delighted, I decided to try them out.

I got two 50-light strings of white lights from Plow & Hearth. They seemed to have the best price on what I wanted. When they arrived, I pulled them out of the box, let the solar panel charge for a day and then wrapped them on two plants in the front yard that grow in a bit of a cone shape.

When you set them up, you wrap your lights where you want them and then stake the small solar panel in the ground nearby.





So far, I'd say I'm fairly happy with them. The solar lights have a light sensor built in, so they turn on automatically when it gets dark. When they light up, they look nice--although not as bright as traditional plug in lights--and the solar battery life seems fairly long. They stay lit for around 4 hours.



The lights are nice, but not perfect. I have noticed two issues:

1) It takes some trial and error to find the perfect place to put the solar panel. I have had to move mine several times when the lights weren't sufficiently charged by the end of the day. And, of course, if you live in a place that actually gets gray and gloomy in the winter (as opposed to sunny Los Angeles), I'm not sure how well the panel would charge. Although, if you live somewhere with snow and sun, I imagine there would be enough reflection off the snow to charge the panel right up.

2) The light sensor is very sensitive. The street light across the street, our porch light and even my car headlights have caused the lights to turn off. I think I have the sensor turned in a way to minimize that problem, but it is a bit annoying. If you live out in the country, you wouldn't have this issue. But, in a place like Los Angeles, it's pretty hard to find a place that's completely dark.

Overall, though, I'm glad I got them. Because you don't have to plug the lights in anywhere, there are no annoying extension cords to deal with, and your light decorating options aren't limited to where your outlets are. Plus, they cost nothing to operate, and with their LED bulbs, they should last for many Christmases to come.

So when I last wrote about the kitchen remodeling project, we had just installed the insulation. Happily, a good amount of progress has been made since then. Over Thanksgiving weekend, Dakota made a big push, and I am proud to report that our kitchen now has walls and a ceiling.

Friday was ceiling day.



Followed on Saturday with walls, and Sunday with taping and mudding.



This past weekend involved more mudding, a good amount of sanding and a layer of smooth coat to make everything look nice.

While we're quite a ways off from actually having a fully-functioning kitchen, it definitely feels nice to have the bare bones of the room in place.

The coop and our chickens are part of a story about urban chicken-keeping in the LA Times today. If you're here because of that article, welcome! To see all my chicken posts, you can click here. Or, feel free to browse around.

We did the interview a few weeks ago, and I think the piece came out really well. They definitely put up some great shots of the chickens and Dakota's coop. Perhaps it will inspire more Los Angeles residents to get their own small flock. They should. It's awesome.

Nothing says "party" on a Saturday night like installing denim insulation, and that's exactly what Dakota and I did last weekend. Jealous? Thought so. Actually, it was kind of fun (in a way) and made us feel like some actual progress was being made on our slow and steady kitchen remodel.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was able to find a local supplier of UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation in the Los Angeles area. So, last Saturday night, we ripped open the roll of insulation and laid it out on the floor to fluff up. It comes in long strips and basically looks like a long rectangle of dryer lint.

Here's Nigel demonstrating how safe and non-toxic UltraTouch is.



The UltraTouch website uses babies and small children to make this same point, but I think Nigel should become their new spokesmodel. I mean, look how excited he is to be resting on layers of earth-friendly insulation.

Nigel also decided to help us install the insulation. Here he is weighing down a piece while Dakota cuts it to fit between some studs.



I had read that denim insulation can be difficult to cut, but we just used an old saw and a box cutter and did fine. I guess our edges weren't particularly smooth, but since the insulation will be hidden inside the walls, I'm not too worried about it. Overall, installing the UltraTouch was pretty darn easy. It took us about an hour and was so foolproof that I was able to help.



Up to now, the kitchen work has either involved heavy demolition skills or woodworking skills, both of which I lack. But I think we may be heading into a stage in which I might actually be able to do more than lend moral support and research skills. I'm glad, because Dakota has been working exceptionally hard.

Here's one kitchen wall, nicely insulated.



Since the kitchen is on a back, unshaded corner of the house, it really gets blasted by the sun in the summer. The addition of the insulation, plus ceiling fans and energy-efficient windows will hopefully make a big difference when the weather gets hot again.

The weather for the last couple of days has been very unpleasant: dry, hot and windy. Of course, I have nothing to complain about compared to the poor people in Montecito, Sylmar and North-Eastern Orange County. Fires are raging all over Southern California, and they are so extensive that the smoke has even made it to our place near downtown Los Angeles.

This afternoon, the chickens decided to beat the heat with a good, old-fashioned dust bath. Both Peggy and Tina dug themselves some shallow holes and got busy flopping around in the dirt. Ever the vigilant chicken chronicler, I whipped out my camera and got some action shots.





And, I also made a little video, so you can see what a genuine chicken dust bath looks like. Tina was really getting into hers, flinging dirt all over herself for at least 20 minutes.


Chicken Dust Bath from Audrey on Vimeo.

She makes a funny happy chicken noise around 1:10. See if you can hear it.

There's been a good amount of progress on the kitchen remodel in the last couple of weekends, so I thought I'd do a little update. Dakota has been working very hard, ripping out the old stuff so we can put new stuff in. First, he pulled down the plaster walls in the old kitchen.



In addition to clearing out the kitchen walls down to the studs, he also removed all the cabinets, tile countertops and backsplashes.



Next to go was the kitchen ceiling, which was actually a layer of drywall over a layer of plaster. Removing the kitchen ceiling was necessary because we plan to join the old dining room ceiling to the new kitchen ceiling. Also, Dakota hates shoddy work and sometimes prefers to just re-do it from scratch rather than patch it.



Tearing down the walls and ceiling was a messy, difficult job. In addition to all the plaster dust, there was the added nastiness of the old fiberglass attic insulation. Dakota spent a lot of time wearing his dust mask. But, after many weekends of hard, hard work, the tear down was complete. Now our kitchen has an open ceiling, all the way up to the roof.



It looks kind of cool, but we'll be putting up a new drywall ceiling and filling the attic in with cellulose insulation soon. With our lack of central heat or air, we need all the insulation we can get. In fact, we'll be insulating the kitchen walls, too.

Since our goal has been to do a "green remodel," we really wanted to use recycled denim insulation in the walls, because it's both Earth-friendly and non-toxic. The main manufacturer of denim insulation is Bonded Logic. They sell it under the band name Ultra Touch. This insulation is made from cotton and denim scraps that have been treated with a boron-based fire retardant. It's LEED certified and so safe you can let your baby play on it, or at least that's how the Bonded Logic folks like to advertise it, with lots of photos of babies and small children hugging the insulation.

At first, we had a hard time finding a distributor in Southern California that didn't sell it with a massive mark-up. ("Green home centers" have a tendency to do this with a lot of their materials.) Happily, I managed to track down the insulation at Ganahl Lumber in Los Alamitos. Not only is Ganahl only a 30-min drive away, it also has the lowest price I'd seen for the Ultra Touch. So, I swooped down last weekend and picked up a 106 ft2 package, which is just the right amount to insulate the exterior walls of the kitchen. It just barely fit in my car.



Now that the walls and ceiling are out, Dakota's been ripping up the layers and layers of old floor. At the same time, we're having the wiring put in by our very nice neighbor, who's also an electrician. I'm so excited to have outlets in places where outlets should be, and to have switches that make sense.



In fact, I'm excited about so many things, and we're almost to the part where the old stuff is finally gone and the new stuff starts to arrive. It's been an only mildly inconvenient project so far. We've even been able to cook and access our fridge for most of the time. The only one who's really unhappy about all the loud noises and dirty floors is Nigel. He's had to resort to hiding under the desk in the back room. Poor guy.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time digging around it the dirt. It was great.

My gardening adventures started out bright and early on Saturday morning when the Good Girls went down to EarthWorks Farm for a little volunteering. Merete, Meredith, Jen and I spent a few fun hours spreading manure on farmland that would later be tilled and planted. Maybe manure spreading doesn't sound so great to you, but I had a lovely time. The weather was sunny but cool, and EarthWorks was looking great with fresh, green crops growing everywhere. The farm has really come a long way since the first time we went there. It's very impressive. Plus, manure-spreading is an excellent workout. Meredith and I think it might become the next exercise trend, once pole dancing fades out.

Then, on Sunday, Dakota and I had a gardening windfall on our morning walk with Nigel. A very nice neighbor who is moving to Idaho with his partner offered us all the free plants we could carry. Thinking quickly, we went home, grabbed Dakota's car and started loading up the back.

Since I am an admitted cactus addict, I was happy to score several nice cacti and succulents. In addition, we got two free fruit trees! Our neighbor happily gave us a baby papaya tree that he'd grown with seeds from his own impressive tree, which is fruiting like crazy, and a very cute kumquat in a pot. Since I'm currently in the process of killing/attempting not to kill a second kumquat in the back yard, this healthy tree was much appreciated. Dakota also scored what I think is a staghorn fern. Here it is poking out of the back of his car.



After the big free plant score, I was inspired to do some backyard gardening. So, I planted some more seeds in my winter garden plots. This year I am attempting to grow:

Chard
Beets
Turnips
Spinach
Cabbage
Kale
Arugula
Peas
Carrots

I know that sounds like a lot of vegetables, but I like to try a lot of different types of seeds since my soil is not the greatest. That means I don't get to plant many rows of each vegetable, but that's okay. Luckily, arugula, chard and spinach can all grow in pots. This year's heirloom seeds are from both Seed Savers and Seeds of Change. I am hoping that things go as well as they did last year, or perhaps even better. I sure do love braised turnips straight from the garden. So far, I have only sprouts.



To cap off my gardening weekend, Dakota took a break from ripping out kitchen cabinets to help me dig a hole for the lovely apple tree he gave me for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. It's a semi-dwarf Pink Lady. Pink Lady apple trees were originally developed in Australia, and are supposed to do well in Southern California. Dakota terraced off a little section for it, and we dug the hole very deep and wide to give the roots a good start. I'm hopeful it will survive despite the curse of our backyard and make tasty, pretty apples next Fall.



If I can do a good job with the new apple, papaya and kumquat trees, and keep the older orange, fig and lemon trees alive, we will have quite a nice little orchard. I'm not sure why I've had such a hard time with fruit trees in the past. I guess they require a lot of water to get established, and the last few years have been extremely dry. I also suspect our hard, rocky soil is not helping matters. Here's hoping for a rainy winter.

First off, how ridiculously cute is this photo from Cute Overload? Yes, that is a mother hen sitting on a sleeping puppy. I love how annoyed her chick looks. I mean, that's where he's supposed to sleep!

Okay, down to business. If you live in California, this post is for you. On the November 4th ballot, you'll have some cool stuff to vote for, and a few annoying items to vote against. Lisa, Peggy, Tina and I would like to encourage you to vote yes on one particular proposition: Prop 2.

Proposition 2, also known as the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, would make some small but important changes to how farm animals are treated in California. Essentially, it would "prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to tum around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs." (Source) For chickens specifically, the law would mean they would have to be in a cage that allows them to completely spread their wings without touching the sides of the cage or another chicken.

As someone who owns and cares for chickens, and who has seen injured factory-farm hens in person, I think that Proposition 2 is an important first step toward treating our farm animals humanely. Just because we eat animals doesn't mean we can't have some compassion for them while they are alive. Chickens may seem like weird, dumb birds to some, but I can tell you that they do have "personalities" of sorts, and they can feel happy or afraid. I'm sure the same is true for pigs and cows and turkeys. I just don't know any personally.

Many have pointed out that Prop 2 provides the bare minimum of quality of life for chickens, pigs, calves and other animals--and they're right--but I think it's a good first step for California. Hopefully, in the future we'll be able to take further steps to improve the lives of farm animals. Or, you know, maybe everyone should have a coop in their back yard. It is pretty fun.

The opposition to Prop 2 claims that the law will increase food costs and cause farmers to move out of state, but I doubt that. Estimates indicate that the law would cause a mere 1 cent per egg cost increase, and I seriously doubt that transporting eggs and meat from out of state will really be cheaper that treating animals more humanely in state. (Plus, nearby states Arizona, Oregon and Colorado already have similar laws in place, so I'm not sure where those farmers would move to.) And, honestly, I think people should be willing to pay a bit more so that an animal can stand up and turn around during its short life.

So, that's the end of my little political message. This election is going to be really exciting, and I feel hopeful that things will go the way I'd like them to in all the races I'm watching. Fingers crossed!

This weekend, as demolition continues on the kitchen project, we're trying to pick the paint color for our cabinets and walls. We'll be using a particular type of paint, called Milk Paint, which Dakota found during his extensive kitchen research.

The Milk Paint formula is based on the way people used to make their own paint using cow's milk and limestone. The modern formulation from the Milk Paint company contains milk protein (casein) and lime, plus natural pigments like ochre and iron oxide. Milk Paint is free of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and other potentially toxic substances and is biodegradeable. So, it's an extremely environmentally friendly paint. In fact, it's so nice and natural that it doesn't even smell bad.

Last week, we received several Milk Paint samples in the mail. The paint is shipped as a powder, and then you just add water to make paint. This also allows you to mix it thicker or thinner, depending upon what kind of coat you need.

Right now, we're deciding between a couple of different shades of green for the cabinets and walls. Because they use natural pigments, Milk Paints don't come in an endless supply of hues, but there's definitely a nice selection. And all the colors have a warmth that I think will suit our Shaker/modern design nicely.

So, will it be Bayberry Green or Lexington Green? Decisions, decisions...

One of my many fans (okay, my sister) has requested more information on Peggy and Tina. Specifically, she wanted to check out some video of audio of the new chickens, who are not really so new any more.

Tina is becoming quite a big girl. Her comb and wattles are starting to grow in, and her voice has changed from a peep to a cluck. Essentially, she's going through chicken puberty. Luckily, Tina is mostly out of her awkward stage and turning into quite a lovely young chicken lady. Her black feathers are shiny and almost iridescent, and she's got a fashionable splash of gold on her breast. I can't wait to see how majestic she looks once she's fully grown.



Peggy is still smaller and seems to be maturing a bit more slowly than Tina, but she's looking pretty good, in my opinion. I mean, check out her awesome gray beard. (She's considering dressing up as a sea captain for Halloween.) This is the first good picture I've gotten of Peggy in ages. She's still really speedy and frequently darts away when I bring out the camera. Plus, it's tough to focus on all that face fuzz.



As far as life in the coop, everyone seems to be getting along pretty well. Lisa and the new girls have settled in as roommates. They all cram into the nesting box to sleep at night. It's pretty cute, although I can't believe they're comfortable that way. Lisa is not doing so great, health-wise, but that's for another post.

And now, the moment all/one of you have been waiting for: the video. Here are Peggy and Tina on a little backyard free range excursion. If you listen closely, you'll hear Tina's cluck and Peggy's peep. Enjoy.


Peggy and Tina Get Around from Audrey on Vimeo.

The kitchen remodel has begun in earnest, starting last weekend when the demolition began.

But first, here are some "before" shots. Technically, they don't give the complete "before" picture, because we stretched out some of the kitchen remodel prep over the past, oh, three years*.

In these shots, you can see we've removed all the cabinet fronts. That's because Dakota will be milling down the oak doors and turning them into hardwood flooring. This was an exceptional flash of genius, in my opinion. Not only does it embrace the all-important green principle of reuse, but it also saves us lots of money.



Here's the wall we're taking out. Those are temporary shelves and counter tops next to the fridge. A couple of years ago, we removed out the massive, space-wasting floor-to-ceiling cabinets that used to be there. We've been using the current set-up ever since. It's been perfectly functional, but, obviously, not ideal.



So, that's the before(ish). On to the after.

Last Saturday, our electrician neighbor came over and moved the wires out of the kitchen walls so Dakota didn't knock out all the power (or, you know, electrocute himself) when he started busting up the place. Dakota and our very nice neighbor usually pay each other in trade, woodworking for electrical. So, it shouldn't cost us too much to rewire the whole kitchen. And, we're finally rid of our old glass fuses. Hurrah.



Don't you just love that old wallpaper? To be honest, I do kind of dig it. But, I wasn't sorry to see it go on Sunday when Dakota set to work ripping out the wall. Here he is starting the demolition, and wearing his all-important dust mask. The plaster walls give off a lot of dust, and who knows what else is lurking inside those walls.



And here's the wall at the end of the weekend.



This is the view from the dining room side of the wall. Once this wall is completely out--by the end of this weekend, hopefully--the dining room and kitchen will become one, big space. No more skinny, annoying kitchen!

If you're interested, I'll have more updates very soon, including some in-depth discussion of our earth-friendly counter tops, paint and wood.

* While it was kind of ridiculous that we spent such a long time discussing, planning and saving for the kitchen remodel before we finally started, it actually ended up being a good thing. Our design is really carefully thought out, Dakota has come up with several excellent ideas for maximizing the space and green materials have become easier to find and less expensive. So, maybe it was a good thing that lived with a partially-demolished kitchen for so long.

A commenter recently asked about some LA chicken-keeping basics, so I thought I'd post the information here, so everyone can read it. From what I can tell, and this is what I'm going with, this is the official LA County ordinance about keeping chickens in your yard:

I found this paragraph on page 19 of the Los Angeles Animal Services Permit Book, which can be downloaded as a PDF here.

I think you might also be required to license your chickens, but I've had a hard time finding out if that's really the case. And, honestly, unless you live in a neighborhood with no real crime, no feral cats and no stray dogs, I seriously doubt you will ever be asked for your chicken license. I have satisfied myself with sticking to the distance rules, cleaning the coop so it doesn't stink and having only hens, no roosters. My neighbors know about my chickens, but only because I've told them. Three hens don't really cause much trouble.

The other question I got was where to get chickens in Los Angeles. There are actually quite a few places. Just call around to feed stores in your area between February and August, and you'll probably find someone selling chicks.

I have purchased chickens from three places in the LA area, although I'd probably only recommend Agoura Feed in Agoura Hills. As a general rule, I suggest you get your chickens as babies--preferably only a couple of days old--from a place that seems clean and that keeps the chicks away from older fowl. Ideally, you'd get them from a place that has only baby chicks. That just seems safest, disease-wise, to me. You can also order from My Pet Chicken, which ships small quantities of chicks and guarantees that they will arrive alive.

Try to get the chicks vaccinated for Marek's, if you can. It might save some heartache later. I'd also say a minimum of 3 chickens is ideal. You'll probably end up with extra eggs in the fridge, but just give them to friends. My feeling is that, if you have 3, if something happens and you lose one, you're not in a bind with one lonely chicken.

Hope that helps!

Those of you who know me know that Dakota and I have been just about to start our kitchen remodel for, hmmm, maybe 2 years. In fact, the current kitchen has been in a state of partial demolition for at least that long. Various considerations have kept us from actually making real progress, but, starting in September, we will be really and truly actively remodeling our kitchen. Really!

In fact, today we took another preparatory step and picked up our new dishwasher from the appliance warehouse. Our current dishwasher is fairly large and the kind that you roll over to the sink on casters when you need to do a wash. We wanted to get a built-in washer, and we also needed one that was more compact so that it would fit in a spot next to the sink.

First, we looked on the Flex Your Power website to see what rebates might be available (looks like a $30 mail-in rebate from SoCalGas is what we'd get). Next, I headed over to the Energy Star website to find out what compact dishwasher models were energy and water-efficient enough to qualify. They have a nice search function on the Energy Star site, so it was easy to find what I was looking for.

After poking around a bit on the Internet, we decided on a Fisher & Paykel model. It's a drawer-style dishwasher with two washing compartments that each hold six place settings. You can choose to run one or both drawers, depending on what you need to wash. Each drawer uses less than 2 gallons of water per wash cycle, and it has a delay-cycle function, so we can wash dishes in the middle of the night when other power use is low.

We got the model that allows you to make your own custom fronts, so Dakota will make fronts for the dishwasher drawers to match our cabinets. You'll barely be able to tell the dishwasher is there. And, it'll be right next to the sink for easy loading.

This dishwasher wasn't cheap (although we found a good deal), but since Dakota is doing all the labor himself, and because we have aquired some other materials as gifts or trades, we won't have to spend a lot of money on anything else.

If all goes according to plan, the only other major expense, besides the wood for the cabinets, will be a new faucet. We analized that situation today, and I think we're leaning towards something from a company called Hansgrohe. I'll let you know what we decide.

This summer, as usual, I am having some garden success and a fair amount of frustrating failures.

My squash situation has been almost embarrassingly bad. Several baby zucchini have started to form, and then turned yellow, withered and died. Considering the fact that squash are supposed to be extremely easy to grow, I'm kind of bummed that my plants have been so wimpy. I have fertilized the heck out of them, but I think the problem may be where I planted them. I suspect they need more sun. I think next year I will plant in the lower plot that gets the most direct sunlight. This would probably also help with the white mold problem on the leaves. I read on a new favorite blog, Homegrown Evolution, that the cold, moist coastal summer nights are tough on our squash plants.

On the bright side, I have had some nice tomatoes. They are finally ripening, and I am really looking forward to tasting a variety I am growing for the first time this year: the Green Zebra Tomato. Apparently, they are supposed to be kind of tart and are recommended for sandwiches and salsa. At first, I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell when they ripened, because they don't turn red or yellow like other tomatoes. But, I looked around online and read that Green Zebras turn a bit yellow-green when they ripen. And, they do. I picked one this evening and plan to try it tomorrow.

Here's an unripe one still on the vine. Aren't they pretty?



I have also harvested one of my favorite summer vegetables: green beans. Fresh picked green beans are so delicious, and these have been no exception. I am getting a decent harvest, although some of my vines got some kind of weird bug or leaf disease and conked out.



Sadly, there's been no corn harvest yet, and I'm getting nervous. The ants have put their little aphid buddies all over my corn stalks. I brought in some lady bugs, but they didn't really help. I think corn ears are wrapped up tight enough in their husks to be protected from aphids. At least, I hope so.

The okra plants never really got off the ground. A couple are still hanging on, but actual okra seem unlikely. The carrots are doing their carrot thing. I usually do fine with root vegetables. I also anticipate a couple more eggplants before the summer is over.

So, it's been the usual hit and miss summer of gardening. I am hoping that, with all my chicken poop compost, mixed in with the kitchen scrap compost, I will be able to get the soil in better shape for the Fall garden. Someday, I will have a big, fancy, productive garden like you see in magazines. Or, you know, at least a good one.

This weekend, the big project has been chicken integration. At the start of the weekend, I was determined to have Lisa, Peggy and Tina happily living and sleeping together by Sunday night. Believe it or not, chickens can be pretty tricky to combine. If they didn't grow up in the brooder together, they're often very aggressive towards one another. It's that whole pecking order thing one hears so much about. So, I wasn't completely sure if I was going to reach my goal.

I actually started this project a bit earlier, when we officially introduced Peggy and Tina to Lisa out in the yard. Here she is staring at the little peepers through the wire on the chicken tractor.



We let them peer at each other this way for a few days. Just getting Lisa comfortable with the idea that there were other chickens in the yard. Then, we opened the door to the tractor.



The idea was to let them all free range together. But, initially, that's not how things played out. Instead, this happened:



Lisa just sauntered right inside the tractor and started eating Peggy and Tina's food--much to the younger girls' horror. If you look closely, you will see Peggy and Tina frozen in fear towards the back of the tractor. Their main strategy to deal with Lisa at first was to huddle close together and stand perfectly still. You could almost hear them saying, "Just don't move and maybe the big scary chicken won't notice us. And whatever you do, don't make eye contact."

Once they got out into the yard together, their interaction was more varied. Some of the time they happily ignored each other, and other times Lisa would chase them or even peck them a little bit. Interestingly, Lisa mostly pecks Tina. I think this is because Tina is much bigger than Peggy and clearly the dominant bird of their pair. So, by establishing her dominance over Tina, Lisa was also putting Peggy in her place (as the number three chicken). I'm not sure why Lisa even felt the need to peck Tina at all. Lisa is so much bigger, and Tina is clearly afraid of her.

Here they are hanging out on the steps together.



Anyway, the point of all the introductions and group outings was to get the three girls comfortable(ish) with each other before we tried getting them all in the coop together. So, this weekend, the Frieda Farm Chicken Integration Project '08 reached it's final phase.

On Friday evening, I started experimenting with putting Tina and Peggy into the run while Lisa was out free ranging. I stood in there with them while the examined the new spot. Then, I brought Lisa in and the four of us hung out in the run together for a bit. Mostly, Peggy and Tina tried to perch up high out of Lisa reach. They made a point of avoiding her whenever she came near, jumping into the tunnel or on top of the waterer, if necessary.

Saturday was everybody-in-the-run day. My plan was to get to a point where I could leave them in the coop with the door closed and walk away. I started with a fairly long free range in the morning while I did some gardening. Then, I put them all together in the run, pulled up a chair next to the coop and watched what happened.

For the most part, Lisa stuck to physical intimidation, with fairly few pecks. At one point, she did seem to grab Tina by the back of the neck--almost like you would a kitten--and hold on with her beak. I ran in and broke up that fight, although Tina didn't seem to be hurt at all, just scared.

Lisa's main concern, at first, was keeping Tina and Peggy away from the food--both her feeder and theirs. She spent a lot of time rushing over to startle them when they would tentatively peck at their feed. I had expected this issue, as Lisa is a bit of a greedy girl. But, eventually, she let them eat their feed while she pecked at her feeder across the run. Further progress came when all three chickens drank from the waterer at the same time. I was psyched.

Finally, after several hours, I walked away and came back to find all three chickens eating from Lisa's big feeder. Success! This seemed like a very good sign. So, I decided to push it and see if they could handle a sleepover. It was dusk and I took my station up on the patio to watch their behavior from afar.

At first, Lisa seemed unwilling to retire with strangers in her run. But, after a lot of pacing and false-starts up the plank, she did go to bed. The two younger girls weren't sure what to do after that. They kind of wandered around for a while, and then snuggled down in the dirt in one corner. I went down after a while and shoved them in the coop door. Moment of truth time!

Dakota and I got a flashlight and stood outside the coop listening for signs of Lisa attack. But, none came. Peggy and Tina were doing a lot of their "I'm scared" peeping, but that eventually died down, and the three of them settled in. Lisa in the nest box, Peggy and Tina on the floor nearby. We went out for dinner with friends, and when we came back everyone was still fine, so we left them for the night. (Of course, I did set my alarm for 6 am so I could go down and open the door early in case Lisa woke up cranky.)

Today has been pretty low-key, chicken-wise. No big altercations, although the pecking and intimidation continues. I assume Lisa will bully them for a few days more, at least. But I'm hoping that eventually they'll all get used to living together and be a happy little family.

Here they are today. Note Lisa having a snack at her feeder while Peggy sneaks a nibble at the smaller feeder behind her back.



And here they are coexisting in a semi-comfortable manner his evening.



Tomorrow they'll spend a whole day unattended. Fingers crossed they don't get in any big squabbles while I'm at work.

When we left off on the story of the great chicken escape, it was dusk and Peggy had just vanished into thin air.

I had searched with my flashlight under nearby bushes, under the coop and under the little house. No sign of her. So, I expanded my search further out to the bushes nearer to the fence. Still nothing. I was getting nervous, now. The light was fading, and Peggy wasn't in any of the logical places. After more fruitless searching, I decided on a new strategy.

I went into the basement and grabbed Tina out of the brooder box. I put her back in the tractor, and she immediately started peeping very loudly, calling to her sister. Peggy will come out when she hears her sister's cries, I thought. But still there was no sign of her, and no peep in response to Tina.

While Tina called out to Peggy, I continued to look, and my friend Rachel arrived, expecting to go out to a nice, relaxing dinner. No such luck. She was quickly drafted into the chicken search. Now, the two of us began systematically the yard from top to bottom, flashlights in hand. By the time we completed our sweep, I was in tears. I called Dakota, and he started driving back home from his evening out. Things were getting dire.

We had covered every inch of the yard without finding Peggy, so I decided it was time to take the plunge into the neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, the house next to us was owned by an elderly woman who recently passed away. She hadn't kept up the yard in years, and it's literally a jungle of ivy, bushes and giant avocado trees, populated by skunks, raccoons and who knows what else. But, I was determined to find my chicken, so I put on long pants, hiking boots and a hat and went over the fence. (While I suited up, Rachel stood out in the yard, completely silent, listening for chick noises. Nada.)

I'm not going to lie; it was bad over there. There were giant spider webs, burrows that probably held skunks (luckily out for the evening) and lots of crazy undergrowth. Oh, and did I mention that both my yard and the neighbor's yard are on fairly steep hillside? Luckily, I didn't fall or get bitten or sprayed by anything. Unluckily, I did not find Peggy, despite a thorough search.

Rachel and I had now been searching for over an hour! We decided to regroup and collect our thoughts. How plausible was it that Peggy was able to scramble over a fence without me hearing anything? She's good, but is she that good?

So, we began to re-do our scan inside my yard, this time paying close attention to the undersides of everything. I got way up under the little house, just in case she was jammed up in there somewhere. As I moved to scan some nearby bushes, I heard Rachel say, "Audrey?" Her voice was unsure, but hopeful.

"Did you find her?"

"Uh, I'm not sure..."

I rushed over and looked at the tiny space under the boardwalk between the staircases where Rachel was pointing her flashlight. At first, I didn't see anything. But I looked closer and... way in the back... behind a pile of dirt almost the same color as her feathers... it was Peggy!

We were so happy to have found her, and relieved that she was okay. But man, that Peggy is one sneaky chicken. She'd been hiding under those steps the whole time, mere feet away from her crying sister, and hadn't made a sound or moved enough for us to hear her. I called Dakota to tell him the good news, and then, we started the process of getting Peggy out.

Here's where she was, although this picture was taken during the day, so picture it much darker.



Peggy was so far back under the boardwalk, I couldn't reach her with my arm fully extended. So, I got a hand spade, and we started digging her out. I tried digging holes in various spots, but couldn't get my hand through far enough to grab her. Eventually, we decided we'd have to shoo her out a hole ourselves, and then grab her when she popped through.

After a lot of coaxing, we finally got Peggy to squeeze through an opening I'd dug near the back of the boardwalk, and then Rachel and I grabbed her. I got her in my grasp, and was happy to have her safe but mad, too. Peggy was SO grounded!

Rachel, on the other hand, will from now on be known as my Chicken Hero. Or, Detective Rachel of CSI: Chicken Scene Investigation. I can't thank her enough for being such a good sport and for finding my sneaky baby chicken. Peggy owes her big, too. If we hadn't found that little chick, she might easily have been eaten by a raccoon or fox. I think Rachel will be getting a lot of fresh eggs from a certain someone in a few more months.

The End

Earlier this week, I had quite a chicken adventure. Or perhaps it was a chickmergency. I'm not sure of the correct terminology.

It started when I let Peggy and Tina out for a little free range action on Wednesday evening around dusk. They seemed kind of antsy after being cooped up in the tractor all day, and I thought they deserved some fun. The thought crossed my mind that it would be getting dark soon and maybe I should let them out some other time, but decided to let them out anyway. I should have listened to my brain.

At first, everything was lovely. They stuck close to the chicken tractor and wandered slowly around the nearby dirt, happily pecking and peeping. It was when I tried to pick them up to put them in their brooder for the night that the trouble started.

Tina, the black sex-link, is slower and easier to catch. So, it only took me a moment to trap her and grab her. Her sister Peggy, on the other hand, proved a more formidable opponent. As the twilight faded into dark, I chased that little chicken up, down and all over the yard. She jumped up on walls, hid under bushes, scrambled over the wood pile and even tried to squeeze through the fence into the front yard. She even flew a couple of times (as much as a chicken can fly).

I was getting exhausted, and it was almost completely dark, so I grabbed a flashlight and a beach towel. The chase continued. Finally, Peggy leaped from her perch inside a jade bush to the top of the fence post surrounding the garden. I tried to throw the towel over her while she was focusing on keeping her balance, but she jumped and flew out into the yard and around the corner of Dakota's little house. I ran around the corner of the house, and she was gone.

Gone. Disappeared. There was no sign of her. Literally not a peep.

I stood still, listening for rustling and looking for any sign of movement. Nothing. I got my flashlight and started searching the area. Looking under nearby bushes and structures. By now, it was dark, and I was really starting to get worried. Where could Peggy be? Why wasn't she peeping? Would I ever find her?

Find out tomorrow when the gripping story of The Great Chicken Escape continues...

Exciting news! The California Senate is about to vote on a bill that will significantly cut down on disposable plastic bags state-wide. The bill, AB 2058, will be voted on in the legislature this month, and I really hope it passes.

AB 2058 will require retailers to meet a goal of 70% diversion of plastic bag useage in their stores by 2011. Meaning, they have to distribute 70% fewer plastic bags than they are now. If they don't meet that goal, they will have to charge a 25 cent fee per bag--for both plastic and paper. The proceeds from that fee will go to local litter clean-up. The bill will also allow local governments to charge an additional fee on bags if they choose to. Basically, the fee should make it more likely that people get into the habit of bringing their own reuseable bags to the store.

Living in Los Angeles, it's hard not to see the negative effects of disposable plastic bags. They get stuck in trees, litter the sides of highways and clog up storm drains. And if you look closer, things get even nastier. Recently, the Good Girls (and friends) did a LA River Clean-Up with FoLAR (Friends of the Los Angeles River). We spent about 3 hours picking up trash in a section of the river near my house. As soon as we got down to the river bed, I noticed the plastic bags everywhere. They were wrapped around almost every single tree branch, bush and log. It was pretty disgusting. I think anyone who spent 5 minutes by the LA River would immediately understand why disposable plastic shopping bags have got to go.



I have already sent a message to my state representative asking him to support AB 2058. If you want to do the same, you can look up your representive here. Or, you can let Heal the Bay contact your representative for you by going to their website.