Okay, so we havent moved MamaCluck yet. We do have the cages, but we’ve thought of a better option for longterm separation. I borrowed a full piece of plastic trellising and we will use that to section off a portion of the pen. I also found a new home for the rooster. They’re aware that he is mean, and are willing to take him anyway, so he will relocate this weekend.

The little cheeps have stayed put in the temporary caging – until today. I’ve had to do two rescues so far. Two escaped together this morning, and then one alone a few hours later. They’re busy little birds, and clearly not that bright. MamaCluck is being very patient as they keep climbing on her.

Kiddos and I hit the garden center yesterday to select the tomato, pepper, marigold and cucumber plants they wanted to put in their beds. They spent yesterday afternoon getting them planted. Those beds are going to be CROWDED. Between seed and plant starts, in each bed there are cabbages, kales, mustards, kohlrabi, radish, beets, lettuce, peas, cucmbers, chammomile, tomatoes, melons (2 kinds), dill, beans (3 kinds) marigolds, chard peppers, celery and onions.

My bed wont be much better. I managed to find large containers for the squashes and melons, but I’ll still have tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, kales, lettuce, chard, NZ Spinach, beans, mustards, cucumbers, beets, perennial greens, zucchini, marigolds…I’m going to try to get most, if not all of it planted this afternoon.

While they were planting their beds yesterday, I was creating/spawning my oyster mushroom bed. Oysters are one of the easiest mushrooms to grow, and these particular ones prefer to grow on straw with no soil contact. They are also quite sensitive to C02 levels, so their bed needs to be breathable. I happened to have a broken laundry basket on hand, so that is what I used. It is Trés Chic. Only the best for us, of course.

I still have the winecap bed(s) to set and spawn out, but they take a little more prep work and supplies I don’t yet have. I should have them done by early next week.

Our other big bit of progress is that, after waiting on one company for well over a month with nothing to show for it, husband called a few other places yesterday, and bright and early this morning, a steamroller came rumbling down the driveway

We FINALLY have the shells crushed/packed, and what **Should Be** a useable driveway again. Hooray! We’ve been walking out since last fall.

I planted out the Schisandra seeds this morning, too, so that’s one more thing out of the fridge. They did a month in warm, then 2 months in the fridge, and now we wait and see if we were successful in stratifying them and can get them to grow. They’re difficult seeds, but the ones I struggle with the most are the ‘super easy, may be invasive’ seeds, so maybe it will even out.

My clove pinks, hollyhocks and vanilla (sweet vernal) grass are finally up, and ONE Calendula seedling is beginning to show itself. The grass/’lawn’ is entirely out of control. It is SO long and wild right now…