Chickens Love Peppergrass

May, our Barred Rock hen

Most everyone knows that chickens eat chickweed.  Yesterday I found out that my
birds prefer Peppergrass.  Lepidium virginicum is the official name for this weedy annual.  The chickens seemed to prefer the maturing seed pods the best.  These seed pods can also be used as a pepper substitute in salads.  Some people have found this plant beneficial for some types of Asthma, but I have no experience using it this way.  This plant is sometimes confused with Shepherd's purse. 

New Chickens!

After struggling with two Black Star chickens for the last number of months, Moira and I decided we needed to trade them for less adventurous hens. The Black stars, even with their wings clipped managed to jump over our fences and roam. They were consistently laying eggs in the neighbors yard, and last week other neighborhood kids were coming in to our front yard to abuse them. When it was finally time to pack them up to take them to the farm, Moira was very sad to say goodbye to Rose and Helen, but her mood was quite improved when we got to Angels Rest Farm in Ormond beach where she had her chance to choose new birds.



We traded the two laying Black Star hens for four 3-4 month old hens; two for us and two for Moira to sell. Moira choose for herself a Buff Orpington and a Black Australorp. We are hoping to have better luck with these two birds. We already have one Buff Orpington, and she would never dream of hopping a fence. I'm told that Black Australorps are quite gentle as well. The other two that were chosen where a Rhode Island Red and a second Black Australorp. Moira sold those birds yesterday for eight dollars.



If you are looking for chickens or fresh eggs and you live in the Daytona or Ormond Beach area I recommend Angel's Rest Farm. The farm is run by AJ and Peggy who are very nice. Eggs are $2.50 a dozen, and she has many birds to choose from as well as pigs, and goats. You can email them for information at angelsrestfarm@cfl.rr.com.

Thanks to my friend Patsy Shaw for the great pictures and for driving us out there and helping me carry the birds back and forth.

Winter in Florida

It was such a nice morning I had to take some pictures in my back yard. This is the best time of year for me in Florida. It's 70 degrees today.



The leaves are finally starting to change colors and fall. Here are Fifi, Helen and Rose waiting for breakfast. Amazingly these black birds stayed in the back yard this morning. Moira or I usually have to catch them in the morning at least a couple times and put them back over the fence.

Catching up in the Garden

Eighteen days was quite a few to be away from the plants and chickens. There were 30 inches of rain here while I was gone. Luckily everything drained well and there was no flooding or severe leakage.

My Moringa Trees and Lemongrass are looking lush. Strangely the chickens have not rediscovered the Moringa since they grew up after the frost. I guess that just means more fresh greens for me until that happens. The lemongrass is bushing out so nicely. I started all the little bunches from a few stalks each just 3 months ago.




Speaking of chickens, the little peeps turned into awkward teen agers while I was away. I will have to add their pictures later, but the good news is they now spend their days foraging under the oak tree where they are safe from hawks. Buffy started laying eggs of course the day after we left. Her eggs are brown, but not quite as dark as my Rhode Island Red's eggs. Here she is in a picture I took of her today. She is the sweetest of the 5 chickens.


My raised bed is doing well, so I started culivating one more raised bed to plant later this month. In the mean time while I wait for vegetables to come in in my yard we are already harvesting peppers and zucchini at the Fair Share Garden, (tomatoes too if you count the green ones that I fried) for lunch. These are some pictures that I took on Saturday.



The Seminole pumpkin mound is going to be dense and productive:


Speaking of Seminole Pumpkins, I have a fresh batch of pumpkin soap that is back in stock. I've been playing catch up this week taking pictures of new products.


These zucchini rows are going to be awesome in a month or so. We are also growing cukes and Malabar spinach to the left and black eyed peas to toward the back of the zucchini.


The butterfly garden at Fair Share is in full bloom right now. I have been neglecting annuals in my garden for too long. I must add some. They are so great for attracting pollinators.



The herb spiral is really filling in. I need to add some rosemary and a few others that are growing up in flats, Some of the herbs that are doing really well in it at this moment are Lemongrass, Rose Geranium, Mugwort and Holy Basil. I will be giving an herb demonstration with fresh herbs from the spiral at the garden on the morning of Saturday, June 20th. Check back in or email me for details.

Kingston Farmer's Market

I had the honor to participate at the Kingston Farmer's market last Saturday among a great group of vendors. The Kingston Farmers market is open May through mid October 9 am to 2pm every Saturday, right next to the ferry terminal.

Here I am getting set up. I will be back again this Saturday May, 16th.


On my table here is the current issue of The Essential Herbal Magazine, which features my Herbal Chemistry article. Also here are some of my balms and soaps which are also available online.


I had a nice waterfront view of the bay from my table.


Wonderful live bluegrass music was played the whole time. I got to take a peek towards the end of the day, and this mom and daughter were dancing away.


There was a wide variety of vendors offering fresh produce, plants, cut flowers, hand spun wool and clothing, jewelry, worm farms, 50 gallon drums, tapestry bags, whimsical furniture and toys, art prints and cards, hand made picnic tables and chairs, and more. I went home with a large slab of smoked salmon from one of the nice vendors. My mom picked up a nice bracelet for a mother's day gift for my sister. This is Cindy from Terrapin Farm of Port Gamble. I got some tasty radishes from her and Ken.



This is Nancy Rekow who was my neighbor on Saturday. I took home Nancy's book "Recipe for Raising Chickens" which she edited and published. This book was out of print until recently when she make a 3rd printing at NW Trillium Press. This book has fabulous illustrations and the lettering was actually done by Nancy's hand. This book is great for people who would like to learn how to take care of brooding hens and chicks. The author was Minnie Rose Lovgreen who was born in 1888 on a 200 acre farm in Norfolk County, England. Minnie recorded the book for Nancy to write down. Minnie's story was quite amazing; in 1912 she booked passage on the Titanic with her brother, but boarded a different ship when they found the sailing time was delayed. Minnie and Nancy were neighbors on Bainbridge Island for a number of years where Minnie taught Nancy to raise chickens. Nancy's book is $13.00 and can be ordered from her directly by calling (206) 824-6908.

Celebrating Earth Day with my Daughter

I'm having a quiet day at home with my daughter Moira today Celebrating Earth Day. I do whatever I can to encourage her in the way of organic gardening, so that she can learn to grow food thereby cutting down on our carbon foot print from importing foods. We just made a stepping stone for our garden project today. Large stones are great in the garden. They are fun to move every once in a while in the company of our resident chickens, who love to feast on the insects hiding beneath them. Part of our organic gardening learning process has been through our volunteer work at the Fair Share Garden in Daytona, where Joel Tippens has started an urban garden to grow food for low income families in need and teaching people how to grow food for themselves. At five years old Moira now knows that peanut shells and banana peels don't go in the trash, she will take them and put them in the compost pile. She is already a teacher, explaining to neighbors that the raised bed we built is for growing plants. When it comes to foraging, although she herself prefers the taste of the omega rich weed Purslane for a garden snack, she is still able to direct her best friend, a 6 year old girl, to a fresh leafy snack from the protein, vitamin and mineral rich Moringa trees that are just coming back from the winter freeze.

This weekend Moira received two new baby hens for her birthday, so we are also spending time with these little peeps today. These two hens will be added to our small flock of 3 hens. Our chickens are an important part of our garden, providing a rich source of nutrients for our compost pile. I'm so happy that Moira has learned the process of raising chickens; she received our first baby chicks last year for her fourth birthday and even as a very active energetic child she was able to care for them successfully. For me as an adult it took a few years of dreaming and building up the courage to give chicken raising a try. I trust for Moira it will be very simple for her as an adult to raise hens if she wishes and teach others to do so. She is a great helper for collecting eggs. The new little peeps are a really neat new hybrid breed called Black Stars. They are progeny from crosses of Rhode Island or New Hampshire Red Roosters with Barred Rock hens. This specific cross generates chicks that are easily identifiable by their foliage, so there is no danger of ending up with a rooster instead of a hen. This is a really important trait when choosing chickens for children if roosters are not desired. These hens are also good layers of dark brown eggs.

Moira and I also pulled out one of our cooperative educational games today too. The name of the game is "A Beautiful Place" and it teaches children 4 years old and up important concepts about taking care of the earth and good deeds, for example turning off lights and water, throwing away trash, planting a garden, and recycling. We got this game from ProgressiveKid.com, where it is actually on sale right now for 50% off. Progressive Kid has a number of games for teaching Earth friendly concepts.

If you are in the Volusia County area, why not join us at our Earth Day Celebration at the Fair Share Garden on Saturday April 25th from 9-1:30. We will have a number of free gardening workshops for adults, and I will be teaching an introduction to gardening class for children. For more information and to register fro the class visit my etsy shop.