FALL TO DO LIST

Fall is still two weeks away but I started the list that I want to get done in the next month:

1. Weed the garden (big job)
2. Move the free horse poo over from across the street
3. Chop up leaves and put them in the garden
4. Clean up my yard (blown in trash and stuff)
5. Clean off the front porch
6. Weed eater doesn't work and the guy I hired to do my weed eating didn't come back so "Use scissors to cut the weeds around the garden (big job...lots of blisters)
7. Clean and rake the chicken yard
8. Add an upper layer of chicken wire to the top of the chicken yard
9. Catch the chickens and lock them  into the chicken yard
10 Water all of the trees weekly until drought is over
11 Sort all of my tools and put them on the shelves in the closet
12. Clean out the tool shed
13. clean out the two tool boxes and organize
14. Clean out the food pantry
15. organize the laundry room
16. make up a large batch of homemade laundry soap
17. pull weeds in the unused back garden
18. Move the bird bath out front and keep full
19. move firewood up onto porch holder
20. hang kerosene lanterns on the front porch
21. split starter wood sticks and put into a water tight container along with pine cones
22. Start some fall kale and chard
23. clean out the fire place
24. Call the fire place guys to come inspect and change out the pipe
25. Clean out the closet in the living room
26. Clean out the gutters
27. Mouse proof the truck tool box
28. Order egg laying chicks
29. Take my 15 meat chicks to slaughter
30. Clean out the master bedroom closet
31. Fix the old dog kennel into a grow out cage for the chicks
32. Organize my Christmas decorations

Well That will keep me busy.

GOT HIM!!!

I have been trying to catch this guy for months. He is the top rooster on my farm but not the genetics that i want. I want a big meaty style bird. He is too skinny.

Now the new pecking order has begun in the front yard. O have 1 White Rock and 4 Dark Cornish roosters and one White Maran, 5 Cuckoo Marans, and 4 White Rock hens all of which combined with th Dark Cornish should produce a really meaty bird

TEXAS SPRING

It has already been in he 70's here and it is January!!! I have decided due to my work schedule I will focus on less garden plants. Here are the ones I am going to plant this year:

Boxcar Willie Heirloom I started 58 of these today! I will be planting them in 5 gallon buckets on bricks and will resort to spraying the bottom of the buckets to keep out the fire ants.

Sugar Baby Watermelon

Burgess Buttercup Squash

Pumpkins

I will also still be growing my mandarin orange and Meyers lemon trees because I am so happy with how they did in pots this year. And so far have been fine in my office w/out any artificial light. My herbs are suffering a little. Next nice day I will take them out for a little sun.

I will also be adding more of the orange and lemon trees.

I will also  plant Beuregard Sweetpotatos.

Last year I filled my raised beds with a truck load of turkey compost that I purchased. This was not completely composted and nothing grew very well but the dirt this year looks AMAZING!!! Dark and crumbly however it had settled and was too shallow.

So I went out yesterday I took a rake and pulled all of the dirt to one end leaving about half empty. I will purchase another truck load and filling the other half with raw compost and will not plant there until this fall.

Chicken Update:

I still have too many roosters. The chickens are sleeping in the trees very high up!!! I caught one rooster but I will need to trap the rest. One rooster is a very great protector of his girls but he is a White Leggorn/Brown Leggorn mix and is way too skinny I am trying to raise meat chickens. I hate to get rid of him but I must.

The next thing I have to do is Build a bigger chicken house with a large comfortable roost. The girls are starting to lay eggs and I will be ready to start hatching meat chicks by March..

I will be keeping records when I start that because it is an experiment.

I have one Japanese Bantam rooster

I need to buy two hens for him because he is lonely! The big girls just don't like him no matter how fancy he is.

I just posted an ad on Craiglist to see if I can find him some women!