Well, we didn’t move the raspberries, but I found the first ripe ones today. The wild ones ripen first, and I found a patch that are jsut starting to come on! The domestic razzes will be on in a week or two. Then I will make jam! Today the handful I picked was fed to my family a couple berries at a time. Fun to see happy faces as I popped berries in their mouths. I realized as I was walking up the farm lane that the warm sun on the raspberries brings out the smell of the leaves. Raspberry leaves are good in tea, and the sweet smell of the leaves is subtle but very nice.
We set up the fence for the chickens today. We’d bought a 2 foot tall wire fence, a hundred feet of it, and I made a run for the chickens and we put the half-grown chicks in there, too. We’re getting between 4-6 eggs daily from the laying hens (we have 8, I think) and the pullets ought to start laying in a month. This is the best compromise to free-range. I won’t lose them to predators, and the fence is semi-permanent. I wouldn’t want to move it regularly, but once a month or so will do. And they will be inside all winter, any way. Chickens and snow don’t mix well. In the mean time, the birds are happy. They have food, water, and shade.
The baby ducks – the kids reminded me today that they are teenage ducks, now – we put in with the big ducks. There was no pecking this time. The teen ducks went right for the kiddie pool and started to splash and swim in it. This was their first encounter with a water container big enough to do that.
