It has been an uneventful week here at the So Many Books Homestead. Calm weeks are good now and then especially when so many of them have been busy since, well, since March when the snow melted. There was one eventful moment that involved Mrs. Dashwood.
Last week on Monday, the Independence Day holiday, Bookman and I were both home and we had let the chickens out of the run to roam their garden area. It was later in the day and as I walked by the sliding glass door into the garden I saw something moving around at the back near the stinging nettle (yes I am purposely growing stinging nettle in my garden). I stopped and looked closer. Something was scratching around in the nettles which was just crazy. At first I thought it was a cat and then, not a cat but Mrs Dashwood! In the main garden!
I told Bookman and we put on our gardening shoes and ventured out to round up the roaming chicken. So intent and happy was she, Mrs. Dashwood completely ignored us. Before we rounded her up we located the other three. They were all still in their garden, not in the main garden with Mrs. Dashwood. We have no idea how Mrs. Dashwood got into the main garden, she either managed to squeeze through the gate or she hopped up over the retaining wall from the chicken garden.
Bookman decided he was going to catch Mrs. Dashwood but as soon as he approached she went running. Bookman chased Mrs. Dashwood around the garden in what could have been turned into a comical Looney Tunes chase between Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny. Bookman wasn’t finding it very funny though.
I finally convinced him to stop chasing her and got her attention with some dandelion greens. Mrs. Dashwood came right over and the two of us slowly made our way over to the garden gate that I then opened and encouragingly shoved her through before giving her the rest of the dandelion leaves. The adventure has not been repeated but then the chickens haven’t gotten to be out in their garden since then either.
Tuesday morning, not having left for work yet, Bookman heard some weird cock-a-doodle-do screeching coming from the alley. He looked out the window to see the garbage collector crowing at the Dashwoods as he emptied our bin into his truck. Bookman said the rooster imitation was so terrible it made him laugh. I was already at work so I unfortunately missed it.
The black raspberries are almost done and now the red raspberries are getting ripe. We are going to see if we can make a small batch of raspberry jam from the the red ones.
The currants are just beginning to get ripe and the gooseberries are nearly there. The bush cherries remain stubbornly green.
All the peas are picked and I got more than I thought I would but not as much as I wanted. I left several pods out on a few of the hardier plants to save for seed next year. It was so hard to leave them and not pick them!
The garlic has been growing well all summer and the leaves are just beginning to yellow. In a week or two I might be able to start harvesting. I can hardly wait!
Saturday was a gorgeous day for a bike ride. I spent a couple hours on Friday making a map for my Garmin for a new route that went on the loop of the Mississippi River Trail. The MRT is a bike trail that begins at the headwaters and runs all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Some of it is off-street other parts are on marked bike lanes along the side of the road. I have never specifically ridden on this trail before and as I was looking for someplace new to explore I discovered I could ride a nice loop from near my house down to Point Douglas, the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. It’s about a 96 mile/154 km loop. I was quite excited about it.
Unfortunately, after over two hours making the map and uploading it to my Garmin my excitement about the route was exhausted. Come Saturday morning I could not muster up the needed enthusiasm for the new adventure so I resorted to a familiar trail and a 65 mile/105 km ride instead. It wasn’t long before I was sorry for my decision. The day was so fine everyone else decided to be out on the trail too. It wasn’t bad at first but the later it got the more crowded the trail became and I had some near misses when people who aren’t usually out on the trails and don’t bike much almost collided with me due to their inattention or a sudden panic when I came up behind and yelled “on your left!” to let them know I was passing.
Next weekend I will be heading out and away from the usual trails which I hope also means I will avoid the crowds. Point Douglas here I come!
That’s hilarious about the garbage collector! Too bad you missed that display 🙂
Unfortunately no bike riding is happening for me as it’s summer now. I just can’t deal with the heat! Looking forward to hearing how the new trail ride goes!
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Iliana, I know, I am very sad to have missed it! Sorry it’s been so hot. The forecasters are threatening a hot and humid heatwave near the end of the month of 90+. I hope they are wrong! Keep cool!
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You and Bookman should consider writing a book – life with the Dashwoods! 🙂
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Elmer Fudd- there’s a memory to conjure up! I hope Bookman got to see the funny side eventually!
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Ian, he’s working on finding the humor 🙂
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cirtnecce, hahaha, it certainly is rarely dull!
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Stefanie, you’ve inspired me to plant garlic this fall. I don’t know why I’ve never done it before.
I continue to enjoy the adventures of the Dashwoods!
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Laila, hooray! I like growing garlic because you plant it in fall and then forget about it. It’s one of the few things that pretty much takes care of itself. Be sure to get hardnecked garlic so you can have scapes in the the late spring! Glad you enjoy the Dashwood stories 🙂
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Clearly I am going to have to do some research on hardneck vs. softneck! Thanks for the tip!
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You bet! I have no option but to grow hardneck because the softneck is not hardy in my area. Your winters don’t get as cold as mine so you will have so much more variety to choose from! Have fun!
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I’m so jealous of your peas, I planted lots, even sprouted them before planting and none of them grew. Even my non-gardening mother managed to grow peas – very annoying!
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piningforthewest, that’s too bad about your peas! They are one of the few things that are consistently reliable in my garden except this year when it go so hot early on an scorched a number of the plants. Have you tried using an inoculant when you plant your peas? I use it now and then but haven’t really noticed it makes a huge difference. Some gardeners swear by it though.
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No I haven’t, I suspect that my peas are being scoffed by mice before they get a chance to grow, maybe I should get cats!
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Darn mice! What if you start them in flats and plant them out as seedlings? Extra effort, but it might keep the mice from eating them. Unless you are keen to get cats 🙂
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I tried doing that too but still no success. LOL no -I’m not keen to get cats, I enjoy being able to go off somewhere and not having to think about cats/dogs/children before leaving home.
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I’m glad Mrs. Dashwood’s adventure turned out okay! What a naughty chicken.
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Jenny, she was very naughty! The funny thing is, chickens seem to have very short term memory so within a few minutes of being returned to the flock, it was like she had never had an adventure.
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Love the chook stories, particularly Mrs Dashwood’s escape, and the garbage man.
And, I look forward to photos of Point Douglas.
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whisperinggums, it was a good week for chicken stories! I am hoping to make it to Point Douglas this weekend though the forecast can’t seem to decide whether or not it is going to rain!
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I’ll watch for your report. Fingers crossed for sun.
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Love the garbage collector story! Glad you got Mrs Dashwood back in and hope you’re able to find the reason she got out and fix it. (Glad to read your comment to Jenny – I’ve known rabbits to burrow out various times before the holes are found, so if chickens forget that’s very good.) Hope the weather remains sunny for you 🙂
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Charlie, heh, makes me wonder if he regularly does our garbage and if so whether he crows every week! We suspect it was via the retaining wall since they are able to “fly” a little these days. She may have managed to flap right up there without knowing what she was about and then gotten a happy surprise at the results!
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Oh my goodness! The Dashwoods are getting so big! And Mrs.D is quite adventurous!
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deb, they are! They are closing in on full size now I think. Mrs. D has always been the adventurous one. Hopefully she won’t give any of the others ideas!
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Naughty girl! Mrs. D is an inquisitive chicken it seems! Have your other neighbors commented on the family? It’s only funny chasing chickens when you get to watch! 🙂 Isn’t it fun looking forward to a new bike (or in my case walking) route? Variety is nice–something new to look at!
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Danielle, oh yes, neighbors stop regularly if we are out with the chickens. Everyone seems to enjoy watching them. Ha! I suppose you are right, If I were the one chasing the chicken I probably wouldn’t have thought it so funny! I will be heading out on the new route this weekend. The forecast is for a gorgeous day in the upper 70s. Can’t get much better than that!
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