Gardening geek

We've had so much fun doing the garden this year.  I'm putting this out there as a warning..... it becomes addicting.  You may find yourself checking progress several times a day and taking pictures like these.

Fluffy to feathery ~ change happens quickly around here!

The little keets are growing fast.  This is how much they changed in only 2 weeks.

We had to get them in a larger brooder box and I also kicked them out of the house.  

They are cute, but they can get noisy and I'm not big on indoor animals.  Their new home is on the porch but that won't last long either.  When they are big enough, they will be out in the yard and ultimately free to roam and hopefully rid our property of ticks and snakes.

 Can you see some of them in there?  They are running to hide behind one of the logs I stuck in there for them to perch on.  Scaredy keets.

Let me tell you these guys (13 of them) can go through the feed!  I was having to refill their feeder so often,  I decided to add a shallow tray - left over from our recent Chinese take-out - with feed in it. 

Meet Thelma and Louise

These are female pygmy goats that were born Easter Sunday.  

They are pets with a purpose.  Once they are older, we hope they will help us clear the under brush in the woods behind our house and perhaps later- if they become mama goats -  they will provide milk.

Crisp Cucumbers!

 Gaining a new appreciation for bees and the work they do!

Seeing lots of these on the plants!  

Home grown cucumbers sometimes take on odd shapes, but they taste oh so good!  No waxy or rubbery cucumbers here.  : )

You can grown them too!  

Location is key!

Our garden has been producing far beyond my wildest imagination  and I think one of the keys to our success is that the raised beds are right outside our kitchen window. 

We put them there because it is the sunniest place on our property.  I thought it would be weird to put a garden out front between the house and garage and at first it looked a bit odd, but as plants have started to grow, it actually looks nice to drive up to.  

If you are planning to start a new garden I'd highly recommend putting it where you will see it regularly and often.   

Hatched a week ago

The keets are already starting to develop feathers and are trying to fly.  

Miracle eggs!

Have you ever seen a guinea?  They look like a cross between a turkey and a chicken.

I was introduced to guineas at my in-law's house in Fort Worth, Texas.  A flock of wild guineas roam from house to house in their neighborhood.  We've watched them migrate around their neighborhood over the years when we visited.  While taking a walk this last visit, we noticed a nest with eggs in the neighbor's yard across the street.

Thinking how cool it would be to have guineas where we live, I tried to convince my husband that we should take some eggs home with us.  We were flying back to South Carolina the next morning.  He didn't think TSA would allow this and I really didn't have a good plan for keeping them warm and unbroken so I gave up on the idea....

 but my father-in-law didn't. 

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Five days after returning home, we received a box via UPS overnight shipping - courtesy of my father-in-law.

Inside were 28 carefully wrapped guinea fowl eggs.  Each one was cushioned in cotton and then wrapped with newspaper that was held on with a rubber band.  

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As soon as we got them, they went into this incubator.

We monitored the temperature and humidity and turned them 3x per day.  To be honest I felt kind of silly doing it for the first 2 weeks.  Who knew if there was any hope that the eggs were viable - I could be doing it all for nothing.  

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If the eggs hatched, the keets would need to be moved to a brooder.  

This is our make shift brooder we prepared.  An old plastic tub with a piece of plywood and heat lamp on top.  

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Then it happened!

Did you know keets will cheep from inside the shell before they hatch?  This fascinated our grandson who was checking them out with his flashlight. 

When we heard the cheeping we knew we had a success story.  Up until then we candled the eggs and told ourselves we saw something moving inside, but hearing them was exciting confirmation.

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Once the first egg hatched, a bunch started hatching!  It was amazing to watch - one right after the other.  We had 12 hatch within 6 hours and one more hatched overnight.  

I have to say they look a lot better when they dry out and fluff up!

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This picture was taken when they had been hatched for just a few hours.  

We ended up with 13 miracles and we feel great about that!  Some of the eggs never developed - "yokers" - and some stopped developing early -"quitters".  They were removed from the incubator after 2 weeks.  Of the 15 remaining, 13 hatched. 


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So, what are guineas good for?  They kill snakes and they eat ticks!   They also eat pesky aphids!