Free on the range.

Back to bare ground here and the girls are still enjoying their little treats in the fallen leaves. Getting colder everyday though, minus 5 this morning.

Early December Hoop House and Garden

Hard to believe but it is early December and I'm still working in the garden and things are still growing in the hoop house.

Seed Give Away Contest , Not One But Two Winners... I Know About Time...

Look at me I just won a contest.

Bird Table Timelapse

A shot collection of ten second video clips taken with my plant cam time-lapse camera set-up at my bird table. There aren't any bird songs because the plant cam doesn't record sound.

Hoop House Survives Minus Six Degrees

The hoop house has survived minus 6 degree temperature and continues to grow. A look around at some of the shrubs in my garden that have fruit this time of year for the local wildlife.

Way too early.......

Way too early......., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I know it looks nice but I hate it and November is way too early for this. The forecast has it warming up again over the next few days so hopefully it will all melt.

The Ladies in the Snow

Our first snow that accumulated on the ground so I had to go out to the coop and consult the ladies to see what they thought about it. Also a look at the snow on the Hoop House.

The girls in the rafters ready for bed

The girls in the rafters ready for bed, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My cat walk in the rafters seems to be working there is much less bickering over positions when the girls are ready to be tucked in for the night. The four little bantam hens go up first and claim the first rafter just inside the door and everybody else falls in behind on the other rafters and the cat walk. Except for Prince Leah he is all by himself on the top rung of the roosts that I built for them to sleep on. He has never slept anywhere else and doesn't see what all of the commotion over the rafters is all about.

Mid November harvesting in the Chicken Coop and Hoop House

Still harvesting food from the Hoop House even though the temperatures are dropping daily. A look around at the remaining crops and harvesting the broccoli. In the chicken coop I'm getting more eggs with a new record today and all of the eggs are now full size, large to extra large for the six full size hens and small to medium for the bantam breeds. The hens are determined to sleep in the rafters so I'm doing some alterations to make it a bit easier for them.

Martha Lays an Egg

A look at my little chicken flock now full grown and laying eggs on a daily basis. Martha the Silver Sebright Bantam and by far the smallest bird in my coop laid an eggs this morning.

Planting a Mediterranean Fig in my zone 5 garden

Planting a fig, Ficus carica 'Celeste in the hoop house.

The Bird Formerly Known as Princess Leah

Things are still thriving in the hoop house even with the cold weather. I managed to get the soil mix that I like and bags of sheep manure compost so I've got the raised beds filled and ready for spring. In this video I plant my garlic and get some spring bulbs ready for forcing.

Three more great gadgets.

Method for making the Dutch Oven Bread

http://youtu.be/GG6aAj4Oloc

and


http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalecalder2003/3090207520/

Making Apple Chutney

Making Apple Chutney, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Trying to use up some of my Pumpkin Sweet Apples, I hate to see them go to waste. I had never tried making chutney before so I looked up a recipe on the internet and gave it a try:

recipehelpers.com/spreads-preserves/80694-apple-chutney-c...

I used my own fresh hot chilli peppers instead of the chilli flakes and I didn't have crystallized ginger so I added extra powdered ginger. The chutney has a real zing to it and I love it.

Video Response to Work With Nature - Lazy Garden Bed

Checkout Work with nature's Channel for some great videos and his explanation of this type of garden bed along with some excellent explanatory graphics:

http://www.youtube.com/user/workwithnature

Winter preparations in Hoop House, Chicken Coop and Gardens

It's time to get some chores done before winter arrives. Making the Chicken Coop yard a little more comfortable for the chickens this winter, building more raised beds in the hoop house, starting a new bed made from chicken poo and compost and a look at some things in the hoop house.

Lemons

Lemons, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I recently bought an Apple Time Capsule 2TB WIFI Harddrive\Rotor to go with my new MacBook to keep a safe backup incase anything should go wrong with the computer. Now that it is installed and working I have transferred all of my older digital photographs to the new computer so they will be saved too. In the process I've been looking at photos that I haven't seen in a few years and having fun reworking some of them. Let me know what you think.

The Very First Egg October 12, 2011

One of the girls, not sure which one, laid the first egg this morning and she laid it in the nest box next to the ceramic nest eggs. Amazing how they understand what to do even for the very first egg.

Confessions of a Gageteer - Gadget Video # 1

This video is the first in a series of short videos talking about my collection of gadgets. They are being produced at the request of one of my subscribers JaxRL have a look at her channel she says we are kindred spirits when it comes to collecting gadgets.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JaxRL