A look at what's happening in the Gardens and Greenhouse June 14, 2011

Things are looking good in the gardens and greenhouse in spite of our cold wet spring. I would also like to thank everyone who exchanged seeds with me and show you how the varieties you gave me are doing. Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out, if so it wasn't intentional.

First Nations Style 3 Sisters Permaculture Garden

First Nations Style 3 Sisters Permaculture Garden, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

The permaculture garden is coming along nicely, some slug and cutworm damage but nothing serious. The transplanted corn, squash and pumpkin plants are growing very well and the bean and extra corn seed have germinated and are starting to grow.

Chick Cam 3 Weeks old today !!

My little flock of 12 chicks are three weeks old today and are starting to look more like little hens getting more feathers as the days go by. The material to build them a secure yard will be delivered tomorrow and later in the week my order of 164 feet of 4 foot high electric poultry netting and solar charger will arrive. This will be used to make a larger safe pasture area of the back lawn, a place that they can free range in when I'm home to keep an eye on them.

Fresh Plain Bagels - Nevaeh has to have her bagel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast.

Fresh Plain Bagels - Nevaeh has to have her babel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Had to make a second batch of bagels this morning Nevaeh has one with cream cheese for breakfast and now she is having them with cheeses slice sandwiches for for lunch.

Easy to make

Ingredients

2 Cups warm water
1 tbs instant yeast
1 tbs salt
Flour enough to make a firm dough

Add yeast and salt to warm water then add flour about 2 cups and mix until you have a soft but wet dough turn out on a work surface and knead for 10 minutes by the clock adding flour as needed until you have a firm dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Put a few tablespoons of oil in the bowl return dough to bowl turn to cover with oil. Set to rest covered with a clean tea towel for one hour. Deflate the dough and divide into 12 equal portions. I use kitchen scales and they average 100 grams each. There are two methods to shape into bagels I use the first:

1. Roll each portion into a log shape 6 to 7 inches long. Wrap around your hand place the two ends together in your palm and roll back and forth on the work surface to join the ends.
2. Simpler method, shape into a ball poke a hole in the middle and expand it with your fingers.

Cover the shaped bagels with a tea towel to rest for 15 minutes. I put mine on a parchment covered cookie sheet.

While the bagels are resting preheat the over to 450 degrees f. and boil a large kettle or stockpot half full of water with 3 or 4 tablespoons of honey added.

Once he bagels have rested and risen a bit you kettle them, place 2 or 3 bagels at a time in the boiling water and boil 30 seconds on each side. Remove with a slotted spoon are return to the baking sheet.. Once they have all been kettled bake in the 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack and enjoy.

Ferry Boat Ride to Grand Manan Island

Ferry Boat Ride to Grand Manan Island, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

It is too early in the season for whale watch cruises so we decided to drive to Blacks Harbour and take the ferry boat ride to Grand Manan Island and back as foot passengers. It's a great inexpensive way to get out on the Bay of Fundy for a three hour cruise and it only cost $10.90 return trip for adults and children are free. We even had lunch on board in the restaurant.

Chick Cam 2 weeks old today !!!!

The chicks are 2 weeks old checkout their chick cam performance.

First Nations Style Three Sisters Permaculture Garden - Video 2- May31, ...

Lovely warm weather so I made my planting mounds and transplanted the corn, squash and pumpkin seedlings and planted the bean seed in my Three Sister Permaculture garden. The night before I planted this I had coons in the garden digging up a row of beans that had just been planted. I don't think they were interested in the bean seed I suspect they were checking the freshly turned earth for grubs. I'm pleased to say that the Three Sisters survived their first night, when I inspected the garden this morning there had not been any further damage. I could see where the coons had been in the area though there were some new holes dug in the path going out to the garden. Hopefully they have decided that the grub feast is more plentiful in the lawn than in the raised beds.

Spring at last, planting and transplanting in the square-foot garden.

Spring at last, planting and transplanting in the square-foot garden. After weeks of 10 degree weather the sun came out, yesterday morning, and the temperature hit 25 degrees by noon time. So I spent the day working in the garden transplanting broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, parsley, chard, kale and fennel plants and planting bean seeds. The weather is supposed to be good again tomorrow so hopefully I will finish most of the planting then.

When I got up this morning I went out to check the garden and one of the two rows of beans, the one that is outside the fencing, has been dug-up from one end to the other. Coons would be my guess some of the beans were laying on the surface so I don't know if they ate the rest or not, anyway I will replant them today.

One week old today.

The girls are a week old today and growing like weeds. This was also their first day on wood shavings for bedding and they are having a lot of fun throwing it around and playing on there new feeder. The feeder is a better design than the first one was it is much more difficult for them to scratch the feed out on the ground to be wasted with this model and they are having a lot of fun climbing all over it.

Five days old today and some of the girls have names.

Five days old today and some of the girls have names., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Everyone seems healthy and strong and growing every day, some have been named by friends on Flickr and YouTube in this photo we have Matilda named by an Australian friend and Ginger named by me. Matilda is the almost white bird and of course Ginger is the red head and Marianne named by a friend here in New Brunswick, she is standing in front of Matilda.



Martha named by a friend in Spain is front and centre in this photo. Anyone else with a name in mind ???

Most of the chicks are breeds selected by the hatchery so it will be fun watching them grow their feathers and trying to decide what breeds I have. Two breeds I selected so they are out of the game.

This little guy ( front and centre)is a Slikie just not sure what colour he/she might be when fully grown.



And I have three Mottled Cochins like this little chap.



If anyone recognizes a breed by the markings on the chick please leave a comment.

The Saga of the International Travelling Chicks

It's all in the video but what a day this has been. The chicks missed the mail truck in Bangor so they would have had to sit in their box in the postal plant in Bangor until tomorrow morning, which would have been three full days without food or water. Needless to say I did a road trip and brought them home. Hope you enjoy the video they are settling in nicely in their new home. Subscribe to the YouTube channel if you are interested in watching there progress over the next few weeks. There is an assortment of different varieties of both standard size and bantam chickens and most were selected by the hatchery so it will be a lot of fun figuring our just what breeds I have, once they start to feather out.

The finishing touches

The finishing touches, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

The finishing touches. The power of positive thinking for the girls and the evil eye for the predators. The little box on the door below the Fresh Eggs sign is called a Nite Guard Solar. It is a solar powered little red flashing light that automatically turns on after dark and shuts off when daylight returns. according to the advertising animals like Raccoon and Coyote stop as soon as they see the light and leave they perceive it as another animal or human. If this actually works I will buy another one hoping that I can put out a bird feeder that the raccoon won't tare apart.

The birds didn't arrive today, not surprised they were shipped less than 24 hours ago but I have a feeling they will arrive in the morning.

All ready here for the big event and the chicks left Polk, Ohio this afternoon.

All ready here for the big event and the chicks left Polk, Ohio this afternoon., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My chickens are on there way here. They left the hatchery in Polk Ohio this afternoon and should be here either tomorrow or Wednesday. The brooder is all set up and running to make sure it is nice and warm and since it is out in the coop I'm also running a quartz heater to warm the air because it is still cold here only 7 degrees C. today. I went to the post office this afternoon and the lady said she will call me when they arrive. It could possibly be tomorrow but I think it will likely be the day after.

Three Sisters Permaculture Garden

Three Sisters Permaculture Garden is something new for me but has been around North America in our native culture for thousands of years. Rather then me trying to explain something that is new to me too I will quote Wikipedia:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of some Native American groups in North America: squash, maize, and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans).

In one technique known as companion planting, the three crops are planted close together. Flat-topped mounds of soil are built for each cluster of crops. Each mound is about 30 cm (1 ft) high and 50 cm (20 in) wide, and several maize seeds are planted close together in the center of each mound. In parts of the Atlantic Northeast, rotten fish or eel are buried in the mound with the maize seeds, to act as additional fertilizer where the soil is poor. When the maize is 15 cm (6 inches) tall, beans and squash are planted around the maize, alternating between beans and squash. Milpas are farms or gardens that employ companion planting on a larger scale.

The three crops benefit from each other. The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants utilize and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight, which helps prevent weeds. The squash leaves act as a "living mulch", creating a microclimate to retain moisture in the soil, and the prickly hairs of the vine deter pests. Maize lacks the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which the body needs to make proteins and niacin, but beans contain both and therefore together they provide a balanced diet.

Native Americans throughout North America are known for growing variations of three sisters gardens. The Anasazi are known for adopting this garden design in a more xeric environment. The Tewa and other Southwest tribes often included a "fourth sister" known as "Rocky Mountain bee plant" (Cleome serrulata), which attracts bees to help pollinate the beans and squash.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are modeled on the relationships found in natural ecologies.

Permaculture is sustainable land use design. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximise effect and minimise work. Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Inhabitants’ needs are provided for using proven technologies for food, energy, shelter and infrastructure. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Within a Permaculture system, work is minimised, "wastes" become resources, productivity and yields increase, and environments are restored. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.

The first recorded modern practice of permaculture as a systematic method was by Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer in the 1960s, but the method was scientifically developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications.

The word permaculture is described by Mollison as a portmanteau of permanent agriculture, and permanent culture.

The intent is that, by training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals can design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth's ecosystems.

While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following. This "permaculture community" continues to expand on the original ideas, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of publications, permaculture gardens, intentional communities, training programs, and internet forums. In this way, permaculture has become a form of architecture of nature and ecology as well as an informal institution of alternative social ideals.

Needless to say what I'm doing is "my version" of the Three Sisters Permaculture Garden as you can see from my video and these photos. I will start with one corn plant in each mound from the seedlings that I have in the greenhouse and I will also add a few corn seeds to each mound. Hard to say at this point how successful this will be but it will be something interesting to follow throughout the summer so stay tuned.

A couple of really great gardening sites that I'm pleased to recommend.

If you are looking for great sources of information for the Canadian Garden you can't go wrong with two sites which are run by Mark Disero. His YouTube Channel a sample video:



And his website Garden Toronto. I hope you enjoy these fine resources as much as I do.

Maybe I'm loosing it................................

I was in Walmart and couldn't resist the window boxes. I have them planted with lettuce, spinach and Swiss Chard which will be fresh greens for the chickens as they grow. Also a few nasturtium seeds for flowers later on.

Success With Poultry Blog

I subscribe to the Keeping Chickens News Letter which is great information for amateur poultry keepers and comes out twice a month. Like most chicken enthusiasts I read it from cover to cover as soon as it arrives. It is a wonderful resource and free so click on the link and give it a try.

I recently submitted my YouTube videos on how I built my Chicken Coop for publication in the newsletter but at this time videos are not included in the newsletter for technical reasons however Gina, newsletter editor, did me the great favour of adding my videos to the Success With Poultry Blog. This blog is a wealth of information on keeping poultry and I have referred to it often and I'm sure I will be there almost daily after my day old chicks arrive next week. Two really great resources that I highly recommend.

Warbler recovering from a window collision.

Warbler recovering from a window Warbler recovering from a window collision. , originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Poor little guy hit the glass in my garden door and then sat on my deck for about a half hour recovering. I laid on the floor and talked to him and took pictures. Eventually he flew away so I guess he is alright but he must have a bad headache.

Pathfinder's day trip to Asticou Gardens on Mount Desert Island, Maine M...

A bit of a wet day but I had a good time visiting the gardens with friends from the Pathfinders walking group.

Spring 2011 Planting in the Square Foot Garden

Getting the Square Foot Garden ready for another season. Transplanting the onion seedlings that I started in the house on February 6th., planting Peas, Beets and Spinach. A look at some of the seedlings that I have grown in the light garden and are now out in the unheated greenhouse to harden off before they are transplanted later in the month.