I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Autumn Work
It’s been more than a week since I’ve posted anything. Oops. Sometimes time speeds by very fast.
Last week I spent a day “chatting” to tech support for the Terics Treasures website because the shipping fees weren’t coming out right–either too little or too much–and I didn’t know what was wrong. The person I talked to, whom I called “Hero Support” very patiently answered my many questions and helped me figure out what was wrong. It’s working now. Yay!
Last Thursday I finally let the little chicks, who are not so little anymore, join the older flock. When they were a week old, I put the chicks in a “fancy” little coop which, along with an old wooden dog house, is inside the shed that we use as THE COOP. That way the young and old flocks could get used to each other while being safely separated. I opened the fancy coop door with trepidation because I know that chickens establish a pecking order by putting those in lesser status in their place. I’ve read that sometimes it can get quite brutal, and I didn’t want the younger ones to get hurt. The chicks are timid and at first, they stayed mostly in their fancy coop, but every day they are getting bolder and venturing out a little more. Thankfully, I haven’t seen any real bullying. In fact, the first night, I saw one of the chicks roosting just behind the older chickens on top of their fancy coop, and one chick was cuddling with a hen inside the old doghouse. That is probably the same hen who seems to have “adopted” the chicks; I have seen her hanging out with them. So the integration seems to be going quite well. Whew!
A freeze was predicted for northern Michigan for Friday night so we spent the day making a few more preparations for winter. We drove to a nearby farm to buy some straw bales for the coop. When we returned home, I cleaned out the fancy coop where the chicks had been contained and put fresh straw in it, as well as other places in THE COOP. The hummingbirds have left for their migratory journey so I put their feeders away. I also brought in the houseplants. In the summer I put the houseplants out on the deck, but when the weather turns colder, I bring them back inside the house for the winter. I took the screens out and washed the windows.
EJ worked on the Suburban. Then we worked together to make sure the last of our garden was harvested–except for the pumpkins and potatoes, which aren’t yet quite ready. We covered them with fencing so the chickens can’t eat them and then we opened the gate to let the chickens in to roam. They are having a wonderful time in there gleaning in our garden. Their scratching the dirt actually helps prepare the garden for next year’s planting.
Our property was originally 10 acres but, at some point, a previous owner divided it into two 5-acre properties. We have one 5-acre property and a neighbor has the other. We actually share a portion of our driveway with those neighbors. We live on the top of the hill and they live below us. We don’t see them much because their place is actually their vacation home so they are there only a few times in the summer and not at all in the winter. However, we suspect that they might be retiring and planning to live up here full-time. They have a small cabin on their land, but we are wondering if they are planning to build a bigger home there. If so, we hope they are friendly–and quiet–permanent neighbors.
Whatever our neighbor’s plans are, there is certainly some major work being done there. We walked to the edge of our property and looked down the hill to see what they were doing. Trees are being knocked down and construction equipment has been moving large amounts of dirt–er, actually sand–around and packing it down. I think it’s rather sad that people move to a beautiful forested area and then knock down the trees. The forest between us is thinning and can glimpse a bit more of their property. 😦 We love the privacy the trees give us, and we are hoping they won’t take down too many of their trees. We might start planting more trees on our land if they do.
For the last four or five days, we’ve heard a constant rumble from the heavy machines. The machines are actually vibrating our house. We feel the vibration and sometimes even hear dishes rattle. When we lived in our small village downstate, we were used to the “city” noise of nearby neighbors. However, it’s been so quiet up here in our Enchanted Forest that the rumble and vibration are jarring. It is giving me a headache and setting me on edge. EJ says it doesn’t bother him; in fact, the vibration of his chair actually feels good on his back.
The work goes on from morning until well after dark. I hope it won’t go on for too much longer. It’s damaging my calm.
I Love To Go A Gardening 
Your chickens are adorable and so are you taking time to introduce the young the the old, nature is never so kind. When the state has tree sales you might want to take advantage of it and plug the holes that are thinning. 40 yrs. ago we did white pine etc. and our 3 acres are full up and as you gives us some solitude. Love you two !!
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Yes, we have been hoping to get trees from the state sales. Several of our evergreens have died and EJ has been wanting to replace them with a disease resistant tree such as Norway Spruce. We love the beauty and privacy of the trees.
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I didn’t realize that I came up anonymous so here is the real me.
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I figured out it was you some time ago so it was no problem. And you are indeed “Someone” very special in our lives. 🙂
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