Yesterday was the first day of spring, and the clouds parted and the sun started shining. Perfect for starting on the backyard.
I have pretty ambitious plans for somebody with basically zero landscaping experience, but I feel pretty good after Day 1.
Also, exhausted. And thankful for sunscreen. And if I weren't so sore, I'd get up to grab the Ibuprofen.
A few months ago, while it was snowing, I drew an ambitious picture with basically everything Pinterest tells me I can possibly fit into a yard. Besides being not quite being to scale, this drawing has some problems. First, I put the chickens behind the shed where they would get NO sun. Not good. Then I put the fire pit right beneath our overhead electrical wires. Not good. I drew two beds, and decided I actually wanted three...The list goes on. But, I think for a general working vision, it's alright.
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| The Vision |
Our first stroke of luck was that we came into a chicken coop, run, and three chickens. In very sad, but also happy news, our neighbors across the street whom we love are moving. The happy news is that they are moving to a house across town better suited for them and their family, so we are very glad for them. In between the time we're spending being sad.
This meant that their chickens needed a new home! So, our family welcomed Nugget, Tender, and Peg a couple of weeks ago! We walked the coop (with chickens inside) and their run all the way out of their yard, across the street, through the alley, and into our backyard. C and I walked the coop over and then our neighbor helped C get the very heavy and awkward run.
(I lived in Portland when the new Voodoo donut location opened and they
marched the oil from the old location to the new across the Burnside bridge. It was kind of like that. Maybe slightly less epic?)
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| C and Neighbor walking the run through our alley to our backyard (how nice is our new fence!?) |
Tender, Nugget, and Peg seem pretty happy here. We've had an egg or two every single day!
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| L to R: Peg, Tender, Nugget |
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| The coop and run |
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Chickens grazing (pecking? ranging?)
Yesterday C I spent about an hour at Home Depot picking out cedar for our raised 6ft x 4ft beds. We had eighteen 10ft 2x4s cut into lengths of 6ft and 4ft and had two 8ft 2x2s cut into 1-foot sections. I got home and my mom literally Facebook messaged me and said "I think you should really consider those ready-made raised beds" to which I replied "Ok" instead of "You're a little late to be weighing in on this."
So, today was assembly day! We also borrowed one of our neighbor's rototillers and I completely destroyed half the backyard while C worked on the beds on the patio.
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| see that green machine back there? That's the rototiller. This thing looks like it might actually kill you. |
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| Where there once was grass |
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| Working on the beds |
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| This is me clearly wondering "What have I done?!" |
By the end of today we were up three raised beds and a moved chicken coop! Tomorrow I'll be moving the beds out of place to till more, and then seating the beds to ready them for dirt inside and mulch outside. Then maybe those beds will even get planted...
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| Three beds!! (I also spy two chickens, a Penny, and a husband) |
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| A better look at the beds |
