letting go

Six weeks old and ready to face the big wide world.
We were all there to encourage them… Jerome, Phil, Anne, Matthias and me.
The morning was idyllic, sunny, soft breeze, low 70s at 8 am.
After three weeks of being enclosed in the big house we were sure they'd come bounding out to explore.

And then the surprise… they were more timid than we anticipated. By late in the day all had at least tried the out of doors but the most intrepid was the tiniest chick of all. The only one I've named and who I keep company with parts of every day, Punkin. She was the last to go in at dusk yesterday and had explored farther into the yard than any other bird. She reminds me so of Rosie, our senior Buff Orpington who is always the last to go in at night and takes her job as mother hen very seriously.
Just sitting and observing frequently during the day is a deep joy.
If you have even the tiniest notion you'd like chicks of your own I say "Do it!"

a joyful list for Monday

Much to bring joy today…

pepper plants finally in flower 

monarchs in the meadow

3 eggs in the nest boxes this morning

new roses blooming for the first time in the new rose bed (Scepter'd Isle and Charlotte)

early morning rain allowing me to work in my sewing room

new potatoes and the first of the green beans with dinner

our own blueberries with cream for dessert

Wishing each of you your own joy list on this July Monday.

Friday photos

Four years ago we ordered our first chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery. It is their custom to include a free "exotic" with your order. I believe this free bird is almost always going to be male. However, at the time our little Silver Polish was so astoundingly cute we referred to it as she. Then "she" crowed. In fact, she crowed before our two Road Island Red roosters let out their first attempts.

early June 2011

Aug. 31, 2011

Aug. 31, 2011

Oct. 9, 2011

These days he's most definitely feeling his responsibility as the Big Guy. In his vigilance, my legs are bruised up one side and down the other from his wings. I caught his spurs in my right knee cap two months ago and it still feels a bit tender.

Next week our new flock will be allowed free range of their enclosure. There is a 60 foot long common fence between the two chicken yards so the seniors and the newbies can get to know each other safely until the babes have put on some size and weight.
We ordered 15 females and were given a free "exotic" who appears to be an Araucona. This is the only chick in the new flock who keeps its distance and won't readily be handled. About the same size as our largest babes but with very strong, long legs and feet. I'm guessing this little one will grow up to crow.

Whatever the sexes of the new chicks, they will have to work out their own pecking order. In the meantime, we find it fascinating to watch and also interact with them several times a day.

more bloomers

Amazing what sunlight, soil, and water can bring about.

Crown Princess Margareta

Crown Princess Margareta

Winchester Cathedral

Gentle Hermione

The Generous Gardener

Not all the roses residing at MeadowRIdge are David Austins. Here is one we rescued from the jungle last summer.

If you have any idea what she is, please let me know. She does have a lovely fragrance. She's recovering well from her lack of sunlight and nourishment in years past. Bees are absolutely delirious around her.

This little sweetie is Jeanne La Joie. There are two, one on each side of the back arch along the berry beds. In the city garden she grew to be a climber. Here she died back to the ground last winter but came back in a big way this summer.

joy list Monday

Joys abound here at MeadowRidge…

harvesting the first potatoes of the season
David Austin roses unfurling in the garden
16 healthy chicklets
drying mint for winter teas
freezing fruit to be eaten in celebration of the return of the sun on the winter solstice
rereading a favorite mystery series
a rubber band frog in the pond
soft pink sweet peas from Anne's garden in the suction cup vase on the bathroom mirror
congratulating our son on his new teaching position

roses

Before moving to MeadowRidge I gardened in zone 5 or warmer.

Here it is zone 4b. I left behind several lovely roses in my city garden, cherished friends like About Face above, but alas few could survive here. There are a few old roses saved from the jungle we tore out last summer. It was time to replant.

Anne has grown David Austin roses for several years and suggested I look at the catalog. I was surprised to find there were many zone 4, own root varieties to choose from. Own root means the named rose is not grafted on the hardier root stock of another variety. If an own root rose should die down to the ground in winter, it will regenerate as itself and not its graft host.

I would have room for 10 roses. I placed my order in February for these:

The bare root dormant roses arrived May 21st. The next day Jerome, Anne and I planted them.

Jerome dug the deep holes and took great care to keep the soil for reuse. Anne supervised based on her vast experience. She warned that they would begin slowly. First the raccoons were attracted to the Rosetone scent and dug around each plant that very night. Then the triplet fawns decided the new tips were good for munching. Now the roses temporarily reside in cages so they can get a bit of a head start.

This week the first of the blooms are opening. Sophy's Rose was first.

Second, L D Braithwaite. This rose is actually a deeper shade, nearly red.

Third, Abraham Darby.

Blogger does wonderful things, but until aromas can be transmitted online you'll have to take my word for the old world scents.
Stay tuned.

Friday photos

Thought it might be fun and a bit of a discipline for me to try my hand at a once a week posting. This morning's view off the upper deck sent me looking for my camera. Each Friday in the weeks ahead I hope to share a glimpse of MeadowRidge.

With the "rubber band" frog speaking up from our pond and Big Guy crowing out in his bungalow heralding the morning, I stood on the deck and took this shot. Looking south: the new rose and peony bed, the developing flower wall, through the arch to the fruits and vegetables and then to the chicken yards, the cool, moist morning hovering in the valleys beyond.