The Godzilla birds go out into their coop tomorrow.  My goodness Cornish roasters are borderline freakish.  I cannot believe how fast they grow.  They are 3 weeks old on Saturday and they are close to 1 pound and a half.  We will have chicken in the freezer the weekend after the 4th of July (maybe one FOR the 4th of July!)

Instead of building a permanent coop for them (considering they are only around about once a year and only for 10 weeks) I built one out of straw bales and some of the chicken wire and PVC trellises I have for some of the vining plants like cucumbers.  They will have their own coop door and the run will be divided 1/3 for the roasters and 2/3ds for the layers.

(News Flash:  As I write this a cloud unleashed itself over the farm.  It has hail in it.  Now we watch wait and see if it destroys the garden.  The farmer is very nervous – this storm has a LOT of water in it.  Where the hell is it all coming from!?)

I got the automatic timers and the filters and pressure regulators all hooked up on the three zones for the drip irrigation.  Everything works and there are no leaks!  YAY!  While walking the beds just to see how things were coming along I looked down and noticed that the Amaranth and the Black Beans are pushing up!  Woohoo!  Germination is happening!  I was very concerned about the ability of the plants to be able to push through the surface soil.  The soil here is about 80% sand and 20% clay and it has a great deal of manure worked into it.  However, when it gets wet and then dries it forms a crusty surface.  Evidently beans are mighty mighty!

We pressurized the drip system that Aaron put in on the corn patch and it all works….  tomorrow Corn, Kidney Beans, and Alfalfa are going in over there.  The purpose of the beans and alfalfa is soil building.  The corn is green dent corn.  It will be used for corn meal and chicken feed.

Of course, after having used up most of the bed space, and leaving out the melon plants because they simply wouldn’t germinate…. now they are germinating.  I am going to have to ponder this one.  How do I put them in and where?

Also, if the weather cooperates, its time to put in about 72 Basil plants with the tomatoes and interplant about the same number of Kale.  Lacinato Kale is very good for you and we use a lot of it for juicing.  Tasty in salads.  The Basil helps keep away tomato pests plus I make and freeze boat loads of pesto for pasta and potatoes.

Cautiously optimistic!