Well, it's been 2 months of spring since i last wrote about our backyard, and that is way too long because so much happens in april and may. It's so different now!

I started....
and finally finished...

building the chicken coop!


and now the chickens live there, not in a box in my room anymore.

They hang out mostly in the bottom section when they're awake, and sometimes we let them out to roam, supervised. Then, at night, they climb up their little ladder to go upstairs where they have a perch for roosting on. That's how chickens like to sleep. I put that turtle curtain over the window, so the streetlight doesn't disturb them while they're sleeping. I don't know if the light actually bothers them, but they're my babies.

So it's amazing how big chicks get in two months. They keep getting bigger...
and bigger...




and bigger....





and they aren't done growing yet. They are 3 months old now. In a month or two, hopefully they'll start laying eggs. Then we'll have 4 eggs/day every day!


So not only did i build a chicken coop in the past two months, with the help of some very good friends and power tools, but i built an herb spiral. Herb spirals are a common technique for maximizing space and creating multiple mini-climates in a small area. As it spirals in, the elevation goes up, so on the outside, it is lower, and therefore wetter, while on the inside, it is high and dry. Also, the plants on the south side can get plenty of sun, while the plants on the top provide shade for the plants on the north side.
We have a surplus of these gray stones that made up the driveway, which we reclaimed, so i built the wall with those. This took me quite a while. But here, you can see how it ended up:


And of course, we've been doing tons of gardening: starting, transplanting, and now actually harvesting tons of veggies and fruits and herbs and flowers.

Now, there are strawberries, peas, and lots of kale and arugula. We are also eating tat soi and turnip greens from the garden. The spinach is going slow, but i've eaten a little, and i got some lettuce today too. There are also nasturtiums everywhere, and some borage flowers, both of which i like to put in salads, yes eat the flowers!
The fava plants are starting to form little pods, and the broccoli plants are starting to form little heads, if only the cabbage worms and the ants don't kill them first. We're also growing carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, leeks, garlic, onions, chard, kohlrabi, collard greens, chicory, lentils, runner beans, mung beans, mustard greens, sunflowers, jerusalem artichokes, artichokes, so much i can't even remember them all!! There are also a ton of herbs in the herb spiral. Oh, and soon we'll be transplanting tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, melons, and green beans. And we're trying out growing quinoa!


So, between our garden, me working at the farmer's markets and bringing home free and cheap veggies from there, and other friend's gardens, and our chickens, i can't see how we'll ever have to go grocery shopping again. Okay, i guess we'll have to get our grains and beans, and condiments, and milk. For milk, I just found some people who have goats, only 10 blocks away from where i work, and they sell the milk, so we can get local, fresh, raw goat milk! It's amazing!

Oh, and i did finally get that bush out

I love growing food!