Basil

On October 23, 2022October 20, 2022 By CarynIn Garden

Usually when the temperature dips below 40 my basil hands in its resignation papers. Seeing the upcoming cold snap (for Texas), I attempted to cover my little garden with a clear shower curtain.

Stock tank raised garden covered in a clear shower curtain

It worked! The weather app (oh Dark Sky, how can you leave me?!?), reported 38 degrees in the wee hours of the morning (6am). I took the cover off in the afternoon and the basil was all still green! No dark browning anywhere!

I don’t think this will work when we get a more serious Texas winter (I know my northern friends just laughed), but at least I have some reprieve on harvesting. In case you’re wondering, no fruit have set on the winter squash vines. But at least I have basil.

Sophie

On October 22, 2022 By CarynIn Cats

Even though Sophie is now about 90% an inside cat, she still retains her outside skills. Like climbing onto the chicken runs.

And climbing up and down trees. No rescue needed here, she knows how to handle Post Oak.

Ashes, ashes

On October 21, 2022 By CarynIn chickens

Our area has been on a burn ban for about five months because of drought conditions. One of the smaller consequences of this is that I have not been able to make ash for the chicken’s dust bath. They dug down the area inside their tire well below the base of the tire, bathing in the scratched up dirt and carrying it off in their feathers, but I didn’t have the means to refill.

My folks visited and the RV park where they stayed had metal fire pits. Fire pits with stacks of Post Oak wood piled up near by. Fire pits that hadn’t been cleaned out in a long time, so were full of hardwood ash. Jackpot. I hauled off a garbage bag full of ash to put in the hens’ dust bath.

Empty dust bath, bag of ash, container of DE

I mixed the ash with diatomaceous earth (DE) and dirt inside the tire, and stirred it with a stick.

I wasn’t able to entirely fill the tire, but it is a sight better than the negative value of dust bathing material that was in there before. My chickens tend to eat chunks of charcoal when I give them new ash, turning their droppings black. I need to remember not to panic when I see that again. It has been awhile.

Izzy

On October 20, 2022 By CarynIn Cats

Izzy took an unusual sleeping pose, like she is stretching out for her high kicks, so I snapped a pic. Seeing one cat picture today probably isn’t enough, but at least it is a good start.

Fun with pumpkin

On October 19, 2022 By CarynIn chickens

Rather than halve the pumpkin for the chickens like I usually do, I had a little fun carving a simple face. I was going for an appalled look. I ran a gimlet through the stem, then used a bamboo stick with the tip split to thread cotton twine through and make a loop to hang up the pumpkin.