I’m trying to grow some vining nasturtiums around the coop runs. Not only should the vines help shade the runs if I can get them trained up the wire, nasturtiums are edible and pretty.

I chose one of the cooler days this week, and worked in the morning, but it was still hot. I found something to distract myself while taking a break from hoeing up grass: catching grasshoppers and feeding them to the chickens. The chickens were appreciative, once they figured out what I was offering (a couple hoppers escaped before they caught on).

Now here is something interesting, when the chicken goes in for the grab, they have a third eyelid that covers and protects their eye. The picture isn’t clear because she is moving so fast, but you can definitely see that her eye looks different.

The chickens liked the grasshoppers, but were still put out when I rustled the plastic bag of seeds and no meal worms were thrown their way.

So I’ve read and been told that we have two growing seasons here, that we can have two summer gardens. So I’m giving it a try!

I planted cucumber and peas and they actually sprouted! I also have some sprouts that I think are arugula (I sort of let the last batch go to seed, and the seeds went everywhere). My rain barrel is empty, so I had to reroute my irrigation system (aka lots of hoses) to run from the well. Having cucumber and pea salad would be pretty exciting!

Was very sad. It turned out that most of what sprouted was wheat seeds from the straw I put down as a cover. I was able to harvest one bulb, which was smaller than the bulb I broke up and planted last winter. Bummer. But I will try again in the fall.