Hi ya'll.....Deliverance here.

Well the farm is busy. Let's start with the garden and those beautiful strawberries! My first handful and they are sweeties. They are coming along very nicely and they are an early variety so they won't be around very long. So we pick and freeze until we get the whole crop in or we get enough to make that wonderful jam that everyone loves to get in their care packages. So ya'll get ready, there will be a nice crop this year! On the bigger scale is the regular garden. I was very late this year getting it in the ground due to some other business that needed my attention but it turned out to be a good thing this year because the weather has been very hot and cold. Even with the delay it is going along very nicely. Beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, beets, spinach, radishes, pumpkins, melons, squash, cucumbers, and don't forget the tomatoes, my garden it not complete without the tomatoes. I have a very large problem surviving the winter if I don't have enough tomatoes canned and waiting for me to put them in my soup, make a sauce for pasta, or just warm them up and lightly season...yummy! Made myself hunger there, sorry I'll try to get thru this first...! Everything is coming up (along with the weeds!) and looking great. So I'm very excited for a big crop this year and a long canning season.

And now for your chicken update......
I released the youngin's into the general population on Saturday and what a release. I now have chickens everywhere. It is so cool to have hatched these from eggs and watched and helped them grow big enough to run with the big chicks! Saturday was slow going them really where not sure what to do with that open gate and it took most of the day for them to get very brave. The older chickens had no problem go in the nursery to visit the teenagers but there was no blood shed which is a good thing because it is hard to change a chickens mind once they remember they have a mind. By Sunday morning everyone was running free like they have been doing it all along. I also let "Mama" and her babies out of their hutch for the first time and that was interesting. "Mama" is the best hen I have and she hatch out three babies and they have been living in the hutch for the past month. "Mama" was getting a bit restless the last few days and I just decided that I would let her out, leaving the babies to grow a bit more. She thought better of leaving the babies behind. She wasn't out more than a second before she was calling the babies out as well. Some of the older hens were not happy about her being out with the babies. Again no bloodshed but it was a little scary for a bit. Hens get chesty with each other and a lot of clawing when things are changed and they get uncomfortable. "Mama" set them straight and peace reigned the coop! And then there is the matter of Goober, Billy Bob, and Barney....not an easy situation...It took me a while to decide what to do. Goober and Billy Bob are normal (if there is such a thing) and would have no problem being part of the flock. The problem is Barney with the bum leg...he would not last long out with the rest of the flock...chicken kill the weakest or anything that they think is unwell. So I had to make a pretty hard decision,the choices were take the chance that the flock would accept him, twist his neck (the Doc's words), or move him on the porch and finish raising him as a pet. Everyone knows what I did...Goober and Billy Bob are doing great with the rest and Barney is learning to live on his own on the porch. It will be a long road but I think Barney and I will become famous buddies and he will learn to follow me around in the yard and garden and he can live a long life being the "worlds most pampered chicken". By the way I have no idea if this is a hen or rooster. My luck runs towards the rooster but we will see.

I will sign off here. Happy Spring to everyone and good night~
Deliverance