🔎A Look Back: Seedlings started, Fire in the forest,

... and the 🐔 Chicken saga comes to a close

February looks a lot like January

---

Early Spring Seedlings

On January 27th, we seeded two varieties of kale, two varieties of lettuce, some broccoli, and some cabbage. The seedlings sprouted and grew great! For the soil I used pro-mix bx, bagged compost, blood meal, and bone meal.

19 day old seedlings

26 day old seedlings.

---

“Learn and Burn”

In February I attended a local “learn and burn” event where I had the opportunity to take part in a prescribed fire. If you aren’t familiar with the practice, a prescribed fire is where a land owner uses fire to burn away unwanted saplings and plant debris from forests and fields. It has many benefits for both wildlife and the flora that is left behind. Routine prescribed fires also help prevent catastrophic fires by burning up the fuel that piles up over time on a forest floor. Native Americans used fire as a way of keeping their forests floors clean and as a way to preserve grasslands. If you are interested in attending a “learn and burn” event or want to learn more about the practice of prescribed burning, visit the Alabama Forestry Commission website and the Alabama Forest Foundation website.

---

✂️ Out with the old and in with the new.

It was time to remove the initial planting of salad mixes that were sown last fall to make space for early spring plantings. For this task, I experimented with a new approach. Initially, I used loppers to trim the greens down to ground level. Then, for the first time, I applied a mixture of molasses and fish fertilizer to the ground and cut leaves. Molasses and fish fertilizer are attractive to beneficial soil bacteria. By using this concoction, my aim was to accelerate decomposition. The idea is to promote the rapid growth of bacterial populations in and around the leaves, aiding in the breakdown of plant material into the soil.

This technique is a method I learned from experienced market farmers. They use it to expedite the turnover of a bed, ensuring a swift transition for planting the next crop.

Remember: healthy soil ⇒ healthy plants ⇒ healthy humans. And to build a healthy soil, we have to create an environment where the beneficial biology living in the soil can abound.

These greens are from our second fall planting. They are still going strong, even if they are bolting and going to seed.

---

🥔🟢 ‘Taters and Peas

We planted peas and potatoes and I’m pretty sure I didn’t do the potatoes right. I just cut them up and put them right into the soil. I tried to “chit” (fancy word for making them sprout. You know… potatoes will sprout if you leave them in your pantry too long. If you make them sprout on purpose, it’s called “chitting”) a few after I cut them up and they molded. So I went back to the wrong way that worked last year. Which is simply cutting them up, making sure they have a few “eyes” (little nodes on the taters where they will sprout) on each section, and then planting them immediately. My gut says, I should have “chitted” them before cutting them up… I’ll try that in the fall.

We also planted peas in a new section of the garden. We put a few blocks down to create space for adding in some compost. We’ve tried growing here before but the soil isn’t up to par. I thought adding in some compost might be the boost it needed.

---

🐔 The Chicken Saga Comes to a Close

We originally had 4 chickens in our little coop here in the city. The first chicken we lost to unknown causes. RIP. Then we were down to 3 chickens. One morning I heard a neighbor’s rooster and I thought “Wow, we aren’t the only ones with chickens in the neighborhood. But if they don’t do something with that rooster, we will be.” And then I left to go to work. The next morning at 4am I heard their rooster again. But this time, in a moment of clarity, I realized it was one of MY chickens. So I went out in the dark and stuffed the chicken in a dog kennel. Later that day we asked a friend if we could give them a rooster. They were kind enough to oblige. When Morgan dropped the rooster off they said to just let it go in the yard. So, she did. Well, fast forward a couple days and it happened again. One of our hens decided to be a rooster and I’d be lying if I said the same thing didn’t happen again. I heard it, couldn’t deal with it at the time, forgot about it, heard it again at 4am and went out and stuffed the chicken in a kennel. This time, we didn’t ask our friends if we could deliver, we just pulled up and dropped the rooster off. Don’t worry, they are country folk and have lots of chickens. I’m sure the roosters are strutting and cock-a-doodle-dooing right now as I type this out.

And now we only have one chicken. Who is indeed a hen.

Our first egg.

---

📷 February Photo Roll

What happens when kids don’t have video games :) They make forts out of your mulch pile. This was at a friends house.

One of the first trees we saw bud out!

First Daffodil!

Morgan and I took our two oldest to see Ellie and Drew Holcomb. Kids loved it. Ellie lost her voice 30 minutes before the show and still gave it everything she had. It was a lesson in vulnerability for sure.

This is a dandelion root that was left behind after I used my hula hoe to cut back some unwanted, overwintering plants (weeds :). I don’t have huge hands, but regardless, this root was a nice size. I left this root to decay in place. As it breaks down it will provide food to microbes and help with aeration in the soil.