Winter's Frozen Ground

Winter has come to Pocket Canyon Farms as the temperature drops with each night. The chickens are all huddled together in the old dog house and snuggling up tight. Jackets I have left outside working are now frozen solid like a board. Now that several nights have past the ground keeps getting frozen deeper and deeper. I had a quail fly out today while changing the food and water. While attempting to "scamper" up the hill in search of the quail I found out just how frozen the ground really was. I was slipping and a sliding all over. This afternoon the sun finally shone bright and warm, at least streaming in the windows it was warm though the frost never left the ground today. This is California and after this past week I am ready for spring already, though I know it is not possible nor close. I check my plants everyday, I win some battles and loose others. Milo, Huey and Jasper don't move throughout the day now. Curled up on a blanket or on the couch they refuse to leave their cosy spots in front of the pellet stove, I can't really blame them. This is a hibernation period at the farm. The best I am getting out of my 14 girls is 2 eggs a day. I grow sleepy in these cold days and feel like a bear who is trying to hibernate, but who just isn't being allowed to. Wait! What is this, Milo has emerged!!! And….well… has hopped up on the table. Alas, his only movement for the day has to be a naughty one. Time to peruse my library and find a book for the evening.

Season's Turn

Today winter has definitely come as December has come full force into the air. The vineyards which surround us are no longer brilliant reds and yellows, but a crinkly brown which equals a hibernation I wish I could take. Butters is no longer sleeping on the ground but on top the goat table meatloafing like a feline. The ducks all waddle into one condo now no longer preferring separate lodging quarters. The garden is covered with a plastic sheath to ward off the frost which threatens our tender greens No! Mister Frost that arugula is mine! I'm wearing sweaters, the dogs are wearing sweaters and the chickens are lucky I don't make a few for them. Hello December, you have come in with a bang!

New and Old Duckies

We have 5 new ducklings that have survived the first day of their lives. The last batch of ducklings are slowly being absorbed into the flock. They are getting so big now as they begin to loose their fluff in exchange for feathers. Though the peeping is ongoing I know soon it will turn into quacking, but that's okay because I have new ducklings and I still have some eggs which have piped. As the autumnal sky greets us each day I can't imagine living anywhere else, heck, this place is even mentioned in Grease. The pink clouds dot the sky each evening which isn't full of a grey heaving sky. The life cycles are moving on at Pocket Canyon Farms.

Video: Chickens Eating

Blackie and Silver

www.pocketcanyonfarms.com

Feeding Frenzy

Morning time is busy time at Pocket Canyon Farms. As the sun lifts into the sky ducks, chickens, and guinea hens salute the sky and yell at Mama for food, food, food! They leap, run, and flap out of their cozy beds as fast as they can to their favorite breakfast dishes. Black Swedish like their breakfast on an old cafeteria tray. Brown ducks prefer to eat straight away right outside their beds.

The chickens like an old dog bowl and plant saucer to start their day off right. To each his own I say! The fury of fowl resembles white sharks bursting with attack on a bevy of stellar sea lions basking on shore. The feeding frenzy is fast and furious. Everyone is running around like, dare I say, a chicken with its head cut off. As the excitement dies down the guineas are on clean up duty while the chickens hide in the fig tree and the ducks hunker down for a rest.

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Our Fall Garden Grows

Buttercup and LuLu Bell

As crisp air greets every morning I know it is time to start the winter garden in succession. This means constant seedlings and plantings to maintain a constant supply of tender baby greens. Now is the time for spicy arugula, red and green lettuce, curly kale, red cabbage, and chioggia beets. I love the rich dark greens and reds of winter produce contrasted by the bright yellows, oranges, and reds of deciduous leaves giving all they can back to their host tree. As these leaves make their way down to the earth Ginger, LuLu and Butters snatch them up and down the hatch they go. The girls eat anything their eyes fall on to build up their fat and winter coat. Fur is shaggy and faces are fatter as the temperature begins to drop. We are all getting ready for the season about to come.