This week at Hrafinstaad

I have no photos of the work we did this week, I could not get an angle that did any justice.
So what have we done? On Monday the neighbor came and the plumb left overs were chipped into a larger pile of chips than I hoped for. Friday afternoon Chance and I laid the chips down for a path in the back yard. Since moving into our house nearly ten years ago we have tried to plant grass in the back yard only to have it die out every winter.Our yard tends to be boggie,I think this is because way back in time our neighborhood had been a swamp. In fact before we put in the paved patio area in the back we had what we not so lovingly called"Lake Dahms" every winter.We are done fighting against Mother Nature and the muddy trail to the chicken coop.By building the path we hope to cover ( Sorry for the pun.) two things, build up the soil with natural materials and be rid of the muddy mess that comes with winter.
When Chance started to load the chips into the wheel barrow we were excited to see the pile steam, yeah things are getting going around here! We laid down about 6 inches of the chips for a nice thick path that is 4 feet across.The path leads from the gate by our back door and around to our big front gate.It follows the flow of yard traffic nicely; we can easily go from backdoor to the garden and chicken coop without slip sliding through the muck.
The hens out in the coop are not to happy about the path.The new path means no more freedom.The last thing we want is our new path scratched and scattered across the yard . It is the time of year the hens are usually kept in the coop full time any way,my young veggie starts are not their fresh dinner. They will clam down in a few days and get over it.
I also planted my peas finally.I was pretty much on time by my thinking. I don't know about the whole "plant your Peas on Presidents Day" thing. I planted 2 kinds,Sugar Snaps and Snow Peas.I planted enough so we could freeze some for winter.Which reminds me we need to find a freezer other than the one in the fridge before things start rolling.
Again I did not give into buying more chicks at Urban Farm Store yesterday.They had an odd looking chicken called a Turken, they had no feathers on their necks.Kind of gross but kind of not could make for some great conversations. The Turkens are a breed from Translyvania.That part tickled my funny bone.Here is this chicken with a featherless neck from Transylvania, breed for vampires? And they are not a cross between a turkey and a chicken although the name might lead one to think so. I almost went back for one but thought better of it.
The chicks are doing fine.They are mostly feathers now with just tufts of baby fuzz.We had to put a screen over their tub, we had an escape artist and another who liked to sit on top of the water bottle. We still have not named this flock,they may just be the Wynadottes.
Today we finish moving the plumb wood from the front to the wood pile in the back. We have not made any set plan for where the plumb was.We are starting to lean towards some fruit trees instead of the Birch. On our list of trees to consider are,apple,peach, olive (they can grow here) and tea trees.Once the space has been cleared we will have a better idea of what we are planting.
I must go and start my indoor work so I can move outside while we have a bit of sun. It was nice to get up and not see the snow the news was fretting about.
Rois