Cold, wet spring

We've had a cold wet spring, and it shows in the garden.  Today's high temperature was close to 70 degrees, but for the most part, the weather has been stuck around 60 degrees.  I think I've watered twice this year - I didn't need to water very often because it has rained so often.

On the down side, the greens aren't growing as fast as they should be - the lettuce and spinach are growing, albeit slowly.  In the picture above, the spinach is to the left of the peas.  There are two rows of lettuce to the left of the spinach.  This picture was taken about a week ago, so they're a little bigger, but certainly not where they should be.  We planted the lettuce and spinach about 5 weeks ago... we should be able to harvest something by now.   The strawberries are growing well despite the cool weather and are in full bloom.  It looks like we'll get a few strawberries this year. 

The chickens continue to grow - here's a pic of Betty, and Austra White hen.

Betty is pretty low in the pecking order, and is one of the smallest hens we have.  Surprisingly, the white turkey is a bully, and picks (or pecks!) at all the other hens.  About 2 weeks ago, the hens injured the smaller Cornish chick, and ultiamtely killed her. Black turkey is at the bottom of the pecking order, and gets picked on by nearly every other hen - despite being the biggest bird in the coop. As a result, (and in light of the smaller Cornish chick) black turkey has been isolated from the rest of the hens.  Earlier this week, I trimmed each hen's beak to limit the amount of damage each hen can do to the others.  The picture above was taken prior to the beak trimming. 

That's white turkey on the right, and Betty on the left.  The two black hens on the left are Cheep and Dale.

Finally, I think Big Bird's days are numbered.  Big bird is the other cornish chick.  At 6 weeks old, Big Bird is easily 5 pounds, live weight.  I think the day of reckoning is tomorrow, followed by an overnight brine and a date with the grill on Sunday.  We shall see.