And Then There Were 5

5 little biddies, all in a row!

1 more chick hatched overnight, and very recently as it's fluff is still damp. So far it looks like we have 2 bantams and 3 regular sized chicks...can't wait to see them with their feathers so we'll know more about what breeds we ended up with. They're all mutts, but hopefully we'll have a few green egg layers courtesy of Cockadoodle Stu I.

We had to make an emergency alteration to the nesting box yesterday as the walls were too tall for the biddies to get out. Boy, once that wall came out, there were chicks running around all over the place. I haven't seen them drinking yet, but they're pecking at the food, stretching their wings and starting to become very active. The smallest one, undoubtedly a bantam, has wings that are about 1/2 inch long, but it stretches them out as wide as it can! I have a feeling that one will end up our 'pet' chicken.

Other fabulous firsts yesterday....our first ripe tomato! A scrumptious black cherry, that we divided 3 ways. I had forgotten how incredible homegrown tomatoes taste, and that little tomato only made me more desirous of fresh tomatoes. This is going to be our year of the tomato...we planted 75 plants and have about a dozen or more volunteers, so in a few more weeks we should have fruit coming out our ears. The emphasis this year is going to be on dried tomatoes and frozen fire-roasted tomatoes...they keep that just picked taste all year long, unlike juiced/canned tomatoes. Can't wait for that!

We were also blessed with a huge amount of cabbage yesterday, so today I started my first-ever batch of sauerkraut. We won't have a lot of it, probably a dozen pints or less, but it will be a primer in lacto-fermentation. If it works well for us and we eat what we preserve, then next year we'll amp up our cabbage production. In researching a recipe, I learned all sorts of interesting information on the health benefits of eating lacto-fermented foods. Whooda thunk it? So, if you come over for a visit in the next 6 weeks and my house smells peculiar, it's not me, it's the kraut : )