The chicks are here!

We ordered 200 chicks from the Anstey Hatchery in Saskatoon and after being split up by the post office (labelling issue) they arrived: 2 boxes at the main postal plant and 3 delivered to New Sarepta the next morning. Even after spending that extra night in their boxes they were perfectly content and active when we put them in the newly cleaned out brooder house (formerly the winter layer house!). The Layers are also happy and settling into their pasture life in the Egg Mobile. We have both sets of white electric netting set up as well as the older orange stuff to keep them out there. Two have made their way back to the old spot but we'll carry them back once they roost for the night.

Of the 30 Chantecler eggs that we incubated, only 11 hatched and of those only 6 have survived. The hatch was 2.5 days late too.... can't explain it, because the same incubator hatched out 27 of 30 for our friends the month before, and no change to the settings. I will be getting two more thermometers before I rent it out again.

I've planted the Asparagus seedlings that I started in Feb. along the south side of the main house garden, hoping to make a windbreak. Kevin had first made a swale with the back blade of the tractor and it worked wonderfully to collect the rain and funnel it to the new bed. The only concern I have is that we dug down to the clay and now the seedlings are sitting on a bed of clay. Marten helped me mix sand, soil and composted manure to put around them and they should grow nicely in that and then we'll build up from there.

There are now four new gardens south of the other Community Gardens: yaay for more people making their own food! And yaay for rain! We're off to the New Sarepta Fair today.