Had a good day yesterday. Got most everything done that I had planned to. Debating over two sites for the compost bin--one near the garden area, which is also fairly close to the chicken coop and one that is mid-way between our house and the farm house (so the kids can also use it easily when they are out here). I prefer the one near the garden/chicken area but am a little concerned about it possibly attracting some unwelcome critters, like raccoons or possums. But my thought is that with the garden there and the chickens, they will probably come anyway so it might as well be convenient for me. So I'll need to get that cleaned up--lots of sticks and brush laying on it now.
Good news is that I discovered the area where I plan to put the garden isn't quite as much clay as some of the rest of the yard...at least on the surface there is some sandy dirt. Perhaps that and some good compost and it won't be as bad as I feared. I'm going to start fairly small this first year and then go from there.
We still don't have the chickens out here--haven't found time to finish the pen and move the coop out here yet. I'm going to town at least every two days to check on them and make sure they have plenty of food and water. I'm only getting about one egg a day out of 9 hens so I'm not too happy about that, but I'm not surprised either. It is winter and they are a couple of years old now. I'll get some more chicks in the early spring to replenish the flock. Thinking about doing some meat chickens too, but have not ever even seen the processing done, so will have to think on that for a bit.
I didn't work on the yard yesterday...wound up taking a nice walk on our property. Wish I had taken my camera. We have a stand of planted pines right near the house and it was so pleasant out that I just sort of explored. Discovered quite a few small cedar trees growing in there and am wondering if I might be able to transplant some of them. Also a few long leaf pines but I plan to leave them alone. Also found a dead armadillo and left that alone too!
Today I'll be here at the house all day. Have some bananas that need to be made into bread, my youngest daughter is coming over for coffee and bringing a "surprise". She came over last night to borrow an egg for it!

Lots of things to work on so I will just enjoy being a "domestic engineer" today!
