Memorial Day Tributes

It is in memory of Joshua Shane Ladd (died in Iraq 2003) and Matthew Stovall (died in Iraq 2003) and all the other men and women who have paid the ultimate price through out the years to keep our country free that I observe Memorial Day 2011.Both the young men mentioned were with our Philadelphia National Guard and were deployed in October of 2002. Josh was the grandson of my precious friend Mrs. Gladys and the son of Debra and Randy Ladd. Matthew was the son of Ernest and Ellon Stovall. I knew Josh from the time he was born and he is sorely missed. I never knew Matthew but I know that there is a emptiness that will never be filled again in the Stovall family.Without young men and women like the ones I've mentioned we would not be the country we are today. Thank you to all our military people for the job you do to keep the people of the United States Of America free. I appreciate my freedom and I know that "Freedom comes at a terrible price. Freedom isn't free."

The Ducks Have Moved To Their New Home!

William finished the new duck pen and shed this morning. We moved the ducks into their new home this afternoon.

They were scared silly when we put them down. Goofy things. They have a nice shed to sleep in at night, a play ground for the day time and their own swimming pool.


We put some of them into the pool when we carried them into the pen. They've never been in water before and they were so funny. They came out of the pool as soon as we set them in it. They will discover how much fun the pool is and it won't take long before we will be filling that pool several times a day.

I think we're going to close up the front of the shed so the ducks can be closed in at night. That will give them double protection from predators.

A garden note: The plants in the front were watered this morning. I hope this will help the zucchini to start producing and will be a pick-me-up for the hosta bed.

The garden is cared for another week. All except pulling weeds as they appear and gathering squash.

The Jalapeno peppers have a few small peppers on them. I hope I can have some Jalapeno by next weekend.

When I was fertilizing the cucumbers I saw a few tiny cukes. In a few days they will be ready to pick. Cucumber sandwiches sound good to me!

That's our Friday here at Hunny Bunny Haven. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Memorial Day! Please remember the reason we celebrate Memorial Day and also remember if it wasn't for these men and women we would not be the country we are today!

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together!

Our plan was to have fresh vegetables and that is what we're beginning to have. We've gathered a few yellow squash this week. They've been so good. There's just nothing like the first fresh vegetables of summer.

Today when I was watering and feeding the ducklings and young chicks, I noticed a lot of blooms on the cucumber vines. Now I'll be cucumber watching. Cucumber watching goes along with tomato watching and pepper watching. I'm already doing the tomato and pepper watching.

The green beans have buds on them. We should be having blooms very soon and then VOILA...fresh green beans.

The potatoes are blooming. Maybe the potatoes will be ready the same time the green beans are ready. Green beans and little potatoes....I can taste them now.

The zucchini are blooming too. In fact most everything in the garden is beginning to bloom except the okra. It still has a long way to go before it's big enough to bloom The okra was the last thing we planted.

Fresh vegetables make enduring the heat and humidity of the south worth it. I know I could have vegetables if I lived in the northern part of the United States but the growing season isn't nearly as long as what we have here. I'll just wipe the sweat and keep on keeping on. :)

One thing I enjoy most about our garden is that there are no chemical fertilizers nor chemical insecticides on our vegetables....Just healthy, wholesome food.

I probably sound food crazy but I'm really not. I enjoy having foods I know are healthy for my family.

The ducklings and chicks are growing like gang busters. The ducklings will have to wait until next week to get into their new pen. William had to have a little surgery done on his shoulder to remove an infected cyst. He has to stay inside out of the heat and humidity for a few days. That's what he's supposed to do....getting him to do it is another matter.

I hope all of you are safe from the storms. I'll be looking forward to your visit again very soon, :)

The Chicks Are In Their New Home

We moved the chicks into the outside brooder this afternoon. They seemed to be settling in pretty good when we left them.

They're sort of skiddish. I don't know why they are because they've been around us every since they arrived. But I can walk up to them and they take off running and trying to fly. I read about people who have chickens that sit on their shoulder, fly into their laps or come to them when they go outside but all we've ever had run away when we go around where they are. I guess we're just scarey. :)

Next week we plan to finish up the duck pen and get them ready to move into the pen. They are about to out grow their brooder. William opened the partition between two brooders to make more room for the ducklings but there's still not enough room for all the ducklings.

I don't know if they will be warm enough unless we put a light in the pen to keep them warm. They still don't have feathers. They've got a few tail feathers and that's it.

We are going to get the raised bed ready to plant the sweet potatoes next week too. The sweet potato seedling are beginning to run so it's time to get them in their own bed.

Well, there we have the updates on Hunny Bunny Haven. Nothing much going on today.
I've had a song on my mind this afternoon...."It's summer time and the living is easy"....I don't think so. It's summer time and this is the time of year that we are busiest around here. Even though today was an easy, summery day. :)

Some Chores Are Out Of The Way

This morning I worked in the garden. The Asparagus Beans are hoed, the okra is hoed and thinned to where there are only two plants in a hill, and the peppers are hoed and dirt pulled up around them. The rest of the plants in the garden are too large to get the hoe in between them without breaking the plants.

Tomorrow morning I plan to give all the garden plants another drink of "Manure Tea". It will need another drink in about two weeks. I'm hoping that because I'm being so nice to the vegetables that they will in turn be nice to me by rewarding me with a big crop this year.

Yesterday I planted some Marianna's Conflict tomato seed. If they come up (some of the seed are about five years old) the plants should be ready to put in the ground by the middle of June.

The Marianna's are going in the front yard with the zucchini. I want to save some of the seed this year so I'm keeping them away from the other tomatoes.

Aside from gardening this morning, I cleaned the brooder so the little chicks can move out of the house into their brooder. We will get that done this afternoon when William gets home and can help me get the light set up to keep the chicks warm.

I fed the ducks this morning...AGAIN! They are most likely out of food again by now. I will check on their water in a little while. They are growing like weeds but then again they should be....They eat like "oinks".

There it is....my morning in a nutshell. Well the outside work anyway. Thanks for dropping by. Come again now, ya hear. :)

The Newest Citizens Of Hunny Bunny Haven

Several weeks ago I ordered 25 Araucana/Americana baby chicks. Thursday I got the call that they had arrived to the post office. They are eating, drinking and growing and that is what I want.

For the time being the chicks are living in the house with us. The temperatures have dropped down to the high forties and the low fifties for a few days so to keep the little things warm they are living in a big plastic tub with a light on them. When the temps go back up then they will go to an outside brooder with the light on to keep them warm.


I had actually just cleaned their tub and changed the paper but they didn't care. They started dirting the paper as soon as I put them back in the tub. I'll just throw the paper in the compost bin and let the extra fertilizer make the compost richer. :)


Another picture of the lil darlings.


The Araucana/Americana is my favorite breed of chickens. Not because of the colored shells but because they have continued to lay throughout the winter. I'm hoping this batch will start laying before winter and will keep us in eggs all winter. May be I won't have to buy eggs for Christmas baking again this year.

That's the happenings around here. I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday wherever you are. :) .

Walking Around The Garden

I took a walk through the raised beds this morning on my way to feed the ducklings. The asparagus beans are all coming up. The other vegetables are growing but there's no blooms on any of them yet. Maybe it won't be long before I start seeing the promise of fruits from our labor.

The green beans have taken to the stakes and are "moving on up" as George Jefferson liked to say. LOL

I would like to get the Marianna's Conflict tomato seed in some soil today. I don't know if that will happen or not since I seem to have a case of "The Dragging Around" today. I'm going to try to get at least this accomplished.

After I get these seeds in the ground that will be all of the planting that we plan to do. Even though, I would love to have a patch of field peas but William says there's no where to plant them and he's not planning to prepare a space for them. I guess we'll try to buy peas at the Farmers' Market this year.

I did forget that we still have the sweet potatoes to put out. That's something we need to get ready this weekend if the weather permits.

Anyway, the garden is coming along and I'm looking forward to the fresh vegetables. That's it from Hunny Bunny Haven for today. I hope you all are having a warm and sunny day wherever you are. :)

A Husband's Gift To His Wife...

We planted hostas in a pine thicket near the road. Well, unfortunately as one ages the less one can do therefore I wanted the hostas moved closer to the house in order to keep them watered and fertilized as they need it.

For Mother's Day my wonderful husband took a shovel and dug an area by our front porch to put the hostas and some ferns. He worked most of the day on Saturday before Mother's Day getting the flower bed ready. Then he helped me move the hostas and ferns, raked pine straw (and clean all the limbs and pinecones out of the straw) to put around the hostas.
The east end of the bed is in the morning sun but not the afternoon sun. The larger of the hostas (in back) is Sum and Substance. We may have to move some of the other plants as this one grows because it can get as large as five feet across.

This is the middle of the bed. The turtle was given to me for Mother's Day several years ago by Trinity. Trinity stayed with me in my daycare from the time she was three weeks old until she started to school. She is also the Goddaughter of our daughter Sandi and her husband, Richard.


The west end of the bed wraps around to the steps. It also has the lighter colored (or varigated) hostas since it gets a little more sun than the others.

This is why I say that I don't want expensive gifts but I do require a lot of "Elbow Grease".

I thank you Sweetie for all your hard work and your willingness to work in flowerbeds. I know that I am blessed. :)

Getting It Done

I think...Finally. I got all the vegetables fertilized this morning. All except the okra since it has just come up and there is a lot of rabbit manure in that bed. I missed the zucchini also but will get them fertilized in the morning while I work in the flowerbeds again.

The garden is looking good. I pulled weeds while I fertilized this morning.

I'm ready for some blooms to start appearing on the squash, tomatoes and greenbeans. A few on the peppers would be nice too.

It's been a little busy around here for the last few days. I am thinking it will get more busy in the coming weeks. At least I'm hoping that's so.

In the morning I plan to get the bed for the hostas tilled and move the hostas into it. I think that getting all this done will make a wonderful Mother's Day present. :) See I'm not expensive but I do require some "Elbow Grease". LOL

A Quick Catch Up

The green beans are stuck. The okra is up. The bed is ready to plant the asparagus beans but the ground is too wet. The ducklings are growing like weeds and eating like pigs.

The baby chicks are scheduled to be here on May 11th. I can't wait for them to get here. I still have a lot of outside work to do on the flower beds but we had rain on Monday and Tuesday. I'm hoping to get more work done outside tomorrow. No rain in the forecast and no storms in the forecast.

That's all that's going on here at Hunny Bunny Haven. See y'all later. :)