Well, we finally made it happen!  Michelle is now officially a Priddy. Thank you to everyone who supported us through this extremely labor intensive process of getting everything ready to roll. As with every major event that has ever been planned, some things didn’t quite go the way we wanted, but that is what happens when you can’t be out there to take control of the entire process the entire time.  At any rate, I think those that came had a good time and no one left thirsty or hungry. The decorations were beautiful and the property looked great, even though this heat wave is drying everything up. We had all the normal stuff you see at weddings, with a slight twist.  At one point, the wedding party was processing down the aisle and one of my hens was following them.  Then, at one point during the vows, a hen jumped up onto one of the guests lap. It is exactly the kind of wedding I had hoped for.

Speaking of chickens, ours are doing great.  We seem to have had one run off, though.  I expected to have to deal with predators, but I checked the entire property and there is no sign of a killed chicken (piles of feathers, a carcass, etc.) so I am assuming that she got close to the property border (or she went for a stroll in the neighborhood by our farm) and someone took her.  I am thinking that I will start banding the legs of the chickens so if a person finds one of them wandering around, if they are so inclined, they will know who the chicken belongs to.  Unfortunately, one of the two chickens that started laying eggs this week was the one who ran off.  Regardless, we are now trying to figure out how to get the hen to lay eggs in the laying boxes Michelle and I built off the back of the chicken coop.  We put fake eggs in the nests to encourage more laying there and kept her locked up in the coop until she lays an egg.  The first day we did it, she refused to lay an egg and we ended up letting her out at 3 pm…where she proceeded to go back to the shop and lay an egg on my motorcycle trunk bag again.

The next day, though, she laid an egg in the coop on the floor.  I suppose she is getting closer, so that’s good.  We’ll see what happens today.  The eggs she is laying are quite a bit smaller than I was expecting, but I am told that chickens eggs will get bigger after their first few. We also found out that one of the “hens” turned out to be a rooster.  I was looking at him one day thinking “he sure looks like a rooster…”, then the next day I hear a commotion outside and go out to find him mounting one of the hens. He doesn’t crow yet, but it is in their nature and I expect it will start soon and he will be headed to the stew pot.  Even through this heat wave, the chickens are enjoying their free range life on the farm.  They spend a lot of time out in the woods eating bugs, then come back to the hen house when they need a drink or just get bored.  We had a couple of watermelons left over from the wedding, so I cut them in half and put them out for the chickens who thoroughly enjoyed that little treat. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with having chickens this year, but I have noticed that there are significantly fewer of these little bugs that we had all over our house last year.  I am hoping that it is because the hens are eating all of them.  Then we have the bees.

Two of the hives have been going like gang busters this summer and the rest are having a hard time keeping up.  We have checked the queens laying pattern and she seems to be doing her job.  They don’t have mites, as far as I can tell, and they are making honey but at a much slower pace than the two frontrunners.  We extracted 7 frames of foundationless honey and left several full frames still in the hive.  We are hoping that the rearranging of the empty and full frames will encourage the bees to continue to be productive.  The plan is to package the “honey in the comb” when Michelle returns from her work trip to Sacramento.  We also expect to have it on the website shortly after we package it up.  As always, anyone ordering from the neighborhood next to our farm will get free delivery, same day if ordered before 3:00 pm. While the bees have been busily performing their duties, we have neglected our crops.

With all of the wedding prep and wood shed remodeling happening, we have had to make some tough decisions about where to sink our time.  Unfortunately, the produce got its labor force taken away and the weeds have overrun the area.  The tomatoes and peppers are still growing, just not as big and fast as they would if they had the proper care they need.  The straw we laid down retarded the weed growth for a while, but once the full summer sun hit, they sprouted up with a vengeance.  Next year, we plan to bite the bullet and put a layer of plastic or other barrier down that will keep anything under it from growing, then put the straw on top of it to prevent tearing when we walk on it.  We simply can’t keep up with the amount of weeding that has to happen with a garden of that size, especially since we don’t use any herbicides to control weeds.  We did, however, find that the organic granules that we put on to deter the deer has worked.  We haven’t seen any evidence that the deer is munching on any of the vegetables since we put it on.  Thankfully, the wedding prep is over and we can start to get back to normal life here soon.  Once the wood shed remodel is complete, we go back to gardening, beekeeping, and blacksmithing!…just in time for winter.

That’s about it from Priddy Acres.  We appreciate everyones support and understanding during this grueling, crazy, and labor intensive summer.  Thanks to all of the people who spent countless hours of their own time to help make it happen: my beautiful wife Michelle, my dad James, my kids Isaac-Elijah-and Faith, Reckless, Waterboard, Chaser, Digger,  Carrie, Cassie, Charlene, Amber, Christina, and Corinne. I’m probably forgetting someone’s name, but know that I appreciate everything you all have done for us.  We could not have done it without your tireless efforts. We are very blessed to have you all in our lives.