Recap

THE MAP returns

So, a little over a month from now, I will have lived in the new place for half a year (Exactly 6 months on New Year) and I was thinking... what have I accomplished during this long time?
And I am not talking about reforming the house but farming wise.
It is not much. Here is a list:

• lots of mixed salads and greens
• a few potatoes
• a few carrots
• lots of eggs  
• bunch of flowers
• 1 barrel of compost in progress
• random fruit saplings established (maybe, we shall see after winter which ones still live)
• a lot of blueberries but those shouldn't count as I didn't plant 'em myself

I guess one can blame it on the season, we did move in after summer planting period was done, and that I was too busy fixing up the place, plus the whole garden was lawn and not ready to plant anything on, and also I had my day job everyday. But still 5 months is a long time and it feels like I should have managed more. Things do grow on their own after all. I should try to be more organized in my approach, which has been kind of random so far to see what goes.

I have a new idea for the long and narrow strip of land just behind the gate. It is almost 10 meters long and untouched and I bet it is very fertile. It is the bit marked (4) in the map. I always wanted to grow pumpkins which I love. But pumpkins require lots of space for their runners and I bet this sloped strip would be just perfect. Let's try and see... 

Hey pumpkin!

Fencing progress

Thanks Sun

I was lazier than usual this weekend. Instead of working outside all the time, I worked outside one third of the time, played with the chickens another third, and made some delicious pizza and cookies with the rest of my time.
As a result, Tora did not get to roam free at the end of this weekend neither, but at least he got to go out on a leash as usual.

If you have very good eyes, you can see the result of my work so far in the picture above. I took it early in the morning though so the net kind of faded away in the rising sun. At least one can see the part of the slope in the right half of the picture where I removed the rotten wooden barrier. It was so rotten it fell apart when I barely touched it. Now there is only one wooden fence left in the slope, but I am keeping it as it is because it is still sturdy. Hopefully in near future I will have money enough to make proper levels with cement blocks.

Anyway, back to the netting. I took another picture from a better angle. Here it is:

At least the net is visible

What I did is put two posts to support the net. A rope holds the upper part of the net between the iron fence and the balcony. I've come almost halfway with the net (I need to weave it in with the metal wire so it takes time)
Once I have covered all of this side, I will have to cover a small hole on the left of the shed as well as the strip below the iron fence. For that I already have some metal netting.
After that, I will focus on the entrance of the house/garden. With that fenced in as well, I can let Chubby out without problem because she is not big on jumping. She probably will get scared and run in anyway.
Tora still may be able to jump the low 30 meter netting but that is another story. So far he has not shown any interest in that side of the garden as it is way too bushy. 

Tree's company

It was pouring down outside, and cold too. We have frost in the mornings when it is not raining. Then it rains and the frost is replaced with mud. Anyway, not a fun place to spend time so I was glad Chika asked me to unpack the huge Christmas tree and help her decorate it.
Here is the result:

I am Groot!

It's the biggest tree I have had indoors. Even taller than the cat tree. Compare it with our last puny tree:

Cute and only costed 100 yen

It looks like the weather will be clearing up during this weekend, if it is real nice and sunny I shall finish the cat fencing and maybe even let Tora out for a spin...

Cat prison

After the day is done

I was reminded again about the necessity of fencing in the property when Tora suddenly dashed out of the front door and started running around in the garden without his leash. I had just opened the door to go out and he usually just stands around asking to go out together but never dashes out.
I was lucky to be able to chase and catch him just before he managed to go into the neighbor's garden where he has seen other cats. My fear is that he may run away further onto the train tracks and road and other dangerous places.

So, I decided that now that my chicken coop project is finished, the next to start should be cat fence. It is getting cold and farm/woods/planting projects can wait a bit.

South side is first to become secured. I have bought 10 meters of metal netting to cover the bottom of the existing fence where currently a cat can easily crawl.
East side will be next. It consists of two parts divided by the house itself. One part is the backyard adjacent to the neighbor's. I have already told them that I will be fencing there. I bought a 2,7 meter metal post that I shall drive in the middle of the slope, and then cover the whole thing with net. Net between the post and the south fence. Net between the south fence and the balcony. Net over the shed. Lastly, very important, cover the tiny hole between the wall and the shed. As this all is very confusing in words, as usual I will try to show it in a drawing.

My latest masterpiece

OK, so the drawing is the backyard seen from the side. The house wall and balcony is on the left side (yellow), below the balcony is the shed (puke color), the ground and the slope is brown (or at least the closest I could get in a couple of seconds. Why is brown not one of the main default colors in painting software?), and the south side metal fence is on the right (black)
The post I aim to drive into the slope, along with wires/ropes to hold the net up is blue, and the netting itself is the pattern filling.
Anyway, that is the first part. The other part of the east side is at the entrance, where I just installed a gate. Now I have to secure the bottom part of the gate, and both sides of it, and basically connect it via a net or fence or sumpting to the long net I made in the beginning to cover the 37 meters on north-west side.
Then I should figure out what to do with that looong net, because I have a feeling that a cat can easily jump it if he really wants to.

Chicken prison

hmm... just realized that the sun over the veggies is blocked by trees

I forgot to post a picture of the run after all the roof netting was done. So here it is now. The picture was taken 8:22 A.M. in autumn so the sun is still low. Around 10 A.M. I get full sun over the whole garden.

Big momma is laying 1 egg a day, and she has started to lay them in the nest so I don't have to go Easter egg hunting in the dark with a flashlight everyday after I come home. The time she lays eggs still varies though, from early morning to lunch time. And the eggs are still S size.

I have started giving them on a daily basis their usual chicken feed in combination with greens (weeds, overgrown salads from the veggie patch etc), bugs (mealworms and other living things I find around), and fruits (well fruit that has gone bad for us, but still good)

I also just started using my three big planters again. Good thing I didn't throw them away when we moved in. Since the chickens pooping and walking and picking in the run pretty much stops things from growing there, I will grow weeds and greens in the planters, and rotate in a planter every week into the run so they can feast on it.

Hopefully my mealworm farm will come around in a couple of months. And when it comes to fruits and scraps, I will ask the nearby supermarket if they can give away some of their produce section trash in weekends that I can use.

All aboard

...now let's make poop

All six chickens are now pretty adjusted to their living area. Sometimes they fight but most of the time they are friends and play. Big momma kind of protects the rest of them. The other day when I was walking with Tora and came near their run, she called out to the others, like a warning, and they all moved to the back of the run. Then big momma came to the front and started making herself big and making loud noises until me and Tora had enough and walked away.
When I am alone and go to their run, the smallest one which is white runs towards me as she always gets the first treats (Because I want her to grow faster) and she is the only one who has let me pick her up in my hands without completely panicking. However, in the last couple of days she has started to behave a bit aggressively, like when I hold out veggies for her to pick at, she ignores the greens and instead focuses on picking my fingers... weirdo.

Oh, and I got around to hang their water from a hook, but it still gets dirty inside. Not at all as bad as before though.

I thought it would be too high but they actually reach inside easily

In other news, I changed the bedding of my meal worm farm yesterday, and at that counting I had 196 live giant worms.