Finally, the gardens are full of plants and I feel like the universe is as it should be. Some plants are teeny, tiny, new lettuce and asian green seedlings, but some are big, happy chicken raid survivors. In this photo you can see the few collard plants and the one broccoli that were protected from Pauline, Lena, Lou, and Hilda, surrounded by the same vegetables that are in recovery mode after being eaten down to stubs. I actually am looking forward to seeing if I get multiple, small broccoli heads from the ravaged plants. The collards are almost big enough for me to start picking the outer leaves for dinner.
You also can see that the chickens had no interest in carrot tops, as this beautiful row of carrots remained untouched when everything else around them was eaten to the ground. Beside the carrots are three cilantro plants, which thrive here in the cold months. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like salsa made with fresh cilantro Another herb that loves the colder weather is flat leaf parsley. These beautiful plants were planted last year. I harvested parsley all spring and summer, and they are now putting on their deep green, shiny fall leaves in hopes of being included in Thanksgiving dinner. (They made it to last night's pasta sauce.)
A cold front is supposed to swing over us tonight. I am going to do my best to get out during the warmer part of the day today and get the last honey supers off the hives and put the bees to bed for the rest of the season. Any more honey they may collect from the fall flowers will help them finish filling their shelves with winter food. I should have checked the hives earlier to make sure they have put away a full brood nest of honey. I really hope I don't find any surprises out there.
