Fall is here and it is lovely! Our days have been full of great things, both in and outside, both with friends and family, and a good balance of play and work. We've really been enjoying this fall so far!
Things around our little urban homestead are going well too, for the most part. We are down to 8 chickens, from 11 earlier this year. We lost 2 of our pullets this summer - one to sickness, one to a hawk, and one of our older hens to sickness or egg-binding, as well. And while all of that is not great, we are happy that the 3 remaining pullets are starting to lay and our egg production is slowly increasing - just in time to drop off for winter! Ha! Out of the breeds we got this spring, I'm loving our Golden Sexlink! She is an egg-laying machine! She's been laying for several weeks now and I don't think she's missed a single day. We will definitely be adding more sexlinks to the flock next spring. As for Oak, that boy loves his chickens. Yesterday he played outside for about an hour and a good portion of that he spent sitting on a stump by the chicken coop, just talking to his chickens. They have good talks, he and his ladies.
The garden is slowing down, just as it should be at this time of year. We had our first frost this week, but my sheltered garden seems to have been spared. I think I'll pull the tomatoes and peppers this weekend, though, and try to get a cover crop to sprout before the hard freeze happens. The temps are cool enough now that the remaining green tomatoes are unlikely to ripen. All that will remain, then, will be the green beans, a few carrots, and the cover crops I planted in early September. Not bad, for the middle of October!
We added a few new structures to our little backyard this summer and we've so been enjoying them! Dan built us a shed, a firewood rack, and a fantastic sandbox for Oak! The benches of the sandbox fold in as a lid, in order to keep all of the neighborhood kitties out - as well as any free-ranging chickens. It's so fun to see the backyard become more and more of what we need/want for this season of life. Our backyard may be small, but we're making the most of the space and I love it.