Duckling Update

    Its officially over. Both hen ducks have abandoned the nest.  There are just three lonely eggs left in the clutch. I probably should do a disection and see how far along they made it.  At this point I believe Beatrix Potter had it right.  Jemima Puddle Duck appears to be the rule when it come to hen ducks. Most ducks are insufficiently serious to set on a nest and hatch their own ducklings.  Its sad, but the next time I want some ducklings I will either have to incubate them myself or just buy them.  The only up side is that the runner duck hen has started to lay again so we have fresh duck eggs again.  I was so hoping to have some cute little ducklings for the grandkids to enjoy.

    How does my garden grow?  The potatoes are doing great as well as the 55 cabbage starts I planted.  Other than four tomato plants and a few winter squash plants that is the is the sum total of my garden thus far.  I still have about eight planting beds I need to weed and plant.  Not that I've lost much by being late this year.  With the wet cool spring we've had its been a perfect year to plant cabbages and potatoes. I would still like to get some carrots, beets, and rutabegas planted in keeping with the cool summer theme as well as some zuchini, cucumbers, and more winter squash.  I would like to be able to can some saurkraut and pickled beets by the end of the summer.

    My bamboo is taking off pretty well.  At least I finally have a couple of full  size culms growing.  They are up to 12 or 15 feet right now and look like they will make it past 20 feet.  Technically the bamboo is part of the vegetable garden and I hope to be able to harvest at least a meal's worth of bamboo shoots next spring. I didn't expect it to take so long to get the bamboo established.  I've had it over three years and I've yet to harvest a shoot and it hasn't gone anywhere near the barrier I worked so hard to put in place.

    I started off my morning by visiting my barber, Paul Barber, in Everett and doing the usual swap of a jar of honey for a haircut.  He was happy to give me a serious buzz cut rather than the usual.  I ended the day by going to Becky's little buzz party and was surprized to find my wife getting her hair buzzed.  I think Becky was impressed with the show of support and fortunately, it will grow back.