A lad for the ladies...

You would expect a person who raises chickens and allows those chickens to hatch their eggs would have a plan on how to deal with the potential of having several roosters and chickens hatch. If you don't know, you can only have one rooster in one chicken coop. If you have more than one rooster they will fight to have control of the chickens.  Well it seems that a neighbour of mine has found a new way to rid himself of roosters, he just throws them out of the coop to fend for themselves. My heart broke when I found out he threw 3 out, two went missing in no time, one survived, a friend and I tried to catch him but to no avail. It would seem we have a feral rooster in our neighbourhood and I sure hope he makes it.

In the meantime I found out that said neighbour has two other roosters ready to be chucked but luckily I was able to rescue one. So my ladies have a new and very handsome lad in their midst, a bantam rooster. They did not even blink an eye when I placed him the hen house late one night, next morning it was just business as usual in the coop.

In the garden

Spring is slightly better this year than last...just slightly, not as wet but definitely as cold. I've been able to spend a bit more time outside this year and managed to get quite a bit of weeding done and even more important I pulled lots of starters from plants that self seed which thrills me to no end because now I have loads of room for new plants.

This year I also planted lots of bushes, climbing vines and trees and so far it looks like all of them are in good shape. For many years I've wanted a Winter Currant, they grow wild here on the West Coast, and believe me .... digging one up has crossed my mind...but it's not the responsible, or legal for that matter, thing to do. I am the ultimate cheap gardener, I generally get all my plants from other gardeners and if I buy a plant it's usually on sale at the end of the year but not this time! This time I purchased this beautiful bush and oh I so love it...and so do the hummingbirds!

And finally a tulip the deer did not eat....

How does your garden grow?

Floyd's Diner

I own a diner ... so when I travel I will eat in a diner...not sure if I'm supporting other diners, scoping out the compitition or just looking to compare my food to others and copy said others, if the food is worth copying.
I know...I can't believe I just admitted that!

Floyd's Diner in Victoria is a cool looking place, very colorful, lots of seats, and a great menu...but wow...I can not find their website...don't they have one?

I had the Ranchero eggs and Art had eggs benny, both were good but ...  mine are better! No copying this time around.

We beat the storm...

On our way home on BC ferries from Comox to Powell River we beat the storm and headed towards sunny skies...

Townsite Brewing Co.

Powell River now has it's own craft beer...brought to us by Townsite Brewing Co.

The first keg was delivered to Mckinny's Pub at the Rodmay hotel on March 24th. I was lucky to have a taste and oh boy, it's really delicious!

A very colorful parade took the first kegs to the pub...the parade was led by a bag piper, followed by two goats, a biker and carriage, carrying a bride and groom...they were having their reception next to the brewery and were asked if they wanted to be in the parade...

And the mastermind behind this hugely anticipated event, Karen, owner of the brewery, way to go Karen!

Forsythia...

When forsythias bloom spring is here...the yellow flowers bloom quite early making it easy for me to forget about the short days of winter.

Forsythia are very low maintance and easy to start from cuttings...last summer I snipped a few branches from my neighbours bush, I put them in a bucket of water and well, I know it seems too easy, but I just left them there for a year, making sure the bucket never ran dry, that's it. Only one of the four branches grew roots but that's OK, I'll snip some more this year, in the bucket I place all sorts of cuttings, some take some don't, but it's so effortless that it'w worth a try.

This is my "cuttings bucket", at the back of the house, out of sight and the hot sun. I have a cutting from an unknown bush which growns outside my diner but love the berries...I hope it roots!

As you can see the forsythia grew quite a large root ball over winter.

An a bonus...a new shoot.

I planted the cutting in some compost and new soil at the edge of the yard hoping to create a privacy fence.

The hot dry summer may kill your new cuttings so it's best to plant cuttings in the spring and fall as new plants need lots of water.

A day at the park...

All she wants to do is swing ...my oh my what a fuss she made when it was time to go!