The Winter Garden

Welcome to the new home of

The Coeur d’Alene Coop!

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If you are new to The Coop – welcome!  You’ll find lots of tips and advice for raising backyard chickens and gardening, which I like to call “urban farming.”   If you like what you read, please add your email address to get updates.

Now let’s get caught up:

It’s still winter here in Coeur d’Alene — as it should be for February 25th.  We’ve had a relatively mild and sunny winter this year; and for us personally, it was really sunny, since we spent the months of December and January in Mexico.

The sunny north Idaho winter has been great for our “winter garden project.”  Last fall I planted a couple of raised bed hoop houses with lettuce, kale, cress and spinach.  To my delight, these crops not only survived, but thrived.   I’m eager to harvest the kale — it’s just about ready!   The lettuce looks great and the cress is a peppery delight.  I see a winter salad of tender greens in my future soon.

The carrots have overwintered well too — a nice thick covering of straw has helped them stay sweet and tender.  Peeking up from under that straw are the tiny tips of my Spanish Roja garlic.  Looking forward to that harvest later this spring!

Our chicken “girls” have thrived during the winter as well — everyone is healthy and we’re getting at least four eggs every day.  I really love the Rhode Island Red breed.  They are hardy birds, great winter layers and best of all, have sweet personalities.   Helen, the only survivor from the original flock, will be 4 years old in April.  Madge, our Buff Orpington, will be three.  Both girls still lay and are very healthy.  Our newest girls, Violet and Marigold’s 1, 2, and 3, are laying like mad — since this is their first year in production. I’m eager to get my hands in the dirt, but first there is the planning, inventorying the seed and ordering.  There isn’t anything better to do on a snowy Saturday then to curl up with a cup of tea and a stack of seed catalogs!

What’s on your seed/plant wish list for 2012?  I’ll be sharing mine next time!