Chicken moving time

I got some good tractor practice this past week.  The big field where the chickens are located needed to be mowed.  Sign me up!  I had most of the field mowed with the old orange Kubota in two hours,... 20 minutes of which was spent getting the tractor unstuck from a mud hole...  Or rather, Austin came over and did a nifty bucket-lifting-the-front-end-and-putting-it-in-reverse move.  Thanks Austin!
The mowed field also let me move the chickens to new pasture easier.  The electro netting I use is generally fine to deal with, but it does get snagged on tall, woody plants.  Also, when moving chickens from one enclosure to the next there are a couple of feisty ones which hide out in the tall grass, and then explode out in the wrong direction when you try to herd them to the new enclosure.  It's a good raccoon survival instinct I suppose, but if they keep doing that, they'll have a stewpot to deal with!  Short grass = no exploding chickens.

Now, really, I should not be mowing at all.  The chickens should be doing most of it, and they'll move onto fresh grass that is not above their heads.  But if you're slow in moving the chickens to new pasture, the grass grows big, the chickens take a while to tramp it down/nibble on it, and then the next pasture area grows up too big.  So, mowing hits the reset button and I can try to get them moved along to new pasture more quickly this time.  Perhaps hoofed ruminants are in order!

Here are the chickens before moving to the new grassy area, and a nice sunset.

The chicks are being supervised by the broody buff orpington.

In non-chicken related news, I started digging up the potatoes this week.  The yields are not that great due to leaf hoppers and Colorado Potato Beetle, but it is still rewarding to dig through the soil and come up with a few handfuls of tubers.  We got some good root veggies seeded in the ground for this fall.  I'm still trying at beets darnit.  The soil seems a bit acidic for them, but they'll come along soon enough.  There are a few black radishes are in the ground, wait till you see those!

Whatcha Eatin?

You don't always have to cook kale!  This here is a cold recipe for the big leafy green.  Sorry CSA, no beets yet.

Kale Salad with Root Vegetables

-Large bunch of kale, chopped
-2 Tablespoons olive oil
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-grated carrots
-grated beets

Pour olive oil and salt over kale.  Massage the salt and oil into the kale for 2-3 minutes until the kale starts to soften and wilt.  Curious why you're doing this?  More info here.
Add the grated carrots and beets.

Dressing
-Juice of 1 lemon
-1 Tablespoon olive oil
-1 teaspoon honey
-Salt
-Pepper