Garden Work, Free Chicken Food

I am always looking for a great deal for the family; today I had a revelation at work about what constitutes the entire family unit and freebies that benefit us. I realized that, when considering food at work that no one will eat, the chickens are a part of our unit and can greatly benefit from most of the inedible items. Today's haul for the chickens involved six large cans of matzo meal (unleavened bread crumbs ground to a semi-fine consistency) and a small bag of quinoa. I popped open one can of the matzo and opened the whole bag of quinoa and tossed it all out there for them to scratch and eat. I will start looking for produce scraps and other treats for them from other departments from now on. Even for my farm animals I'm gonna do my best to keep it freebie!

Today I was excited to see a few different plants making progress towards producing. Yesterday or the day before I noticed my jalapeno pepper in the pot starting to grow flower buds.

Click for larger image; quite a few buds popping up.

I admit that I am not hugely into spicy peppers, but I obviously am going to have to make a few exceptions this year with my success with this particular pepper plant. The other peppers are growing, but it is an extremely slow process because they are in the ground (poor soil) rather than in a pot (filled with rich potting soil as seen here). I hope I get some bell peppers before cold weather gets here.

I have a number of zucchinis well on their way to being full grown. I am hoping that I get a few more beyond those before the plants are totally done. My plants look kind of sad, but they do keep flowering and growing some new buds, so I am hopeful to see more of these arrive before I have to scrap the plants. The potatoes are still the same, as are many of the other plants, though I am seeing a lot of positives with my herbs especially. Basil, dill, and chives are all looking healthy and happy whether they are in the soil or in a pot. My repurposed onion is doing well in the ground still too!

Lastly, I am super happy to announce that I'm starting to see flower buds come in on my tomatoes!

Click for larger image; brandywine tomatoes starting to bud.

My tomatoes are organic brandywine variety; these are supposed to be large, rich tomatoes. This is my first time growing full sized tomatoes, so I am hoping they come out nicely. The previous two summers I had cherry tomatoes only. I have a lot of tomato plants, and most of them are close to this stage so I am hoping they all produce fine.

Tomorrow is a holiday here, so have a great Memorial Day and remember to keep our veterans in your mind. What they've done for us is give us our freedom, which is one of the few things that never has been free.