A waterproof roof for the chicken coop

We replaced the sun screen fabric roof on the chicken coop with a corrugated plastic one. So now the chickens will not get wet when it rains. Except for the ones that don't sleep in the coop. Pretty upscale. 

The Actual Recipe for the Best Cucumber Salad Known to Mankind

Apparently Lorell has been telling people that this recipe is on the blog. So here it is:

• 2 large cucumbers, sliced very thin (not quite paper thin, but as thin as you can get them with a food processor or a knife).
• 1/2 sweet onion, sliced thin (optional, this gets pretty oniony-reduce the amount if you don't like onions)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Spread the cucumber and onion slices on some paper towels and sprinkle them with the salt (You can also do this in a bowl, and then dump the moisture). The salt will draw moisture from the cucumbers. Let them sit for 30 minutes, then squeeze the moisture out of them.

While the cucumbers sit, mix the dressing:

• 1/2 cup 0% fat greek yoghurt
• 1 Tablespoon mayonaise
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons white vinegar.
• 1 Teaspoon dried dill
• 1 Teaspoon dried parsley

Mix this all up, then mix in the squeezed cucumbers and onions. Refrigerate for an hour or so.

The Garden Groweth

And has gotten pretty big. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and string beans are the primary source of greenery right now. The cucumbers and beans are venturing past our carefully constructed bird netting shield into the wide blue sky beyond. This has been a crazy year for vegetative growth; hopefully, it will be matched by a crazy harvest.

The Best Cucumber Recipe Know to Mankind

Given our abundance of cucumbers, I was reminded of the cucumber salad I had in Germany. So a quick Google search yielded a smashing recipe for Gurkensalat; this stuff is the best possible way for a cucumber to pass on to the next world. If you ask nicely, we might be prevailed upon to share the recipe...

Exponential growth

We didn't check the garden yesterday because we irrigated early in the morning so it was too soggy to go out, and then we were busy for the rest of the day. So this morning, we had a crop of fairly large cucumbers, plus three zucchini. As you can see from the full sized pen dwarfed by the vegetation, these things are getting out of hand.

The First Tomato of the Season...

... was this cute little cherry tomato, photographed in a bed of chives. We cut it into thirds and had it with dinner several nights ago. It was quite sweet and tasty.

In Which the Apple Tree Becomes Less

We went out this evening to put the chickens away and discovered the apple tree had dropped a branch. I assume it produced too many apples and couldn't hold them up anymore.