Garden roundup for March

During the month of March, our chickens laid 107 eggs, which is a good chunk of the 250 they’ve laid so far this year.  I guess they’re happier not having to deal with the snow.  But 17 of these were broke.  If there is a hen eating them, I think it is a rare occasion.  I think they’re breaking just because possibly one hen isn’t eating the oyster shells.  There is one hen, at the bottom of the pecking order, who seems to always be off by herself, so maybe the others don’t let her at the feed.  Of course, when I do sprinkle in some oyster shells in their feed, they look at me as if saying, “That’s not food.” I had hoped that warmer weather would let them eat better, and while we’ve had plenty of nice days, we’ve also had rainy, cold spells.  Maybe once spring fully gets going, whoever is laying weak eggs will get the right nutrients.

I’ve started digging our parsnips.  Most are smallish, but I have gotten a couple monsters.  In previous years I’ve dug all the parsnips in a day or two, but this year my mom is having issues with her hand, so she can only peel a few at a time.  So I’ve been digging a basket, then washing them up so she can peel and slice them.  Some we’ve eaten, but at the end of the month we had 7 quart bags of parsnips in the freezer.  And I’ve probably dug up not quite half of what we planted.  Of course, one end of our parsnip patch is shaded a bit, which might be why that end gives smaller ones, while big ones come from the other end.  I’ve been digging at various spots, but I’ve dug most of the ones from the smaller end.  So there might be a few more monsters waiting.  Now I just have to wait for the rain to stop and the ground to dry up some.

The only other gardening news I have is to report our onions aren’t doing so well.  These were ones that started to grow, so I planted them in a pot, hoping I’ll be able to transplant them outside.  They might still be alive, but not so great.  It’s probably just that I have them sitting next to a window and they’re not getting enough light.  We’ll have to see how they do.