INTERNET ISSUES AND SNAKES HAVE KEPT ME AWAY

HELLO & welcome to Garden Daddy here at the urban farm! I have waited for several days to be able to be with you here but due to a terrible storm we had on Wednesday night not only has my phone been out but my internet has been out as well. The lightning was so severe that it was hitting really in my back yard and I just knew that some of my huge pine trees would be hit for sure. It did not get them but came in the garden home and knocked out my phone service and fried my internet box outside as well at the "nic card" on my computer where you plug in the connection. I have been having "withdrawal" for several days and can finally breath a sigh of relief this morning.
Yesterday morning, I was in the veggie patch, tying up my field peas a little where this week of much rain had beat them down a little. I knew it would be hard to harvest and get in among them in a few days with they start to bloom and then pick if I did not do something. Well, I was picking up some of the vines and there lay a coiled and ready to strike snake here in center-city Jackson! You can imagine, with it being a totally unexpected find, that I not only cleared the picket fence surrounding the garden in one great leap but I squealed like a little girl as well. Of course then I had to look around to see if anyone had seen or heard me of course. I came yelling across the yard and ran and got a hoe and the hatchet as well. I saw him again and then he was moving so fast I lost him and he was gone. I did not see him clearly enough to know what he was but to me it was just a snake and that is all I know. That was enough to know anyway.
Daily work and maintenance continue here at the urban farm on the vegetable garden and flower beds as well as over at the community garden site.
I would like to update you on the little pullets here at the urban farm. They are growing leaps and bounds. Their feathering has been in for a good while and they have turned into some good looking birds. The will be 10-weeks old on Monday, June 14th. It will be another 6-8 weeks before I get any eggs. The earliest we could see an egg here and there is around 15-16 weeks I think and then they will be starting anytime after that. But I did introduce them to scratch feed yesterday. "Scratch" is a mixture of cracked corn and other grains and they seemed to really enjoy that treat. I have now stopped the oatmeal treat every day and substituted the scratch feed but am of course still giving them the grower/starter feed as well as the chick grit. I will all some new shots of them next week.
I will leave you today with our ongoing gardening affirmation in mind: "URBAN FARMING: ONE EGG AT A TIME!"