The year 2016 is drawing to a close. We finally turned on our furnace on Nov. 28. The nights have been getting down into the low 40s pretty regularly. That sent Chicken Little, our oldest hen, into the enclosed nest box to sleep at night. All four chickens had been sleeping on the perches in the coop that are out in the open. But the cold and wind got to the old bird, and into the nest box she went. That left the pullets, Princess Ariel and Princess Aurora, to roost with fat, cranky Dino-peep. They avoid her in the daytime because she is so mean, but they snuggle up next to her at night. She must be warm.

Chicken Little is in back, Dino-peep is the fat barred rock in front, and Princess Aurora is the lovely black sex-linked pullet on the right. Her comb and wattles are growing out! My girls get fresh organic greens every day, as well as scratch, laying pellets, and sometimes table scraps or mealworms.

A couple of nights ago, it got so cold that Dino-peep joined Chicken Little inside the enclosed nest box area of the coop. That left my two pullets to sleep alone on the perches. Well, they can sleep where they want.

Princess Aurora is reaching puberty. Her wattles are nearly full grown, and her comb is half-grown and turning red. Her voice is changing too, and she sounds like a mature chicken. I expect her to start laying eggs in another week or two.

Princess Aurora is growing up. How long will it be until she lays her first egg? Two weeks? Three? I can hardly wait.

Princess Ariel, the Ameraucuna, is still growing. At this point, she is my tallest chicken. Her comb and wattles still aren’t very big or very red though. I guess she needs to finish growing up before she starts laying. It sure is fun watching the girls grow up.

Princess Ariel is rather aloof, and hangs out by herself on the perches a lot. I wish I had another Ameraucuna to keep her company, since birds of a feather do flock together.

I managed to get veggie bed #1 cleared and planted a few weeks ago. I installed transplants of red oak-leaf lettuce, Bright Lights Swiss Chard, and leeks. I also planted baby bok choy, Redhead radishes, komatsuna (a Japanese mustard spinach), and Snowbird peas in the bed. I patiently waited for everything to sprout. Then a rat or squirrel dug up every pea sprout except one and ate them. Curses! Foiled again. I guess I should be grateful that the critter didn’t seem to like radishes, bok choy, or komatsuna.

Veggie bed #1 has a collard green plant that is going into its third year. Also leeks, cilantro, Red Oak-leaf lettuce, chard, Redhead radishes, Deer Tongue Lettuce, toy choy, and komatsuna. These are Forever Beds from Gardener’s Supply Company.

Veggie bed #2 has chives, cauliflower, red oak leaf lettuce, laminate kale, mizuna, and a bell pepper that is going to over-winter (I hope).

The basil in the Garden Box of Joyous Anticipation has gone to seed, but I am still able to harvest enough leaves to make pesto. This is the best basil that I have ever grown, so I harvested seeds from it today. They are now drying in the garage. I also collected some seeds from our old dried Deer Tongue Lettuce, and shelled a batch of dried Blue Lake Pole Bean pods to save seeds for planting next summer. Growing heirloom varieties means that you can save seeds from them. Hybrids don’t breed true, so there is no point in saving seeds from them.

The Garden Box of Joyous Anticipation has green onions, overgrown and collapsing basil, a few radishes, an orange bell pepper that I will let overwinter, a struggling Swiss Chard plant, a volunteer tomato that may or may not survive, a few overgrown radishes, a couple of struggling beets, and arugula galore. It is time to replant this bed with winter veggies. I built this raised garden box from a kit from Gardener’s Supply Company. Love it!

The seed catalogs are beginning to arrive. Hooray, my favorite time of year.

My 2017 Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog arrived! Best catalog ever.

As I worked on seed management in the garage, I realized that my seed collection has become unwieldy and horribly disorganized. I have no idea what I have anymore, or where I have it. So I brought all of the seeds packets and baggies in from the garage where they had been sitting on a table. I then cataloged them in Excel. Then I dumped the packets back on the table. At least they are now organized in Excel, if not in actual physical space in the garage.

I have printed my list below. If it says Lou Murray, those are heirloom seeds that I saved from my garden. Duplicates are those from different years, or different seed companies. This year, I ordered seeds from Native Seed Search, Territorial Seed Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and Seed Savers Exchange. I also have seeds from Ferry-Morse, Burpee, Botanical interest, Cook’s Garden, and more. As you can clearly see, I have a real problem with seed hoarding. I have left out the year the seed was collected. I figured that was TMI.

I wish I could tell you that this list represents all of my seeds, but it doesn’t. I also have two boxes of seed packets that are older than the group listed here. I think a lot of those have expired and need to be tossed. Well, that is a job for another day. Hope you enjoyed this December update on my southern California garden and chickens.