Agate season opening

The waves here have been enormous all winter. Every set of big tides  repositions tons of sand.
Yesterday, in the pre-dawn hours, there was a ten foot tide and I woke to a moon setting, the sun rising and for the first time in months I couldn't see the breakers from the deck.

So I grabbed the camera and set out for the beach to find a small agate as soon as I got to the pebble line.

Morning light 

acacia & flowering quince

Its been cold at night and chilly in the morning. I went back to the beach for the morning sunrise this morning.
Later drove up Cedar Valley to help with the "over the rainbow" riding program. Clouds hovered above the Rogue and its tributaries.

Feb 17 eggonomics

Eleven eggs today. about every third day I get eleven from the twenty one hens, other days--the harvest ranges between four and ten. I'm thinking that seven is about average. That makes about four dozen eggs/week.

On January 18th I bought a 50 pound bag of layer pellets and one of scratch for a total of $27.50.
I used the remainder of both bags today-- so 29 days of feed. Thats a little less than a dollar a day.
$7.00/ week, so my four dozen eggs are worth about $1.75, in feed, not counting the treats I buy the chickens, a loaf of cheap whole wheat bread, and a bit of bird seed. And this doesn't average in the cost of 26 chicks( five died), the five months I fed them and kept them under a heat lamp, as they matured and the past four months when they averaged 3 eggs a day due to molting and short days.
So, if my goal is to have eggs pay for feed throughout the spring and summer, I need to sell two dozen eggs per week at $3.50 a dozen. That seems to be a reasonable goal if I deliver them by bike through Honey Bear campground during the vacation months(March through September).
I took a couple of dozen eggs to honey bear campground; traded one dozen for some sausage. the other was claimed to be too expensive, especially when eggs are on sale at McKay's for $.99. But my chickens lay eggs that have yolks the color of a ripe apricot.
My accountant wants to know about the business of selling eggs. I wonder if the tax advantages of this project will be a factor.
A couple of days ago I couldn't keep the chickens in because of the 50 K wind gusts. Thats the downside of using seine web for fencing-it flags in the wind. Other than that the 3 1/4 inch seine web makes a good fence that is easy to alter to give the chickens access to different parts of the garden.
There had been an issue with the brahmas flying over the fence so I used some old herring gillnet (2 3/8" mesh) to cover there big run, ( approximately 4000 square feet of grass, brush, lalandy cypress and unused garden).
At night the chickens are closed into an 8 X 8' house with an 8' by 20' enclosed run with 1/4" hardware cloth to keep rats, raccoons, weasels, and birds out.
But, like any pets, the chickens give me pleasure that is immeasurable.

Yesterday the storm clouds were amazing.

It cleared up this afternoon and the sun set spectacularly.

Feb 14 changing patterns- the inevitability of the recurrence of winter rains

Needing to catch up.

Wild fennel--new growth

On Feb 3, with the new moon I planted arugala, bok choy, lettuce, spinach, peas, and mesclin. Juli gave me some swiss chard seeds and that got planted on the 6th. The soil in the raised beds has warmed in the month of sunny weather so I planted in the uncovered bed and everything has since germinated.
I started some broccoli and brussel sprouts in the covered area hoping I have better results with starts than the last couple of years. Its been difficult to increase the nutrient level in this sandy soil. It seems that the winter rains leach the nutrients like running water through a sieve. So the covers on the beds should serve to keep the ground warmer and more nutritious. The covers are purposely built with ventilation so as not to overheat the cool-weather plants that are my mainstay. Although today with the south wind gusting into the 40s, they are considerably over-ventilated.

crocus and lavender

hellebore

Forget-me-knots and primrose

Geranium and tea-tree

I've been photographing February's flowers to keep a record of seasonal growth.

Took a walk south of town on Saturday morning. There, near town and the beach rentals and hotels, driftwood construction projects abound.

Feb 1 Euchre Creek goats and gardening.

Tottenburg teenagers from goat farm up Euchre Creek.
I rode my bike home along the estuary formed by the creek. Mallards and a bufflehead? swam in the calm waters.

I drove to Brookings yesterday. The morning sky was amazing and I had to pull off the road a Jots, on the north bank.

Today I annoyed the chickens by restricting them to the west end on the garden. I opened up the cold frames and watered and weeded the young lettuce. Most everything was planted in the fall.