The front yard garden

I am taking some major steps forward to utilize the front yard as a growing space. We have decided that while the backyard garden has the standard fruit trees and garden plants, the front yard will be entirely native (with the exception of the palms that are already there). I am getting several varieties of seed from a fantastic non-profit in AZ called Native Seed Search. They include varieties of Amaranth (for grain and greens), Black-eyed peas, lima beans, chiles, corn, tepary beans, peas, greens, sorghum, squash, gourds, melons, herbs and even cotton. I am hoping by planting all of these in the front yard where passers-by will see them, I will have a chance to help educate others about them (I'll of course be doing a lot of self-educating first). It also seems like a prudent step to take in case we do get water shortages, these varieties will be easier to sustain in our very hot, very dry climate.

In other news, the incubator got here today! Now I've just got to figure out what to hatch first.

My Genesis 1588, new equipment!!

The Genesis 1588!
I am pleased to announce that I am the proud new owner of a Genesis 1588 Incubator, with forced air and automatic egg turners! I will be outside every afternoon next week anxiously awaiting the UPS man to come deliver it. I'm so excited I can't even sleep at night, just thinking about all the things I can hatch. A neighbor may be getting quail, so that could be a good first go at it (I got the quail and other small egg attachment for the egg turner too). I plan on hatching myself some khaki campbell ducks later on in the year, hopefully I can just buy some fertilized duck eggs from the egg man at the farmer's market. There is the obvious issue of inevitable roosters when I begin to hatch some chicken eggs, this hasn't been completely resolved yet (If you are anywhere near Phoenix and want to be put on the list to get free rare-breed roosters, send me a message).

In other news, I picked the last of the peaches this morning, I got one ounce shy of 10 pounds off one tree that's about 3 years old. Hopefully the other two will begin fruiting next year. Since I am the only person here that eats peaches, that means that I will have eaten 10 pounds of peaches in three weeks... wow.