Green Beans

Green beans are a yummy snack and a great addition to any meal. If you like a good crunch, raw is the way to go. My favorite garden vegetable is fresh green beans and I eat them right in the garden.

Last summer I got these nice big bean bushes (pictured below) from seeds bought in the store. I collected the seeds left over and planted them a few days ago. Lets see how they turn out this year!

Chickens, Hawks & Reflective Things

Attention anyone with chickens: I’ve been trying to find different ways to keep hawks out. I did research and looked up many different methods of keeping them away. Although, I love to see the hawks, I don’t like it when they attack the flock of chickens and ducks on my yard. My method is anything and everything shiny! They don’t like it and in my research, (I think is was from a post on Backyardchickens.com), I learned reflective stuff confuses hawks. It’s not a fail safe, so always keep an eye out. Vigilance is always best because they can be scared easily by human presence.

After Christmas, I thought it would be great to buy some silver Christmas balls on clearance (nice and cheap) and hang them on the tree where my chickens hang out. Jingle bells work well too because they make noise and are reflective.

I think this works moderately well with a few scare crows thrown in. And, if you’re like me and love a little sparkle in your life, they make nice outdoor decorations. They unfortunately don’t keep foxes away. That’s a story for another day.

Tips:

• Plastic Christmas balls stand up pretty well to weather. Stay away from anything glass and always pick up broken ones.
• Move your scare crows and shiny things around. It confuses predators into thinking there are humans around.
• Always secure them well on anything you hang them off of.
• Don’t buy the foam ones. Chickens like to eat those. Not good and they are less weather resistant then the plastic ones.
• My chickens got used to the shiny things, but it’s always a good idea to hang them where they are not easily accessible.
• CD’s work just as well: I used some decorative Washi tape, Mod Podge clear drying glue as a sealer, punched a hole and added some glow in the dark beads (for the night critters), and used fishing line as string (it’s durable). WARNING: Always dispose of fishing line properly. Cut it into small pieces and throw it away in a bag. Birds can get tangled in them. I don’t like fishing line, but it was the most durable string I had.