This summer has been especially hot for the PacNW. We have had more 90°+F days already this year than I can ever remember, and it is not even August yet. Anyways, the chickens are surviving, but certainly not thriving. Many of them have done a "mini-molt" and we are lucky if we get more than two eggs in a day from the ten layers on these hot days. And Molting season is coming up soon, so I'm not sure that to think at this point.
Here are the three new pullets. Welsummers with their combs and waddles filling in and coloring up. They are definitely noisier than the Russian Orloffs! But their disposition is just as sweet. They loved the young spinach that I pulled up for them.
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The Basil is growing well. I'm trying my own "solar drying" technique. Not wanting to have any of it blow away because we almost always have some amount of wind out here, no matter how hot it gets, I put a thread (on a needle of course) through the leaves near the center vein of each leaf then tried to space them out so that there's some air flow. The first one, I didn't think it through very well. I put the larger heavy leaves on the outer ends of the thread, and being heavy, they want to all slide into the center. The second one, I pulled the thread more taunt and there's not much sliding going on. Also those leaves are not quite as large. But, we have 90°F already today, with the winds, and the humidity is low enough (32%) helping with the drying process. I'll bring them in at twilight today because the cool down outside at night can contribute to mildew. If they are not quite done tomorrow morning, I'll put them out again to finish up the drying process. Also, I was told not to put them in the direct sunlight because it can bleach out the flavor of the basil. So there you have it. Heck's fire, it's hot enough to even dry up a batch of solar jerky, if I have a mind to!
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