It's Irrigation Day

As a California transplant living in the desert of Arizona, there are a few things that really trip me out and one of them is flood irrigation. Every two weeks in the summer and once a month in the fall, winter, and spring months, we irrigate our yard with a "flood."

Very few homes in Arizona actually have this type of irrigation. It's usually found in older neighborhoods and neighborhoods zoned for agricultural use. My sister, who is an expert on all things garden/desert/plants blogged about flood irrigation here and explained that the water sinks deeply into the soil which makes for deep roots for both grass and trees.  It also helps to flush out salts that accumulate in the soil.

Best seat in the house on a hot summer day

Snow melt and rain water is accumulated throughout the year in a system  of reservoirs and canals. One of these canals runs right behind our backyard. We sign up to irrigate through our local utility company. We are allowed up to 3 hours of constant flood irrigation but we usually sign up for just an hour and a half to two hours. The utility company then sends out a schedule with our irrigation time (which lately has been in the middle of the night!). When it's our time, I drive to the end of the street to open the flood gates and turn on the valve that you can see above to get the water flowing.

Although it looks wasteful, if done properly, flood irrigation is a very efficient way to water. Because of the heat where we leave, a lot of the water from daily sprinkler use evaporates before it has a chance to soak in. A once a month deep water is much better for plants in the desert than a daily, light sprinkle. The key is to figure out just how much water you need and order the right amount. It's also important that your yard is nice and even or a little hill or slope will send that water right into the street. Sadly, I have seen some neighbors water their driveways on occasion.

Our first irrigation -we hadn't figured out how much water we needed and obviously ordered too much.

My dog Sodapop goes crazy over the irrigation. As soon as she sees the water flowing, she runs up to the valve and lays right next to it. The boys love it too. They think it's a blast to take a pair of my flip flops and have "boat" races. I love the irrigation because it brings a ton of fun critters to the backyard - ducks, snakes, toads, and all kinds of cool shore birds. 

Today is irrigation day and we are fortunate that it wasn't scheduled for the middle of the night. It is scheduled for late afternoon which is the hottest time of day. The boys are stoked!

We've been irrigating this way for over a year now and I still think it's kind of bizarre (although we have the happiest fruit trees ever). Almost as bizarre (but not as scary) as the scorpions out here - which I'll never get used to. But that's an entirely different post.

Meet Jose...before he leaves

We had an unexpected guest during the Finley and Oliver photo shoot this past weekend. As we were all standing around the grapefruit tree chatting about the shoot, Jose (a Costa's hummingbird) flew right in the center of us and just hovered there as if he wanted to join in on the conversation. Laura was able to capture this incredible photo with Jose perched on the top of the tree.

Jose is a very friendly and loyal resident of our backyard. He has been there since the day we moved in. Although Costa's hummingbirds are generally tolerant of our summer heat, Jose leaves during the summer months and faithfully returns when the weather cools in the fall. He is the coolest little guy and has absolutely no fear of humans - he'll fly right up to us and loves to watch the boys play. You can read more about him and see more photos of him on the AZ Plant Lady blog.

And be sure to check back soon for pictures from the shoot. They are going to be awesome!

Which came first?

We have recently become the proud owners of four beautiful chickens: Ramona, Flo, Lucy, and Effie. They are barely 6 weeks old and since I like to talk about them (a.lot.) I figured I'd bring you up to speed on our process of researching raising chickens up until now.

(My sister, The AZ Plant Lady, has blogged about our chickens and our little hobby farm, several times and you can read the posts here, here, here, and here.)

Just over a year ago, my husband and I bought a home with my mom on some horse property. It was a dream of ours to live on a small hobby farm and raise chickens, goats, grow crazy veggies and fruits - the whole nine yards. So, we took the plunge and decided to make it happen.

I spent the better part of the last year researching what it would take to be successful at raising chickens and I soon realized that it really wasn't that hard and that the benefits would be awesome...fresh eggs and some new pets for the boys and I to have fun with! Not to mention the chicken poop for the gardens.

My husband got to work building a super cool coop and I put together a super inexpensive brooder (chicks live in a brooder for the first few weeks to keep them warm.)

Once we felt we were fairly well prepared, we went ahead and ordered our chicks from My Pet Chicken. We chose to order a Buff Orpington, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and two Easter Eggers (mixed breed). They are all known for their fairly docile personality and ability to lay eggs well.

A couple of weeks after I placed the order for the chickens, I got a phone call from the Post Office that our chickens had arrived. Yes, our chickens came in the mail! It still blows my mind but they arrived cute, fluffy, safe and sound.

Chicks still receive nutrients from the yolk for the first couple of days so they can go without food and water until you receive them.

Since they've arrived, we've been having a ton of fun with them. They really are so easy and we are anxiously awaiting our fresh eggs which we anticipate having in another four months or so.

The only bummer is that they grow up super fast. They went from this:

to this in just 5 weeks!

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part of all. I finally had an excuse to buy some Wellies! If I have to scoop chicken poop, I must do it in style!