What’s going on with the farm recently:

• Egg production is up slightly.  It dipped really, really low at the end of November (some days with zero eggs, out of 38 hens!) but finally it is back up to 6-7 eggs/day.  I always knew that eggs decreased with day length, but it actually dips most before the winter solstice, as explained by Plamondon in Why We Don’t Eat Eggs at Thanksgiving
• The established tea in the field is growing well.  The new irrigation system plus some nice winter rains have boosted growth.  I’m going to have to/get to prune again soon.
• Of the 424 tea cuttings, only 10% are still going… details to follow.
• We got our building permit to build our house!!  The approval came on December 31, after 2 years of struggling with design, 8 months in the permit process with the County, thousands of dollars in various costs, and much grief.  Now, one consideration is that the new house site is immediately adjacent to the chicken run – pretty much inside it.  Good thing we like the sound of chickens!