Orchard Express

Summer in the orchard started off beautifully with the Easter Egger chickens enjoying their first day out as they joined the flock. They slowly got more at home in the orchard, with Blueberry showing off his proud "cock a doodle doo" and corralling the hens into the coop each night. Another rooster named El Guapo, was donated by a local family and joined the flock in June as well.

The annual zinnia flowers were in full bloom as soon as summer hit, attracting butterflies and providing orchard volunteers opportunities to harvest fresh cut flowers. Zinnias have three key qualities that make them a great choice for summer, they are low maintenance, heat and drought tolerant, and have brilliant color. Plus, they reseed easily and the more you cut them, the more they grow! The 2021-2022 Bluebonnet Community planted these last Spring in anticipation of selling bouquets early this Fall.

From mid June and throughout July, irrigation in the orchard proved challenging. We are now collaborating with the Williamson County Master Gardeners and the Texas A&M Ag Extension to plan a more sustainable solution.

Our orchard and garden volunteers enjoyed harvesting cucumbers, chard, lettuce, egg plant, cantaloupe, and tomatoes on their visits to care for the chickens. With the irrigation debaclec, many of these vegetables were kept alive with hand watering and the attentiveness of our team!

July 14, one of our volunteers came to put the chicken up and found there had been a predator attack. Three of thirteen survived. The following morning, another volunteer came to clean up the aftermath, but the culprit had returned during the night to finish the job. Only a few feathers remained.

We have yet to identify the predator, however, upon examination, the side gate to the orchard had a breach. Our volunteers noted that several of our gates need to be addressed, as they are quite flimsy. We can add this to one of our work projects this Fall. One of our volunteers shared that predators tend to be more active when there is a full moon, as there was on July 14th. Moving forward, it would be wise to keep a closer eye on our flock during this phase of the moon.

Hens, Red and Ash, and the rooster, El Guapo were the only remaining chickens. In August, one of our volunteers found Ash dead in the coop. She was a small hen, and we think the heat got the best of her. Also following the attack, El Guapo became more aggressive, chasing and even attacking volunteers. Although he started to adjust, we grew concerned about his demeanor. As a team, we decided we would re-home Red and El Guapo until our orchard and community are more prepared to care for and protect our chickens.

The five Easter Egger chickens and six of their orchard comrades were among those we lost this summer at the orchard. We are hopeful we can learn from their death and better protect our flock in the future.

The orchard, nor the remaining hens could have survived the summer without the dedicated work, day in and day out, of our volunteers. Maria Rodriguez-Melo, Megan Perry, and Michelle Wong were paramount in these efforts. We are so grateful for their commitment to the orchard learning environment that benefits all GWM staff, families, and students.

To get invloved in the orchard and gardens, please contact GWM parent Michelle Wong to be added to the group. There is little to no time committment , but it is a great way to be informed about opportunities invest time in the GWM community orchard and garden, share your talents, make donations, and stay "in the know."

CONTACT. wong.michelle.o@gmail.com

*PLEASE COMPLETE the volunteer background check ASAP as background check sometimes takes a few weeks.