June 27, 2011

I probably should be outside weeding…

Should is an interesting word. It implies that things are wrong. I should do this or that, or, things should be this way or that way…I do my best not to think or say should…I do my best to accept things as they are, rather than what they should be. Nothing should be….I shouldn’t be this or that either. I just am. That’s all.

I have been giving a lot of time listening to Alexi Murdoch and psychedelic folk harpist singer Joanna Newsome – they both play very simplified music with very real lyrics that capture all four corners of life, but in very different means. I was never main stream. I have always lived off to the side of things. At times it makes me hard to understand, or to figure out, but it’s a good place for me to be. From here I don’t get too swept away, but I can see what is swept away…

Think it’s been close to two months now that I haven’t watched tv. I have flipped through channels a few times, but I have just turned it off and gone off to read, or I put on my ear phones and listen to some music. Sometimes I just take a nap…or go do something out side. These two months have been good for me.

Louie had a bad reaction to a salve that we tried on his mane to relieve his itching. His skin peeled, and tuffs of hair fell out…What was meant to heal made things worse. The vet put him on steroids – 22 pills each morning for now. I feel terrible. He still lets me hug him, kiss his nose, and pet him – he’s so forgiving. Wish I could be the same sometimes. Animals have so much to teach us…I know that line isn’t original, but its worth repeating.

Speaking of animals, our rooster is about to be re-homed to a person who loves the “cock-a-doodle-doo” call. It beats eating him, which was becoming the plan. I don’t care for his lack of ‘courtship manners’, and then he finally went after Kath. That’s what a rooster does and I can’t change his instincts, but I can change where he lives…Rose will be coming over to help – she’s a lot younger and more nimble than I, so I am glad for the help. We plan to net him and put him in a dog carrier, then take him to his new home. That’s the plan…I’ll let you know later how many stitches I need.

“I don’t want a pickle…just want to ride my motor cycle” is playing now…Arlo Guthrie. “and I don’t wanna to die…just want to ride my motor cycle”. For the moment, things are quite that simple.

June 28, 2011
Update-- our roo has a nice new home now, about 10 minutes away. He went happily - well sort of. He wasn't too happy about being herded into the cage, but he eventually conceded, and never raised a spur. We sent along a care package of his favorite grains. He will be well taken care of, and if he even acts the least bit of a gentleman, he'll never know the feel of barbeque sauce...

June 19, 2011

la gente que conozco ... tres bocetos

He said that he can’t figure out why anyone would want the world to get better - he wants it to end. When the end comes, he will be taken up to heaven. The rest of us will face God’s wrath…revelations…but he’ll be first in line at the golden gate. The bouncer wont even card him. He believes that war and earthquakes and famine and diseases are good – even floods and tornadoes - they damn the deserved, and let the good guys know they are GOOD. And he is a GOOD guy. But he just needs the world to end to prove it.

The mini van was parked in the Acme grocery store parking lot. On its sides and back windows was brightly painted “ Bin Laden is avenged”, Rot in Hell Bin Laden”, “Obama, Thanks for killing him”, “Hooray!”. Bruce, whose job it is to gather all the shopping carts from the parking lot and push them back to the store was quite upset over the van and stopped me... “That’s too much”, he said, nervously pointing out the van to me …Even Bruce, who is a mentally disabled adult, understands the outcome of extremism. It’s a stick of dynamite with a fuse burning on both ends…even if one side is extinguished, the other side will set it off.

I handed her the CSA share bag, full of greens and a bundle of beets. The week before I had delivered a share of strawberries and lettuces to her. She was so happy to have them. These shares were shares that belonged to one of my CSA members, who asked that I give them to the woman. I called the CSA member who was in the hospital undergoing chemo, to tell her how happy that had made the recipient, and the member said to me, “it means so much to me that no matter how sick I am, I can still do something for others…”

June 6, 2011

a walk across the farm early this morning...

May 15, 2011

Last Friday I caught my third honey bee swarm in three weeks. Each swarm came about seven days apart – Sunday, Sunday, Friday – and all three came to rest on the same branch of a beech plum bush in our front yard, about two feet off the ground. Being low to the ground made catching these swarms easy- all I had to do was to set the new hive body under the swarm, shake the branch until they fell in, and put the cover on. I didn’t have to balance on a ladder, cut tree branches, etc. The hardest part for these swarms was finding enough frames, bottom boards, and covers for the new hives because I never organized my bee stuff last winter to have it ready…for the third swarm I had to put together frames and make a cover before I even approached the swarm. Luckily the swarm was not in a hurry to go anywhere, and patiently waited for me while I sawed and hammered, nailed and glued all the stuff together.

We now have six hives on the farm – my son has two, and I have four. If all hives stay healthy and grow, it could mean that there will be up to a quarter million or more honey bees buzzing around and pollinating this summer and fall!

May 2, 2011

Sometimes the strangest things happen…

Friday I came home to find that flats of bok choi, cabbage, etc that I had set outside the hot house to “harden off” had been damaged. Many of the flats had been smashed, rooted through, and uprooted. The fiber cells I had started them in were destroyed. I gathered all the salvageable plants and replanted them in new fiber cells – I lost maybe 50 plants in all. I really had no idea…

I had kept the chickens in that day, so it wasn’t them. Maybe a fox? There were prints in the nearby soft mud that might be from a fox…but then I thought that a fox would have tried to dig itself into the chicken coop, but there was no sign of that.

That evening I prepped a new flat that I planned to start squash plant in. I topped the cells with soil and set it outside. I watered the soil and left it outside the hot house to drain…and Saturday morning I found it ripped apart, with cells scattered up to ten feet away…ruined!

I found the same tracks.

Kath, who was out running errands when I got home, later told me what she saw.

A Pekinese dog – all groomed – was outside the duck pen harassing the ducks. Kath heard all the commotion of barking and quacking. Snoops was trying to bust out of her cage to go after it (Snoops and the ducks are close friends – seriously – and Snoops wanted the chance to protect them). When Kath stepped out the door the dog took off in the direction of the woods on the north side of our property, passing the hot house.

We haven’t seen the dog since, and we have no idea if it had gotten loose, was let out to run, or if it was a stray. Being so well groomed and clean, Kath couldn’t imagine that it was a stray or lost for very long, but probably someone’s dog that got out of the house and thought our place was a fun place to play.

Though we haven’t seen it since Saturday morning, we are being careful with the ducks, chickens, and transplants. Snoops and the hippos can take care of themselves.

It’s just strange. I’ve guarded against hawks, rabbits, deer, fox, and the occasional curious turkey, but I never would have thought a dog to be a concern.

April 24, 2011

Louie turned 25 years old the other week...a few pics of him over the years since he came to live with us...

...just hangin' at the barn

"struttin' with my fly sheet...yeah I be cool..."

running is better than sleddin' anytime....

"grass grass grass, give me grass"

"I know I look funny, but it wasnt my idea..."

Happy Birthday Lou!

April 17, 2011

Tuesday I picked up six baby chickens. Every year we add new girls to the flock so that we always have some strong layers. As chickens get older they lay less often, so mixing young and old keep the flock productive.

That same Tuesday night, a cold front pushed through the area, led with a line of severe thunderstorms that knocked out electrical power. We were asleep at the time and didn’t know, but our daughter, who was at work only a few miles away, called to tell us it was out. She was worried that the baby chicks might get cold – without electricity their heat lamp would be off.

I got up and went downstairs and found my way to the garage. With a flashlight, I looked into the brooder to check on the chicks – just two days old. They were huddled together, shivering. They didn’t have enough body heat to share to keep them warm.

I gathered them into a small box and took them into our house, which was a bit cold too, since the heat was out with the electric. Kath and I could only think of one place that would be warm. We lay in bed and nestled the box of chicks beneath the covers between us…

In about fifteen minutes the chicks began chirping and scratching around – a sign they were warming up and moving out of their huddle. Over the next hour or so, the storms moved past and then later the electricity was restored. Towards morning we were able to put the chicks back into their brooder, warmed by the bright heat lamp. And Kath and I went back to sleep…

It’s all part of living on a backyard farm…