Garden journal #3

Photo by emagene*

I may have been weeding with a glass of wine last night. Ok. I WAS weeding with a glass of wine last night. The day leading up to a moment in the garden was ridiculous! Our dryer went out Saturday leaving me with my entire stash of cloth diapers needing to be line dried. I never use fabric softener, so poor baby has to wear stiff cloth :( I honestly think she wasn't complaining about having a wet diaper because they actually got more comfortable when damp. i think I'll have to run down to the laundry mat later in the week since I'm gonna have to wash them at least once more before the part comes in. Even half-drying them before putting them on the line makes the diapers softer and fluffier. And did I mention how many pieces Pete removed from the dryer before determining the heating coil is out? The dining room table is covered in screws, sheet of metal, and dryer lint.

Sorry, garden journaling... It was festival weekend so many things were ignored until sunday evening. We managed to mow one yard and create mulch for some much needed areas.

And after a day of swapping laundry on the line and retrieving our escape artist hen (same one as last year, only this time the neighbor dog is much friendlier), emagene and I finally got the last if the starts in the ground. 

Our volunteer pumpkins are doing great!

I had to reseed the beans and cucumbers after a late frost and they are going strong!

And the winter onions and kale are HUGE!

The spring onions are about to flower, some have, which is fun to watch.

I have a few green onions from the grocery that we stuck in the raised beds as pest deterrents, these here are wild and come back every spring. I think some may be chives.

Taking this beauty out if the ground was probably the best idea ever! I'm still pulling mint starts out of the beds!! All we have left is to buy a parsley plant (our seeds never germinated).

And after all that sweetness in the garden, we came inside to discover the air conditioner cooling unit is not running. *sigh* At least the central fan is still working.

* I almost didn't use this photo because i i feel like it makes me look fat. Which is ridiculous because in a month, I'll think I look pretty good. Who cares if my pre-baby abs haven't miraculously matriculated? it's not like I'm even pretending to do Pilates.

Garden journal #2

It's been two weeks since my last garden update. In those weeks we gave had a frost and lost our cucumbers and all but 2 of our beans. Those are barely hanging on, too!

A chicken jumped the fence and dug up the mulch around the corn and sunflowers. 

Fortunately I had reseeded the sunflowers after the frost. One plant was broken by the flighty bird, but I happened to find two missed seed treats sprouted in the yard and transplanted those. Now we wait to see if the mammoth variety sprouts and if the black oil survive the move.

I have a few more plants to repot or stick in the ground, hopefully this week, and then we just wait. Apart from my flighty bird (who jumped into the neighbors yard so she could regroup and jump into the garden. I just watched her do it a second time this afternoon. She is now in chicken jail. Anyway, apart from her, a frost, and a downpour, things are looking good! 

Now to keep the chewing bugs away...

Cycles of life

Driving to the airport where Pete works takes us through acres of livestock pasture, and past a shooting range (naturally), leaving a 1940 bungalow style farmhouse as the last piece of civilian life before hitting the Tarmac. A month or so ago, I got my only glimpse of the people living in the farmhouse. I witnessed an older man taking out the trash. He was hunched over, walking with a cane and dragging his red radio flyer wagon behind him loaded down with trash bags. 

I smiled. The driveway is easily a few hundred yards and here he was creatively conquering his bodily signs of aging. I went through that day feeling empowered.

Last weekend, I notice the yard between the farmhouse and the outbuilding/carport was full of furniture. My first thought was: "family reunion? Early Easter picnic on a 75F+ day in April?" But then I noticed the estate sale sign. My heart sank a little. Just a few weeks ago, I assume The Man of The House was inspiring me with his determination to keep living fully. Apparently that was his last hurrah working on his cattle ranch. Either that, or the tornado damaged the place enough a fixed income couple needn't to move, but I'm assuming things.

I wish my weekend had not been booked solid and I could have meandered through that sale and daydreamed of what the life of the inhabitants had been like; Seen relics from the years between the house construction and the airport's invention. But no matter, I'm still inspired to live fully in this body until it simy can't function any more. I wish them peace as they move to the next phase of their existence.

Beltane Thoughts... And cute chicks

Well folks, it's that time of year again. The sundresses are out but the cardigans appear at twilight. Days are spent at the park or lakeside and evenings are spent trying not to make dinner. Classic rock fills the soundtrack of the day and I long to drive through the hillside of someplace where I am not. I swing between maintaining the community we have spent the winter with, cultivating and growing those relationships into something meaningful for next winter while dreaming of summers past with amazing people I yearn to have back in my everyday.

And while I wish for more of the past in my future, I strive to live in the present, blending all three together. Planning road trips, camping trips and garden plots. Saving starts from frost and letting hens go broody. Congratulating the mister on a much deserved promotion that will help move us forward, and gritting my teeth as I prepare for another summer full of days over 100F. 

Ah, but right now, this moment, life is sweet. It is a time of fertility. Jobs are prospering, produce options are reflecting the return of the sun, children have returned outside. creativity is flourishing! New dresses, a dance recital, artsy photographs. To quote a favorite movie I watch every year at this time: It's all happening! And to bring all this new life and abundance permentantly into our every day, we gifted our every-faithful broody hen with a pair of commercially hatched chicks.

The day we brought them home.

It's been an interesting, and educational, adventure. Over the last year I've done reading on flock integration, incubation, broody hen adoption and eliminating bullies in the run. This winter when Fluffy started laying again, I promised her babies if we could get our schedules lined up. 

Emagene's class hatched a set of chicks with the help of an incubator and we fell in love with babies. We had chatted with the farmer about taking home a few, but my google searches told me I had a better chance of the hen accepting the babies if they were as young as possible. By the time the chicks left the classroom they were 2 weeks old and most likely would be seen by my hen as intruders and not her newly hatched babies.

Fortunately, the local feed store got in a new set of day old chicks the next week. They had all sorts of baby fowl, including geese which were adorable! We browsed the pens of separate breeds and then decided to just reach into the mixed breed pen and try our luck at whatever breeds came home with us.

We did a bit of breed comparasion while still at the feed store so we'd have an idea of what we got. I really think we have a silkie (the white and yellow one) and a bantum speckled Sussex. I say bantum because little Miss Hearts is half the size of Elsa (thank you, Frozen) while being super healthy.

Anyways- we brought them home and set them up for an overnight stay in our dining room while we watched them for signs of disease before introducing them to the flock. 

Everyone needed a chance to snuggle baby chicks!

The chicks were introduced to the furry animals who were told in no uncertain terms that if the chicks were tampered with, the furry ones would be in trouble. We've had no trouble with the cat or the dog who were both liking their lips when they first saw the chicks.

After a 24 hour observation period, our 5 day old chicks woke up under their new mother. After dark on Wednesday night, Pete and I snuck out with flashlights, moved the older hens to the shed, which had been set up as a secondary hen house. We then tucked the babies under Fluffy's wing, watching her reaction. She didn't flinch, peck at the babies or cluck grumpily. We took that as a good sign and removed 2 of her 3 eggs and went back to bed. If she changed her mind about the babies when she woke up, Emagene would be at school and I could make a secret run to the feed store and would just keep the replacement babies in the house for the next month. Fortunately, when I checked in the morning, Fluffy was showing the babies how to eat, drink and peck in the straw for treasures.

Piggyback rides came next

And while I watched, Fluffy dutifully let the babies peck at her face and experiment with the roosting bar while she waited to see what her final egg would do. We left her the egg as an incentive to stay broody and in the nest. On the off chance that removing the extra egg would cause her to be defensive instead of motherly, we erred on the side of caution and it's worked!

That first day, we kept the new family safely in the hen house and checked on them often. We also reassured the older girls who showed minimal signs of stress due to waking up and being moved to the shed in summer. We often kept them in the shed before the coup remodel and during winter and storms. 

The second day, we secretly removed the other egg and opened the run up to the older girls. I kept a screendoor on the hen house to minimize bullying opportunities but still provide the necessary "FaceTime" that makes flock integration more peaceful. Fluffy looked like any mother who had been waiting for a baby, finally had one and was ready to get back into the world. By day 3 of new motherhood she was gently coaxing the babies to the top of the ramp so she could go outside. 

Day 4, as the temperatures spiked a little. the chicks left the house and wondered around the coop. Fluffy kept them mostly between the fencing and the house or the hale bales where she could easily keep them safe from the bigger girls. When we fed treats to the big girls, we used their normal treating location but where careful to secretly give snacks to Fluffy, who needed to regain some weight. As a thank you, we got to watch her teach the chicks how to crack sunflower seeds, break up meal worms and she literally bit off small pieces of kale and fed them to the chicks. It was precious! Her clucking changes when she's about to teach something. She switches from a "Marco polo" call and response locating call to a quicker "come check out this cool thing you need to know" chitter. 

She also has a warning cluck when she's decided to get treats with the big girls. The babies will wait in the sidelines, out of pecking reach but within eyesight of momma bird.  Like i said, it's been an education adventure. Fluffy is a very capable mother. She tolerates Emagene being in the coup everyday, following the babies around, occasionally holding them or helping them back into the house when they miss the little jump at the top of the ramp and get disoriented. I'm hoping all the holding will help keep the hen raised chicks used to being handled, similar to human raised chickens.

It's been a week since we first brought the chicks home. Everyone is sleeping comfortably in the hen house. The chicks are taken on walks around the outside of the coup under the watchful and educational eye of their sweet momma. For the most part, the potential bullies haven't shown up. Fluffy was fairly upfront with them on the chicks' first day out of the hen house (under my careful supervision the first 3-4 times). Ferdy stared a little too long and Fluffs flared out her feathers and took a hard peck on Ferdy's back, driving her away. After that, Ferdy keeps her distance but continues to lunge at the cat whenever she feels necessary. 

Well, that's my experience with chicken fertility, spring, and the call to be outdoors. I did also make this new dress for Emagene

And she decorated this cake

And Aoife has learned to be gentle with animals.

And We're prepping for a dance recital, our first! We've also rearranged a room and are making plans to start the pool/waterpark rotation. It's been a great spring and we are counting down to summer (though not to the heat). 

What area of your life is proving fertile at the moment?

If you're thinking of letting a broody hen adopt chicks, here are some great online resources:

http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/04/adding-to-established-flock-pullet.html?m=1

http://www.grit.com/animals/ten-secrets-to-a-successful-broody-hen-chick-adoption.aspx#axzz2yR9Dm85

Garden journal #1

We've been nurturing seeds and mulching beds, stirring compost and building fencing to keep the chickens and cats out. 

It's pretty ramshackle. But it seems to be working.

since its spring in Texas and we have a double growing season, we transplanted today.

Now we test the fence against the chickens and cats...

What's going on in your garden? Have you started yet?

Temporary Permanence

It's spring. I'm not sure about your lifestyle, but around here spring is the time to plant seeds, establish roots, mend buildings. A time to make repairs from winter and early spring storms and make plans to better survive the next ones. If we owned our property it would be a time of making our connection with our land a little more secure, Tweaking how we live together from season to season. 

Unfortunately, we do not own our space. We are borrowing it from a wonderful human being who lets us live how we want (in accordance with local laws) in exchange for a small sum of money. But each spring I live somewhere not completely my sole responsibility, I am reminded of the permanent state of temporary that we are living in. Not the physical "temporary" that death finds us all, but more a sense of this is not my final habitat, this is not the place where I will grow old. But I continue to try to live each day as if this is my last. I pretend this is my final habitat and try to establish a garden to feed us in the winter, though I am not guaranteed to live in this house when winter comes. We make connections in our community, and foster them wholeheartedly, knowing the next season could very well see us seeking new footholds in a different community. 

Honestly, this is an emotionally exhausting existence! Swinging between a temporary state of permanence and a permanent state of temporary. I know the cliche that everything changes and the only constant is change. I am ready to stop moving house, but I am also ready to leave this house. I want to be with My People, but I have great people here who have become My People. Without these connections, we would not be happy and thriving.

The Stirrings of Spring

You don't mean for it to happen. You move away from a place that doesn't fit politically to place that seems promising but turns out just fits wrong in different areas. And then you start reminiscing. It doesn't help that the little baby is growing and having different experiences than the first due simply to living conditions. It also doesn't help that i fell in love with spring while living in tulsa. Perhaps I loved spring because, during what restaurant owners know as happy hour, in the lingering afternoon sun, when everything was green for the only time of year (the rest of the year it was either sunburnt, dehydrated or covered in snow) the weather resembles Oregon (my soul home) on a late afternoon in July (my favorite time of year). So, naturally, when this seasons starts to show itself a list of things I miss from seasons past come to mind. Here is my top ten things I miss about Tulsa, Oklahoma

1: cherry street. We lived in this neighborhood. Old growth trees. A city -maintained duck pond within walking distance year round. Neighbors who stopped to chat when they were out walking their dogs. Historic homes. Booming businesses, again walking distance from my front door.

2: sidewalks. The older neighbors have sidewalks (same here). But unlike denton, we could afford to live in the noeghborhood with sidewalks and therefore could teach Emagene road safety very early. Without sidewalks, it is hard to explain that cars drive in the street and people walk on the sidewalks. We each have our own space and staying in our space can greater guarantee our safety when distracted by the butterflies, lighting bugs, and wildflowers. Granted some people in Tulsa still had trouble understanding what the purpose of a sidewalk was and would stop traffic because they were strolling down the middle of a street with sidewalks available on each side, but i'm choosing to overlook that flaw today. Besides whenever I think of them I am reminded of a conversation I had on this topic with an old timer at work. His response, as always, was "that really chaps my hide when people do that!" (I love jim!) Which moves me on to...

3: my job: I worked in live theatre with a bunch of characters that became family. As with every family, there are a handful of members you try to avoid and others you embrace with joy every time there is a reunion. But not only did the people make the job interesting and something that was looked forward to, the job itself was ever-changing yet the same. Predictable in that everyday we ran cable, plugged things in, fixed something broken, used a drill, climbed something, hammered something and made a lot of noise while suffering from drinking bad coffee. It was ever-changing in that the artists were always different, the production lay out would be unique from the gig before. And when the audience was added the ability to stay on your toes and make the magic happen on time and safely added another level of excitement that cannot be attained sitting around watching the children eat leaves.

4; my circle of spiritual women: I don't really think this one needs much explanation. Now don't get me wrong, I have met some amazing spiritual women in every place I've lived and have stayed in contact with most of them. This group is special due to the open arms that helped me battle home sicknesses and depression while reminding me to stop and let the children eat leaves. I am forever grateful!

5: the first time moms I met through yoga and a holistic support group. Nothing can compare to the deep connections made in moments of vulnerability. There is no place quite as vulnerable as the rawness of first time motherhood! Having a network of like-minded women in the same place in life was healing, helpful, comforting and watching our babies interact was nothing less than magical!

6: my proximity to things: Woodward park, coffee shops, restaurants, zoo, children's museum, Whole Foods. While DFW has all these things, many require over an hour drive and the chance of being stuck in horrendous traffic! In Tulsa, I could walk to most things, afford all of it, and make it back home before the hunger meltdowns moved in.

7: Medicare and other open minded health programs you would be surprised to find in the reddest state imaginable

8: the fire of potential that was sweeping the city. Life was just retuning to downtown. Young entrepreneurs were taking over the city and therefore the city was a buzz of possibilities to be tried, owned, and remodeled. New life was entering the downtown arts districts at an infectiously rapid pace. In the 3+ years we lived there, downtown went from dead and scary after 5 to alive and bumping.

9: my front porch. Classic, Deep South porch. Morning sun, afternoon shade. Ceiling fan. Big swing. You get the idea.

10: and lastly, the novelties and local   businesses. joe Momma's Thai chicken pizza. Jobots iced mochas. Dilly Deli's Michael Roy sandwich, the American Theatre Company, Tulsa Ballet Theatre and staff, Cainn's Ballroom, Cherry Street Farmer's Market, May Fest, I Am festival, and so many more! 

If you plan to drive across country, Tulsa should be a stop on your adventure. I plan on taking the girls on Route 66 one season when they'll get something "educational" out of it. Tulsa will be one of the longer stops on our journey.