a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Month: June 2014

  • Kneading Bread Dough? Use a Bowl

    I’ve been baking bread for half a century. One of my household chores as a small child was helping my mother bake bread. Even though I make bread without kneading, at times I just need to get my hands on a lump of dough and spend a good ten minutes kneading it. It is a very satisfying experience.

    KneadingDoughInABowlA

    Growing up we kneaded bread on a board sprinkled with flour. I’ve found that what works much better is kneading bread in a bowl. The dough doesn’t stick to the bowl like it does to a wood board, so you don’t need to use any extra flour. In a bowl, the dough stays in one place, and a bowl is much easier to clean than a large wooden board.

    KneadingDoughInABowlB

  • Solstice Evening Near the Center of the Universe

    Solstice-TwoHensInBed

    It’s the summer solstice. The two mother hens aren’t staying up to watch the sun set on this longest day of the year. They have gone to bed early. I wonder where the two chicks they share are sleeping. During the night do the chicks sneak from one mother to the other?

    On this longest day, the dogwood is in full bloom.

    Solstice-EveningDogwoodA

    From the top of the roof, I watch the last of the sun rays climb to the top of the trees and disappear. There is still the heat of summer to come, but we all feel a little sadness as the days start to shorten.

    Solstice-EveningSkyA
    Solstice-EveningSkyB

    This far north, the solstice must be celebrated. In Seattle, in Fremont, the center of the universe, the Solstice Festivities are in full swing. From their website about the parade:

    The Fremont Solstice Parade welcomes the Solstice Cyclists to ride in our parade. Please be advised that riders will not be wearing clothes and full nudity is to be expected. All cyclists are required to be painted and costumed for the ride. Most are. The Parade is not a nudist event, it is an Art event that recognizes the human body as a canvas and the joy of riding as a part of our community’s creative expression.

    The Fremont Solstice Parade is a special event that makes Seattle special. If you’ve never been, mark next year’s calendar for the summer solstice and plan a trip to Seattle. And if you don’t believe Fremont is the center of the universe, there is a guidepost in Fremont, marking the exact spot. The Metropolitan King County Council officially proclaimed Fremont as the Center of the Universe on July 25, 1994.

    Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of King County;
    The Artistic Republic of Fremont is hereby declared, decreed, and determined to be an Independent ImagiNation and a Mecca for those of independent minds and spirits, and is forever and fervently empowered with all the rights and privileges thereto accruing. Further, the Metropolitan King County Council plainly postulates and proclaims Fremont to be Center of the Universe, indeed, and hereby supports Fremont in its gallant endeavors to apply to the United Nations for sovereign status under international law.

    A Man and His Hoe is about an hour and a half away from The Center of the Universe, but when you consider how many trillions of light years across the universe is, being just an hour and a half away from the center is like practically being right there.

  • Interracial Lesbian Mothers

    What is happening with the two mother hens sharing a brood? They are still getting along. At night, they sleep side by side in the doghouse where they hatched their two chicks. It’s impossible to know where the chicks are sleeping. Are they under one hen? Is there a chick under each hen?

    2Hens2Chicks-2
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    2Hens2Chicks-6

    We’re calling them the interracial lesbian mothers. The chicks move freely between the two hens. The two hens aren’t exactly close. During the day they keep a few feet from each other, and it’s clear that each would rather have the chicks all to herself.

    In the four years I’ve been watching hens hatch and raise chicks, there have been a number of unusual situations: hens which have given up incubating midway and replaced by hens which finish the job, hens switching clutches, and hens taking care of another hen’s chicks when the chicks were orphaned.

  • Solstice Eve

    It’s the eve of the summer solstice. I’m not ready for the days to start getting shorter. The summer solstice comes too early. Days should keep getting longer until mid or late August. Many Iris are in bloom, and the apples are growing past their baby stage.

    Iris140620A
    Iris140620B
    ApplesGrowing

    Driving home from picking up a truckload of supplies, two ducks forced me to stop. They were in no rush to cross the road. Such is life around here. This is no place to live if you are in a hurry.

    DucksCrossingTheRoad

  • Fields for Someone

    Bicycling home after delivering eggs, garlic scapes, and greens to Tweets Café this afternoon, I had to stop and enjoy the roadside grasses and flowers. All the grass seeds and flowers are meals for many. The blackberries are in full bloom everywhere. Their white flowers provide meals for thousands of bees and insects. When the berries ripen in a few months, they will provide meals for countless birds and people who stop to pick them.

    FieldOfBees1
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    FieldOfBees2
    FieldOfBees3

    Roadside grasses and plants provide needed habitat for so many creatures. Which is why it’s important that they not be sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.