every day is a good day
It’s breakfast time and the chickens are crowding around the feeders.
Instead of huddling with the other chickens around the feeder, this hen has learned that she can have the whole feeder to herself by flying to the top of it and sticking her head into it. Which goes to show that chickens have some ability to look at a situation and figure out a solution that works best for them.
You can be married to someone for a long time and still learn something new about them. It’s no different with a dog. We’ve had BB for nine years, and I had no idea he liked squash. I guess I had never baked one the way he liked.
A week ago, I tossed a squash which was starting to rot into this month’s compost pile. The pile has been cooking at around 120º for a while and I thought the squash would quickly decompose. Today when BB was helping me turn the compost pile, he spotted the squash which has been slowly cooking all week, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He kept coming back and scarfing down chunks of it until it was all gone.
What else would taste good after cooking for a week in a compost pile?
No matter how many chickens you look at, each one has a unique face. Missa above has a short comb which leans to the right side of her head. She has a cream colored beak, and compact wattles.
Nancy has a long comb which leans to the left side of her head. It’s so long, it nearly covers her eye. Her beak is black, and her wattles hang down. She also has distinctive, white ear lobes.
Compare the faces of any chickens, and you’ll find many differences.
The crew came this morning to finish installing the solar panels on the roof of the garage. By mid afternoon, all the panels were installed. The next step is for the state to inspect and approve the installation. After that, our local utility company will install a meter to record the amount of electricity the system is generating, and to connect it to our electric system so that we can start using the power it generates.
You don’t have to live in the country on acreage to enjoy fresh greens. It doesn’t take a lot of space to grow vegetables. We were in Seattle yesterday to enjoy one last meal at The Kingfish Cafe with a friend before the cafe closes this coming Sunday, January 25, 2015. On our way to the cafe, we walked by a series of raised vegetable beds in a yard and on a parking strip.
Whoever lived in that house, had a steady supply of kale through the winter. Twenty to forty kale plants, can supply a family with fresh greens all winter long. You can’t beat freshly picked greens.
I often wonder why it is that freshness is not a high priority in the USA. It’s a mystery. I saw a clip on Japanese news yesterday about strawberries. Strawberries are an important winter fruit in Japan, and different regions compete to produce the sweetest, largest berries. The clip was about a new variety of strawberry called Skyberry produced in Tochigi. Growers of this variety of strawberry are wanting to export them to France, but were running into a serious problem. Within Japan, they can get their berries into stores within two days of picking. But when they ship them to France, it takes four days from picking until they are on store shelves. And for the strawberry growers, this was a major concern, as strawberries are fragile, and if they are bruised at all during shipment, they will no longer be salable after four days.
Watching the news clip, I wondered if US growers of strawberries gnashed their teeth at the thought of it taking more than two days to get their strawberries onto store shelves. To deliver these Skyberry strawberries to France without damaging them, an agricultural research company developed special packaging which envelopes each strawberry in a protective shell they call a freshell. None of this is cheap. Each freshell costs $2 and the Skyberries will sell for $12 to $14 each in France. In Japan they retail for around $20 a pound. A luxury item for sure, but I wonder why freshness is sought after in Japan and is barely an afterthought in the USA.
Home, after a wonderful meal and company, I found mother and daughter in a nest when I went to collect eggs. A few more months, and if the daughter insists on staying with her mother, the two will be laying eggs together.
