a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Month: February 2015

  • Not a Cloud All Day

    SweetDaphne

    A full day with not a cloud all day. Even the jets passing overhead from Asia to Denver or Dallas, couldn’t mar the cobalt sky with a contrail. The sweet daphne is in full bloom. It is so fragrant it’s intoxicating. The plums aren’t as fragrant, though if you lie in the grass underneath a plum tree, the beauty may put you in a trance. Now there is a fairy tale. Once upon a time, there was a hidden garden with flowers and trees so beautiful, no one who entered was ever seen again …

    Plums20150228
    Painted in Waterlogue
    BedOfLettuce20150228

    It’s time to get more lettuce started in one of the hoop houses. Hard to believe that in not too many more months, these dirt rows will supply many salads. But not if I forget to close the hoop house door. If I leave it open just a bit, the hens quickly make themselves at home. In their never ending quest for the fattest, longest worm on the planet, they can quickly destroy many a lettuce bed.

    HensInTheHoopHouse

  • Svenda Sandstone

    SvendaSandstone3

    B’dazzled blue, cedar chest, Egyptian blue, Harvard crimson, metallic sunburst – the names of colors is endless. Here’s one more: Svenda Sandstone, the color of Svenda’s eggs. She lays eggs that not only have a sandstone color, they even feel like sandstone when you rub them. One was laid February 24 and the other today, February 26.

    Each egg a hen lays is slightly different from the one before it, and different enough from the other hens, that it is often easy to tell whose egg it is. Svenda will never lay a white egg. She’ll never lay a dark egg. She only lays sandstone colored eggs.

    SvendaSandstone4
    SvendaSandstone5

  • Things a Hen Like

    WhatAHenWantsA

    Hens like quiet, sheltered nests. They are modest and like to lay eggs without being exposed to prying eyes. This is 雲月 (Ungestu – Moon Cloud). I have several of these very refined, gray-black hens.

    I read about some farms which produce a million eggs a day, which means they have more than a million hens crammed in very noisy, crowded warehouses. Not one of those hens gets to lay an egg in a quiet nest. What they have are more than a million very frustrated, crazed hens. I would need 50,000 acres, a farm about nine miles by miles, or nearly twice the size of San Francisco, to house that many hens. Chickens need lots and lots of space.

    WhatAHenWantsB
    WhatAHenWantsC

    Hens also like to peck at daffodils. Not a single hen on those farms with more than a million hens ever gets to peck at a daffodil. They live their entire lives without ever seeing a single flower bloom.

    WhatAHenWantsD

  • Out of the Garden Today – February 24, 2015

    OutOfTheGarden20150224A

    Arugula and Ruby Streaks overwintered in the hoop house and with all the recent sunshine, they are exploding. Which means plenty of fresh salads. Happiness is picking greens moments before you eat them. The best food doesn’t come from the store, it comes out of your own garden.

    OutOfTheGarden20150224B
    OutOfTheGarden20150224C

  • Nakedness Becomes You

    NakednessBecomesYouA

    It’s always fun to get naked. Whether alder logs find it as exciting to strip down as we do, maybe not. Alder logs do have a sense of shame. When they get naked, they turn crimson with embarrassment. Either that, or they tan easily. See how red the log at the top is, and it’s only partially naked.

    Which looks nicer? The clothed or naked alder logs? I used a blade knife from Lumber Jack Tools to peel the bark off a future log post.

    NakednessBecomesYouB

    The bark curls make great mulch and path beds. Cover a path with them, and they sop up the moisture, and make a fresh fragrant path.

    NakednessBecomesYouC