a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Month: August 2020

  • August is Coming to an End

    four ducklings

    The four ducklings are growing fast. Ducklings often make a whistling sound. They’ll whistle when they are afraid or excited. They come whistling for breakfast.

    garden snake
    freshly baked bread
    ripening apple
    white plump
    sweet annie

    The sweet annie is up and getting ready to bloom. This plant has such a lovely scent, every part of it. It’s a sweet, soft mix of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. The leaves are delicate and dance in the slightest of breezes.

    sweet annie
    Artemisia annua phenolics

    The chart above is from Artemisia annua Wikipedia entry. It lists the phenolics discovered in this fragrant herb. One of them, Rhamnetin, is an O-methylated flavonol that can be isolated from cloves. It’s like this one plant is a drug store all of its own.

  • It’s Easier with Another

    blue august sky

    Three days ago the sky was a cobalt blue with wispy clouds. Today’s sky is definitely fall like. Thick, grey clouds accompanied with gusty winds. Summer is coming to an end.




    The two hens who decided to join forces and raise a brood together are fun to watch. Every hen raises her chicks slightly differently. But this is the first time I’ve had two hens pair up from the get go. When they were sitting on the clutch they were on top of each other.

    Each day they go out together with their chicks, who happily float from one mother to the other. The two hens are never far apart. At night they squeeze into the same nest with all the little ones tucked underneath them.


    They could be the start of a movement among hens. Why do it alone? It’s easier raising a brood with another.

  • Hottest Day of the Year

    morning light in the cottonwoods

    The forecast yesterday was for a hot day. 87ºF (30.6ºC). This morning the forecast changed to a high of 84ºF (28.9ºC). Our first day this summer above 80ºF. It felt warm from the first step this morning. The sun was already burning the top leaves of the cottonwoods. We topped out at 82ºF (27.8ºC). Tomorrow and beyond, we are back to cooler weather. A heat wave that lasts one day, that’s fine with me.

    Blackberries ripening are a sure sign that it is August.

    black berries
    marjoram blossoms
    daisies and marjoram

    It’s a great day to relax and enjoy the colors of this time of year.

    mint flowers
    hollyhock blossoms
    two mother hens

    And what to make of these two? Here they are tonight, each coddling more than ten chicks underneath their feathers. They sat on the same clutch of eggs. Often on top of each other. I ordered baby chicks because they only had a few eggs and I needed to get more pullets. The baby chicks arrived Wednesday morning. I set them under both of them. I’m not sure how they determine which chick is going with which mother when they all wake up each morning, but they’ve got it figured out.

    I’m afraid what the bill will be for all the therapists the chicks will require when they grow up. “I never could figure out who my mother was,” I can hear the chickens tell their therapist.

  • Morning Surprise

    Kaku with ducklings

    Will she or won’t she hatch those ducklings? That was what I was wondering about Kaku. She’d been sitting on a second clutch of eggs for a long time. This morning I had my answer. She was swimming in the tank with three ducklings. Only, these weren’t day old ducklings. They were at least a week old. She’d managed to keep the secret for some time. Later I saw there were four ducklings, one circling the tank below, looking for her.

    potatoes from one plant

    It’s always a joy digging up a potato plant. From one little 80 gram potato planted not that many months ago, 1.38 kilos of potatoes, 3 pounds of potatoes. That’s a 17 fold increase in just three months.

    1381 grams of potatoes
    cat mint flowers

    Late summer and the cat mint is in full bloom. The mornings have been cool enough to have the heat on a bit to take the chill off. I’m never ready for fall this time of year. I want August to go on much longer. But seeing the fall colors always changes my mind.

    cat mint flowers

  • After the Rains


    Recent rains interrupted our August sun, but it is back. The chickens are happy. Very happy.



    The end of June chicks are over a month old. They no longer panic when they can’t see their mother. They can take a nap in the sunshine when they tire. They love to huddle.


    And they are forever curious. Watching them run around chasing bugs, darting this way, that way, it’s a great way to spend a lazy summer day.


    I forgot to pick up the coffee beans I ordered yesterday. Maybe it was the unexpected rain. The hint of fall in the air. I remembered this morning while grinding coffee that I forgot to pick the beans up yesterday afternoon. This afternoon was a better day to bike along Friday Creek to get coffee beans from Gilda. Visiting her coffee hut to get freshly roasted beans is always a joy.