a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

Our Green Whale

A blue whale is 30 meters, 98 feet, long. The green whale in the southwest corner of our property is longer than that, 31 meters, 103 feet, from where it was cut to the tip of the longest branch. Add the height of the stump, the upper branches which broke off when the tree fell, and the roots below ground, and the green whale resting in the corner of our property is a giant compared to the magnificent blue whales, a giant no Greenpeace film crew will ever want to document.

At one time, these branches were a hundred feet in the sky, where they waved in the wind and rested the feet of many a weary bird.

The green whale is now the home to a myriad of green plants, this fern included. They are to fallen trees what barnacles are to blue whales. Only beached trees don’t rub their skin on gravelly ocean floors to remove their green barnacles.

September 12, 2015
Sloooooow Food

My fingers are tingling. The long wait is over. How did it turn out? Is it edible? I’ve been waiting since July 2014 to see how my last batch of miso turned out. Two summers ago, I filled a crock with mashed, cooked soybeans, salt and an inoculation of aspergillus oryzae fungus, and set it on a windowsill to ferment through the summer, winter, and a second summer.

The weight and lid are off. The miso under the seal looks tempting. I peel the seal off and taste. Fantastic. Slow food at its best. This is real home cooking. After several successful attempts at making miso, I’m prepared to make multiple batches, try different combinations of soybeans and grains, and wait, and wait, and wait.

September 11, 2015
On a Crescent Moon

It’s a sliver of a crescent moon which lights the morning sky today. On today’s list of things to do is to stack firewood in the woodshed. All summer long it has been drying in the sunshine. It’s time to bring it in under roof.

It doesn’t take long for the chickens to notice what I’m doing. As the stacks of wood outdoors clear, and the stacks of wood in the woodshed grow, the chickens spot the bugs, spiders, and worms thriving at the bottom of the wood piles.

Hens, roosters, and mothers with chicks come running to enjoy a feast. Chickens are very observant, curious creatures. They know that if I’m doing something, there is a good chance I may be stirring up the dirt. They will come by to check, and if one finds something good to eat, the others will come.

At the end of a long day, Tangerine is herding her chicks towards their nest in the chicken yard. She had them out at the crack of dawn and over to the pile of wood for a hearty breakfast. After a full day of foraging she is ready for bed, but the little chicks aren’t quite ready. They want one last run through the grass.

September 10, 2015
Walking on 14 Feet is Tiring

Walking on 14 feet all day long is tiring, especially for a chicken. Can you count all the feet under this hen? There are actually 14. Two from the hen and twelve from the six chicks who are snuggled inside her feathers. For a little chick, nothing beats the warmth of a mother’s feather coat on a cool, drizzly day.

September 8, 2015
It’s Skunky!

Who is the mystery pullet laying eggs in the woodshed? It’s Skunky! I peeked into the woodshed this morning and saw Skunky in the nest. A short time later, she was gone and there was her egg.

A little over five months ago, Skunky was just a tiny chick, trying to figure it all out. Now she’s a graceful hen laying eggs of her own. What is intriguing is that her mother, started incubating another clutch of eggs this week. They are due to hatch September 27.

September 8, 2015