a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

  • From the Tiniest of Seeds

    CarnationSeedsA

    The beautiful pink carnations of summer are dried and don’t look like much. But inside their dried flowers are seed pods with the tiniest of seeds. Carnations have been cultivated for thousands of years. You can propagate them from seed, from cuttings, or by dividing them.

    It’s always amazing to watch plants grow from such tiny seeds. Looking at these carnation seeds which look like cracked pepper, it’s hard to imagine that under the right conditions, by mid summer they could become hundreds of beautiful, fragrant carnations.

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  • Crimson Surprise

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    The bed of saffron I planted at the beginning of October is already blooming. I wasn’t expecting any blossoms until next fall. The three crimson stigmas are brilliant. A number of other saffron are setting flower buds, so I may be able to collect enough saffron to use early next year.

    Initially, I was thinking of plucking these stigmas to flavor something this evening, but then I read that saffron stigmas have no flavor when they are picked fresh. They need to dry for two months before they get their full flavor.

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  • Mom Digs, We Eat

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    “Mom digs, we eat” it’s a basic rule little chicks live by. And whatever she digs up, they will gobble down. I’ve seen chicks swallow earthworms as long as they are. Imagine a baby slurping down a two foot long snake. The entire time they are pecking through the dirt Mom digs up, the little ones are chirping away. The need to say something isn’t unique to humans. Keep your ears open and you’ll hear all kinds of animals speaking their mind. If they all had Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat accounts, would they crash the internet?

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    With their heads poking around in the dirt much of the time, what you see of little chicks most of the time are their fuzzy little butts. It’s a good opportunity to see if any have pasty butt. It can be a problem with chicks from hatcheries. Occasionally a dropping will get stuck on their vent holes and clog them up; chicken constipation if you will. It can be fatal on a little chick. I’ve only seen it a few times on the chicks hatched by hens. Fortunately, it’s very easy to treat with a little warm water and gentle washing.

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  • Even Ditches Can Be Art Museums

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    Bicycling up the hill on the way home from the post office, the sight of this sculpted wing of ice caught my eye. It was hanging delicately over a rushing cascade. As I looked around, there was one enchanting ice sculpture after another. In a day or two, with warmer weather and rain moving in, they will all be gone.

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  • Going Places … Or Not

    LuckyOnAWheelbarrowA

    Lucky and her chicks hitch a ride on a wheelbarrow. What are they doing? Resting, or waiting patiently for me to come along and push them where they want to go?

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