a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

  • Trip to My Grocery Store

    TomatoLeaves

    Preparing lunch meant a trip to my grocery store for vine-ripened tomatoes and some chard. There are no fluorescent lights, no other customers, no music, no cash registerers dinging. This is where I go to get much of my produce, straight from the source.

    And I can’t help but admire the beauty of budding tomato leaves, or the artful curve a growing squash makes. Look at the intricate design on the squash. It would take someone hours and hours to paint that, and yet a squash skillfully adorns its skin without a thought.

    GrowingSquash

    But what was a welcome surprise were the flower buds on the purple pod bean plant. Such vibrant colors. In a few days the bean vines will be loaded with these tiny dancing purple flowers. You miss so much of the beauty of how food grows when you only see the final product in your grocer or in a can on the shelf. Half the joy of eating a bean is watching it bloom.

    PurpleBeanFlowerBud
    PurpleBeanFlowerBudB
    PurpleBeanFlowerBudC

  • Forest Birds

    ChickensRoostingInTheForest

    My chickens spend a lot of time in the woods. They find plenty of things to eat on the forest floor, and low branches make great places to hang out and gossip.

    ChickensRoostingInTheForestB

  • One Day Old and Off to See the World

    OneDayOld-A

    These chicks are just one day old. They hatched yesterday morning. We moved the hen and chicks into a small barn for some peace and quiet. This morning when we opened the door for her, she was ready to show them the world.

    OneDayOld-B
    OneDayOld-C

    She’s got them on a full scale life enrichment program from the get go. You’re not hatchery chicks so it’s sink or swim, little ones! Let’s find some worms. Move those legs. It’s not nap time yet.

  • Off to Market Today

    OffToMarket140814A

    Off to market today are ruby streaks, chard, arugula, cherry tomatoes, baby kale and magenta spreen. Few things are as rewarding as growing produce.

    OffToMarket140814B

  • Adz-ercise and the Rise of A-Hoes

    adz-b

    Maybe this will become the newest exercise equipment craze. Swing an adz hoe for an hour and sweat will pour out of every pore. The New Oxford American Dictionary says that the word adz, also spelled adze, comes from the Old English adesa, but that the origin of adesa is unknown.

    The problem with working out in a gym is that you’re only exercising. Your exercise isn’t accomplishing anything, other than to make you sweat and get your blood churning. Exercise for an hour with an adz, using it to cultivate a vegetable bed, and not only do you burn through calories faster than a marathon runner, after an hour of sweating, you’ve accomplished something. You have a well cultivated bed to plant. Your satisfaction is doubled. You’ve burned through hundreds of calories and done some good, something you can see and feel.

    adz-a

    When it comes to gardening and farming tools, Japan is the place to go. Do an image search for 唐鍬 and you will see a bewildering variety of adz hoes. It wouldn’t take much enterprising to associate each type with a specific muscle group. Swing this one for your abs. Swing this one for your pecs. Swing this one for your gluts. This one will make your six packs pop.

    With the right marketing, small farmers could turn their fields into outdoor exercise gyms, with customers paying them for the privilege of working off the pounds, while they till the soil with an array of unique adz hoes.

    touguwa

    “Hey, Bruce, how’d your routine go?”

    “I’m wiped. I used the glutinator adz hoe to firm my butt, swung the abdominator adz hoe to crunch my abs, and bulked up my pecs with the pecsmaximator adz hoe.”

    People will go to work on Monday with bodies so well toned after a weekend of adz hoe swinging, that when someone calls them an a-hoe, it will be a compliment.

    “Hey, A-hoe, you must have worked out all weekend, man. You’ve got abs of steel!”