a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

  • The Art of Baking

    The bread dough’s been sitting all night long. This morning it’s time to put it in the oven, and while it’s baking, to make a batch of oatcakes.

    ArtOfBakingA
    ArtOfBakingB

    There is a simple beauty to baked goods as they rest on a cooling rack. An ephemeral beauty, this scene won’t last but for a short time. Life is like that, creating one fleeting piece of art after another. At times it feels like I’m racing through an art museum all day long, spending a few minutes enjoying one piece of art after another, pieces of art which are gone forever shortly after viewing.

  • BFFN – Best Friends for Now

    BFN-0Back in March, these roosters had just hatched. Back then, they were little fluff balls, snuggled together under their mother. Now they are more than three months old and well on their way to becoming mature roosters.

    As they become teenagers and young adults, roosters like to hang out together. Get too many of them in a group, and they can turn into roving teenage gang bangers. In groups of two to three, they mind their manners and are best friends for now. Single young roosters who don’t have any rooster siblings, may pal around with an adult rooster for company.

    BFN-A
    BFN-B

    Eventually, as they get closer to being a year old, they start to assert themselves and their bffns turn into rivals.

  • Forest Birds

    My chickens spend a lot of time in the forest. It’s where there ancestors came from. It’s where the mothers like to take their chicks. Hidden in the brush, they must feel safe from predators. They seem to find lots to eat by scratching through the forest floor.

    ForestChickens
    MotherAndChickInTheWoods

    Below are two month old siblings. Once their mother leaves them, chicks hang out with their siblings. These are bonds which will endure for a long time. The wire fence gives the impression that they are caged. The wire fence is the dog kennel which is open most of the time. The chickens are free to come and go through the kennel. They can also fly out of the kennel if it is closed.

    How a Mother Hen Protects Her Chicks : May 4
    Just Three Days Old and All This Fun : May 1
    Teaching Them to Feed : Apil 29


    RestingSiblings
    TwoMothersWithChicks140704

    The two mothers jointly raising the two chicks are getting along pretty well. The chicks have bonded with both mothers and go freely between the two.

    See also:
    Importance of Love
    Summer Musings
    More on the Interracial Lesbian Moms
    Interracial Lesbian Mothers
    Two Mother Hens

  • Picked Today

    20140703Eggs

    It’s Thursday, time to deliver eggs and produce picked this morning to Tweets Café. This week I have three cartons of Ruby Streaks, a carton of kale and chard, and some shallots, and of course eggs. In few weeks I’ll start making an extra delivery of fresh salad greens to Tweets on Saturday. Eventually, I plan on delivering fresh salad greens every day they are open and expanding my service to other restaurants which want to serve their customers produce picked that day.

    20140703BicycleDeliveryA
    20140703BicycleDeliveryB

    On the way home, I dropped by Bow Little Market, a country market held on Thursdays in Belfast, Washington. This is the fifth year for the market and it has grown a lot since it first began.

    BowLittleMarketA
    BowLittleMarketB

    Bow Little Market was started by Chuckanut Transition, “a group of rural, independent and capable people learning to live cooperatively with each other and our natural world.”

    BowLittleMarketC
    BowLittleMarketD

    Bow Little Market is held next to Belfast Feed Store, on North Green Road near the intersection of Old Highway 99 and Bow Hill Road. The nearest freeway exit is exit 236 on I-5 north of Burlington, WA.

    BowLittleMarketMap

  • Planting Beans

    PapaDeRolla

    World genebanks hold 40,000 varieties of beans. Every year I try different varieties. Two of the new ones I am trying today are Papa de Rolla, a bean from Portugal, and Zuni Shalako, a bean from Southwestern United States and Mexico. I purchased these beans at the Olympia Farmers Market in June.

    ZuniShalako