a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Author: theMan

Interracial Lesbian Mothers

What is happening with the two mother hens sharing a brood? They are still getting along. At night, they sleep side by side in the doghouse where they hatched their two chicks. It’s impossible to know where the chicks are sleeping. Are they under one hen? Is there a chick under each hen?

We’re calling them the interracial lesbian mothers. The chicks move freely between the two hens. The two hens aren’t exactly close. During the day they keep a few feet from each other, and it’s clear that each would rather have the chicks all to herself.

In the four years I’ve been watching hens hatch and raise chicks, there have been a number of unusual situations: hens which have given up incubating midway and replaced by hens which finish the job, hens switching clutches, and hens taking care of another hen’s chicks when the chicks were orphaned.

June 21, 2014
Solstice Eve

It’s the eve of the summer solstice. I’m not ready for the days to start getting shorter. The summer solstice comes too early. Days should keep getting longer until mid or late August. Many Iris are in bloom, and the apples are growing past their baby stage.

Driving home from picking up a truckload of supplies, two ducks forced me to stop. They were in no rush to cross the road. Such is life around here. This is no place to live if you are in a hurry.

June 20, 2014
Fields for Someone
Bicycling home after delivering eggs, garlic scapes, and greens to Tweets Café this afternoon, I had to stop and enjoy the roadside grasses and flowers. All the grass seeds and flowers are meals for many. The blackberries are in full bloom everywhere. Their white flowers provide meals for thousands of bees and insects. When the berries ripen in a few months, they will provide meals for countless birds and people who stop to pick them.

Roadside grasses and plants provide needed habitat for so many creatures. Which is why it’s important that they not be sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
- Roadside Herbicide Spraying: Only YOU Can Prevent Dead Frogs & Toads ~ Gardens Alive
- Coalition recommending a stop to roadside herbicide spraying ~ The Western Star
- Residents fear health risks from Whatcom’s roadside spraying of Roundup ~ Bellingham Herald
- County supervisors ban most roadside herbicide spraying ~ The Almanac
June 19, 2014
Two Moms

This is a first. There are two chicks with two mothers. Three weeks ago the black hen started sitting on a clutch of eggs. About ten days ago, a white hen decided she wanted to sit on the clutch two. Sometimes the black hen would be on the eggs. Other times the white hen. After a few days, they had the eggs divided and they sat on them side by side.

Two chicks hatched and today the hens had them outside. The chicks were going from one hen to the other, treating both of them as if they were their mother. When one hen would find something good to eat and call for them, they would come running to see what she was pecking at. When the other hen did the same, they went running to her.

I have no idea how this will turn out. I’m thinking that one of the hens will end up being the mother that raises them, but who knows? Maybe they will come to a co-parenting arrangement. See Interracial Lesbian Mothers.

June 18, 2014
Out of the Garden Today – June 18, 2014

In his Parasites, Killing Their Host – The Food Industry’s Solution to Obesity article yesterday, New York Time’s op-ed writer, Mark Bittman describes how food corporations are killing their customers by producing highly processed food that is causing the obesity and diabetes epidemic.

Aware that finding solutions to this epidemic is important, some of these food corporations want to re-engineer their food and work with communities to solve the epidemic. Of course, much of this new food is highly processed and as far from real food as the many of the products that line supermarket shelves today.

A more long term solution is to enable everyone to have easy access to real food, fresh out of the garden like I have every day. When you have real food this sumptuous, settling for something that comes out of can or box doesn’t cross your mind. Even picking up produce picked a day or two or a week ago loses it’s appeal. Nothing compares to eating raspberries off the vine or munching on peas that you’ve just picked. Everyone should be able to do this.

Organizations like Seattle Urban Farm Company and Urban Harvest show that this is possible. You can grow a lot of food in the city. And the more people eat real food, fresh out of the garden, the more they will demand it.

June 18, 2014