a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • Only 13 Days – The Excitement is Palpable

    MargaretAndChicksA

    Margaret’s chicks are as excited as I am. It’s only thirteen days until the days start to lengthen here. On December 21 at 8:48 pm Pacific Time (December 22 at 4:48 am Coordinated Universal Time) the winter solstice occurs. The sun will reach its lowest level in the northern hemisphere and from that moment, it will start rising higher in the northern sky.

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    The growing pullets are excited too. More and more of them are starting to lay eggs. They seem to be trying to outdo each other by laying the greenest, bluest, most pointed, most round, most whatever egg a hen can imagine.

    Even the kohlrabi are flush with joy. This is what kohlrabi looks like at dusk, after days of wind and rain. It’s survived weeks of deep freezes, and yet it springs back, sweeter than ever. You won’t find a better, happier, midwinter food than kohlrabi.

    KohlrabiInTheEvening

  • Tail Dragging Day

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    Today was a trail dragging day, rain from the get go. You know it’s raining a plenty when the roosters are dragging their tails on the ground. There are plenty of places they could go to be dry, but they would rather be outdoors, even if it is raining. It takes a downpour for them to seek cover. They do look sad, dragging their wet tail feathers behind them.

    The next time it is raining all day, you can say, “It’s raining so much, the roosters are dragging their tails.”

    TrailDraggingDayB

  • Ruffle a Few Feathers

    ChickensInTheWindB

    The wind blew all day long today, ruffling feathers and keeping the chickens in the brush. They’ll brave getting their feathers ruffled for sunflower seeds. On a day like this, they are glad they aren’t birds of the sky, getting tossed here and there by strong gusts. There are advantages to lying low.

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    That’s Hazel on the right and Cognac on the left. Cognac used to lay eggs with chocolate brown shells. She’s too old to lay much anymore, but she can still poop, and as long as a hen can poop, she’s worth having.

  • When Trees Sleep

    WhenTreesSleepA

    The giant cottonwoods have gone to sleep. They’ve shed all their clothes. Their naked branches rustle in the cool, winter air. What is it like when birds endure their first winter? Oh, no! Oh, no! Everything is dying. Whatever am I going to do? For them, their first spring, when the cottonwoods awake, and new green leaves sprout, must be rapturous. It’s rapturous for me, and I’ve been through many a winter and spring.

    WhenTreesSleepB

  • Carrot Candies

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    The heavy freezes of last week are gone. The baby carrots are no longer stuck in the frozen dirt. Deep freezes turn carrots into orange candy. When it gets below freezing, the starches in carrots turn into sugars to keep them from freezing. What you get are carrots much sweeter than summer carrots. These little gems are what’s for desert.

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