a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • With a Whole Lot of Little Helpers

    BeeInFlowerA

    The bees are everywhere these days. Just one of the many little helpers that make our lives possible. If it weren’t for bees, we couldn’t exist. Without ants, we wouldn’t be. Without plankton and plants, we wouldn’t have oxygen to breathe. When you step outdoors and touch the soil with your toes, right beneath your toes are thousands of microscopic nematodes, little wriggling worms, which eat bacteria and fungi and leave behind nutrients at the roots of plants so the plants can grow. Without these bacteria and fungi eating microscopic worms, we wouldn’t have grasslands, brush, woodland, or forests. We owe everything to a whole lot of little helpers.

    BeeInFlowerB

  • An Attack I Lived to Tell

    TigerMomA

    Whatever you do, don’t get too close to a mother hen with chicks. It’s like approaching a mother bear with cubs. I got too close to Himawari-hime while filming her taking her two day old chicks into the brush by the creek. She charged at me, and I did what you’re supposed to do when a mother hen charges, I rolled over and played dead. See her checking me out to see if I was still alive or not? Satisfied that there was no more life in me, she went back to caring for her chicks. The real reason most chicken farmers don’t have mother hens raising chicks is because too many succumbed to ferocious mother hens.

    TigerMomB
    TigerMomC

    [wpvideo cFnS0wf9]

  • Summer Is Here

    IrisA

    MeijiJinguIrisGarden

    Blue iris blossoms floating among the green leaves is a sign that summer is here. According to the Meiji-Jingu 明治神宮 Iris Garden website, there are 1,083 iris in bloom in that garden today, June 3. The iris gardens, designed by Emperor Meiji for Empress Shoken was one of my favorite places to stroll when I lived in Tokyo. It didn’t matter what season it was, the walk along the iris gardens was like walking along a winding stream far, far, far away from the city.

    When the iris bloom, the iris fields are flooded so as you meander through the thousands of iris, they look like butterflies, fluttering above a mountain stream. When the iris weren’t blooming, I could sometimes find myself to be the only one walking along the paths in that garden. The paths lead back into the woods and end at cool spring. When the iris are in bloom, the paths are packed with viewers, enjoying the iris.

    Here, far from the city, I get to view the iris with no crowds, no voices, no cameras, just the two of us every day.

    IrisB

  • Good Morning – Bad Morning

    HimawariHimeChickA

    Any morning with new chicks is a good morning. Himawari-hime’s chicks started hatching yesterday. I could hear them peeping underneath her. This morning, at least one popped out to check out what this big wide world was all about. As soon as she saw me, she ducked underneath her mother, and Himawari-hime lunged at me. She is going to be one feisty mother. With proper training, I think I could get chickens like her to become rabbit hunters. There are too many wild rabbits this year. Roving bands of two to three chickens could easily scare all the wild rabbits away.

    HimawariHimeChickB
    SpecialA

    Special is not having a good morning. Sunshine is in the nest she uses, and Special is having a fit. After listening to chicken talk for many years, I think four letter words make up a big part of their vocabulary. They seem to have a string of swear words for many situations and facial expressions to match. Fowl mouth chickens?

    SunshineOnNest
    SpecialB

  • Tea, No Bags

    TeaNoBagB

    Picking leaves like mint for tea is so simple and quick, how did teabags ever catch on? Want a cup of hot tea? Pick a few leaves. Put them in a cup and add hot water. When you’re done, there is less waste than when you use a teabag. You can scatter a few leaves most anywhere and it doesn’t look like garbage. Toss out a teabag and you have an instant eyesore.

    TeaNoBagA
    TeaNoBagC