a man and his hoe

Out of the Garden Today – 2015/04/18

April 18, 2015

Along with fresh greens and eggs, there is the first peony of the year. Peonies in April, way up here! When have peonies ever bloomed in April this far north? Ten, twenty years from now, will they be blooming in March or even February?

Seven years ago on April 20, 2008, a late spring snow planted snowcaps on our tulips. The winter of 2008-2009 was brutal, with snow falling every day from December into March. Even our well froze and we survived by melting snow for several weeks. Such winters seems impossible any more. If the climate has changed this drastically in such a short time, what will it look like in another decade or two?
Jacqueline

April 17, 2015

Jacqueline’s modiste went for flair when she designed Jacqueline’s comb. A little bit more, and she wouldn’t be able to see out of her left eye. One of the reasons chickens have a comb is to help cool their bodies in hot weather. Blood circulates through the comb and cools. With her big, flowing comb, Jacqueline is prepared to voyage up the Nile and cross the Sahara.
Skunky and Family

April 16, 2015

Here’s Skunky and its four siblings taking a break on a log. Their mother is right by them off to the right. Watching Skunky grow is a so much fun. It’s impossible not to smile when Skunky greets my eye. A special treat today was seeing Skunky hop on its mother’s back (scroll down to the last picture). Little chicks do that a lot. They are excellent hoppers. Hopping higher than their height is no big deal. What if human babies could hop higher than their height? Baby proofing a house would be next to impossible.
A Hen With a Bear’s Face

April 15, 2015

This is Kuma-Hime 熊姫 or Bear Princess. I call her that because she reminds me of a bear. A hen with the face of a bear and she lays a green egg. Reality is more whimsical than fairy tales.

“Once upon a time, there lived a hen with the face of a bear. One spring, just as the apple blossoms were opening, and purple-green spikes of hostas were shooting out of the ground, the bear-faced hen laid an egg as green as fine turquoise.” Sounds like the start of fantastical fairy tale. And yet, it’s what happened here today. It’s like I’m living in a fairy tale. We all are, if we look close enough at what is happening around us.
It’s the Unexpected That Make Life

April 14, 2015

We all have plans for the day, a schedule of things to accomplish, people to call, emails to send, calendar items to do. But it’s the unexpected things that make life. This morning there was Lucky, waiting for me to drop something in the compost bin. Dew drops on the peony leaves. The flutter of cherry blossoms in the morning breeze. Stumbling on a queue of hens waiting to use a nest. Looking up at midday and seeing a hint of summer in the sky. Running into Buttercup in the evening as she led her chicks to the chicken yard for the night. And finding an egg with a nipple. Now, that was very unexpected. It’s the unexpected things that make life.

Out of the Garden Today – 2015/04/18

Jacqueline

Skunky and Family

A Hen With a Bear’s Face

It’s the Unexpected That Make Life