a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • Skunky in the Woods

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    What is this? The woods in the spring? That and much more. That and a perfect nursery for a mother hen to raise her chicks. Somewhere in that thick brush is Skunky, its siblings and its mother.

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    There’s Skunky, watching carefully, so it can snatch any good earthworm or grub its mother digs out of the forest floor. There are very few chicks who at 10 days old get to spend all day outdoors eating good things their mother finds for them. It sure beats living under a heat lamp eating chick starter with no mother around to care for you.

    Growing up this way, is one reason the eggs, the hens at a man and his hoe® lay, taste so good. Raising hens who lay wonderful eggs starts from when they are this small. As they sit on their nests, their minds are full of wonderful childhood memories. When they close their eyes, they can hear their mother’s call. That’s one reason their eggs are so good.

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  • What Frustration Looks Like

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    A bed chewed and ripped to shreds, that’s what frustration looks like. The culprit isn’t guilty looking BB in the back, it’s calm Echo in the front. We had to keep them in their kennel for some hours while we had company during the evening, and Echo let us know what he felt about not being free. That is just the way he is. If the door is open, he will spend hours sleeping in one of his beds in the kennel. However, if he knows the door is closed, he gets so frustrated he will destroy anything he can sink his teeth into. He should be the state dog of New Hampshire, the “Life Free or Die” state.

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  • Detour While Collecting Eggs

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    I went out to collect eggs this afternoon and made a detour through the woods to see what is blooming. Bleeding hearts, thimble berries, trilliums, and spring beauties were in bloom all along the path. On one bleeding heart leaf, a thimble berry petal had fallen.

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    In the garden, the apple trees are in bloom. In Japan, when people talk about flower viewing, they are talking about viewing cherry blossoms. However, this was not always the case. During the Nara period (710-784) plum blossoms were adored for flower viewing. Aristocrats would have parties to view a single plum tree and write poems about the plum blossoms. Their adoration turned to cherry blossoms in the Heian period (794-1185) during the reign of emperor Saga who was emperor from 809 to 823 because he preferred cherry blossoms. Some cherry trees those ancient people adored still bloom today.

    These days when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, crowds gather under the cherry trees to feast and drink and sing and dance. The feasts are often so elaborate that there is even a saying, “dumplings over flowers”, meaning that people go for the food instead of the flowers.

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    No day these days is complete without seeing what Skunky is up to. Is Skunky safe? Is Skunky healthy? Skunky is doing well. Long live Skunky!

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  • What Happens to a Bulb of Garlic

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    Leave a bulb of garlic in the ground in the fall and in the spring, each clove of the bulb will sprout, resulting in a beautiful green bouquet shooting out of the ground. If you leave it grow through the summer, you’ll end up with a handful of small garlic bulbs, too small to easily peel and use. But, pull the bouquet out of the ground while it’s still young, and the result is a wonderful bunch of green garlic, perfect to slice and dice, and season any dish which craves garlic.

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  • Asparagus Fever

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    The chickens enthusiasm is contagious when I dig several trenches to plant asparagus root crowns. They’re infected with asparagus fever, a feeling of overwhelming joy and exuberance brought about by the prospect of fresh asparagus.

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