a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • Colors of Farming

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    These are strips of alder bark, left over from making fence posts. When I first peel them off the alder logs, the insides of the bark are a light, cream color. As they dry in the sun, they turn bright red, which is why they are called Red Alder.

    From the Slater Museum:

    Alders are among the few higher plants that have the special ability to fix nitrogen, so they can take atmospheric N2 and convert it to ammonia (NH3), which then is available to be used in nucleotides and amino acids, basic building blocks of life. Thus these plants can grow on newly created soils that lack the nitrogenous compounds that act as natural sources of nitrogen for most plants.

    Which explains why alder trees grow like weeds here. In just ten to twelve years they grow to be 40 foot tall trees a foot or more in diameter, so they are very useful trees.

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  • A New Season

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    It’s the start of a new season – potato season. For the last four months the potato plants have been sending their roots through the earth, sprouting leaves and soaking up the sun, and working hard to form potatoes. Now it’s time to give them thanks for making such wonderful food.

    From now through fall, whenever I need some potatoes, all I need to do is go out into the field and dig up what I need. It beats making a trip to a grocery store to buy some. It seems very ordinary to be able to have such fresh produce, but when I think about it, how many people ever get to dig up potatoes for their supper just a few minutes before making supper?

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    These purple potatoes just have purple skins. Some varieties of purple potatoes are purple throughout.

  • Who Goes There?

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    I went to get the trailer to haul some fence posts and found on the end of the trailer, the intricate, winding footprint of what I’m guessing was a slug. It looks like a satellite view of a rocky desert landscape with rivers and streams meandering over it.

    How long did it take that slug to draw the intricate pattern? What was it looking for and did it find it? There are so many fascinating, marvelous, mysterious things all around us. You don’t even need to go looking for them. Just step outside and keep your eyes and ears open.

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  • Little Helpers

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    I have plenty of little helpers eager to lend their feet as I clear land for new fencing. These five week old chicks are very curious as to what I am doing. They’ve made the connection that my clearing land means plenty of bugs and earthworms to eat. Their mother is ever vigilant. A mother hen invests so much time and energy raising chicks, I wonder what they feel when their brood is finally raised and on their own. Do they feel a sense of accomplishment?

    Two days ago when I heard an eagle cry, I went into the field where I knew she was, to make sure she was safe. I found her but none of her chicks. She had told them to spread out and hide in the grass. They were so well hidden, I almost stepped on one. While they hid, I chased the eagle off. Once it had flown away, I went back to check on the mother and her chicks. One by one the chicks popped out of the grass they were hiding under, and I herded the mother and chicks out of the field.

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    Chickens have tiny brains. There is no denying that. But they aren’t small robots with no feelings. They feel joy, exhilaration, angst, fear, rage, jealousy, a rich spectrum of emotions. They deserve to be treated with great respect and love.

  • Softening the Edges

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    Ever notice when you cut raw potatoes how sharp the edges are? If you’re cooking for someone you love, take a minute or two to do something about those edges. Do you really want to serve them sharp-edged potatoes? Before cooking them, it’s easy to soften the edges with a peeler. Just run the peeler over the cut edges. With the edges softened, the potatoes will be easier to eat once they are cooked.

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    With their edges softened, the potato pieces will look more appetizing in dishes like potato salad, curry rice, and niku-jyaga 肉じゃが.

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    What to do with trimmed off edges? Toss them in a salad, put them in soup, mince them and use them to thicken stews, or let the chickens have them along with the other scraps you have for them. They’ll turn them into wonderful eggs.

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