a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • An Acre To Herself

    IMG_4716
    Chickens are social birds. They like to roost together. During the day they’ll hang out together in a dirt bath and gossip and kvetch. Hens will cavort with roosters and lead them on. But they also like to get away and be by themselves. They will meander off into the woods or deep into the pasture all on their own.

    I read an article in Modern Farmer by Tyler LeBlanc titled Virtual Reality for Chickens – Is this the future of free range? According to the article, Austin Stewart, a young assistant professor from Iowa State University, has designed a virtual world chickens can see by wearing a Oculus Rift headset. He’s even set up a website, Second Livestock, where he discusses his ideas of giving caged or confined animals the experience of being outdoors by wearing virtual reality headsets.

    It makes me wonder if either Tyler LeBlanc or Austin Stewart have even seen a live chicken. The experience of being outdoors on pasture and in woodland, is much more than just seeing those things. It is about touching the tall grass, feeling the brush, scratching the dirt with their toes, pulling earthworms out of the ground, and hunting down a field mouse. And with headsets on, how in the world are these chickens going to preen themselves?

  • Iris, Wysteria, and Babies

    It’s Iris and Wysteria season, a terrific time of the year to be outdoors.

    YellowIris
    WysteriaOpening

    It’s an auspicious day to be born. These chicks are just hours old, safe and snug with their mother. The clutch is due tomorrow so these two are on the early side.

    HoursOldBabyChicksWithMother
    HoursOldBabyChicks

    It’s a day for making a fuss. Hazel is making a fuss, but so many hens do after they’ve laid an egg. I guess if we had something as large as an egg coming out of our butt, we’d want to talk about it too.

    [wpvideo fiWQ6iuT]
    It’s a day for temporary art. The alcove in the entry way is a handy place to display eggs gathered this afternoon.

    EggsInAlcove

  • Where Do Tulips Go When They Die?

    Where do tulips go when they die? They fall onto their tombstones and slowly vanish.

    TulipGraveyard

    And these geriatric tulips are nearing their end. They are still beautiful, just like old people with all their wrinkles. At the beginning of the month, they were so fresh. Now, they are losing their shape, getting wobbly, and gracefully showing their age. But their beauty endures to the end.

    TulipAging
    TulipGeriatric

  • Egg Art

    Every day the hens lay eggs with such beauty, they are small works of art. When you buy them in a store, they are cold and lifeless. But when you gather them throughout the day, they are warm to the touch, almost hot if the hen has just laid them and left the nest. You can tell they are living things.

    EggsInHand
    EggArtA
    EggArtB
    EggArtC

  • Reuse, Recycle

    I needed a weeding platform for the hoop houses so I could weed the vegetable beds without stepping in them. I had ten foot alder branches, so I cut some down to five and a half feet, stripped them and ripped one in two.

    WeedingPlatform1
    WeedingPlatform2
    WeedingPlatform3
    WeedingPlatform4

    I also had a pallet lid with decent planks. I took the lid apart and used the blanks to make the platform.

    WeedingPlatform5
    WeedingPlatform6
    WeedingPlatform7

    I used sections of the alder branches to make the legs for one side of the weeding platform.

    WeedingPlatform8

    Here is how the weeding platform works. The end without the legs rests on the frame of the hoop house. The end with the legs sits out in the middle of the hoop house. And I use the platform to kneel on to weed the vegetable rows. The weeding platform is easy to move and now I can tend to the rows of vegetables without having to step on the soft dirt and compacting it or stepping on the plants.

    WeedingPlatform9