These Two Hands

On a trip to the Children’s Museum earlier today. She quickly tired of the sparkly tutu and went instead for the caveman dreds, bat wings, and upside-down wand.

Pepper and tomatoes need plenty of calcium to keep them healthy through the growing season. I usually plant mine with a mixture of crushed eggshells, sugar (for beneficial soil bacteria), and epsom salts (for magnesium). But this year I forgot! The plants’re all starting to look a bit sallow. It could be all the attacks […]

Seven eggs, potatoes and onions and cucumbers from the garden became our first fully home-grown meal tonight (well, almost – I didn’t grow the dill or the lemon for the salad). Farm-fresh tortilla española and a side of cucumber salad, with (non-home-grown) cherry clafoutis for dessert.

Warning: Lecture. This is a great part of the reason why I feel so strongly about raising my own animals for meat, eggs, and honey. Ignorance. The hand-washing syndrome of paying someone else to do your dirty work for you, allowing you to take the lives of the animals that sustain you completely for granted. […]

It was in the mid-90s today, but since my time is limited before the Fall rains start coming I went out to work on the shed anyway. Sofía obliged me by taking a nice long 3-hour nap, so I got what felt like a good amount of work done… except to see it in the […]

Yesterday as we were driving to the fair, we topped a hill and the forest stretched in all directions. Sofía stretched her arm out and said “Oh, Mommy! Oh, Daddy! It’s ocean trees!” Could she really be poetical this young?

I just discovered the “Partridge Rock” chicken breed. Apparently it’s a good dual-purpose bird and a good egg layer; I suppose I only just heard of them because they’re fairly rare. But look how beautiful! Via Trying to Be Green Via ChickenCrossing.org According to the McMurray Hatchery site, Partridge Rocks “are considered one of the […]

I’m not sure how they made it here, but I suspect these nasty tomato hornworms probably hitched a ride as larvae in the soil/manure/compost I imported. They are beefy little caterpillars, roughly the size of my middle finger. (Which is what I feel like giving them.) A single one of these guys can take down […]

She was most excited by the Ferris Wheel, and had been talking about it for days. After corn dogs, sweet tea, and funnel cakes was the “Cow Palace.” I found the only two Jerseys polled Shorthorns.

So remember back in this post, just about one week ago, when I was pining for both more freezer space and a pressure cooker? Well, lookee what marvelous (free!) finds dropped in my lap in the last few days. A big, newish chest freezer and a solid-cast-aluminum pressure cooker! Both need some rehab, of course. […]