Eggs

Check out this comparison of our own backyard chicken eggs and store-bought, large scale production, though somewhat local, eggs. Note that our eggs have larger, darker yolks as well as overall superior size. It's proof positive to me that controlling your own food source has tangible advantages above and beyond the peace of mind and satisfaction of growing one's own food.

Autumn is here once more.

I've been watching this maple turn and shed this month. The wind and rain of the past week has stripped it bare and one can't ignore the transition any longer.
I actually love Autumn, the color, the pause before Winter, the long views and the crisp days. Lately though, with my lower back aching petulantly and lack of time to myself has made me especially cranky. I don't like it but I'm having trouble shaking the funk.
Thought I'd make an entry before October ends without any word, even if it's a piss, moan moment.

Things to be thankful for: basically good health, plenty of food, sound roof, loving family...there's a great deal more but I'm cranky.

Ain't she a beauty?

This month my uncle delivered my beloved Lockerbie kickwheel. Currently production of these little lovelies has stopped and I was fortunate to find this one on Ebay, gently used, for half the original cost.

I was even more fortunate to have an uncle, not only willing to pick up said wondrous equipment, but also wanting to buy it for me as a birthday gift. Well ain't that a kicker?!

Sure is. hee hee.

I can't wait to get on it and throw some clay around. Deal is my uncle gets the first piece off the wheel. Completely fair request.

The Ugly Stage

The keets, who are not so keet-like any longer, have reached the accompanying not so pretty stage where any superficial beauty contest victories are out of the question. The birds are losing the feathers on their heads. Soon they will have a leathery looking crown with the signature 'helmet' on top. 'Waddles' are also beginning to emerge and at long last the guinea fowl will resemble the Martian's entourage from Bugs Bunny fame.

I don't know what she's doing. Do you know what she's doing?

It can't be good.

These are the guinea fowl hatched by our surrogate mother, Ms. Broody White Orpington. She picked up where the buff Orpington left off and hatched our quartet here. Looks like two pearls and two lavenders (possibly white but odds are with the lavs). It is yet to be determined which sex they are as its difficult to discern by sight. Most guineas are sexed by their call and these are blessedly quiet for the most part. That will change and we will hear the annoying, telltale "buck wheat" bleat soon enough.

These birds grew up inside after being snatched from their hatching place and now are fletched out enough to brave the great outdoors, under protection. Soon we will integrate them into the rest of the flock, but not before they've all been introduced and the young ones are happy enough to stick around.

In the next week we should have a new group hatch from our incubator (the mechanical one, not Ms. Broodypants). Our workroom will once again smell like a barn.

My Studio, a.k.a. the place I pile all my crap

It's absolutely wonderful that I have this great space to work in. Finding the time to make it a space I can work in is proving quite daunting. With the little one now walking I tend to stay in safer zones of the house or outside in the garden. This is my latest excuse for not getting my dream studio up and running.

Under all the chaos there will be space for individual and small group (very small) art lessons as well as my own working area for various media. My number one artistic passion is CLAY. I have a kickwheel waiting to be delivered as soon as I clear a space. My kiln is at the end of the shop. There's a large worktable I just retopped with masonite and two other existing workstations for "cleaner" arts like papermaking and block printing.

This shop will be seasonal as there is no heat and we live in zone 4. It gets a bit chilly round these parts and I plan to eventually inhabit a small heated sewing room (It doesn't actually exist yet. One thing at a time) in our attic during the coldest months.

That's the plan. Now to act.

Beautiful Pickles

Don't they look wonderful? The truth is they are not even close to being edible. My husband and I are responsible in that he poured the remainder of a salt container into a mason jar which I found in the cupboard, unlabeled. Unable to find the last of the sugar bag I thought was still bouncing around, I found the salt jar in the cupboard and assumed it was sugar. I used it in my bread and butter pickle recipe without tasting it to be sure.

Dumb and dumber.

A real bummer considering the time invested and the loss of resources but I think we both learned a lesson from this one. Good thing my cuke crop is just getting going.

Sigh.

We're having another baby!

There I was, milking one of our dairy goats when I heard the tell-tale 'cheep cheep' of a new arrival. Up tho this point we have been hatching our guinea fowl keets in an incubator. Last month, when one of our Orpington laying hens went broody we shoved a few guinea eggs under her. Apparently she did a great job.

I looked up to see the adult guineas intently gazing at something on the ground. There amid them was a small fuzzy child hobbling about. I scooped her up and deposited her into my shirt pocket while I finished milking. It was a very "Farmer-in the dell" moment.

Since then the good mother has hatched us three more little ones and they are now safely tucked in our brooder, fletching out their wings and keeping me awake all night... much like my first child.

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks six years ago that I dropped my comfy life and headed West into new frontier. I gave up my job, apartment and car. I stored my things with a friend and made haste for someplace else. People thought I was nuts. It was a bit, but I feel that for me it was a brave moment of breaking out of the security of known quantities. I grew up pretty sheltered so this was really pushing the envelope...heading to who knows where. It was the best thing I've ever done and I will elaborate another time.

For now I'd like to bring attention to today's Live Earth concert and the Localvore movements currently in play this summer. It's a major shift...that for me, started with my cross country trip...to let go of old ways that are proving to be damaging to the earth, ourselves and our neighbors. Its not an act that comes easily. We need to start now to make small changes that serve to protect our environment or at least reduce our negative impact. I like to keep my bearing on harm reduction. It's a step in the right direction. I'm not willing to go without toilet paper but I will buy a recycled paper product. I'm not willing to give up meat but I will support local growers and buy from a known and trusted farmer who pasture raises and so forth.

I won't turn this into a soapbox of preaching. I will encourage my fellow people to stop and consider the impact of their lives. Where did the food I am eating come from? How many working hands were necessary to give me my clothes? How much energy am I consuming? What am I giving in return?

Another thought: Though I am celebrating where I am today by the choices I have made I am weeping for an insect...the honey bee. They are going through a major downsizing in this country and its rather alarming. Check out the news. The bees of this country seem to be overworked and they are paying the price through major colony deaths and disease. The figure I've read is that roughly every third bite of food was brought to you by a honey bee's pollination. Holy cow! I'm going to keep an eye on this topic as its a sad story with tremendous repercussions on our food resources.

Note that my bee picture is that of a "Bumble Bee" not the honey bee in plight.

The good news is its summer! The garden is coming into its grand performance. The weather has been fine...not too hot, enough rain for crops and wells. Lots to be thankful for.

These are a few of my favorite things...

I'm currently plodding through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It's a method of unblocking one's creativity by journaling and self-reflection. The twelve week 'course' has turned into fourteen with no end in sight as I can't seem to designate enough time to finishing. Anyway, one of the assignments is to list favorite things as positive touchstones in one's life. Trying to get this blog off the ground I will endeavor to list some of my interests as a kind of intro to my world.

I Love CLAY...throwing it, sculpting and firing it, gazing at it. It is safe to say that ceramic art feeds my soul. I discovered it in 2001 taking a wheel-throwing class for the first time, I sat down at the wheel, putting my hands to the clay and realized that this was something I wanted to do, always.

I enjoy GARDENING. There is tremendous satisfaction gleaned from planning the garden in the cold of Winter, starting seedlings in March, planting, dividing and watching the garden unfold as the season progresses. I feel giddy when I prepare a meal with our homegrown veggies.

I like TEACHING. I've worked with at-risk high school kids. I've taught art to the willing. It's hard but almost thrilling when you tap a flow in class, when somehow you are able to pour your enthusiasm into your students, and they gulp it down and ask for more.

I like COOKING. I love food. Preparing it well is a skill I practice and refine as the years go by. I don't think I really became successful at cooking until my final year in college. From that point on I've broadened my horizons trying different foods and experimenting in my own kitchen.

TEXTILE ARTS has always been a passion. My grandmother drilled my childhood hands in various needle crafts and fabric arts, ranging from counted cross-stitch to sewing to weaving. She stopped short of spinning wool and I plan to learn that craft as well.

I like...AUTUMN, CHEESE, FLANNEL, LILAC, CALIFORNIA, THE OCEAN

Well, there's a slice. I think its important to remember what makes you grin...and then DO IT!

Oh yes! I would be remiss if I didn't list my husband and son as favorite forces in my current life.