Umbrellas, Cats, and Jack

Meet Jackson Riley. Otherwise known as Jack. He is the son of our two good friends, David and Brandi. Their cute little family came over for dinner this past Friday and I was worried that Jack would get bored. But I think he had an ok time :) He was really excited about the four legged critters... The umbrella twirling was a big ordeal... I think they'd both still be there twirling if it had been up to them...

He got to see the "tats" and the chickens and a really, REALLY big dog (guess who?).

I do believe that a good time was had by all - even the two year old!!

If Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words, Then Why Do I Still Have Words??

We ordered seeds for this plant three or four years ago. The flowers are so pretty and dainty. The plant is called Marshmallow. If you are interested in learning more about it, here ya go:
http://www.woodlandfairyacres.com/historyofmarshmallows.php It was too much for me to summarize this morning. Just click the link if you want to read about it.
I love the simpleness of the flowers...

And the bees love it. See the one flying off? I think he's shy...

Purple Cone Flower...

This cat followed me everywhere this morning. We had a love fest on the front porch. Funny thing is, this cat has never let me touch it very much at all and actually ended up in my lap trying to groom me. Thing is, I had told Adam to take this very cat (among others) to the pound because we just have too many and due to circumstances beyond our control have had a few more show up.

Scary grooming session, but he wasn't hurting me - just trying to get me to hold still... I don't know what lesson I'm supposed to be learning, but the cat still has to go. Now I just feel worse about it. Sorry cat...

We took a trip together to the yarrow. The pink variety bloomed yesterday. It is so pretty. By now, you probably think I have issues because I have three different kinds of yarrow. Well, I'd have more if I could find it. I have no idea why I think it is so pretty - I just do. It makes me happy to look at...

See? I bet you feel all happy now, too! How can you look at that and not smile, I ask you??

Then we went to the chicken coop. I forgot to get the eggs yesterday and my grumpy hens will start eating the eggs if I leave them for very long. So I go to get the eggs and the white chicken that always escapes escaped. The cat there watched me chase it around the yard for five minutes. She is very tricky, that hen. You have to heard her just right or you go in circles for days. Five minutes is about close to my best time with that chicken. I'd have taken a picture, but then it would've taken longer and it has become a personal issue with me. She doesn't do it to Adam... maybe it is because he closes the door to the coop when he gets the eggs... :)

We have eaten and gifted a full bed of potatoes so far. Don't worry. There are more. LOTS more...

We have a whole trellis of peas that we are going to let ripen for seeds for next year. We love sugar snaps and I have decided that next year I am going to plant peas like we planted potatoes this year. I will then be happy with the amount of sugar snap peas in my garden.

We like to plant turnips and kohl rabi in the pea beds. They fit perfectly and feed at different levels in the soil. We take up less room in other beds and also do not waste space in the beds we plant in. See the turnips at the bottom of the picture??

If I had to title this picture it would be, "Really Big Honkin' Turnip". Because that is what that is. Now I have nothing against turnips, but I don't eat them like I do potatoes or chocolate, ok? I'm not afraid to tell you this. Adam does love his turnips better than chocolate because he doesn't really like sweets at all. I could say, "Honey, we are having creamed turnips for dessert." and he would be giddy with excitement. I don't know what is wrong with him, but what is wrong with me is that we don't grow chocolate and I have know idea what I'm going to do with all of the turnips in my keeping. Adam just says, "Well, Baby, they store well..." Thanks, dear. Thanks a lot. :) Now I'll just invent a place to store them... They are pretty, though, aren't they?

The bees were going crazy this morning. They were covered in pollen and buzzing around everywhere. Please ignore my weeds. We are not ignoring them - it is just that there are a LOT of them and two of us!! We're workin' on it - promise!

Mr. Ladybug was covered in pollen. Do you see it on him? You know I can't resist a ladybug picture... Thanks for tolerating my eccentricities!

My first stargazer lily bloomed this morning. All is now well with my soul.

And I hope it is well with yours. If not, go look at some bugs and flowers. You're bound to feel better!

All my love,

Malinda

Lately...

We have declared war on the fire ants. What was that? You didn't know there were fire ants in Tennessee? Well, let me assure you there are because THEY ARE ALL IN MY GARDEN. It started out innocent enough. A little hill full of ants. "Let them be, Adam," I say. "They aren't hurting anything." Then the hill gets bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER and someone down at the market asks Adam if we have any fire ants and he says "Ummm, I don't think so. How can you tell if you do?" The guy says, "Well, it is a huge hill of ants." Then Adam says in a calm low voice, "Yep we got em." He comes home and we decide we'll just set a really big fire on top of the fire ants. Makes sense. Kill the fire ants with FIRE! Not REALLY. They then conlonized our GARDEN and the dear, Lovin' Husband went up to the co-op and talked to the really nice lady who thinks we are very weird people. She told him what to get and did one bottle work? Did two? We are on, like, bottle eleventy million and they are still finding new places to hide and it HURTS when they bite you in between your fingers. Betcha didn't know that! The red below is one of their recent attempt to recolonize. They carry their young. How responsible of them. Enough of that...

Hangin' with BoJangles.

Watchin' Maggie declare her utmost love, loyalty, devotion, and life to Adam. She really wishes she were me.

Now if that isn't precious I don't know what is...

Feeding weeds to the chickens. My goodness they start singing when they see us coming near them. It usually means a juicy treat of some sort. Worm here + weeds there = happy chickens.

See how they're waiting? They Know he's gonna come through for them.

Mmmmm. They cluck the whole time they're chowing down.

Watched Matoike the cat try to catch a dragonfly. I'll see if the video will upload.

Have been admiring the pretty flowers. This is my sage blooming...

Mowed the backyard (me! I did it!! - not even vicariously through Adam..., but completely by myself. He was proud...)

Nothing makes me happier than to sit down in the yard with Adam after a long day of work and watch the sun set through the trees and watch the shadows move across the freshly mown grass. Mondo likes it, too. See him?

Have a wonderful day!

Love,
Malinda

Another Cat Post...

We have these two black cats. I call them One and Two because you can't tell them apart. One of them will let you pet him and the other won't - that is about the only difference. I've noticed lately that when I go down to the chicken coop, they follow and hop up on the roof to check out a) the goings on in the run (which is the fenced in area the chickens hang in) and b)the goings on in the coop. When I took these pictures a couple of days ago, only one of the duo was there, but usually they hop up there together and stare at you. It is kind of freaky because they are so similar.


As usual I am taking pictures while my Lovin' Husband works. Here we ( and I use the term "we" loosely here people) are getting the composted (old) chicken poop OUT of the coop to put IN our garden. It is full of goodness for our growing and hungry plants. See the composted poop? There is straw in there, too. We put straw in there for the chickies to be comfy in and they reward us by pooping in it and breaking it down. We then (not often enough) remove straw and poop. Free fertilizer. Well, I guess not free, but REALLY cheap.

I post of the cats often enough to explain why I like them so much, I suppose. We had one cat show up and now have quite a few. They keep the voles (mousey rodent types) pretty much gone from the chicken coop, the moles and rabbits out of the garden, and even help with keeping the birds out, too. They do earn their keep. I find them interesting and Adam finds them a pain in his butt until he remembers why he will get to eat broccoli in June. Then he cusses and feeds them. I in turn love on them as much as they will let me. Very self sufficient, the kitties.

They watch the chickens, I watch them, and Adam tolerates us all...

See ya on the flip side...

M

There is Hope...

Two months from now, I'll go out to the garden and see things like this:

There will be no more cold fronts - no more frosts. Now - am not wishing the time away. I enjoy my days, but I'm goin' CRAZY. I'm ready for the cold to be less frequent. Not that the weather should be based upon what I want, but I'm COLD. :)

We've planted potatoes, onions, peas, kohl rabi, and turnips and transplanted a TON of garlic. There are more potatoes in the house waiting for us to do something with them and I still have to get some broccoli in the ground. Lettuce too. Maybe a quarter of the garden is weeded and ready - our neighbor is fixing our tiller. We didn't want to use it, but will have to just to keep up for the spring, anyway. So we have garden prep to do, still, and getting beds ready (we do a funky kind of semi drought resistant raised bed system). We are also wanting to start some rain barrels this year.

There are five 3 day old kittens on the back porch (that will need a home in 5 weeks and 4 days) and 30 chickens on the deck in a pen that keep reminding us to build them a permanent home. They're not ready for it yet, but will be soon and we need to get busy! We are also looking for mutt homes. I have TOO MANY dogs and they are driving me NUTSO. If you need a mutt, let me know. I can help.

It is time to start tomato and pepper seeds and also time to be planting some apple, pear, and cherry trees, methinks. We're gonna cash in ye olde change jar and see how many trees that'll get us.

On top of all that is lesson preparations for students, lessons, house cleaning, window washing, church stuff, and music playing. One of Adam's friends down at Flat Creek Market gave us a four track digital recorder with an MP3 encoder, so we have a new toy to play with.

All this being said... I have plenty to fill my time until I can bite into a juicy, homegrown, bright red and purple heirloom tomato. That thought alone will get me through the spring time craziness!!!

I love life, I really do. I'm happy to be alive and see all that God has created - to be a part of it. There is so much to experience and do in this one short lifetime that I feel full of God's love and am in wonderment of His beautiful creation. I feel rich with all He has given my husband and I.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Keep warm!!!

Love,

Malinda

ps. I tried to separate my sentence groupings, but good ole blogger keeps putting them back together again...

They Share...

The first thing people ever say when they walk into our backyard and notice all the animals is, "Do they all just get along? Dogs, Cats, and Chickens??" Then they shake their heads and stare. Adam and I are used to it and do our best to assure people that the chickens are not food or sport for the four legged critters. The cats grew up patroling the coop (for a couple of weeks, the birds are enjoying some yard time and we're all ok with that - we had a lone chicken that needed reintegrating anyway). Occaisionally one of the dogs will remember that they are INDEED a dog and that dogs should chase chickens, but we do our best to reinforce to the dogs that if they eat (ahem, PLAY WITH) the chickens, then there will be no chicken eggs to find and eat. Ever heard the phrase "egg suckin' dog"? They love eggs - it is the weirdest thing. They share... we didn't teach them to - they just did it. Chickens love cat food. Who knew? What I do know is that a bag of cat food is a LOT more expensive than a bag of chicken food. (Note to Husband: we gotta do somethin' about the chickens, baby. I'll help. Really...)

Also, note violet down there by the *pond*. This is a big deal for poor, delicate V. You do not know how much courage that dog has summoned to be sitting where she is. She is not quite the brave country dog. More like a fragile broken thing that is finally recovering and becoming her true self. Good for you, V. (I know that I am talking to a dog on the computer. I know that she can't hear me or even if she could, she wouldn't completely understand, ok? Just cut me a little slack here...)

See, the chickens need a new coop and run*. Their old one is ok, but we have the materials to make them a better one that I can get into to feed/water/health check/collect eggs and not hurt myself (my back ain't so hot). Adam does most of the coop and pen work with the birds because of that right now, but I'd really like to dote on (spoil) them myself.

It has been too cold and muddy to build one or fix the run they escaped from, so right now we have chicken au naturale. We like it when they free range, but then they eat our garden (and our not so cheap garlic fertilizer -I'm not completely over that yet and it happened last year). We settle for feeding them all of the garden scraps (tomatoes - they LOVE tomatoes) we can.

** a run is where the chickens hang outside during the day - the bigger the better the happier the chicken - and we like happy chickens around here)**

Sometimes though, I wonder. Am I going to wake up one day to a big pile of fur and feathers in my backyard??

I think sometimes they wonder the same thing...

Happy New Year!