A Tour of the Chicken-Children
September 18, 2008|Comments (24)
And here his is, Menina’s boy toy. We named him “House” after Dr. House from the television show with the same title. So named for his mythical limp he uses when Menina approaches… House is a constant source of comedic relief. Our intent was to find a man for Menina so that she could enjoy mothering her own species instead of wooden Hobby Lobby eggs. If House made any romantic overtures, they were obviously lost on our gal, Menina.
Persnickety thing, isn’t she? I can’t help but adore that little maneater. She’s a babe and she knows it.
Look at that confident stride? She owns that runway. And that haughty expression? No wonder House turns into a stuttering, hobbling peep around her. But enough of the match-making. Shall we take a tour of the chicken-children?
Meet Sara Beth (a.k.a. Kansas Sunshine) our psychedelic chicken. She lays green eggs, has furry legs and facial hair. Auntie Katydid and I declared her a hippy chick if ever there was one. She’s an Ameraucana and proud of it. Were she human, we feel sure that she would drive a chocolate brown Volvo station wagon covered with political bumper stickers, wear wool-blend socks with Birkenstocks, and dash about in long flowing skirts that fail to hide unshaven legs. That’s my girl.
And the dynamic duo: Buttercup and Lucy. These two are secretly plotting takeover. They are former child stars… Buttercup achieved early fame from taking her place as a header image and posing in my kitchen as the cutest yellow chick I have ever seen. Lucy enjoyed considerably more attention after parking herself on my sink faucet and getting published in Small Town Living. They have not taken kindly to their D-List status and after some dark periods they have decided to start taking minor roles in Lifetime Original Movies.
So, there’s a brief tour. We aren’t finished. Ho! Ho! Just when you thought you were safe… the chicks are getting big and are quickly making their personalities known. I leave you with a snapshot of that little bit of that chaos. And the Buff Orpingtons… our little nudists. But that’s another post for another day.
Reclaimed Space, The Front Garden
September 18, 2008|Comments (8)
Unlike so many folks, I think of my garden as much more than the little raised beds we have planted and tended to. Our veggie garden is like the Milky Way and our front garden is more like the Universe. Well, sort of. Anyway, the front garden is actually just the front lot of our property and it is filled with all sorts of fascinating bits. Previous owners decorated it with farming rubbish and slowly, the land has reclaimed those spaces. I am continually amazed at the junk art collection we have amassed simply through clearing the invasive plants out of the “garden.” Yesterday, I wandered around with Josh’s big artsy-fartsy camera (Canon EOS 40D, for all you camera snobs) with the telescope variety long-as-my-arm lens which has a nifty little glare-reducing cap. I gotta tell you… with the right camera, we’re all genius photographers. Using that camera makes me very proud of what I have accomplished with my itty bitty Samsung.
Enough about cameras! The point here is that eventually nature overtakes, perhaps not in a Frogs (1972) kind of way but certainly in a picture-above manner. I am very impressed at the resilience of my garden in particular. No doubt it sustained considerable abuse from its former (long ago) owner, who I picture as the-hills-have-eyes type in bib overalls pouring out used oil, tossing old tractor tires, and lugging broken plow blades into the green lush that is our upper lot. In FernGully fashion, I feel sure that the wildlife watched with sad eyes as the trees soaked up the toxins from that farmer’s waste and perhaps plotted revenge (oh, I do hope). And what is left of that farmer? Well, his buildings were long ago lost to kudzu, his land is now divided, and while I cannot speak for the land owners around us — we are trying to undo as much damage as we can.
Soon, we’ll plant a legume ground covering which we will turn under as green manure. We hope to rebuild the soil and allow the natural beauty of our front lot to show through without garbage from previous owners or the choking vines from invasive plants.
My fellow tree huggers (this is a compliment, y’all), I want to know about your experiences with pollution. I want to know the most polluted city you’ve ever been to, how you recycle, the parks you have cleaned up, the most beautiful natural garden you have ever seen, and how you are working to change the world. Do tell. I love your stories. I really, really do.
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