Another Gorgeous Day

Yes!  I love this weather.  I love being outside!

I started my day sitting on my front porch --"noticing".  Aaannnd--I actually wrote today.  I think it's been over a year since I've written anything new.  It was a real pleasure.

What I noticed about the mind set around writing is that, there is a certain frame of emotional well being that I have to be in, in order to see a potential story happening.  I have been living in a high stress environment, which is normal for a lot of people, I suppose, but it's not something I look for in my life.

However, today I realized that if I consciously disengage from the to do list spiraling around in my head...again, not really my consciousness of choice...but if I can disengage from that, I see magical things.  And they become stories.  My body remembers how to do it.  The only challenge is to remember to shift into it at odd moments.  Any moment.  Practice...practice.

So this was given to me...

And written down at 9 am on April 1, 2016...

The sun has been up for hours. 

But here-- 

It is only now rising above tree tops and shining through branches still bare of leaves. 

Now--before the dew dries from the grass and with the rays lighting up each individual droplet, standing on each individual tip of grass-- 

Only now, at this exact time when the sun shines on the ground, but is shaded from my face, can I see a wondrous network of shining webs.   

Each individual strand in motion moved by currents of air seems to pulse, much like I imagine neural pathways convey information within my own body.  

I ponder these threads which sparkle and shift with the ripple of grasses.   

To pull back in my vision brings this landscape of countless threads into sharper focus. 

This--so like a laser show pulsing to the bird chorus that plays in 'surround sound' all around me.   

I look closer and see webs waving on the air 

each emanating from a minute spider which could fit comfortably on the head of a small pin.   

They ride the currents on these web strands which act as sails to catch the gentlest breeze, no stronger than a baby's breath.    

My rooster crows   

Beginning a new movement in the bird symphony 

Supported by a gentle rhythmic clucking in the hen section of the orchestra.   

The webs fade from my vision as the sun climbs higher in our sky and the spell is broken.   

I rise from my seat to begin my work day and feel a gentle resistance.   

I turn my head in time to watch a web anchored to my shoulder stretch and break free as the silver thread captained by its tiny spider, goes sailing off 

Rippling on waves of air. 

--Rita Tortorello 

Spring & Outdoor Living

Esmerelda is helping.

It's such a gorgeous day that I'll be darned if I'm going to be stuck indoors even to do my dishes.

So I set up an outdoor dish washing station using this perfect old table my mom found.  Just the right height and size for this job.  It will definitely do until I get a more permanent set up.

And I can keep an eye on the chickens who yearn for adventure and are always trying to get out of their own very large yard.

What??  How did she get up there?

The reason I ran for the camera was because I heard a commotion (Sparky was beside himself and making the dickens of a row!) because there was a chicken on the roof of the hen house.  By the time I got outside with my camera, she was on the clothes line.  Sparky didn't recover until she flew back into the yard.

And look!  I think she laid an egg!!  I saw her sitting next to the nesting box about 20 minutes earlier, and now I see there is an egg there, in it's own little nest in the straw.  She's also busy cleaning up the hen house.  Hmmmm.  I wonder about that.

You can see the little egg in the straw at the bottom of the ladder next to the nesting box.

I think it's time to find out this little girl's name, since she's laying eggs now.  I'm so excited about this.

One more picture and then back to work.

Good job Sparky!  Way to stay on top of things!

Spring Mysteries

Rocky has somehow injured his wing.  

He came flying out of the hen house on Saturday morning like he always does, and landed wrong.  He lay on the ground and I came running over in alarm to see what was wrong.  When he got up his wing was sticking out a bit, and the feathers were disarranged.

I felt my stomach lurch a little and said a quick prayer.  Then began watching him to observe his reactions.  I did some energy work with him, and decided to leave him alone.  I know from experience that it's hard to give your animal space when they are ill or injured, but it really is in their best interest.  I didn't want my over concern intruding on his space.  What do humans know anyway, about the ways of nature.

Later that day I did some more energy work.  And his wing seemed to shift position on his body and look more relaxed.  Also he began preening himself, and his feathers came back into alignment.

I had a full day of work including clients to see for BodyTalk, so I allowed my attention to disengage from him once more.

By evening thanks to the beautiful weather we were having, the temperature dropped and I noticed when I closed the door on the hen house that the hens were snuggled up to him, keeping him warm and he had his head tucked under his good wing--something I've never seen him do.

He's been getting better daily, but there is still a problem with the wing and he has a rough time getting out of the hen house in the morning.  I'm determined to make some modifications in the interior today so he can get up in the mornings without injuring himself further.

With the exception of his wing not getting full extension, he seems nearly normal.  He crows and flaps, chases after hens and eats heartily.  It's a mystery to me how he injured his wing.  Did he do it coming out of the house on Saturday, or was it injured the day before, causing him to crash land on his way out the next morning?  Either way, the sooner I get them moved to their new "pasture" in my little half acre yard, the better I'll feel about the whole thing.  They'll have more cover and more to do.  The space is probably a little smaller, but not by much, and it will be new and interesting.

Animals get bored too and chickens are industrious.  If Ruby is bored, she will find a way to escape and get into a part of the yard, I don't want her in.  As soon as the garden gets planted by mid April, I want to make sure she can't get into it.  And that goes for the cats too, until it's well established.

Spring Weather

The weather has continued to be very fine, with bright sunshine and warmer temps during the day, though bone chilling at night.  Maybe it's just the contrast, because it doesn't seem to be freezing at my place in the night, but I'm reacting more to the cold in the mornings and evenings.  That cold mist that moves in overnight on sunny days.  Brrrrrrr.

But...Stuck Indoors Mostly

Unfortunately, I am mostly stuck indoors right now, though I'd rather be outdoors.  So I realized that I was being a dope!  Yes, I have to work on the income taxes right now, and it takes me a month usually, (because I'm too busy to organize my book keeping while it's happening during the year), but I could perhaps take everything outdoors to work on it??  That is, if I can see my computer screen.  

I must say though, that it has been easier this year, so I must have made some improvements in organization somewhere.

Organization is my biggest challenge at this stage of my life.  I prefer spontaneity to structure, but I am learning a new skill in taking on all these new tasks which require a schedule in order to meet all of my goals.  

My life is an interesting mix of mayhem and magic, which keeps things interesting. 

Having said that...I think I'll go wash my dishes outside now...who knows what might be going on out there.

Addendum

What did I tell you?  Even as I was getting ready to hit the publish button on this post, Ruby came knocking at the back door.  She just wanted to be social.

Zoë Cat Basket

Cats always seem to find the coziest places.

Spring Balance

I am enjoying this Spring more than I any I can remember.  There is just so much to anticipate right now.  Will the peeps lay eggs?  And if so when will they start?  And I’m looking forward to the garden build coming up in the first week of April.  Having a garden! Hooray!

I’ve taken my meditation practice out doors.  Indoors, there is so much going on that the walls seem to vibrate with thoughts, plans, stratagems, and to do lists all whirling around the house.  It’s too distracting.

Outdoors, I can still my mind easily.

Yesterday morning, I went outdoors as the full moon was hovering low in the sky.  I watched it set among the tree line as the sky brightened to the new day.  It set the tone for my whole day.

This morning the sky was too overcast to see the moon.  Instead the focus was on the morning sounds.  Incredible morning music of geese and birdsong.  Occasionally punctuated by the gravelly crowing of Rocky and the answering toy trumpet crowing of Sparky.   Starting the day this way brings me to center.

It carries me through as I do morning chores.  The sound of the metal buckets when I bring water and food to the hen house.  The slap of my wire gate, as it snaps back in place.  I walk the paths of my soon to be garden, and greet each plant, stone, insect or bird which calls out to my attention.

Once indoors, I can take that calm centered-ness with me.  And I light a candle to remind me to stay grounded today as I take on another busy day.  --To remind me to enjoy it all.  Living this way is a choice.  I either make a conscious decision to enjoy it, whatever I spend my time doing, or I become more bogged down, trying to keep my head above the water, mired in stress.

#StayingInLoveWithMyLife

The Kitchen Garden Project part 3

Pictures

Before

This is the quack grass and chicken scratched lawn that was my back yard.   You can see the large Rosemary bush and what is left of the old herb bed on the right side of the photo.  There are little animal trails still evident in the lawn, a remnant from when Ruby was raising her chicks right outside my back door.

Sod overturned in preparation for raised beds

 Looking the landscape over, I realized that the beds would be on a slope.  The ground here originally had a very gradual declivity sloping away from the patio.  Over time, and with the help of a mole infestation the ground sunk even more in this part of the yard, and became over run with weeds and quack grass.

I wanted the raised beds to be level and decided to get the site ready so on "garden building" day there would be no unexpected challenges.  I leveled the beds by placing sod from the higher side of the beds on the lower side, which evened things out nicely.  This photo shows the spot where two raised beds will go, and also the old herb bed in the back ground.

Originally, I thought I might place the third raised bed on the old herb garden site, but I decided on a different location for it.  I've been burying rotten wood and compost in that old herb bed, and hope to coax it back to productivity now that I've removed the invasive alkanet.

Alkanet growing under my Rosemary bush, looking like a harmless ground cover. If allowed to continue, it will overwhelm the entire site. This alkanet can grow to approximately 2' in diameter in all directions with flower stalks even taller.

While digging the sod, I was careful to take the pieces with quack grass and toss them over the fence to the chickens.  They enjoyed scratching through the clumps for bugs and worms, and ate the grass as well.  I've learned not to turn the quack grass in to compost, because the rhizomes continue to grow and invade the garden site  creating a mesh and chocking out all other plants.  The chickens made short work of it, as well as the large dandelion plants I also dug out.

I'm also taking the opportunity to give my back yard a make over, which is why I was so careful when deciding where the raised beds would go.  Now that I've reinforced the chicken fence, and made it taller, it has (at least for now) stopped the chickens from over running my back yard.  I couldn't blame them for wanting to keep coming back, because the chicks began their lives there.  But I have plans for that part of the yard.

Besides growing food there, I want to create an outdoor kitchen and I want to restore the yard back to a place where the cats can enjoy being outdoors.  With the advent of the chickens, the cats have been all but crowded out of their special, safe, fenced in yard.  And Buddy won't even go outside anymore, because he worries about those strange birds in the yard.  He doesn't trust that they will stay on their side of the fence.

And the chickens have attracted the neighborhood cats, making them determined to get into the yard, which they do by climbing a nearby tree outside the fence, and jumping onto our roof.  This is causing stress on my cats and I worry about fights.  My new plan of action includes moving the chickens outside of the cat's yard and into their very own overgrown part of the yard with more cover.  That part of my yard is very wild, so it will require new sturdy fencing and I will have to move the chicken house.  In it's place, I dream of constructing a small green house where I can start garden plants in the winter, but that may be a ways off.

The outdoor kitchen takes precedence because starting this time of year, I almost can't stand to be indoors.  Last summer, the only way I could get my dishes washed was to set up a dish washing station on the patio so I could be outdoors.  I want to have something more permanent and primitive/cute/rustic in design but very functional.  Instead of plastic tubs on the table, I want something more like this...





Preferably with a dual compartment sink.  These are just too cute.  If I had something like this in my yard, I'd love doing dishes.

For now, this is my yard.  Make over on the horizon.

The Kitchen Garden Project part 2

After the pre season orientation for the Kitchen Garden Project, we got into a pretty stormy patch of weather.  So I took the opportunity to go through my Growing Guide provided by GRuB to help get people started.

I made a list of all the vegetables I want to grow.  I made my planting schedule and then I made the garden map.

Today we had some really good weather, so I went outdoors and sort of prepped the area where the raised beds will be.

Because I want to put them on a spot that slopes, I wanted to make sure that the beds would be level.  I dug the grass out in some spots and filled it in at the bottom of the slope to make it level.

During this process, I got a call from the electrical inspector telling me he would be at my house in about 30 minutes, so I set the timer and kept working outside.  I was out back and listening for someone driving in, just in case he was early.

I didn't hear him drive in, but Rocky did.  The best watch dog in the world is my Rooster.  He always tells me when someone drives in.  He uses the same voice to alert me as he uses when a hawk flies through the neighborhood.  Fed Ex,, a contractor, or anyone else, if I'm out in the back yard, I can always tell that I need to go answer my door when he makes that sound.

After the electric inspector left, Mike came outside and took one look at the bed I had just prepped (a 4' x 8' patch of freshly dug earth), and wanted to know what the heck I was doing.  He was suspicious of the dimensions coupled with the fact that he's been kind of a pain lately.

By the end of the day, I had 2 spots ready for raised beds, and a third spot mostly ready.  I just need to transplant some irises and I'll be finished.  It's strange about the irises.  They've never bloomed here.  They used to bloom profusely before I moved them to this location.  This is one of the reasons why getting raised beds with good soil is so important to me.  Plants don't really thrive here.

I also pulled out all of the alkanet which grows like a noxious weed in my yard.  And here's the story about that.

I used to have tons of foxglove in my yard.  I also used to have lots of borage.  And I've grown comfrey in the distant past.  Alkanet fooled me into thinking it was one of these three plants, and so managed to get established on my land.

One year a plant came up in my yard under the birch tree, where the foxglove used to grow, and I was thrilled.  Hooray! I hadn't seen foxglove in my yard for a couple of years.  I was very careful not to mow it, and encouraged it when it began springing up in other places, including my herb bed.

Yikes! This plant was Alkanet.  (Not the purple dye Alkanet, but plain ol' Alkanet).  It gets gigantic, and spreads everywhere!  You should see the root on this thing.  And it choked out many of my smaller herbs.  I didn't think you could kill lemon balm or catnip, but this thing decimated those established herbs and put an end to my alpine strawberries too.  Only my violets moved out of the herb bed, and survived by finding new ground.  They even threatened to overwhelm the huge rosemary bush.

Last year I began removing the largest alkanet plants and it was no easy task, but I needed space for my potatoes, and since my herb bed was destroyed I decided to plant them there.  I have a feeling potatoes don't like ground where alkanet has grown, because they didn't do very well.

Another thing that fooled me, was that I let some small plants come up because I thought it was borage.  Yay! Borage!!  Well, alkanet is in the borage family, so it looks like borage seedlings when it first comes up.

It took me two years to figure out that this wasn't going to be foxglove, comfrey, or borage coming up in my yard, but by the time I identified this intruder, it was taking over.

Anyhoo, Now that I know it, I'll pull it as soon as I see it, while the tap root is still small.  I got most of it today, but I need to check the rest of the yard.  (I also need to check for scotch broom.  That stuff can really get out of hand!)

Back to the Garden Project though...I couldn't seem to stop.  After my weeding frenzy, I dug out a spot for the compost too.

The chickens loved the activity.  I threw the dandelion plants dug from the garden beds, over the fence to them.  And also large patches of quack grass that I didn't want in the compost.  Maybe when it gets hotter, but in its current state the rhizomes would probably grow in the compost pile.

Okay, I guess I have to stop writing because my computer is acting like it's possessed and doing all kinds of things I don't want it to, making it too distracting to enjoy writing.

Oh well.