moonflowerz

Last night we had a gentle rolling thunderstorm. It was the kind that starts with a low rolling gutteral growl and never really gets violent or scary. The rain came straight down in sheets, soaking the land and making the sweet corn stand up and dance. The whole time I heard Enya's Storms in Africa in my head and couldn't help but smile. This morning the garden looks perky and refreshed and the woods are blanketed in puffs post-storm fog and drippy dew. Nice.

Today is only day 5 of my new vitamin regime. My Sandi is currently in school to become a licensed herbal/alternative medicine practitioner (I guess these are BIG in seattle) and her class has been doing a big speal on vitamin D3. She has me taking insanely high doses for a few weeks to reach "tissue saturation" and then I am to titrate down to at least 4000 IU daily during the summer. Supposedly the standard dose of 400IU that is the current standard in multivitamins is almost useless. I figured it couldn't hurt to try. In theory, these high doses are supposed to be good for autoimmune and inflammatory processes (like my freak rash), a mood enhancer (think how you feel after being outside on a warm sunny day) and an excellent prevenative measure against breast cancer and bone loss. I recognize that I am highly vulnerable to the power of suggestion and placebo effect, but I DO feel different mood wise. I also treated myself to adult "gummy" multivitamins and I must say I am way more motivated to take them in this delicous manner.

I guess we'll see what happens... she's also working on some herbal formula for my anxiety issues and if I understand correctly, I'm going to be like a case study for her class, reporting back its effects and any adverse reactions to her, if any. We'll see.





( Collapse )

More of Bud the donkey. He's really come into his own at his new home! I can hear this awesome bellow from across the farm field in between us when his pappa gets home. It's awesome :)

Well I'm finally mixing the baby chickens with the big girls this weekend. At this point in time ALL of them have to spend part of the day behind a fence to minimze damage to the newly planted corn. I must say they hate this, but sure as shit, the first thing they do when they get out is usually to run to pappa's wheat and corn field to scratch! Gah! Beasties.


Will ya look at all these? I'm starting to feel like one of those eccentric cat ladies, only with chickens... What happens if those eggs under blonde momma really do hatch and live? Aye carumba.

Well I have a sad outcome to my guinea story. When I got home from work on Wednesday, I noticed all 3 guineas out hunting in the yard. I investigated the nest and found 2 dead newly hatched babies in the nest, a small amount of blood, and the rest of the eggs intact but abandoned. Apparently after sitting on her eggs nearly 28 days in the frost and cold and rain, she had finally had enough. I don't know if she killed the two that actually hatched or they got a chill and died, but I'm assuming she said screw this and abandoned the rest of her clutch. She seems happy to be relieved of her duties and in the grand scheme of things it all worked out. Turns out there were 20 eggs in that nest and I did NOT WANT 20 more noisey guineas. I'm tempted to go crack open the rest of the eggs to see how many of them were actually fertile and viable.

On the flip side, one of my blonde buff orphington chickens has gone broody and is sitting on a clutch of eggs of her own in the hen house. At least they have an exponentially better chance of surviving. She's like a mad crazy woman protecting that nest box...she gets all poofy, eyed dialated and hissing whenever anyone goes near her. I had to wear thick leather gloves to move her long enough to mark the eggs with a black marker underneath her. She has 18 eggs underneath her and she can't have any more! I need to try to photograph her to capture that crazy momma grizzly bear look in her eyes.

On Thursday had a bit of scary excitment at work... When I arrived I was quickly shoo'ed in the door and it was locked behind me. All the blinds and curtains were pulled. Apparently there was/is an "armed and dangerous" man at large in the town walking around with a gun and the police put both the Nursing home and Schools on "lockdown." Citizens were told to stay indoors and lock the doors. Apparently the guy had already robbed and assulted two people and was on the lookout for his ex-girlfriend. Pretty scary stuff. He was actually seen at the school across the street trying car doors looking for one unlocked. As far as I know he has still not been caught. Kind of creeps me out...

Ugh. Last night I was so sick. SO sick. I vomitted so hard that the blood vessels are broken all around my eyes. It would almost be funny if it wasn't ME that looked like a pink racoon. I initially called off of work at 5am but after going back to bed for a few more hours I now feel exponentially better and called back and said that I would indeed be in, only late. Damn work ethic! There's too much work to be done so I only hurt myself if I take the day off and don't really need it. Today is western day at work and for some reason I really didn't want to miss seeing everyone running around with cowboy hats on. I actually have one that I bought a few weeks ago just to keep the sun out of my eyes while doing chores so now I have an excuse to wear it in public!

Lately I've been following the blog/journal of woman writer that has just started up her own homestead. I read her book and found her journal from the appendix. Anyhow, now I have it..... I have a name for this restlessness that I feel more and more...

My name is Kerry and I have barnheart.

( Collapse )

I have to go to work today. Again. I'm dreading it. I don't want to leave here. I don't want to go anywhere. I just want to sit on an upsidedown bucket and watch the baby chicks or wait for the garden to grow or listen for the emerging worms and insects or even clean my chicken coop. This whole place has become my security blanket and it gets harder and harder to leave. Like most people I guess, I just keep wondering why I can't just be independently wealthy and be able to give up the day to day drudgery! Here's my whine...... waaaaaaaaaaaa :( I don't wanna go to work! I want to celebrate mother's day like I'm supposed to, with my mom helping me to identify the emerging plants and scolding me for not weeding yet and burping her pepsi burps when we hug. We are supposed to be going shopping today at a garden nursery like during the nana days. Waaaaaaaaaaaa.

Ok. Whine over, I guess. I keep buying lottery tickets even though they make me feel like a fool. I could have bought a bean burrito at taco bell for that dollar... or a pack of gum... or something tangible like put it in a fence post fund... or more baby chickens ;) The dogs forgot, but at least needy girl chicken remembered to tell me happy mothers day today. Soon I have to get dressed and head into work. At least there is a party there today and I can be part of helping the old people in their celebrations... The worst is trying to reassure the ones that don't end up with any company though. There are always a few of those. Bah.

It's weird. I feel like I should pinch myself. If we wanted to, we finally have enough money in savings right now to just write a check and have the barn put up. I never thought we'd have enough money saved but there it is... and yet the fear is there. What if it's a mistake? What if some unforseen money emergency comes up? What if I lose my job or decide I can't take the stress any more? Should the mortgage get paid down instead? What about the proverbial safety net that I've always felt was a necessity? Our only agreement has been that we want no more loans/financing... that means no more credit card debt ever and no loan for a barn. No new car/truck either until the tractor is paid off.

I still get those NOTES FROM THE UNIVERSE, and they help to get me visualizing and believing. This is possible as long as I can keep fear from holding me back. I'm just amazed at the fact that this is all truly possible! We have a place picked out for the barn and he's already cleaning some more brush and trees along the fence line for the future pasture. I can SEE horses there... grazing peacefully and sighing into the wind. They say that is the key. Truly seeing what you want and knowing that it will happen.

If it stops raining, I'm thinking I might sneak down to the neighbors and pet their horses today. I'm pretty sure they are at work and I know they wouldn't mind. I want to feel them sniffing my face. I read that the best way to become acquainted with a horse is to let him/her smell your breath... to breath gently into their nose for them to take in your essence. How cool is that?


Look closely.... Can you also see horses there grazing underneath that magically gauzy sky?

A few weeks ago I sadly resigned myself to the fact that another guinea had been missing for days and most likely dead. They have been getting much TOO brave these days and venturing deep into the forest. Well in preparation for another large bonfire, we made a startling discovery.... she is alive in the cave like center of the woodpile AND protecting a large clutch of eggs! I'm a nervous wreck worrying about her being out of the coop all day and all night, but it's been about 3 weeks now and I anticipate that if her eggs are indeed fertile, they should be hatching any day now. When I first found her, she'd freak out and start hissing and poofing her feathers and doing her best to scare me away from the nest. But now, she patiently waits for me to kind of climb down and around her hidden spot in the woodpile and dump a small scoop of corn at her feet. It's a miracle really that a racoon or fox has not discovered her little spot in the woodpile. So far so good. I'm trying to be realisitc though... guineas are NOT known for their mothering abilities or devotion, and from others that I have talked to, most babies that are hatched naturally rarely surive. I guess we'll see...

The woodpile:

The monster wood pile

Now look deep inside...





a lovely little spring photo taken on my sleepy hollow road in Elanesse's orderly forest. Makes me want to curl up under that tree and wait for bunnies.


More spring goodness

So yesterday I ran some errands with my neighbor friend and we stopped at the mini mall to look at purses and shoes. It was one of those surreal days where all kinds of strangers went out of their way to smile and make eye contact with us and strike up conversations. Old ladies asked me where items were in the stores... a mom and daughter pair asked for our opinion on shoes for her prom. Store clerks asked where we were from (I guess assuming we were NOT from around here which I thought was odd?) and we got into a big conversation about all the garage sales going on, yada yada yada. While chatting, I kept feeling something itchy in my nappy messy hair bun and right in the middle of the conversation I reached back to my neck, felt a bump, and pulled a wood tick that had not yet engaged. Ack! Ick! As a natural reaction I threw it on the ground in disgust as soon as I realized what it was. Luckily Laurie was talking at the time so somehow, by the grace of gods, the clerks did not notice me pulling a bug out of my hair and throw it on the floor! I nervously scanned the ground for it hoping I could non challantly smash it with my shoe, but I wasn't about to stop our conversation and point out that I'm a freak and have bugs or pick it up and show them like a monkey in the zoo. It's not like you can just easily kill those things either, unless you smash them with a hammer, or my personal favorite, pee on them and flush them down the toilet. Meanwhile, I never did find it so there is now a tick residing in the carpeting of Sterling mall. We laughed about that the whole way home and the thought of it still has me itching... T'is the season to pull 2-3 off the dogs each day :/ Ugh.

When we got home we shared a beer and then I went for my Beltane walk. Such beautiful colors... and mmmm, smells delicous in the woods today. Makes me want to paint my toenails purple again. Oh and saw lots of mating toads in honor of the holiday too. Rumor has it, the hummingbirds are back in town so I have got to get my feeder cleaned out and up pronto.

My first set of news to share is that I got more baby chickens! The goofy bucket truck neighbor decided to take 200 baby chicks that didn't sell from the nearby tractor supply store for 50 cents each. What the hell is he going to do with 200 chickens? Anyhow, I agreed to take 16 from him even though we have no idea what kind they are OR the sex. I just took a few of each color and hoped for the best.

In theory I am not supposed to be getting attached to them because any boys are supposed to be going into the stew pot, but you know how THAT goes.

One of my favorite stress relievers is going into their little pen (with my new girl golashes that I adore) and letting them sniff and explore me and tell stories. Nothing beats cute chicken noises except maybe cute baby chicken feet. They are just so inquisitive and feisty when they are that age. The grown ups get quite jealous when I go in there and sometimes pace back and forth along the fence and make quite a rukus!