Blogs

On April 26, we bought three chicks: a "black sex link":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sex_Link, a gold sex link, and a "buff orpington":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpington_(chicken).

We incubated them in the living room and the mud room. Once we put them out, they got along fine with the single remaining Araucana hen. The Araucana has begun to crow, now that the rooster is gone.

Our grapes are abundant, and we ate the first few bunches yesterday and today. Delightful!

Wash about a pound of cardoons, strip out the fibers, cut them in 1 to 3-inch pieces.

Boil them in a mixture of water and milk (50/50) to which you have added a bit of flour (1 tablespoon per 2 pints) until they are half done. Drain the stalks and transfer them to a skillet with olive oil, smashed whole cloves of garlic, and a few bay leaves (2-3). Cook them over a brisk flame until they are tender, 10-15 minutes. Shake the skillet occasionally, and near the end stir minced anchovies into the skillet and help them dissolve by rubbing across them with the back of a wooden spoon. Add mixed spices (freshly ground pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves), and, if the contents of the skillet look dry, a little hot water.

"The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore we’ve learned most of what we know. Recently, we’ve waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can’t, because the cosmos is also within us. We’re "made" of star stuff. We are a way that the cosmos can know itself. The journey for each of us begins here. We’re going to explore the cosmos in a ship of the imagination, unfettered by ordinary limits on speed and size, drawn by the music of cosmic harmonies. It can take us anywhere in space and time. Perfect as a snowflake, organic as a dandelion seed, it will carry us to worlds of dreams and worlds of facts. Come with me."

Today we finally moved the small barns all together. Yesterday Jessie helped us move everything out of the tool barn and the grass hay barn. Today our next door neighbor Tom came over with his big hay squeeze (it can lift 8500 pounds). He picked up each of the barns and moved it aside, then we relocated the eight pier blocks and approximately leveled them. Then Tom dropped the barn back down onto the blocks. The barns are quite a bit higher off the ground now than they were (a good thing, since they will rot more slowly). Tom moved the stack of grass hay in front of the barn door for us, and Jessie loaded the hay back into the barn.