Cracked Corn, Lettuce, & Toads

Out and about today - tossing a little feed out the our chickens... Levi's trying to figure it out

Just a little taste... to see why the chickens get so excited - I removed him from the scene after he went back for 'seconds'

The lettuce we're currently harvesting & a few peas behind them

Today was a day for toads! I had just commented to someone that I hadn't seen any toads around this year... and today I see TWO: one in the backyard and this one (who stood very still for some nice up close pics) up in the garden - of course my resident biologist husband, upon closer examination of my pictures, decided I had some nice shots of a Bufo americanus - a.k.a. an American toad - and decided he was giving me the cold stare to get me out of 'his garden'

An Eternity

It feels like an eternity since I've written - or even checked our blog - to be honest, it's finally sinking in that we'll probably be moving from Athens soon (Joe has gotten some positive feedback from his job interviews and a move seems imminent) and I'm trying to cope with feelings of grief and excitement - I've lived in Athens a couple months short of 12 years - becoming an adult, my college years, marriage, and now a new mother - many networks, many friends, the structures that support me - my garden, like a child to leave behind, not sure as I'm planting my tomatoes that I'll be here for their killing frost

Angie says I can't be locked in my college town forever - she had her baby on Thursday - NESTA JACOB HILLIER - May 22nd at 4am - 8lbs 3ozs - natural labor & birth - home now

Joe's days are filled with writing, writing, writing = the THESIS, the end, the means - his defense is creeping up soon (maybe as early as the 3rd week of June)

Do I plant on or begin to pack? It seems both.

Joe asks why? Why do that if we'll be gone from here soon? I say: when I'm 90 will I stop because death may be near?

Locally Grown is booming - absolutely booming - the 4 of us volunteering have become 5 (plus Eric filling orders too) - last week the line did not end, for 2.5 hours the line was out the door - a new location is in the works to accommodate the growth

Our garden is coming along nicely as well, and if I do say so myself, it will be my best ever - I have the time to tend it & really fill it to the brim - though I do see now a larger full sun space would be so nice, we will easily fill every inch of bed space - eggplant galore, 36 tomatoes, okra, watermelon, pumpkin, sorghum, lettuce, peas, broccoli, gourds, strawberries, peppers, beans, & basil - more concentration on cut flowers too, for selling boquets at Locally Grown: sunflowers, 56 coreopsis, cosmos, zinnia, phlox, 50 echinacea, cannas, crocosmia, & my favorite, tuberoses

Levi has his one-year molars in & is beginning to work on his "eye-teeth" - they too have decided to come all at once - he's officially become a curtain climber (as Marshall would say), after being found on top of the kitchen table this past week

What more? We've got a kick-ass yard party in the works... Friday, 06June08! Cookout, kids, beer, horseshoes, and a buncha firewood left over from the winter to torch. Please consider yourself invited!

Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I got motivated today & am cleaning out our storage building - off with the junk! Organization, zen. I ran across an old set of tiki torches we have - I've put them throughout the yard - so we'll have to have a beer at twilight outside.

Macrobiotics anyone?

Joe gave me a macrobiotic cookbook for Mother's Day & wow - what an eye opener! I thought we ate really good... but macrobiotics is on a whole other level - a completely different food structure to contemplate.

Macrobiotics eating is very grain based, about 55% of you entire food intake, with lots & lots of short grain brown rice! Pressure cooking is very common & soups & sea vegetables abound (wakame anyone?). Beans make up another 10% to 15% of your diet. Then veggies 30% - green leafy greens, root, & ground veggies are preferred. Fruits, nut & seeds, & meat are only supplemental.

So, I'll have to let y'all know how a few of these macrobiotic meals turn out - it seems I have most of the ingredients already on hand - we even had all three types of seaweed most commonly called for - though I do need to stock up on brown rice and maybe some daikon (I've never actually used daikon! but its all over the place in this cookbook).

Monday

We went to Wildwood over the Mother's Day weekend...

Marshall opening up the field across the road to make a pumpkin patch

shootin' the shit... JB and Marshall

everybody's home... most shoes come off at the back door (we do this at our house too - I think the less stomping around indoors with shoes on results in less floor cleaning - wear shoes indoors at my house & you will receive the evil eye!)

Granddaddy Joe & Joe Burnam - putting in tomato seedlings - 36 in all - filling half a row in Granddaddy's garden (my dream garden spot)

pink sweet peas & yellow irises

back at our house... the roses along the back deck are blooming

a few 'black' irises in bloom - though, when they open up they're really a very dark purple, the buds truly look black

those of you who know Joe may not be aware of his habit to walk away with dishes/leftover containers/cups/coffee cups and never bring them back - it drives me absolutely mad, to the point that I actually hide my 'good' leftover containers from him - finding no coffee cups in the house last week, I went out the Subaru to do a search - it resulted in the NINE cups above

Beach trip

Joe had a job interview in Savannah last Thursday, so we took advantage of the trip - made a long weekend of it & got to go to the beach on Tybee Island...