Lord, Love A Duck..

And I do.
I really, really do.

Now, you know me.
You know that I am not given
to exclamations over cuteness.
I don't 'ooh' and 'awwwww' over critters.
I am not given to getting weepy eyes
when I see something precious cute.
But...
I do over the stupid ducks.
I getting teary-eyed.
Honestly teary-eyed
over ducklings.
They have wittle flappy feet!
(hands waving up and down)
And they wittle 'wacker wackers'!
(hands mimicking a wee teeny duck bill)
I just wuv 'em to pieces!
It's disgusting, isn't it?
But I cannot help it.
And it is not getting any better..
at all.
Each new hatch tears me apart like the very first hatch
and when I see them toddling around the yard
on their wittle flappy feet
I just fall apart.
I am completely lost.

Well... this is Crack.
The name..
We are partial to unusual names around here
and her mother's name is Peruvian Flake.
Peruvian Flake is a solid white duck.
So, of course, we named her after a fine grade of cocaine.
She hatched very early in the Spring
and had two weaklings.

This is Crack and Smack.
Crack (cocaine) is the light one
and Smack (black tar heroin)is the dark one.
See?
I told you we name oddly
and it is because I have an odd sense of humor.
All my fault.
Anyhoo.. I raised Crack and Smack.
Sadly Smack got consumed by a very large snake at some point.
It was a 'closed room' mystery.
Literally.
We closed them up at night
and there were two ducks.
In the morning there was one duck.
The only possibility is a snake
was drawn to the heat lamp
and came in through a crack near the ceiling.
Poor Smack.
So, Crack became a singleton.
And Crack is spoiled.
She was rejected by the flock,
but was slowly re-integrated.
Then she became exalted
because she could communicate with
the 'food bringers'.
We would speak to the flock
and they would turn, en masse,
to Crack for translation.
It was hysterically funny.
Now, she is just a bitch.
She contains a greatly overblown
sense of entitlement
and is downright mean to ducklings.
Oh well.

So.. we are up to about 50 ducks now.
It doesn't take long.
And these are all Muscovies.
They are a red meat duck and at least a dozen
will go to butcher every 3 months or so.
They will be sold to local restaurants.
We WILL NOT butcher these ourselves.
We did it once or twice.
Never again.
Somethings are best left to professionals.
Too much down.
Too much.
Much too much.
And the professionals have a waxer.
Yep.. they can do it.

We have ducks.

This is Canada.
He will be one of the 2 'new' drakes
that will rise to the top after butcher.
Canada because he looks like a Canada goose.

And this is Limpy.
He will be going to butcher.
He is a great duck and is chief babysitter.
Duck hens are just slack mothers.
They 'just let the kids run around with their ass hanging out,
barefoot like they do in her dreams'.
(Donovan song reference..)
Limpy watches all the kids.
That is why he looks so haggard
and beat down.
I can butcher him at a little under a year
and have him be good eating.
Much later than that and he is
not worth anything monetarily at all.
So.. we raise up new drakes and
butcher the older ones.
Now.. if someduck really blows me away with their
style, flare and personality,
they can remain.
But, not poor old Limpy.

We have ducks.
Lots and lots and lots
and lots of ducks.
Just look at all the duckling in the pics..
and at least 2 hens setting.
We have ducks.

On The Evolving of a Garden...

In the beginning.....

It looked like this.
What a mess.
Goldenrod and Wild Asters
and more morning glories than you could count
and a myriad of other weeds that I couldn't name.
(though this is picture of the upper foundation
I don't have a clear shot of the lower foundation
in all of it's horror,but you get the idea)

It was a dark and dreary space.

And then we ran pot bellied pigs through it.

And chickens.

And we ended up with this.
Ok.. so that makes it sound simple and easy.
It wasn't! I can promise you that!
There were trees in there and honeysuckle rootballs
the size of watermelons in August.
It took pulling and yanking and digging and burning.
Repeat.
Then tilling and more digging and yanking and burning.
Then the raking and the dumping of the barn cleanings
and more tilling and raking.
Then woodstove ashes and more barn cleanings
and more tilling and raking.
But, at last, we had a smooth (ish) surface to work from.

Then came the laying of the beds
and more hauling of the poop and straw
and more digging.

But we had the beginnings of a new garden spot.
One with NO FREAKING CRABGRASS!
Which was the whole point.

And look how it has grown!
From this...

To this!

And this!

Now..you may be thinking that in comparison
to the scraped clean paths of the earlier pic,
my garden looks just awful!
Well.. there is a method to my madness.

The Method To My Madness..

Ok.. so we left off with this picture.
It looks scraggly and overgrown.
Well.. I used to scrape down the paths
about once a week etc..
and found that I was creating a problem.
The paths were exposed clay and would leach
all of the water out of the beds.
So I began to let the grass and clover
(and weeds) stay.
Now I only have to hit it every once in a while
with my electric weedeater
instead of scraping and scraping with the hoe.

And I have found that my overall garden health has gone up!
I have more moisture in the soil
and more pollinators
and good bugs
and happier toads
and more earthworms.

And you may notice the mess
under my pepper plants.
It looks just dreadful and as if
I don't ever spend time cleaning
my garden.
I have let it do that on purpose, I swear.
That tangle has nasturtiums, petunias,
wood sorrel and French sorrel.
It has some of my dandelions that I let grow and spread
everywhere for medicinal uses.
There is also white clover and lots of
red clover.
The red clover I harvest and dry for
medicinal teas and tonics all winter
and both clovers are wonderful for the soil.
I have red and white clover growing wild everywhere
in the whole garden.
The tangled mess also helps to cool the soil from
the cooking sun, retain moisture under the plants
and they provide hiding places for my toads
and draw in more pollinators.
I swear! My peppers have never looked better.

And this is what is going on
with the end of each tomato row...
a riotous tangle of growth.
I have petunias and nasturtiums,
marigolds and basils.
My Lime Basil reseeded itself like nothing
I have ever seen before!
They are everywhere!
I must have pulled a million of them
before I bothered to take a sniff.
I promptly stopped pulling them up.

This is the end of one tomato row.
It is a massive catnip.
Is it in the way?
Sure.
But it smells so divine
and draws so many happy pollinators
that I am more than happy to let it sprawl around.

And this is the whole point to the madness..
happy butterflies and honeybees
and bumblebees etc..
The world is becoming a deadly place for insects.
I want to give them as much haven as I can.
They can come here and eat and be safe
from pesticides and I can have ultimate pollination!

Because this is the end result!
About 10 days to go!!
I can't wait!

Plantain Salve

Plantain Salve

Isn't that just GORGEOUS!
Stunningly rich colors!

That jar holds the beginnings of my plantain salve
for soothing skin irritations.
Think bee stings and fire ant bites.
We have been plagued with both this year
and I have found my pantry lacking
any means to deal with them.
So... a salve is needed.

In that jar you see
plantain leaves and stems,
comfrey leaves and stems,
the very last of my garden's chickweed,
bee balm leaves and blossoms
and dried arnica flowers.

Plantain for its "mucilage acts as a demulcent and helps to balance the astringent actions and heals and soothes bee stings, bites, and poison ivy. The astringency also has a styptic effect when used topically and acts to stanch hemorrhage and ease wounds and bleeding cuts by contracting blood vessels."
Comfrey because comfrey is da bomb!! For healing, nothing beats it.
Chickweed draws out the venom and reduces the itching from bites and stings.
Bee balm contains large amounts of Thymol and is a wonderful antiseptic
and it has other properties that soothe and calm and reduce the heat of inflamed tissues.
And arnica is just about the best topical pain reliever I have ever found.
I have a jar that holds a very strong arnica oil that I made.
It is almost instant pain relief.
That finger I tried to cut off several years ago?
Well..I did more damage to it than I thought.
I cut some important things in there and it hurts me
quite often and very badly. A little of my arnica oil on it
and I am good to go again. It is magic!!

So.. all of these wonderful things are steeping all together
in some flax and sunflower oil.
Soon I will add fresh, raw and unfiltered
beeswax to it and a smidge of Vitamin E as a preservative
(added benefit with the anti-scrring properties)
and I will have a salve that should be perfect for easing the pain and itch of insect attacks.

This is plantain.
A wonderful plant for medicinal use.
It is great for just about everything,
but I use it mostly for bites and stings.
Though I hope to use them this winter,
along with my mullein, for lung issues.

I am very proud of my growing number of plantain plants
overtaking the garden.
You just don't see them much anymore
thanks to herbicide use.
I started with just one wee plant
and now I have about 20!
Yay!
I love the lushness of the leaves.
They are thick and dark and deeply ribbed
and bring a sense of health and wellbeing to the garden.
The garden and it's soil must be healthy
and well balanced if my plantains look this good.
Or at least that is what I tell myself.

And this is how I am steeping the oil.
I don't want to heat up the kitchen,
and frankly it would be ridiculous
to not use the free sunlight and
all of it's energy for this purpose.

But just as you do not want to dry your herbs in direct sunlight,
you don't want to make an herbal oil in the direct sun either.
So.. I pulled out an old (and dusty..sheesh)canning pot
to keep the herbs out of the light
and heat them good and hot at the same time.
It gets very, very warm in there!!
But not so warm as to break apart the delicate herbal oils
and destroy the healing properties of the plants.
I will let them sit in the sun
until the oil is heated all the way through
and then pull it to the shade to let it sit and stew.
I think maybe 2 days of steeping...
I would like to do about a week, but the need for it is great
and immediate.
Poor Sweet Husband has been repeatedly stung
by these teeny tiny little yellow jacket unlike any I have seen before.
They pack one hell of a punch!
This is his second sting in as many weeks on the same spot on his arm.
It is so swollen he says he fear the skin will split. Ouch.
I have been making plantain poultices for it
and it has worked very well.(when I can get him to use them)
Last night's sting actually bled.
I have never seen a little insect draw that much blood.
So it had a huge hole where the sting actually was,
then a raised area around it.
A bit of plantain poultice and within an hour
you couldn't see the big hole and the raised welt was gone.
I'm telling you... plantain is the good stuff!!

Oh darn!! I forgot to put in some yarrow!
Oh well.. I guess it is not too late if I run right out and cut some
to toss into the jar...
Runs out the door!!!

Coming Right Along..

It is all coming right along.
Mayhaps next year I can just
go out into the garden and plant
without having to start from total scratch.
We have been here about 4 years
and I have moved the garden every
single spring.
I am sick to death of breaking
virgin soil.

But I am liking it so far this year.
We had just great success with planting
in the shade last year
that we have moved it all under the trees,
with the tomatoes being the exception.
If you look at the top pic you can see
a few orange lines stretching
between the trees and poles.
Beans.
Well, gonna be beans as soon as I get
around to planting.
I plan on picking what I can reach and
the vines that go too high
can hold the beans that I will use dry
over next winter.
This is an experiment,
but I have hopes that it will work out fine.




And I am slowing beating back the honeysuckle
and privett jungle to reclaim this dappled grove as my own.
I have cleared a path through it at least.
And in the sunny spot at the end of the path
are new herbs.. Feverfew, Pyrethrum and Sweet Annie.
They can grow and spread all they want back there.
And in the jungle along the path, Foxglove and Marshmallow
are tucked.




And everywhere I stick a shovel
into the ground I come up with
old bricks.
I have them piled and piled
so it doesn't look neat and clean yet.
But there are new Calendula seedlings and
Echinacea there and my Yarrow is beginning to bloom.



Sweet Woodruff under the holly
with Sweet Grass and Apple Mint.
And Valerian in the strange square formed of
chunks of old concrete.




In this bed there is my most favorite herb, Costmary.
It shares the bed with two kinds of Oregano, Parsley,
Rosemary, Evening Primose and an errant Peppermint.
Along the back there are about 70 Basil seedlings
and a new Tansy shared from a friend.
And sprinkled around are some Dianthus that overwintered,
some Sweet Alyssium and a few other little annual bloomers.

Ha!! That line you see stretching across the herb bed
towards the beans.. that's a hair that was blown across the lens.
I just noticed it and I am not going to start this
whole thing all over again.



A hanging pot of petunias, Rocket, which will bloom a
reddish pink border the blackberry patch.
There is a soft curve of dill, my comfrey
and a French Sorrel too.
There is my chard bed that has Lamb'd Quarter
growing in it too.
And peeking on the side is
the red Jerusalem Artichokes.




Chamomile that I found in the lawn in the front.
My White Horehound is taking over
and I need to start sharing it with others.
A lavender that I cannot find the perfect home for
and will transplant for the third time
to location unknown this fall.
A Curry plant, inedible, but very aromatic,
Lime Thyme, plain Thyme, an Anise Hyssop
and my Plaintains.
And a few petunias for color.
I hope that I can get the petunias to reseed.
One of my favorite fragrances is true petunia,
reverted petunia. So heady and sweet. But
you just can't buy them in the stores.
They have to reseed to have fragrance.




My compost pile pumpkins!
They are crowded, but I am not going to mess with them.
Compost veggies grow the best.
There are oodles of little peppers in there too.
But knowing my luck, they are all jalapenos.
I grew and dried so many jalapenoes last summer
that I never have to grow them again.




Chard and coriander and one bed of onions
leading back to the Jerusalem Artichokes.
If you stand and watch for just a moment
you can watch them grow.




From the inside looking out.




From the outside looking in.




And I am a bad, bad, bad gardener.
Naughty, shameful gardener.
Do not let my words and images fool you
into thinking I am on top of it all
and completely organized.
Instead of cutting new paths through the
jungle and planting pretty flowers
and hanging blooming baskets,
I should ahve been attacking the mess of weeds
that are taking over the western edge of the garden.
I have so many tomatoes that need to go in
their beds as soon as possible.
But as you can see, the tomato bed
is an utter disaster that nothing can be
planted in.
My priorities are completely screwed.
sigh...

A Lot of This...

A lot of this fell in our yard
last night around 8:30.

Unbeknownst to me
Sweet Husband was up in the barn
gathering up a stubborn Ameracauna
hen that had refused to go in earlier.
I heard her screaming all the way
down and into the house and stuck my head
out looking for said husband.
I was going to send him up to the barn
because something horrible was happening up there.
I heard an awful 'CRACK'
but didn't see an immediate cause.
I heard another.
I went through the house and out the front
looking for Sweet Husband and by the time
I got to the front porch the 'cracks'
were much louder and almost constant.
It opened up and the hail began to pour from the sky.
Huge hail. Huge, huge hail.
And around the corner of the house came
Sweet Husband, just a gettin it.
I mean that man was moving!


He managed to dodge every ball.
Which is good because ice balls of that size
came from a great, great height
and would leave a mark.
We fretted over the windshields
and could hear the wind ticking smaller balls against
the windows of the house.
But in the morning light the
damage was minimal.
No holes punched though tin roofs.
no broken windshields adn only small
ping dents on the hoods and roofs of the
cars.
Some of my plants were a little beaten down,
but no lasting damage.
Whew.
It was AWESOME!

Over The Long Fall and Winter

So....
there were changes here over the long Fall and Winter...
The goats had to go.
Poor Sweet Husband just couldn't take the
sounds they made.
With every Maaaa his 'daddy alarm' went off.
And with every claxon of that alarm came a jolt of adrenaline.
He began to fear he would stroke out or something
from repeated zaps.
So, off they went with a friend and now live
somewhere with lots of brambles to eat.
But it was great fun to raise bottle babies
and we may test him around other breeds to
see if it was just Saanens or all goats
that bother him. sigh....




And we lost Saddleback..
our Langshan flock sire.
Even now it kills me to think of it.
I kill fluffywuffy bunnies and
chickens often with no difficulties.
I even butcher things with names.
But losing Saddleback broke my heart.
I cried for 3 days.
Aw hell.. getting a knot in my throat
even now.
He was an exceptional rooster,
fine and noble and stunning and intelligent.
I have his son who carries the extraordinary
name of 'Junior'.
He is not his father, but I hope to breed him
and maybe I will get another that comes close.
sniff
My heart really did just break
like it would over a good dog.
sniff

And we have a new addition..
Someone dumped out this wee kitty
in an empty parking lot towards the end
of September.
I guessed the age to be around 3 weeks.
I still had to stimulate her bladder and bowels
by hand and wean her.
She smelled like house and not the 'wild'
when I found her.
And what was I supposed to do??
I couldn't just leave her there after I found her.
No way, man.
so....


She looked like a guy.
She walked like a guy.
She attacked everything in sight like a guy.
She slept sprawled out in
the most unfeminine fashion.
She was aggressive.
and it never occurred to me to look and make sure.
Everything about ths kitten screamed, 'BOY!!!'
until one day I happened to look at
her rear as she walked by.
I was shocked and horrified to see that she was
missing some bits in the back.
There was no junk in her trunk.
Yep.. I am a great farmer and ex-zookeeper.

Her name had been 'Fluke',
but that is not very girlie.
So we toyed with 'Athena'.
That didn't stick either.
So she is called either 'Kitty-Puss
or (in adult company)'Little Bitch Kitty'.
She is still aggressive and is the terror of the household.
And no other animal will kick her ass!!
If someone would just lay her out cold
she would stop deserving her name.
But since tiny kittenhood she has been allowed
to get away with atrocious behavior by the
other animals.
I have an old, old, old, old cat
that is notoriously foul tempered.
She will tear down any other animal if the mood strikes her.
I lived in terror the first week that LBK was here.
I was sure that Old Grandma would kill her on sight.
But she has allowed that little monster to
smack her, beat her,
chase her from food and
interrupt naps with no punishment.
And Bish, my huge blue intact tom
gets the worst treatment of all.
She rides him.
She chews on his ears.
She is relentless.
He howls and screams and cries
like he is being killed,
but will not lift one be-taloned paw against her.
If he would just beat her senseless one time..just once,
she might stop.
The poor old tom cannot even eat in peace.
Forget trying to come in and grab a quick
snooze by the woodstove on a snowy day.
She is on him like a tick.
And when she was little,
she looked like a tiny tick on his huge back.
The dogs slink away from her
and did when she was tiny.
She has never hissed or swiped a paw,
but they live in fear.
They allow her to steal their food
with nary a snap.

Children need discipline or they
become holy terrors.
We have a holy terror on our hands.
But she loves the barn and will be a fierce hunter
when she grows a bit more.

And I think those are the highlights around here..
Everything changes
adn nothing stays the same.