We received a new rooster today via the Lamascus-Emerson crew. He seems nice. We named him Stuart. He’s gold and quite large. Perry was a bantam variety and a whole different shape in general. When Stuart crows, he sounds like he’s saying “coc-a-doodole-doo” which is quite amusing. It’s just weird to have another man around.
Paul and I told Oliver about the rooster’s demise today. Last night I was worried about telling him the truth, because he’s such a sensitive soul, but we came clean and told him. As expected, he didn’t take it so well and couldn’t understand why a dog would come and do that. It was three dogs, and we told him that Perry did the best he could to protect his ladies. Oliver cried about it for about a half an hour and then decided he needed to talk it out. So we spent a while talking about death and how it’s a part of life. We left Perry under the tree all day today, he’s still there now as a matter of fact, I don’t know what we’re waiting for….but, yeah. After a while, Oliver wanted to go outside and see Perry. So we held hands and I walked him out there to take a peek. He was quiet and gave him a good look. I asked him if he wanted to say anything to Perry and he declined. We went back inside. After another chunk of time passing, Oliver got a little chocked up and said “now the chickens won’t have anyone to protect them!” He’s such a thoughtful young man.
There are a few of you out there in cyberspace that have told me you are going to plant tomatoes, and herbs and the like. I think it would be very sweet of you to take pictures of your endeavors that I can share with others via this blog. There are a few of you out there! We’ve discussed. I think that’s great for all of you. When I was thinking about it earlier and started to count everyone…it’s just great. I hope this blog had something to do with it. If not, read all of Michael Pollan’s books, maybe that will have an effect on how you view what you eat.
And for those of you who have no plans of growing anything, you should reconsider.
I cant stop thinking about the death of three of our birds. Perry was lying down under the big tree next to their coop. I went out with a head lamp to get a good look at him. To let you all know, he looked peaceful, so…. I’m okay with the fact of only having 4 hens left. My mind instantly jumped to replacing the birds, but now I’m straight. There are two black hens missing, I glanced around with the light and didn’t notice them anywhere. I am also thinking of the well being of the remaining birds. They have to live with what happened, it won’t be easy for them. We’re going to fix their yard that was damaged in the ice storm tomorrow.
Rest in peace Perry
Perry and the Donnas
what these pictures make me realize is that I haven’t taken any shots of these birds in a while. This is Perry as a young Joe Buck. This really sucks.
Please have the two missing black hens in your hearts. Thank you.
To all of you who read this, and know of my rooster Perry, he was just attacked by some dogs and MURDERED! Also, two hens are missing. Currently we are at some friends house having dinner, and one of the neighbors called Paul and told him of the massacre. She acted and put up 4 of our hens in the coop and told him that two hens are still missing. I’m here, I’m sad, and it’s time to eat. Rest in peace Perry. You were an asshole, but I loved you any way. The worst thing is, that the neighbor who’s dogs did this is some crazy redneck dude who burns all of his trash and sends a plastic smell into the air. I doubt he’ll be very remorseful about the death of our chickens at the mouth of his dogs. He’ll probably have an easy come easy go attitude about it. I hate that. I’m so upset by this. It just makes me think that maybe if we were there this wouldn’t have happened. There’s no way to know, and that’s what is so frustrating about it. I feel like I have just lost a member of the family. So sad. Pray for Perry and his flock.
Last night, Paul and I planted a few more flats of tomatoes. It seems as though you can never have enough. I also planted some flat leaf Italian parsley and lavender. Last year, my lavender pursuits crashed and burned, but this year I am hopeful and expect results. Fingers crossed everyone, fingers crossed.
I feel that I also need to add this story about our chickens. Our rooster, Perry is of a Polish bantam variety. He’s smaller than your average rooster, but ten times as mean. He has attacked my family a few times, but I think he’s pretty okay with us in general, because we give him a place to stay, rent free. This weekend we went down to Hot Springs to visit the family and go to the horse races. We asked our neighbors, Bob and Wendy to open and shut the door to the chicken house while we were out of town. Paul told them to bring a “shoo stick” to wave in front of the rooster to shoo him away. Well, we get a call this evening from the neighbors informing us of the garden hoe in the front yard. The story goes, Perry was not about to let any stranger come near his coop. Apparently he chased them around the pond and out into the field. They had to exit through the far gate up at the paved road. The next night, Bob grabbed the garden hoe to try to keep Perry back, but it was no use. He chased him down the driveway and Bob threw the hoe at Perry in an attempt to stop him, as he ran back to his house. So….um…..does anyone want to chicken sit in July? It will only be a couple of days.
Two times in one week we’ve had people baffled to know that you grow potatoes by planting potatoes, or pieces of potatoes. It’s true. I know, I know, you learn something every day. You can even grow potatoes in a barrel full of straw, crazy.
Some photos from around March 7th or so. Paul, Josh, Anthony, Isaac and Oliver planted some seeds. That day they started a few different kinds of tomatoes including Roma and Arkansas Travelers, cylindra beets, broccoli, cauliflower, a few varieties of bell peppers and spinach just to name a few. Included here are some photos from last week (March 21st), when we planted 500 potato starts, making 4 whole rows! We also planted 230 onion sets to round off the day.
Potato Time!
Your daily dose!
We had a very accomplished day today. We planted four rows of potatoes! Some red ones and white ones. We are potato eating fools, so we went gung-ho this season, but why not right? We also planted yellow and red onions (one whole row). I have good pictures of it, but you’re going to have to wait!
Also, check out Halfbakedbread, I posted pictures there of some bread making. You can find the link in the blog roll on the right hand side of this page. It’s GOLD. Give it a shot.
PLANT SOMETHING!
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