Bounty

Our hens have begun laying.  Their first eggs looked like this,

but they soon became this

which, if we still had roosters, could have become this

that was served with these

 to feed these!

And there is the bounty of our lives!  Our eggs, our chicken, our green beans, our kids...

Meditation

I touched the earth this weekend, opened it wide to feed my family and nourish my soul, walking through the circle of life to take my place in the heartland, my fingertips grazing the ghosts of prairie women past.

With my own hands I plucked feathers from my flock, gripping the feet of a still-warm bird in the deafening silence of the yard, cicadas and the flapping of a thousand wings orchestrating my first butchering experience.  As I shook damp down from my hands, a butterfly alighted on the plucking table, her languishing wings dipping gently in the breeze.  She stayed there a moment, then fluttered off, leaving a breath of thanks with the chicken I held.

This wasn't an easy experience for me, I flinch at the sight of roadkill, avert my eyes when my husband and his brothers show proud pictures of their hunt.  I do not like to hurt animals, but have felt a driving need to be able to bring things to my table that we have cared for ourselves, that we have nurtured and selected and weeded and plucked.  I do not want my children to grow up in this land of agriculture thinking that their meal comes in wrapped styrofoam, resplendent with antibiotics and growth hormones and mega-syllabled chemicals. 

I thank the earth for her bounty.  I thank her as I tease the stubborn grass from the onion shoot, clearing a space around the food so that it can breathe.  I thank her as I separate the squash from the vine and again later as I slice it with my baby onion to feed myself and my children.  I thank her as my son's sturdy hands find hidden green beans, plucking them in a joyful scavenger hunt.  I thank her as the wind rustles through my corn like a friend hiding.  I thank her for my land, my water, my sunshine, and my life.

I thank her for being a place to teach my children about their place in the vast universe, their place on our postage stamp farm, in our food chain and as caretakers of the earth to come.

Smiley Times!

So, I'm having a bit of a rough time right now, but here are some pictures that have brightened my last week!

This was the one of the last days the chickens were in the basement.

The strawberry pyramid and the rabbit Violet picked for the garden.

The coop before it was enclosed.

The view the chickens have.  Not bad, eh?

Peek-a-boo!

A bunch of bird brains on top of a chicken coop.

A caterpillar with girl and grandma.

She's just following the instructions on her shirt!

Every princess needs a crown.

Doesn't everyone wake up this happy?

Pop Quiz!

You're coming home from work, pounding headache, your ears ringing, your temples throbbing  What is the best way to chase the stress away?

A.  Put on opera gloves and dress up like a princess with your daughter.
B.  Chase chickens around your basement with your hubby and kids.
C.  Discover the Retro Disco music station on DirectTV and stage an impromptu dance party.
D.  Teach your kids how to be talkin' like a pirate, matey.
E.  All of the above.

(Hint: there are no wrong answers.)

Pregnant Pause

My strawberries appear to like their new home!  Last week, we put up a strawberry pyramid and filled it with organic dirt and compost/manure.  On Sunday, Milo and I put in the bare-root dormant strawberry plants and, as of last night, all 50 plants have awakened!  Inside, I have 72 tomato plants started, 72 cabbage, 36 broccoli and 36 cauliflower.  Plus 144 peppers (mixed variety -- red, yellow, and green).

Scott is working hard on the chicken coop.  The walls are framed, the roof is sheeted, and he'll likely put the siding up today so that he can insulate and sheet the interior walls.  This is a good thing, because our curious chickens have started flying up out of the box/pool to check us out whenever we tromp down the basement steps, whether or not we're headed down to feed them.  Every time I put a load of laundry in, I have to capture a bird and return her to her home.  This means chicken poop on the basement floor.  Ick.  Wonder how Scott's gonna clean that up?

As I was detailing this to a colleague, she remarked, "My goodness you are fertile with all of those things growing under your touch!"

If only... 

I sit here on CD 26 and am not sure that I ovulated on this cycle of Clomid.  Or maybe I have and my hormone surge wasn't as readily detectable as it has been in previous months.  After all, the Clear Blue Easy ovulation predictor strips have shown me a smiley face every morning -- that's the "positive" indicator.  The Answer test strips, which have been accurate for me for the last 5 months, have been almost-positive since CD 15ish.  So I have no clue what is going on, just that we decided not to waste the time, effort, or money on an intra-uterine insemination this month.  I'm not sure what to do from here, either.  My current game plan is to wait until CD 35 and if my period doesn't start, I'll call for a script to start it and ask for some more advice.

I'm trying to stay positive, really I am.  But then I see the sweetest little red-haired babe, probably about 4 months old, snuggling into her mama as she drops big sis off at preschool and my heart just lurches in my chest.  She looks like she could be mine, except that it's not my pulse she hears as she is rocked to sleep.  It's not my lips that whisper kisses on her downy head.  It's not my heart in which she'll live forever.

Nope, I'm still waiting.  Waiting to see Milo rocking his new baby sibling.  Waiting to see Violet hovering protectively over "her" baby.  Waiting to see Scott's shining happy face as he touches for the first time the infant that I have known in my body, mind, and soul. 

This is my pregnant pause.

Feelin' Like Photos!

Here's the swingset in all of its completed glory!  No, this photo isn't the box top -- I took it this morning.  Sure is pretty!

Believe it or not, but Scott and I raised that left tower as it is in that picture.  By hand.  By ourselves.  Yes, we are He-Man and She-Ra.  Really, we are.

The master builder and all-around awesome guy, Scott.  Love that man!!

This is what happens when mommy sinks a screw -- right THROUGH the board.  D'oh!  I really am She-Ra, see?

When Violet meets static electricity -- who needs fancy gadgets when a plastic slide will do the trick?

My happy happy boy boy!

Aren't these just the cutest country kids you've ever seen?  Yeah, I thought so...

Side view with the monkey bars that neither children can do without assistance yet.  Note how nicely the slides coordinate with the dandelions.

What's this?  This isn't a swingset, is it?  Nope -- it's the foundation for the chicken coop.  We've managed to keep all 25 hens alive for a month, but they are quickly outgrowing the basement box/kiddie pool set-up.  Scott and I have learned the "Oh, no!  I fell out of my home and am now running around on the basement floor confused and lost!" squawk of the birds.  When we hear it, one of us says, "Oop!  Got a runner!" and we go find the escapee and put her back where she belongs.  I'm looking forward to them getting their own home.  Yep, I am.

Wanna Live in My Swing Set?

So I have referenced the "Swing Set the Size of a Small House" a couple of times, either here or on facebook or one of my mommy boards, but here is a photo of the model of swing set that my darling Scotty (with a little help from me) has installed in our back yard.  I supposed that I should state that this review wasn't solicited by the swing set manufacturer or distributor -- it is just our experience with the product.  So, yeah, I'm not paid to review this product in any way.  I hope that works as a disclosure...

This took him the better part of the week to put together, but we're thrilled with the result and can't wait for the wood to dry out enough for us to stain it.  We've heard tale that these particular swing sets, the Playstar Superstar Gold model, are tough to put together and might have doomed more than one marriage, but my very handy fella had few troubles with the directions and didn't need to re-do anything that he installed.  Rock on, Scott!  He did, however, comment that "The instructions were clearly created using AutoCAD; I wish they included the electronic file so I could rotate the image."  I'm guessing that his skill level might be a touch above the average consumer...

It was pretty interesting to see us right the tall tower -- Scott said "Lift from your legs!" and I sure did -- I could feel those legs for three days after playing He-Man and She-Ra.


On to the chicken coop!  The hens in the basement ran out of space in the brooder box, so we had the surprisingly fun task of sorting the flock into layers and broilers.  Layers are for laying eggs, and broilers are for, ummm... eating.  There was one hen that Scott and I had decided (separately) was the first candidate for Broiler of the Year.  She's the aggressive one that pecks at us when we tend to her box, a straight-up chicken-bitch.  She's gonna be yummy...

The layers were relocated to a kiddie pool from which several have escaped.  So now when I approach the basement, my first task is peeking at each group, counting heads.  Fortunately the ones we selected as layers were selected because they were less excitable, friendly, even.  One in particular always comes running when she hears me approach.  I've been calling her "Curious" because she watches my every move, then ducks her head under my hand for a pet.  Yep, I've been petting chickens.   Will the wonders never cease?

Little House on the Prairie

If you are visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party 2010, click here for my post!

I have always, always, always, thought myself to be an urban chick.  I totally dig the city vibe, love the city sounds, the culture, the ability to get good sushi in minutes.  That kind of stuff.  I pictured myself taking public transportation to work, stopping in for yoga on my lunch break, and getting the chance to see limited-release films in a theater when they open and not through my Netflix cue.  Well, I probably imagined seeing those films on VHS because Netflix wasn't around 20 years ago.

But I find myself captivated by my life right now.  I can't wait to get home and shove my children out the door so that we can explore our yard, our world.  Our own little bit of Earth.  Maybe it stems from my girlhood adoration of the "Little House" books.  Maybe it is the push for Community Supported Agriculture.  I'm not sure, but I am awakening.

I have lived in Iowa nearly all of my life.  I have been surrounded by agriculture for 30 years.  It always felt like a backdrop, like the scenery for a play.  This is my life, it is set in Iowa and we know that because there are cornfields.  And livestock.  And tractors rumbling up the gravel road.  But the action of my life has always taken place indoors -- in a theatre, in a classroom, in my home.

I am suddenly so very excited to look into my summer -- to see my huge vegetable garden spreading wide, reaching deep into the earth to find nutrients, sucking them from the soil into their ripe flesh.  I hear the chickens clucking as Scott plucks their brown eggs from their nest boxes.  Serving venison stew from the deer that he and his brothers hunted.  I imagine entire meals cooked from ingredients we raised -- the vegetables, the starch, the fruit, the protein are all from our own hands.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that if I am not buying produce, chicken, stew meat or eggs, I can afford the fancy, organic, non-hormon-ed or antibiotic-ed socially responsible milk and cheese for my kids.  I don't have to walk by the organic whole-grain pasta staring longingly at it any more.  I wonder about what it would cost to buy a side of organic free-range beef or pork.  I think I'll research that tonight...  I imagine churning butter from organic cream -- I have left cream whipping in the mixer for just long enough that I accidentally made butter, what if I could do it on purpose?  Maybe there's someone who would barter milk for eggs?  Homemade ice cream with lusty red raspberries bouncing in the bowl.

My country life is bursting and bountiful.  At lease I hope it will be.  I could run completely out of steam when I need to weed the garden yet again in July when it is 95 degrees out and my allergies are insufferable.  Or I could thrive like the plants in this Iowa soil, no longer seeing my earth as a backdrop, but as an integral part of my identity.  I have always wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, maybe this is my chance.

Country Life on a Monday

If you are visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party 2010, click here for my post!

Here's a Monday update -- the chicks are about four times as big as they were when Scott brought them home a little over two weeks ago.  They are also starting to really get their feathers, so they are supremely gangly and awkward right now -- like us at 13 or so.  These are definitely not Easter egg chicks any more.  Their combs are starting to grow and they are bigger, so they make bigger poops.  Which means Scott has been addressing the bedding more frequently.

I prepped a bunch of mini-greenhouses and will be starting some of the more fragile seeds: tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower tonight.  We've sort of figured out how we're going to lay out the yard -- Scott will till the garden area in the next two weeks or so and I'll get to planting the early seeds (carrots, radishes) and the hardy ones (corn, beans, squashes, pumpkins) soon after he's got out patch turned over.

In the mean time, we will be a-building!  Putting up a big swing set for the kids to play on and occupy their time while we garden and tend the flock.  Building a chicken coop.  I've asked that I can paint the outside as our house is white and square and our garage is white and square, so putting something colorful in seems right.  Maybe I'll ironically paint a chicken on the coop...

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Hello!  Although I am not really a new mom blogger (I have been blogging since August of 2008), I am a sort-of-newish public blog mama since February of 2010.  Don't ask me why I felt the need to suddenly go public with my blog, I'm not sure I really have a reason for it.  I do know that it seems like a fairly healthy way to have a midlife crisis, right?

Anyway, if you are dropping by to join the party, please overlook the dog fur and kid toys -- I've got two of each and trying to pretend they don't exist is pointless.  Grab a seat, but don't be surprised if my son begs to play Star Wars guys with you or my daughter drags you to the kid-sized table where she's sticking glittery stickers to a piece of pink construction paper.  Or if my husband kidnaps you to the basement where we're keeping our first brood of Buff Orpington chicks, at least until he gets the coop built.  Did you know that they have automatic chicken coop doors?  I didn't know that until yesterday, either.

My life is pretty ordinary, and I'm sure that is the biggest reason I didn't go public with my blog when I first started writing.  I was a good student, married my college sweetheart, moved to a mid-Atlantic state when he was in graduate school, returned to Iowa when he was offered a job about 35 miles from where he grew up -- a big surprise for us because he's a theatre designer and this is, well, this is Iowa.  We got a dog, bought a little house, gutted it, got another dog, and renovated the house.

Then we decided to start a family.  After an ectopic pregnancy, we had our wonderful son in June of 2005 and made him the big brother of a little sister in September of 2007.  We are currently battling unexpected secondary infertility.  I swallowed my first dose of Clomid about an hour ago.  I don't feel any more fertile yet...

This past November, we bought a big old farmhouse out in the country.  This has been a bit of an adjustment for us (mice.  Mice.  Mice!  MICE!), though we are eager to put in a gi-gundous garden this spring and, as I said, we have a small flock of chickens started in the basement.  Because organic brown eggs sound super, don't they?

Here are some of my quirks:
1.  I like to be funny.  Sarcastic, even -- I know, SHOCKER!  If you don't want to read a blog where the author admits her shortcomings and pokes fun at herself, you shouldn't read mine. 
2.  I like to write.  I've never hosted a give-away, nor have I monetized my blog.  Yet.  If I end up pregnant with Clomid quintuplets, I might have to change that policy.
3.  I am a fan of the chain description: words-tied-together-with-hyphens-to-make-a-funny-run-on-point.  Yep.  I like me my hyphens...  And ellipses...
4.  I like comments.  OK, who doesn't.  I follow up diligently. Really, I do!
5.  I'm a lunch-hour blogger, so if my schedule gets keee-razy, I don't get a chance to give my blog or bloggy friends the love.  I hope you can forgive me, but I gots-ta pay the bills.  My hubby works in arts education, 'nuff said.
6.  I try to be positive and witty and clever, but the struggle we've had trying to conceive baby #3 has stretched my good humor to the limit.  Some of my more recent posts were a little darker than I would normally write.  But, since I am above all an honest blogger, writing something that was all cheery and rah-rah-rah when I was feeling blah-blah-blah was resoundingly fake, so I didn't do it. 

Here are some of my most favorite posts:
Malfunctioning Bedroom Devices
Brontophobia: Fear of Storms
Sleep

In case my blog gets pulled for a prize, here are my top three choices:

US6 – Hand Stamped Personalized Necklace valued at $48 The Double Stacked A Lot Of Love.
Provided by: Kristen’s Custom Creations  I lved this design and don't have any mother's jewelry!


US97 – One winner will receive a beautiful handmade wire and colorful bead necklace from the mission-driven company, Ana Patricia!  just thought this was so much fun!

USC 10 – One winner will receive a beautiful handmade glass pendant with their choice of chain. The piece is made by me with care using glass and paper.  The design I will give away is called “Lilac“.  I fell in love with this -- so very pretty!

Other prizes in which I'm interested: US39, US44, US66, US110, and USC19.  My son is 4 and daughter is 2, so anything appropriate for them is fine, too!

Pop Quiz: Answer

These are Buff Orpington chicks.  They are currently living in a brooder box in our basement.  There are 25 of them, half of which will become layers, the other half will be broilers when they reach 4-5 pounds.  Yes, it's official -- I AM living in Green Acres...