What Pigs Don't Know

It's Black and White

2012-02-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

We'll, it's amazing what you can get done when you don't have a full schedule of classwork hanging over you head. In a stroke of inspiration last week, I cranked out two environmental posters. I'm open sourcing them which means that I hope someone sees them and uses them. No permission needed. Let me know if you have any ideas that we can develop together. -Jason

Save the Wells- A play off of the 80s slogan Save the Whales

Buy Local - An attempt to stop and make you think

why we buy organic when we can

Introducing...Zorro

2012-01-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying we are not cat people. Never have been, and I dare say never will be. Seeing as cats and dogs are neck and neck in the popularity polls, I'm probably committing blog suicide by even hinting at the fact that I am not overly enamored by felines. I'm not against cats, per se. I am just a bigger fan of the unconditional love of a dog.

Now that I have that off my chest...

It appears we've pseudo-adopted a neighborhood kitty - actually it is more like she has adopted us. About a year ago we actually caught her (and her two siblings and mom) for a brief minute, only to have to let the babies go when the mom went crazy and escaped the cage we had confined her to. There was no way we would be able to re-capture the mom, and we didn't have the heart to keep the babies from her - or take them to the SPCA where they would probably be killed immediately b/c they were so young. Back then we named her Zorro for the black mask splashed across her face.

Care to guess whose reflection is on our dishwasher? And I swear in real life you can't see a single scuff mark! Weird!

As she grew older (and larger) she occasionally showed up in our yard, but for months we always immediately chased her off. I was so afraid she would try to kill/eat the chickens. However, after observing her quite a few times, it became apparent she actually just got a kick out of watching them.

Zorro striking a pose

Sweet Zorro

Over time we lost the urge to yell at her, and then we'd say hi when we saw her in the yard. She's quite "chatty" and she began to tentatively come towards us looking for love (I'm no fool - it was most likely food). Now she's basically our outdoor cat. She greets us in the morning. She even lets us pet her up. She is still slightly skittish, but overall we've found her - I can't believe I'm saying this - to be a welcome addition to our homestead. Fortunately it has been an extremely mild winter, or I dare say she'd have found a place IN our home - though I can't even say now with certainty that that is an impossibility. -Carrie
[Trust me, it is. -Jason]

Chicken ER (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

2011-12-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

[I want to preface this post by saying there are two pictures attached that are fairly gross for the faint of heart. I include them to be used as a tool to help others who may experience something like this in their flock. Feel free to skip this post if you aren't a fan of blood...]

Three months ago I went out to the coop following what I thought was a bit of excessive ruckus over a hen laying an egg. At the time I always headed to the coop with a bit of trepidation, as one or two of our black sex-links seemed to have it out for sweet Dove, and were always nipping at her. Nothing excessive, but it was constant. We kept hoping they would get over it as she grew larger. That did not happen. Even before I got into the coop I was already scanning the run for Dove to make sure she was OK. I could not find her. I checked the sleeping quarters, but she was not there. I finally made it over to an old small recycling bin filled with sand that the hens use to dust bathe in. It was there between the bin and the fence that I found her.

With a huge, bloody, gaping hole in her neck about the size of a quarter, and one bird running over to me trying to get more shots at her, I scooped Dove up and quickly took her into the house. I was quite upset to say the least. After getting a good look at her wound I figured she had a 25/75 chance of survival, with the odds against her.

This had never happened to us before, as our hens always got along great. For some reason though, Dove brought out the worst in a few of our BS-Ls (jealousy?) and they were determined to make her pay. We had never had any medical issues among our birds; and with such a deep wound, we had no idea what to do. We decided to stick to the basics, because as much as we enjoyed Dove, we are not ones to take our chickens to the vet.

In the picture there is a lighter section running from closer to her head straight down towards her back in the very center of the wound. I am not positive, but I believe that to be her spinal cord. One more peck and it would have been severed.

After gently and carefully trying to clean off some of the dirt with a damp rag, Jason poured Hydrogen Peroxide all over the wound. This was followed by a thick coating of Neosporin. Into a storage tub she went to wait out the next critical hours in our living room. She would not eat, but did drink a bit. I think she was probably exhausted from the stress of it all. She slept through the night, but by morning she was extremely antsy, and we made the decision to put her back in the coop in a completely separated area with her best bud, Leopard. I really worried that Leopard would see the wound and pick at it herself, as I've read that is fairly common. Plus I didn't want Dove in the coop getting dirt all in the wound. The nursing student in me wanted to keep it as sterile as possible. But she was so upset being separated from Leopard we figured she'd have a heart attack from being stressed and lonely, so we made the move back to outside.

Our friends Tracy and Sebastian over at Little Farm in the Big D gave us some Blu-Kote spray to apply to the wound. It is an iodine based solution. I figured it couldn't hurt. So about every other day for a week or so I would try to clean off the dirt and grime from the wound, spray it with Blu-Kote, and then cover it in more Neosporin. Thankfully Leopard never gave it a second glance.

Slowly but surely the skin began to heal. I assumed Dove would never be able to grow feathers there again, but within 5 weeks she was mostly feathered out at the site. Three months later, except for a few purple feathers around her neck (Blu-Kote stains everything - so be careful!), you would never know anything had happened to her. We have found chickens to be a mix of strength and resiliency coupled with fragility. Fortunately for us, Dove fell on the side of strength. We ended up selling the main bird that had it out for Dove. We are now finally down to a happy mix of 14 hens of varying ages and varieties, and they all get along great. More details on that in a few days! -Carrie

Green (-ish/Blue) Eggs and Chicken(s)

2011-12-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's been THIRTY-ONE WEEKS in the making, but our two remaining Ameraucanas (we sold the other two) have finally begun to lay the beautiful bluish-green eggs we've been waiting so patiently to see. Leopard's first came on December 9th, and Dove's first came this past Saturday. I never thought it would take them this long to lay, but it has been worth the wait. I was surprised that they are exactly the same color. I figured there would be some distinguishing features between the two, seeing as Dove is pure white and Leopard looks, well, like a leopard. The eggs are breathtaking, though. And even better, both birds are sweet as pie, though Dove still holds a special place in our hearts. I swear if I was more country and knew how to make chicken diapers, she'd be a house chicken!

Another bonus, at least as far as Leopard is concerned, is that she's laying like a chicken-star. She's laid 8 eggs in the last 10 days. In our experience it usually takes a few weeks before production gets up to this point with new layers. Not only that but her eggs are as large (longer actually, but skinnier) as the year-old Black Sex Links, even from day one. We couldn't be more satisfied. Dove's production rate is yet to be seen. But I venture to say that even if this is the only egg Dove ever lays, she's with us for the long haul. She's too awesome, and we've been through too much with her to give up that easily (more on that in a few days - stay tuned)! -Carrie

Repurpose It! Acorns and Cheese Packaging

2011-12-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I got my craft on. I have been so busy with school for the past year that I haven't had the time to channel my crafty side. And while I've previously extolled the virtues of living in a small house, one thing that has suffered is my access (or lack there of) to a crafting corner. My yarn, cloth, paints, rick-rack and baubles are inconveniently stuffed in various out-of-the-way corners in my bedroom, making it very hard to find what I need when I need it.

This morning it hit me that I was short two kids for the day, my youngest was off playing by himself no less, and I had no school work (thank God for Christmas break)! I made a mad dash to gather supplies, amazingly was able to find what I needed, and set to work!

First up: a large, fuzzy Burr Oak acorn found during a family walk about a month ago. This one ended up on my desk. Unfortunately its sisters place in a bag and stored at the top of my closet ended up getting a bit of mold on them and had to be trashed. Next year I will be sure to let them dry completely before putting them in storage. I believe these were collected the day after a rain, hence the ensuing mold.

The second I saw these they screamed "Santa!" to me. So I set about putting a face to my idea. The finished product is nothing spectacular, but it was fun to work on a quick little re-purposing project. Next time I'll drill a hole in the top and put a string in it for a cute little ornament.

And second: Brie holder-cum-Christmas gift packaging. As I was searching the fridge for breakfast this morning, it hit me that this would make a cute box of sorts to hold a small gift for my daughter. I painted it, glued to the top an ornament I made last year out of old holiday cards and glitter, and used the shiny gold outer lining of the Brie packaging to wrap around the gift inside! I think it turned out pretty cute.

It felt great to be crafting something home-made again. Now I just need to buy Christmas gifts to fill the box! Way behind on that. Only a few days left - wish me luck! -Carrie

Getting Healthy - For Realz This Time!

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

In early September 2010 I wrote my heart out on this blog, and it basically boiled down to the fact that I was overweight (obese if you want to be technical!) and sick of it - ready to do all it took to change my ways. You can read the whole (though brief) series here. In eight weeks I lost 8 pounds. Slow but steady. Then came week 9 - and the aftermath of Halloween - i.e. - CANDY. I lost all self control and within about a month I gained back all of the weight. Craziness.

Fastforward to mid-March 2011. My 5'3" frame was hauling around 182 pounds. 13 pounds into the obese category if computing BMI. Not good. I couldn't take it anymore. Beyond sick of myself was putting it lightly. So this time I got serious. No-excuses-take-no-prisoners-serious. It's been 6 months now and I haven't looked back. I honestly think Jason is sometimes taken aback - seriously amazed and bewildered - that I haven't dropped the ball on this for the umpteenth time. In the last 180 days I have lost 23 pounds. I'm now down to 159 pounds. Just about one pound/week. Occasionally I am bummed because it seems like the weight is coming off S.O. S.L.O.W. But then I snap out of it and think of how far I've come. I still have about 20 pounds to lose, and that will just put me into the high end of normal on the BMI scale.

The keys to my weight loss? Very basic stuff everyone already knows but often just doesn't have the willpower to put it into place. There's a saying that goes something like this, "People won't change until the pain of not changing is worse than the change itself." This is so true. Here's a few things I've done that helped me lessen the pain...

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise. This can not be overstated. I exercise 6 days a week - 7 if I can find the time. And on the days I don't - Jason will attest to this - I'm not the nicest person ever. I have seriously trained my body to crave it. Even if it is something as simple as taking a brisk 2 mile walk, it helps me stay on track.

Don't Over-Eat; But Do Eat More, Smaller Meals Per Day. OK, this is like Losing Weight 101. But it is so true. I just don't pig out anymore. If I want crackers, I don't open a box and sit on the couch and chow down. Now I open the box, pull out 4 crackers, and put the box away immediately. It really seems to help me. I also usually eat about 4-5 smaller meals (or even large snacks) per day instead of 3 larger meals. This means I get to plan my next meal only 2 or 3 hours out instead of 5 or 6! That's exciting stuff! Especially for someone who likes to think about food.

I've eaten the same breakfast 99% of the last 180 days, and I eat a salad about 6 days a week. My delectable breakfast bowl consists of (from the bottom up) mixed fruit (think pears and bananas, or a variety of berries); plain low-fat yogurt; dry oatmeal or a high fiber, low sugar cereal; raisins or dried cranberries; almonds; and cinnamon. I have yet to tire of this. It is that good. And lunch or dinner (but not both) is a dark green (almost always spinach) salad. But with loads of other goodness added on top: whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, black beans, sauteed onions & walnuts, cucumbers, feta, low-fat dressing, etc., etc. Jason partakes of these salads as well, and again - we have yet to tire of them. Not even close.

The payoff for all of this "work?" As if the 23 pounds aren't enough? I'll let the labs speak for themselves:

Cholesterol: 8/05/2010 - 198; 9/19/2011 - 164
Triglycerides: 2010 - 110; 2011 - 62
HDL: 2010 - 51; 2011 - 50
LDL: 2010 - 125; 2011 - 101
Risk Ratio: 2010 - 2.45; 2011 - 2.03

My heart was literally jumping for joy when I read these numbers. A 34 point drop in my total cholesterol?!?! An almost 50 point drop in my triglycerides?!?! This less eating, more exercise thing really DOES work! Go figure! Here's to staying the course. I have no intention of dropping the ball this time. My health is too precious. -Carrie

Heritage Harvest Festival Follow-Up

2011-09-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Last year I pined over my inability to attend the Heritage Harvest Festival held at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello near Charlottesville, VA. Well this year I am happy to report that numerous members of my family made the trek, and my brother just wrote a post about it over at Point 09 Acres. Take a gander at his post - lots of great pictures of Jefferson's gardens.

More Chicken Porn

2011-08-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

If you're a long time reader of ours, you might have caught on to Carrie's obsession with fluffy chicken butts. Read How Not to Name a Chicken for more proof. But I didn't realize how much my flock of girls had in common with adult entertainment until I installed an internet filter on my computer. Now I get gigged for the silliest of typos.

Take for instance a Facebook page I visit called Chicken Chat. Seemingly innocent enough until someone on the page starts talking about naked neck chickens. Yes. Naked necks. Not only is my filter unbiased towards species, but evidently it's Muslim too. Geez. This thing doesn't know me at all... I'm a thigh lover.

That got me thinking of other incidents gone awry... like a month ago when we needed a logo for the Oak Cliff Coop Snoop tour. I entered the first thing that came to mind in the search engine to kick off the design process: Chicks. Snap! I didn't mean that, I meant cocks. Dang it! Forget it. I'll go look at an archaic encyclopedia. Who knew making chicken tour logos was such risque business?

A few days ago were were looking for pictures of small chickens to identify what breeds we got with our mystery batch three weeks ago. Did you know that typing in Production Red Chicks will give you a picture of a Production (Lady of the Night) Chick on a Red couch? Oops. Let's try white chicks. Shoot! Dare we go for any other color of our innocent chicks? I think not.

We here at Pigs believe that our blog is more than just a journal. We believe that we should contribute to the well being of our subscribers, so as a public service to my readers, I've made a list of items you should avoid to keep your filter happy. If you want to find out what chickens give the most eggs, don't type in "Easy Layers"; and if you want to know if anything about "sex-links", just trust me, they're an awesome breed. Don't enter "How to properly sex a chicken" when you get that batch of fluff balls... just wait. Finally, when the temperature gets up to 108, it's in your best interest to put a fan on them with a block of ice instead of googling "How to cool off your hot chicks." -Jason

Double Bubble: Yang Laid a Double-Yolker!

2011-08-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, as I checked the nest box one last time, I was elated to actually witness the 'birthing' of a freakishly huge egg. By far the biggest we've ever experienced here at Pigs. As Yang (one of our two biggest hens) popped it out - I knew we were in for something special.

I grabbed the still-glistening orb and ran to the front of the house yelling Jason's name all of the way. He was already in the car, about to head to a baseball game. I think he thought I'd lost my mind. But this was the proverbial golden egg, more than worthy of some fanfare.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

Note I couldn't even close the carton!

The first double-yolker Jason's ever seen, and only my second -
but my last one was 22 years ago!!!

One Store's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

2011-08-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Just ask. It doesn't hurt and the worse thing that can happen is you get a no. Tonight I went to the store for some tomatoes, cilantro, and some fruit. As usual, the produce clerks were working the racks and in this instance pulling off tomatoes that had gone bad.

The clerk was a nice young man who evidently was making attempts to learn the English language but hadn't made it to fluent. He was making more progress than I because the only word I knew in Spanish was El Pollo... Chicken. After several seconds of hand gestures, his broken english, and my one word, I was able to communicate to him what I wanted. I've asked clerks in the past for their rotting produce and gotten the standard no and go away, but this guy was especially helpful and pleaded my case before the manager on the next isle. The answer was yes! Total booty- 15 lbs of ripe tomatoes.

I threw some in to the coop tonight as soon as I got home, about 7:45 at night. You'd better believe that one of the few things that will pull a chicken out of the coop after she's gone in is a beautiful red ripe tomato. They were in heaven, the landfill's slightly less full, my wallet has a few extra bucks in it, and I'm sure I'll get red eggs from my girls tomorrow. Everyone wins! -Jason

Chillin With my Ladies: How we're blowing away the heatwave.

2011-08-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret we are in the midst of a major heatwave here in Dallas. Temperatures today topped just over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, with indexes in the high teens. To top things off, we've had one small rain event in the past two months. My home is conditioned at a frigid 82 degrees and I say frigid because it feels like a meat locker when I come in from the outside.

There's no escape for our flock though. The heat keeps coming and thankfully we haven't lost a single chicken yet. I've recently got some advice from Dun Hagan Gardening that the secret to keep Chickens alive in a heat wave is a three part recipe.

1. Shade, shade, and more shade. That's one thing we're at no loss for. The aviary is under a big Pecan tree and it's covered again by a shade tarp to keep out hawks.

2. Clean, fresh, cool water. Check. We got that too. We even put ice cubes in it. We stop short at the frozen margaritas, though. (We don't want to spoil them.)

3. Air circulation. No check. The shade tarp does a good job of fending off wind. There's little to no circulation in the aviary.

I decided that when the temps outside are 110, that we're gambling with their lives. I'll spare you all of the details, but suffice it to say that Wal-Mart is not my favorite place to purchase things. Two fans later, we now have circulation in our coop. A large fan was purchased, and works beautifully to keep the big chicks chilled a little. They even stopped panting!

A large box fan for the large chickens...

...and a small fan for the small chickens.

I decided to get a little fancier with the small birds. I built a small cage and placed in it a frozen 2 litter bottle of water in front of a small fan as an impromptu a/c unit. The jury is still out on that one, but at a minimum, they do have air circulating in their pens. -Jason

Chicken Scrum and Heat Mitigation

2011-08-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

We've been worried about the extreme heat here in Texas over the past weeks and its effect on our chickens. Unfortunately it is expected to get worse - if that's even possible. This entire week is supposed to be between 106-108 degrees with the heat index around 115! Horrendous, depressing, draining - every bad adjective and verb you can imagine! We've been adding ice to their water 3 times per day, and between 12pm and 8pm, every hour, we hose the chickens down with cold water. It does seem to help a bit - but they continue to pant as if their lives depended on it - and, sadly, they do!

So you can imagine my surprise when I went out there a few days ago and found all of the "babies" huddled as close as they could possibly get to one another - a veritable chicken scrum! Except instead of chasing a rugby ball they were each determined to find the deepest, coolest section of dirt they could lay their feathers on. I guess they're not too bad off if they must lay as close as they possibly can to one another. These girls never cease to entertain! -Carrie

Pears for Dessert!

2011-08-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Jason wrote about the pear harvest we gleaned from a neighbor's tree (detailed here). Tonight I had the pleasure (truly!) of using some of the Seckels in a scrumptious Pear-Cranberry-Almond-Phyllo pastry. These things are to die for! All I did was google "Pears and Phyllo Dough" and those ingredients in the fourth result caught my eye immediately. The directions are slightly lengthy, but these are very easy to make. Unfortunately they were gobbled up so fast I wasn't able to get a picture. I will definitely be making them again in the very near future. -Carrie

Click here for the recipe!

Update on our May chicks

2011-07-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

I figured it was time to do a quick update on the "surprise" chicks I got while Jason was out of town in May (detailed here). They are now 12 weeks old. All 7 are healthy and seemingly happy. Our initial plan to keep just three has now ballooned into keeping 6. In early August we were going to give some good friends 3 of the birds. However, they have decided to wait until mid-Fall to build a coop, get chickens, etc. So, we will keep the three Cuckoo Marans and three of what were supposedly Araucanas, but what I think are in fact Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers (because they have tails and true Araucanas don't - and ours definitely have tails).

The three Marans are carbon copies of each other physically, though there is always one that is much more trusting of us and more pet-ish than the other two. Of the Ameraucanas, we're keeping the white one (the "Blonde Snuggler" Jason referred to in his earlier post), the one that has kind of leopard-like markings (just because she's really pretty), and a more plain orange one. It was a toss up between the two orange-colored ones because personality-wise there is nothing that distinguishes one from the other. I'm choosing to go with the plain one because the other has markings similar to the "leopard" one, and I want the three Ameraucanas we're keeping to be completely different.

The leopard-print one we're keeping

We're keeping the more plain orange one in the back right of this picture

As for the white one - I think we're going to call her Dove. She is still just as sweet as pie. I told Jason today that if I were a European queen from the 1700s, I wouldn't have a lap dog - I'd have a lap chicken! And Dove would be the lucky hen. I'd go down in the history books as that crazy chicken-loving queen. It seems that at this rate I'm heading in that direction anyway. Not the queen direction - the crazy chicken lover direction! A friend on Facebook recently called me a Chick-onista for figuring out that one of her hens was a certain rare breed. I could get used to that name! -Carrie

Sweet Dove - what more can I say?

What's Another 35 Chickens?- Why we do what we do

2011-07-29T00:56:00.000-07:00

In the words of Mr. Potato Head in the movie Toy Story, "HE'S AT IT AGAIN!!!!" You may remember an article I posted a few months ago in the dead of winter, Moving Chickens- A tale from Tuscany, where we describe the nuances of moving chickens around in the winter to keep them safe and sound. The other day I had a flashback to that day and the one that followed, Loco Diablo el Pollo, and told myself that I really didn't want to do that again. (The headache stemmed from trying to manage baby chicks through the cold of winter.)

Another dynamic that developed over the past few weeks as some of our Black Sexlink clutch started laying was really trying to figure out who is laying and who is not. As it stands now, two or three could stop laying altogether and we would never know it. Some level of knowledge was desired. We decided that if we wanted 12 layers for ourselves, then what we needed were 3 white layers, 3 tinted layers, 3 light brown layers, and 3 dark brown layers.

The suggestion was made to Carrie that if we were going to raise another clutch of chicks, this was the time to do it, as it's a bazillion degrees out, which little chicks like, and they would be hardy enough for winter when it got here.

So the wheels got turning and we discussed this decision with the kids in case they wanted to put an order in for a particular pet chicken that they wanted. Kristen took us up on the deal, Will decided to pass. One of the kids, and I don't remember who, asked why we're doing this again. We already had more than enough chickens. Why order 35 more?

In short the answer is this... This has turned into a hobby of sorts for us. We've gotten so much pleasure out of watching our chickens grow and watching their antics. There are days when it's been a headache, sure, but the joy outweighs the pain by ten fold. Additionally, there's a good feeling when I open my fridge and see food in it which traveled 50 ft. total to be there. We believe in the local food/clean food movement. By raising chickens and selling them to others, we enable them to participate in this movement and we've made some friends with like minded beliefs along the way. I'll take a friend like that any day! -Jason

FYI - The chicks should arrive next Thursday - 8/04. Will post soon thereafter with some pictures!

Compost Update (Way-Belated!)

2011-07-27T15:08:00.001-07:00

While I've written about the compost efforts on our propert y before, I wanted to give you a belated update on our most recent (i.e. May) batch of chicken-run compost. Now, keep in mind this beautiful compost started out as free hardwood rough-cut mulch from our local tree trimmer. We also added a slight sprinkling of free straw now and again for kicks. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture, but the after pictures are a testament to the power of deep littering your chickens. This large compost pile is the result of our chickens pooping, dust-bathing, scratching, and just doing their inherent chicken-things in and amongst the mulch for about 6 months. This is what it looked like the day we took it out of the coop! The ultimate amendment for the gardens. -Carrie

Isn't she the cutest chicken-poop compost model you've ever seen???

Hats off to .o9 Acres!

2011-07-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy this article from the Newport News Daily Press on one of our favorite bloggers from .09 Acres, Dave Krop. -Jason

I Could Pearly Believe it: Gleaning from a neighbors fruit tree

2011-07-16T14:22:00.001-07:00

Last year while biking with my son, we passed by a house I had passed a thousand times before. This time, however, I noticed a hundred little green and red orbs attached to the limbs of a tree on the side of this house. Pears! I love this fruit like a squirrel loves nuts. I found one that had fallen from the tree already and took it home to identify the variety. Turns out, it's a Seckel. From what I read, these small fruits pack a lot of flavor and are said to be one of the sweeter pears.

I approached the home owner and obtained his permission to pick the tree. He didn't want them and as a matter of fact, they were creating a mess for him. Alas, it was not meant to be last year, as we waited too long to harvest and only took home seven, which had a poor texture. This year I was on my game and we got to the harvest on July 13th. Seckels have an early harvest compared to other pears, and I was pleased to find all pears passing the pick test: Lift and turn slightly, if it comes off, keep it. Twelve pounds was the final total... FREE! Into the fridge they went, save one or two for testing.

The question kept looming in our heads though, how are they going to taste? Will they be as good as everyone says? They come off the tree hard as rocks, will they ripen like we want them to? The taste may develop, but how will the texture be? Did we pick too early or too late? I swear, we were like expecting parents. I know,you're right.... I was like an expecting parent.

One week later Carrie handed me one of the test pears, and the firmness had declined. It was a bit softer. But how would it taste? AWESOME! Perfect texture and truly amazing flavor. My only regret is that we had just a small one to share between Carrie, myself, and our youngest son. Since we can't share with you the taste, I'll leave you with a picture of testament to the flavor. You can see Carrie above attacking the carcass of the pear like a Cajun on a turkey leg at the state fair. It doesn't get much better than that! -Jason

Drought Tolerant: 20 Days of Hell

2011-06-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession. Yes, another, and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with that missing bag of Oreos….

I like to torture plants. I moonlight as a executioner of little perennials who have done bad things against society. I like to watch them wilt in the hot sun, begging for drops of water to quench their bone dry roots. I’ve had much pleasure lately. Much pleasure.

It’s been three weeks since the last rain event where we received just .3” of rain on May 24^th. To top that, our average high in that three week period is a blistering 95.1, with two days topping out at 100. I can hear hydrangeas gulping water by the gallon. I can see the grass drying out faster than a steak on my brother’s grill. I’m in utter glee… until I come home. Uh, wait… that didn’t come out like I wanted it to.

My landscape was designed and planted with two words in mind. Water Conservation! Two days ago, 5/15/11, was the first time I saw any sort of sign of serious distress from my garden and that was coming from the Mealy Blue Sage I installed earlier this year. The Loropetalums were looking a little parched, but could have gone another week or so before meeting their demise. All in all, not bad.

For those who are wondering, here’s a list of what I have in my garden and a few pictures to show how they look before I watered them. Please excuse the exposure levels. I had to wait until the sun went down somewhat so I wouldn’t wilt!- Jason

Plant List
Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' (Zebra Grass)

Aquilegia chrysantha 'Hinkleyana' (Texas Gold Columbine)

Heuchera micrantha Bressingham Hybrids (Coral Bells)

Liriope Muscari (Lily Turf)

Iris brevicaulis (Louisiana Iris)

Loropetalum chinese 'Plum Delight' (Chinese Fringe Flower)

Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon Holly)

Salvia greggii (Autumn Sage/Red Salvia)

Salvia guarinitica (Blue Anise Sage)

Lavandula stoechaspedunculata (Spanish Lavender)

Agave sp. (Century Plant (Agave))

Wedelia hispida (Zexmenia)

Stachys bizantina (Lamb's Ear)

Lagerstormia indica x fauriei 'Natchez' (Crape Myrtle 'Nachez')

Rosemarinus officinalis 'Arp' (Upright Rosemary)

Hesperaloe parvifolia (Red Yucca)

Tulbaghia violacea (Society Garlic)

Salvia leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage)

Nassella tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass)

Showing the plants is a matter of documentation and sharing knowledge.

Zebra Grass

Autumn Sage

Loropetalum

Yaupon Holly

Iris

Liriope

Blue Anise Sage

Russian Sage

Blue Glow Agave

Zexmenia

Crepe Myrtle

Lamb's Ear

Red Yucca

Society Garlic

Mexican Feather Grass

The Blonde Snuggler

2011-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have a loving wife who wants nothing but the best for her man. So when she told me that seven more chicks were coming to live with us, I was all on board (I heard one was a good snuggler). I objected at first! No, absolutely not! No way could you get me to even think about... One's a snuggler? What's that? The blonde is the snuggler? Well, let's not be too hasty...

Yes that's right, I came home from my maymester trip to Seattle to a new batch of chicks living in my garage. (3 Araucanas, 3 Marans, and a little blonde one we think is another Araucana). This in addition to the 18 we already have out in the coup... Why? Two reasons: 1. They were on special, take as many as you want for free so she paid him $5!... 2. Because if it's living she was made to love it, if it's not, she'll dust it off and sell it. She's crazy about those chickens!

Baby chicks at four weeks old

While we originally wanted our flock to be comprised solely of black sex links, we've now decided we'd like a bit more variety. The plan is to sell up to 5 of the black sex links, keep 3 or 4 of these babies (at least 1 Maran, 1 Araucana, and definitely blondy - she seriously is a snuggler) and give the other 3 or 4 to some good friends who plan on starting a flock in about 3 months. -Jason

Landscape Design 101: Avoiding 10 Common Beginner's Mistakes

2011-05-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Designing a landscape can be a daunting task. In my previous article, Texas Natives and East Coast Transplants, I gave my readers several plants I love working with in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I want to talk a little bit now about how to design with those plants and address common rookie mistakes so you can make your landscapes picture perfect. Here's ten tips to get you on your way:

1. Form follows function- This mantra of the design world simply means that the landscape must achieve its function or it won’t get used no matter how beautiful it is. Know the function first.

a. Do you want to entertain in your landscape? (How many do you need to plan for?)

b. Do you want something pretty to look at from your bedroom window? (You don’t need a large sitting area in this space!)

c. Is the primary function of the landscape to garden and get exercise? (Make it comfortable to work in!)
d. Do you NEED grass? If not, plan for a different ground cover that isn't so water needy.

2. Design in concept first, then move progressively towards details- Get to know your site first. Look at it with new eyes and ask yourself, "What's going on here?" Architecture is the thoughtful making of space. Look at your site and determine what you need before you ever start considering plant selection. Say things to yourself and record them on paper like, “I need a shade tree right here, a sitting area for this many people, a focal point there” and then refine those decisions. During the next step, you should ask yourself, “What are the shade trees which do well in this area (Red Oak or Pecan), what kind of sitting area fits into my budget (Concrete or Flagstone on concrete base), what do I want to express with this focal point (Sculpture or Specimen plant)?"

3. When everything’s important, nothing is important- When I tell people I design drought tolerant landscapes, people really do think that I plant cactus all over the place. There’s a place for these guys and I’m not against them, but they’re really bold and draw a lot of attention and focus. Use focal points sparingly.

4. Maximize interest with the use of contrast- Use contrast wisely. Placing a Lamb’s Ear next to a Rosemary creates a contrast in texture for instance. You may want to develop a contrast in color by placing yellow Zexmenia next to a more blue Russian Sage (complimentary colors). You can surround a focal point with a benign plant or place a tall shrub every ten feet of a low and level hedge. Contrast brings interest. The more contrast, the more interest.

5. Plan the hardscapes first and plants last- Know where you're going to place your paths, patios, and water features first. Only then can you know how much room you have for the plants. Know the full size of the adult plant and stick to it, even if it means having a sparse looking garden at first. It’s going to look empty at first. Expect it.

6. Design to the next level up and down- Simply put, before you select a plant, know what kind of a landscape you have. Before you select a landscape, know what kind of a house you have. Do you have a Spanish style home? Use plants that look like they're from the Mediterranean. Make sure that what you’re doing LOOKS appropriate for the space and neighborhood.

7. Take a good hard look at design principles- Knowing your design rules will help you develop the concept design from my second point above. Every form of art from dance to music to landscape architecture applies the same rules of scale, rhythm, contrast, series, hierarchy, focal point, texture, form, etc… (See how many you can spot in the building below.)

8. Don’t be afraid to fail- Thomas Edison said he didn’t fail a thousand times at making a light bulb, he just discovered how not to do it a thousand times. Don't be paralyzed by the fear of messing up. Plan as best you can, then go for it!

9. Not everything needs to be symmetrical- As we say in Texas, "Nuf said."

10. Don’t just plan what you can see- Take time to research the things you can’t see. How do you make a good patio? How far down does a footing need to go for a retaining wall? What kind of dirt do I have and what will grow here? Ask yourself these kind of questions and you may be surprised at what you answer.

One last bonus tip... Don't be afraid to call in the professionals when you're in over your head OR make up your plan and submit it to an experienced designer for review. For a small fee, you may be able to avoid big pitfalls.

Finis origine pende- The beginning determines the end! Plan well and you shall reap well. -Jason

Free School Meals: Necessity or Abuse?

2011-05-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's 2 AM. And while it's not the dreaded 4 AM, I still can't sleep. Since I don't have to study (woohoo!), I figured I'd write!

An acquaintance on Facebook recently posted a link that states for the 2011-2012 school year, Walmart will feed every child that attends a Dallas Public School a free breakfast. The initiative is called "Breakfast in the Classroom". The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is one of only 5 major school districts in the country chosen to share a 3 million dollar Walmart Foundation Grant that funds the program. The link above lists a myriad of reasons why a good breakfast is so important to a student's productivity in school, and I agree wholeheartedly with every one.

For the 2009-2010 school year, just over 80% of students enrolled at my daughter's elementary school were eligible for free/reduced breakfast and lunch. Of that number I am unsure just how many participate, but the Breakfast in the Classroom link states nationally less than half of those eligible for free breakfasts (doesn't specify lunch numbers) currently take advantage.

I love how the Walmart website states that students will "enjoy nutritionally well-balanced foods like breakfast wraps, yogurt, or fruit.." Yet this local Dallas news video link shows them eating fast-food-looking pancakes with syrup, orange juice, and what appears to be chocolate milk. But the vagaries of what they will serve is actually not what I'm writing about here today.

This can be a touchy subject and please read (and believe) my words - I know there are families/children in the Dallas area that are in desperate need of this kind of help. Walmart is providing a huge service to those families, and in turn to DISD so the school system (i.e. taxpayers) doesn't have to foot the bill. In theory it's a win-win, the private sector helping the public sector. What I have a problem with are parents taking advantage of the system and getting free lunches for their children when they have no need (breakfast has now been taken off the table for this discussion since Walmart's backing that in our city). It all comes down to priorities.

I personally know children that receive free lunches from the state/federal government that have iphones, ipods, excessively large flat screen TVs, and every gaming system/game/and DVD on the planet. And I don't mean the parents have these things - I mean the children! There is no way around it - it is completely unethical. Obviously I'm not talking about those families with a true need, but there are numerous instances - at my child's school, let alone all of the schools - where the parents choose not to buy good, healthy food for their children in favor of electronics and the newest gadgets.

In January we joined the Urban Acres organic food co-op. I had wanted to do this for a while, but $50 every two weeks seemed like an awful lot to spend on fruits and vegetables. Let me tell you folks - it is a steal. Every other Saturday I receive over 30 pounds of fresh, completely organic, in-season fruits and vegetables. Our family of five has never once been able to finish it all before the next pick-up. My kids eat at McDonald's probably twice a year - and it's usually while we're on the road heading to and from the east coast. I can assure you that many of the families claiming a need for free lunches spend $100/month on fast food when they could spend it on organic, nutritious food - and not use the government's money to feed their kids.

I guess some would say my 12, almost 11, and 4 year olds are deprived. None of them have a personal phone. None of them have an ipod. None of them have a gaming system - either personal or family-sized. We don't even have a TV! When the economy tanked in late 2008 we did what we had to to survive. We moved from a 3000 square foot house to a 1500 square foot rental to the 1000 square foot home we currently own. My three kids - gasp! - shared one room for the first two years we were in this house! My two oldest children even received free lunches from February 2009 through May of 2009. And they were a godsend. However, while on these free lunches we weren't buying souped-up cars, any electronics, cigarettes (that now cost around $5/pack! - I remember when they were like $1.50!), etc., etc. It is all about priorities. Why should someone else have to pay for my child's food because I am unwilling to? Note I didn't say unable - those people need help for sure.

I was recently talking to someone (and for the life of me I can not remember who it was) who told me that when he was a boy (in the 1940s/1950s), families who were receiving monetary assistance from the state would get periodic unannounced home checks to make sure they weren't lying about their financial situation on paper. While I am not advocating for this - I do feel like it is a major invasion of privacy - I think alot of abuse of the system would be prevented this way.

I don't have all of the answers (or even any, really) needed to address this complex topic. However, I have a starting point for many families - as I've said, it's about our priorities.

P to the R to the I to the O to the R to the I to the T to the I to the E to the S! Get 'em, people!

Let's help those that truly need it, but take responsibility for our financial situation - and the basic nutritional health of our children - when we can. -Carrie

Worm Farming 101

2011-05-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

At the end of February I attended a vermicomposting workshop in Dallas held by Heather of the Texas Worm Ranch. As if the name of her company doesn't give it away, vermicomposting is the act of composting through the use of various worms - in Heather's case (and now mine), red wigglers. The first time I had ever heard about vermicomposting was about 10 years ago when my "kooky" (what I thought at the time - of course, I am now squarely in this category as well!) college roommate listed worms on her wedding registry!

Believers in vermicomposting/worms list the seemingly endless benefits:

Improves soil structure, enriching it with numerous micro-organisms
Improves water holding capacity
Improves root growth and structure
Enhances germination, plant growth, and crop yield
One pound of mature worms (appoximately 800-1000 worms) can eat up to 1/2 a pound of organic material per day
In a healthy worm bin, the worms and beneficial microbes work together to neutralize odors, making them suitable for indoor use (while up until now we've kept ours outside, I can attest to the fact that I have never once smelled anything untoward upon opening our bin, despite the rotting food inside)
Does not produce methane gas
Worms can eat most fruits, vegetables, grain waste, manure, leaves, newspaper, cardboard, office paper, junk mail, and other sources of cellulose
Converts waste (i.e. worms eat the refuse and poop out castings) into a great organic amendment that's beneficial for gardens, houseplants, and landscaping

There are huge "farms" dedicated solely to composting with worms and then selling the castings as garden fertilizer. However, it is just as easy for a homeowner (or even apartment dweller!) to have your own worm bin to compost kitchen refuse. I'd only seriously started thinking about getting worms in the last year, but wondered what was involved in getting started. Turns out not much! Other than the cost of the worms (a hefty $25-$30/pound depending on where you purchase them), it is possible to set up your own vermicomposting bin with almost no expense.

Here's what I did, generally following Heather's instructions:

Use a 14 inch by 24 inch bin I had on hand (can go smaller or larger)
Drill some air holes along the top and a few in the bottom (amazingly, as long as the conditions inside are acceptable, no worms attempt to get out of the bottom holes)
Fill bin about 5-6 inches with chicken litter from the coop, compost, or dirt
Place 1 pound of red wigglers on top of the dirt section
Put a thin layer of food scraps (no meat, dairy, pineapple or papaya, minimal citrus) over the worms (not pictured)
Top with another 6 inches of moist shredded newspaper, office paper, or cardboard (not pictured)
Snap on top!
Add a handful of food every second or third day underneath the paper layer (though I must admit I've gone as long as a week and they've been completely fine)
About once every two weeks I took a hose and quickly (and lightly) sprinkled some water on top of the paper layer to keep it moist

Bin filled with chicken coop litter

Close-up of litter

Added one pound of Red Wigglers

Finished product after 12 weeks! The tiny brown particles are worm poop!

Castings - black gold. Perfect to side-dress the veggies or fruits in your garden!

Supposedly 12 weeks is a bit too long to wait to clean out your bin. Ideally it is done every 8-10 weeks. I think it would be best (i.e. quickest) to make a simple worm/casting separator screen out of a wooden frame and 1/8 inch wire mesh. I didn't have one today so I just used a cup and scooped out the castings. You have to be careful because you will get some worms in the cup - especially small ones. They'll need to be picked out and put in another holding area as you work through the rest of the bin. As you work your way down through the castings the worms don't like to be exposed to light - so they quickly retreat into the deeper parts of the bin - making your casting collection easier. In 1 hour I ended up with a whopping 40 cups (!) of castings/excessively decomposed matter - and I only got through half of the bin! I proceeded to spread this around my blackberries, cucumbers, zucchini, and my lone (though impressive at 6 feet tall and completely unplanned) volunteer tomato. I then shoved the remaining worms and decomposed matter to one half of the bin, added about 4 inches of new composted chicken coop litter, shoved the worms/matter back over on top of the new litter, added 4 more inches to the other side, and then spread the worms back over everything. Added new kitchen refuse to the bin along with some moistened, shredded documents - and we're good to go for the next 8 to 10 weeks!

Up until now we've kept the bin outside and have had no problems. However, now that the weather is warming up here in Texas I am sure we'll need to bring it in the house. The problem is finding a suitable location for this large bin in our already small house. I may need to break it up into two smaller bins. The worms are really a no-brainer. Time will tell if my hour spent today will help yield more impressive vegetables and fruit - my fingers are crossed - but I suspect it will!

Heather at the Texas Worm Ranch is a wealth of information - it is clear she loves what she does! Please contact her if you have any questions or want to get started with your own vermicomposting operation. I'm sure she would be glad to assist you! -Carrie

Islandwood: An Educational Experience for Little Environmentalists

2011-05-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Islandwood

Seattle- A recent field trip took us to the educational center of IslandWood. A few years ago, Washington state mandated that all 4th, 5th, and 6th graders be educated on the environment. An important side note is that this bill was unfunded. Rising to the call, a non-profit agency created an educational center on 255 acres in the woods of Bainbridge Island.

The following is an exert from their WEBSITE:

More to follow...

History of IslandWood

The Idea

Inspiration for IslandWood came from the land itself, and the knowledge that half of Seattle School District children did not receive overnight outdoor education programs.
Paul and Debbi Brainerd learned in 1997 that over a thousand acres of land were being sold on the south end of Bainbridge Island. Debbi proposed the idea of a children's outdoor education center to teach children about the natural and cultural history of the Puget Sound region.

IslandWood founder Debbi Brainerd describes the process of creating an outdoor learning center in the Pacific Northwest from the ground up.

The Need

Debbi conducted a six-month feasibility study with Puget Sound teachers and Washington State educational administrators that confirmed the need for such a facility. It was learned that Washington State declared environmental education mandatory in 1990 -- yet no funding for teacher training, student programs, or facilities was ever allocated. Moreover, the feasibility study showed that roughly half of the children from economically challenged communities in Seattle had never participated in a residential outdoor education program -- or spent time outside the city.
In 1998, an educational study called Closing the Achievement Gap was released that became the basis for IslandWood's educational vision and philosophy. This study funded by the Pew Charitable Trust examined models of learning in children and showed that by taking children outside the classroom, by focusing on actively doing rather than reading or being lectured to, children's academic performance goes up in every discipline. In math and science scores went up by over 90%, and discipline problems decreased while attendance increased. This research inspired our desire for IslandWood to become a model for how all learning should happen.

Learning from Others

At the end of 1998, 255 acres of land were purchased by the Brainerds from Port Blakely Tree Farms and donated to the new nonprofit now known as IslandWood. The planning then began in earnest as to the best way to create an educational center that could be a "magical place for kids."
Two years of research followed, with community meetings involving over 2,500 people. Focus groups conducted with teachers, scientists, artists, technologists and cultural historians supported expanding educational programs to include weekend adult and family programs. Additionally, teachers expressed a strong need for professional development opportunities in art, science and technology.
Debbi made visits to over 25 other outdoor education facilities in the United States. Visiting exemplary programs such as the Teton Science School in WY, Wolf Ridge in MN and Frost Valley in NY, provided a collective best practices model around facility design and program. Attending a Graduate Program Conference at the Teton Science School, discussions began with the University of Washington that confirmed a decision to offer a 10- month residential graduate program at IslandWood. Using the model of the research Closing the Achievement Gap, the graduate curriculum would focus on giving future educators the skills they needed to reach more children through an experiential, hands-on model of learning.
Scientists and other educators were then brought to the property to discern what educational "stories" could be taught from the land. Biologists were thrilled by the property's rich variety of ecosystems: 62 acres of wetlands, a bog, second growth forest, a stream, and access to a marine estuary in Blakely Harbor adjacent to the property. Cultural historians were excited by the stories of the largest mill in the world that once operated in Blakely Harbor, as well as the history of the Suquamish tribe who had used this land for many years before the arrival of the white settlers.

The Vision Becomes Reality

Mithun architects and The Berger Partnership designed the educational structures, trail systems and outdoor field structures with the help of kids. University of Washington landscape architecture students worked with over 250 children in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades in design charrettes, to learn what their ideals would be for learning in the natural world. The children's ideas focused on adventure-based learning, with their design ideas generating specifics like a floating classroom, suspension bridge, forest canopy structure and several tree houses.
Fund raising began in 1999. The total project cost was $52 million: $5 million to acquire the land, $32 million for construction and site infrastructure, $10 million for an operations endowment, and $5 million to establish a scholarship endowment for children from underserved communities. The Brainerds provided half of the campaign goal, and the additional $26 million was raised from the community. The campaign was successfully completed in 2005.
The official groundbreaking for the center was held in the summer of 2000. With construction nearly completed in spring 2002, pilot programs were conducted to test the four-day program for 4th and 5th graders. The teachers and kids who attended provided reviews about the quality of the educational experience, with comments like "this isn't a camp it's a school with real teachers" and "this experience wasn't about recreation it was about learning - only they made it fun!"

Today

Kids, adults, families, and teachers are now currently learning from the land, and the team of IslandWood faculty and staff is making what once was a vision come to life!
IslandWood's dedication to the community through lifelong learning, education by hands-on learning, and its commitment to stewardship shows what can happen when people work together.
Today IslandWood targets approximately two-thirds of its students from schools on free and reduced lunch programs for its School Overnight Program. Proceeds from other IslandWood programs and special events help support these efforts by providing scholarships for those who need financial assistance. It is our goal to allow all children to be able to have an IslandWood experience.
Moving into its ninth year of operation, IslandWood continues to expand its reach into the community. Here are a few highlights:

Over 4,000 school children from over seventy schools in the Puget Sound area participated in IslandWood programs
Over 5,000 community members visited the campus through our community events, conferences and leadership programs
Over 50,000 households in the Puget Sound area learned valuable lessons in stewardship by viewing our cultural history films
Over 6,000 hours of service to IslandWood were provided by our growing base of docents and volunteers
Over 200 teachers participated in professional development programs at IslandWood to increase their effectiveness in the classroom

Trashing Your Trash: How Seattle Handles Waste

2011-05-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

A school trip recently brought me to the wonderful city of Seattle. There are a couple of things that us Texans could learn from the Seattlites in terms of attitude and culture towards sustainability. A garden in the front yard is not that foreign here, bicycles roam the streets like wild cats in my neighborhood, and even the trash is a little greener. That's right. They have green trash.

The first time I saw it, I thought it to be a fluke. The second, a coincidence. The third, I knew they were on to something. I've said for sometime the best way to get people to recycle is to make it as convenient as throwing something away. Seattle has been placing recycling bins next to their trash cans for eons. What I found unique to the blue and black bins was a green one.... A compost bin. Yes, now you have the option, at least in Seattle, to compost your food instead of tossing it in the trash. What a concept.

Education about the environment is a priority here. More on that to come. For now, HERE is an educational game geared towards kids, but don't let that fool you. I learned a couple of things myself. It only take a couple of minutes to play. Enjoy. -Jason

Thornless Blackberry Update

2011-05-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

Back in early March I wrote a post about planting 4 thornless blackberries in our front yard (here). With all of our shade, and the fact that I only planted 1 gallon plants in late January, I wasn't expecting more than a berry or two per plant. In the comments section of that post Dallas Fruit Grower wrote, " I'm betting that you get a crop this year" - and I'm sarcastically thinking, "Yeah, right, guy. What do you know?!? If by crop you mean 2 berries/plant, then yes, I will probably get a crop...." Well I am now officially thornless blackberry's biggest fan (and Dallas Fruit Grower's biggest believer)! I ended up getting a minimum of about 20 large berries per plant - and these babies aren't even a foot tall! At one point there were about 40 flowers per plant. We started harvesting the berries in mid April - which was also much sooner than I had expected. There are now only a few berries left on one of the plants. But all four bushes have already begun to put on new growth. I can. not. wait. for next years harvest! FYI - the pictures below were taken on May 5th. -Carrie

Harvesting Garlic

2011-05-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

On May 5th, as I looked out over the garden, I had a sudden sinking feeling in my chest. The garlic I had so lovingly purchased from the local Hispanic grocer - diligently separated, peeled, and planted on October 1, 2010 - was starting to turn brown and fall over. All these months I had it in my head that garlic was like onions - you pull one to two weeks after the tops have fallen. Or at least that's my understanding of the onion harvest. However, as I surveyed the fruits of my 6 months of labor that fateful Thursday morning, some remote memory kicked in and I realized garlic is supposed to be harvested after the first 6 leaves start to wither - not the entire plant! Knowing if I didn't get a move-on my precious garlic would rot where I planted it (if it hadn't already!), I sprang into action.

Garlic screaming "Harvest Me!"

The photo below shows my first ever garlic harvest. Twenty-three out of twenty-four cloves survived - not bad! And by the looks of those bulbs I think I harvested just before it was too late. Nine of them were starting to rot. While the inner cloves were all intact, the outer protective covering was completely obliterated from being in the ground too long. Obviously these nine will have to be the first we eat as they won't store long at all. The rest appear to be in pretty good shape.

Bulbs on the left starting to rot; bulbs on the right in good shape

Close-up of damaged bulbs

Uber-close-up of damaged bulbs

Good bulbs

Best bulb, a nice plump 2.5-incher, next to rotting bulb

Informative juxtaposition...read more below

Perhaps the most interesting discovery is shown in the picture above. On the left is "Big Bertha" - our best bulb, planted on 10/1/10 from a regular grocery store clove (no idea what variety). To the right is a Chinese Pink Softneck bulb, and the two at the end are both Spanish Rioja Hardnecks. The three smaller bulbs were planted 7 weeks later than the run-of-the-mill bulb. They were graciously sent to me by Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower. I am assuming the size discrepancy is due mainly to the 7 week difference in planting time. Another possibility is that most of the cloves I planted on 11/23 were cast-offs or smaller cloves that DFVG just didn't need. I've read that it is best to plant the largest cloves possible when planting garlic, and I did do this with the grocery store set. I bought five bulbs but only planted about 2/3 of the cloves in them. Went for the largest & plumpest I could find. I'm going to give the Chinese & Spanish bulbs a few more weeks, but these too are beginning to wither away in the soil. I've learned alot from my first garlic growing season, first and foremost being to get the cloves in the ground earlier rather than later - and don't forget about them once they're in there! -Carrie

We are Alive!

2011-05-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Yes, indeed, we are alive. School is almost done for the semester and we can finally breathe a bit. I hope to post here again two to three times a week through the summer at least...

A few weeks ago Jason got a thank-you card from a friend. I got a big kick out of it. I'd say she knows us pretty well.....

Love it! We're up to, well actually I guess you'd say "down to", 19 chickens. Three "barn bantams" and 16 black sex links. The black sex links include fifteen of the "babies" we got in early February (we sold 11) and one of our original three hens - Nellie. The babies are almost 13 weeks old, and we're hoping within the next 1-2 months they'll start laying. When that happens we will probably find a new home for the bantams, as their eggs are smaller and in general their egg production is not nearly as consistent as the sex-links. I'll do a post soon on our babies. They are now bigger than the bantams! And very sweet since they were raised by hand. This process definitely has made us converts to raising chicks ourselves versus buying full-grown adults hens. They are far more friendly - not afraid of us in the least. Almost all of them love to be held and petted. It's pretty cool.

On a related note:

This pleases me greatly....

Stay Tuned

2011-04-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I've been up to my ears with work and school since the semester started. To top that, Carrie is actually taking more hours than I am! Between all of the pressures of life, we've negelcted to post anything new, but staty tuned for more updates on our little homestead including an update on the baby chicks, who look nothing like babies anymore! Few more weeks to Egg Heaven! - Jason

Naming Chickens Dos and Dont's

2011-03-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we re-purposed a chicken which you can read about here. The woman who bought her was nice enough to keep us up to date on Swoope's progress (which was not successful) and educate us one some of the realities of the other purpose for owning chickens- The meat. Below is a letter she wrote a couple of days ago. Enjoy! -Jason

We have never put a named bird in the stew pot…nor any hen for that matter, but we had a problem w/ 3 mean roosters and they were dispatched within about 24 hours of attacking our children. Our then 3 year old concluded that mean roosters were very nice on her plate. Yes, she’s a country kid!

We had gotten a bunch of straight run birds (actually, they were given to us, but that’s another story) so we soon realized that we had too many roosters for the few hens we had and the kindest thing to the poor hens was to reduce the rooster number. Literally 8 roosters at a time would gang up on one hen and she’d get pretty roughed up before another one caught their eye.Apparently that’s what happens when you have more roosters than hens even though they all had 4 acres to roam on, they had other things on their minds. So, all but one of those roosters ended up in ‘freezer camp’ and most have ultimately made it to our plates. In fact, we watched a video of Daniel Salatin butchering chickens to hone our own skills in that department. (You can watch that video HERE)

I’m a country kid from many generations of country folk (at least on my mother’s side) so after hearing about how my grandmother (who was raised a city girl and married a country veterinarian) would go to her room and weep every year when they would kill the calf, I resolved that there had to be a better way. I learned quickly that if an animal had a name, I became too emotionally attached to eat them later. Hence, we don’t name anything we intend to eat. My husband is a country kid from many generations of country folk on both sides and has a hard time fathoming my difficulty. He’s not heartless by any means, but somehow he doesn’t form the same emotional attachment that I do just because an animal has been given a name. I wish I were that way, but I definitely feel I would be repeating my grandmother’s example if one of our named animals needed eating. I would prefer to sell them to someone else instead. It doesn’t bother me if THEY eat them even if they tell me they will, but I have no stomach for them myself. I know. I’m a wimp. Maybe I got it from the few city folk who have married into the family? -MN, aka Mother Hen's Mother

Growing Thornless Blackberries

2011-03-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

For the last year or two I've dreamed of growing fruits on our lot. Unfortunately we have many large trees on our small property so for the most part that means I can't grow fruit! I half-heartedly attempted to grow strawberries last year, but of the 15 or so plants I planted I only ever had 1 berry ripe at a time. Big bummer. I did a bit more research and found there are a few fruits that can take part sun. I've decided to do a trial run of four thornless blackberries (1 Arapaho and 3 Ouchitas), 1 fig (Celeste), and 2 rhubarbs (Victoria). I will do a post on the fig & rhubarb a little later. Here I will talk briefly about our blackberries.

Dallas Fruit Grower did an awesome post back in July 2010 on growing thornless blackberries in Dallas, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. This is more just to chronicle my experiences (and hopefully successes!) with growing thornless blackberries. Going on his recommendation for the area, I purchased 4 blackberries from North Haven Gardens about 1 month ago when they were having a sale - I believe they were $9 each for one gallon plants. I meant to buy 4 Ouchitas, but realized after I got home that I had picked up an Arapaho in place of one of the Ouchitas. Eh, we'll use it as an experiment. Ouchitas work best for Dallas Fruit Grower, but perhaps the Arapaho will be the best for me. Only time will tell.

Picture taken on 2/22/2011

Will plant sunflowers (for chicken treat) to right of pathway in open space

I planted the four blackberries in our front yard along the north bed (see picture above). The Arapaho is the furthest back, closest to the street. NHG recommended planting with Green Light Root Stimulator & Starter Solution, a 5-15-5 rooting hormone & fertilizer. Knowing basically nothing about blackberries, I followed their recommendation. Only three days after planting these on 1/29/11 we had our "storm of the generation" here in Dallas. It brought about 8 inches of snow and plunged the area into a deep freeze (and I'm talking temps as low as 8 to 10F) that lasted for something like 5 days. I didn't protect these plants in any way. They were completely at the mercy of mother nature. And it appears they survived with flying colors. So far I am very impressed. I will update you on the blackberries progress as the seasons unfurl. -Carrie

Picture taken 2/22/2011

Same plant, picture taken 3/1/2011

Re-purposing a used Chicken

2011-02-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well the inevitable happened. One of our chickens, the brown leghorn, went broody about 5 months ago. After several attempts to rehabilitate her, we made the decision to part ways with her. Here are the options we discussed.

1. Throw her in the trash. (Complete loss of a resource. We felt like the chicken might have opposition to this idea also.)

2. Compost her. (Partial loss of a resource. We felt like the chicken might have opposition to this idea also.)

3. Dinner. (Complete recapture of a resource though messy. We felt like the chicken might have opposition to this idea also.)

4. Let her sit on fertile eggs we buy for her. (We already have 26 chicks in the garage, not viable for us but the chicken loved the idea.)

5. Let her sit on fertile eggs for someone else. (Partial loss of a resource. Chicken loved the idea!)

A quick listing on Craigslist.org, four offers to do business with people in third world countries to relocate their cars and/or complete a business transaction, and two offers for a broody chicken later, we shipped Swoope off to live with another family where she will hopefully be the proud mother of a clutch of Plymouth Rocks. We recouped half the expense for this hen this way and all parties including Swoope made out in the deal. Oh how I love to repourpose things. - Jason

This is My Life

2011-02-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

[Author's note: I'm having major problems with blogger for some reason and can not fix some of the spacing issues on this post. So sorry for the look of this! I guess it goes with the topic!]

I happened upon a post today from a blog I visit a few times a month. Chiot's Run chronicles the life of an organic gardener. She does this through her absolutely beautiful photography. Today her post showcased her line-drying laundry. It just so happens that I did laundry and hung it out to dry this morning as well, but I couldn't help but laugh at the juxtaposition of her laundry next to mine.

Photo from Chiot's Run. Note the nice, matching linens, and nice, light-brown clothespins.

Yes, in theory they match since they are all blue - but boy do they have a story to tell!
Once used during surgery, these "linens" were long ago rescued from the surgery floor
by my surgeon Uncle who couldn't bare for them to be tossed in the trash after one use.

Grey, weathered, rusty clothespins.

Holey, stained, fairly nasty - though clean - kitchen & cleaning "linens".

Yes, this is my life. Recycled, reused, weathered, stained, and holey. I'd love to say I wouldn't have it any other way - but I don't know if that is always the truth. Sometimes we feel sort of junky with all of our various piles of compost, dirt, mulch, chicken run refuse, building materials, logs & sticks waiting to be used in the chiminea, gardening supplies, etc., etc. laying all around our small yard. While they are in some semblance of order it occasionally hits me - "Is it all worth it?"

Is it worth saving every kitchen scrap to be reused somewhere on our property?
Is it worth bringing home apple cores left from apples eaten during kid-sporting events - instead of just throwing them in the trash at the ballpark or soccer field?
Wouldn't it be more aesthetically pleasing if we finally went out and actually bought some cute kitchen towels?
Is it worth gathering discarded items from the side of the road with the thought that 6 months down the road we can use it for something else instead of having to buy brand new?

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding - YES! It certainly would be more pleasing to the eye if we bought new kitchen towels - but what's the point? There is absolutely no need to throw away these perfectly functional surgical towels just so my laundry looks pretty for my neighbors. I can bring some flowers into the house if I need a beauty-fix. It's completely possible that Chiot's Run could have just purchased these new linens to replace her way-past-their-prime older linens. Please understand that I'm not out to disparage Chiot's Run in any way - that's not what I'm trying to get at here. It was more just the shake-your-head-and-have-to-laugh-or-you'll-cry kind of epiphany when I saw her post. Here's what I'm trying to say, and perhaps not as eloquently as I thought while it was forming in my head: the positive in all of this is that no matter what the rag - we're both trying to make a difference, no matter how small. In attempting to line-dry our clothes - something that is idyllic and lovely and a pain in the butt all at the same time - we're doing just one tiny thing to help the environment. And if this is my life, then I'll take it. -Carrie

Organic Veggies & Fruits from the Co-op

2011-02-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Just a picture of some of the produce from Urban Acres Co-op. Love it!

Flight 101 - Baby Chicks Learn What Their Wings Are For

2011-02-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

I'm so entertained by these baby chicks and their antics. It's day 5 or 6 for them and they have learned what those wings are for on the side of their bodies. Around day 3 or 4 they started sprinting from one end of the box to the other with no regard for who they stepped on. Now they're sprinting for a couple of steps and flying for about 12 inches at full speed... into the side of the box! Some lessons you have to learn the hard way I guess. - Jason

How NOT to Name a Chicken- (Tagging Chickens)

2011-02-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

O.k. I'm a softie. I had specific intentions to let the little chicks go without names. They are, after all, livestock and we knew we'd be paring down some of them in the long run. But it started with a little brown faced one we couldn't help but nickname Brownie.

Where's Brownie?

That's it. We'll just name that one. She'll be our special little pet and there'll be 24 that we treat like chickens. Except the other peanut butter faced one. She'll be our little Reeses Pieces. No more. Then another one stuck out from the crowd for her big structure. Big Bertha joined Brownie and Reeses on the short list.

Still there were 22 that needed some form of ID to keep a history of the chicken. This one had to have the butt feathers cut, that one seems more sluggish than the others, this one more spunky, etc... We settled on a method of placing a colored zip tie on each leg. The color combination would ensure that no chicken had more than one tie on each leg, ie. Left: Red; Right: White.

Love those fluffy butts! -Carrie

More Chicken Porn

That sounds like a good combination for Valentines Day. We'll call this one Cupid. And so it followed. Until 20 or so had names that just flowed - like Sunrise and Sunset (orange on one foot and red on the other) and Patti (green on both feet.) Well all was well and good until we got to the end and realized that we weren't really sure that all of them were properly marked. A recount was in order. I placed a box in the bin and started calling off chickens to Will as I put them in the box. We got to the end and fell one short. The last, we found, was under the box holding the rest of the clutch!

My heart leapt! There was this little blob of black fuzz laying on the floor of the chicken's bin. She wasn't moving. What had I done? I took her in my hands and her fragile body lay limp. Her tiny chest moved up and down in a shallow reciprocation. Kristen started to cry and I wanted to also. For ten minutes I held her, uncertain about her future. I watched and waited with bated breath. Time crept. Slowly, the life returned back to her body until she was on her feet. I don't think she would have made it a few more seconds under the weight of her sisters. I had but one name to give this little one who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders - Atlas. We only have room enough for 16 in our coop. No matter what, she's earned a place on our perch. I love a fighter.

Editor's note: There are now several with minor amounts of brown showing up in their face and since we could no longer determine the real Reeses from the imposters, we've since deleted the name from our list. ALSO, as an added bonus, we ran out of names and had to find out why. I'm ashamed to say that after three days of having these girls, we realized we officially have 26! A bonus chicken! We broke out a new color of zip ties and slapped two yellow ones on her. What else could we call her but Sunshine!

Below is a list of the official names. See if you can reason your way through the colors and names. -Jason

Left	Right	aka.
Green	Red	Carol
Red	Green	Holly
Orange	Red	Sunset
Red	Orange	Sunrise
Black	Red	Rose
Red	Black	Cardinal
Red	White	Cupid
White	Red	Valentine
Green	Orange	Brownie
Orange	Green	Bertha
Black	Green	Shamrock
Green	Black	Clover
Green	White	Money
White	Green	Ivy
Black	Orange	Atlas
Orange	Black	Shadow
Orange	White	Tabby
White	Orange	Nema
Black	White	Yin
White	Black	Yang
Red	Red	Flame
Green	Green	Patti
Orange	Orange	Pumpkin
Black	Black	Midnight
White	White	Snow
Yellow	Yellow	Sunshine

Rethinking Flock Dynamics

2011-02-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

So, did you hear the one about the urban couple living on a 7th of an acre with 16 chickens who bought 25 more??? Yes, we're sure we will be the butt of some peoples jokes, but there's a method to this madness.

For those following our blog, you are well aware of our recent excursion to purchase 13 bantam chickens. For those who are new, you can read about that here.

Life's a dance, you learn as you go. While we don't have any regrets purchasing the bantams and we've enjoyed watching them grow, here are some of the lessens we've learned by having them:

Bantams lay smaller eggs, hands down; thus they are less marketable
They don't lay as often as the larger breeds
Our bantams went to the bottom of the pecking order when placed with the standard sized breed, this may be the reason why their production is lower
They are much noisier than our other breeds which equals unhappy neighbors
With so many hens in different stages of development too much time was required to keep the flocks separated

For all of these reasons and probably a few others we can't think of right now, we made the decision about a week ago to find other homes for the bantam clutch (and mama) and the two adolescents. As if by God's favor, on the day we made this decision we 1) learned our neighbor's son wanted to take at least the mama & clutch and possibly the adolescents and 2) Carrie was randomly perusing Ideal Poultry's website and they had a weekly special offering Black Sex-Link chicks (females) for only $1.50 each (regularly $2.50 at most hatcheries).

For those not familiar with the Black Sex-Link (a.k.a. Black Star), there are a number of distinct advantages to this breed. A cross between a Rhode Island Red rooster and a Barred Rock hen, the chicks are born with distinct color markings denoting the sex. This is fairly uncommon in the world of chickens, but allows for quick sexing at the hatchery and you are assured of only getting females - so you don't have to find a home for what could otherwise turn out to be roosters. Sex-Links are also reliable layers of large brown eggs - even in weather extremes. We know this first hand because Nellie, one of our original three hens and a black sex link, has laid consistently since she began - including on both the hottest day and the coldest day of the year. For the month of January, probably historically the least egg-friendly month, Nellie laid 18 eggs. Neither our Barred Rock or Brown Leghorn laid a single egg during this same time period. Last, Nellie is the most docile of all our chickens. That title was supposed to go to the Barred Rock, but Charlotte didn't get the memo.

So, our ultimate goal here is to have 15 or 16 (the maximum occupancy for our coop) good egg laying hens. All of the Bantams will be relocated for sure. Our broody Leghorn is flirting with an uncertain future, and Charlotte, who just finished molting, is expected to start up again and secure a place in the flock. All of the chicks who came in today who don't fit the bill will be sold to help recoop, (pun) the cost of this hobby we like to call self-sufficiency.

Keep your eyes peeled for more coming on the new chicks, including ordering, brooding, growth, tagging and the eventual relocation to the outdoor coop. -Jason & Carrie

Straight Talk about the U.S. Food System from a Preteen

2011-02-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Please watch this. Birke Baehr's passion about the problems and solutions surrounding the food system in this country is contagious and very inspiring - and he's only 11! -Carrie

Styrofoam Alternative

2011-01-27T03:00:00.001-08:00

Here is a TED video on an alternative for Styrofoam packaging.... Mushrooms! It's about 9 minutes long, but very exciting news. Enjoy. -Jason

A Better use for Beer Bottles- Recycled Glass Paving

2011-01-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

Last semester I was on a field trip to a new constructions site for a drainage class. They were pouring the walkways with a new material. Well, sort of. The material is recycled glass. I was happy to see that they were finding a new purpose for this glass. Unfortunately, the glass had to come from one state over, but the silver lining is that it was commercially feasible. Better yet, it looks great when it's installed!

As a bonus to the environment, this recycled glass walk is permeable. The easiest way to explain this is to think of the way a rice/marshmallow treat is put together. To understand why permeable materials are important check out this post from a few months ago on storm water management, Houston Sustainable Design Competition. -Jason

Recycled glass will take the shape of its container, in this case, a styrofoam cup

I found which a construction worker used during his lunch.

Here we see the pieces before the epoxy is added to them.

This video demonstrates the porousness of the material.

Deep Litter Method for Chickens

2011-01-25T03:00:00.001-08:00

The chickens and I work together to make sure the deep litter in the Aviary gets turned. Several months ago, we called a local tree company and asked them to dump one of their trucks of wood chips on our front yard. Normally, they have to pay to dump somewhere so they were happy to oblige us, PLUS it gives the wood chips new life as opposed to some loads which end up in our landfills.

We've used the deep litter method for several months now and we have no regrets. The chicken poo gets turned in regularly by none other than the chickens themselves. Additionally, we put our kitchen scraps right on the ground. They take what they want and the rest seems to get buried. We have seen them taking sand baths in the mulch, but can't testify to its effectiveness yet. We've never caught a parasite on them.

Featured below is the pile that I make for them and the aftermath. Notice the orange peels they passed on. Enjoy -Jason

Noonish

Aftermath of 6 Hens - Close of Business

Loco Diablo el Pollo

2011-01-24T03:00:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I'm learning gobs of things from my chickens. My most recent epiphany is that I'm done with winter chicks. We had yet another night where we got down to the low 20's and we made the decision to be better safe than sorry. So we put the chicks and their mom (Hopper the Hen) into the garage yet again. That's a big headache, but ok, I can live with it.

Today we moved the chickens back into their quarters. In the process, I took Hopper from the chicks so we could move them with confidence that she wouldn't fall all over them. As luck would have it, I made it to the aviary before Carrie did by a minute or two.

We all know that idle hands are the work of the devil, right? (Thinking to myself....) I wonder how the mother is going to get along with the flock when the time comes? Let's find out.

BIG mistake! Huge. Let me tell you, she was all over the rest of the flock like syrup on a pancake, like white on rice, like a cheap suit on a tightwad. I mean, it was six against Hopper and Hopper had them on the run. I could hear the thoughts echoing one right after another through my head. "Oh crap!" "This must be what a cock fight is like!" "Not so big now, are you Swoope?"

I ran for her. She ran from me. She terrorized everyone in her path. I failed miserably. She was, afterall, faster, smaller, and able to duck into places I couldn't. This wasn't working. I needed a plan. I'll open the door to her normal quarters maybe she'll go in on her own. Riiiight. Nope. Swoope, Reagan, Taylor, and Madison took shelter in Hopper's home! There goes my mind again... "Oh crap!" "Not good!" "Nobody will be laying eggs for a month!" "How am I going to get her in there and them out here?!!!"

The Aviary at Night -

The new coop still needs a roof and paint job...

Just then Hopper locked talons with Charlotte. Their wings went flapping and feathers went flying! Charlotte had her hands full, BUT, they were stationary! Without a moment to spare I grabbed a ten foot 2x2 left over from a project I was doing that morning. I pinned Hopper, much to Charlotte's relief, and finally got my hands on Hopper, much to her dismay. The situation must have been really bad because I thrive on high stress situations and Carrie knew immediately that something was wrong when she showed up with the chicks. The look on her face must have mirrored mine. After some prodding and reassuring we got Swoope and the presidents (Reagan, Taylor, and Madison) out of Hopper's coop and the proper residents back in. I'm done moving chickens this year. No if, ands, or fluffy chicken butts. Sorry no pics of the action this time. I just didn't think to get the camera in the middle of this one. -Jason

P.s. Anyone have advice to offer on integrating Hopper into the flock?

My New Tiffin

2011-01-22T03:00:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Annette over at ComoHomestead back in November, I embarked in December on finding myself a tiffin to purchase inexpensively. I first learned of the tiffin from Sheri at the sadly now defunct Green & Crunchy blog. A stainless steel lunch box of sorts, tiffins allow for food storage without the usual waste associated with the more "traditional" plastic bags everyone uses for school lunches.

I scored a new one from To-Go Ware (with tags still attached) off ebay. My total cost came to just under $13 (includes shipping) - and this thing will last forever. You can purchase the exact one I did directly from the company here but it will cost you about $30 including shipping. My plan is to use this on days that I have to go to school. -Carrie

Note: I used this on Wednesday for the first time. Speaking from experience, if you aren't prepared to talk to new people - don't use a tiffin! I can't tell you how many people came up to me at the local community college asking me "what in the world is THAT thing?". Most people thought it was some type of coffee/tea holder. When I told them, many people gave me the face of, "OK, weird green-girl" but a few seemed genuinely interested when I told them how it totally elimates the need for plastic. Got to start somewhere, right?

Homemade...Potato, Broccoli, Cheddar Soup

2011-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in this previous post I recently made a delicious potato broccoli soup. I completely made this one up as per my usual, but this time had the foresight to actually write down what I was adding to the mix! Below is a picture of the finished product. The recipe follows.

Potato, Broccoli, & Cheddar Soup

1-2 T. olive oil
2 c. yellow onions
1 c. red onions, both types chopped somewhere between fine & rough
2 & 1/2 lbs. potatoes, 1/2 of them peeled, all cut into 1/2" chuncks
3 c. water
1 extra large vegetable boullion cube (I used Knorr)
1 pound broccoli, chopped into 1" pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 15 oz. can of cream style corn (non-cream style would be fine, too - but cream style tasted better - I know b/c I made it a second time w/ the non-creamy)
1 - 12 oz. can of evaporated milk (I used "light" - or 2% fat)
1 c. shredded cheddar
salt & pepper to taste

I just added everything into the large pot in the order listed above. I kept the burner between a 6&7 on a scale of 1-10. I let the first 5 ingredients cook for about 10-15 minutes with the lid on before I added the broccoli, then let that cook for about 5 minutes with the lid on before I added the remainder of the ingredients. I then let everything cook for another 10-15 minutes for the flavors to blend. Do stir every few minutes so the bottom doesn't burn. This was really good and very comforting on a cold night. Would be great with some hearty bread and a few bacon crumbles atop the soup, but we've gone vegetarian for at least the first two months of the year so the bacon was out for us. I almost added about 1/2 a beer for some extra flavor but decided against it in the last minute. The picture doesn't do the soup (stew?) justice. It made a large amount - about 14 cups. Six of us ate and there was enough for 2 servings the next day. Buon appetito! (Not that potato soup is traditionally Italian - we just have a slight Italy fetish!) -Carrie

A Spiritual Lesson from a Mother Hen

2011-01-19T03:00:00.001-08:00

There's something very sublime, spiritual almost, about connecting with life around us. If we listen carefully, we learn lessons coming from the most unlikely of places. Landscape Architect and Environmentalist Grant Jones says that studies tell us all the time what common sense used. He believes we can cut to the chase by just listening to nature and observing. The other day I posted a little STORY of moving the chicks into the house to avoid an arctic blast which came through our area. The other side of the story is enlightening and I want to share it with you.

Carrie managed to move the chicks and the mother back to their home outside and when released back into their coop, the momma (Hopper), first out, did a little dance for joy followed by a the scratch, scratch, shuffle, peck that chickens do. Hopper called for her chicks who came out with equal elation to their old quarters. They were happy to be home.

These birds will never know what we did for them. They will never know that we possibly saved their little lives. All they know is that we put them in a tiny container and took away their Hilton of a coop. All they remember is a temporary period of cramped quarters in less than ideal circumstances.

Sometimes we ask God, "Why me?" when we hit a rough spot in our lives. We go kicking and screaming the whole way through phases of our less than ideal circumstances. To me, the story of Hopper and her chicks reaffirms the truth that I first discovered as a private in the Army. I believe in a god who I trust above me to be in charge of the circumstances of my life. I believe he is looking after me and that I'm being cared for even when I'm not always comfortable in my situation. I can take peace and solace in that and thank Hopper for reminding me of that lesson. -Jason

Winter Garden Pics

2011-01-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show you all a quick picture of our winter greens from under the floating row cover I erected (details of that here).

As you may remember, the picture below comes from that post:

See floating row cover post for specifics on what is planted here

And from this past Friday, even with temperatures in the low 20s, you can see everything is growing with flying colors:

You can be sure I'll be expanding my use of these row covers next year. I hardly have to water at all - the condensation generated from the heat inside the cover is enough to keep everything sufficiently watered. It is actually pretty amazing to see water streaming down the insides of the cover when it is 25 degrees outside. I love it! -Carrie

[Note: My brother over at .09 Acres actually just blogged yesterday about his forays into making row covers. Check out his post here.]

Building a Chicken Coop- Lifestyles of the Rich and Feathered

2011-01-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

Keenly aware of the pending arrival of our new chickens (though at the time we didn't know what kinds, how many, or where they were coming from), Jason spent 3 full days after New Years building a larger coop. Our original "Clampett Coop" ended up costing only $6 because everything was salvaged. The new one, however, came closer to $200 because we had to buy some materials as we didn't have time to scour the parkways for discarded items. The Clampett Coop is about 40 sq feet. The new coop is approximately 4'x10' and therefore about 80 square feet on two levels. We briefly toyed with the idea of taking the original down, but realized it's the perfect place to house a sick or injured chicken or raise some baby chicks, so we decided to keep it. Between the two coops we cordoned off the area and they now have a 10'x20' run. So far I don't think there is much we would change. Complete with electric & plumbing, it's a verifiable chicken palace! Painting and, dare I say, a bit of trim work will commence within the next two to three months.

Because I took so many pictures I'm going to mainly do a "silent" pictorial. If you have any questions feel free to ask! -Carrie

Upper right area has been covered with plywood but has chicken wire underneath.
The plywood is to protect the birds from the cold. It will come off when temps rise.

Storage area for feed, etc.

Removable trays below roosting area.

Ladder leading up to either roosting area or nesting boxes.

Finally Joined the Co-op!

2011-01-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

On January 1, we finally bit the bullet and joined our local organic "Farmstore in the City" Urban Acres. We signed up for a full share (= 35 pounds) of organic produce and veggies for pick up once every two weeks. The cost is $50 per pickup, which means each pound of food is about $1.43. I'm not used to paying that much for most fruits or vegetables, but everything is organic, and we're trying to head in that direction. Another big plus for us is that, especially during warmer months, they try to have 75-90% of the produce come from Texas.

We picked up our first share on Saturday (below), and needless to say I was pretty excited. I have been given some of their produce by a friend over the past few months and I've been very impressed by the shelf life of everything. The thing that sticks out in my mind the most is that we got a bunch of cilantro that ended up lasting just over 2 weeks, whereas it usually only lasts two days when purchased from the regular grocery store. And by lasting I don't mean barely hanging on, I mean still fresh & beautiful after two weeks. Amazing! That alone made me a convert. We just weren't able financially to sign up until now. However, we've committed to giving this a go and I don't think I'm going to be disappointed.

Our share this week includes (in a pseudo-clockwise fashion starting from the top left):

red leaf lettuce
kale
arugula
bananas
turnips
red beets & greens
oranges
Pink Lady & Gala apples
onions
carrots
broccoli (Tons of it! That pile is almost 1 foot tall!)
sweet potatoes
red new potatoes
grapefruit
slicing tomatoes
grape tomatoes

We've already eaten some of the fruit and I made large salads for Jason & me on Saturday. Sunday was an awesome potato/broccoli/onion/cheddar soup. Will post that recipe soon. Have any of you ever joined a co-op/CSA? Any pros &/or cons we should be aware of? Thanks! -Carrie

Moving Chickens- A Tale from Tuscany

2011-01-11T03:01:00.000-08:00

It was a very strange afternoon. Come to think of it, the morning was strange too. We we woke this morning and came out from under momma, there was this layer of cold powdery white stuff all over the ground. The night before it rained and rained and rained and then the water in the waterer turned solid! How bizzare. We haven't seen the sun for almost two days now...

"Hey Portici?"

"Yes Tuscany?"

"Why is Farmer Jason looking at us like that... and what does arctic cold front mean?" I said.

"I think that's a dish they make with chicken beaks," said Portici in a ghostly whisper, "and why is he walking at us carrying that box?"

"That's strange. You stay here and tell me later. I'm going under mom where it's safe!" I said in a hurried voice.

"He's not getting my beak!" Portici cried!

My sister and I quickly scampered under momma to find cover with the rest of my brothers and sisters. There sat Catania, Ravenna, Salerno, Casoria, and Savona playing chicken twister. In the past couple of days, I've noticed that Momma seems to be shrinking. There's just not as much space under her as there used to be.

Just then the door to our coop opened and like a flash of lighting momma let loose on Farmer Jason! She flapped her wings and squaked at him really hard. Like a good momma she led him outside and away from us. We took cover immediately. Feathers flew and while I know she did her best, Farmer Jason took her away.

But enough about her... The seven of us had our own problems. Evidently this arctic front stew required all of our beaks. Farmer Carrie took over where Jason left off. She tried and tried to round us up, but we were too fast for her. She'd swoop down and grab thin air where a chick used to be.

"Look out Salerno!" I chirped while taking a new position in the far corner. Catania and Savona were under the box trying not to make a sound. After two minutes of this little game, we chicks were winning 7 to 0! All we had to do was keep this up for the rest of our lives.

NOT. Evidently chick catching is a tag team sport, because as soon as Farmer Jason came back outside, he took over and we found out just how fast one of these farmers can move. I mean, HE WAS FAST. I was looking right at Ravenna when she just disappeared. It was like rapture happened! Then Catania, Savona, Casoria, and Salerno. Portici ran and hopped around the coop, ducking and diving to get away from Jason. She did such a good job that she led him straight to me!

In the end, it didn't matter. We all ended up in the box and in a matter of seconds into the farmer's house... where Momma was waiting for us in a big blue bin! It was nice and warm in there and his house smelled of something delicious. Momma was excited to see us and hugged and inspected each of us when we were dropped into that box. I still don't know why we're in here, but it sure is warm. - Tuscany

Bantam Eggs!

2011-01-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you see the difference in size between the bantam and standard eggs. The picture below includes the first two eggs we received from our new bantam hens (their acquisition detailed here).

On the left we have a brown egg from our Black Sex-Link hen. It weighs about 3 ounces. The slightly cream colored one in the middle weighed in around 1.75 ounces, while the white one on the right weighed 1.25 ounces. They look so tiny compared to what we are used to. However, we've been very disappointed with the laying (more like lack thereof since September for one, October for the other) of our two other standard hens (a Brown Leghorn & Barred Rock). I'm more than happy to have existent smaller eggs than nonexistent bigger eggs! -Carrie

And Then There Were 16......

2011-01-10T03:01:00.000-08:00

Now that the cat's been let out of the bag (here), I want to introduce to you our 13 (!!!) new chickens! We originally planned on purchasing 8 or so standard sized pullets from a list of about 5 breeds. However, for a variety of reasons, we responded to a craigslist ad and ended up sort of last minute driving out to a farm about 45 minutes SE of Dallas. Before we knew it we had 13 part-bantam mixes tucked in various boxes and cages in the back of the minivan. The kids were ecstatic and we all had a great time traipsing around the barn trying to catch our new-to-us hens & chicks.

So here's a rundown of the new members of our flock:

The one on the left and the one on the right are supposed to be about 9 months to a year old. The one in the middle is probably more like 5 or 6 months. We were ecstatic to find two eggs from these ladies only 36 hours after arriving at our home. I'm assuming they're from the two older ones.

Updated picture from 2/20/11 - My how they've grown!

The previous owner swears these two came from the same clutch but the more orange-colored one is almost twice as big as the whiter one (maybe the runt?). They are both young, though, maybe 5-6 weeks? I'm worried a bit about them because they don't have what I would consider a full set of feathers yet. We will bring them in for the next few weeks when the weather gets below freezing. Looks like they have some Serama in them.

And finally, our mama with seven babies. She's a great mother and it's fun to watch her interaction with the chicks. She looks almost exactly like our Brown Leghorn (except for her comb/wattles), but doing some research it appears she may be an Old English Game bantam. The previous owner says she is 1/2 bantam and 1/2 standard. The babies were about 1 week when we got them 5 days ago. They are the cutest little balls of fluff. I swear they have almost doubled in size since we got them. It's amazing. Most certainly we'll end up having a few roosters from this bunch that we won't be able to keep, but I've already found a real home for one of them when the time comes.

Total cost for our haul? A mere $45. The owners were just overrun with poultry and wanted to reduce the size of their flock. And seriously - the kids had such a great time it would still have been worth it if we hadn't left with a single chicken. When we arrived at the farm our two older kids hopped out of the car and about gave me a heart attack with their screams. You see, we ended up going at night because that was the only time the owners' and our schedules could align. Apparently (and very sadly) our kids have never been in the country and seen the dazzling display of stars when there is no light pollution. They were literally jumping up and down at how many stars were in the sky. We clearly need to go camping more often! Hopefully only a few more years and we'll be able to purchase a few acres in the country and they'll be able to stare at the night sky to their hearts content. For now we'll have to settle for the Dallas skyline. Obvious our original coop is not big enough to hold 16 birds, so look for a post in the new few days detailing Jason's awesome coop-making abilities! -Carrie

$9.96 for a Head of Lettuce?!?!?!?

2011-01-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday morning I was perusing the local grocery store fliers when I came across something that made my head spin. I was incensed! Not only have I never used that word in a sentence before, I don't think I've barely even felt that emotion up until 3 days ago! What has happened to us as a culture?

It appears that Tom Thumb (a Safeway brand) has decided to help the American consumer who has no time, no sink, and no ability to pull apart their lettuce by (gladly) offering 6 ounce Romaine, Green Leaf, or Red Leaf lettuce "Singles". Neatly packaged in a plastic bin with a beautiful farm scene on the label (they couldn't get any further from farm fresh if they were trying), they've "Triple Washed" the single leaves to make your lettuce-eating-experience even more pleasant. The cost for all of this convenience? What amounts to $8.32 per head of lettuce when on sale, and $9.96 per head when not on sale. PEOPLE ACTUALLY PURCHASE THIS! A typical head of Romaine at Tom Thumb costs $1.99 when not on sale and weights about 20 ounces. Instead of taking one minute to wash and pull apart a head of lettuce at one's home, people are willing to spend as much as $7 dollars more for not having to deal with a few specks of dirt. Plus, in order to equal the amount of lettuce in a usual head, you'd have to buy 3 & 1/2 of these packs (so more plastic wasted).

Here's my offer to those in the North Oak Cliff area and please tell all of your friends: I will pull apart your lettuce leaves, wash them, and will only charge $5 per head - an amazing savings of $2.00! -Carrie

Brief Chicken Preview....

2011-01-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick video of a mere 8/13ths of the new chickens we just acquired! Enjoy!

No, It's Not a Bomb!

2011-01-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

While it may appear in the picture below that our backyard was hit by a small missile, this indeed is not the case. Upon further inspection note an abundance of wood on the ground, an orange tape measure, and some nails on the table. I think I even see the bottom of a structure in the top middle of the photo! What could this be? Can't bare the thought of continuing your day without knowing? Sorry, you're out of luck! Check back in a few days for the big reveal! -Carrie

(PS - If you don't want a hint, don't look at the post label!)

A TV-less Life

2010-12-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

It was 10am, nearly two months ago. I had just finished volunteering at a local hospital and headed home to get some chores done. As I pulled into our driveway my heart skipped about 10 beats. The smashed glass, easily apparent from the busy road we live on, screamed "YOU'VE BEEN BROKEN INTO!" I immediately got my wits together and called 911. Jason was of course 30 minutes away at school and not answering his phone. I waited outside for the police to arrive. There was no way I was going to investigate the house on my own, even though I was sure no one had decided to stick around since they made the whole operation so blatantly obvious - even from the road.

It took about 15 to 20 minutes for the police to show up. During that time I made a mental list of all of the things they could have stolen. I was just so grateful that no one was home when the break-in occurred. My eldest son was actually supposed to be there (though no cars would have been in the front hinting of this), but in a strange turn of events earlier that morning plans changed and he left about two hours prior. The police arrived, pulled their guns (that made it all the more real & scary), and explored the inside of the house.

When the "all clear" was signaled I followed inside and was relieved to find the only thing stolen was our TV. Let me re-phrase that - Jason's TV. In a previous life, his pride and joy. Well, I probably shouldn't put it like that, but he did like it. It was a large flat-screen he had purchased almost 4 years back in our higher income and more-mindless-consumerist days. It was quite expensive at the time as the technology was fairly new. It killed me to purchase it, but it was one of those "I've worked so hard [and indeed he had] and I deserve to relax" kind of arguments, and it was hard to disagree. He was the sole bread winner and extremely hard worker, and I wanted him to be able to have something he could lose his mind in now and then. Fast forward 4 years - we'd never buy a TV such as that now. But we've changed alot since then, too. The loss of that TV was a blessing in disguise - and no, I don't mean because of a large insurance pay-out. We ended up not even claiming it as our deductible is so high. So new window - check. New door - check. But did we get a new TV, you ask?

We have now been without that TV for two months. Other than the fact of feeling violated because someone broke into our home, honestly I couldn’t be happier. The kids (ages 3, 10, & 11) haven’t suffered in the least. Our 3 year old, especially, would be in a catatonic state when the TV was on. And when it wasn’t on, he would almost constantly ask me to watch something. He NEVER asks now, and just plays by himself or with his siblings. There wasn’t even a hard transition period – we were like “We no longer have a TV,” and his response was “OH NO!!!... Well, OK!” (scampers off to go play). That surprised me the most. I figured he’d be scarred for life!

The benefits are endless. No more ads encouraging us to eat crappy food. No more ads telling us our clothes aren't the hippest styles. No more Victoria's Secret commercials popping up while my kids are watching when I can't find the remote. No more worthless entertainment & celebrity "news". No more reality TV that so easily draws you in. More family time. More time to draw, read, and play the piano. More time to cook. More time to clean! Well, that may not be a positive, but you get the drift. People – including kids(!) – can survive, and even thrive, without TV. I swear! I can’t promise we’ll never have a TV again, but it is definitely now on the bottom of our “wants” list. Note I didn't say "needs"! -Carrie

Bike Thieves - Beware!

2010-12-08T10:09:00.001-08:00

Anyone in North Oak Cliff (Dallas) know these guys?

Stealer #1

Stealer #2

There's a great story over at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff about a thwarted bike theft. Well, a theft did indeed occur, but the bike was recovered by the neighborhood bike shop as the thieves were trying to sell it to them. And the bike is now back in the loving arms of it's rightful owner - a nine year old no less! Shame on them for stealing from a child! Great job, Oak Cliff Bicycle Company! Keep up the good work! -Carrie

New (to me!) Blog!

2010-12-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently my gardener-extraordinaire brother of the Is Your Yard a Looker or a Feeder? post fame has had a "secret" gardening blog for the last 6 months! Who knew?!? Now I don't have to constantly call him with my gardening woes, I can just check out his blog!

Give it a look-see! He gardens on a small suburban lot in Zone 7B and has far more experience growing vegetables and fruits than we do. I know he'd be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Click on this link - www.point09acres.blogspot.com

And the Gleaning Continues...

2010-12-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

According to wikipedia.com, gleaning is "the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest." We continue the tradition right here in the suburbs of Dallas, TX, though on a much smaller scale, by gathering foods we come across (with the owners permission, of course). These are fruits or vegetables that would otherwise be left to rot on the ground or just dumped into the trash. We can't stomach either of these options, so we choose to put ourselves out there and relish what comes our way. Here's two perfect, recent examples:

Deja vu, right?!? Here is yet another load full of pumpkins resulting from my pumpkin recycling efforts. I could not be happier with the response. In fact, I've received so many pumpkins that were otherwise destined for the landfill that it is seemingly impossible that I'm going to be able to process them all in a timely fashion. I've recently even had to turn some down because I've run out of space. If you're in the North Oak Cliff area, seriously drop me a line and I'd be happy to pass a few on.

Jason was recently doing work on a customer's property when he noticed a large pomegranate tree covered with fruit. Many had already fallen and were spoiling on the ground. However, he was able to glean an entire grocery store bag's worth. (Unfortunately the only thing he could find in his car to carry them all - we need to remedy that ASAP! I hate those bags!)

Since bringing them home and cracking open a few, it appears that the freezing temp or two we've had have ruined a few of them, but the majority seem fine. The customer got a small discount on the job and Jason brought home enough pomegranates to make some jelly. It's a win-win! Do you have a memorable gleaning story you'd like to share? -Carrie

Making Inexpensive Floating Row Covers

2010-12-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

We're pretty new to this whole gardening thing, but I knew I wanted to make some sort of cold frames or floating row covers in order to try to protect some of our vegetables this winter. It's a learning experience to say the least. About a week ago, on the night our first freeze (and thus a pretty strong cold front) was creeping towards us, Jason and I realized we wouldn't be able to put it off any longer. So at 10pm that night, we headed out to the garden to try to turn it into a greenhouse of sorts. Of course it was dark and very windy. Not good conditions to try and stretch plastic over the structure we made out of 1" PVC irrigation pipe. It quickly became apparent that our plans were just too grand in scale to execute on such short notice. We were never able to completely cover the structure, and within 2 days the cover had blown off of the frame. On to plan B.

You can see in this picture part of our original "greenhouse" -
made out of 1 inch PVC pipe

I recently checked out from the library two great books by Eliot Coleman - The Winter Harvest Handbook and Four-Season Harvest. I highly recommend them both. He discusses how to inexpensively make floating row covers out of 1/2" metal electrical conduit. I had to return something to Home Depot and decided to take a peak. Turned out Mr. Coleman was right, metal conduit was inexpensive (under $2 per 10' x 1/2" section). But you pretty much need a special bending device in order to make the straight poles the appropriate shape. They seem to cost anywhere from about $35 to $70 (Johnny's Select Seeds sells their version for $69). I didn't want to spend that right now. However, sitting right beside the metal conduit was 1/2" PVC conduit at only $0.88 for a 10 foot section. I purchased three for a whopping total of under $3 - figured I could spare that in the name of attempting to protect the fruits (or veggies as it were) of my labor.

So our three beds are each 4'x8'. Ideally I would place 4 PVC conduits in each bed. But since I only purchased 3 I didn't quite cover an entire 4'x8' bed. It was so easy. All I did was push the 1/2" pipe into the ground. Our beds are 12" high, so down the pipe went 12". I simply bent it over and pushed the other end into the opposite side of the bed. I didn't secure them in any way to the wood part of the bed itself. They fit in perfectly and seem sturdy enough. If you have a 6" high bed you may want to do some additional securing, but it fortunately wasn't necessary in our situation. The plastic is an old painter's tarp we had on hand. It's not too thick and probably won't quite do the trick in an extended deep freeze, but for our weather here in Dallas it seems near perfect.

Inside view of the floating row cover.
Not too impressive, but it does nicely protect what meager vegetables we do have!

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to attach the cover to the PVC. But while working on it and looking around our property, I realized I could use the wooden clothes pins from the laundry line. Turns out they fit over the conduit like a glove! However, as a warning, they don't ALL fit! We have two varieties for our laundry, and while the one works great, the other doesn't even come close to being able to open 1/2". So keep that in mind if you are going to try and reproduce our results! You can also purchase "Snap Clamps" from Johnny's if you want something more formal and perhaps slightly less ghetto!

It will be interesting to see how this lasts in our climate through the winter months. I don't think it could handle much snow, but unless we have a once in a generation Dallas snow storm like last year, I think we'll be OK. -Carrie

Note: For those of you interested in what is exactly planted in the bed in the last picture, it is as follows, from the back of the bed to the front:

Rainbow Swiss Chard - purchased & transplanted because the Rhubarb Swiss Chard I planted from seed didn't take.
Green Oakleaf Salad Bowl Lettuce - planted from seed but didn't take hardly at all. Pretty much only grew on the right side of the bed, and even then not very well.
Red Sails Lettuce - planted from seed, by far the best producer this year.
Red Oakleaf Malawi Lettuce - planted from seed, sort of the same results as the salad bowl except it mainly grew on the left side of the bed.
4 Green Salad Bowl Mix - got for free as transplants. They've only been in the ground for about two weeks. They are in the middle & left of the very front of the bed.
Kale, 1 single plant - also got for free as a transplant. On the very right in the front, almost out of the picture.

All of the lettuces & chard I planted with the intention of using them as cut & come again. Since it's the first time I've planted lettuce it will be interesting to see just how many times I can come back. The Red Sails has already been cut twice but is coming back strong yet again.

When Pigs Fly, Disaster Happens: Urban Sprawl Theory

2010-11-26T03:00:00.000-08:00

Urban Sprawl

The consequences of urban sprawl are so far and wide reaching that one would have a hard time finding a place to start educating on the subject. Petroleum is a good place to start, for it has the hardest impact, longest reach, and has caused immeasurable damage to the world.

As long as man has been on the face of the earth, he has found a distinct advantage in massing together for the common good. Not only did massing help provide security at first, but eventually other benefits followed such as community hunting, agriculture, and later, the ability to combine labor in the quest to manufacture goods and provide services. Large businesses have long favored cities for their dense work forces and people have long favored moving next to those businesses in hopes of finding work.

The word next in the previous sentence takes on a completely new meaning with the introduction of petroleum and the automobile. A new scale is created in the wake and next no longer means two miles but tenfold that amount. Man’s new legs can carried him faster and farther than any other person thus far in history. This new freedom spurred yet another evolution in the human experience at the cost of a blink of the eye in the timeline of our race. Comparatively speaking, it would be like the next generation of pigs growing wings to fly. The consequences of the ham evolution are best felt by the pig who, being the first of his kind to have this new adaptation and with no one to teach him to use the wings responsibly, would most certainly harm himself sooner rather than later as he fell out of the oak tree looking for acorns. (It's what the pig didn't know that killed him.) Poor pig.

We too fell into the same boat as that damned pig. We invented for ourselves wings to fly and carried ourselves in the wrong direction. Unlike the pig, however, our consequences effect every species in the world. So be it. We screwed up. It’s done.

What now?

Now we must stop and examine the damage we have caused and learn how not to inflict that damage again. We must take inventory of the damage.

A critical mass must be achieved before public transportation can take root. Until then, and even after then, most every house will depend on their private automobile to carry them to and fro their every whim. This problem is multiplied when the family needs multiple cars to carry them in multiple directions. Less public transportation means more cars on the road which means more pollution and energy consumption.

Speaking of roads, they comprise a lion’s share of the infrastructure required to build farther out. These and other utilities come at a cost to the customers, or residents, who build so far out. These resources when developed in high density can be constructed at a fraction of the cost. Urban sprawl consumes valuable resources in inefficient ways.

Ask any experienced businessman where he would locate his business, and the answer will usually be the same… Where the people are. Likewise urban sprawl presents challenges to regional planners who wish to provide medical, fire, and police services to the public. These services become more efficient at larger economies of scale, hence it would be hard to justify a high tech trauma center in every one horse town in America. Services to the public are harder to provide when sprawl prevents density from achieving critical masses.

Man and Nature

However, the real question is not weather man should densify the city or move to the suburbs. The real question is, ‘Can man live in the city under such densities and what effect does that have on his psyche? Can he adapt to the stresses of living without the rivers and trees, birds and wildlife, and the songs of nature, and does he even realize he’s missing something which he never had? If he is to manage these stresses and bend himself to the queer circumstances of his synthetic environment, if we are to get more out of the land, if we are to find and convert lost space, then Landscape Architects will most certainly have an increasingly important role in the sustainability of the human race and urban densification. Packing everyone into the cities is not the sustainable effort, it is the lesser of two evils. -Jason

Quantifying Green Building

2010-11-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I have yet another confession for my loving audience. I have fallen in love with the TED.com website. I will often play these talks while going about homework or design. Some are funny, some are eye opening, all enrich you a little more than before you listened. (Every man knows something I do not, therefore, every man is my teacher. - Lincoln)

We often hear a lot of talk, claims, about what is greener than whatever else is on the market. I'm learning at this point in my life that old adage - If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Very true. HERE is a TED talk by Catherine Mohr on building green and quantifying your decisions. It's short, about 6 minutes, but she's funny and so it feels like three. -Jason

I've Been at it Again....

2010-11-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

I just got home from taking a load of things over to the Salvation Army. I rewarded myself for paring down some items by taking a swing through our old neighborhood and scouring the parkways because, you guessed it - it's bulk trash pickup week! And wouldn't you know it, I feel like I hit the lottery! After only one street I came across these -

No, not the plastic! What is under the plastic! Are you ready for the big reveal???

Discarded Halloween decorations! Three wonderful, huge bales of hay/straw (I naively have no idea of the difference). I couldn't be happier! Great for the garden beds and the coop, these puppies cost between $10-$15 per bale at the local Feed Store. Needless to say I am quite pleased with the find. These will easily last us through the winter. -Carrie

Getting Around Atlanta on a Bicycle

2010-11-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

HERE is an article I read today on a man who gave up his bicycle in Atlanta, GA. It's a fast read and offers a little perspective. Enjoy! - Jason

Site Updates!

2010-11-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it only took 5 months, but we finally have an "About Us" page set up towards the top left of the blog - and an email address to boot! Check it out!

Lovin' Up on Bulk Trash Pickup Day!

2010-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like there is always a neighborhood around here preparing for bulk trash pick up day. For those of you unfamiliar with this (as I was when I first moved here), Dallas has neighborhood bulk trash pickup once a month. Homeowners can leave brush, downed limbs, entire trees, furniture, appliances, etc., on the parkway. The city collects it and takes it to the dump.

People put out the darndest things! I seriously would encourage anyone who lives in a city that does this to take advantage of this free way to find some awesome, completely usable, and sometimes amazing, items. It may feel a little bit odd at first - stopping on the side of the road and going through someone's castoffs - but in time those feelings fade. They are replaced by feelings of resourcefulness (can this be used in a different way instead of putting it in a landfill?) and the thrill of the find. I have never driven around systematically hitting neighborhoods looking for items, but if I come across something while on my daily travels that may look promising, I often stop. The following is a pictorial of some of the better things we've found.

Jason literally spent 10 minutes tinkering with this Dyson Vacuum before he got it to work. This was a great find! We've used it for two years now.

Other than a few minor scratches, this chair is in good condition. I had to fix the bottom of the seat cushion - I ended up just using safety pins to save time! The chair is also missing feet. However, I think unless it was specifically pointed out no one would notice. I originally bought rounded fence post toppers for $4 each from Home Depot to use as feet, but the proportions were a bit off so I returned them. Now I'm just keeping an eye out for chairs or couches set out for bulk trash whose feet I could use on this.

I came across this awesome piece of art about two weeks ago. I couldn't believe my luck! From a distance I first thought it was part of the interior spring system of a mattress, but upon further inspection I realized it was an honest to goodness piece of artsy metalwork!
Set to go to the dump no less! It's about 4' x 18" and really cool.
I plan on putting it on the wall in the next few days.

Metal garden trellis - pretty much self-explanatory

10+ Tomato Cages & Numerous Bamboo Stakes

Some other items we've picked up that are not pictured here include:

7 foot tall Wisteria Vines, used to decorate the corner of a room
Indoor pet gate
Small Dog Carrier (to be used for the chickens if we ever need to transport them!)
North Face bookbag
The beginning materials for what I hope will be our next chicken housing project - a chicken tractor! More on that in a later post...

And let's not forget some items we've already written about in this blog, including:

Square Compost Bin - pictures in this post
Set of old windows to be used for a mini greenhouse or cold frame, detailed here
Most of Materials used to make our coop

So here's the lesson for the day - someone else's trash can truly be your treasure. Don't disregard it out of hand. I think the vast majority of people would prefer someone be able to re-use their cast offs than just having them go to the dump. So go give it a try! Let us know what diamonds in the rough you discover! -Carrie

Halloween Non-Gluttony

2010-11-16T03:00:00.001-08:00

I know this post is a bit late, but I wanted to get it out in cyberspace nonetheless. My brothers and I grew up in the woods on a dirt road with only a few neighbors. Rereading that it sounds like we were raised by wolves! No - we lived in a nice house with real, wonderful parents. But because of the scarcity of homes on our street we didn't really do the trick-or-treating thing there.

However, we lived less than two miles from our 5 closest cousins who lived in a much larger, more traditional neighborhood. This became our haunting grounds every October 31st. The moms would stay behind and hand out candy, while the dads walked (often more like ran) the eight of us around. We each got a glow stick to wear around our necks (seriously one of the highlights of the night - we only got a glow stick once a year). The houses weren't too close together or too far apart (most of the lots were approximately 1/2-1 acre). We hit as many houses as our little legs could carry us. There was always so much anticipation for the candy that would soon fill our bags. What kinds would we score? How many of each? Etc., etc. Then there was the organizing and trading when we got back to "base camp" (my uncle's house).

I don't know if I've gotten too old or cynical or jaded or what, but Halloween seems to have lost some of it's mystique. The picture above was taken two weeks ago. Crowded doesn't even begin to describe it. Because we now live on a busy, fairly major thoroughfare where no one trick-or-treats, we walked the mile to our old neighborhood to partake of the festivities. We literally know most of the people who live there, so we were also looking forward to catching up with a few of them. However, it quickly became apparent we wouldn't be staying very long. With every house we attempted to get our son up to the porch, I literally started feeling sick to my stomach. I just couldn't shake the thoughts of "What are we becoming as a society?"

Somehow, in recent years, our old historic neighborhood has become something of a "destination" - a holy grail, if you will - for candy seekers. I haven't been able to come up with a solid reason as to why. We've heard horror stories (no pun intended!) of people going through 2,000 pieces of candy, or a couple of hundred dollars worth of candy - in only 30 minutes. I would guess about 95% of the trick-or-treaters do not live (or have never lived) in the neighborhood - and it's a large one with 700 houses. I can appreciate perhaps wanting to take your kids to a safe neighborhood. I really can. But what kills me are the kids (and adults!) who aren't even dressed up at all, walking up to the homeowner and just sticking out their bag. What happened to common courtesy? Another frequent sight are the parents who drive their kids from house to house because they are literally too lazy to park the car and walk. Folks, these houses are not far apart - the lots are each 1/6 of an acre. Yes, the argument could be made that perhaps they have a disability or something. This could be true - but it's probably 1% of those driving. After one street, we walked home.

Like the juxtaposition of the candy with the healthy stuff?

Over the next 24 hours I saw posts on Facebook of people saying their kids collected 7, 8, and 9 pounds of candy. So I weighed our son's. After only eating about 4 or 5 pieces, his total collection came to just over one pound. And I couldn't be happier with that one pound. He got to engage in a fun, time-honored tradition dressed as a muscle man, he practiced his manners - always saying thank you for everything he was given, we had a nice family walk on a gorgeous night, we saw some old friends, and he got a bit of candy to boot. I guess I just wish more people would relish the whole act of Halloween instead of making it a race to see who can collect the most candy in the shortest amount of time - while throwing manners and common sense to the wind. Did anyone else experience something like this during Halloween, or am I just getting too old (and cynical) for my own good? -Carrie

Like Athena from Zeus' Mind

2010-11-12T04:25:00.000-08:00

I was writing a persuasive paper for class and the last paragraph sprang from my mind like Athena from Zeus'. I just wanted to share it with you. -Jason

A Landscape Architect is given the privilege of marrying man to the landscape. Like all marriages, the ability to harm is just as real as the ability to nourish. This marriage must be a good bond capable of restoring the soul and must be equally beneficial to all parties, both man and nature. We have moved out of the house of nature and sure as a father who moves out of a broken home, problems will fester in his absence. We must be equally good to each other for our existence is weaved so very tightly together.

Worms in Eggs?

2010-11-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

The chicken questions keep on coming! A classmate of Jason is also a newbie chicken-keeper. One of her hens started laying just recently. However, the fourth or fifth egg produced ended up having a worm in it! Yuck! I've heard of worms in poop, but I haven't read about worms in eggs. Any ideas what she needs to do to treat the hen? Also, if a bird is on meds, is there a time frame that you shouldn't be eating their eggs? Thanks again for your wisdom!

Homemade...Squash, Chickpea & Lentil Stew

2010-11-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Please excuse the blurry picture. We seriously need a new camera!

I recently needed to prepare a meal with some organic butternut squash we were graciously given by a friend (thanks, Sarrah!). Wanting to find a new recipe, I took to the internet. Just reading the first recipe that showed up on google made my mouth water. I decided to give it a try. And let me tell you it did not disappoint. Instead of reprinting it in this post, I'm providing the link here. Made in a slow cooker, the flavors just meld together perfectly. This was actually only the second time in my life I have used a slow cooker. I've always shied away from slow cookers for some reason, but I don't know what I've been thinking! It doesn't get much easier. And the smell wafting through the house - I can't put it into words - but if I was forced to come up with something...perfection!

A few things I did differently from the original recipe:

Instead of 2.5 pounds of butternut squash, I used 1.25 pounds and 1.25 pounds of sweet potatoes
I didn't have tomato paste so I used tomato sauce instead
I didn't have fresh ginger, so I just sprinkled on a bit of powdered ginger (1/4 tsp?)
I didn't have saffron so just completely omitted it
I ended up not adding any lime juice, though I think it would taste great to add a small squeeze to each serving

Jason hates butternut squash. Let me rephrase that - up until this recipe Jason hated butternut squash. He pretty much refused to eat it. After making this stew he not only had seconds (and thirds?) but took some to school the next day. I think it will freeze well, too. Another way to mix it up would be to use some pumpkin in place of or in addtion to the butternut squash and/or sweet potato. Lord knows we now have the pumpkin to do this! -Carrie

Pumpkin Recycling

2010-11-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

The Idea
A few weeks ago I was perusing a new-to-me blog, MamaStories, and I had an "Ah-Ha!" moment when I came across this post. One of those so-simple-yet-so-awesome ideas. Are you waiting with bated breath? It's the idea of adding neighborhood pumpkins to your compost pile! Why haven't I ever thought of that? Katrien and her daughter, through a cute little art project, get the word out to their neighbors that they will take any and all pumpkins after Halloween. They then use these as a supplement to their compost piles. Ingenious! Keeps them out of the landfill while building up the soil. I can't think of anything better.

The Email
So I took this idea and ran with it. Instead of making flyers I sent out an email to my local mom's group. It read exactly like this:

"After Halloween, instead of throwing your pumpkins in the trash, consider giving them to me! I will take any & all pumpkins, gourds, etc (both cut into and not) off your hands. Most will be composted. If I have a few that are uncut & still "viable" I will probably bake with them. I will be more than happy to pick them up from anywhere in the north oak cliff area. I just figured it's a way to 1)not put something in the landfill, 2)add to our growing compost, & 3)maybe even get a pie out of the deal!"

The Results
Let's just say I couldn't be happier. Over the last few days, during my usual errands (so I haven't had to drive out of the way), I've picked up numerous spent jack o' lanterns from about 5 families. They've filled the bags in the picture below (and don't worry, almost all of the bags I will be able to re-use). I already placed about half of them in our compost when I turned it on Saturday.

But just yesterday I hit the jackpot! From one house I received enough unblemished pumpkins to fill the entire back of my minivan! I was astonished!

I offered to make the homeowner a pumpkin pie, but all she asked in return was for 2 cups of pumpkin puree. Now I have enough edible pumpkin to last me through the spring - if not the summer. All of these pumpkins would have just gone in the trash. Now they will help to feed our tummies and grow summer veggies. Thanks again for the idea, Katrien! And thanks to all those who donated your pumpkins. We'll definitely be doing this again next year. -Carrie

WARNING: If You Don't Like Chicken Poop...Don't Scroll Down!

2010-11-06T06:55:00.001-07:00

OK, so is there anyone out there who really likes chicken poop? I doubt it, but I need some advice from those of you with more experience on the chicken poop front. For the past few weeks our Barred Rock (and newest layer) has been having some runny poops. Her once poofy back side now has runny droppings on it at all times. Not horrendous, but enough to notice. This morning I came out to clean off their "poop board" as we affectionately call it, and came upon this unpleasant sight:

Three piles of poop (as usual), with the most southerly being the most disturbing. There is a mess of stuff going on there that I can't even begin to work through. You can even click on the picture for a larger view if you are so inclined! Any thoughts? Does she have some bug? Does she need medicine? I don't see any worms or anything in there. She didn't eat anything out of the ordinary yesterday (that I know of), but this is the first time since we purchased them 6 months ago that I've come across something this messy and variable. On a possibly related note, her egg production has declined sharply in the last few weeks, where as our Black Sex Link is still going strong. Your expertise is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance! -Carrie

Homemade...Golden Carrot Muffins

2010-11-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

My three year old is a picky eater. And I mean P-I-C-K-Y. I have fallen into the horrendous habit of quickly putting something together for him that differs from what the rest of the family is having. I am completely aware that this makes me a horrible mother. But some nights I just can't stand the whining, so I give in before it has even started. That's why I was so happy to find a healthy muffin recipe a few weeks ago. The whole family loves these (including food-hater-boy!). They taste great with a slight amount of cream cheese, too!

I got this recipe from Annette over at CoMo Homestead. You can view the original recipe here. And my slightly tweaked version, below:

Golden Carrot Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups packed finely shredded carrots
2 large eggs
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup golden and 1/4 cup regular raisins
2 T canola oil
1 T coconut oil
1 T butternut squash puree
1 T no-sugar-added applesauce
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly spray a muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Wash carrots and shred in food processor or with grater.
In large bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (first 9).
Add the dry ingredients (last 5). Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Spoon muffin batter into muffin tin and bake for around 17-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of muffin.
Allow muffins to cool before serving.

I reduced the sugar (syrup) component, and reduced the canola oil from 5T to only 2T - but didn't lose any of the awesome moistness since I added in the coconut oil, squash, and applesauce. As I write this post I realize I probably could have reduced the eggs from 2 to 1 & 1 egg white. Additionally, pecans would give a great nutty flavor. Give these muffins a try. They are sure to be a crowd pleaser, and your little veggie-scoffers won't be the wiser! -Carrie

Getting Healthy: Week 8 Update

2010-10-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of those posts that I wish I could just not write and in two more weeks come back to you and say, "Oh, I've been so busy, I completely forgot!" Sadly, while I have been busy, I certainly didn't forget. What happened is that I gained two pounds during the last two weeks. Except worse than that is that I didn't gain it in two weeks - I gained it in one! I have a million and a half excuses as to why this happened, some valid, most not. I won't bore you with the details, however. Let's just say I'm back on track. So instead of perhaps the 12 pound total loss I should have been reporting to you, it's now 8. In two weeks I promise I'll be back with 10 pounds lost (total since September 1 - not in two weeks!). -Carrie

Would you like some egg with your blood?

2010-10-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Our Barred Rock's bloody egg - sorry for the blurry picture

Sorry for the macabre title (and picture), but this is what awaited us this evening in the nest box. Charlotte's 19th egg, covered in an amount of blood that I just don't think is normal (the egg itself was usual size - not extraordinarily huge, or even big for that matter). Her egg yesterday had a slight smear of blood on it, but it didn't really phase me. Today, however, I turn to you, my peeps. Perhaps your experience will put my mind at ease? She was still walking around and eating like normal, but we weren't able to really investigate her backside as it was just too dark. We plan on checking it out first thing in the morning. So - is this something to be concerned about or should we just let it go? Thanks! -Carrie

5 Reasons to Use Local Farms

2010-10-22T21:07:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't posted recently. I've been busier than a one legged man in a.... well you get the point. I want to share with you something that is near and dear to my heart. Eating local.

The average plate of food in this country travels over 1500 miles before it gets to you. That's right... 1500 miles. That's ridiculous! Of course, this food doesn't get up and move on it's own. We use copious amounts of fossil fuels in this world to provide logistics which are right at our own backdoor. I once heard that one of our major cities uses one third of its energy consumption just to move water around the city! HERE is an article from CNN of all places on 5 reasons to use local farms. Enjoy! -Jason

The Good, The Bad, and The Eggly

2010-10-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a chicken update in a while and since we've had some very important developments, I figured it was high time I got on the ball.

Earlier this afternoon, the girls eating a mix of honey dew,
uncooked oatmeal, and leftover pasta/sauce

The Good News
Finally, after many months of watching and waiting with bated breath, Charlotte, our Barred-Rock, started laying large light brown eggs exactly one month ago. I don't think it was a coincidence that it happened literally the day after Jason went out and had a heart-to-heart with her - he said, and I quote, "Do you want to be part of breakfast or part of dinner?" Fortunately for her, she chose the former! For a total of three blissful days we had all three chickens giving us their delectable treats.

The Bad News
On day four of egg-heaven Swoope, our Brown Leghorn (and most prolific layer), didn't produce an egg. OK, not a problem, she usually takes a break every fourth or fifth day. Here's the problem - her "break" hasn't ended. It has been three weeks since she laid her last egg. Seemingly nothing is wrong with her - she's eating and drinking fine, hopping/flying over the fence every chance she gets (because the grass is always greener on the other side - in this case it literally is), poop is normal, no mites or bugs that I can see, and she's still going up into the nesting box at least every other day - I think she's just teasing us. Oh, and nothing appears to be popping out of orifices it shouldn't be. We have no clue what is going on with her. The other two are still laying strong. It's just such a bummer. If it isn't one hen it's another! Being newbies at chicken keeping we don't profess to know a thing. So those of you out there with more experience - any ideas on what could possibly be going on with her? Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Carrie

Picture of Swoope taken just today as I caught her sitting on "her" golfballs. She seems to be spending alot of time in that box. Should I take out the balls? They certainly know where they are supposed to lay by now.

My Green Conundrum

2010-10-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Birthday
Towards the end of summer, my youngest son attended a birthday party for a boy from our church. Seeing as the birthday boy was 7 and the other attendees were that or older, I figured I'd stay to help keep an eye on my 3 year old. Fun was had by all. I knew that going to the party would mean trying to find a way to politely decline the use of any disposable tableware - but I felt up to the challenge. Even though paper plates and plastic cups/forks/spoons were in abundance, I was amazingly able to commandeer a ceramic bowl and metal spoon for my son. I think my excuse was something about not trusting him with ice cream on a plate. Which is true, by the way, but I was stretching it a bit. I declined all food and drinks because I didn't want to have to throw anything away.

But something occurred before my eyes that I just couldn't believe. One of my sweet, dear friends (who was also there watching her kids) actually refused a reusable cup - she said she felt bad about it! I guess because it meant that the homeowner would have to wash it instead of just throwing it out. The homeowner pushed for her to take the reusable, but she insisted on the throw-away. How warped we've become that we'd rather use something for literally five seconds and trash it rather than wash it and put it back in the cupboard for use on another day?

The Reunion
As for accumulating "unnecessary" trash during a party, this exact same thing happened to us at a family reunion this summer - but we weren't prepared. We were drowning in a sea of styrofoam and plastic, and the hosts hadn't even set out a bag for recycling cans, either. I wanted to stand up on the tables and scream about it to try and wake people up. But I took the wimpy way out and didn't say a thing - and used the styrofoam and plastic to boot! This was the first reunion for my husband's side of the family in almost 20 years. There were probably about 75 people there and I only knew a handful of them. Everyone was having a pleasant time, and I just didn't want to rock the boat.

The Consequences
But these two stories do show how the vast majority of society still could care less if they're putting needless waste into the landfills. One idea I recently read about is to keep a small stash of plates & utensils in the car for times such as these. I can't think of any other way to deal with it - other than using the "bad stuff" or possibly eating only finger foods. I don't want to ruin everyone else's time by getting up on my soapbox, but I also don't want our family adding anything unnecessary to the dump. Or the ocean for that matter. Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's basically two large (and I mean the size of Texas or bigger) floating trash piles (made up of about 90% plastic) that pollute the North Pacific Ocean and take no prisoners. But that's a post for another day.

A wonderful post over at Towards Sustainability discusses this exact topic - how do you broach the topic of creating less waste with friends/neighbors/coworkers/family without seeming crazy? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! - Carrie

[Editor's note: For those loyal subscribers thinking to themselves - "Why does this post seem slightly familiar?" - well, that's because it is. I committed the ultimate blogging faux paux, not once, but three times! This post has already run three times, but in incomplete form. I think I caught it within the first 30 minutes of being posted each time, but it is embarrassing to say the least. So, my sincerest apologies - thanks for sticking with us!]

Getting Healthy: Week 6 Update

2010-10-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update this time. Continuing to lose at a respectable rate. I lost 3.0 pounds over the last two weeks, bringing my total to 10.0 pounds since September 1! I am very excited about this, and have even been able to "retire" my 2 pairs of size 14 church jeans! Cute skirts, here I come! My goal is to lose 5 more pounds during the remaining weeks of October, but that may be a slightly steep number. However, I wasn't able to exercise as much as I did the previous two weeks because I had a large amount of schoolwork. But two of my classes are ending in the next few days, so I think I'll be back up to my 5xweek exercising goal (not to mention writing more blog posts, too!), which will hopefully lead me to lose those 5 pounds. We will see! Any luck for you all the past two weeks? - Carrie

Air conditioning has changed our culture, but for the better?

2010-09-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article I just read and is worth rebroadcasting. Enjoy.

Getting Healthy: Week 4 Update

2010-09-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great two weeks working on Getting Healthy! Time now for the moment of truth - I am pleased to let you know that I lost an additional 3.5 pounds in the two weeks prior to 9/25/2010 - for a grand total in the last four weeks of 7.0 pounds! I'm very excited about the progress I've made so far. I'm at the point now where I can really tell that I have lost some weight - clothes are fitting more loosely, my face doesn't look as "puffy" as I always felt it did, and the ease with which I am staying the course is almost scary! Jason says he can definitely tell I'm losing weight (and that's without my prompting!). The following are a few observations from the previous two weeks:

On 9/15 I had something of a set-back. I walked 3 miles at 7pm (CST) on 9/14, and again at 7am on 9/15. The last 1/4 mile of that morning walk I knew I had pushed it too much. My old, beaten up exercise shoes - you know, the ones that no longer have any lining on the inside and plastic just grinds into your heels? Well, they did a number on mine. I got the two biggest blood blisters I've ever had in my life (1" each - one just above each heel). I was only able to wear flip flops for the next 6 days. Since walking is my go-to exercise, it forced me to come up with other ways of getting my heart rate up. I ended up doing things like pushups, situps, lifting with 8lb. weights, and pilates-inspired leg exercises. I was so worried I 'd relapse to my old ways (it's just my habit), but I continued to eat responsibly and kept up with the calisthenics until my heels healed enough for me to walk for exercise again.

On 9/19 I had my first "food incident" since starting my healthier lifestyle on 9/01. I finished a sensible dinner around 7pm, but just two hours later I was craving more (& really bad!) food with a vengeance. I was feeling extremely sorry for myself, literally pouting on the couch for 30 minutes because I wanted to eat so bad but knew I didn't truly need it. In my old life I would have hopped up and thought to myself, "I had a tough day, I deserve to make a plate of greasy nachos...an ice cream sunday...(insert any horrendous-for-you-but-yummy food here)." But I stayed glued to the couch. Eventually I just got bored and began to think of some things I should be doing instead. Jason and I ended up spending about an hour cleaning off/out our desk (yes, it's a big desk!). The desire to mindlessly pig-out passed, and I didn't ruin any of the progress I'd made.

As I was getting dressed the morning of 9/21, I realized my standard two pairs of size 14 jeans were both dirty. I looked in the closet and half-heartedly pulled out a pair of size 12s I haven't been able to wear in the last 9 months. And guess what? Not only did they fit, but they fit perfectly! Not tight at all. Just one month ago I couldn't even breathe with them buttoned - I had to stuff myself in them like meat into a sausage skin! Now I can even feel the slightest amount of space between my leg and the material. It is a great feeling!

So, how about you? Did you have any setbacks these last few weeks? Any accomplishments? Let me know - I'd love to hear from you! - Carrie

Four Minutes of Sleep

2010-09-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have long said that our "more efficient" society isn't as efficient as we would like to believe.

Here's a four minute clip from TED that talks about ancient sleep habits and how we live today. -Jason

Hard Headed v. Hard Helmeted

2010-09-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

Kenny here. It is said that there are two kinds of cyclists. Those who have crashed, and those who are going to crash. As I mentioned in my last entry, riding a bicycle can be dangerous. As you may recall, I am not so proud to belong to the “have crashed” category. Your accident does not have to be as traumatic as mine, and I hope to impart some helpful safety tips to prolong your time in the “has not crashed yet” category.

Here we go:

1. Wear a helmet. Of course we look goofy wearing it, but at least the mush stays inside the skull as a result of the goofiness. I know that we never wore one as children and we turned out just fine, but why tempt fate?

2. Maintain a keen awareness of your surroundings. I fully believe that I could have avoided my brush with death had I not been listening to my I-Pod. I could have heard the vehicle behind me and taken evasive action. Don’t talk on the phone or text while riding either. Duh!

3. Wear bright clothes. There is a term for cyclists that wear dark colors and have no reflectors or blinking lights. Ninja. Ninjas are undetectable. Until they get hit by a car or truck that is.

4. Learn the motor vehicle laws. While riding your bike on public roadways, it is your responsibility to be familiar with the laws of the road. A bicycle is considered a vehicle and is afforded the same laws as any other vehicle. In Dallas, it is against the law to ride on the sidewalk. I know this seems counter-intuitive, but I was hit by a Mini-Van because I entered the intersection from the sidewalk, practically invisible to the motorist.

5. Ride during daylight hours. Remember the term Ninja? If you are going to ride at night, have a headlight system and an extremely bright red blinky on the back. This is a must and is the law in most municipalities. I also have a reflective orange triangle that I sewed to my backpack.

6. Stop at Stop Signs. This seems like a no brainer, but you could not imagine how many cyclists feel as though the aforementioned motor vehicle laws don’t apply to them. I must admit that I spent an afternoon getting a ticket dismissed for this one. Never said I was perfect….But now I know. And knowing is half the battle.

I hope that you are taking this seriously, there will be a quiz soon. -Kenny

Another Nest Box Giveaway!

2010-09-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well folks, they're at it again! Less than two months after the last giveaway, Life on a Southern Farm is giving away yet another chicken nest box - except this time it's a 3-holer! Good for 9-12 chickens. Probably come early spring we will be getting a few more chickens (those eggs are addictive!), so a box this size would come in handy. Head over to their site and get your name in the pot! The contest ends at midnight (EST) on September 17th. Good Luck! -Carrie

Ask and Ask Again

2010-09-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I was at a big box store which I try not to routinely visit, but my particular need for this item didn’t allow for second hand shopping. During this trip, I found that the item I was in need of, but also found that it wasn’t in stock. It was the cheapest of the brands with no bells or whistles. I quickly grabbed the next associate who looked like she belonged in that department and asked if I could purchase the shelf model or get a break on the next most expensive item. “We don’t do that….” she said with a disgusted look on her face and quickly walked away.

Hmm… I’m more persistent than that. Next stop, assistant manager. Very next stop, cash register with the next most expensive brand at the cheaper price. Persistence pays.

Incidentally, that's how I won my wife. Ironically, I found her in a store too. -Jason

Getting Healthy: Week 2 Update

2010-09-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, everyone, I meant to get this out on Saturday but we had a busy weekend. Just wanted to give an update on how Mission Getting Healthy is going. And the answer is - awesome! I wish I could explain it, but it seems for me, this time, things are just clicking. I'm no longer stuffing my piehole the second the going gets tough/rough. And believe me, it's fairly stressful around here as all 5 of us started school - and we're all at different schools! I ended up losing 3.5 pounds in the 10 days from September 1st to the morning of the 11th. Like I explained in my original post, I'm counting on the following weeks to have a smaller loss per week. But I feel great and determined to push on.

Some observations:

While taking my daughter to soccer practice I no longer just sit there and read a book - I walk at least two miles around the scenic track.
Instead of relegating pushing my youngest on the swing to my older two children, I actually get off my tush and do it myself. I even climbed up inside the three story "rocket ship" at the park - something I haven't done in the more than two years it's been installed.
I've found I would much rather get some exercise outside than sit in front of the TV and do a video.
Eating an apple after lunch (usually a big salad or a homemade whole wheat tortilla with beans and veggies) seems to really help keep my hunger at bay until much closer to dinner.
Historically, when I eat too much (and don't get enough exercise) I get really frustrated and beat myself up about it. Though it's not right, I sometimes take it out on the kids. I truly believe there was much less yelling at the children than there usually is - and no, I don't think they just happened to become angels right at the time I started eating better!

I'm going to post these updates every other Saturday morning, unless there is a vocal opposition from the peanut gallery to do it on a different day (or more than once every two weeks). So let me know what you think. How did you do this past week? I'd love hear from you. I wish you well during the next two weeks. I'll be with you in spirit! And remember, what you put into your mouth - just like what you add to a landfill or how long a shower you choose to take - is a conscious decision. Just being aware of that fact has somehow helped me this time. I don't have to mindlessly eat yet another cookie - I can reach for (and eat!) a juicy nectarine instead. You can too! -Carrie

Homemade...Fruit Leather

2010-09-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

A few days ago strawberries went on sale at our local grocer for $1/pound. I bought 3 pounds. I decided to make some fruit leather (i.e. fruit roll-ups) in the dehydrator. It is so easy and you don't have to follow any type of recipe. They always turn out great - with none of the unnecessary "extras" in the commercial varieties. And amazingly enough the kids still love them. I used two pounds for this purpose and made 4 trays worth of leather. Yum!

Blueberry/Strawberry before dehydrating

After dehydrating for 9 hours

Not quite the same consistency as the store-bought stuff, but definitely healthier!

All I did was put a variety of fruit in the food processor and puree until smooth. For this batch I used:

1 pound strawberries, tops removed
1/2-1 cup blueberries
about 1/2 cup crushed pineapple I had left over from another meal
1 apple
1 pear
For a bit of extra sweetness I added 1 teaspoon of honey.

You need to be sure you use the special fruit leather insert to add to your trays, or the pureed fruit will just fall through the cracks (I believe most dehydrators come with at least one or two of these - ours came with two but we definitely will buy a few more soon). They also recommend greasing your fruit tray with a trace of vegetable oil first, because this allows it to come off easier when finished. As for the time it takes to dehydrate, it all depends on how thick you get the fruit on the tray. Our first batch took 9 hours but the second took a bit less because I didn't include the blueberries, so there was less fruit. It's also a good idea to separate the leather from the tray about 2/3-3/4 of the way through if possible. This just helps it to dry out a bit more evenly and faster.

Picture of completed leather cut & put in canning jar for storage.

Fruit leather is a great snack to have around the house. Or even better keep some in a purse or backpack to keep yourself (& the kids!) satisfied for those times when you're out and about, dinner isn't for a few hours, and your stomach starts yelling "Feed Me!" -Carrie

She loves those birds

2010-09-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Hermine came through Dallas today with little more than lots of heavy rain. Because we live on a major street, 2 years ago our front lawn was taken out and we installed a lot of decomposed granite to drive and park on. The material, for those who are not familiar, is easy to manipulate by raking and shaping. The top layer we put on a couple of weeks ago left puddles in my front yard, and since the conditions were right, I decided to go out in the rain to adjust the grade of the front parking.

30 minutes later, task done. Time to go in. Wait. We haven't paid much attention to the chickens since they are on the far side of the lawn and it's been raining for two days straight. "Hon, can you give me a couple of apples to toss to the chickens before I come in?"

"Should I cut them?"

"Sure, why not." What's another 20 seconds when you're already soaked.

Two minutes later... nothing.

Four minutes later... What's taking her so long? It's wet out here.

Another minute or two passes... "I'll have it right out."

Taking a peek inside, she's slicing and dicing, seasoning, sauteing, mixing, and fixing a meal fit for the queens... while I wait in the rain. Nothing's too good for our little egg layers. She loves those birds. -Jason

Addicted to Oil: Petrophilla and the Like

2010-09-08T03:00:00.001-07:00

Hi, my name is Jason.

Reader: Hi Jason.

I have an addiction, several actually. I didn’t really feel like it was a problem at first, but as soon as I became aware of my habits, I couldn’t stop myself. I looked on the internet for the proper names of my addictions, and since I can’t find them, I’m going to have to make their names up.

We’ll start first with my admission that I’m a McDonaphile. This one I hate to admit the most. I’m not a heavy user, and if it’s any consolation, when I do use, I keep to the dollar menu. But if I find myself on a hot day and the conditions are right, I’ve been known to pay three and a half bucks for a cold coffee. This condition is usually the result of my desire to get something quick and easy to eat with the absence of a competitor who serves veggie burgers on their dollar menu. It sits right there with Tacabellaphile. Old habits die hard, and I’ve had this habit since I was 17 when I ate there five or six times a week. I might exasperate these conditions once in a while with my love for a sweet soda. Anyone know what the name for that one is? I’d love to say colaphile, but I think the root name would be highfructosecornsyrupaphile. Say that three times fast.

After I satisfy my hunger for food, or sometimes in the process of satisfying it, I’ll drive off to wherever I was going in the first place which brings me to my next obsession. Autophilia is the love of the automobile. This isn’t quite the sin though, since actually loving the car doesn’t pollute the environment, but my love of cars begets my love of petroleum which leads to my next condition… petrolphilia?

I’m currently typing on a keyboard made of plastic, (ever heard of a computer with wooden keys?), using a mouse with the same material, and currently own about a bazillion things in my house which are made of this petroleum based material. So, and I’ve done some research on this, this may make me a polymerphile, vinylophile, polyvinylchloridiphile, polystyrenaphile or nylonaphile (to name just a few) which all depends on what I’m “jonesing” for at that particular moment.

I’m happy to say that I’ve dropped some of my previous loves which I won’t go into at this particular moment. Be it safe to say, I’m nowhere near where I want to be with my addictions, but knowing that you have a problem is half the battle.

My name is Jason, and I’ve been clean for the past nano-second. –Jason