The Dirty Dozen

Do you ever have those moments where you just amaze yourself with your own stupidity? I do, and a little too often. Just yesterday, it dawned on me that I violated the wisdom of the age-old warning: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Yes, I had literally counted on the twelve eggs that I put in my incubator, resulting in twelve chicks. Is that reckless optimism or hard-core idiocy?

This all began with two of my hens laying their eggs on the sly in an improvised nest under a pampas grass plant. When I tried to retrieve said eggs, I was scolded by the would-be mama, which I interpreted as her saying "These are my babies, back the hell off." Okey dokey then! Clearly these girls were ready to sit on a clutch, or so I thought.

So, I turned to good ol' Craig's List for a little help. Being that my ladies are without the services of a rooster, I had to seek out an "egg donor". I was able to find a guy who'd sell me a dozen fertile eggs for $5. Score! The only wrinkle in my plan was that by the time I had finally picked the eggs up from the dude, the hennies were no longer acting broody. So we sprung for an incubator and set our eggs to growing.



Here we are at day 6 of our journey, as you can tell by the scrawlings of my slightly enthusiastic daughters -



As I often do, I got caught up in the girls' excitement about baby chicks and dove into this endeavor head first. Therefore, I have been playing a lot of catch-up these past 6 days, reading everything under the sun about proper incubation temperatures, humidity, egg position, etc., etc. Being that this is day 6, I tried candling the eggs to see what I could see.



I had to monkey with the contrast on this photo a bit, but can you see the blood vessels, though?!? There's a wee baby chickie in there! :)

Based upon my completely inexpert candling skills, and the wattage of a mini-maglite, I was able to see signs of life in 7 of the 12 eggs. According to what I've been reading, a 50ish percent hatch rate is actually not too bad. I worry, though, that the day that we may need to discard the "duds", should there be any (I pray not) will be very hard on the girls. They're young enough to not understand very well the complexity and fragility of life, and pure of heart enough to fall in love deeply and unconditionally at first sight, even if that sight happens to be a poop-dappled chicken egg.

So our fingers are crossed, and our hearts set on hearing the sound of peeping soon. We have 15 days left to go, if these babies are prompt. Keep a good thought for my girls and their "babies" if you don't mind, and we'll keep you posted on our hatching adventure as it unfolds. ;)

Southern Food Giveaway Winner

Congrats to Andrea the Kitchen Witch, the winner of my Southern Delights goody bag. Shoot me your mailing address at pisces chick 99 at gmail dot com, and I'll send your num-nums on their way. I can't wait to see what you do with them!

Thanks to all for entering. I'm knocking around a few ideas for my next giveaway already. Stay tuned... ;)

Early Spring Garden Update

Or ESGU. If Rachael Ray can make annoying acronyms, why can't I? ;)

The weather 'round here is relatively springish, and about 50% of what I want to have in the garden and yard for this year is already out. So far, I've put in -

*Sugar Snap Peas (Cascade & Oregon varieties)
*Redbor Kale
*Chives
*Strawberries (Hood & Rainier varieties) - These are in addition to last year's returning strawberries.
*Horseradish Root
*Stevia (Giving this a try. It is apparently an annual in these parts, so we'll see how it goes.)
*Cylindrical Beets
*Carrots (Cosmic Purple, Red-corded Chantenay and "Little Fingers", a stump-rooted variety)
*Potatoes (Yellow Finn, Russett & Yukon Gold)

Still to go -
*Cocozelle Squash (zucchini)
*Cucumbers (Homemade Pickles variety)
*Delicata Squash
*Burgess Buttercup Squash
*Cinderella Pumpkins
*Sunflowers
*Mammoth Dill
*Tomatoes
*Basil
*Lettuces, Chard, Arugula (still under the grow lights)

The farmers market had tomato plants for sale today, but I'm once bitten, twice shy about putting 'maters out this soon. The weather has been highly unpredictable and I'd hate to waste my time and money, and that poor little plant's life on a foolish gamble against Mother Nature. However long it takes for our first tomato to be ripe, is how long it'll take. I've found that delayed gratification usually results in a better experience in most cases, especially in the case of a backyard tomato.

"A clean house...

is a sign of a wasted life."

It pains me to admit this, but once upon a time, as a newbie housewife, I was a devoted follower of Martha Stewart. There - I said it. It's out there and I can't take it back.

In those wacky, child-free days, I had the time AND the energy to clean my bathroom grout with a toothbrush, bleach my coffee cups and steam-clean my carpet, just because. (As in, not because a dog/child/turtle puked/peed/pooped on it.) Well those days are gone, baby, gone.

Now that we are considering selling this house and buying another, I've been slapped back to reality by the real estate pics of immaculately clean, flawlessly painted, IKEA-filled houses that just ooze comfort and charm. I love my house, but now that I really look at it, I see what a sloppy mess it has become in the nearly 8 years that we've been here. All of the paint needs re-touching, the hardwood re-sealed and the yard.. uhg. It's so overwhelming to think of all of the jobs, big and small, that await my attention, and yet...

Do I regret neglecting the weed whacking in favor of going fishing with Bill & the girls? Not for a second. I've technically had a million opportunities to show my home and yard the love that it deserves by doing bits of preventative maintenance here and there, but more often than not, I blow it off and lay in my hammock and read a book, take the kids the the Y or just grab a nap. Martha is dead to me, as I, no doubt, am to her.

So now instead of manic fits of getting my bathroom microscopically clean, I bribe the kids to clean it when I can. When I can't, it's me and my magic eraser and whatever we can manage to accomplish before I get distracted or interrupted. There is always a glob of toothpaste in my sink, the laundry is never done, and the weeds are winning the battle out back. And right now I don't care because the sun is out and my cherry trees are blooming and dropping their "pink snow" all over my lawn. Everyone that I love is happy and healthy and well-fed, and I don't think that Martha and her sparkling house can say the same.

Sunshine Wine

The dandelion wine is in progress, at last, at last! Bill and I moved it from the primary into a 3-gallon carboy last night. I normally taste the wine at this stage, but since I'm in the middle of the head cold from hell and can't smell or taste anything, I didn't bother. Bill, on the other hand, did, and said that it tastes similar to the rose hip wine - light, floral, sweet and a bit fruity. It is still fermenting like crazy, so the sweetness should lessen substantially over the next few weeks. Hopefully my cold will do the same so that I can finally taste this much-anticipated brew.


The "must" on day 5, just before racking.


And into the jug it goes. :)

Once I've sorted this wine out and can vouch for the recipe, I'll write it up here for anyone who might be interested in giving it a go. By the way - if you think you'll be making this wine, get your flowers now while the getting is good. You can always freeze (or probably even dehydrate) the petals for later use. The next wine up for us will be either be rhubarb or hawthorn blossom, depending on which of the two I can lay my hands on sufficient quantities of first.

By the way - does anyone know of a way to send wine through the mail? I'd love to offer some in a giveaway one of these days.

Knitting Project: A Soft & Simple Baby Blanket

Jani are you reading this? You'd better not be reading this, because I'm a nerdy little yarn glutton and I HAVE to be there when someone opens one of my knitted gifts so that I can go off on all of the geeky details about the pattern, the type of yarn I used, how to launder it, etc. If the devil is in the details, then I guess that makes me the devil.

This blanket is a modified version of the Personalized Baby Blanket from Simple Knits For Cherished Babies, easily the most useful baby pattern book that I've ever purchased. I am cursed with a short attention span when it comes to knitting projects, and all of the clothes, blankets & accessories in this book are simple and easy for a lackadaisical knitter like me. After all, I'm not a knitting whiz like some people I know. ;)

Anyway, here she is, Miss Annie's blanket -



And a close-up of Annie's "A" -



In my mind, this "A" was supposed to be a lot bigger and more prominent. After getting well into it, I realized that I could have actually fit ANNE on here if I'd have been a little more caffeinated/competent in basic mathematics. But overall I'm still pretty happy with how this blankie came out. I used some luscious Rowan mohair/silk as a knit-along with a more durable cotton/acrylic as the primary yarn, for a super soft and (hopefully) durable blanket for sweet Miss Anne.

Motherly Instincts

April has been a crazy month for me. Planting, vacation, birthday madness, maybe moving(?), a chore list a mile long, etcetera. Oy.

And as if I weren't panicked and manic enough already, my baby girl turns 7 this week, making me feel a million years old, and like I'm not really Mommy to anyone anymore, just MOM!/the lady who drives me places/the woman who's every word or look embarrasses me to death. I miss the snuggle days. Napping on the couch together, blowing raspberries on babies tummies and hearing a little one laugh for the first time. I've got the baby fever.

Having just spent a week snuggling the stuffing out of sweet baby Ryan, it's no wonder that I've got the itch. My logical brain is in a violent emotional conflict with my hormones and it's still unclear who will triumph. But I'm getting older, quicker than it used to happen, it seems (How does that work?), and I don't have a ton of time to make up my mind about which way to go. I said OY already, right?

I guess that the good news/bad news here is that it's not just me that has the baby itch. My hens have lately lost their heads and been sequestering little clutches of eggs here and there, and giving me the bitchiest of click-clucks when I dare go near their "hiding place". My girls have gone broody.

The rub here, of course, is that since we are in city limits, we cannot own a rooster. So the hennies can sit on their eggs and growl at me all day, and end up with nothing to show for it. So I'm wondering, could I and should I seek out some fertile eggs to slip under them for them to hatch out? If anyone has any experience with this particular dilemma, I'd gladly welcome your thoughts on the matter.

As to the baby-baby issue. Mama's got some thinking to do.