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You missed me didn't you?  Both of you did, I just KNOW it. 

There is much news, I suppose.  And as with farms and life, there is good and bad.

We'll start with the bad and just get that out of the way....

It has been a rough year for ducks here at the urban farm.  We lost 2 over Labor Day weekend to a fox, with an additional one mauled pretty good.  Josephine "the survivor" Duck, managed to make it.  Much to the surprise of both the SB and I.  I cleaned her wounds with water and hydrogen peroxide and then sprayed them with "wound spray" which is pretty much an anti-everything spray.  I don't know what is in it but it is anti fungal, anti bacterial and probably tastes really bad to foxes.  We tucked her into her own little sub pen and tried to get her to eat.  After a couple of days, she started on some spinach, moved on to water fowl food and finally to regular duck food.  I don't know if I missed a cut on her leg, or if there was some kind of fracture.  But over the next week or so her knee swelled significantly and got hot.  I called my gung ho vet and he allowed me to pick up some antibiotics from the compounding pharmacy in town.  It was nice that my Mama could pick them up and she paid for them.  Which I appreciated even more when I had to pick up the second round and pay $38 for them.  Sheesh.  So we gave Miss J oral antibiotics 2x per day for most of a month and topical antibiotic cream as well.  And the SB gave some physical therapy along the way as well.  She got better, finally.  Then she slipped a tendon.  Which is not good.  This can come from prolonged swelling.  Maybe we let her get too much exercise too soon?  I don't know.  The SB has redoubled his efforts in the physical therapy, stretching the tendon and hoping to convince it to stay where it belongs.  So far there is not much of a change, but he is persistent.  I hate to see her hobbling, but she otherwise seems in pretty good spirits.  Certainly alert and engaged in her flock so I don't want to put her down.

In the meantime, we lost another duck to the fox in broad daylight right behind the SB's back.  Damn fox.  So now, the ducks can only go in the fenced in garden unless we are right on top of them.  Pain in the butt and hard on the garden.  There is much planning to do to make the garden work next spring.  Now we have some half assed fencing keeping the ducks (mostly) out of the fall garden. 

Because all the ducks we lost were females, I bought three older ducks to add to the flock to keep the boys from harrassing the girls too much.  We are still a little boy heavy, but I don't want more ducks.  I could get rid of one of the boys, but I would hate to send him off to a new home without a friend and I don't want to get rid of any more of mine.  We'll see how spring goes.

The good news is that the goats were out in the country this week getting knocked up.  Yup.  My girls are gonna have them some babies this spring.  I took them out to Dragon Hill Farm to meet their baby dady.  Apparently deeds have been done and I am going to pick them up tomorrow.  They have been gone less than a week, but it feels like forever.  I am excited about the babies, but terrified.  Clearly things don't always go as planned in these little events.... and the real issue is how on earth and I going to bring myself to take the babies away from their mamas?  Oi.  I am either going to be very unpopular or cave and leave them on their mothers and never have milk.  Oi.  My head hurts just thinking about it. 

In other good news, in the process of buying the ducks I met this really amazing lady who has had ducks for a long time.  She is a fantastic resource and I look forward to talking more with her in future.
As the light wanes for the year, I have been being more social.  It has been great to catch up with friends and neighbors now that the air has cooled and the mosquitoes aren't hounding me at every instant. 

Fall is such a relieve.

And then there were three

Yesterday an off leash dog broke into the duck pen and killed seven of our flock. We were lucky that a neighbor found the dog in the act and pulled him out of the pen. Otherwise we would be completely flockless.

It was a grim day. We were interviewing at work so I had to maintain the happy face all day with the candidates, despite having run home for 90 minutes to collect the bodies, find the the missing ducks and talk with the animal control guy. Everyone was traumatized. Our neighbor, the SB, the remainder ducks.

I am still uncertain if one of them will make it. She is moving slowly today, whether from injury or shock I don't know.

Thanks to our neighbor, we have identified the dog and hopefully will work something out with the owner.

I try to comfort myself with the good life they led up until Tuesday morning.

The neighbors, friends and family have been amazing. It has been nice to hear from folks how much they like having these critters here in the hood.

Sign of the times

The news of the world has been pretty grim here folks, in case you haven't noticed. Politicians acting like children, youth acting like apes, fear mongering and hysteria all around. Add that to the general pressures of paying the bills and keeping your head above water and you have a pretty bleak picture.

So I thought I would share....

This morning there was a guy on my bus in a wheel chair who I hadn't ever seen before. Maybe it was a temporary thing... His chair still said "Patient and Guest Services" on it, so maybe it was a "loaner" from one of the local hospitals. When his stop came, he was inexpertly maneuvering himself out of the bus and onto the sidewalk, pulling himself along rather than trying to use his hands to turn the wheels the way people who do this all the time do. The guy was about the age of a Viet Nam vet, but I don't know that he was. Just an older skinny white guy who didn't quite have a handle on his new world. When he got to the sidewalk he was trying to turn the chair around and head toward his destination. A middle aged African American guy happened to be walking by with a woman and he seamlessly and graciously got behind the guy in the chair and since they were going in the same direction pushed him along while smiling and chatting. A total random act of kindness. It totally made my day, I can't imagine what it did for the guy in the chair. I hope he saw it as I did.

A month or two a go my great friend P. was in the local bank, standing in line to cash a check. The lady in front of her was asking about the balance in her checking account. The checking account had about $68, and the woman needed $65, but the teller said she had to leave at least $5 in the account to keep it open. So she withdrew the $63 and another $2 from her savings account which was running on the order of $25. P. went home and called the bank and convinced the teller to allow her to transfer $200 into the woman's bank account anonymously. P isn't flush with cash, but she is overflowing with compassion.

Just thought I would share those two small snippets and that they infuse some hope and joy into your life. We need all we can get right now.

Dragon Hill Farm Zinnia

Born on 3/6/11 at Dragon hill farm. Photo by the LB. Who came over this afternoon with her man and exercised the goats.

Damp x like a million = today

It rained today. A lot. Many inches of it. In duckland, the day was a perfect one. They got out early as it was a weekend and I was home. The creek was rolling and all the auxilliary creeks kicked in too, so there was tons of water to play in. Even the duck yard is full of enormous puddles, not so good for keeping the duck house in good repair, but exctiting for the inhabitants.

We had breakfast with our friend JG, then went out to slog through the water. The SB likes to go out in this weather and make sure that the creek isn't obstructed. I came in after I started to get soaked, but he stayed out. He helped the neighbor fix a clogged downspout. Turns out part of the clog was a garter snake. Go figure. I washed dishes, attacked cobwebs and took a nap. He did all sorts of outdoor maintenance. He was probably in the pouring rain, for like 3 hours. His boots were full of water. Oh, and did I mention he doesn't have a raincoat? No? He doesn't. Soaked and prune-y he is napping.

As are the ducks, who, despite having run around all day "foraging" were starving when they finally got locked in for the evening.

I am afraid the clover we planted in the garden paths is probably in Richmond by now, by way of the James River. We have sheets of water running through the garden paths....The rain is good fro the transplants though. We got a huge number of small boxwoods over the weekend from a friend. Put in a bunch yesterday, pretty roughly b/c of the sheer numbers and the time we could devote. The rain makes me think they might make it yet.

I called the goat lady today to ask about the availability of baby goats. She wants to hang on to hers until the end of March as she is teaching a class. She has only had one goat of six kid so far. It had four babies. FOUR. Um. Wow. I also got some vet recommendations. The thought of entering this endeavor without back up is terrifying.

I hope we are ready by the end of March, but I suspect it will be later. And the rain can lighten up any time now.

Break

I think this is the longest break from work I have taken in years... Off a half day on the 22nd, back to work on the 3rd and only a half day in the office in between. Sheer freakin' bliss.

On the 28th I made cheese with my neighbor. She had The Cheese Kit. I had done this with the food crafting girls a while back, but since it was a while ago, it was like starting all over. Except that I also tried some cheddar. You inoculate the slightly warmed milk the night before with some yogurt or buttermilk and let it sit at room temp. By morning it was certainly thicker than regular milk. I walked it over to the neighbors as we were doing this in her fabulous kitchen. Then you add the rennet and let the milk sit for an hour. Which we did. Only we used my rennet which had apparently lost its kick. So the first 30 minutes nothing happened. We added new rennet and 60 minutes later we had a lovely curd - lesson learned, keep your rennet in the freezer. (We were doing other things along the way, making mozzarella, drinking tea and eating home made toast). The curds were cut into tiny squares, then stirred gently for 15 minutes while the whole thing was held between 90-100 degrees. The whey was drained off, and the curds were put into a clean cloth fitted into a clean tomato can with both ends cut out. I then took this home and placed one of the can ends on the top of the cheese which was on top of my cooling rack. On top of the can I put a smaller can (tuna, full and unopened) and and a couple of fat cookbooks (the Joy, and 1000 Chinese Recipes). We pressed it overnight on the counter and then wrapped it in fresh cloth and stuck it in the fridge where it will hang for a week or two until it forms a rind (which appears to be happening) then I am supposed to put cheese wax on it. But I will probably eat it instead.

We went to dinner at our other neighbors house. Cold roast beef, roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts and Christmas pudding with hard sauce. Yum.

I went shopping with Cho to the new fabric store. All I could do was think that those lovely upholstery fabrics would look great in the garden pavilion. Or the goat barn.

I walked to the Tea House with my chummy and had a pot of tea.

I made goat stew from the Frugal Gourmet. I messed with the recipe.

I made no knead bread. And messed with the recipe (adding 1/2 cup oatmeal and a bit of wheat germ to tone down all the whiteness) and had success.

I got a comment on my blog from the MENews people regarding my dissing of the garden planner. I was corrected.

I moved heavy things.

I saw an owl fly through our backyard.

We worked on the garden pavilion and goat barn plans. We made a model of the goat barn in cardboard.

See how much fun I am when I don't work? Someone should buy me out so I can be a stay-at-home homesteader and blog about it.

Post Christmas Post

Now that the gifts have been delivered and opened, I can tell you what I have been working on...

Chai spice concentrate for tea (or coffee) from here. Modified, of course. I like my spices a little stronger than what I got from the original recipe, and a little spicier. What I miss from my own chai is the warm fragrant fresh ginger. I may continue to work with this and see if I can sneak that in without making it chunky/funky.... All in all, I think it was pretty successful. I'll be taking some to work for afternoon tea, since we don't have real milk there and I don't do caffeinated tea without some kind of milk. Non dairy creamer does not merit consideration.

Mocha hazelnut biscotti - from a modified recipe in Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray. The straight up recipe is for chocolate biscotti, and it couldn't be easier. The nuts make it a little tricky as things tend to want to fall apart a little more, but... All worth it. I think this was a great success. The biscotti are crunchy, not too hard and not too sweet. Basically Sweet Maria's recipe with tiny bits of chocolate, finely ground coffee and bits of toasted hazelnut. Yum.

So here is my question, is it bad to put recipes from books on the blog? I don't know.... and I don't know why this has just occurred to me that it might not be all together on the up and up....Advice please!

Cranberry Apple Bread - this is my holiday standby. I make small loaves of this for neighbors and friends and lots for the house here. The recipe (Dutch apple bread with cranberries, I actually haven't messed with this much) is from A World of Breads which I love and am sure I have told you about before. It is from the time before "artisan" baking was what people talked about. It goes through about a million recipes for all kinds of yummy breads, including multiple recipes for cornbread, biscuits, etc. If you want to be an artisan bread baker, make them all and figure out what makes those recipes tick. You don't need pretty pictures for that - and you won't find no pretty pictures in that book. It is one of my most used cookbooks along with the Joy of Cooking.

The ducks spent the holiday at work. I put them into the garden to hunt for anything that might be chillin' beneath the leaves for winter. They really take a long time to warm up to these tasks so I figured I had better keep them in condition for the upcoming spring thaw. I did a trial subscription to the Mother Earth News Garden Planner. I am not impressed. It doesn't allow you to modify for vertical gardening or mixed plantings (like lettuce beneath the okra). So I would say it might be good for folks who like to row plant, but for me, well, I am just a little more free form than all that. It would be nice to have actual plans from past gardens, but I think I can live without that. Gardens are something like theater, once it is gone it is gone and the memories are all you have, other than the friendships forged in the sharing of them.

The SB and I spent the day on the FUF thrashing through the design of our garden pavilion. It will be awesome if it comes to fruition. Rilly. In preparation for the pavilion we moved a tree/shrub (Carolina Silverbell) and planted some winter berry hollies, so in future, we hope to have us some of this.

I have more days off, Woot!, and hope to get lots of organizing, straightening and cleaning done around the house. Unfortunately, I am being distracted by the internets....

Season

We have crossed from the Season of Frost to the Season of Smartwool. And seeing as my smartwool is still languishing in a trunk somewhere I am officially and seasonally appropriately freezing my ass off. Big leaky house + temps only in the 30s during the day x one week = supercranky.

I think the last several nights have done in the last of the veggies. Except I hope the rest of the carrots are OK. I have pictures of the last harvest, but the SB has to send them to me as he downloaded them. I will post. We will see if anything recuperates come springtime.

The last few nights I have fallen asleep planning my spring/summer vegetable beds. Last night the last thing I remember was trying to decide if I needed one or two kinds of marigolds.

I was at an office party last week and started talking veggie gardens with another woman. The rest of the group began to drain away as we went on and on about how therapeutic gardening is, how rewarding, the triumph and heart break, the back breaking work, the absurd and slightly embarrassing joy of the perfect pumpkin, etc, etc. Eventually we changed topics and other people decided they could be around us once again. (I can't blame them, I would have done the same if others started talking sports or prime time TV.)

These instances are how I know that I am totally and completely obsessed. I have become one of THOSE people. (woot!)

I got my first gardening catalog in the mail today. I am marking pages, veggies, varieties, etc. This will go on through January. By then I have pretty much marked everything and I have to start over, which is fine - I am pretty easily entertained. SESE has a great planting guide in the catalog and posted on the main website as a pdf. Invaluable if you live in Virginia.

I just read about sorrel here, which reminded me that I want some of that too. Along with rhubarb and horseradish.

Thither and Yon

I have been over here. Doin' stuff.

A quick Saturday AM post. In the garden still some carrots, kale, arugula, parsley and lots of cabbage. Hopefully cabbage goes lactic this weekend.

Ducks are good, though they have essentially stopped laying. Slackers.

Planning for the spring garden. The goat barn/pen. The out buildings and a possible greenhouse in the not too near future.

Got some greenhouse plastic to do some early cropping in the garden. Can't wait to order seeds though I need nothing. Except carrots. And long beans. And corn. And spinach.

We are considering moving our asparagus to dryer locations as it has yet to produce for us (in 10 years). Must be the high water table there. I am on the look out for some perennial veg to add to the landscape, anyone have extra rhubarb or horseradish?

Wow

It has been a wild couple of weeks here... Mostly work related. My schedule ebbs and flows with the coming and going of the new physicians. The first half of June is most definitely a flow. No complaints, it is all good stuff, just lots all at once. The welcoming of new friends and sending off of old ones coincide and make things a teeny bit easier.

I have a bunch of posts that have been swirling around in my brain, but I can conjure none of them at the moment. So we will have a list.

1. Flea beetles totally suck.
2. I am excited about the tomatoes.
3. The ducks have cut back to 6 eggs a day. No complaints, nine is a lot.
4. We got our garden sink installed. Woot! Pictures WILL follow, but the SB has the camera.
5. Our asparagus beans are finally starting to bloom.
6. I really need to do something with the bees.
7. We are growing corn beans and squash. Can't wait to see if it works.
8. We put in a new bed on one side of the house. All the orphan tomatoes ended up there. Don't know if they will do anything or not, but at least they aren't suffering in their tiny six packs anymore.
9. We have tons of Thai basil.
10. I made my first batch of rural salad, cheating only a little with some of the tomatoes
11. Peaches. Need I say more?
12. BIG ASS STORM yesterday.
13. BAS (#12) resulted in me being out of work most of the day b/c the hospital didn't have all its power back. Surprise long-ish weekend. Yay me!
14. Delightful gathering at the Urban Farm last night sans power (due to BAS) but with friends and lots of good food. Love me some dark nights. Without power (i.e. fan) I was able to enjoy many many hours of the darkness since I was up all night sweating.
15. I made potato salad from the fingerling potatoes and used boiled duck eggs .... Thanks to the Diner for telling me that the info about boiled duck eggs being rubbery doesn't hold up... Pretty delicious.
16. I had to restrain myself from digging all the potatoes. You know I love to dig me some potatoes.
17. The cukes can just go ahead and start producing any time now. Ditto peppers.
18. Very close to starting some of the fall crops. They will go in where the garlic came out. Garlic harvest was somewhat disappointing, but can't complain too much. It was a very rough and very wet winter for them.

OK, hopefully I will be able to post something other than a list soon. Maybe even pictures.

If wishes were ducks.....

Still wishing and hoping the duck better. My efforts seem to have come to a standstill however. I am administering antibiotics twice daily and the duck is strong and getting pretty fast for a one legged duck. She still won't put weight on her foot and the foot is non responsive. The SB has been trying some therapy, but no dice. I have put out another call to my friend. Crikey.

We had squash and cream over pasta with leeks from the garden and cured pork that we made. Fresh sage and a little garlic and we were good to go.

I am dead tired. I forgot that in the lighter months we don't come in until dark. Which means we just finished dinner. Bed time.

Still Waiting

So I came home mid day yesterday to meet my friend H. She is trained as a vet tech and she met me to discuss the duck foot issue. The duck was no better. After a thorough exam, she found a thorn in the joint above the foot. The joint was swollen and warm. The diagnosis, joint infection. The remedy, 1/2 ml of Tylosin (an antibiotic safe for birds) twice a day. Lots of water and treats, special time in the garden doing things she likes and warm compresses twice a day. I love that part of the treatment plan includes "special time". The good news is that it isn't a slipped tendon, which could have been REALLY bad news. The duck, I am pretty sure now that it is Louisa, just got her second dose of antibiotics. No change as of yet, but hopefully we will see the swelling go down soon. Have you ever tried to give antibiotics to a duck? No? Apparently neither has anyone else as there is very little about the logistics of getting liquid into a duck. With cats, you can brave teeth and claws and pry the mouth open, or at least you can start there. Or better yet, bury a pill in a treat. With ducks, the lower bill fits snugly inside the upper bill. I tried Open Sesame, but that didn't work. The other complicating factor is that you don't want to shoot liquid into the mouth b/c it can get into the lungs, which is very bad indeed. Birds don't do well with liquid in their lungs. Even antibiotics. So, although I am relieved to have some idea what is going on (and eternally completely and totally grateful to H for coming to our rescue), it is hardly the end of the anxiety. I did manage to dose this morning on my own, and remarkably, the duck doesn't seem to hold a grudge. I am putting the liquid in her mouth at the front of the bill so that she can swallow it. I think that is the right thing to do, though I am still concerned I might get the liquid down the lungs. And, I am afraid that too much time has passed and getting her to use the leg again is going to be difficult. Hoping that when she feels better she will give it a try again. We may still need the physical therapist.

In other news, I put my spring seeds in this week. Broccoli raab, mustard, lettuce, spinach, beets, chard, kale, turnips and parsley. I may need to water today. It has been so sunny and the weather SO delightful. Truly, it is the perfect time to be in C'ville. The flowers are making up for lost time and blooming without regard to standard timing. We have the earliest of crocuses still blooming with the daffodils.

The bees are flying. They don't seem to be taking any of the syrup I have left for them though. This is an independent lot, I must say. I think I may need to re-queen this fall ... That is going to take some research and a little hand holding I am sure. Have you ever tried to find the queen

We have a large project of rock moving happening this weekend, so I expect I will be pretty much incapacitated for the majority of next week. Oof. The SB has been moving lots of things around to get ready for the installation of some gabion walls that are coming via "the network". Seems like we find salamanders under just about everything. Which is nice. I don't know where they have been hiding in the last years of drought, but we have seen more in the last 6 months than we have in the previous 5 years. We loves us some salamanders here at the Urban Farm. The first two on this page is mostly what we see....

This time of year, especially, I think of the goats. I think of what an excellent thing it would be to have a dairy goat. I don't know that it will ever happen, but I dream on. Right now, I think that chickens might be the next step. The ducks don't do that well with kitchen scraps, and it would be nice to pass those along to some chickens. Though I guess we could get into some worms. They are definitely not as cute as some exotic chickens though. I have entered a couple of drawings for free chicken coops. I figure, if I win, it will be A Sign. I don't know what we will do with more bird poop though. Truly, a garden can hold only so much... Any interest in a load of poopy straw, just email me.

Missed me, didn't you?

Because some other people didn't post pictures, I decided to post a couple from last Sunday's dumpling wrapping party. Which rocked. I had the lucky chance to get a dumpling tutorial in advance. SHG got one via the internets. We all shared what little we knew and dove in for some culinary adventure....

Some of the first dumplings... Different shapes. We all had different fillings, chicken, shrimp, beef, tofu....

By the end we had many dumplings. We divvied up the goods so we all have some of each variety. In between, we ate salad, sesame noodles and dumplings and wine. We desserted on chocolate and more wine. And birthday biscuits. We also has some smashing mead, but that was earlier... as an appetizer. And which I am thinking about in the event that we get honey this year....


This is leftover beef dumpling filling after being fried in a pan and then having vermicelli and an egg poured over it. Fried up good like a frittata. It was the SB's dinner.

And speaking of the SB, I now have his laptop set up as my new computer, changing out the old iMac for this newer version. I hope that, once I figure out the new set up, things will be considerably faster, so that I can more easily post pictures.

And below, a gratuitous duck picture. Because I can.
That is Gloria in the front - brown with the spots on her chest. She is my favorite.

The Season

The SB and I enjoyed our nice quiet holiday with the family on Christmas Eve. My family has a way of overlapping gifts. It is nice to all be on the same page. There was much exchange of food and food related items. Many donations to our local causes. Many of those also food related.

Christmas Day, the SB installed our dishwasher. We have always had a dishwasher in this house (except during the first 18 months we were living here and working on the house and we didn't have water in the "kitchen" at all, which made a dishwasher somewhat obsolete). He INSTALLED it yesterday, meaning the bottom panel was attached and the thing got screwed to the floor. Which now means that when you pull out the slides, the whole thing no longer tips forward. It really is amazing what small changes like that do to make you feel just a teeny bit more civilized. Mostly, it made me realize that I haven't cleaned around the edges of the dishwasher in a really long time, so that has to be on the list for the holiday week. This was one of my Christmas presents from the SB. The other, a book called Charcuterie. This is definitely going to have to contribute to the goals list.

I was inspired to do a list of goals by Kate's list. More on that soon. I have been compiling a list. Starting a fig is on my list too. I am still looking for a place to grow it, but I think it can safely be started in a pot.

I am hoping over the next day or so to get out and dig out the garden. I am hoping there are some delightful green greens in there, just waiting for a big pot of beans and bacon (one of the SB's gifts from the Cho fam, and totally spot on. I mean, how can you go wrong with bacon?)

The duck egg production has gone WAY down. 3-4 eggs a day, and today, only one, though I may fine another one or two if I go out later. Slackers. We have been letting them out for long periods despite the snow. They have found the waterways in the yard and spend lots of time making mud pies and eating anything green or that may have at one time in the past been green. They are very happy to get out. When it started raining yesterday, I had the irrational urge to put them back in their pen. But, of course, they LOVE the rain. It was just me that would have been miserable with the 38 degree downpour. More power to 'em....

And to ward off the cold and damp of winter, I started a tiny sun dress for one of my tiny friends. It rocks.

Monsters

I am afraid I have unwittingly invited monsters into my home. In 3 days, the ducklings have gone from getting through most of a bowl of food and 3 cups of water to 4 bowls of food and more than a gallon of water. Of course, much of it is spread across the cage, but they must be ingesting some of it because they are noticeably larger. I am talkin' NOTICEABLY. If you haven't seen them you would think they were still small, and they are, but they are growing like weeds.... You should come see them. They have been viewed by several neighbors, friends and family over the past three days. I think today is the first time they have started to settle a bit. They seem a little more confident.

Kitty is still unaware. Thank heaven. Once he finds out, there will be no rest for any of us.

The weather is spectacular and I am blogging. Remind me not to complain about working in the heat when the time comes. Clearly I am squandering the good weather.

Make Way for Ducklings...

So the duckling that I was worried about, seems to have kind of caught up with the rest of the crew. There are definitely larger and smaller ducklings, but it is hard to tell which is the "runt" now... So perhaps we have dodged that particular bullet.

You can tell they are already growing. They have figured out the eat then put the face in water thing that makes ducks work. They use the water to wash out their nostrils and with that dry food, you can see how they would need to. So I sat and watched them for a long time tonight going from food to water and back like a recirculating pool. They love to fish for bits of lettuce in the water even though they aren't very good yet at eating them. I am putting down new layers of straw twice a day. You could really do it about every 2-3 minutes, but you really have to draw a line somewhere. They are going through about a gallon of water a day. Most of which ends up in the bedding. Oh well.

My friend V says that ducklings are like crack. I must concur.

Roller Coaster

Today was the day the ducklings were supposed to arrive. Or not. It was Tuesday, likely Wednesday or maybe Thursday. I started out by calling the post office at 8:15. They were very nice and took my name and number. Then I had to wait until it was 8:30 in Iowa to call the hatchery. Yes, they shipped Monday but without a tracking number. So great, they would likely be here today. Called back to the post office later, talked to someone else who was incredibly nice and said the package wasn't there, but I could call the distribution center. Which I did, and got another unbelievably nice person who said to call back after noon because that was the last truck of the day coming from Richmond. I called back. No live birds except for the Tractor Supply order. Dang! Canceled my ride, moped to the SB, CHO and my Mama. And fretted about the little critters being in a box for another day.

At 2, Tuck from the loading dock called to tell me the birds were there! I had to call back my ride V. We had been planning the duck run since I placed the order. She was on the phone. GAD I must have called about 18 times in 12 minutes. She finally whisked me off in the red Duckmobile. We picked the little darlings up around 2:40 this afternoon from a postal clerk who looked like she couldn't wait to get rid of them. I told her that I was supposed to inspect the package for losses in front of a clerk and I thought she got a little green around the gills. Luckily I could just pry the lid up a bit and check them out. No feet sticking straight up in the air, so I guessed that was OK. Then V and I navigated traffic Oh So carefully home. Where we stuck there little bills in water to get them drinking. Which they, for the most part, took to - well, like ducks to water..... Right.

Next we moved them to the new basement quarters (theoretically cat proof - the basement, not the quarters) and got them rolling on some crumbles. Three point two minutes later there were crumbles and water spread across the cage like a very small tornado had come through. Really. It was impressive. As we were watching them tear around making the cutest little pat pat sounds with their feet, V pointed out that we had 11 ducklings. Right. Ten would have been plenty. Even nine if we lost one. Crikey. The SB said, "That's about 300 more eggs!" Right. But I am betting it is a male, why else would they have thrown it in for free other than they have lots of extras. We do have one little one that may or may not make it. It is just teeny and not up to speed. I kind of hope that if we lose it, it is sooner rather than later....

The majority of the little beasts are eating and drinking like champs and the SB and I went ahead and cut off the leg bands since he is here and it was DEFINITELY a two person job.

So? Are you ready for the photos? Actually, most of them are terrible, I will try to get more good ones soon, but the little buggers are FAST.

Upon arrival at the Future Urban Farm. They were actually pretty calm. Until we dipped their bills into the equivalent of duck gatorade - which inspired them to begin leaping around and trying to climb out of the boxes. Or maybe it was just being handled and stared at that made them a bit nervous....

This is probably one of the chocolate colored ones. The feet are the best.

This is before everything got really crazy.... Wow. You should see the place now. Crikey. Oh, and they started to smell bad almost instantly. The cat is still blissfully unaware. At least I am blissful that the cat is unaware. I don't know that he is blissful. He is always on the cranky side. When I was last downstairs, they were all sleeping under the lamp and next to the heater. I need to go look at them and make sure they have food and water for the night. It is just remarkable how much they have gone through in such a short time.

In other news.... the potatoes are loving this weather. But frankly, I am ready for a little sunshine.

Gardening

Today the SB and I had the pleasure of touring some local veggie gardens with some pretty interesting folks. A neighbor put together a handful of people who have veggie gardens in our quadrant of the city. The most remarkable thing about the tour (5 gardens in 4.5 hours) was how different they all are. Some are quite structured and others totally free form. I found herbs I had heard of but never seen and drank some ground ivy tea, and learned that black eyed peas are care free and delicious.

I can't wait to get back into the garden now. Just having an afternoon with people who are enthusiastic was exciting. I want to put my peppers and tomatoes in.... I want more garden space and I want to be harvesting. I am so greedy. I have so much space and such an amazing setup, but I want more.... I want a place for black eyed peas and more greens and corn and winter squashes and about a million more varieties of everything.

The SB and I went to Southern States earlier this morning and got feed and grit and a waterer for the ducklings. We still have some thing to figure out... Like where the cage is going to go.

Easter!

What I learned/remembered on Easter Sunday 2009. A list! Because I know SHG loves them and I haven't heard from her in a while....

1. The SB is right. Easter is when the violets REALLY start blooming.
2. It is great to have a neighbor who collects you from your yard work for a mid day supper of lamb, potatoes and spinach in the company of smart women and mimosas.
3. I am not sure that transplanting beet seedlings is really the way to go.
4. A floor jack is effing heavy.
5. I am clever enough to get a floor jack from the basement to the trunk of my car without actually having to lift it.
6. Although I didn't actually have to lift the jack, I think I will be feeling the strain tomorrow. Since I am feeling it now. Oi.
7. You cannot ever ever ever appreciate your friends enough.
8. I never get through my list of things to do on any given weekend.
9. Home made chicken stock rocks.

Tentative Good News

So it being a spectacularly gorgeous day (besides being Christmas) the SB and I were spending a good part of the day in the garden. After a half hour or so of working on digging the silt out of the creek, we took a break and I went out to have a look at the bees. There is a magic temperature, which I believe is around 57 degrees, above which bees will fly even in winter. They get out to air themselves out, forage if possible, collect water and poop. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see the bees outside the hive. They were a little disorganized, but out and flying and doing all the things that bees should be doing. I dashed in and whipped up some syrup for them and put it in the hive so they had snacks. Hopefully they will gorge themselves and be a little better for it. I really had very little hope that they were still with us, and I am hoping I still have a chance to get them through the winter.

The next project was to plant the fruit trees that we got earlier in the week. While we were planting, the SB got sort of tired of me remarking repeatedly how excited I was that the bees were still alive. He tolerated my enthusiasm though. He can be a good sport. While we were digging our neighbor (who, by the way of nothing, makes fantastic pizza) stopped by and chatted while we dug and planted. It made the time go more quickly and was a nice visit. We gave the trees the royal treatment. Kind planting, followed by a big drink of water, followed by spraying deer repellent (compliments of Santa Cho), hanging plastic milk/soda water containers on the branches (my neighbor swears by this), sturdy stakes set (to deter deer and help straighten the trees) and finally a dose of Roots, which is like vitamin water for plants. Tomorrow, I will be hanging the tiny bags of milorganite as recommended by Chuck at the apple farm. We're givin' it our all here.

Then the SB continued to work in the garden while I went to pick up our milk at the farm. Apparently, cows give milk on Christmas too. Lucky us! Then I worked in the garden more (this is how it goes when the SB is home, we get LOTS done).

I had to drag him in from the garden on the brink of starvation and on pain of missing a visit with our friends J&J who had open house over the holidays. We take any excuse to go by and ooh and ahh over their renovation, sit in the best potting shed in C'ville, and snarf up the general hospitality.

After that we went to do some cat and fish feeding for a friend out of town and had a visit with my mama and step pa and picked up the rest of the Christmas loot. Now we are tucked in at home, pouring through our new reading materials (the SB received a number of books and I got a subscription to Cooks Illustrated *swoon*).

All in all, I couldn't ask for a better day. It was filled with all the delightful surprised (yeah bees!), family, friends and good solid work with much progress. I hope your holiday was as lovely, but you are going to have to convince me it was better than mine....