Archive of Past News of the Farm:
| A Precarious Beginning July 15, 2012 | |
Greetings Friends of the Farm, Greetings Friends of the Farm, Sunday morning. By 10 AM I just had to come inside and rinse the sweat off my face. I'd done two batches of laundry. First the farm stand sheets, then our personal farmhouse sheets. All were on the line at the roof edge of the pole barn. The morning sun hit them sideways, helping to bleach out the stains of tomatoes and perspiration. Read More |
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| Talking Chickens June 19, 2012 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I'm going to do another "Chicken Seminar".... the seventh or eighth one I think. Who would want to count that many chicken talks? There may be 50 people at the beautiful Natural Gardner Nursery, or 300. You never know. I always think low, as surely the interest in backyard chickens will ebb. Maybe it will, this year, after I get through with the attendees. Read More |
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| The Harvest Journey June 1, 2012 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
The words most farmers loathe to hear are weather related: A possibility of “damaging winds, hail and downpours” make nervous Nellies of us all. So, since it’s now June and we’ve been harvesting heirloom, cherry and regular tomatoes for several weeks, earlier than usual, with not much letup in sight, we greedily want that to continue. All it would take is the prognostication from the TV to come true, and if we did nothing to prepare, we’d be in the guilty dumps. This morning then, since we don’t tolerate guilt well, we hit the field at 6 AM ... Read More |
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| Leeks May 1, 2012 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Now that it is 90 degrees every day, without a drop of rain, I feel a sweet joy remembering the leeks.... We sold the last leeks two weeks ago. The last lettuce, spinach, peas, shallots, radicchios, escaroles, radishes, and other items that favor cold weather are also gone. The fava beans hung on as long as they could, but finally, Andrea, mopping sweat from her brow, cleared them out, leaving their stalks in the foot paths to use as pushing material to help future cucumbers get to their fences. Read More |
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| A Rain a Farmer Liked March 8, 2012 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Ain’t a rain made by God or Nature that a farmer liked. (An attitude shared by most farmers.) As I mowed the tall grass next to the Hen House Run, I advised the girlies to get their baths while they can, for there will be no bathing for a few days. Alarmed by that dire news, they shuffled their feathers even more ardently. With the forecast promising deluges, their bathing spas will become mud baths -- not suitable for cleansing. Read More |
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| January 9, 2012 Worry Not | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, On the second day of the year, I moved the makings of the new compost pile twenty feet to the south. It took me most of the morning. Perched atop the now-tooth-less Jaws -- alas, he had to sell his choppers to afford a hydraulic infusion/repair “last year” -- I missed his teeth.They were handy pulling leaves down from the top of the eight-foot tall pile. But most of all, I missed my compost buddy, Toesy. Read More |
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| A Pot of Soup December 5, 2012 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, On a rainy, rainy, cold Sunday, what should a farmer do? Make a pot of soup! Saturday, we sampled two delicious tomato soups, one donated by East Side Cafe to Edible Austin's Eat Local Bike Tour of urban farms, and another, later that night, at ASTI Trattoria. So of course, even though I have a few bags of heirloom Cherokee Purple tomatoes in the freezer, it wouldn't do to have yet another tomato soup. I didn't ask Larry if he agreed with my assessment, because he most certainly would have specified TOMATO soup. Yet again, as he is the biggest fan of tomatoes of any man I know. Read More |
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| Now to Tomorrow November 22, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I pointed out the tiny first leaves of parsnips to a visitor on Saturday. Noting that they indeed did look different from the winter henbit that we will weed out when the parsnip plants are a bit bigger, she asked the inevitable question, “When will they be ready?” “In about four months,” I replied. “Four months!? I’m ready for them right now!” she exclaimed. Read More |
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| Perseverance November 15, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Alas, I haven’t written to you this year as often as in every one of the past fifteen years that I’ve penned the News of the Farm. It has been my habit to sit down at the computer every single Monday afternoon. Then I could reflect on this farm life, without being out there doing it! Read More |
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| Aunt DropTail November 7, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
A
couple of Fridays ago, just before sunrise, intern Austin appeared at
the back door of the farm house, looking unusually solemn. He reported
gravely that Aunt DropTail was dead. Read More |
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| A Sashay in Time September 5, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Maybe it’s over? (After all the temperatures have dropped 15 degrees! ...to 90....) Is there life after an historic heat wave? We won’t know until...we know. The Toes Knows, but she’s not saying... Read More |
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| Blooms Blue August 15, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Another farmer sent me a recent NY Times article.* It kind of brought me down. The farmer remarked, be glad we’re not living in 1450 to 1489, a forty year stretch of the worst human-recorded drought, according to testimony of very old trees, knowledgeable saplings even then. A person could have lived and died of thirst...and never seen rain.... Read More |
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| Crime Doesn't Pay July 31, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, ...but it does cost, approximately $180 for lucky us, and an inestimable community cost to tax payers. And then there is the disappointing karmic cost to our belief in the goodness of man.... However, you might ask, what does the theft of a farmer's truck have to do with farming? In a way, almost everything.... Read More |
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| Mouths Wide Open July 26, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
The
Vermont thermometer, facing the air-conditioned glass of the kitchen
window, reads 100. That high number must be shocking to a thermometer
that immigrated from the northeast of the country.
Read More
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| Stepping High July 18, 2011 | |
 Dawn caresses the parched farm... Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Around
5 AM, before sunlight, all is right -- peaceful -- on the farm. The
noise of traffic has not yet started, the chickens are quiet, although
some of them have already flown from the perch to the ground. Those
early hens just stand around, thinking, most likely. Overnight, whatever
bit of moisture is in the soil has sneaked up into the plants and
plumped them so that they are almost perky. Datura's blossoms, still
fully open -- although their perfume was spent during the night --
reflect whitely the glow of the moon. They mark my path around the farm
house, as I walk on down to the road to get the newspaper (am I the only
one who still does this?) The moon, almost full, is my elusive guide.
This is a good start to the day.Read More |
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| Primaeval Desire June 1, 2011 | |
Read More
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| A Corn Year May 17, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, A little salt, a little butter....crunch, crunch, crunch. Sigh with pleasure.... Real corn...fresh, crunchy, juicy, sweet...is hard to get. But when it happens, when it’s a “corn year,” it brings out the raccoon, crow, deer, wild hogs, opossum, squirrel, and worm in me. And everyone else I know. Read More |
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| The Toes Knows May 1, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
By Chicken Law, prudent hens must be on their beds before the sun sets. This is a righteously reasonable law because a hen doesn’t see well in the dark, and in a practical sense, the early-to-bed, early-to-rise gets the morning worms. Dusk gathered last Saturday and the inhabitants of the Hen House quietly settled their plump, feathered breasts upon feet which clamped tightly around various perches. All was well in the official sleeping area, but chaos is routine in the nesting box area on the other side of the Hen House. Here sleep the hens apparently not welcome in the nocturnal resting area -- hens who must sleep near the work nests, out in the wind. Hens like Toesy, who is almost ostracized, through no fault of her own. Read More |
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| Farm Walks April 12, 2011 | |
 --Joyce Sayle Greetings Friends of Farms,
Read More
This Sunday, you will walk where generations of farmers, since 1839, have walked. Close your eyes and imagine the lay of the land as it was when the pioneers originally held a handful of this alluvial soil.... A flat prairie grazed by buffalo and deer, shaded here and there by live oak trees. Listen for the serenades of wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions. See, in your mind, the plows drawn by horses, mules and oxen turning the native grasses over, ordering the land into domesticated fields stretching from the sudden hill of Oak Springs, hopping over the pecan tree-edged Boggy Creek, and on to the cypress-lined Colorado River to the south. Farm land to feed the new City of Austin. |
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| March 7, 2011 Babette's Avocation | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Some stars are born; others are cultivated; but now and then, one is hatched. That one would be Babette. Of the Boss Chick and the Babes family. Originally there was one tiny chick that we named Boss Chick, whom we adopted after she was found strolling along a neighborhood road. The human mother and daughter rescue team rightfully thought that she needed to be with other chickens. She was less than a week old. Still in her yellow fuzzy feathers. It was a mystery as to her lonely meanderings, but the main thing we hoped for was that she would not turn into a rooster! Read More |
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| February 25, 2011 The Gift of Green | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Typically
every morning, while still in bed, I try to figure out what in the
world we will do today. I lie there, comfortable but turning a bit
anxious, imagining the rows of crops, imagining their readiness or their
reluctance, imagining the freeze damage I fear they are harboring
(retaining), perversely. Let it go, I encourage them (and myself) from
beneath the warm comforter. Grow out of it! Get on with life! (But do
not go crazy: no bolting! There is time for seed making later.) Read More |
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| Simplifying Life, Suddenly February 10, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm The farm has been quiet the last few days. No work to do, other than laundry, as it is not wise to harvest frozen crops, nor plant out new ones. The chickens have been free to roam the farm each and every day, for what kind of mischief can they make? Oh, some frozen romaine lettuce peaked out of torn row cover, and they ate it to the ground, but that was OK. Everyone likes lettuce. The eggs will be good. Actually egg production is way up, as Egg Season begins in February. So if they nip on damaged crops, all the better. (Bring your cartons for eggs.) Read More |
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| Facing the Windy Cold February 3, 2011 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Aunt Tooter was standing in the water tub, on the ice. Her message could not have been plainer. So I complied and poured boiling water into the far corner of the tub, so as not to burn her toes. She decided to hop out and join the others who had their beaks already inside the tub, scooping up the soon-chilled water. During the last few days, I have poured boiling water for them at least six times a day. They appreciate it. Also, everyday, I harvest their eggs before they freeze. Read More |
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| Waste-not Waste January 17, 2011 | |
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Waste-not Waste January 17, 2011  Toesy eyes the delicacies to be found outside the Hen House! Greetings Friends of the Farm,
I
just hate letting waste go to waste. They say that Americans throw out
one-third of the food they buy. I reckon it's a matter of pride.
Apparently, since the food is so cheap -- we spend a mere ten per cent
of our income on it -- there's no reason to make the most of any
leftovers. Few people have a pot of soup simmering on the stove to which
to add gnawed-upon bones or the head of broccoli that went limp for
lack of interest....Read More |
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| Farm Lunch December 29, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
I’m big on lunch. Not so much on breakfast however. I used to be big on breakfast -- my favorite meal -- but I soon realized that being big on breakfast made me bigger than I wanted to be. It was because of the biscuits. Read More |
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| December 20, 2010 Old Folks Farming | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Larry accumulated 63 years of life recently. He remarked, at the end of the day, “Maybe I feel kind of old now.” This brought a tinge of anxiety to my heart. I wouldn’t mind feeling “older,” for a minute or two; indeed I am older than he by three and a half years, but I generally don’t feel “old.” Yet. Read More |
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| Sugar Sand December 6, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
For years, I have implored Larry to plant my favorite carrots, “Sugar Snax”, at the Gause farm. He resisted, of course, choosing shorter carrots which the chefs love, as he is a Man of His Own Mind. (And that’s one reason I admire him.) Read More |
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| Rights and Privileges November 30, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Thanksgiving Day....The pet hens didn't know that it was a "special day." They just wanted out. As in OUT. Selfish louts (it's ALL about THEM!) Since TDay is one of this farm's two vacation days, Larry and I "slept in" until 7 AM. Or, rather, we lay awake until then. When you are used to getting up an hour or two earlier, your body doesn't register "holiday." We might as well have been chickens, but we forced ourselves to stay prone just so we could experience human "loutness.' Read More |
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| A Karmic Bite November 9, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
I
get a lot of chicken questions. A frequent one is the "poTENtial" for
another family pet to get jealous and decide to oust the feathered pets
in unspeakable ways....the most unspeakable being the delivery of Henny
Penny (oh so sweet and adorable) to the back door, as an offering to the
humans. A dead Henny Penny of course....for hens don't tolerate the
procurement and delivery system very well.Read More |
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| A Dinner in Time November 2, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, This Sunday, we are hosting a dinner celebrating historic preservation in Austin. The beneficiary is Inherit Austin, a sub group (of the younger members) of the Heritage Society of Austin, an organization that champions the protection of historic structures in our city. Since Sunday is the day we go back to real time, historic time -- thus it will get dark earlier -- the organizers will install a tent near the field and trick it out with twinkly lights, and candle-lit tables. (Nope, it won't be this big!! This was the Outstanding in the Field dinners in early October....)
Read More |
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| Of Window Fingers and Candy Toes October 19, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, A long time ago, when I was a painter, I spent my days either sitting in front of an easel or standing in front of it. My style of painting focused on detail. The oil pigments were laid upon the canvas with tiny brushes gripped securely in my fingers. It was a focused inactivity which required the correction of maniacally active weekends in the garden --digging holes usually -- or working on our 1920’s house.....Following such physical exertion, my back was often in torment. This was a sporadic condition that earned a simple name: “The Back.” Read More |
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| A Hen in the Kitchen September 6, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Larry
is a very tolerant man. Easy going. Kind and patient. He grew up in the
Gause community, and helped his parents on the farm, with building
barns and fences, and with their forty-acre attempts at tomato and
watermelon growing. The crops did well -- like Larry, his Dad possesses
the green thumb -- but the selling of such large amounts of a single
type of produce depended on geography and timing more than on nutrition,
taste or agricultural expertise. The same crops came out of the Rio
Grande Valley much sooner in the season than those of Central Texas, and
with the inundation of Valley melons and tomatoes, the market was
saturated. It didn’t pay to even harvest the Butler crops. Read More |
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| A Conjugal Visit August 23, 2010 | |
 For your information, no need to tag this News with an “advisory warning” as “conjugal” simply means “yoked together.” Greetings Friends of the Farm, Sorry to disappoint you. Additionally, the yoke, the “jugum” of old Latin (16th century) is not your concentration-camp salmonella-ridden egg yolk. It is the wooden harness that oxen wore, to facilitate the pulling of a wagon or plow. Today, you could say that the tiller, bush hog or plow is “yoked” to the tractor via the 3-point hookup system that emerges from the back of the tractor.... Like they say, “whatever.” Over the weekend, Larry was confined to the Gause farm, as the truck, like every single other machine or implement we possess, yoked or not, has broken down this year. Maybe we should trade them in for oxen. Nope, won’t do that unless somehow we fall under a Cuban-style embargo. Read More |
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| The Late Tootie J. Tootums August 9, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, She died in bed. It’s what many of us wish for...to lie down, when it’s our time, in our own bed -- our own spot on the perch -- and pass on to whatever lies beyond. Of course, unlike a human, she had to hold on to the wooden perch with all her toes, or fall off, and in the end, sadly, she did fall off. Read More |
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| Rusty Roo’s Escapade August 2, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I knew something was not quite right. I’d just ladled out hen scratch in a pan, and directly on the ground, so the, ahem, hens could “scratch” it. Usually Rusty Roo is the first to observe that I am doing my job, and tells the hens, who of course already know that I am putting out the feed. Indeed they are already eating it. Read More |
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| The Next Stage July 26, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, They had to go. Another, smaller crop of zinnias is growing well, and soon they will provide color. It is clear that the “old” zinnias should have been removed weeks ago -- The evidence is the presence of baby plants, sown by their parents’ blooms, volunteering hopefully (but foolishly, as they are in the wrong place -- the same bed) to replace their elders. Read More |
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| Laughter in the Night July 12, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Larry awoke at 2:30 AM Friday night. Of course, since he did, so did I. He got dressed somewhat and remarked that he thought he saw a light outside and was going to investigate. Because of our recent history of enticing criminals to “shop” our farm at night, he took his rat shot with him, and the flashlight. Light to find light.... Read More |
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| Fig Flowers July 5, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, The “inner Eve” in most
of
us ladies is poised to kick into overdrive. Not that we all will be
attired in the latest fig leaf designs, but that we will (almost) lust
for the “forbidden fruit.”
From circumstantial evidence gathered on market days at the farm stand, after strawberries, the fig is the most desired fruit amongst women. Throughout the year, women ask, “Is that a fig tree?” In reaction to the affirmative answer, they then ask, almost trembling, “When will we have figs?” Their Adams, sensing a potential money drain, then ask if we sell fig cuttings. Read More |
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| Toesy’s Tale June 28, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, The hens go to great lengths to make eggs for the farm stand market. In the summer, I think they actually suffer to do it. It may be only 98 degrees outside right now, but in the nest boxes, the temperature must be well over 110 degrees. Some of that increase, however, is “body heat.” At least seven hens are doubling, even tripling up in just a few nests, as if they are so desperate to have chicks that they’ll share the mothering. Dedicated to their mission, they are generating a lot of heat. But Toesy is not one of those mommy-wannabees. Read More |
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| A Cost Factor June 20, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, It was the Bermuda grass, again. I wanted to reclaim an old French sorrel bed, that one next to the wild fennel, which I keep for the black/yellow swallowtail butterfly. Flanked by giant pecan trees to the immediate west side, the little space of land would be perfect for more blackberries. But first I needed to discourage the Bermuda grass, which had ended the sorrel’s reign, as well as add some good organic matter to the soil. Read More |
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| Friendly Foe June 15, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
I made two mistakes Saturday night. I didn’t wear my mud boots (opting instead for useless “spa shoes” with ankle socks) and I didn’t bring my egg basket. Normally I would have done both. In retrospect, the third mistake I made was to not carry a stick. I didn’t think I would need any of these things -- especially the stick -- but on the farm, and especially in the Hen House, one must be prepared for anything. Read More |
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| Deserving Eggplant June 1, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, In our first year of farming at our city farm, we grew a lot of eggplant. It was an extraordinarily successful crop. Oddly, Cousin Claire and Larry soon disliked it. Read More |
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| A New Mug May 24, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, It would have been better to have stayed in bed. In the wee hours when Rusty Roo the Rooster doesn't yet think it important to crow, Larry and I knew neither of us could sleep. So we discussed the coming day. It was farm talking at its best: no phone ringing, no workers to manage, quietness all around (except for the atmospheric electronic buzzing that seems omnipresent, and today, oddly predictive), and both of us lying comfortably prone. We would have enjoyed it but we knew we'd pay for it later. Read More |
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| Rules to Farm By May 18, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, “I suggest you try growing tomatoes (or any crop, for that matter) without rotation. Nothing is as stifling to success in agriculture as inflexible adherence to someone else’s rules.” Eliot Coleman, author of The New Organic Grower. Quoted in “Growing for Market, “May, 2010. Who sits around the dinner table making up “rules”? My intern inquired whether or not we follow the rule of rotating all the crops each year so that no member of a plant family is grown where another family member resided the previous year. Read More |
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| Burial Details May 11, 2010 | |
 Taste Advisory (possibly disturbing image) below.... Greetings Friends of the Farm, We haven’t had rain in several weeks, and the heat seems permanent. We are now back in irrigation mode, installing drip tape -- much of it old -- fixing leaks as we go, and replacing dripping faucets, made ornery by the past winter’s very cold weather. Read More |
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| A Snip Here and There April 25, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, What an idyllic morning....fresh sunlight sifting through the fig and crepe myrtle trees, dappling the lawn, highlighting the snapdragons in the field, and the larkspurs purple and white. And near the back porch the David Austin “Heritage” roses, issue fragrance aromatically pink. Such a great spring for flowers of all kinds. Read More |
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| Secret Nests of the Spotty Dotties April 20, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, The “last straw” was the cackling that came from the attic in the barn. I looked high into the rafters and saw a high-society Spotty Dottie walking a beam -- with perfect fashion-model composure -- singing her song in celebration of an egg well laid. In total privacy. And how many other eggs resided in the secret nest on high? Read More |
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| Urban Farms on Tour April 6, 2010 | |
 (Jeffrey's Kate McClung visits with tour-ists on tour day) Greetings Friends of the Farm, We’ve always longed to “time-travel,” for even five minutes, back to the 1840’s, to be on this farm and see what it was, how it worked ... the lay of the land, the hill to the north that harbored the cold, flowing Oak Spring that fed into the meandering Boggy Creek, the outdoor kitchen, the long front porch, the hog pens, the cattle, the fields of grains and cotton, the women in long skirts, the Africans working in the field. Where were their cabins? What about the picket fence that surrounded the farmstead to protect all the people and the animals from threats? Is our current in-the-house kitchen the former back work porch or was it a real dining room? Read More |
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| Giveth and Taketh March 22, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away”....I remember that sentence -- perhaps paraphrased -- from childhood. I'm not a Bible scholar by any means, and I usually forget my sources, even for something that strikes me as a "truism," so maybe it is from the Bible and maybe it is not. I’ll find out when I’m really old, in case I read the Bible again, as Little Dove hopes. |
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| The End of Summer, March 15, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, We all grow old, IF we are
fortunate. I, like many folks, would not go back to my youth, unless I
could carry back what I’ve learned. Alas, however, reversing life is
impossible, so we might as well celebrate the years that determinedly go
by, and find pleasure and peace in it all playing itself out..... Larry finds new comedy in the perhaps worn-phrase, “Life is like toilet paper; the nearer the roll is to the end, the faster it goes.” Read More |
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| The Open Door February 22, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm,
Strangely, the wind blew open the door to the Hen House this morning. Leaving the door open (duh!) Don Lupe came out to the back field, where I was organizing drip tape, to give me this news. Since he limps, and since I was almost 200 feet away, the trip took a long time....Gads, 120 hens plus Rusty Roo, twins Harry and Hank (the roosters), all out, eating the farm, UP! Since the Hen House interior duplex door is now open and the two populations (Matrons and Young Hens) can access both sides plus the large run, the potential was that they’d ALL be outside! Read More |
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| A Downscaled Dinner February 14, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, A few years ago, a fellow emailed me that he and a group of friends wanted to "reserve" our annual dinner, one of twenty or so that take place around Austin every February to benefit Project Transitions/Aids Services of Austin. I had the feeling that this man was a sophisticated sort and I felt obligated to warn him, that while many of the dinners are held in upscale homes -- where guests are treated to very clean floors, nice linens, enough water glasses (so that water wouldn't have to be on demand, like in a drought), toilets that flush right, and all the other physical accoutrements connected to a fine meal -- this would be a bit different. Read More |
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| A Talisman Made of Mud February 4, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I've kept a "ball" of mud for over ten years. A rather odd talisman, but I think it has brought a bit of luck, as well as educational moments.... That day, in the last century, I casually asked Larry, during a slow moment in the course of the farm stand market, if he thought the soil was too wet to work. It was a winter of cold, and steady moist dreariness, much like we are currently experiencing. Of course, like now, we rejoiced in the background, thinking of rain water percolating down through the soil to replenish the aquifer, upon which depended our well, upon which depended our crops. Upon which depended everything. Read More |
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| The Monday Route January 25, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Monday morning, Larry woke with an earnest complaint. “Why can’t we have an automatic coffee maker, like most normal people do?” While we are not exactly in the "normal" camp, we do drink coffee, and I admit neither of our two coffee “machines” can be programmed the night before, to come on by itself and brew perfect cups of coffee for our morning rituals. Read More |
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| January 18, 2010 The Eve of Egg Season | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, It was just a test run I suppose. Tootie J. Tootums, selfless step-aunt of the pullets, has demurred for two months to come out and work with us in the field, where it is her job to sift through any cultivated bed to find the worms and consume them. She has preferred to stay with a higher calling: her nieces, and nephews. Read More |
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| Sweet Harvest January 11, 2010 | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, At eleven this morning, after several phone calls to discuss the situation, the Marias and Andrea arrived and began harvesting. Denied work for the last few days, they were eager to be busy. But first the farm had to thaw out. After the last few days of temps ranging between 10 and 19, there was a lot of thawing to do. Read More |
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| December 22, 2009 Tippy Toes | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, The problem with dressing up and going someplace in a civilized fashion is this. The minute I step out onto the back porch in my “nice attire” and tango-dancing shoes, there in front of me is Harriet, the Black Australorp grown-up grand daughter of the dearly departed Mrs. Bentley (adoptive mom of the Nine Harriets, in the farm book, Stories from the Hen House.) Harriet has recently found a secret exit out of the hen run and daily enjoys herself in a conspicuous manner outside, with the other hens and Rusty Roo the Rooster watching enviously and disapprovingly. Read More |
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| Winter Drops In | |
 December 8, 2009 Winter Drops In Greetings Friends of the Farm, The pecan trees dropped most of their leaves during market on Saturday. The extreme cold (20 degrees) loosened their grip on twigs. Down they floated on the chilly air, carpeting the pathways and all the area around the farm house. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them fall so suddenly, so fast, without the slightest breeze. It was as if they finally, softly, in enormous unison, realized that they’d had enough. Enough of the terrible drought and heat of the past summer. It was enough even to make the pecan crop a very small one, as if the trees thought, oh yeah, it’s a “pecan year,” but then they immediately reconsidered bringing too many potential saplings into this crazy climate. And with fall leaves finally on the soil, it is now winter. Read More |
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| November 30, 2009 A Mouse-trap Moment | |
 November 30, 2009 A Mouse-trap Moment Greetings Friends of the Farm,
All through the morning Saturday, I thought about the dilemma of Boss Chick and her/his Babes. Leave them here, in the kitchen for 24 hours, or take them with us? They’d spent a lot of time outside in their little fenced run, soaking up the sun, and being entertained by Saturday’s children, and in contrast, they’d certainly be bored in the house, without even us, the giants, around. But we had to go to the Gause farm, to check on the greenhouse and feed the fat cats. Read More |
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| Beets Can’t Be Beat | |
Beets Can’t Be Beat Greetings Friends of the Farm, At some point, the hot season has to end. "Typically," if such a word has any meaning at all, the seasonal change point is late October. That's when chills deaden any further desire on the parts of eggplant, tomatoes, and okra. In a typical year that is. Read More |
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| November 16, 2009 Leftovers, Birds & Animals | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, If only we had left a bit earlier. Sunday afternoon, we were fixing to leave the farm and head over to some art studios to be voyeurs at the annual East Austin Studio Tour, when a lady and her small daughter walked up. The mom cuddled a baby Leghorn chick -- likely a week old -- that she had found on the side of the road a few days ago, and since they have three dogs, and since the daughter had almost stepped on the infant a couple of times, mom thought they should offer her (or him) to us, as we have chickens. Read More |
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| November 9, 2009 "Bedtime Song" | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Thirty-eight trips, from the Big Cage in the barn to the perches in the Hen House. I thought I would be able to rely on the glow of the waning full moon to see my way, but it was absent. Instead, I turned on the barn light. It's always best to mess with chickens in darkness, so I unscrewed one of the two lights. But to avoid falls and wire pokes, it's best to have some light. |
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| November 3, 2009 "An Enthusiasm for the Day" | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, So much going on. Fall, wearing spring’s attire, stays with us still. Thank goodness, as the last thing we want right now is a freeze....Everything is just too good! And after the horrid summer, we love this “correction!” Read More |
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| October 20, 2009 "Making Beds" | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, Sunday mornings we strip the sheets off the bed, and before settling down for breakfast and the newspaper, I’ve put the bed clothes and bath towels in the washing machine. After the dishes are done, the “linens” hit the outdoor clothes line to soak up some vitamin D and purification, courtesy of the morning sun. Read More |
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| October 12, 2009 "Early Sowing" | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I called the Marias early this morning, before 6 AM, to advise them that Don Lupe -- their husband and father -- our main transplanter, should not come to work today. Yesterday’s rains have perpetuated the sogginess that sent him home on the bus Friday. As of Monday, nothing in the fields has changed. The sun does not shine, nor do the winds blow, so the moisture level is still at ... boggy. Read More |
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| September 22, 2009 "Adelaide and the Patients" | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, I don’t really think of myself as a nurse. In the spirit of hospice, I’m more like an end of life caretaker, one who helps the patient, the beloved, leave this world in a dignified, peaceful way. Read More |
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| September 14, 2009 "Kitchen Chicks" | |
 f the FarmFour days have passed without a death. Well, I take it back, one chick arrived as a "chick rug" -- pale yellow with a few black spots. She wasn't meant to live I guess. Some of us aren't. In transit, in the box with air holes on the side, she lay down for a moment, probably not feeling quite right, and never got up. The other chicks, infants all, just didn't realize that they shouldn't step on her. But they did, and her tiny frame was flattened beyond recovery. I buried her under the big oak tree. Read More |
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| September 7, 2009 �Nature (whoever she is)� | |
 Greetings Friends of the Farm, ��� Nature (whoever she is) has her own ideas. In theory we try to act in sympathy to those ideas but usually we push back a little. I guess we can�t help our meddling, but we always think we are justified.... Read More |
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| Eulogy for Aunt Penny, February 2002-September 22, 2008 | |
Aunt Penny, as she was known to the Friends of the Farm, died peacefully, at the age of six and one-half years old, 1 PM, Monday, September 22, 2008, at her home, the Hen House at Boggy Creek Farm, in Austin Texas. She is survived by her subordinates, Tootie J. Tootums and Hoppy J.Tootums, her nieces the twin Patty Wyandottes, and her servants and companions, Carol Ann, Larry, Cousin Claire, Andrea, and The Marias. She is predeceased by her mentor, Mrs. Elvira Bentley, who passed away in 2004. Read More |
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| "Rainy Day Guests" May 28, 2007 | |
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May 28, 2007 Rainy Day Guests Greetings Friends of the Farm, The Marias -- their shirts and everything else dripping wet -- looked more pitiful than professional harvesters typically do, as they sloshed through the front yard, on their way from the front field to the salad shed. Each carried a basket full of haricot verts, equally wet and muddy, which they had picked in the second downpour of the day. They looked at me, puzzled to see my water hose spraying a strong stream of water against plastic vegetable bins. Didn't the "seńo" realize that it was raining? Read More |
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| "High Anxiety" April 9, 2007 | |
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April 9, 2007 High Anxiety Greetings Friends of the Farm, Sunday, Larry said he was bored. "Bored." Like a "lifer" in the army who craves the adrenaline of war duty and goes back for repeated "tours," as he can't handle the daily grind of home life. But here on the Austin farm, which is purportedly home, how could he be bored in the midst of the weekend's weather-related "high anxiety?" ?" Wow, I thought, I definitely am NOT bored -- more like petrified... Read More |
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| "A Chip in a Fuzzy Ear" - February 13, 2006 | |
 Above: Aunt Penny wants to be reclassified as a "PET" -- not as "livestock!" February 13, 2006 A Chip in a Fuzzy Ear Greetings Friends of the Farm, When word reached Aunt Penny and Tootie about the proposed National Animal Identification System, they were mighty confused. First of all, the rhetoric spoke of "mad cow" disease. This id system would be yet another means of tracking any cow so infected. Well, that sounds good, but the hens don't know what a "cow" is; never have they seen one. Oh, they know opossoms, raccoons, hawks, cats and dogs, and they are appropriately fearful of all of these animals, but a cow? What does a cow have to do with them? Read More |
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| "The Way It Goes" (NAIS) March 6, 2006 | |
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March 6, 2006 The Way It Goes Greetings Citizens, You can be optimistic all you want, but then you realize that sometimes, that's the way it goes.... Aunt Penny, a fan of democracy (with herself in control of the Hen House of course) has announced that if early efforts aren't enough to stop this NAIS thing, she's ready to take the tractor to town and cackle her way up Congress Avenue to rally her fans. Tootie, however, having just produced the most magnificent egg in a little thrown-together nest under Uncle Mac's antique wheelbarrow, interrupted, squawking that SHE wants to drive the tractor. Auntie pecked her on the head and said "You haven't even been ON the tractor, much less do you possess the ability to drive it!" Read More |
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| "Smokin'" June 27, 2005 | |
 June 27, 2005 Smokin' Greetings Friends of the Farm, |
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| "August, First " August 4, 2003 | |
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August 4, 2003 August, First Greetings Friends of the Farm, Before sunrise, Tubby J. Tupelo, the black farm cat, skinny from the heat, comes in for his morning treat: a cracked egg or a bit of milk. Then it's out to find a cool spot in which to recline, as the heat has already arrived, earlier than the helpers, and it doesn't slack off until way after they leave. Read More |
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| "A Peloton of Hens" July 11, 2005 | |
 July 11, 2005 A Peloton of Hens Greetings Friends of the Farm, From France, my sister-in-law Joyce reports that she saw the Tour de France in person. Her vision of it lasted only forty-five seconds, an exciting blur. Well, I feel rather wimpy, retreating to the coolness of the now air-conditioned farm house, rather than continuing to trudge around outside, sweating. Why, not only do I have the Big Air on, I also have a fan pointed at me. It's almost sinful. Read More |
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| "A 'Mean' Year" July 18, 2005 | |
 July 18, 2005 A 'Mean' Year Greetings Friends of the Farm, |
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