| "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 "seño" 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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