The Scent of Spring

I wish I could somehow post smells here to capture what I experience in my garden. It is a delight to walk out of the house on to the porch or to open the car door upon arriving home. In the evenings and early mornings especialy there is such a fresh sweet smell all around.

 

The rose bushes are all in full bloom, lining the driveway. As we drive along when the sunroof is open, the tall ones brush the car and petals fall in!

Honeysuckle covers the gate, curling and flowing everywhere, floating in the breeze.

Oxalis lines the side of the house with a slight but sweet scent.

Towering above everything else are the Chinaberry trees. They came up in the back yard along the fence years ago out of nowhere. Last year they bloomed for the first time. They have they most amazing fragrance. This is one I'd love to bottle!

All of this and it's just the end of April. I still have the Four-'O-Clocks, Moonflowers and Magnolias to look forward to!

Not In My Yard

I received the story below in an email a few years ago and came across it again today. I saved it because it speaks such truth about the state of much of our Earth. In honor of Earth Day coming up, I thought it would be a good time to re-circulate it. I am proud to say that God would like things in my yard.

GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast.. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it -- sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough. I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It's a real stupid movie about ....
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

A Perfect Week Off

The end of Spring Break has nearly come, one day left. It has really been a great week. I packed Claire off to spend the week with her father. They spent a few days in Bloomington, IL with family at his father's memorial service - heartfelt sympathies to all. Then they drove across Indiana and Ohio and into Pennsylvania where Dad lives. Friday and Saturday they were in NYC - this part made me jealous!

I enjoyed plenty of time catching up with friends and family. Catching up way into the night with Gina; knitting and spinning at Heritage Farmstead with Laurie; Easter brunch with a group of friends; Easter dinner with family; a lovely afternoon with my cousins visiting from Nantucket; an evening with the "Chicken Whisperer" at the feed store in Waxahachie (yes); a small party with friends; White Rock Market (got some fresh baked bread); DFW Fiber Fest and the Main Street Arts Festival in Fort Worth with Janet. I love all the events of Springtime!

In between outings, the quiet and solitude of my time off has been renewing. I spent much of it outside in the garden. I went through all the old seed packets and seeds harvested from things I've grown. Some of them are 5 or 6 years old, but many are from last year. I planted: Birdhouse Gourd, Hyacinth Bean Vine, mixed squash (called "Summer of Squash"), loads of Morning Glories (I don't ever need to buy packets of these any more, they make so many seeds on their own), Alyssum, Comos, Zinnias, Sunflowers, corn, peas, basil and some cotton seeds (I believe they are from a trip out to west TX a few years ago, from the side of the road.

Then there was the battle of the Honeysuckle! It is so beautiful in the right places, but it is a choking vine. It had overtaken my rose garden. It was quite a job to get rid of it, let me tell you! I yanked and pulled and chopped until finally I think I got most of it. It forms giant matted roots that spread everywhere. No doubt there is still some lurking below the ground that will come back. But I'll be ready! 

On the left is actually Rosenary, not a Honeysuckle bush. On the right are the roses, free at last.

The vegetable garden is sprouting and growing; I am even harvesting some. I have wonderful young lettuce and spinach and yummy sweet peas.

 

Later in the season there will be aubergines (of course), tomatoes, canteloupes, black beans, strawberries, potatoes and far less time spent in the grocery store! 

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STAGING:

Three French Hens Again

Welcome Coco! She is a Black Rose Comb Bantam about 10 weeks old who will lay small white eggs. We made another trip today to Bageniece Farms planning to get another Buff Orpington but the only one we saw that wasn't full grown didn't take kindly to being held. Coco is little enough for Claire to cuddle and love. We saw some little month old Buff Orpington chicks that we will visit again when they are bigger. One of them may come home with us in April. Once home, Coco was introduced to the hen house while the others went out exploring, but is spending the night and tomorrow in the pet carrier until we can supervise all three together.

Coco explores the recently installed nesting barrel. This is an actual barrel from Crate and Barrel from their remodeling sale years ago. Does anyone else remember when they actually sold everything out of crates and barrels? Now the chickens have a crate and a barrel!

Chicken Antics

We've started letting the chickens out of their house to explore the backyard in the evenings shortly before dusk. They have been enjoying their outings, gradually venturing further from homebase. They seem to appreciate last fall's leaves still on the ground. There is a veritable chicken buffet hidden under there. I wish they could spend all their time outside; they really love it, but it seems too risky to leave them out when we are away. So until we work out an enclosure attached to the hen house they will have to manage with supervised excursions. We must be ever on the lookout for vicious predators like this one trying to escape.

Tonight they discovered a pile of sand. After much scratching and pecking, Celine sat down and began fluffing her feathers and rolling in the sand. Sylvie stood watching for a bit, then joined in. They rolled side to side, under each others wings, flapped and fluffed and cooed. They looked so content; they seemed to be settling in to sleep. I suppose this was a bath. Someone who has chickens will explain this to me, right?

 

A near miss and a sad ending

The weather the past week has been lovely, warm and sunny. A cold front was expected for early Saturday. I had heard that it would stay in the upper 40's Friday night so I tucked the chickens in with no worries. Saturday morning I went out check on them. I found little Colette in a limp and weak bundle of feathers. The temperature had gotten lower than expected. I scooped her up and brought her inside.

I had asked Dan who sold them to us about what to do in cold weather. I remembered he mentioned the hair dryer so I gave the little chicken a blow dry to warm her up while thinking of the next step. I dashed back outside to get the clip light from the hen house, found a 150 watt bulb and set up a chicken infirmary in our cooler in the bathroom.  At this point I called Dan to seek further advice. He said I should get a thermometer and make sure it was around 85 degrees. The first thermometer I thought of was in the fridge, but it only goes up to 60 degrees. I remembered the thermometer on the front porch, got it and put it in the cooler. The bathroom was quite warm with the gas wall heater and the cooler is insulating. The temperauture went up and Colette soon started to peep and ruffle her feathers. I was thankful for saving her from a close call.

Crisis seemingly averted, I had to leave to go pick up Claire from a friend's house where she had spent the night. I checked on Sylvie and Celine again before leaving and they were fine in the hen house. The whole time I was gone I fretted over leaving and visualized over and over a safe and warm chicken. When we got home, we cautiously entered the bathroom. All was well. We had a peeping, happy chicken.

It was beginning to snow and the wind was strong. I thought it best at this point to bring the other two inside as well. They are bigger than Colette but still not fully grown. With the addition to the bathroom of two larger chickens, I was worried about the open flame of the wall heater so I turned it off. Colette appearing fully recovered by this time, I turned the cooler on it's side to make a cozy bed. We spent quite a long time siting in there enjoying our feathered friends.  We finally decided we could leave them so we could eat dinner and do other things. All three were walking around, making noises, looking perfectly normal.

A few hours later, Claire went into the bathroom to find a lifeless Colette on the floor. I am so sorry that she was the one to make the discovery. I had been glad that she had not experienced the morning's adventures. I hooked up the heat lamp again, but this time it was too late. Our little Colette could not be revived. The thermometer in the bathroom read 65 degrees which I thought was okay since she had been outside this past week in the low 50's. I guess she was not as strong after what she had been through earlier. I have a small electric heater which I could have turned on in there or I could have left the heat lamp on longer. We could have checked on her sooner. So many things have been going through my mind. It is very sad.

This little bird had such an endearing personality. She came running to the hen house door when we came to visit. She came to us eagerly wanting to be held and petted. Being quite young, she still peeped constantly and made sweet little cooing noises. We became quite attached in a short amount of time, Claire especially.

Colette will be missed.