Journal: -------------------------------------------Mood: The Usual Things have been quite busy the past couple weeks. Haven’t done too much writing – just a few fragments that I want to expand on at some point. My old Caravan is out of commission for the moment (severe front-end suspension problems), so we have to coordinate our use of the Buick in order to minimize miles on the van till it gets fixed. The weather’s been warm lately, and may get to 50 F today. We did get a few inches of snow the other day, but that disappeared over the next two days. Aside from the snowstorm it’s been very sunny. Most of the herbs came through the winter fine. The garlic is up and going great and the cats have already found the catnip. The marjoram seems to have died back, but I expected as much and had over wintered some. We also have yet to see the chives poking through their mulch – they should be okay though. We even had some chard pop up as the snow was disappearing a couple weeks ago. Being beet-greens, they will flower and die this summer. Till then, they should give us some nice greens – just in time for this year’s crop to get going. Yesterday a table was set up in our plant-room and the tomato seeds were started. In a couple weeks we’ll start some basil in pots (should be ready just in time for the farmer’s market), with a lot more to follow outside at the end of May. We also got a short-season melon, and I’d be interested in starting a couple plants in pots soon to try and get a jump-start on the season. Most everything else will be planted out in May when spring’s really here to stay. We got more free chickens a week ago. There were three standard barred Rock hens, two Ameraucana hens (they lay green/blue eggs), and a pair of blue Cochin hens. They also had a few Brahma roos that they wanted to get rid of. I took pity on a buff Brahma cockerel, and brought him home too. As he started maturing, he was harassed by their roo in the hen’s run. They then put him the pen with their other roosters, but it didn’t go well, so they turned him loose. My original thought was that we would give him and one of the barred Rock hens, along with the earlier Rhode Island Red roo and hen, to my mother when we visited this spring. After a few days of being cooped up in a cage, I decided to let him out with our hens and see what happened. There was immediately trouble – a 1-pound banty hen thoroughly put this 10-pound cockerel in his place! Then another did. Then the little Silky rooster got in a fight with him and won. Things settled down, so I let them be and when I returned in a little while, the new cockerel was cowering in a cat carrier, tail end out. Since then, the silky roo has put him in his place a couple more times, but largely ignored him. As much as I am loath to have to feed an extra mouth (and a big one at that!), it’s looking more and more like he’ll become a pet rooster. With the warm months coming up, he’ll mostly eat grass and bugs anyway. If he bothers the hens too much as he matures, I’m sure that we can always rehome him at my mother’s farm – along with a tithe of a hen or two, of course. ...Created 2006-04-09 15:40:42

Journal: Awaiting Spring -------------------------------------------Mood: The Usual It’s mid-March, and we’ve already had a few days over 40 degrees! A couple feet of snow has already disappeared, and if the temperature stays in the 30s for much longer the rest should be melted within a couple weeks. On the other hand, we did get a few inches yesterday, and anyone who’s been in the UP for very long at all knows not to get hopes of spring too high in March. A couple weeks ago, I was at the feed store buying scratch and noticed a posting for “free Rhode Island Reds – three hens and a rooster”. I called and asked if we could take the hens. Nope – they’re moving and it’s all or nothing. Now, a standard roo would be a dicey proposition in our coop. If we put him with the banty roos he may kill one or more of them. Put him with the banty hens and he’d injure them while doing what roosters are inclined to do. A solution came to my mind though, and I did what any American male would do – I called mother. She was more than happy to take in the rooster. So long as we included one of the hens. As it turns out, the new rooster is actually quite gentle, though there’s still a chance that one of the banty roos would instigate a dangerous fight, plus he eats several times as much as a banty. So, come April, when we head to my mother’s place to help shear alpaca, we’ll be bringing a pair of RIRs as gifts. That should free up the rabbit’s cage just in time for us to need to catch her (that is, before we plant our garden). In the mean time we’ll have plenty of eggs. Most of our banty hens, plus the three new ones seem to be laying. That amounts to about half a dozen eggs a day – and still a few months before the farmer’s market starts up. Needless to say, we’re eating a lot more eggs now! Fortunately, most of the banty eggs are only half-size. We got our apricot trees ordered (should be here early May). They’re varieties of a Manchurian species (“moongold” and “sungold”), and should grow well in our climate. I gave the old apple tree a dramatic pruning, removing most of three limbs. Next winter I’ll prune the remaining limbs, and the winter after one final major pruning to get the tree in shape. After that, it should be just a matter of a light pruning in winter to keep it from getting this bad again. By the time I got around to pruning, our quince whip was mostly buried in show, so I’ll have to wait till the end of winter to give it its first training-pruning. At our garden in the Sault, a couple of our herb beds have been exposed (they were planted in raised beds a couple feet up). The parsley made it through the winter, and till it blooms should start giving us green soon. Our pineapple mint also made it through, though it should take a little while till it gets any substantial growth to it. When we ordered the apricots, we decided to get some horseradish roots too. I honestly don’t know how marketable horseradish is at the farmer’s market, but it’s easy to grow and wasn’t that expensive. Oh – and the thyme in the Sault survived! Last winter it got too wet and died off, so we started a new bed here at the trailer. Meanwhile, the old bed in the Sault re-seeded itself and seems to be alive still. Well, that’s about it for now. We’ll be starting some of our veggies indoors soon, and shortly after it’ll be rush, rush, rush to get the gardens ready for them. -Frank ...Created 2006-03-15 15:58:19

Journal: Ramblings -------------------------------------------Mood: The Usual Previously, I had used the journal simply to explain my motivations for posting. For some unusual reason though, I feel like posting again though. It's been a cold week here in Lake Wo-- wait - that's not right. Let's start over. It's been a bitterly cold week near the shores of GitcheeGumi. We've been looking in teh nursery catalogs and imagining all the fruit we can just about grow here. This cold snap has been a bit of a reality check. Maybe the hardy varieties of Paw Paw trees will have to wait till we get more fruit trees planted that we know will produce. We have ordered our seeds though. We'll be adding a couple varieties of basil this year, as well as a few oriental beans, a couple new cukes, and a "Minnesota Miget", a short season melon. We've also ordered three varieties of strawberry. They may produce some this year, but should be going full bore for next year's farmer's market. We're going to order a couple apricot trees this year too, but for financial reasons will not be placing the order till March. I've been putting off pruning the old apple tree and the quince we planted last year. Fortunately, our peach trees won't need my attention till spring. It's also fortunate that we got a few feet of snow before the temperature plummeted - it'll really help insulate the peaches from this cold. Of course, all the above is just an expansion of what we already grow. I've hedged my bets with the marjoram by bringing in a cutting to plant out if the bed dies off. The other herbs should be just fine. Two of our banty hens have started laying - the polish, and (I think) one of the frizzled cochins. Our D'Uccle hen snapped one of her toenails yesterday and there was blood everywhere. I brought her in, cleaned it up, and this morning she seems no worse for it. I was able to pet the rabbit with two hands today. Probably could have grabbed her. I suppose the live-trap would be a better way to round her up, but lets be honest - I'm in no rush to start cleaning her cage again! Still, we can't have her sneaking around the place when we start planting in a few months. -Frank ...Created 2006-02-20 10:16:00

Journal: Hello -------------------------------------------Mood: The Usual Just a quick note explaining my presence at ES. A few years back I began making my poetry accessable to my circle of friends. I quickly discovered just how subjective poetry could be - some poems I thought were overly sentimental were considered my best, while some I thought quite clever were ignored altogether. The solution I found was to simply ask which poem a person liked best. I started asking telemarketers, then friends, and eventually on poetry boards. I fully understand that a person may have one preference one day and change ones mind the next, and also that when poems are too divergant (or too similar) the task is also difficult. Still, when I ask ten different people to compare a specific poem to others and they consistantly give me a positive (or negative) response, I can make some assumptions. As to my motivation, I plan on printing a volume this summer and am simply trying to get a grasp on what poems can stand on their own without excessive explaination by me. -Frank ...Created 2006-01-24 14:57:33

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