Mom's Birthday Butterflies

This chrysalis all but opened on my Mom's 79th Birthday, she LOVES butterflies.... especially Monarchs, so I'm calling it her's ! It did open and fly away the next day. Next year I'd like to get some pictures of one as it's emerging from the gold speckled cellophane envelope. I'm still seeing lots of Monarchs, and still reading Four Wings and a Prayer. It's getting a little tedious and disappointing to keep reading how petty some of the early researchers were about sharing their information with other researchers, both citizen and degree-ed scientists. More writing about the natural history and migration of the insect would be welcome. But I guess this way I'm getting the whole picture on how the information that we do have came about...so I'll quit gripping !

Summer's End

Wow...here it is already...the last full day of this Summer.
I walked down our gravel road towards the setting sun late yesterday afternoon and found myself in a sea of airborne plankton...winged motes of life, swimming, floating, wind-driven...lending dimensionality to the invisible. Threads of cast spider webs, yards long, caught the light twisting and turning, spinning in the currents. All constant motion, lit from behind by the gold of the sun.
Earlier in the day a Monarch butterfly hatched out of its chrysalis in the hen house. I missed its departure, but didnt see it in the hen house, so I'm thinking that it got out and into the world to start its journey South. I'm reading Four Wings and a Prayer, by Sue Halpern, about one woman's experience with Monarchs, and now I would like to tag some butterflies next Summer....hopefully in our yard. tiny little stickers you adhere to a hind wing...amazing. I've seen more Monarchs than ever before this year, which is odd....Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy reported a very low year for that species. I see them EVERYWHERE...not in big numbers, but everywhere I go...even parking lots and highways. Maybe I'm just suddenly attuned to seeing them, like when someone you know gets a new car, and suddenly you notice just how many of that kind are on the road !

Deep Hot Summer Day

Wow. What a day. I was out in the yard, watering, weeding, and just hanging with the plants at 6:45am. Spent a nice, solid 3 hours engrossed in everything Plant. Did a light cleaning of the hen house too, and realized that I could add the poopy straw to the Very Neglected Compost Heap. So the heap itself became a mini-project...hmmm...need to weed around it, straighten up the end panels...ok, so layer the goodies on with helpings from the rotting mass of veggie scraps, weeds, and Willow Oak leaves from last fall that havent really broken down much. Water it from the hose to get it all nice and damp for the microbes and macro-life to multiply and work their composting magic. Ah, I love a good heap.
The chickens got weeds and over-ripe tomatoes to nibble on. Wish I could let them run free, but they would not last a day. They've got a pretty large fenced area to roam around ina nd I try and supply interesting things for them to peck and scratch at. The 5 hens are 7 years old now and seem content to just stroll around their fenced areas and take siestas in the shade when the sun is hot. We are getting from 0-3 eggs a day at the moment.
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Picked a bunch of Hillbilly tomatoes, a few Brandy Boys and a Mortgage Lifter. The Hillbillies are really a gorgeous tomato...brilliant streaky sunsets within. The San Marzanos look like they might be a bust...many are getting the dreaded Blossom End Rot. The first Mr. Stripey might get picked this weekend. Oh, and some extra sweet Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. The Swiss Chard plant is still doing great...I'm still picking 4-5 big leaves off of it every ten days or so. picked up a neighbor's CSA for her, since she and her family went out of town. Got to pick out peppers, tomatoes ( ! ), cucumbers, eggplant, squash, chard, peaches, and a cute little yellow rind watermelon that I dropped off at their house for them to enjoy when they get back.


It is J's Bday today. 54! For the dinner I made tacos, complete with the fried corn tortillas , guacamole, salsa and other goodies. also made a fabulous vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake...really yummy, and the cake part of it was perfect...I'll have to remember that recipe ...from vegcooking.com. Oh, and we ate the cake with a scoop of coconut ice cream ( vegan of course ! ).
Listened to a heartbreaking podcast on Compassionate Cooks....about motherhood and maternal instincts. I cried out of pure sadness and pure frustration for the animals and for the willful blindness that perpetuates all of the unnecessary suffering imposed on the creatures we enslave and then slaughter. How did we get this deep into such a nightmare ?

Sunflower Serendipity

Weeks and weeks ago i transplanted a 3" tall volunteer sunflower seedling from between stones on the Stone Patio to the Kitchen Garden, about ten feet away. It has since thrived and shot up to over 6'. Four days ago I settled sunflower seeds into vermiculite-filled soy yogurt cups and gave them a good soak. This afternoon, the first flowerhead on the Volunteer is unfolding just as the Yogurt Cup guys are emerging. The YC sunflowers I started especially for my son and his fiance's September wedding...I'll try to communicate ( to the seedlings ) the importance of timing their blooming to the wedding date, and see what happens :>
I also started some Morning Glories a few weeks ago and now have those in the ground and in a big pot...they have really taken off in the last day, with the heat ( and extra water)...Heavenly Blue...wonderfully cool crisp , fraglie flowers. The unexpected pleasure of re-using the yogurt cups over and over ...tomatoes, Cardinal Climbers ( up to 9 feet today, but no blossoms yet ), MGs, Sunflowers... has been fun. They're the perfect size, and with little slits cut into their bottoms, they soak up water from tubs, and drain off nicely.
I've been seeing a few 2" long Praying Mantis' energetically skipping among the tomato plants...hope they're finding lots to eat ! I rescued a 3/4" brown one from the kitchen counter the other day ...not sure how he got there, but I was so happy to get him/her out the door undamaged.
I've put off posting this till the sunflower seedlings were big enought to show...and here they are ! The tall leafy vine in the Silk cup is one of the Morning Glories, still waiting to get planted. As you can see, there are several brands of soy yogurt available... Trader Joe's , Whole Soy, Stonyfield and Silk are represented here. Not seen is the Wildwood brand, which has the advantage of coming in the quart size, unsweetened and unflavored...very nice to have on hand for uses other than the morning's first bite ! Some grocery stores carry a few brands, some carry none...you do have to do your homework to stay staocked up as a vegan !

Summer Solstice Afternoon

What better way to end the longest day of the year than with a double rainbow ? Our next door neighbor alerted us to the gorgeous event unfolding outside our door, off to the south east. Too bad the rainbow doesnt offer any magical properties to the cows and calves on the farm, such as exemption from ending theirs lives as living , breathing beings and going to slaughter, but still...what a beautiful sight.

A June Wedding

On June 9th my amazing daughter and her wonderful man got married up at Cooper's Rock State Park. This is the rock that they got married on...it is not THE Cooper's Rock, but a fabulous rock nonetheless ! It's hard to tell how large it is without people around it, but I'd say from the ground to the level part by the ferns, where they took their vows, is a good 10 feet or so. The weather was perfect,this after thunderstorms and drenching rains moved in the evening before. The Bride and Groom wanted a casual ceremony with "a picnic in the woods" sort of theme, which suited them perfectly. I love how they did just what they wanted and didn't sweat all the silly details and expectations created by various religious notions or the very wasteful and profitable Wedding Industry. They've started their life together with care, honesty ....and a nice piece of land to build on !

Summer Solstice

Here it is, the longest day of 2007 already ! This is the view from our front yard, practically. It was taken at about 5:45 this morning. The light plays over it all day, a constantly changing show. The seasons work their magic, also...fog, snow, rain , even the amount of humidity in the air all create very different effects.

It overlooks a "calf and cow" farm...I think that's what it's called....pasture impregnated beef cows on these rolling hills, let them calve and keep the young ones with their mothers for a few months and then it's off to a " finishing" process for the young ones while their mothers stay , graze and grow wide with the next calf developing inside her. I read somewhere that that cycle goes on for 5 or 6 years for the mother cow and then she herself is sent off for slaughter. I can see how people have a hard time connecting the contented looking animals they see out in the sunny pastures, to the meat industry as a whole. They never see the fear, pain and suffering endured by the animals in transport to and at the industrial slaughterhouses that turn living, breathing sentient creatures into sanitized steaks, burgers , leather, dog food and so on.

This morning while walking with two friends ( and all of our dogs ) we walked by another such pasture, only this one was empty but for one very young calf all alone, not another cow or calf in sight in the acres and acres of fenced fields. He could not have been more than a few weeks old. He stared and stared at us, about 15 feet away, unsure what to do. WE weren't sure what to do...and as we moved off , he just hung his head and slowly wandered off, stumbling a bit. My heart about broke...he's given up already ? Where are the other cows, where's his mother ?! About that time a truck drove by that we flagged down and pointed out the calf. Luckily it was one of the men who work with the cows and he was going to take care of the situation. He said that they had moved them all to another pasture yesterday and this little guy must have gotten separated. I'm happy in one way...the little calf will be reunited with his mother and won't starve , he gets to live on to.... make it to the...slaughterhouse and become...just...another piece..of...meat. Oh.
While going vegan and taking oneself out of the meat-eating loop does make you feel good about not participating in an incredibly cruel and unnecessary industry, it doesn't lessen the heartache felt for the animals having to live their lives out as resources, commodities or entertainment. I think it actually heightens the emotion. Advocating for the animals, speaking up for them, is about the only thing that really lessens the pain and anger on this end, for me , anyway. Not that calling attention to the stranded calf was advocacy ( that was just common sense )...I mean leafleting and supporting vegan efforts to raise consciousness of the cruelty of animal agriculture.