The Great White Beast :: 10 months in

While I've been slacking in a most impressive way on the gardening front, I haven't been slacking in the puppy-raising front. I've been feeding her and watering her and thankfully she doesn't sprout weeds, so she's been thriving nicely, thank you very much.


Saffron's hind legs are still entirely too long for her body, but I'm confident that she'll grow into them before the end of the year. She doesn't trip over them nearly as much as she used to, but she still has trouble trying to figure out what to do with those lanky things when she's sitting.


She still eats everything in sight in the house and my day consists of saying "Aaat! Drop it!" about a thousand times an hour, especially since I have small boys and the floors are dotted with army men, legos and various small plastic guns that go with "guys" - apparently they are all delicious. And yes, she picks up every. single. thing.

Puppies really are more work than anyone can imagine. But thankfully most turn into dogs and as most dogs owners can tell you, dogs are generally fun to have around.

Saffie still has a very goofy side to her. She likes to do her Wilbur the Pig impression while laying on her back.




And when the boys start school next week I promised her I'd start a new trend of taking her for a walk every morning after school drop-off. Rommel may choose not to go. He enjoys a walk, but seems to enjoy his puppy-free moments a little more. Every moment the two are together looks like this.


The good news is they are just playing. The bad news is that Rommel often gets so irritated that he plays to win. So far it's been nothing a little Neosporin can't fix.

But as this is officially a gardening blog and not a puppy-raising blog, I am already planning the removal of the summer garden and the planting of the fall garden. I'll admit to being a little afraid of the overgrown summer garden. I fear I'll need to tie a rope to my waist before I go in… Wish me luck! I'm sure to need it.

Chickens and Sustainability - a Comic

Happy Weekend Everyone! My mother-in-law sent me this comic today and I just had to pass it on.

Another Angry Produce Rant

When I started our garden one of my goals was to be able rely less on the produce section of the grocery store. I think about this every week when I fill my cart with grocery store produce. I'm already feeling a bit defeated when I'm squeezing cucumbers and eyeballing carrots so it doesn't take much to drive me over the edge.

You may have read about my anger with banana stickers, bell pepper packaging and cereal, but now I have a couple more things to add to my produce rage.

Have you seen these plastic-wrapped potatoes in your grocery store?


They're right next to the regular ole' naked potatoes, but these have been shrink-wrapped with a label and plastic wrap and cost about twice as much as a regular potato. I always think no one buys these bizarre products, but as I was standing there allowing my 6-year-old to pick out 2 lbs of potatoes for a recipe and watching him painstakingly evaluate every potato in the rack, I saw people leaning over us and putting these plastic potatoes in their carts.

The allure is that you can put them right in the microwave!!! Can you believe it?? If only the naked potatoes right next to them could also be microwaved. Ohhhh wait. They can be. Maybe these ones in the plastic are pre-washed? Maybe that's the allure? And it's not just a potato - it's a PotatOH! There's a sweet potato and russet potato brand - both mention they're available in 5-7 minutes due to their awesome microwavability. Yes, really.

Next time I visit the grocery store I'm bringing a Post-It note with me to place on the regular potatoes that says


If this wasn't enough, I also bought some baby carrots, which are a staple around here. It wasn't until I got home and was ripping them open that I noticed the awesome little sticker on the package:

"PLANT YOUR OWN CROPS…"


Awesome! A carrot package encouraging us to garden! Wait a minute... Farmville. Really? So we're buying pre-packaged baby carrots and now we're learning that we can plant our own crops in Farmville. Cyber crops. Cyber carrots.

I need an intervention.

Or a more successful garden.

******

For anyone with a morbid curiosity, here's a link to the PotatOH! website so you can learn all about these amazing plastic potatOHs.

The Curious Case of the Siamese Chickens

When I went out to the chicken coop this morning with a big bowl of strawberry Greek yogurt, I expected my usual greeting from my three adoring hens. But instead, Clementine was the only one who shot out of the coop to greet me and go beak-first into the yogurt. Maggie and Sookie were AWOL.

As you may have read here before, although we have two nest boxes, only one is deemed worthy. So logic dictated that one chicken might be laying an egg, but that didn't explain two absences. And especially not after I sang my awesome "chiiiiiiiiick chick chick chick chick" song that always causes them to bust out of their coop with feathers flying.

Strange, for sure.

I decided to open up the nest box to see who was laying an egg.

I found this.


Two chicken butts in one nest.

And from the looks of it, both trying to lay an egg at the exact same time.

I decided to go around front to get a bird's eye view of this oddity.


Yup. That right there is two chickens in one nest both laying eggs at the same time. I guess when you've gotta go, you've gotta go.

Sookie looked irritated with the whole experience. She kept checking behind Maggie to see if she was finished.


The best part is that there is a vacant nest right next to them.


But chickens are fickle things. They rarely make sense, but that's why I like them.