Chickens in the Garden
I’ve declared my hopes of getting a few chickens here before, and I may try to sneak them in someday. They’re currently outlawed by our HOA. We keep thinking about trying to get the rules changed, but haven’t taken the plunge yet. Generally our HOA rules aren’t enforces unless the neighbors complain, so I could probably get chickens without any trouble. Our neighbors are all very laid back about all the craziness that goes on here at Chiot’s Run.
Since I can’t have chickens yet, I decided to get this beauty at the farmer’s market. She also has a sister for sale at the market which I may buy soon. They’re not real chickens, but they sure are cute. Generally I’m not much of one for kitschy garden art, but I was drawn to these ladies. I love that they’re made by a local artisan. They won’t be producing any eggs for my kitchen, but they do make me smile whenever I see them. No doubt I’ll really be appreciating them in the winter when they’ll be happily standing outside my kitchen window even on the coldest snowiest days!
Do you have any garden art in your garden?
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Take a Closer Look
No doubt we all remember having a magnifying glass when we were kids and we used them to examine all sorts of things up close. I remember using mine to look at leaves. Leaves always fascinated me with their variety of shapes, the veins and the different colors. I often slowly peeled away the parts of the leaf until only the skeleton of the veins remained. The other morning I noticed this particular one stuck to my front porch step and was reminded of my fascination as a kid.
As I often do, I leaned in for a close look and noticed how the water droplets magnified the leaf making the intricate puzzle of it’s surface visible. I came inside and got my macro lens so I could take some photos as I thought you might enjoy them.
When you stop to notice things like this, it really brings the awesomeness of nature right before your eyes. Think about what a leaf does for a tree, then it drops in the fall and composts into the soil, it really is an amazing thing. As a religious person, I do not believe this is by chance or evolution and every time I take the time to notice these tiny intricate things I’m reminded of that.
What intricacies have you noticed in nature recently?
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What is She Doing?
I’m fairly certain my neighbors must think I’m crazy, especially this time of year. The other day I was in the front yard planting crocuses and miniature daffodils in the lawn. I decided that I wanted to make a river of blooms down through the middle of the lawn, with a few smaller patches radiating out to the side.
In order to avoid forgetting where I planted the bulbs and accidentally dig them up while planting more, I dug all the holes at once. It looked like I had lost my mind. My neighbor actually came over to see what I was doing, she said she was wondering if I was getting rid of more lawn.
I was thinking that in these situations I should come up with some crazy story to tell people when they ask (my neighbor wasn’t the only person to stop). I should have said I was trying to catch a gopher. Hopefully, when they drive by next spring they’ll remember this day and realize what I was doing.
Do ever think things your neighbors do are crazy? What about you, do you do things your neighbors might wonder about?
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Quote of the Day: Robyn Griggs Lawrence
The beauty in November is the assuredness with which it accepts its Novemberness. Pale, low light is kind to dried beige stalks and barren fields. The earth breathes with a sense of quiet, signaling the time is right to go within. After all that manic energy of summertime and harvest, there is relief in the stillness.
Robyn Griggs Lawrence
(The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
It’s amazing how quickly things change when November hits. Last Sunday I was out working in the garden and there was still tons of color in the garden. The leaves were all shining in bright shades of yellow and red.
November came on Tuesday and by the end of the week all the leaves were down and everything was brown. One of things I love about November, is how the late evening sun bathes everything in a beautiful golden glow without leaves on the trees to hide it. It’s perfect harmony for this time of year for sure as it brightens up what could be a rather drear time of year.
November is one of those months that I really notice a change, it’s kind of like March. Many months blend into each other and you can’t distinguish between them. November and March are quite unique, making their beginning well known because there is such a distinct change in the colors in nature and the light of the sun. Oddly enough March and November are polar opposites. In March everything is bursting forth and things seem to grow overnight. In November everything breathes of sigh of relief and hunkers down for the many months of rest ahead.
What month do you notice being most distinct from those around it?
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Cats in the Garden
I’ve proclaimed my love of cats many times, and no doubt you’ve seen them in many photos. You’ve heard all about Miss Mama, the feral cat that moved her kitten into the garage, and Little Softie, the kitten that beat the odds. Up until Miss Mama, we had never had an outdoor cat. We really needed one, as we live in a rural area and have mice, chipmunks, and moles in abundance. With other natural predators in limited numbers, these little varmints can take over quite quickly. We used a variety of methods to deal with them, until Miss Mama moved in.
Now that Miss Mama is gone, Little Softie has taken over rank as chief hunter. She patrols the gardens keeping them clear of all little furies that love to eat strawberries and crocus bulbs. She’s still half feral, but is starting to come around, she loves a good ear scratch daily.
One of our indoor cats has also become a hybrid, spending his days in the garden and his nights in the house. Having cats in the garden is a wonderful thing. These two follow me around the garden and are never far behind. The force me to take breaks so they can get some love, and they make me laugh all the time with their crazy antics of climbing trees and chasing each other around.
The only problem having outdoor cats is that they don’t always eat their catch. We often find chipmunks under the cars, moles on our welcome mats, mice and birds in the garden beds, and last week a dead rabbit on the front porch. It used to bother me when they caught songbirds, but then I realized that predators play an important role in keeping the various species healthy. They keep the weak and sick from reproducing. I remember learning about this long ago in the movie Never Cry Wolf. Mother Earth News also had a great article about the importance of predators this summer.
Chiot’s Run will never be without an outdoor cat, not only do they help keep the rodent population under control, they are outstanding garden companions. We also appreciate that since we got outdoor our cats we no longer have to worry about mice building nests in our cars like we always had before.
Do you have any garden companions of the four legged type? What methods of rodent control do you find most effective in your garden?
