Lawn and field envy

Woman: You must be very happy.
Nelson Mandela: Any man would be happy dancing with a beautiful lady like you.
Woman: Mr. President, you’re exaggerating.
Nelson Mandela: Not at all. My father was Xhosa, so he was a polygamist. As you know, I am not. But when I look at you, I envy my father.

-Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Invictus

Is there anything more beautiful than a well-mown lawn or a freshly plowed field?

So orderly.  

So rhythmical. 

So fresh and tidy and definitive.

I don't mow or till but when I walk or drive by my neighbors', I envy them. 

If I did permaculture and mowed and tilled, too- would that make me a polyagamist?

Work is love made visible

The title quote is the epigraph in Women of the West by Luchetti and Olwell and the quote faces this photo.

Her yard is a shambles and she's currently living in a hole in the ground.

While that's true it is also not true.

She's not living in a hole in the ground; she's living in a place she and her family have built for themselves with their own hands.

This woman has pride in her home and hope in her dream.

Until recently, all I could see was the squalor. 

Look at the folks on the top left, arrayed in the deep mud, surrounded by their animals and guns and children.

Look at the folks on the bottom right and notice their livestock grazing on top of their sod roof.  They are posed in their Sunday best- clean aprons and combed hair, fancy hats and rocking horses.
  
These are people showing off their work in progress.

Their work.
Their farm.
Their home.

Until recently, all I could see was the squalor.
But not anymore.

Now I can see the love.

Work: Dirty Jobs

Dirty Jobs cheers me up.  I watch it with mouth agape. "I'm so glad that isn't my job!"

It's good to know that there are messier, crazier jobs than whatever I've been trying to do lately.

Today Anjali and I watched Collection 7 episode 5: Sea Lamprey Exterminator.  Yeah, I'm not feeling so bad about anything around here after that.  Anything which requires a space suit to do and decontamination afterwards- well, it hasn't come to that here.

Yet.

Chickindulgence

For some- a bottle of wine or a manicure or a piece of jewelry.
For me- chickens.

I tell myself we need some experienced broody hens.
Really, I need an indulgence.

So, Tim, excellent man, took me on a chicken date last night and we spent the evening at Linda's farm in Woodville, WI, admiring her beautiful collection of poultry.

We came home with two broodies, one with a newly hatched clutch of nine in tow, 17 fertile eggs of interesting varieties of chickens, and a giddy Amy.

I woke before the roosters starting crowing and started imagining: How many eggs will hatch?  Will the broodies brood?  Which kinds of chicks will hatch?  What gender will they be?  How many will survive?  Will they be accepted by the flock?  What kinds of personalities will they have?

White Leghorns, Black Australorp, Welsummer, Lemon Orpington, Auracana with some possible frizzled, White Rock, Blue Orpington, Phoenix Bantam, Black Cochin Bantam.

Aahh, chickindulgence.

Work: Setting up the pins for knocking them down

For the days when not enough seems to get done or stay done,
I offer you this, especially the final lines.

May you find a happy working song of your own to hum.

"Setting Up The Pins"
by Sara Groves

Man in a silk tie heads downtown
setting up the pins for knocking em down
people in cars all rushing around
setting up the pins

let's get rich find a way around
setting up the pins for knocking em down
we'll get gadget with a whirring sound
for setting up the pins

everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking em down

you can find joy in the fertile ground
setting up the pins and knocking em down
you can try to fight it till you're anger drowned
setting up the pins

everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking em down
it can feel simple but it's really profound
setting up the pins

rent a tent, build a stage, throw a party, get a gown
buy a ticket, rent a car, pack a bag and leave town,
cook a dinner, clean the kitchen hit the light
brush your teeth, read a book, say a prayer good-night

everyone everywhere some way some how
are setting up the pins for knocking em down
it can feel simple but it's really profound...

my grandmother had a working song
hummed it low all day long
sing for the beauty that's to be found
in setting up the pins for knocking em down

From the 2013 archive- dogs

Last year, we tried livestock guardian dogs.

We had Pax less than 24 hours when she ran away.
To lure her back, her previous owners brought her brother, Obi.
We decided to keep him, too.

Until 3 days later, when we realized the fencing options we were counting on weren't going to work.
And we took them back to their previous home.

As Tim says, "We doubled down when we should have folded."
I need practice following Kenny Roger's advice in farming and in life.

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done

  "The Gambler", Kenny Rogers

Hugels 2: The Revision Continues

Our initial hugels from a year and a half ago

were too tall and too steep-

more like ramparts at Fort Snelling

than the gentle slope needed

to keep dirt and mulch angled towards the sun.

An overly enthusiastic rookie mistake.

Neither pretty nor effective, 

we knew we needed to make a second draft.

Tim began pulling logs off the top creating a discard pile.

While un-hugeling...

dis-hugelifying...

de-hugelification...

While taking them apart is a lot easier than constructing hugels,

it's still very slow and labor intensive. 

And because of my hand surgeries, I was unable to assist.

Then Kifah suggested we try hugeling Somali-style, 
by burning some logs the way her dad taught her.

So she came over and got us started.

We lit fires within the wall of logs

and over hours and hours

it burned deep.

The Prow before burn

 

Interestingly, the steepest places with the worst erosion problems seemed to burn the most effectively, 

traveling through the spaces between logs 

where we could never get dirt.

Notice the red glowing coals and white ash 

deep in the photos above and below.

The Prow on fire

Over the next two weeks, Tim hauled dirt, 

 The Prow now

filling gaps and covering char

 on the much shorter, less slopey second draft hugels.

 Yesterday, Anjali, Mark, Kiley, and I weeded

  

and the kids mulched.

My farm hands even found some volunteer lettuce-

an early yummy treat.

As Tim has pointed out, 

if we keep revising our hugels over and over 

we'll lose one of the big advantages of permaculture, 

namely that one doesn't have to fuss and redo 

everything every year.

You know- permanent agriculture.

I can already tell that Draft 2 is an improvement

over our first draft.

 Let's hope it's good enough.