Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
Have you been wondering how our lone gosling, Puanani, has been doing? Here’s an update on her…and her former companion, Kalani. Both are doing well and growing – as young animals do – like weeds!
Continue reading “Update: Single Gosling Integration”
It’s been 19 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the (foiled) attempt on the U.S. Capitol. Though nearly two decades have passed, the memory of that day remains clear in my mind, and likely always will. Where were you on that day?
Continue reading “Musings: Remembering September 11th”
There are those mornings where I just have a tough time greeting the new day. This was one: the bed was perfectly warm, sheets were soft, and the day just didn’t seem like it held promise. Why not just stay, pull the duvet over my head, and let the day go by? Because others were depending on me. And, because of that, I shook off temptation and set about my daily routine. And the day turned out to be good, after all.
This verse was inspired by a real event: it began with a “pants wetter” thunderclap that felt like it slammed down to earth, and was followed by a brief, but violent, storm that lashed at the trees and sent unsecured items sailing. I like to think it was a reminder from Nature of who’s really in charge (and it’s not us). Message received.
Slugs seem to get no love. I’ve considered why I’m enamored of snails, with their wonderfully whorled shells, but not slugs…and realized that it’s unfair. A slug is basically a snail, without that magnificent shell upon its back. Did it choose to live its life without a shell? Of course not. So, I’m consciously making an effort to appreciate the beauty of the slug, like the subtle but striking raised pattern on its skin – resembling a fingerprint – or how it seems to effortlessly and soundlessly glide along the ground. See the beauty of the slug today.
Inviting, yes…and uninvited. But no invitation is needed for this lovely greenery: morning glory vines just seem to appear along a rock retaining wall near our house, stunning with their early-morning cornflower radiance. A cheery flower, indeed, and a wise one, retiring (for the day) in the afternoon. That we should all keep such a schedule – an afternoon siesta might keep us similarly glorious!
And for the pedantic, I know rhyming haiku is somewhat frowned upon in poetry circles. I don’t care. The verse flowed, so I’m going with it. I am, after all, a rebel at heart.