A weekend away from the farm

Sunday morning, and here I sit, in Waikaloa, at a friend's house, no chickens or pigs to feed, getting ready to start my day. I came up Friday night after our stupendous Christmas concert (the Kaʻu Ohana Band) to attend, of all things, a 'young people's' convention. They claim it is for the young at heart, and I am one of the 25% or so over 30. Which is loud, energetic and refreshing. But I have to admit that I skipped some of the loudest, most energetic parts! But it is refreshing to get away, if only for a few days. Pat opted to stay home, and then she got sick, so things on the home front are not so good. Plus our cell phone carrier is being even more ridiculous than usual! She is sick, angry, and home tending for our flock of ~60 layers, 23 meat birds (currently at the lunch stage), and 5 pigs! I'm gonna owe big time when I get back! But I still look forward to returning to the farm, even though this has been a nice time, visiting friends and reflecting. And one Christmas concert to go, with the Last Fling Band, at Kaʻu Hospital tomorrow! Eeee-haw!

More trauma for Mother - and we castrate our first piglet

Yep, the deed is done! Ham Hock is officially a heshe now. Pat and I decided to do our baby boy ourselves. We used our traditional method when dealing with our livestock, i.e., we wrapped him in a blanket, lulled him into a semi-sleep, and snipped! The testicles popped out, we sprayed the purple stuff on the wound, and we took him back to his mama. He was running around the pen with the rest of them right away. The hardest part was getting him out of the pen. As soon as Pat got in to get him, Mother thought, "they're coming to take my babies again!" (Can't blame her, since she was right!) so she grunted angrily and got in our way and even bit Pat's knee. I asked if she was okay, and her adrenaline said, "Oh, yeah, she just got a mouthful of jeans." We found out later, when the jens came off, that she got a mouthful of knee as well! But she finally scooped him up and handed him to me over the fence. Then I had to deal with our two dogs who seem to have forgotten what the word 'no' means. They were jumping up to get little Ham Hock in my arms! (Note to self: Put the dogs inside next time.) I barely made it into the garage with the little fella, and Pat barely made it out of the pen, being chased by an angry mother pig! But after that, everything went smoothly, and the pigs are safely back in their pens!

Two little piggies went went to market...

And three little piggies stayed home! Yes! Two of our piglets left the nest yesterday. We sold them to a fellow farmer, who will love them and raise them. We thought it would be simple, to just walk in and grab the two piglets.... But, Mother was not so eager to let them go! The first one was pretty easy, but when she saw what we were up to, it got very challenging!

Here's Mother, guarding the door to her babies' room! Pat said, "I'll distract Mother and you grab the piglet." Pat distracted Mother:

But when I poked my head into the piggy boudoir,

those silly piggies weren't there! They had escaped through a secret back door! Hmmm...guess we have to be smarter then the pigs!

We did finally coax them out with food, grass,and kind words. Then we grabbed the piglet and ran! Mother was upset for a little while, then tended to her remaining three babies.

My vegan chili recipe

Okay, by request, my recipe, more or less:

I soak 1-2 lbs of dry beans overnight. I use pinto (Pat's preference), but red or kidney are also okay.

Then I drain them and put them in a large slow cooker. Cover with water. Add:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup salsa
1 chopped fresh jalapeño pepper
3-4 tbls. Chili powder
2-3 tsp. ground cumin
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper, any color
Any of the following fresh vegetables, chopped:
Celery
Carrots
Squash
Mushrooms

Salt to taste with Hawaiian sea salt.

I then cook it on low for 12-24 hours, until the beans are soft. Serve with brown rice. No need to add fake meat or other protein, because beans are full of protein and fiber.

A happy work week!

This week I get to do my favorite thing for work! Cook! A caterer friend contracted me to cook and bake gluten-free and vegan items for her event! It's like preparing for thanksgiving! This is what I love about retirement. It's not that I don't work, it's just that I get a variety now. One week editing, one week baking, one week teaching, etc. very fun. So what's on the menu? Vegan chili (made it Saturday and tried it Sunday, yummy), vegan shepherds pie, vegan chocolate cake, vegan gluten free carrot muffins, gluten-free lilikoi bars, gluten-free brownies, gluten-free applesauce spice cake, gluten-free banana bread, gluten-free cheesecake with fresh berries. Yes, I am having fun!

New furniture!

Our friends are preparing to move to the mainland. They are selling their superfluous furniture. We scooped up a great little table. It has two storage sections that roll out to become quick-n-easy side tables or small seats, then tuck back in. We weren't sure where to put it, but found the perfect spot - our puppies love their new dining table! Easy on the back, and out of reach of those pesky ants!

I made my own salt scrub!

Well, yes, I ran out of the scented, purchased pot of stuff I rub on my feet in the shower to keep them from being rough and callous-like in between pedicures. (I can't stand having rough feet!) And it is getting harder and harder to find things in the store without fancy chemical names in them. So, I searched my beloved internet and found the recipe for Salt Scrub. VERY easy. And I tried it! Works wonderfully, and I like it better than the last one I bought. I made a vanilla-coconut scent. Peppermint for Christmas, maybe?

What's the recipe? Fill the jar half full of Hawaiian sea salt, then fill it almost full of oil (I used coconut oil). Add a few drops of essential oil or extract for scent. Mix. Tada!

Mother has her babies - 5 gorgeous piggies!

The next Saturday night Mother gave birth to five gorgeous little piggies, 3 girls and 2  boys. The black and white ones are boys and the rest are girls. We plan to keep two and sell 3 once they are weaned. Teeny tiny little boy pig. the brown one in the back with the belt is "Lucy". A keeper. The big black boy with a little white is also a keeper. And the other brown girl is already sold!

Then the dinners meet their inevitable fates.

Yes, our meatbirds became frozen dinners the very next day. Saturday, pork; Sunday, chicken. The last 8 birds made the long trip to the back... Uneventful, except for the rain, which drove us into the garage for the last few. All were over 4 lbs.; the largest was 5.25 lbs. Yummy!

Pork Chop becomes pork chops!

Catching up on my blogging. Three weeks ago, some of my guy-friends-who-happen-to-be-big-and-experienced-pig-butchers came over and "helped" us butcher Pork Chop. This was no surprise; we did name him Pork Chop. I say "helped" in quotes because we actually did the helping and they did the butchering!

Anyway, it went pretty smoothly, from the bullet in the head, to the sliced throat to drain the blood. Then they hoisted him up on our table and began the skinning. Here's where I helped.

Notice a few things in the photo. Nice sized pig. Two guys are skinning it. The rest of us are holding the dead pig in place. (?) Notice I am doing my part by holding up a leg. I also am the only one wearing gloves. No shame. If you know me, you know I have nail beauty to protect! Then the master deftly removed the private parts and the guts, all in one, similar to what we do with the chickens, cut off the head and feet, and all that was left was meat and bone! Note: this time around, we discarded head, feet, skin and innards, figuring we'd have plenty to deal with as it is!

They hung the carcass from the rafters in the garage, then cut it right in half with a sawzall!

Whole pig hanging...

Presto!

Two halves! Then the sawzall went to work on each half, cutting up chops, roasts, hunks of fat, dog food scraps, rib racks, chunks for grinding. And bagging and labeling. Guess who did the bagging and labeling?

Yip, that's me again! You can tell by the gloves! Over a hundred lbs. of meat, and, yes, I'm putting it in bags of 2 chops each. We are only 2 people, and if we have company, we can pull out more than one bag! Later that afternoon we ground 15 lbs of meat and fat and made two types of bulk sausage. Deeeelicious! Freezer full of pig.

My favorite time of day

Morning. I'm the only one up. Well, besides the chickens. Even the dogs don't really get up, because they know I'm not the one that feeds them. I love the peacefulness of the farm in the morning. No TV sounds. No people talking. Only birds chirping and roosters crowing. In the bathroom, there was a moth fluttering on the inside of the window and a bird trying to catch it on the outside of the window. Both were highly agitated, not really understanding windows. I debated opening the window, but the outcome was uncertain; therefore, I left them to their game. I can be very productive at this time, having no distractions. Alternatively, I can simply enjoy the peace and quiet, reading a book, or, like today, blogging. I usually have something I would like to blog about in a day, but don't find the time to do it. *sigh* Here I sit, with ten minutes to blog, and, well, I blog about blogging. Hopeless.

A flock update. The 24 meat birds are now lunches and they are outside in their nice big pen. They eat lots and drinks lots of water. Mini-me and his two Americaunas and the 4 juvenile hens are doing fine in their new pen; the Americaunas have finally started laying again. Not overly prolific, approximately 1 egg from the two of them every other day or so, but it's a start. Mama's baby, the exotic that came with the meat birds, is also outside, but in a hospital cage because she's still too small to join an existing flock. We still have Blondie, the mean-but-beautiful rooster, but our friend has promised to pick him up. He can't wait; the hospital cage is way small for a rooster of his stature! Tonto's pen has been very calm and peaceful since he has been the only rooster. And they have been consistently laying 3 brown, 2 olive, and 1 white daily. All fine and happy.

Pig update. We moved Mohawk to a new pen, away from Mother. He was always so agitated, and was very thin, and kept 'biting the hand that fed him." Literally. He is much calmer now, and may gain a little weight. We need to butcher Pork Chop. Just gathering tools and getting up the nerve. *sigh*

Well, time to go to my appointment. Another day begins.

Too busy! I must prioritize!

Yes, I am "retired". Which means no 40-hour per week job. But it doesn't mean no work! And, yes, I live on the laid-back island of Hawai'i. However, sometimes the list of things to do becomes so long it overwhelms! That's when it's time to prioritize, stop procrastinating, and get some of those hated things off the d*** list!

For example, our taxes, both business and personal, were due in February. (Just like every other American.) We got an extension to August. Which is fast approaching. In one week, actually. This must move to the top of the list.

My box of car envelops was empty yesterday and I needed more. I know I have more, with my scrapbooking stuff. Most of which is heaped in the spare room, which now resembles a huge messy closet. While searching, a box of Mahjongg chips fell open all oven some stuff and the floor. I had to step on things to search through other things, etc. Never did find them. Cleaning that room and organizing that stuff has got to move to number 2 on the list. There are also over 100 bags waiting to be sewn in that room! And thousands of photos to scrapbook!

Because cleaning, straightening, and organizing are my least favorite things to do, it takes me 10 times longer than the average human to accomplish the tasks, if I ever finish at all. I tend to become easily distracted, thus the likelihood of not completing the task is high.

Wish me luck.....

My pet spider

I used to be afraid of spiders. A spider sighting would cause me to yell, "Pat!" and expect Pat to come running to deal with the thing, be it large or small. Well, since moving to Hawai'i, and especially to the Big Island, spiders have become my friends because of their natural pest-control attributes. The passing of a large wolf spider receives the same greeting as a mild-mannered gecko. I even have a pet spider that lives in the lamp by my bed. Well, I don't think it's the same spider it was originally. We are on about the third generation. Occasionally it disappears and then reappears, smaller. It lives in the lampshade. I just have to be a little careful when turning the lamp on or off. I used to be very irritated by the buzzing of the occasional fly in my bedroom at night. I would spend hours with the fly swatter trying to swat it, usually to no avail. Now, I just listen to the buzz, bemusedly, until it stops, accompanied by a small rattle. Looking over at my pet spider, he will have the fly in two of his eight arms, and he is sucking the life out of it. Easy to feed, no muss, no web, highly recommended as a pet.  Here's a photo of my pet:

Bad, Mohawk, Bad Piggy!

This morning, I walked up to the pig pen, leaned on the fence, said, "Hello, Mohawk!" to our boar, and.... he bit my finger! Hard enough to draw blood! I was angry! I spent the next few minutes berating him, telling him how bad he was. after awhile, I settled down, and I tried to hand him a mac nut. I said, "careful now, don't bite the hand..." He took it so gently, he dropped it on the ground after he got it out of my hand. Oops. I guess pigs are also sensitive.

The Tale of Two Floaties

In this story, the names have been changed to protect the pride of the participants.

I have hesitated to tell this story to protect my own pride. However, some stories beg to be told, eventually. What it boils down to is just this. I am forever grateful that I do not have a job where I am required to invade anyone's private actions, thoughts, or behaviors, or in any way humiliate them. Jobs like searching people, accompanying them for urine tests, etc. Anyway, now the story...

I have had stomach/bowel problems all my life. Unfortunately, as I age, they get worse. Sometimes, when I need to go, I mean "now!" Which can be really embarrassing, if I don't get to a Ladies' Room in time. So I know most public restrooms in town. Well, I had just driven into town, 1.5 hours, and stopped into a shop to buy some things. Well, the need hit me. There were signs EVERYWHERE that said "NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS". Yeh, I get it. But I have found that, sometimes, if you ask nicely, the 'no' can be an 'okay'. So I asked the nice lady at the counter if I could use the restroom, because it really was an emergency. She said, "Well, let me check. We were just talking about that." And she promptly got on her walkie-talkie and said, "Clovis, I have a customer here that needs to used the restroom. It's an emergency." Yes, walkie-talkie, not phone. Yes, loud, all could hear. When she heard no response, she tried again, a little louder, same phrase. Then, she got a response, "I'll send Johnnie up." I'm thinking, "huh? who's Johnnie?" Anyway, up comes Johnnie, and says, "Are you the customer that has to use the restroom?" And I answered, "Yes, please." After all, I was asking a favor, and I was in dire need. "Follow me," he says. And I dutifully follow. We go through the store and into a big back room. Over in the corner sits a....yes....a toilet. No partition, no screen, just bare toilet. He points, and I..... say, "Thank you." He leaves, closing the door. I walk over to the intended receptacle, and realize there is a woman doing laundry in the washer/dryer right next to the....toilet. Hmmmm. I say, "Um, excuse me, I'm going to used the facility...." And she replies, "Okay, I'll be out of here in a minute." (By now I realize they do not really understand the nature of bathroom emergencies, and I am willing my body not to release anything at all prematurely.) She finally left, and, feeling very exposed, I sat and did my business, as it were. When finished, I duly flushed. I held the handle down, but (OMG!) two little floaties didn't go down. Well, I tried to wait until the toilet stopped running to flush again, but it kept going and going, and I was impatient, so I just closed the lid and washed my hands in the little sink nearby and zoomed out. Well, standing outside the door to the big room was none other than laundry lady Clovis. She stopped me and said, "I'm sorry, but you have to go back in there with me and inspect the area." What??!!??
Which is what I said. "I have to WHAT?" And she explained that they closed their restroom to the public because customers had smeared feces on the walls. I was infuriated that she thought a was a feces-smearing type, but at the same time I thought, "Damn those floaties!" So in we marched, and, we looked in the pot together, and there they were, damning me, the two little floaties. She nodded at the handle, and watched as I properly flushed them down. And we had to wait while they sailed away to be sure they cleared the bend. She also made some comment about there being some spray for the smell somewhere on the counter, which I chose to ignore - they can install a fan.

Having completed my humiliation, I proudly walked out to the main store, completed my purchases, and left. At first, I just felt humiliated. Now I am mostly grateful that I don't have her job.

What kind of dogs are you, anyway?

Since our two older dogs have passed away, we only have the young pups left. The new generation, if you will. Kai is the oldest, about 2, a husky, malemute, wolf mix and Panter is the daughter of an American bulldog and something else. She's about 1.

The older dogs ate anything we fed them. Put it in their bowl, they'd eat it. Or just leave it on the counter, they'd find it. Or leave a bag of kibble in the closet and don't close the door completely, they'd find a way to stick their noses in and gradually empty the bag. (Their fun was over when I caught one of them walking away from the closet discreetly munching. It caused me to investigate and I found the opened half-empty bag!) When they got older, we started making their food so that they wouldn't be so overweight. Less fillers, etc. But they never complained.

Now we have the new generation.  We were already making food for our dogs, so we continued in the same tradition. We also augmented with a little high-quality kibble. I don't know when this started, but it seems that after they eat the same mixture twice, they don't want it the third time. They want something new. Say what??? You're dogs!  We have to beg them to eat! Ludicrous! These are the dishes we have served them:
Plain kibble
Kibble with raw egg
Kibble, brown rice, broth, chicken
Kibble, brown rice, broth, hamburger
Brown rice, chicken, cooked egg
Brown rice, beef, cooked egg
Brown rice, pork, cooked egg
Brown rice, pork, pumpkin, kale, broth
Brown rice, chicken, pumpkin, broth, kibble
Raw beef, brown rice, kibble
Raw beef, brown rice

And probably other combinations also. As you see, we even tried the raw meat option. The liked it the first two times, but lost interest the third time they faced it. Is it really possible that they get bored with their food? They are not thin, but they're not really overweight, either. That is, I don't think that we are over feeding them. They don't eat anywhere else, except for sticks, bones, bugs, and leaves from the yard! They do posture a bit over the bowls and the right-of-way at food time, though. That may have something to do with it. I just don't know.

It is very undogly behavior!

Dinner at home, inspired by restaurants....

Here we sit, fully sated, enjoying our Tuesday evening, watching the next episode of Fargo. We decided to treat ourselves to a really good meal, and rather than eating out, after I found myself drooling over the Red Lobster commercial (yes, the one with the piece of steak with a creamy lobster chunk sauce on it), and Pat said, "You could make that, cheaper, and it would taste better,too!" So, when I was in Costco, yup, I sprang for a lobster tail and a big ribeye (we always split one), then thought, well, if we're going all out, might as well make 'bread pudding ala Bob'. Now, you may be wondering what Bread pudding ala Bob is. We call it that because our friend Bob told us about it, but I guess he found out about this marvelous way to eat bread pudding from Hawai'i's own Zippy's! Bread pudding, topped with vanilla ice cream, then topped with caramel sauce. My homemade version is... Bread pudding made with sour dough bread (yes, homemade), fresh farm eggs, organic milk and agave, homemade vanilla ice cream with agave, and home made caramel sauce. Yum. Then, yes, we are not done, Pat said, why don't you made the cheddar cheese biscuits we get at Red Lobster, too? Ok, and I made the gluten-free version! A little heavier than the originals, but yummy, nonetheless. A little leaf lettuce and mango salad for color and health, and we feel like we've been on a date!

Farm education part 1. The origin of the word screw.

If you have been reading my blog, you know we have three little piggies. They are growing and growing, and now are quite sizable pigs. Mohawk and Mother are together, with the thought that they would mate and produce more little piggies.....well, when they grow up. Surely not now, while they are still only babies themselves! But Mother keeps getting fatter, with some large, suspicious nipples, and we caught Mohawk mounting her repeatedly. Very shocking. But that's not the worst of it! We were watching Mohawk harass poor Mother, and out came the pig penis! We almost died laughing! It is, literally, corkscrew-shaped! Hence the origin of the verb "to screw." That was yesterday evening, and his aim was horrible; we saw about 3 inches of it and naively thought that was all there was to it. Hahahahahaha. This morning at feeding, Mother got tired of running and just ate (food being her primary motivator), while Mohawk did his business (sex and procreation being his primary motivator). When they were done, i.e., Mother had had enough, she ran to the corner, and Mohawk was disengaged, revealing over a foot of dangling penis! We have to separate those pigs! We almost fainted! Who knew?

A hectic day - start at dawn!

It's 6:30 pm and we're on our way home from the Ali'i Farmer's Market with a truck full of of chicken and pig food. (Consists of papayas, avocados, chicos, mangos, and lettuce, all too ripe, too green, or too bruised to sell.) 

Our day started 12 hours ago, as we tumbled out of bed. We had a quick cup of joe from last night's brew with a bowl of cereal and yoghurt. We then prepared the chicken and pig food. The chickens all shared a 5-gallon bucket of chopped butter leaf lettuce, a 5-gallon bucket of papaya cut into quarters, and a 3-gallon bucket of brown rice mash. This morning, their mash contained cooked brown rice, chicken skins, crushed chicken bones, and soy milk. They also received some layer pellets and scratch. The pigs got some cracked Mac nuts and a 3-gallon bucket of mash. Their mash contained brown rice, molasses, roots, lettuce, papayas, onions and peppers. They also got a few scoops of pig pellets and cracked corn.

After feeding the livestock, we picked out 4 of the meat birds and butchered them. Final weights, 5, 5, 5, and 5.25 lbs. We cleaned everything up, froze the birds, grabbed our pot luck dish and some eggs in a homemade shopping bag for a housewarming gift, and jumped in the car to drive north to a bridge party at noon. 

After the party (around 5 pm), we went by the farmer's market to pick up our truck load of fruits and veggies.

A long day.

6 more chickens will find their way to our freezer tomorrow morning....

Day 2 of complete bed rest

Well, the hip feels better (who wouldn't, with total bed rest?). Therefore, I am not going to the doc today. I think I will recover, if I let it heal. So I am continuing with anti-inflammatories and some pain meds, and staying off it. Hopefully it will keep improving.

In the meantime, I have caught up on all 10 recorded episodes of Revenge. I am now working on the 8 episodes of Criminal Minds waiting for me.

I've also responded to all the web site change requests in prep for our meeting later this month.

And all because I cannot do the things I normally do. (Yardwork, drive, sew, cook, feed animals, etc.)

And I'm finding time to blog (about what I'm NOT doing, hehe).

Poor Pat is stuck with all the farm chores AND housework AND waiting on me.

I did manage to walk out to the chicken yard today because Pat put the babies out into the big pens, with the older chickens. They have been in the brooder for 6, 7, and 8 weeks (3 hatches) and are really ready for the outside! Pat put 3 into the chocolate pen. They had to hide from the big birds for awhile; then the big birds got bored and the new girls are now staying together in a corner, getting used to their new environment. The other 12 went into the main pen. They all ran into the coop area, where 3 stayed together under the counter and the rest are under the nesting ledge. They are very busy investigating the pen, via small forays, and then running back to their group, where they feel safe. There's one we call "Chappy," or "Cowgirl," because the fronts of both her legs are covered with very fine feathers (looks like fur). The name arises because the feathers on the legs and feet are only on the front, resembling western chaps. She looked very cute, running around the pen! We think most of this batch are hens, but we're never really sure until they either crow or lay an egg! One of our laying hens has 3/4 inch spurs!

I also sewed my missing buttons on - now that's something I never find time to do!

If I'm still laid up tomorrow, I'll start practicing my oboe!

The fall must have been worse than I thought!

After falling, pushing through the pain, performing with the band on Saturday, on Sunday I found I had pain and swelling in my right hip. Huge pain. I can stand still and lay flat, but cannot sit or bend without stabbing pain. Unwilling or unable to sit in a car for 45 min to go to the ER, I stayed in bed all day today (boooring). We'll see what it's like tomorrow. If it's not better, I'll go for x-rays. Aaargh. Meanwhile, I have just learned that my wife makes a mean chicken soup! Yum!

Aargh! I broke the primary rule for aging again!

I simply must pay more attention when I walk. I had a big day ahead of me this morning...get up, feed the chickens, feed the pigs, gather eggs, get cleaned up and dressed, have breakfast, conference call at 9, leave for Kona at 10, stop at the feed store, stop at the mail box, stop at the bank, stop at the farmer's market and drop off my fruit bucket and 2 live chickens, direct and play in a bridge game, sell two frozen chickens, stop at Starbucks, pick up my fruit bucket, buy vegetables, drive home, make dinner, practice for tomorrow's performance, stop at Corey's and get her phone number, start editing a paper... Go to bed. Somehow, when I was feeding the chickens, my little favorite friends, my mind strayed...I started doing a cost/benefit analysis on the rest of my day. Before I knew it, BOOM! I stumbled on a rock, and fell to the ground, hitting my forehead on a rock, then my jawbone, then my neck, shoulder, elbows, hips, knees, and came to rest with my face in compacted chicken manure. Of course, I screamed as I fell. The chickens did what they do best - they panicked! They squawked, sounded the alarm, lined up and looked at me. I could almost hear them saying, "Help! Mom fell! We can't pick her up! What do we do? Somebody, come help!" And it worked! Our tenant, Jeana, came running out, "Aunty, are you okay?" And helped me up. I was grateful; the chickens were grateful. But it's a rough way to start the day. I hurt all over. But nothing's broken or bleeding. Concentrate on the task at hand.

I love my chickens, I love my tenants, and I must try to be more present! Sheesh!

Anyone has a chance tomorrow at 10 am at Punalu'u Bakery in Naalehu the Ohana Band, Ka'u School of the Arts, is playing at the Spring Fling. There will also be hula and singing and crafts and the like.

Go to the beach - another thing I should do regularly, and I did it today!

I just love living in Hawai'i, and I should definitely go to the beach more often. This afternoon, I went to Ho'okena with a friend. The day was overcast, with rain threatening, but the sun peeked out every now and then. The advantage of poor weather on a weekday - low attendance at the beach. And the water around our island is so pure and clear. The sand at Ho'okena is black and white, which makes it look brown, but in the clear water, you can see each individual grain of sand, the white ones, and the black ones, swirling around. Then, through the swirl, you can see the ocean floor, the water is so clear. Then, for our enjoyment, as we sat on the beach, visiting and enjoying each other's company, a large group of dolphins (about 20 -30) did water aerobics, jumping, twirling, swimming together, trying to outdo one another, for us for approximately an hour. They looked like they were having loads of fun, and were very close to the shore - no binoculars needed! What a wonderful day! I love living here!

Top ten things I should do regularly, for my health and serenity!

10. Take care of my feet. They are the only ones I have and I use them every day! This I do! I get a pedicure every month, scrub them with a sugar scrub 3 - 4 times a week, moisturize them almost daily, and scrub nails and skin with a nail brush if necessary. Soft, beautiful feet are a pleasure.

9. Get "dressed" to go out, even with close friends. This means shower, hair, jewelry and make-up. I usually shower and wash my hair, put my jewelry on, but skip the blow-dry and the make-up. But, to be honest, I feel much better about myself when I do the hole enchilada.

8. Blog, if not daily, at least every other day. As you see, I have not been doing that. This is more for my family and friends' sake. I like to tell my story, discuss my feelings. If I write it in my blog, people can choose to read it... or not. However, if I tell people, I end up shang-hai-ing everyone to tell them. They have no choice. I think sometimes my daughters don't answer when I call, because I don't let them off the phone. They say, "Mom, I have to go to work," and I say, "Okay." Ten minutes later, I am still yammering on. Or someone drops by to get eggs, and I start talking, and, pow! they are trapped in my story! Blogging helps relieve my need and relieve my captive audience!

7. Floss. Daily. I do. Every day. Without fail.

6. Eat regularly. And healthily. If I am going to be gone for 3 hours or more, I should take a healthy snack with me. When my blood sugar drops, I get cranky. And no one likes it when I'm cranky!

5. Go to a 12-step meeting, at least once a week. Self-explanatory.

4. Tell my wife I love her. Every chance I get. For obvious reasons.

3. Exercise regularly. At least yoga, but yoga AND cardio would be best. I am very bad about this. Although I work around the farm and am active, it is not the same as targeted exercise. 

2. Get your hair trimmed every 2 or 3 months. It keeps the hair healthy and split-free. 

And the most important thing to do regularly, each and every day, for health, longevity and happiness. . 

1. Pay more attention to the things you are grateful for than to those that irritate you!

Peace

Spring Chicken Inventory

Spring inventory.

We sold some roosters to a nice home. We hatched two batches of chicks gifted from a friend. A few hens fell off their perches and died. We butchered the meat birds, but ordered new ones. A friend moved away and gave us a laying hen. One pen got the pox and a few of the hens died. The rest recovered nicely. The ones that died had swollen eyes and couldn't see to eat. Sad...

Anyway, we thought we'd better take stock of what we had. So last night, when they were all sleeping, we took inventory. (They're not moving around when they're sleeping.) 

Bottom line: 111 chickens

Main pen: 3 roosters, 26 laying hens

Transition pen: 1 rooster, 5 laying hens

Cocoa's pen: 2 roosters, 7 laying hens

Tonto's pen: 5 roosters, 2 laying hens, 7 pullets (young layers)

Brother's pen: 2 roosters, 10 laying hens

Portable pen: 1 rooster, 2 hens

Rooster cages: 2 roosters

Meatbird pen: 23 lunches (6-week olds)

Chicks in the brooder room: 15

Total of 59 hens that can potentially lay eggs. We get 25 - 35 eggs per day. I don't know if that's good or not, but it works for us. We do have to thin out the roosters; we have too many again, but there are only three that we don't want. We become too attached..... 

It's good to take stock.

The three little piggies!

Yes! We have pigs! And they are cute! And they eat like, well, pigs! Surprise! We now have a new channel on our farm network, Pig TV. We can now spend our free time watching Chicken TV, Dog TV, or Pig TV. Hours of live, G-rated entertainment, at our doorstep!

Mohawk and Mother, waiting for their food. "Hi, Mom! What'd ya bring us?"

Pork Chop, waiting for his food. "Mom, Mom, what's for breakfast?"

Well, this particular morning, it wa a mix of brown rice, butter leaf lettuce, chopped mountain apples, a tablespoon of molasses, and soy milk. Mmmmm. And then I gave them some piggy pellets and cracked corn to round out the meal!

They love it!

Pork Chop does, too! Thankfully, he hasn't wondered why we call him that yet!

Why do chickens lay so many eggs?

Why do chickens lay so many eggs?

I'm glad they do, don't get me wrong, I just started thinking.... Surely they don't have a natural desire to feed humans! So why DO they lay so many eggs? For survival, that's why! Chickens don't hatch easily, AND they die if you just look at them sideways. Here are the top ten causes of chicken deaths (in my  experience) that illustrate this point:*

10. When chickens are fertilized, they remain fertile for 40 days. Thus they can lay up to 40 fertile eggs before going broody. Then they sit on them for 23 days. They are lucky if 50% of them hatch. That's a 50% mortality rate right there. Before birth.

9. The baby chicks have to stay at 99.9 degrees F for the first week. That's pretty easy in my incubator (but harder than you'd think), but in the wild, Mom has to sit on them all the time. So any of the weak ones that can't fight their way under Mom's wing die the first night or the second.

8. Baby chicks also cluster together to stay warm, sometimes crushing or suffocating the bottom guy. Oops.

7. If they don't get exposed to your dirt early enough, they won't develop the antibody to coccidiosis, which can be fatal.

6. As they get older, they start playing on branches and boxes. But if they fall, oops, dead.

5. Even older chickens can get pushed out of a tree or fall off a roost wrong and, yes, die. They are NOT like cats. They don't always land on their feet. Au contraire, they tend to break their necks!

4. A laying hen can become egg-bound and, well, die.

3. A stupid chicken can eat a bad wild growing mushroom, and die. (I always thought they knew the difference, but I guess she was hungry.)

2. A chicken of any age can get a cold and die.

And the number 1 reason for chicken deaths . .. . .  They are eaten by many, many species, at all stages of life . . . . cats, mongoose, dogs, chicken hawks, snakes, and especially humans (roasted, broiled, baked, stewed, rotisseried, friccaseed...yum!).

*Note that despite the constant "chickens crossing the street" on the various islands of Hawai'i, and chickens dashing to avoid cars, I have never even once seen a chicken hit by a car!

We miss our friends....

We miss our friends and our routines...

December, as always, is a bad month for us. This year, even worse. Economically, at least. So we had to crank back on our usual social activities. Thus we have not spent time with some of our dear friends. It spilled over into January, and then we were out of town, and it seems forever. Many of our comforting routines are broken, yet to be re-established. Then, to add to our disconnectedness, we have conflicts for two of our annual events that we were looking forward to, and never miss. Aaargh. We love you and miss you, if you are among those we haven't been able to see in awhile....

Roosters don't play well together...

Roosters don't play well together!

Okay, we built the new pen. Now we have seven. Seven pens. Ten adult roosters. Two new crowing roosters. And probably four more coming up. Do the math. Any way you look at it, we have too many roosters.

In the big cage, Racer and his son, Blackcape, get along fine. There is a third rooster in there, however, Scrappy, that is not doing so well. With 30+ hens, 3 roosters should be fine. We had a cute little red rooster we wanted to keep in there, but Blackcape fought with him for an entire day, and we finally had to take him out. We traded him to Kui for Minerna, a Cuckoo Moran hen. But Scrappy was still there, and Blackcape was leaving him alone. But yesterday, Racer beat him up, probably for jumping one of his favorite hens. But after that, Scrappy has been giving Racer a wide berth. So it may be okay. Worth the scarred comb.

In the transition pen, we had three roosters, Sammy, a big combed multicolored rooster with three inch spurs, Rosy, a young rose combed rooster with a beautiful face, and Cocoa, a young but huge Cuckoo Moran rooster, and three hens. Surprisingly, all three hens were laying. But Sammy definitely had the young roosters on the run. If Sammy was downstairs, they were up; if Sammy was upstairs, they were down. But no one was getting beat up. When we built the new pen, we put Rosy and Cocoa in it with six of the juvenile hens from the family pen. Rosy is a scrapper, and, despite Cocoa's weight and size, he's a mild-mannered fellow, and Rosy claimed all the hens. Then we put Minerna in there, and Rosy wanted her, too. But Cocoa put up a fight and ended up bloody. When Rosy wouldn't let up, we had to remove him. However, the hospital pen was occupied, so we stuck him in the brooder room, it not being occupied at the moment. Now, the brooder room contains 40-50 day-old chicks fairly well. But an innovative, pissed-off rooster with an entire night to plan? No way. He found the cracked window, planned his route, and, at the crack of dawn, was high tailing it out across the yard to rejoin his hens. Our four chicken-chasing dogs took off, chasing him into the neighbor's yard,which is when I realized that a chicken was where he shouldn't be, and Kui and I went to the rescue. Me to round up the mutts and get them inside (Panter has yet to forgive me) and Kui to corner the roo. We finally got him. But what now. The current hospital cage resident was a young Cuckoo Moran rooster, so we put him in with Cocoa, and Rosy went in the hospital. We still don't know what to do with him. He's a beauty. And we have a hen that looks just like him. Hate to put him in the pot, but he doesn't seem to get along with anyone else. And Cocoa? So far, he's getting along fine with Chocolate Chip. As long as Chocolate Chip keeps running from him and leaves Minerna alone!

Why was Chocolate Chip in the hospital pen to begin with? He was an exotic free bird from McMurray that was in Tonto's pen. As soon as he started crowing, Tonto started fighting with him. Poor Chocolate Chip was so scared, he hid under the fence edge (very dangerous) and wouldn't come out. So we took him out, for his own sake. Since then, another rooster has started crowing, but we don't know which one, and haven't noticed any chasing! We hope that Tonto will accept one of them!

In Brother's cage, where we put the last batch of juveniles, there were two red and black roosters that were fighting amongst themselves. We gave one to Kui, but Brother and the one that is left are still arguing over the hens, and the hens don't like it much either. The brown egg layers are doing okay; lots of new eggs. But the Marys have all but stopped laying. We may butcher that rooster in the next rooster cleansing. The hens must be happy at all costs.....

No more WWOOFERs!

We're done with WWOOFing....at least for now.

We survived two WWOOFER visits, not without considerable damage, mostly emotional. What are the positives, and what did we learn?

Hmmmmm...

We did get the downstairs area cleared out, fixed up and inhabitable. There is a Hawaiian couple living there now, in exchange for yard work and care taking. We added an outdoor sink, refrigerator,  Coleman stove,  toaster oven and microwave. We were motivated by the WWOOFER program, so that was good.

We found out that people who have not lived on the Big Island, or are not local, do not really understand the Hawaiian land. What is valuable, what is not. The way of life in the country here. It took us awhile to get it. But we were patient and open-minded. And we got it. Don't judge people by their dress; don't judge a house by its driveway; chickens don't care if their coop is painted.

Our farm is healing, with love and aloha.

We have 80 chickens in the layer flock at the moment; 30 meat chicks on order and about 10 roasters (4 - 6 lb) in the freezer. We get about 20 eggs a day (12 of the flock are roosters and 20 are juveniles, too young to lay), and sell out weekly.  We need to butcher roosters, but they are all so pretty... Want to buy any?

We finally have a dog poop worm box going! Took a few tries, but with our tenants' two dogs, that makes 6 on the property, and tons of poop. Evidently, it's strong, so the worms want a high ratio of paper to poop.

Since Jeana moved in, we have lost many of our weeds. The yard is looking great. We are making dirt in one of our raised beds with all the chicken poop and worm compost. And piling up debris and papaya waste along one side of the yard for the papaya trees. Someday we may not have to travel to Kona to get our papaya! And Kui has been cleaning out the chicken pens - the chickens are happy and the dirt pile grows!

I'll keep you posted!

TP...Again!

TP...Again!

Really? Is THIS how they thought they would save money? Or did someone along the supply chain "skim off the top?" Or did a batch slip through quality control? Or, maybe someone told marketing that they were making the holders smaller, and the rolls were too tight. In any case, I'm amazed. Two rolls, from my favorite brand, Charming (name changed to protect me from libel).

I'm back!

I'm baaaaack!

Where've I been? Busy, I suppose... Oh, and I'll admit it, too sluggish and depressed to blog. Not that life is happening any worse than usual; it's more that somehow I have seen fit to totally give myself over to my addiction to carbs and sugars. And, to make it worse, I have a partner in crime. We have been binging on a pint of Haagen-Das daily, combined with fresh sourdough bread, bags of M&Ms, candy bars, pies, homemade Mac-n-cheese, and tons of cereal. Not much room left there for protein and veggies! I'm so "tired," I sleep 12 hours a day. Not much time left to do anything. Normally, I eat a diet high in meat and veggies, low in sugar. And I sleep 6 hours a day. Oh, and this behavior has rewarded me with 20 lbs.! The same 20 I lost by eating correctly for 6 months! This has to stop. Today. I hope. I did say this yesterday, then ate my ice cream. But today is a new day.

Anyway, expect several blogs on a variety of unrelated topics, as much has happened in carbo-world!