A tale of two Jacksons

I just posted an incomplete post. I had written 4 more paragraphs and ! Poof! Everything disappeared! I was to defeated to rewrite, therefore I don't know if you'll ever "hear" the rest of the update....

Anyway, I have a New story today. We were coming up from the pigs and, right there in my path, on the grey ramp, was a gorgeous neon green horned Jackson chameleon, approximately 7" long, walking very slowly towards a tree. Not camouflaged at all. Our dogs have the bad habit of capturing and "playing" with these creatures. They do not survive the game. The dogs were nowhere around, so I quickly called Pat to help rescue the lizard. As we put it near the tree, we saw the female, a brown speckled gal without horns. She was safely in the tree, blending in and crawling up with good speed. He, on the other hand, in addition to being slow, and a poor color changer, apparently wasn't too good at finding his mate either. Once he got on the tree, he chose to climb the branch opposite to the one she was on. Sheesh! So Pat moved him to the correct branch. After that, he's on his own! However, she did stumble on a stump when climbing out of the brush, throwing her back out. But it's ok, we saved the lizard! Of course, we didn't have our phones on us for photos, and when we got back with them we couldn't find them. Where are they when you want them to pose for a photo shoot?

Wonder who we can save tomorrow?

A long over due update

It's a lazy Thursday morning, after five days off up early and rush, rush, rush. The dogs are sleeping in, too.

Panter sleeping on the bed

Kai sleeping on the floor

See? And I looked at my blog and realized I hadn't blogged in months! I have reasons, but they're not important. Blogging is a choice. You do it or you don't. 

One thing that's new, and a reason I am enjoying my blogging, is Swype. I was at an all-day meeting on Saturday (a challenge in itself) when I noticed the woman next to me writing very quickly on her iPhone by swiping her finger around the keyboard. I may be the last person on earth to find out about this, but it makes writing things on my iPad or iPhone really much faster and easier. One barrier down.

So what's new with the pigs? We are trying to breed Mother and Mohawk again. The hardest part was getting them in the same pen again. We had moved Mother into Mohawk's pen a few months ago (not without some difficulty). However, one day when we were gone, our tenant workers separated them. Reasons unclear. So now we are trying to get them back together. We need to figure out a better way to do it. The first time we moved Mother, our friend and fellow farmer said, "Put a rope on her foot and guide her to the pen. That way, if she bolts, you can trip her." Sounds easy enough. But the pig didn't want a rope on her foot. We spent a really long time inn the pen trying to get a rope on her foot.

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!