The Garden Gate

War and Peaceable Kingdom

2012-01-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I joined a book club, which was kind of a difficult decision for me. I am very jealous of my reading time, as it is limited at this point in my life, and I don't want to mess around reading something in which I have no interest. The first two selections I enjoyed and would have read anyway. However, January's selection, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, was another story altogether. I dreaded reading this book. I knew several people who had read it and reported that while it was a very good read, it was a difficult one due to the subject matter. I was advised not to read it before bedtime. Ack! I read up to a certain point and then put it down, thinking I would just have to wimp out and beg off this month's discussion. However, by the time the brutal part arrived, I found myself not being able to put the book down, even taking it to bed with me to finish. It is an incredible story; and while I rarely recommend books on my blog, this is one that I highly endorse. So far, my book club is three for three and my decision to join has been reinforced.

Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks ca.1834
National Gallery of Art
In the public domain

So that's the "war" part of this post. The"Peaceable Kingdom" refers to one of my favorite motifs in American art as portrayed no less than 61 times by Edward Hicks, one of my favorite artists. The symbols in Hicks' works refer to the prophecy in Isaiah 11:6, which reads, "The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

Birds & Beasts Rejoice
by Bittersweet House
for Christmas of Olde
©2001

How happy I am when I can find the peaceable kingdom expressed in needlework! I stitched a sweet little sampler this week with this very theme. I will probably finish it as an ornament rather than framing it, using Vonna's tutorial. The fact that I stitched Birds & Beasts Rejoice the same week I read Unbroken was pure coincidence, but it was a very appropriate bookend to a story about the horrors of war.

As for the news from the Coop de Grace, it is a mixed bag. I have been waging my own little war against red mites, which in spite of my preventive measures, have invaded on the wings of the wild birds. I will spare you any photos. Dolley has started to molt with a vengeance, which means the end of her egg production for awhile, but Abigail has resumed giving us her gorgeous brown eggs. Let all the birds and beasts rejoice over that one!

Until next time have a happy, peaceful week, everyone!

Cleaning House

2012-01-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy January so far at The Garden Gate and the Coop de Grace, but I always enjoy the fresh start of a new year and the motivation that comes with it to organize and indulge my organizational OCD. (The rest of the year I am in recovery, as anyone who takes a really close look at my house will tell you.) And although packing away the Christmas stuff was easy this year, I am still reminded of the woeful lack of storage in this house. With my newly found love of canning, I had to do some serious reallocation of closet space this summer, but it still isn't enough. For example, I would love to have a pantry that looks like this:

As for other "house" cleaning, we are taking advantage of all of our winter greens to try to mitigate the excess of holiday eating. Right now the lettuces are tender and flavorful, and we have been eating a lot of salads. This year I planted some new varieties of heirloom greens, including Little Gem Romaine, Red Romaine, Buttercrunch, Tom Thumb Butterhead, Bronze Mignonette, and arugula. The cilantro I used in a citrus vinaigrette in which I also used our blood oranges. Remarkably, we are still getting grape tomatoes from one of our plants, and they are very good. The girls are also benefiting from the greens in our garden and it is fun to mix up a good salad for them, too.

Green goodness

Coop de Grace special

Stitching has been at a minimum these past two weeks, as there really has been too much to be done both indoors and out, but I shan't leave you without a house-related stitching photo.

"By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
and by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches." ~ Proverbs 24:3,4

Have a great week, everyone!

Taking Stock

2011-12-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Gee, I could be holding a chicken

I love this final week of the year. The Christmas is put away, but ideas for next year are already swirling in my head. For me it is a time of reviewing, reorganizing, recommitting and remembering. It's a slower week, a time to enjoy not having to rush to do anything.

But what a year it has been! We have added to our family with the birth of our first grandchild, a beautiful little girl named Cecilia Madeline. A full year as a chicken wrangler has come and gone, and I am amazed at what I have learned from those girls. We finished two bathroom remodels ~ something years in the making. I have made wonderful new friends, spent cherished time with old ones and have sadly said good bye to others. My community has expanded. I have learned new skills, and I have learned ways to give back that I never would have imagined.

Hannah Lancaster, unplugged

On the stitching front, my greatest accomplishment was the completion of Hannah Lancaster ~ my All Time Favorite Sampler. This is big stuff for me. I have loved seeing other stitchers' years in review, and I am in unmitigated awe as to what my stitching sisters accomplish. They truly inspire me, and I am busy taking notes as to what I want to do in 2012.

And while the rest of my family spends New Year's Day at the Big Lebowski Fest to be held in my living room ~ which thank Heaven has not been turned into a bowling alley ~ I will probably put Hannah in her frame, which has been waiting for her for months. And then I may just decide to abide in my new bathtub, with perhaps a White Russian resting on the little table as just a nod, don't you know. But I do think I need a rug to tie the whole thing together, don't you?

So wherever you may be abiding this weekend, may it be filled with peace, prosperity and friendship. Happy New Year, my friends!

Rainy Day

2011-12-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Christmas coop ~ not a chicken in sight

We have had a large cold front move into our desert, and the last two days have seen nothing but dripping skies (although the sun is trying to peek through this morning). The girls have been confined to the coop, with scurries into the run when the rain temporarily subsides. I have to say I did the same thing, waiting for a pause between drops before trips into the garden for salad greens and to visit the coop to tidy up and freshen the water.

But I love this weather, and what a perfect day to stay cozy inside. I have been taking my time in decorating the house ~ I am keeping it simple, fresh and handmade this year, and it's my belief that simplicity does not hurry. (And in my case, neither does handmade!) We did forgo our large and small artificial trees this year for one small fresh one, which we placed in our keeping room off the kitchen as this is where we spend most of our time and where we gather with our friends and family. In the other rooms, I have placed boughs of cedar and pine, and a little goes a long way.

Over the weekend I gathered some things growing in the gardens to make potpourri and garlands, as well. I have pomegranates (both large and ornamental), which are perfect for placing in bowls with dried oranges from the trees and cinnamon/clove ornaments made with an antique cookie cutter. Today, I will make pomanders with my lemons studded with cloves, and Thursday I will string my garlands. By focusing more on the "let Heaven and nature sing" part of the holiday and less of the "ho, ho, ho," we can enjoy all of these things throughout our winter season and beyond. With only one small tree to pack up and put away, it doesn't get any more simple than that.

I hope you are enjoying this season of Advent. Peace and plenty to all of you!

Home, home on the (free) range

2011-12-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

I am still having production problems with the girls. At least the girls who are not molting. This week, Abigail decided it was her turn. This time of year in the Southwest they should be back to the levels of last spring, I would think. (All of the girls have been laying for less than a year.) At that time, we had not yet enclosed a larger run and the girls were making themselves at home all over the back yard and patio. I took a look at my current coop and run setup and realized that it is now almost completely shaded all day long. Could not enough light be the problem? My husband was skeptical, but he lacks chicken intuitiveness.

The girls and my last eggplant harvest

While getting a pedicure last week, I happened to quiz one of the nail techs who has a huge flock in a more rural area of town. The first thing he said was, "They aren't getting enough light." Ha! So, with much protestation coming from the no-chicken-keeping-in-the-DNA crowd, I decided to let them free-range once again. Which means watching them like a chicken hawk. We have done some work on our yard since then, and keeping them out of the gardens is a challenge. One of the things we did was remove a small area of lawn (read: ugly Bermuda grass), and began working on a new garden area. As most of our yard is taken up with the cement pond, gardening space is at a premium, and grass just seemed like a tremendous waste of water and real estate. I am now working on a plan to extend the run to replace a problem area in the garden, but one with a lot of sun.

At 2 in the afternoon, not a speck of sunlight

Shaded coop and new garden area

So once again, I have patio chickens; and on occasion when the weather is nice and I have the door open, I have kitchen chickens, too. They come for the cat food. Fortunately, Marguerite, the cat, likes only tuna, so Chicken of the Sea is the only chicken on the menu; it is perfectly safe for the girls to eat.

In the meantime, we had a little freeze last night, and my eggplants and basil are toast. We were just about to dig them up anyway, so letting the chickens do some of the digging for us works out really well for everyone.

Making hay in the freeze-damaged eggplant

The jury is still out as far as my egg production goes, although Dolley, my only consistent layer at this point, has stepped it up. I am hoping that the B-52 and Eleanor will soon follow.

A tale of two tushies

The end(s).

It's been a quiet week at the Coop de Grace. . .

2011-11-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

. . .but not so quiet at The Garden Gate. Lots of hornbook frames to make for the new Plum Street Samplers Salem Hornbook (available at your local needlework shop);

Photo credit: Plum Street Samplers

and lots of preparation for our annual golf tournament/fund raiser for Sunshine Acres Children's Home in Mesa, Arizona, a worthy cause if there ever was one;

Photo credit: Sunshine Acres Children's Home
and East Valley Charities

and trying to finish up a bathroom remodel. (NEVER again!) Photos coming soon :~)

The most excitement around the coop was the introduction of Greek yogurt into the girls' diet. It is a great source of protein, and I am still trying to get them quickly through their molts. I think it must be working, as Bea's feathers are coming in rather nicely. Compare this neck photo with the last neck photo and the difference is obvious. She looks almost normal again.

Yogurt beak Bea

So short but sweet, that's the news from The Coop de Grace and The Garden Gate, where all the gardeners are strong, the chickens good looking and the eggs are above average. (My apologies to Garrison Kellior.)

Tossed salads & scrambled eggs

2011-11-10T14:13:00.002-07:00

I sure don't have a clue to the meaning of the lyrics of the "Fraser" theme song, but around here it's what the girls have been getting for breakfast.

Oh my how they love their eggs! Hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, deviled eggs, eggs Florentine, a little egg shells all crumbled up ~ well, you get the idea. I just never feed raw eggs to my hens. There is not a raw-egg eater in the bunch, and I hope to keep it that way.

I have increased their protein intake because of this poor little girl. Yes, Beatrice is molting. Isn't she a sight? It seems like she dropped nearly all of her feathers overnight. For the first few days she was quite embarrassed. However, several days of scrambled eggs in the morning seemed to ease her emotional trauma. And mine.

When a chicken molts, they stop laying eggs. Conventional hen wisdom tells us that this is because all the nutrients needed to produce eggs are used instead to produce new feathers. A feather is 85% protein, so an increase in protein intake should help them through their molt. According to Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens ~ my Dr. Spock for my feathered babies ~ the best layers molt early and fast. Bea is a good example of that. On the other hand, the poorer layers molt early and slowly. Eleanor, my Barred Rock, slowly molted in late summer and she still has not resumed laying. I am hoping that the increased protein helps. Pretty as she is, I don't need another non-producing diva.

I think Beatrice is grateful for the new item on the breakfast menu, as she posed for this portrait. How can I not love a face like that?

The Coop de Grace

2011-11-04T19:08:00.001-07:00

So what is with that corny play on words, anyway? It is a tribute to this woman, my grandmother, Grace Whittenburg Shaw (shown holding my sweet dad as a baby). A farmer's wife, she is the first person I remember who kept chickens, except hers were not pets. Ahem. I'm not sure what she would have thought about my ga-ga-ness over my girls, but I think she might be pleased that I have a little flock of my own. When I was little, my folks used to call me "Little Grace," as they thought I resembled her. As I have grown older, I realize that we have more in common than I ever could have imagined as a child. Sometimes I wish I could have known my grandmothers at the age I am now. Thankfully, much of them remain in my parents, my aunts and uncles and in some of the treasures they have left behind.

Now that you have the back story, I think it is time to introduce you to my little flock. They all have their own personalities, which was just one of the lovely surprises of having my own backyard chickens. Honestly, I don't think I will every look at a fryer in the grocery store in quite the same way again. Speaking of which, I get a lot of questions about whether or not I will eat my chickens when they have outlived their egg production years. Are they serious? I have named these birds and I kiss their heads (oh yes I do). I look them in the eye every single day and have been known to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to the Buff Orpingtons. I have their retirement coop already planned. Enough said.

Still with me? Here we go.

First, allow me to introduce you to the Buff Orpingtons, Abigail (right) and Dolley (left). They are my reliable layers. They are always the last to go into the coop at night. Abigail is the escape artist of the flock and my husband refers to her as his "white whale." He swears up and down that Dolley stands sentinel while Abigail digs out a tunnel under the fencing around the run. The garden with all of its tender shoots is their goal. I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. But they are good girls. For the most part.

Dolley & Abigail scouting escape routes.

Next is my beautiful Plymouth Barred Rock, Eleanor. She is the Queen of the Coop, first in the pecking order. She definitely has the queen attitude. Her little toadie is Frances, a Sliver Laced Wyandotte. Frances is the most beautiful of all the hens, I think. However, she is barren. She has never produced an egg. So I am happy to keep her as my coop ornament. She can be kind of aloof, which I attribute to her "I am the prettiest of all" status.

Eleanor ~ It's good to be Queen.

Frances, famous turkey impersonator.

And lastly we have Beatrice, or the B-52, as she is sometimes called. Bea is an Ameracauna, and she lays beautiful blue eggs. She is another good layer. Bea is just a good old girl, friend to all. She recently pulled a fast one on me, a story which I will tell soon. I learned a lesson from her, but not before giving the Tempe police department a good laugh.

Beatrice, the B-52, waiting
for tea and crumpets.
Star of the Tempe PD.

So there you have the girls of The Coop de Grace. They are a lovely little flock. They have taught me a lot in the past year. And I love them with all my heart.

Under my own vine & fig

2011-11-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I decided to take a little break from blogging to devote more of my attention to family matters. In fact, I drastically cut back on all social media. I needed a breather. I did not intend to be gone so long, but I needed to reconnect with my inner introvert. However, while I was doing that, something else happened: I became an urban farmer.

It all began quite innocently enough. For awhile my husband and I had been trying to eat locally and seasonally, which led us to gardening in our back yard. We built beds and planted our first small crops. We went on garden tours and talked with a lot of experienced folks. Soon, our conversations were filled with words like “sustainability,” “permaculture,” and could talk compost with the best of them. Our garden grew. We planted more fruit trees. I learned to can, and I didn't blow a hole in the ceiling.

It didn't take long for us to realize that many of the master gardeners in our area also kept a flock of chickens. Curious (and with my husband ecstatic over with the thought of chicken manure for the compost bin), we went on our first Tour de Coops in the Phoenix area. We knew that very day that this was something we wanted to do. And so the adventure began.

For the next year we designed the back yard to accommodate a chicken coop, looked at coop plans online, talked with chicken people (including some of my family members) and read, read, read. I subscribed to Backyard Poultry magazine. Soon it was time to bring home our little flock, five beautiful pullets. The Coop de Grace was born, and I have not been the same since.

The urban farm community, both local and online, has been so giving and willing to share what they have learned along the way, that I in turn want to do the same for others who may be fledgling gardeners and coop keepers like us. A couple of decades ago, someone who helped me immensely in my life's journey told me that his personal philosophy was that he was “just a beggar showing other beggars where to find food.” While he meant this in a spiritual sense, I think this also applies to just about any area of human endeavor. At The Garden Gate it is gardening and keeping chickens, cooking simply, living simply, re-purposing whenever possible, pursuing creative outlets, and sharing our bounty with family and friends.

So while I haven't given up the things that made up the former Garden Gate, I hope I have certainly “re-purposed” it into something of a richer brew. Thanks for stopping by! Don't be a stranger ~ the garden gate is open.