Palm Sunday

Yes, it's Palm Sunday already, and was 89 degrees fahrenheit here at Calamity Acres a few hours ago!  Just one week until Easter, and our service readings this morning reflected the Passion. 

I want to apologize for something I wrote yesterday in this blog.  I made a very snide comment about people living in Johnson County being able to live and eat organic because they have the income.  I wasn't implying that it takes extra money to be organic (though it does at the grocery store) but...they also have the interest in taking better care of themselves... and can afford to.  Keith and I talked about it last night... we don't want to make any money from anything we do here.. in fact, we are hoping to give away part of our harvest this year.  We DO want to know from where a lot of our food comes....and that's one reason that Keith, especially, has become such an avid gardener.  We laughed this morning when we talked about the fact that 12 years ago when we met, he knew nothing of gardening... nor wanted to... he had very little contact with animals... he had grown up in Iowa and visited his uncle's farm but had little experience in the country, and now LOVES it... and he had planned to retire from the Army to somewhere warm and play golf the rest of his life. 

Instead, he does this:

(Radishes and more lettuce)

 And this

If you notice, the herbs are planted in a regular bin from Wal Mart, and the pepper, in a double bucket setup.. Homer Buckets from Home Depot.  We found these suggestions in an article in this month's Mother Earth News on container gardening.  The idea is that the water is in the lower container, and the roots will reach down for the water, growing strong and long.  We love (Keith loves) to experiment with things like this.

I have been busy, too... here are some new additions to our family:

These are a Bourbon Red tom, and two brown hens.  We have not had turkeys here since our beautiful Jake was killed by neighbor's dogs three years ago.  Helen, his partner, went nutso and despite the fact she had babies to care for, was frantic after Jake was gone.  We rehomed her with the poults. 

These turkeys were in a bad situation.  The tom does not have a full tail to display, and we are hoping his feathers grow back in.  The two hens were in a very, very dirty pen, with lots of mud and little shelter.  Their feathers are nasty and broken, and they have mud all over them.  We are hoping a few days in the sun help them dry out and start to heal.

This is a little closer view (though somewhat blurry) of what one of the hens looks like.  You can't tell but her lower feathers are all caked with mud, and her poor tail feathers are mostly broken off.  We hope to get them back in good shape.  Keith spread around a lot of feed when he let them loose in the little henyard... hoping to get them settled in.  The male was kept away from the females, and is more skittish.

Those of you who have turkeys will know what I mean when I say it's good to hear "turkey talk" again in the henyard. 

Woops.. I almost picked this guy up when I went to get eggs.  I saw him again about 3 hours later... the first of the year, and he was a big one.  He was going in and out of mouse holes, good for him!

Some of you are going to wonder if I am afraid of blackleg, keeping turkeys with the chickens.  We had intended to make a "turkey yard", in fact, we have the frame of a building up from several years ago.  It is on the "C" list now, though, and for the time being, the turkeys can stay in the little henyard.  I have kept turkeys and chickens together in the past... and know many who do.  I really wanted to get especially the two hens out of their situation, and into a cleaner one. 

Today is my brother Pete's 72nd birthday... I hope he had a quiet one, and though he does not read this blog (having no computer), I wish him Many Happy Returns of the Day!

(My paternal grandmother could only remember ONE birthday.. her oldest grandchild's... and April Fools Day!)