Silver Bells and Cockle Shells

(above scans: Cosmos)

(pink eye purples: hull and pea)

If there's one thing i've learned about the garden this year, it is to be fearless. Take things out before they take out their leguminous neighbors. My Armenian cucumbers are getting seriously out of hand. They're reaching out for tomato cages, propping up their octopus like extensions on peppers, lima beans, and the like. It's hard to enjoy the taste when you know you're digesting a bully. Another thing is to know your crop.... it's harder than you'd think to judge when something is at its prime, ready to be plucked and enjoyed. I may have waited a little too long to harvest my pink eye purples. If I was sick when they did the "Know When to Harvest your Garden" lesson plan in elementary school, i'm paying for it now. Learn as you go. Next year i'll move up the ladder from Guppy Gardener to Minnow Gardener.

Color me Badd.

This week has felt like trying to fit a square peg
in a round hole. My dad used to tell me "Megan, you
hold the keys to your happiness.", and since I think he's right
on this one, i've been following a strict "pull through" regimen of
listening to bad top 40 radio songs, visiting our cute
new bantam chicks and repeatedly telling myself
to just man up. Haven't thrown in the towel yet.

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light energy → C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Well kids, I never thought i'd say it, but I like Atlanta. This city has charmed me with it's Botanical Gardens, Six Flags, and Flying Biscuit Apple Butter. What it lacks in public transportation and pleasant summer climate it makes up for in beautiful old neighborhoods and a little Southern je ne sais quoi. Today is my first full day back at the farm after a little bit of dog sitting up in the city. I enjoyed my visit and thanks to my two city tour guides, I can take the sneaky back ways with the best of them. The pictures from the Botanical Gardens just don't do it's photosynthetic tenants justice. Go!

This Little Pig, or, That's How we Pull Pork.

(picture below taken by Alexis)

I knew it would be great, and it was. Pork. Smoked hog to be exact. To wrap up the Super Supreme French Week here at the farm my dad put into motion what I can best describe as a massive meat medley. How does one go about sponsoring one of these carnivorous reveries you may be wondering? Well, with any luck, you have a big-hearted, energetic man named Walt in your friend arsenal. Walt's the kind of man who's willing to drive from Baton Rouge, through the night, to pull into your driveway at 4 in the morning with his truck loaded down with meat products, a herculean smoker, a tent, multiple homemade sauces, several shirts to sweat through, and enough energy to wake up in three hours to begin an all day cooking affair. Hell of a guy. And a hell of a meal. Just so you get the full picture, the plate you see above, chock full of pulled pork, corn, coleslaw, and black eyed peas, was just day 1. Day 2 was beef brisket, sausage, and another bouquet of sides. Something to be thankful for, for a good long while.

Also, you might want to check out this article the NY Times did on pig roasting a few weeks ago. A different method than what we went with, but maybe next time?

Welcome to America

Les Francais sont arrivés! In the span of 4 days the farm has begun to resemble a French Refugee Camp. With a "merci" here, and a "de rien" there, we've managed to peacefully coexist, two cultures, two languages, in a house bursting at the seams, and everyone breathing in air that more closely resembles hot mud. We've been passing the time doughnut eating, afternoon swimming, laughing at ourselves, and watching old home movies with a projector and a canvas on the front porch. Everyone is being well fed and well watered (or wined) and that doesn't hurt in the morale department. Here are some pictures from the vacation so far.....

Brad and Dad's hard work has paid off. The finished outdoor shower.

Antoine "clothesline" de Givenchy.

A still of my Aunt 20 years ago smoking her pipe in neon green overalls.
That's hard to beat.

Charlie our friendliest goat. Nuff said.

CSI: Hancock County

It's not intentional that mum has been my word this week. Sometimes life just sweeps you up in a whirlwind of doings and goings on and you can't seem to extract yourself long enough to discern the common thread that runs through the whirlwind. On the 4th, I "un"surprised my mom by running the Peachtree with her. Long story short, I have been stealth training since January to run with her, but the cat got out of the bag a little early. Surprise or no surprise, it was still one of the best experiences of my life. To finish the day off Brad and I got to visit with his family and enjoy a little turkey BBQ all the way from Whitt's in Decatur, Alabama. Perfect Taste Sensation.

This week we're in the home stretch of readying the house for the arrival of 20 French People; Bretons, to be exact. Mom's bought all of the air mattresses in the greater Atlanta area, and we're scraping walls and windows, weed whacking, outdoor shower building, painting, fixing air conditioning units, hanging curtains, etc. Basically, we've voluntarily entered the realm of a TLC home improvement show, without the freebie budget or glam cam crew. It's a lot of old fashioned sweating.

Found beneath one of the walls after scraping.

Maybe this picture is morbid, but I have never seen a mole in my life, and
I walked up to Little Bud right after he killed this mole. I thought
the proportions of it's digging claws in relation to the rest of it's
body rather unbelievable, even though, the whole event was sad. He's
in hot water right now for killing a few of our pullets this morning.
Needless to say, this afternoon was devoted to finishing the dog pen.

The two photos above were taken of an old receipt ledger that goes back to
the days when the general store was buying many of their goods from the Macon
Grocery Co. The ledger, although I guess it's really more of an
organizational holder, is in really good condition and maybe one of the best
things we've found on the property. If she looks pretty in picture, just imagine
the patina on this gal in person.

Growth Spurt

I'm the kind of lady who is fond of a name. Names for animate objects, names for inanimate objects. Already got a name? No problem, i'll give you another. Knowing this, i'd like to formally introduce you to my recently named vegetable garden, Growth Spurt. She's a lamb of a garden, (as my friend Catherine would say), but she's one hell of a grower. I've spent the last two afternoons in the garden trying to get her to pull herself together. The cucumber vines were trying to manifest destiny themselves across both sides of the garden, and the tomato stems were buckling with all of their new fruit. You might not be able to tell it in the picture, but I inverted one tomato cage on top of another and tied them together, as well as to the stake, so that they would have more structure to reach their full potential. It's just what good parents try to do...

As I entered the garden this evening, to photograph Growth Spurt's
progress I decided to let Bud, our littlest canine, take in the sights
and smells with me. Normally, the dogs aren't allowed in, but he's
just so damn cute sometimes. Needless to say, Bud selected the
lima beans as worthy of his leg lift. And below, you see him
processing my response. Rule with an iron fist, they say.

Little Bud is the animal with the most names here on the farm
they include, but are not limited to, the following; Napo, King Richard,
Little Richard, Little Shit, Rambo, Taco Mac, Ricky, and Get Down.
(most of these names have been ascribed to him by others...)

On the subject of adolescence, here is one of our Rhode Island Reds,
out for her afternoon walk. All of our pullets are growing at an
almost alarming rate, and they have nearly surpassed the B Team
in size. It's hard not to spend all day watching them scratch around now
that they're big enough to free range.

Here's what Brad's been up to today. He's in the middle of building
a dog pen for our three little monkeys for when we're out with the animals,
and we don't want to worry about them upsetting whoever we're trying
to focus on. I'll show you a finished product in the next few days.