Saturday, May 24, 2008

Blueberries are here!

The blueberries are getting blue! And there is just something about homegrown blueberry goodness. They have a kaleidoscope of fabulous flavor that you just can't get from the ones in the store and not even from the farmers market. These are Misty Blue. I am not sure exactly how big they can get because Shraddha loves them too much to wait... or share for that matter LOL!











































We also found many beautiful red Pomegranate blossoms and almost ripe cherries! We know they are almost ripe because the birds haven't stolen all of them yet.


And is it just me or does it seem that animals follow Shraddha around like she is Snow White? If she could just get them to help out around here that would be FABULOUS!






This is Buffy and Puffy, they are Buff Orphington chicks. The other two New Hampshire Reds, are yet to be named and one of them is growing a comb. Highly suspicious of maybe not having the egg laying capability....


















Those flowers lasted forever mom, thanks!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Spiritual Inspirations

http://theknowledgelab.net/%28k%29now/Spirit/BuddhaDrankTequila.mp3

I love this!

Don't expect "perfection" from your teachers and rock stars. Allow
yourselves to relax enough so that you too can write, draw, play a musical
instrument and sing. Even Buddha and Jesus did things disapproved of by their
friends . "Imperfections" were part of their wisdom.

-Americ Azevedo
Lecturer: University of California, Berkeley.

Top 5 strangest things in our garden this week.





















5. Now this is also one of my favorites! Black Hollyhocks! Yeah they finally bloomed and I love them. They are striking and weird and gigantic at 8-10 ft tall! Only took almost 2 yrs to see so enjoy! I am already planning where and how many more for the next couple of years.





4. Check out this brown fuzzy hairy caterpillar! I figured out from http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ that it is the larva to a ....



Giant Leopard or Tiger Moth as seen on BugGuide.net



I remember we had quite a few of these giant leopard moths....in November... here is the pic of one laying eggs on the side of my house on 11/04/07











3. Alligator Lizards! I thought this was a skink! but on closer look... it seems it is not. We do have skinks and blue belly lizards but I have never seen a lizard that big up on our house! This guy was huge at about 16 inches long. But all skinks and lizards are very welcome here!


more on Alligator lizards.










2. What the heck! Is it a spider? Is it like a potato bug? ugh! Whatever it was... it was crawling toward me while I was folding laundry....EWWWWW! But you can be relieved to know it wasn't squished. It was gently placed back into the garden.... for us to find again later I am sure.


Here is what we learned from WhatsThatBug.com:


"The Solpugid is not an insect, it is an arachnid. It is related to spiders and scorpions, hence its common names Sun Spider or Wind Scorpion. In some places they are called Sand Puppies, but they are not related to dogs. Unlike Spiders and Scorpions, Solpugids do not have venom. They are harmless unless you are small enough to be considered food, in which case gram per gram, they might be the fiercest predators on the planet. We are lucky they don't weigh 150 pounds. They will eat anything they can catch, which is a benefit in the desert. "



1. Top strangest thing found in our garden this week!!!! AHHHHH!


Opossum with a huge long nose and huge long tail...eating out of Sadie's dog dish in the middle of the night. That thing was almost as big as our 16 lb cat Chamois! Now we know who made a huge den at the edge of our play yard. This seems to be an unusually fat Opossum, with a HUGE head! Must have been munching in Sadie's bowl for the past couple of years! Would that make it our pet? EWWWW!









This is one I found in the front yard on 5/26/07 wonder if it is the same one? Here it is in my hat... i was just too chicken to hold it in my hands. It was so cute when it was tiny!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Chillin with our Peeps 2

This is Betty (4/26/08 @ 2-3 wks old?) an Amerucana she and Rose will make blue/green eggs. They are our favorite most sweet and docile hens so far. (Wonder how I came up with Rose's name?)

This is Laverne, Shirley, and Ivanna. Figured out that Shirley is a White Leghorn - a good egglayer. They are about 5 weeks old and needed their own separte brooder because they pecked on the little ones. But with Shraddha, they think she is Mama and enjoy sitting with her and being held and kept warm.















To the left is baby a little golden seabright runt. Tiny (the one in the middle), as named by Danielle, has feathery feet. She might be a Mille Fleur, or another Amerucana. Either way she is very cute and friendly and it is funny to watch her walk (on eggshells LOL) with her feathery feet. Kinda like walking in scuba flippers!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Chillin with our Peeps

So 4/13/08 is about the time that we got our first set of 3 chicks. Here is Shraddha bright and early in the morning getting into the brooder with Laverne, Shirley and Ivanna.








Shraddha holding Laverne. Here she is only a 3 wks old Barred Rock. Quite possibly a bantam. Very cuddly!
















Barred Rock


















Shirley is the little puffy yellow one.... Shraddha's Favorite... at least this week.






Ivanna is the one with the yellow head and she is a White Crested Black Polish. You can see a tiny little top hat in this pic...





On the left.... I included a pic of a full grown polish bantam.




Shraddha spent hours at a time with these little chicks and they think she is mama. Sometimes she would even refuse to eat because she wanted to be with the chicks!!!!


One week later....I think LOL we picked up NINE more chicks. Shaking my head in disbelief...

A bunch of cute puffy little Amerucanas. They lay blue green and pink eggs...




















yes, this one is kicking back in Shraddha's hand... SEEE?

Friday, May 09, 2008

Go Green



I am so excited about starting Spiral Scouts!




- and, no, I am not Pagan....yet. Well, not a practicing one...Of course that depends on the definition LOL! I don't think I could be pigeon holed into just one specific spiritual practice or belief. But wow I am shocked by the response to people when they saw the news coverage on our new scouting troup. Shock, anger, and blank quiet nonresponses - I'm guessing that one is fear? LOL! But that is why it is so important to me. I want my kids to have a scouting experience that doesn't involve one specific religion, and to expose more kids and adults to tolerance and respect of other spiritual practices.






So in my excitement to start scouting....I started trying harder to find ways to be more green...




How green is your routine? click the go green button to pick up some great tips!




I'm thinking maybe it would be very green of me to just stay home today and uhm save gas yeah! And think of ALL the gas I would save....all those patients would stay home too! I have to do my part!


Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Check us out on the news!

We have tons to blog about and lots of catching up to do ... which I can easily do now that I have a FAST verizon anywhere access usb port thingy! Yeah!!! No more snails pace landline access.

So here is a quick preview.... stay tuned for more pics and info!
  • See what we have been doing with our friends at Spookiez Spot.
  • Check out a preview of a few of our new zoo.... uh em ... FAMILY members, that we are sharing with our friends.
  • Last but not least.... check us out on the NEWS!

Ok, off to clean the chickens and feed the kitchen....or something like that!

Ohm Shanti