I'm home!

I just arrived in Atlanta. I'm not going to write again until I'm back on the farm in January. But stay tuned for a tale about two slugs in love...true story.

Happy Holidays!

Dancing

The weekend before last I attended a house concert in the marvelous attic of an old home in the heart of Victoria. It is an interesting thing going to an event where you know pretty much no one. (I don't count meeting someone once as knowing them). Now, I'm definitely a social person and I love love love meeting new people and finding myself in weird situations. Which is I why I was absolutely thrilled when I sat next to Tittilating Todd (this is the adjective he chose when I asked him to describe himself with a word that started with T).

I sat down in the empty seat next to him and without looking at me he said "I've seen you before." "Mmmmm...." I think I said (insert any intonation of voice here as they probably all fit the situation.) "At a concert at Alex Goolden Hall" he added, continuing to stare straight ahead. And without flinching, he slyly reached into his pocket and handed me a 2x2 inch square of paper. It was an invitation to a Disco, Funk, Soul dance party!!!! I am sure in that moment I totally ruined the covertness of the situation when I expressed my utter excitement of being invited to a dance party!!!!

So this past weekend it snowed! Yup. We got two inches of beautiful white snow on the farm. But there was no snow high enough to keep me from attending the mysterious dance party. Honestly, it was about time I moved my rockin moves outside of the trailer. So I braved the roads (sorry mama) and drove really really slowly until I got to the highway.

It was totally worth the slow drive because I went absolutely CRAZY!!!! Oh my goodness...I danced and danced for hours and hours...just thinking about it makes my face beam.

For me, dancing is like the ultimate moment of living a rich life. I've told many of you this before...I want to die dancing. That's right. If any of you happen to be around me when I'm dying, I need you to get me up dancing...so that I go mid twirl. Ha! Then one of you can write about it in Chicken Soup for the Dancing Soul.

Time to leave the library now and have my own dance party in the trailer.

Pigs

I think I may have mentioned that we got four baby pigs earlier this
month. Well, they aren't babies anymore...and they just keep getting
bigger and bigger. The weekend before last, Marika was out of town.
This meant I had to take over the pig and morning chickens duties.

Wow.

That's all I have to say. Feeding 52 hungry animals (48 of them with
sharp beaks) is a lot to handle at 7 o'clock in the morning. My first morning feeding the chickens did not go too smoothly. I just couldn't attach the feed tray to the thing it hangs from fast enough...so they were all over it and me. I was totally sweating by the time I left the coop.

Now compared to the chickens, the pigs are a piece of cake. The only discomfort with the pigs is that they bite a my gum boots. I'm worried about what they'll bite at when their bigger. My uncle reassures me that they only do this when they are young...it is
their natural reaction to get the milk to come. Sorry piggies! Ain't
gonna get no milk out of me! It's pretty funny to watch them eat
because they are so mean to each other! Pushing each other out of the way...and standing in the feed tray. Such pigs!

When I went out on Friday night it was very strange to have the thought "Well, I can't stay out too late cause I've got to feed the pigs and chickens in the morning." Never in my wildest dreams did I foresee a thought like this entering my mind in this lifetime. Ha!

I'm still having photos issues with the farm computer...but you can check out pictures of the pigs on my flikr account.

Slug Battle

The caterpillars and slugs are devouring my lettuce plants. Now, I have the utmost respect for my fellow vegetarians...but I have very low tolerance for those who invite themselves over for dinner and then defecate on the leftovers. How crass!

Several weeks ago I transplanted an entire bed of lettuce in my greenhouse...and when I went to check them out a couple days later there were entire sections totally missing! THEY ATE THEM ALL!
Those merciless little creatures. So with Mary's advice I constructed the ultimate gauntlet. I dug a trench in the entrance of the greenhouse and filled it with rocks, ashes, and broken egg shells. Nice caustic materials on tender flesh. I transplanted onions in the newly emptied pockets, and sprinkled ashes around all the beds.

One morning Mary handed me a "slug kit" she put together. The contents of the white bucket contained two grapefruit peels, two avocado peels, two cat food containers, and a half full can of beer. I was told to put the avocado and grapefruit peels face down on the soil because the slugs like to crawl in a hang out. The cat food cans I buried in the soil and filled them with beer. A nice alcoholic swimming pool for the critters to have an after dinner drink and die.

Last week I did my first "night patrol." This involves walking through the greenhouse with a headlamp scouting out slugs and cutworms. The first night I attempted this it was too early and I only found 18 slugs in motion (slow motion) not having quite reached their feasts. But I plucked them right out of their delightful pilgrimage to Mecca and put them in a jar to be saved for the chicken's breakfast. The following night it was far too cold and I only found 1 slug. But tonight, the conditions should be just right. There are enough clouds in the sky for it not to be too cold for slug flesh and I plan to make my prowl at just the right hour of the night.