Fall Colors in the Sky

The leaves haven't started to turn yet, but the sky was all dressed up for fall this evening. The triplets and I enjoyed a nice cool evening walk and watched the sun set and  the sky celebrate the changing season. 

Sherlock, Watson, and Emily. Our triplets. 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Gifts (and a name change)

It has been quiet around here on the blog. But life has been happening on our little farm even even though I haven't been blogging about it. Every morning I wake up, deeply grateful to be where I am, on these 13 acres in rural Michigan. Grateful for the gifts of nature big and small--apples ripening on the trees, watching wild turkey poults grow up, watching fawns graze with their mothers in our fields, the song of birds, the kiss of rain, the beauty sunrises and sunsets, warm days and cool breezes, bright stars and crescent moons. Life is full of little miracles. 

A gift from Nature--this chipping sparrow nest is built entirely from pine needles and  goat hair from our miniature goats . I watched the sparrows gather the hair  from the barnyard fence each morning  this spring as I was caring for the the goats. 

You've probably noticed a name change on the blog. We've named our little farm Tangled Basket Farm. And soon, very soon, you will be able to purchase some products from our farm. I am setting up an Etsy shop that will have several of our organically grown heirloom garlic varieties, as well as my handwoven, one of a kind,willow baskets. I'll post the link when the shop is ready. 

Also watch for our third annual garlic giveaway. It has been so much fun to do the garlic giveaway the past the past two years, that we are doing it again this year. So stay tuned for a chance to win a few of our heirloom garlic varieties. 

I'm glad to be back to blogging. I also post almost daily to Tangled Basket Farm's facebook page. Click here to go to the page. If you enjoy what you see there, please hit like!

(Thanks to my neighbor Karen, for modeling with the chipping sparrow nest.)

Some days feel like like this...

fog--

no, not the kind that wraps around

heart and soul and paralyses

the kind that wraps around limbs and brain and makes the eyes heavy

mind numbing fatigue
that turns limbs into lead

fighting

words and actions that form as shadows 

then slip away--
that is life with chronic fatigue

Mama Blackbirds Aren't Black

Female Redwing blackbird 

Female Brewer's Blackbird

(At least I am pretty sure the second bird is a female Brewer's Blackbird. If someone knows differently, please let me know.)

Tiny Miracle

There are only two ways to live your life. One--as though nothing is a miracle. The other--as if everything is a miracle. (Albert Einstein)

Upset Robin

When I took my quick walk around the yard and garden this morning, I came across this very upset robin, chattering away on a fence post. 

It took me a minute to realize that the reason for his dismay was that a starling was in the tip top of the spruce tree that the robin's nest and babies are in. 

I think everything worked out okay in the end though, because later in the day, the robin was busy back at work finding grubs and flying back up to the nest with them. 

Linked to wild bird bird wednesday. 

Scent of Lilacs

Every morning, they are sitting there--holding hands--on the garden bench, near the fragrant lilac bush. She is wrapped up in a thick brown sweater, despite the already warm, sun drenched air.

I wave and they wave back. He helps her up, guiding her up the steps on to the back porch as she awkwardly maneuvers her walker. I follow them inside and fill a basin with warm water then gently unwrap her bandaged hand while he hovers behind me.

"Is it looking better?" he asks anxiously peering at the wound on the back of her hand.

"Yes," I have to say this as loud as I can, for he has lost most of his hearing. "It is looking better. It is healing well.  It is a beautiful wound."

He smiles, relieved, and goes back outside.

She looks at me and frowns. "It looks ugly," she says looking at the back of her hand.

"You know," I tell her, "It looked ugly when I first started seeing you." That was only 14 days ago. The wound had covered the entire back of her swollen and discolored  hand and was filled with  with yellow slough, and purulent gray drainage. Now it is beefy red and filled with healthy granulation tissue and is healing rapidly. Her fingers are no longer swollen and their color is normal. "Now it is a healthy wound. It is healing well. Nurses think the oddest things are beautiful--and to a nurse, a healthy healing wound is truly a thing of beauty."

She laughs every time I say that. I clean and dress the wound.

He comes back in, with fresh lilacs he has cut for the kitchen table and gently pats her freshly bandaged hand.

The tiny kitchen is filled with the scent of lilacs and of tender love.

They have been married for 57 years. She is standing on the brink of that immense chasm of dementia. He is losing his strength, and can barely hear. Yet, there is a breathtaking beauty  in their togetherness.

In a few short days the wound will be healed, and I will be seeing a different patient at 9:00 in the morning.  I am blessed that I have the privilege to have had a tiny part in their lives.

Shades of Pink

Trillium Grandiflorum in her many shades of pink. 

Evening Tulips

Tulips in the evening light. 

Tree Swallows

I got to watch this pair of tree swallows build their nest this afternoon. Or rather, I should say, I watched the female build the nest. She was busy all day flying back and and forth, carrying bits of straw, moss, and pine needles for the nest, while her partner sat on the fence and preened and sang all day long. I just hope that he'll be bringing her breakfast, lunch, and dinner while she is sitting on those eggs later on!

Edited to add--I some how labled these birds as barn swallows. They are tree swallows. Barn swallows have orange throats and buiild their nests in rafters and under the eves of buildings. Tree swallows are cavity nesters. 

Homemaking

It has been pretty busy around here in the homemaking department. 

House Wren

Bluebirds

Tree Swallow

Bluebird in Maple Tree

Spring Rain

April Moon

Full moon tonight. 

(Camera settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100 of a second). 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Little by Little Comes Spring

It has been one long cold spring. If it weren't for the crocuses, which started blooming several weeks ago, I may have just despaired that spring would ever come. 

I'm loving these pale blue crocuses that I tucked under a juneberry tree in the woods. 

I'm seriously behind on gardening. Between cold and frozen ground, and heavy rains, I have not yet gotten anything planted in the garden yet. The green you see poking up through this late snow, are rows of garlic and daffodils. 

The last couple of days, daffodils are finally starting to bloom. These is Tete-a-tete, a miniature early daffodil. 

A chickadee in an apple tree--photo taken today. The buds on the trees are just starting to break. This chickadee is one of pair that is building a nest in the nesting box on one of the posts of the barnyard fence. 

Little signs of Spring are so very welcome this year. 

Rainy Day Robin

Signs of Spring

Deer in the meadows....as the grass greens up, the deer come out of the woods to eat the green grass. There were eight does on the lawn this morning.

Dew sparkles in the green grass...so much more welcome than frost!

The sky blue of scilla flowers in the lawn...

A robin in the strawberry patch (which is just starting to green up). 

A row of golden daffodils light up the vegetable garden...

These snapshots were all from today. 

Sun in the Western Sky

The evening sky from a few days ago. The past couple of days have been rainy and cold. Things are very slowly greening up, and still very few flowers blooming. The rain is welcome though, as we had a serious drought last year and not much snow this winter.  

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Just a little chickadee

Practicing manual focus ....

Spring Goldfinch

Gold finches are slowly getting their color back. Warm weather and bright colors are late this year. 

Linked to Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Potato Blight

I stand at the kitchen sink carefully peeling tiny potatoes--

blight cut the growing season short last summer

each little marble still a tasty treasure

despite the size, dug and stored with care

because you just can't buy potatoes that taste like this

(if you've had a homegrown potato you know what I mean)

thoughts wander across continent and sea

to the place my ancestors called home

the Emerald Isle in 1849 was a land of death and tears

blight and famine swept the land

potatoes rotted in the ground
the stench of death hung heavy and cruel

in a thatched cottage a woman's work wore hands

tremble as she peels what is left of the meager crop

smoke from the peaty fire stings her eyes

starving children huddle around her

she kisses her oldest son goodbye

Lady Liberty beckons in the New York harbor-

the promise of work, dollars earned

carefully saved and sent back across the sea

to buy food and keep starvation at bay

with a handkerchief of brown bread

and a prayer to the Virgin Mother

she sends him on his way with hope.

( We are finishing up the last few of last summer's potatoes, and the seed potatoes for this summer's crop are already sliced and curing, waiting for the ground to completely thaw so I can get them in the ground. Last year's potato blight caused me read up on the Irish Potato famine--which is what brought my ancestors on my father's side to America. I hadn't realized last summer just how completely devastating the famine was, especially for the Catholic Irish poor.)

The Illusion of April

April is an illusion

her tidiness and demureness

is one grand delusion

just when you think 

you've got the earth under control

April laughs and shakes out her hair

raindrops and blossoms scatter everywhere

and nature explodes into confusion. 

I started spring clean up this past weekend and spent a good deal of time pruning, thinning, and mulching that mess that is the raspberry patch. 

The raspberry patch, all tidied up and mulched. Crossing my fingers that it will stay neat at least through the summer!

Of course the chickens believe that the straw was put down purely for their enjoyment. 

Ah, April, when you tidy up the yard and garden, lay out your garden plans, sow tiny seeds and watch them sprout while daydreaming of armloads of lovely flowers, a pantry stocked full of canned goods, and the extra freezer bursting at the seams. It is not too hot, not too cold. There is nary a weed or insect in sight, the soil is moist and light, and you just know that this is going to be the best gardening year ever. 

I enjoy the dream while it lasts, because Nature often has other plans....

Linking to Real Toads. 

Just in Time for Easter

My purple crocus have been showing their small pointy buds for several weeks but with the colder than usual March we've had they have resisted blooming until yesterday when the sun was shining and temps finally hit the upper 50's. 

May you have a happy and blessed Easter and a beauty filled Spring. 

Linked to Macro Monday.