Lovely New Life (and a word on not-so-lovely GMO's)

From the back porch I can look out across the yard up toward Heart Attack Hill. A pale green haze is misting on the borders of the woods as baby leaves reach tentatively out from red hued buds. White violets, braver than their purple cousins, are scattered across the lawn. Scattered, that is, until they are gobbled up by Abigail. The wind is fresh and strong, bringing with its gusts the spring songs of twitterpated birds and white clouds leaping across the blue sky. The sun has warmed the earth and dried up most of the wet places so that now we can run along barefooted and feel the soft cushion of new grass and moss as they carpet the ground. School lessons have slowed to almost a stop and house chores are the last thing on anyone’s mind (specifically the laundry). And my fingers are itchy to start gardening – even though I know it is too early.

We are going to start small: The Carpenter is going to build three 4’ x 4’ squares and we are going to attempt square-foot gardening. I am super excited – especially now that lettuce and swiss chard are emerging in the window boxes on our enclosed front porch. I really want to get some Heritage Seeds.

[Speaking of Heritage Seeds, I just read a very disturbing book: Seeds of Deception by Jeffery Smith. It exposes the truth about GM (Genetically Modified) Foods. I can’t even begin to give a brief report on what was included in that book. Suffice it to say that the FDA and Big Agriculture do NOT have your best interest in mind. The foods we are eating may very well be killing us. I recommend that you try and get a hold of this book (I found a copy at my local library) and determine for yourself if GM Foods are something you want to be ingesting.]

Enough of that! We have been very much enjoying Elroy (though I’ve taken to calling him Rory) and the chicks (though we are down to 16 – no, we didn’t eat the others). I’ve been exceedingly glad that the weather has been warm and sunny because that has made it very easy to keep ‘Elrory’ outside all day long – which helps cut back on the number of accidents he has in the house. (Does anyone have any tips for housebreaking?) The chicks are growing like weeds. There is one little white one that looks absolutely TINY in comparison to the others; I hope she makes it. My favorites are still the brown ones. Andrew has been working on a coop so that by the time the chickies are big enough they’ll have a nice place to hide away from chicken-eatin’ critters. As you can see, we are pretty busy!