My housemate Jacob threw his first round of disc golf today at Lohmann Park in Urbana, IL. He impressed us on the 8th hole with an awesome bounce shot off the shed that earned him his first duece. I’ve been making photographs at Lohmann Park for several years, but I’ve never made an animated gif, until now.
Thanks for making it out to play Jacob 😉
More beds are being dug for our lightly ambitious garden. As of today actual seeds that have been placed in the soil of the garden itself are: sugar pod peas (yummm!), about 5 different lettuces, carrots (scarlet nantes, danvers), chard (5 color silverbeet, ruby red), purple radishes, yarrow, moonflowers, persian cress, yellow mangel beets AND chia. yes, chia of chia pet fame. But talk about an underutilization of a plant. The seeds of this good old indigenous plant are what could be considered a superfood. Here are a couple of links so that if you want to know more you can:
Chia Seed – The Ancient Food of the Future
p.s. Someone mentioned that Seeds of Change is now owned by the Mars candy company, which is too bad, but at least we got our seed packets via the time-honored art of dumpster diving.
I spent the evening reading Lawrence Lessig and learning new songs with my string band. We’ve been having practice sessions where we take turns introducing new songs to the group. For the sake of confusion I’m going to share two songs in different file 
formats so there’s a good chance you can’t listen to one of them. Charlie showed us how to play Joshua Fit De Battle Ob Jericho (WMA) and Pig Ankle Rag (mp3) is a song that Erin and Charlie taught to Kendra and I tonight. All the files hosted on the internet archive CC.
I was out snapping photos of the chickens again yesterday. I zoomed in close and used a fast shutter speed to try to capture the moment they peck at food. I captured this image:
Do you see that white thing covering her eye? It turns out that when the chickens peck at the something they actually blink too. Birds have a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane which both lubricates and protects their eyes.
This nictitating membrane is between the other two eyelids and the cornea and has its own lubricating duct equivalent to our tear duct. (from here)
I feel like I learn something new about the chickens almost every day.
La Casa’s full of people who care about things like, you know, the planet, resources, not wasting those resources, etc. So it’s been a frustrating several months during which we watched our water bill steadily climb (usage, not just cost) heard water running in the pipes and watched the water meter dial clicking along despite the fact that no one was using any water. We walked through with plumbers who looked at this and that and then just shrugged their shoulders. But the sound got worse, the usage kept climbing and the basement flooded more than seemed necessary for the Spring thaw. Finally, a plumber met here with a rep from the water company who pinpointed a pipe (that I had myself pinpointed 2 months ago, showing it to the plumber[arg!]) from which the sound seemed to emanate. This pipe shot off through the foundation to god knows where. Somewhere out into the ground around the house where it seeped back in only to be pumped back out by our sadly busy sump pumps. A terrible cycle.
But, at least it was finally figured out and the plumber cut the pipe at the faulty cut-off valve and capped it. The sound of running water has become a wonderful, but almost eerie silence. Now the water meter doesn’t click along that fast EVEN WHEN water is actually being used, and not at all when it’s not. Yay! One really great thing we learned via conversations with the Water Company is that, even with untold gallons pouring uselessly out of our house, we use an unusually small amount of water. It makes me happy that our efforts to be conscientious are that discernible. Still, to make it up to Mother Earth for all the wasted water we just installed low-flow shower heads, purchased via internet at: http://www.urbangreengoods.com/
Perhaps you would like to get one.
Today folks were relaxing in the yard.
While Kannan and JohnE dug a fresh bed. Wherever there’s fresh dirt, the chickens gotta peck at it.
(click on the picture to see it full size!)
JohnE tried to feed the chickens.
And then he did some majestic shirtless log juggling.
There were several changes made to the garden landscape this weekend.
Ronna sowed a bed of peas and lettuce
Rob, Rob, and members of the Catholic Worker House turned the old compost pile.
Mac, Kannan, and JohnE pulled up some sod to make a vegetable bed for the members of their house.
We began digging a hole at the end of the canal system that runs through the garden. We spent a lot of energy and the pond that forms will probably get really gross. We did use the topsoil to raise a few vegetable beds in order to alleviate the Sping flood that we’re expecting.
Our chickens love a good dust bath. While it looks dirty and gross, its actually an important part of their natural hygiene.
On nice sunny days the chickens will spend all afternoon showering themselves with dirt. They’ve found a few spots in the yard with suitable soil, but their favorite is over by the garage in the full sun.
The fine soil is sifted down through their feathers and helps by rubbing dry skin off their bodies. It also helps by clogging the breathing holes of lice and other parasites.
A quick shake and she’s as clean as ever.
Drew and I moved the rusted bed frame bike rack out from the house a bit. Is everyone happy with the new location? Please reply with a comment 😉
Vodpod videos no longer available.
The chickens have been very feisty lately. Enjoying the weather and chicken dancing* away their days. Here is a little video JP took of me. Whenever you come outside the chickens tend to run up to you, expecting to be fed compost. They love it.
If you want to see some more chickens running, then check out my other video here.
*what has been dubbed the chicken dance is: scratch at dirt with feet, back away, look at dirt, peck, repeat.
Our seedlings are going on five weeks old now, so it’s about time for an update. They all looked the same at first, but now they’re each developing their own characteristics.
The biggest bummer so far is our tray of hot peppers. We planted jalapeno, habanero, cayenne and several other varieties, but so far there is little action from the seeds. I’ve been told that peppers take awhile to sprout.
