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Meat birds at 5 Weeks

It's Sunday here where I sit, somewhere it's Monday and I will be thrust into that reality soon enough but until then I will enjoy Sunday. As I sit and write this in my espresso induced sweat my head is full and strangely empty all at once. I feel calm mostly but occasionally have a flash of things that need my attention and I try to add them to the list for the coming week, things I must do, food I must cook, emails I must respond to. For now though we are listening to Neil Young and my husband is sitting across from me the way he does at his house and we have our laptops spread out on the kitchen table and the kid is recuperating down the hall with a semi nasty cough watching endless movies on cable-TV.

I have done nothing to document the chicks development as I had wanted to and time is leaving this idea in its dust. I imagined pages of quaint gestural drawings, spontaneous captivating paintings and daily photos. I even considered building a small lit cove in which I could drop a chicken or two for a couple of real money shots but I have not done any of it. In its place is growing disappointment and harsh words directed inward to the file of things I just never got to. They are six weeks old now, we are on the home stretch, in the next 3 weeks we will organize the butchering day and even though I never thought I had the stomach for this type of activity (and maybe I don't) I am willing myself to fall headlong into the experience. Why not. Why shouldn't I attempt to butcher 27 meat birds at home with borrowed chicken butchering equipment? This has been the work of farm women for millennia why should I be squeamish and spared.

In casual conversation regarding the butchering of various commonly farmed animals the question of what to do with the plethora of nasty bits that we refined North Americans deem un-consumable, it occurred to me that I would be in possession of a treasure trove of chicken feet, a delicacy in the Chinese community. One of the strange features of the Cornish Cross breed are their huge feet and thick legs. In an effort not to waste them I inquired about eating them to my Chinese friend who's old mother is visiting soon. I half expected her to be completely grossed out but instead she waxed poetic about the wonderful experience of eating them as a child, their fried exterior concealing a delicious gelatinous interior. She went on to tell how she had gone with her mother to Chinatown to the chicken butcher where you could choose a live bird and have it butchered on the spot, carrying home the recently live bird in a shopping bag.

So my new fantasy is that this old woman from China via Los Angeles, who has been described as looking like Nelsen Mandela will join us on butchering day perhaps wielding her own cleaver and be our guide. Women working together to shouts in Cantonese and English, and cries of the chickens as their throats are slit while the pile of beautiful yellow legs grows to be taken home and enjoyed for Thanksgiving.

Happy Maniac

Moving right along. The kid is back at school and I am looking forward to the fall and feeling hopeful and inspired. By Rosh Hashanah I'll have a new crown on the lower left side of my mouth and I am not missing the symbolism here. I have not been able to bite down on much lately due to my fragile state and like a true manic person on a long awaited upswing I am going to take on way more than I probably should in response to all the down time I took over the summer. So here goes. I am going to embark on a 90 day novel writing course, seemed like a good idea and now I have committed myself mentally to it. Work is picking back up just in time, the bills are piling up and the one scary thing I have been forcing myself to face most days is my checking account balance. Additionally I have just ordered 30 meat birds in chick form. It will take 9 weeks to raise them and I have no idea who will butcher them, god I hope it's not me. My tenant is going in with me and she is a brave and hardy soul so maybe I can follow her lead. Saw a dead deer at the side of the road which reminds me to finish the story I am working on, it's about a deer but also the dead deer is a reminder that time is not endless. I have decided not to worry about my elderly parents going to Europe for two weeks. Instead I will focus on my job of looking after their ill behaved Cocker-Spaniel. I finished my self portrait. Still not entirely sure how I feel about it but will list it on my Etsy site just to see if anyone bites. I hope you are all well and biting down hard on things that you desire.

Coop News

I strive to be ruthlessly efficient in all things and so recently I decided I needed to figure out who's laying and who's not laying down in coop-world. Obviously the two roosters getting eaten was a loss because I could have eaten them myself and that Brahma was huge. Put that in the regret column. The Bantam Rooster was just little and I feel sad about him but I never really saw where he went, just like the Peacock he just didn't show up for work and was never seen again. Now I have about 8/9 full size hens and 2 bantams. I get about 2 eggs most days, Chicken Betty White is the most prolific layer despite her scrawny size and erratic behavior, and she lays a white egg. I discovered yesterday during my work in the coop that one of the Barred Rocks is producing the only brown egg I have been getting. So that saves those two hens from eventual slaughter. My plan is to create a lean mean first-rate laying machine down there, if you don't lay you're soup and that's it. Grain is for layers, full stop.

Back to earth

So beyond all of my deep talk of transformation etc... I have work to do. My chicken flock is getting knocked off one by one so I am doing something about it. Off I go out to the coop to build a little aviary attachment so that the chickens can be left in while I am away here and there over the winter without fear of being devoured by raccoons and hawks.

I saw Food Inc, finally, grudgingly and so I am once again thinking about raising a few pigs and some chickens for my meat eating needs. So there, concrete news from the country that you don't have to roll your eyes about. Enlightenment is great and all but bring on the bacon.

Happy Solstice you pagan vixens.

Catch as Catch Can

Recently I have gotten it into my head that I want to catch a Sockeye Salmon. Last year the news was all bad, very grim information out of Canada. The Sockeye fishery was in serious trouble, the number of salmon returning from the ocean was at an all time low. This wasn't surprising to me, ocean temperatures are rising and the water is more acid making it tough on the phytoplankton which these particular fish feed on. Lo and behold this year there is a bumper crop, somehow no one predicted this, in fact the crop outnumbers the entire population of Canada. The run is estimated at 34 million so I says to myself, I want a piece of that action.

With Mark at my side we paid a visit to the local sportsman's shop. I was extra happy about this as I had asked Mark where we might go to get some info about fishing for salmon, somehow going to Sportmart in the mall seemed wrong on many levels. A malcontent mall rat is going to know nothing about what I was thirsty to learn. Off we went to the LOCAL sports store in the historic part of town, wouldn't you know it. It was nirvana. First of all there were 4 parking spaces out front so we were able to easily park Mark's giant convertible. It was a classic shop, loads of rods, guns, gear and requisite stuffed game heads.

Because I am a non book learner and am gregarious by nature I began speaking to a man who was buying some fishing gear and an employee, a youngish asian girl. He was speaking some crazy foreign fish language and I could see I was losing Mark. The girl on the other hand was clearer and had more practical advice. She gave me the low down on the fishing license we would need. Three-day tidal would do us. We would fish downstream of the railroad trestle on the Fraser, I knew where that was. The fish aren't hungry so you don't need bait, you need floss aka wool, and I have that in spades, and a weight called a bouncing betty. Mark has those.

Mark took me aside against a wall of florescent lures and pointed out that for the $40 dollars we would potentially spend to augment his ancient sockeye-less east coast fishing gear we could get a sockeye at the grocery store for a fraction of the price. I was undeterred and got the stores hours for the next 3 days so I could keep all my options open. When we got home I called my brother. He told me to buy a salmon, it was cheaper than fishing. I was shocked. Wait a second I said, you love fishing. Yes, he agreed and said that he pays about $5oo per pound when he fishes. Mark gave me two thumbs up. Ian exaggerates, but I knew there was some truth to what they were saying, bastards I thought.

The reality is that I just want to try it. It's a record year and I want to get out there and feel the excitement, it's like the Olympics. When something big comes to your town you want to chase the parade. Because this run is so huge there is a danger that the spawning grounds will be over-run and this will cause problems with eggs being safely laid and fertilized, and in 4 years we will experience a real collapse. If this does come to fruition I want to be able to look back and think about the winter we feasted on salmon that we caught ourselves.

Farm Tour Logo

This is a quick little logo for my client Sustainable Connections. Fast and fun and the client liked it which makes me happy. Perhaps not the height of esoteric design but it's friendly, inviting, and legible. Cartoony goodness I would say.

What got done this week

This is the cover of a 16 page insert for the Bellingham Herald advertising the upcoming Buy Local Week. I started on it Tuesday by designing the cover which was approved with little revision. I designed the rest of it on Thursday and Friday morning. It's gone to the printer now. I did do a little on work on the insert Wednesday but the press was calling me. The UCU show is coming up in 2 weeks and I am cracking the whip. I printed and glued and collated for about 4 hours in the middle of the day. I enjoy the process of producing these multiples, the trick is making time to do it, clients work most often comes first, then of course there are all the other obstacles to work. Bathing, dressing, chopping wood, speaking with the hens, it all takes up time. Today feels good. I worked efficiently on this piece and I like how it came out.


This is a lino cut I made for Jamie Bichler of Laughing Raven Designs, she makes jewelry with words stamped into various metals. I carved this the weekend Becky visited us. I parked myself at the dining room table, ate slow cooker ham and carved away. You have to go easy with it, it's very tough on the hands. I took a lot of snack breaks.

So Buy Local now and then, okay then.

What I'm working on

Here are a few pieces to illustrate the evolution of the Sustainable Connections Think Local First annual coupon book I am currently putting together. I got the idea over lunch with Michelle Grandy of SC. I have long used these drawings from Havana Street, generally adding sassy little captions as if they are speaking to the consumer. The idea was to create a sort of comic book page that was filled with language that felt like testimonials or those ads you used to see in the back of magazines. Ads filled with outrageous claims. As you can see I went from pencil sketch in my notebook to a b/w version I sent to Michelle to get initial idea approval. I then moved to color version and massaged the language a bit. Version 3 came back with a few comments so I lost the smoking lady and revised some copy and the title and there you have it. It should be available for sale here in the Bellingham area before too long.

Hemp-O-Rific

This is my friend and client Betsy Cassell of Intertwined Designs. We met many years ago on the Farmers Market board and she lived at my place for about year. She was a great tenant and is a good friend. I have watched her business grow over the years through her hard work and dedication to creating a life she wants live. Needless to say I have a ton of her clothes.

Before I had a kid I wore clothes that needed ironing. Nowadays if I can wear a shirt non stop for 3 days (this includes sleeping too) I feel like I am really ahead of the game. Hemp Jersey is a great fabric it gets softer as you wear it and I am pretty sure it doesn't smell (too badly) when you sweat. The other day I was going for a walk and I had on one Betsy's Kriss cross tops with 3/4 sleeves, I was a bit cool so I threw on my new Racer. I realized this was ridiculous and whipped them both off and chose the racer on it's own. It was cozy enough and I looked super fast.

Today I am clad in a rust Scooper, long sleeves of course due to the cool summer we are having, with jeans and slip on keens. It's a great look and suits my rural, stay-at-home, DIY lifestyle. The best thing about Betsy and her clothes is how they embody her kick-ass lifestyle of hard work and playing hard too.

Sort of Kinky

This came to me today. Sounds pretty hedonistic, an interesting approach to going green.

Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned “green professional,” now is the time to learn and network with your peers. Come join us poolside at the Flamingo Resort in California Wine Country as we discover how saving the planet is the greatest business opportunity an idealistic entrepeneur (their typo not mine) will ever have. Check out more at www.prospercorporation.com.

Yowser right? Am I right?








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Living With Dial-Up

The book is finished, for now. I had to FTP the three fairly huge PDF files to the client today. As the internet knows (because it sees my computer like an x-ray machine) I am on dial-up here at Rowanville. This is a topic of great discussion for me and anybody I encounter who has any understanding of what I do for a living, or anyone who lives near me and suffers the same digital disadvantage. Living with dial-up is like living with impotence, only they have Viagra. I have nothing, no options, just resignation that anytime I need to send a few large files or receive the same, I have to pack up my laptop and hit the road. I can handle things under about 10megs but it still takes forever. If the files are under 50megs I go to Pearl's school and sit in the library on small chairs. If the files are larger like 100megs, I have discovered the library in my town of Everson is best.

So off I went to the library after dropping Pearl at school. I arrived at 9:07am to discover that the library didn't open until 10:00. I sent a few emails from the car and then went over to the coffee place which is owned by one of the moms from school. While I was inside I ran into a woman who used to babysit Pearl now and then. She works in one of the local bank branches, the same one that DoubleMRanch did work for a few years back. We had an enlightening discussion, it was good to see her looking so well. I got my Tea and headed back to the library. I let the dog out for a quick pee in the empty lot next to the library. Two dogs barked at us while Luna sniffed at their fence, hackles up. I strolled around the lot a bit and looked at the bushes by the library. There was some sweet looking rhody I might have to ask my friend Binda about.

At 10:00am they opened the library doors and in I went along with several other people who had been slowly gathering in the parking lot. I picked my spot, back of the library but facing forward, enabling me to key an eye on everything. Happily I had conversations with several people I know from my community. My neighbor who is a retired art teacher and I discussed the problems we have on the road with unlicensed 4 wheelers ridden by high school boys, and... wait for it...dial-up!. I also spoke to a couple of the women who work at the library, both artists. Another photographer friend stopped over and told me about a show of his work in Bellingham. I spoke with 3 strangers briefly. I ended up working for about 3 hours on the final section of the book while the first two sent. I downloaded some other job materials and finally sent the last book files.

To some the inconvenience of not having hi-speed is daunting, an annoyance, something that must be fixed. It is almost a point of shame and embarrassment to me at times. But today, it felt like an irresistible opportunity for enrichment and connection with my community.

The Week That Was

The juggle is not over yet. I am halfway through the book I am toiling over. It is coming together but with all activities that involve organizing information in a visual framework, anomalies arise and have to be dealt with. Blocks that must be stumbled over and righted. Thank heaven for these long days on my own when I can focus on little else than the project at hand.

Have not been to the farm for days, have not spoken to Nancy. Will try and get down there over the weekend to finish what I started in the greenhouse. All the starts need to be planted out in the field, the pumpkins, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, the kale. God save the kale. At least all this shitty rain we have been having is good for my beet seeds because that watering by hand was really sucking. I have a whole new respect for CSA programs at the moment.

Had to light the wood stove tonight, the house was freezing. I refuse to burn anymore propane in there, it's June for pete's sake. The sun did come out late in the afternoon and I went out and let it shine right on me. Mike and Val stopped by with the kids and I gave them some of the surplus eggs. Ever since they moved off the property I have really had to work to give all the eggs away. My new tenant is allergic, dang!


Look at the time, it's time to lay this redhead down. Have a good sleep internet, oh right, you never sleep. Poor thing.

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First Day at the Field

On Tuesday this week I picked Pearl up from school and went over to Nancy's farm. It was our first day of helping out there. The field is located on the Nooksack River that flows through Everson. The whole valley along the river is a rich agricultural area. The soil is clay and sandy and good for growing. Our job on tuesday was to help tie up the 4, 250ft rows of raspberries. Pearl's job was to cut the string for the 3 adults who were tying up the berries. We also cleaned up last years canes out of the rows as well as pulling up great dry stalks of lambs quarters from the previous season. It was sunny and quite windy but totally pleasant. We worked for about an hour and a half, not so long on our first day out. Nancy came over to our house for a bowl of Barley soup and we looked over some seed catalogs to see what we wanted to plant. There seems to be a consensus on Sungold Tomatoes, I wanted some Fingerling potatoes, and Nancy has seed leftover from previous years for cabbage, broccoli, carrots, etc. She suggested we grow a few pumpkins too and said we could carve designs and words into them gently when they were small and the designs would expand as the pumpkins grew. I felt a bit tired from all the bending over and moving up and down the rows but it felt good to have put in our first day in the field.

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Just Grow It!

This is my good friend Nancy. She has a gift when it comes to growing food. Nancy has a great sense of what to grow. I think we have similar taste palettes. She loves purple vegetables, so do I. Life as a farmer is a tough one though and over the past few months we have been talking about the farm and the act of farming and of providing people with food.

For the past few years I have been involved with one CSA or another. Harmony Farms (Nancy's farm) was by far the best for my tastes. This year I decided I wanted to participate a little more in the whole process of growing the vegetables and Nan has been kind enough to invite a few of us over to farm. I've never really grown much food successfully so I feel that it's time and I am looking forward to participating in an activity with purpose that allows me to get my hands down into the earth.

Pearl and I popped down to the farm last night, it's near the Nooksack River in Everson. Nancy showed us around a bit and we talked about what needs to be done to get planting. I want Pearl to learn the importance of being able to grow food. When we were in Vancouver the other day I noticed several gardens in peoples yards, tight spaces where lawns had been, now tilled up earth ready for planting. Vines tied, perennial vegetables acting as decorative borders. Every inch of space dedicated to the effort. And we out here have space, it's disgraceful not to grow a little, eat well, and put some away.

So when I am not home on summer evenings, you'll know where I am.