Ducks in the pond, sparrows in the rear

Radishes are 2 to 5 inches tall in the front two beds. Potatoes are emerging from all mounds. 25 cabbages, 9 red, 9 Stoneheads and 7 Round Dutch are planted in the back and front including random pots and one in a hanging basket. All 80 onion sets are in.

On the poultry front. Three of the Barred Rock Hens have been sent away with the Doctor. Bless their little hearts for the trials they will face. I have lost patience with the Indian Runners and their negative disposition so I purchased two Pekin ducklings as meat birds. They can get up to 8 pounds in 7 weeks. Hot damn. They will be around until the winter or nexxt spring depending on their disposition.

Life is cruising along between the homestead, the farm and school. We went on a worm hunt to stock the garden and were extremely successful. One of the students was scratching and sniffing a bunch of white stuff on the tires and plants today while hollering at me to explain what the mysterious substance was. Before I could answer, another student yelled out "bird crap" and ended the scratching and sniffing. Good times.

Pat planted an 18 spot egg carton each of cabbage and kohlrabi. He also started about 8 other varieties of plants including tomats, winter and summer squash, gourds and herbs. They are in the hothouse. We open the windows every morning but they still got pretty dang warm at night. The hot house will be moved to the back of the property and the former area will be converted into a fire pit/bio-char center that will be emptied into the compost at the end of the summer.

The pond is becoming a bastion of productivity. In its overflow area I have planted Stinging Nettles for tea. The two pots with cattail roots I sunk have sprouted. Two goldfish of the original 16 I placed in their survived without food or coddling (Franzen selection). I was pretty content with that population but Pat believed that the invasive monster carp needed a go figuring if it can take over the Ohio river, it can handle no attention in the pond. What makes me feel somewhat alright about it is that there is no way for them to find their way into the wild waterways.

On Tuesday night I had the priviledge of seeing Jeff Corwin the interviewee at the KY Author's Forum. It was interesting to see the perspective of a famous conservationalist and amazing to hear an educator speak without regard to the political correctness which governs my every move in the public school system. What stood out in my mind was the concept of the "lost generation" that the author and audience were talking about in reference to the current children who have no connection to nature. I agree that this generation, with whom I spend a massive amount of time, are "lost." The problem is that what makes these children lost is a massive amount of the current American culture. It is like having an arm with a tumor in it. We can live with it and possibly get sicker. We can try to treat the tumor. Or we can cut off the arm and risk bleeding to death. To me, we do not have medicine strong enough or chemo that wouldn't damage the whole to fix the tumor. I don't think that we would survive an amputation. At the same time, I would hate living with this tumor as it grows and consumes more of the whole.
Since preventative health-care seems to be forefront in the political agenda, or at least I am told, it seems logical that we should study where this "lost" generation developed so we can fix the initial issues before the problems emerge. I feel like I am lost sometimes as I try to re-learn some of the skills I know my ancestors of even 3 generations ago not only mastered but personalized such as wine and beer making, fermenting saurkraut and growing food just to name a few. It infuriates me to no end that 2 generations of following mainstream American culture allowed this information to be lost. I do not believe it is the individual's fault based on the infinite good nature of my grandfather Franzen and my mother, but believe it was the start of the tumor misdirecting the nutrients and bloodflow to feed its growth. Somewhere along the line some unknown cultural carcinogens entered the system. It might have been sloth in disguise. The past wan't easy. Many women were trapped at home doing things they didn't enjoy. Many people were dealt rough hands from lives of toil. When we traded those in for sliced bread, we most likely had no idea of the consequences. Maybe it was greed. The desire for more might have led to the materialization of an entire existence that shunned heritage and the past. In my own life I am trying to fight this tumor. I am trying to make my life an experiment to locate these carcinogens but at the same time I am reminded of this tumor daily and cannot fully remove myself being part of the body. Maybe our culture is regenerative. Maybe it will take generations. Maybe we are too far consumed by the sickness to persist.

A porch in PA

Back at home with the folks. Cooper the big black dog lifts his head up every time a car rolls past, sighing when it zooms past the drive. I have been spending my time converting an old metal shed into a turkey and chicken house and sinking steel posts into the backyard between the wooden posts we set during the winter break.

At the homestead in Louisville, the ducks and chickens are taken care of. When I left the rows of radishes were coming up. By the time I get home they will be ready for thinning. Last Wednesday I night I decided to do some night potato planting under a semi-full moon like I was instructed by some old timers. I am excited to see if it makes any difference. Either way it gives me an excuse to be in my garden at night so I don't look like that much of a maniac during the other nights.

Looking forward to last frost.