Day: June 26, 2011

Turkey Tracks/Books: My Current Read Pile

Turkey Tracks/Books:  June 26, 2011

My Current Read Pile

Here’s a picture of my current read pile:

I have, for what is, I’m sure, a brief moment, caught up with my magazines and journals.

Despite the title, John Grisham’s SKIPPING CHRISTMAS might not wind up advocating that stance at all.  So, I look forward to finding out what happens.  This book was a gift from a friend after I wrote a piece about my dislike of–and refusal to participate in–the commercial nature of Christmas.

The biography of Ayn Rand interests me because I’d like to see if she “walked her talk.”  Her economic and social theories have had a powerful impact in this country.  For instance, Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget was derived from Rand’s “objectivism” philosophy.  Her “super man” heroes come too uncomfortably close to the theories that guided Nazism maleness for me.  But, it will be good to refresh my knowledge of her theories.  I read her novels too many years ago–actually when I was in high school.

E. O. Wilson’s book on ants won the Pulitzer one year.  He’s an emeritus scientist at Harvard, and a naturalist to the core.  He’s also a southerner, and he captures a number of southern mindsets in the characters in this book.  The sections on ants are not just about ants; they’re about over population and an unimpeded use of available resources–to the point where nature can no longer support an out-of-synch ant population.  This section is a warning to humans, actually.  As a novel, the book doesn’t quite work–because it isn’t sure what it should be.  But as something else–the inner thoughts of a major scientist, it’s well worthwhile.

Barbara Ehrenreich’s BRIGHT-SIDED was recommended by a Camden friend who knows I think the unbridled optimism of Americans–especially with regard to medical problems like cancer–is a problem that helps us to ignore what we must do to begin to heal our environment, ourselves, our country, and our world.  As long as we can say “the problem is that you aren’t trying hard enough,” we cannot begin to understand what is actually wrong, how we’ve been poisoned, and so forth.

Turkey Tracks: Rabbit Visitor

Turkey Tracks:  June 29, 2011

Rabbit Visitor

Margaret told me that a neighbor’s rabbit was coming down to her garden to visit.  There’s so much activity in that garden now:  meat chickens, layer chickens, and pigs.  The rabbit must be drawn to the activity and life.

John was quite surprised to see the rabbit one morning while we were waiting for the Associated Buyers truck to deliver our joint food order:

Here’s a close-up of said rabbit:

John would like to add rabbits to our place.  I could do that.  Only, he wants pet rabbits, and I would want meat rabbits.

I wonder how that’s going to work out?

Turkey Tracks: Introducing Chickie Honey Ginger

Turkey Tracks:  June 26, 2011

Introducing Chickie Honey Ginger

Here she is:  our new addition to our flock:  Chickie Honey Ginger:

She’s a Freedom Ranger, which is both a meat chicken and a layer.   Even though she’s only 10 weeks old, she is as big as the other full-grown hens.  But, she’s still very “baby chickie” too.

And let me tell you that everything one reads about not upsetting the pecking order in the flock is true.  I took the two older Marans to Rose and brought in Chickie Honey Ginger, and the two Wheaten Americaunas in particular have made her life miserable.  The rooster does what he can, and she sleeps next to him most nights, but it has taken a week for some sense of order to return to the flock.  She hangs out sort of near the rest of the hens most of the time now, but she really is still very young.

A better strategy would have been to have just brought in all four of the new additions at one time.  But, the others are two weeks younger still, and I worried about them since my chicks are now penned.  I’ll bring them in this next week:  two CB Marans and a Wheaten Americauna.  There wasn’t much choice since we processed the meat chicks this past Saturday.

Our freezer is crammed full with 24, beautiful, healthy FR chickens.

Turkey Tracks: The Best Bouquet this Spring

Turkey Tracks:  June 26, 2011

The Best bouquet This Spring

The white-tipped radish are long, thin French Breakfast Radish.   The round ones are Cherry Belles.

We’ve been slicing the French Radishes in half, sprinkling salt over them (real sea salt that is just air dried), and eating them for breakfast with slices of cheese and a selection of meats (salami, prosciutto, liverwurst).  Yummo!

The Cherry Belles are a bit more peppery, and I usually slice them into our salads.  They’re also good in a stir fry or steamed, either sliced or just whole.

I cut the garlic scapes–it’s the garlic flower–on one kind of our garlic plants this year.  I didn’t know what garlic scapes were when I first came to Maine.  Garlic scapes are delicious! cut up and added to soups or stir-frys.  They come in just when the stored garlic is getting either dried out or moldy.  They have such a crisp, light garlic taste.

Here are the potato buckets BEFORE the last two days of rain.  You should see them now!

Turkey Tracks: Garden Tour June 2011

Turkey Tracks:  June 2011

Garden Tour June 2011

How about a mostly flower garden tour?  You see the veggies all the time here, but the June gardens in Maine are astonishingly beautiful.  I didn’t get a picture of the lilacs–which have taken 6 years to bloom heavily, but the garden is so fragrant with them.  I also have lots of peonies, though there is only one picture here.

Here’s a picture of the allium bulbs beneath the river birches:

Here’s a pic of a Maine fern and Rose Campion, both of which grow here like weeds, on the rock wall in the back:

Here’s a pic of red poppies near the stone steps to the upper back of the house:

Here’s a pic of some white peonies just bursting into bloom:

Here’s a picture of some really interesting violas on the back porch.  I knew when I saw them that they would look so great in this particular pot.

Here’s a picture of a hanging basket filled with lavender petunias.   They are so fragrant, especially in the heat.  I love the spicy sweet smell of petunias.

Here’s a pic of geranium, with Lady’s Mantle back of it, atop the driveway rock wall:

And, finally, a picture of the wall garden.  This picture shows how beautiful one’s garden can just blend into the woods.

Book Club Reading List 2011-2010

Our book club gathered last week to pick our next slate of books.  There are six members, and we each present a list of 5 books we have chosen for the book club’s consideration.  The members then each vote on two of our books, votes are counted, and the high counts join the list.  After all the books are chosen, we assign books to particular months.  We try to match shorter books with months where we are busier, for instance.  And similar books get separated across the months, as are the two urban garden books on this slate of books.

Because we are all very different people, we bring different books to the table for consideration.  I wind up reading books I would not choose on my own, and that’s usually a really good thing for me.   It’s also interesting to see who does or does not like a book–interesting discussions reveal aspects of a book we might not have considered on our own.

Book Club Reading List 2011-2010

2011

July:  THE RED THREAD, Nicholas Jose–two pairs of lovers across the centuries, set in Shanghai

August:  MY EMPIRE OF DIRT, Manny Howard–800 square-foot backyard “farm” in Brooklyn changes Howard’s life when he decides to try to eat out of it for one month.

September:  CUTTING FOR STONE, Abraham Verghese–Twin brothers (Indian/British) share a love for medicine.  Novel moves back and forth from Ethiopia and New York.

October:  TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Harper Lee–now classic tale of racism.

November:  THE HARE WITH THE AMBER EYES, Edmund de Waal–family memoir revolving around the inheritance of a collection of ornamental Japanese carvings known as netsuke.

December:  MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND, Helen Semonsen–in a small English village, Pettigrew values the quiet life and honor, duty, decorum, but begins a friendship with Jasmina Ali, a Pakistani shopkeeper, which results in culture clashes and a funny, barbed, and winsome book.

2012

January:  THE SWEET LIFE IN PARIS, David Lebovitz–cookbook author and Chez Panisse pastry chef Lebovitz gathers some of his best stories about Paris in this hilarious book.

February:  FARM CITY, Novella Carpenter–in a ghetto in Oakland, CA, Carpenter begins farming a vacant lot next to her apartment.  As she grows bolder, she brings in bees and animals:  chickens, rabbits, and pigs.

March:  THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE, Monique Roffey–Trinidad, an unforgettable love story that is brimming with passion and politics.

April:  SILK, Allesandro Baricco–powerful and erotic tale that reveals how one man’s desire threatens to ruin his life.

May:  LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, Colum McCann–portrait of NYCity, 1974 ; winner, National Book Award, reviewed as “an emotional tour de force.”

June:  LYRICS ALLEY, Leila Aboulela–Egypt and Sudan, a warm, well-crafted story that foregrounds romantic love and the search for spirituality and meaning.