Even Reese Witherspoon has chickens.
P.S. The ever-loving groundhog is back. And judging by the size of her hole, packing a summertime's gorging of heft and keeping true to her titular hoggy-ness.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Fall Y'all
Every October for the past 6 years we've gone to Westmoreland Berry Farm to pick out our pumpkins. We've always gone with my sister and brother-in-law, and it's become an annual fall tradition, something that seems to truly ring in the harvest season for us. 
Goats!
The whole gang!
We're pretty impressed with ourselves...and our badass pumpkins.
In the patch. 
We were a bit bummed that the "patch" was basically a cleared portion of a field where cute little pumpkins were set out for the taking. In the past, you disembarked the hayride at a bonafide crop of pumpkins on the vine. The fun was actually tromping through the tangles of vines, inspecting every other pumpkin to find "the" pumpkin, and then snapping that big orange jewel from its umbilical vine. It felt rustic. This way...not so much. We did creep out to outer edges of this field where there were still a few growing on the vines and picked ours from there. We're authentic like that.
So, I guess this means it's officially fall, y'all!
Goats!The whole gang!We're pretty impressed with ourselves...and our badass pumpkins.In the patch. We were a bit bummed that the "patch" was basically a cleared portion of a field where cute little pumpkins were set out for the taking. In the past, you disembarked the hayride at a bonafide crop of pumpkins on the vine. The fun was actually tromping through the tangles of vines, inspecting every other pumpkin to find "the" pumpkin, and then snapping that big orange jewel from its umbilical vine. It felt rustic. This way...not so much. We did creep out to outer edges of this field where there were still a few growing on the vines and picked ours from there. We're authentic like that.So, I guess this means it's officially fall, y'all!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Outlawed!
One of our neighbors confirmed for us yesterday what we already suspected: the city of Fredericksburg does not permit backyard chickens. Bah.
Early on this spring, I had awoken at the crack of a Saturday dawn to let the dogs out, per usual. Sitting on the porch, wishing they'd hurry and wrap up their business, I distinctly heard the crow of a rooster. I was pretty sure that a one Mr. Rooster was living about 4 houses up from us on the opposite side of the street. When I went back inside to go back to sleep, I stirred Nick and said, "I swear I just heard a rooster in our neighborhood." We happen to have one of those nature-sounds alarm clocks (seagulls, chirping birds, a crowing rooster, etc.), and Nick dismissed my observation as "probably just the alarm clock." And then I heard it again. I liked that someone in our neighborhood had chickens. I thought it was kind of quirky.
Later the following week, Nick told me that he'd come home from work for lunch midday and had seen an Animal Control wagon in front of one of the neighbor's houses, in the same area where I heard Mr. Rooster crow. After that, I never heard him again. Boo to whoever ratted on our neighbor's poultry! (Though, really--roosters, outlaw neighbor??? Why not just perch a ginormous neon sign on the front of your house that says HELLO, I AM VIOLATING A CITY ORDINANCE.)
Anyway, our other neighbor--the one who told us about the ban on backyard chickens--is also a big champion of backyard chickens. She says she chatted with a handful of our other neighbors, who said they're also interested in city chickens. We chatted briefly and a bit half-heartedly about organizing something, but I seriously want to do it. (Like Nick and I don't have enough stuff going on in our crazy life right now!) I want chickens, and, of course, I want them more because someone has said I can't have them.
Early on this spring, I had awoken at the crack of a Saturday dawn to let the dogs out, per usual. Sitting on the porch, wishing they'd hurry and wrap up their business, I distinctly heard the crow of a rooster. I was pretty sure that a one Mr. Rooster was living about 4 houses up from us on the opposite side of the street. When I went back inside to go back to sleep, I stirred Nick and said, "I swear I just heard a rooster in our neighborhood." We happen to have one of those nature-sounds alarm clocks (seagulls, chirping birds, a crowing rooster, etc.), and Nick dismissed my observation as "probably just the alarm clock." And then I heard it again. I liked that someone in our neighborhood had chickens. I thought it was kind of quirky.
Later the following week, Nick told me that he'd come home from work for lunch midday and had seen an Animal Control wagon in front of one of the neighbor's houses, in the same area where I heard Mr. Rooster crow. After that, I never heard him again. Boo to whoever ratted on our neighbor's poultry! (Though, really--roosters, outlaw neighbor??? Why not just perch a ginormous neon sign on the front of your house that says HELLO, I AM VIOLATING A CITY ORDINANCE.)
Anyway, our other neighbor--the one who told us about the ban on backyard chickens--is also a big champion of backyard chickens. She says she chatted with a handful of our other neighbors, who said they're also interested in city chickens. We chatted briefly and a bit half-heartedly about organizing something, but I seriously want to do it. (Like Nick and I don't have enough stuff going on in our crazy life right now!) I want chickens, and, of course, I want them more because someone has said I can't have them.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Backordered!
I ordered this little gem yesterday, only to receive a response a few hours later that it's backordered at present! Drats!
Who knew they made magazines like this? And could someone tell me why the shipping cost more than the actual magazine? Sheesh.
Check the little gray circle about midway down the cover on the right--CHICKENS AND BEES IN THE BURBS! Wooohhooo!
Who knew they made magazines like this? And could someone tell me why the shipping cost more than the actual magazine? Sheesh.
Check the little gray circle about midway down the cover on the right--CHICKENS AND BEES IN THE BURBS! Wooohhooo!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Heritage Harvest Festival
We've been spending a lot of our recent weekends in Charlottesville, much to our total enjoyment. We've really fallen in love with the area for myriad reasons, many of which were reinforced during our visit to the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello.
JAM according to daniel. We bought a jar of the yellow peach and lavender jam.
We attended a second lecture as well, this one on green pest control. I think the biggest lesson I learned from this lecture is to heavily consider planting those plants that attract the "good" bugs so that they can munch their merry way through the "bad" ones. (Now if I could only find the good bugs that would enjoy a fine feast of flea beetles, we might have a few eggplants next year!)
As the festivities wore down, we laid on the hillside taking in the breathtaking view, dreaming about next year's growing season!
With the mountains as our gorgeous backdrop, we arrived full of kid-like glee, eager for the tastings, lectures, and local farm goodness that awaited us. Montalto was apparently just recently purchased by the Monticello estate, and it really was an extraordinary setting for the festival. Seriously gorgeous.
The midway filled with vendors and all sorts of fun stuff. I wish I had gotten a picture of the tomato tastings being held. No kidding, I think they were doing a tasting of what seemed like 25 different tomato varieties. Super neat!
From the other end of the midway--see those mountains?!
We were really interested in the free lectures held that day. Our first choice lecture was Heirloom Garlic and Onions: How to Grow These Culinary Essentials; however, it was uncomfortably PACKED, so we checked out our second choice, which ended up being a total highlight of the day. Figs and Other Fruit, presented by Michael McConkey of Edible Landscaping: 
We also made seed balls! A local young farmers group was encouraging folks to make their own free seed balls--a little bit of compost, soil, water, and seeds rolled into a damp ball and left out to dry in the sun. Supposedly you just throw these cured seed balls out into a vacant lot (or some other area desperate for a bit of pretty eco-fying) and voila! Pretty things will grow! It's guerilla gardening, y'all! 
Other fun vendors that totally caught our eye:
Worm Crusaders--worm compost! I am so completely fascinated by this... Something to consider for next season? Maybe!
Buy Fresh, Buy Local! Find your Virginia chapter here.
Buy Fresh, Buy Local! Find your Virginia chapter here.JAM according to daniel. We bought a jar of the yellow peach and lavender jam.We attended a second lecture as well, this one on green pest control. I think the biggest lesson I learned from this lecture is to heavily consider planting those plants that attract the "good" bugs so that they can munch their merry way through the "bad" ones. (Now if I could only find the good bugs that would enjoy a fine feast of flea beetles, we might have a few eggplants next year!)We also spent some time chatting with a few master gardeners about bee keeping, which, as you may know, I'm feeling rather interested in these days. I left that conversation feeling little overwhelmed and wondering if perhaps I might want to a)finish grad school, and b)not live in a suburb before I consider taking up this awesome hobby. Another pretty rad booth was CLUCK--Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers. And, yes, this is also a fomenting fascination of mine, but I think the previously mentioned prerequisites are in order before I can even get serious about it.
Basically, I left the Heritage Harvest Festival with dreams of chickens, bees, and fruit trees. One day...one day. :)
It was a long day for Nick, as you can clearly see:
As the festivities wore down, we laid on the hillside taking in the breathtaking view, dreaming about next year's growing season!
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