August 2011
11 posts
A WELCOME HOME DINNER FOR FARMER TED
Tei is home for just a few days before heading to Paris for two more weeks working a lot of computers and projectors and sound things I don’t understand for “In Paris—A Play,” the crazy Russian play he is touring with Baryshnikov.
To welcome him home after a very eventful six weeks at Peebottle, I fed him some home-grown things. First, Shishito peppers, blistered on the stove...
QUESTIONS!
Readers, take note: at the bottom of this blog is a button marked “ASK A QUESTION”. Please use it to ask questions or give advice. Also, within each post you can comment freely. Let’s talk about chicken butts or something.
HERE I AM PUTTING CHICKENS IN A DOG CRATE
So, I decided to destroy Roo’s dog crate by putting six chickens in it to poop all night long during the storm. Yes, I wore latex gloves and freaked out the whole time.
The chickens are in the basement now, with food and water and the crate is elevated about a foot off the ground. They feel weird but what you gonna do?
[photos by lauren katzman <3]
BATTENING IS MAN'S WORK
I have no idea what I’m doing with these chickens, and Farmer Tei is in stupid Holland working. I boarded up the coop window, screwed the dinky doors shut, and put a few big rocks inside to weight it down, but I’m still considering shoving the hens into Roo’s dog crate in the basement. Visions of a hot pink chicken scramble flying through the air are making me feel guilty in...
HOW IS YOUR GARDEN GROW?
It’s really wrong to make fun of someone for speaking English as a second language, but Tei’s mom, Eiko, once asked me “how is your garden grow?” and now that’s the only way I can ask anyone anything (try it next time you want something more snazzy than “how was your day?”). I’m not making fun of her. She’s just adorable and Japanese.
Anyway,...
A GRIST.ORG COLUMN!
If you want to see what it’s like when I try to take all the little episodes that I describe here and make sense of them, please read my new column on Grist! I’ll be writing about Peebottle every other week!
Above is my author photo, because I’m mysterious and I love fried things.
TOMATOES ARE EXISTING BECAUSE I'M A FUCKING WIZARD
Early last summer, Tei’s mother, Eiko, came for a visit at my parents’ house, and we all ate some heirloom cherry tomatoes my mom had bought at a farm stand in Upstate New York. They were dark purpley-green and intensely flavorful. We all just raved about them, the way people in a comedy sketch about the absurdity of “foodies” would.
Eiko, ever resourceful and an...
1/3 OF THE FLOCK NOW LAYING EGGS, NO MORE EGGS...
Folks, we’ve reached the next level of farmdom. I don’t know if it was the sunlight from the window Carpenter Luke recently installed, or if she just needed a little more time, but a second chicken has joined in on the laying action.
I explained (and maybe complained) last week that a second hen had sporadically begun to lay eggs—one runty, yolkless thing and one that got cracked...
WatchJust in case you were wondering what voracious chickens looked like inhaling a bowl of rolled oats, bread chunks, and pickled herring. Because that’s what I gave them and they went crazy, except that one weird girl who’s still poking at the ground off to the left.
I REALLY HATE TO BRAG ABOUT MY ROOFTOP OASIS
Mmkay, oasis might be a strong word, but I’m just glad I didn’t brag about my first attempt at this, when I forgot about the whole thing for several days during the heat wave, because i was too busy napping in between cold showers, and everything turned brown and crunchy.
Kids, remember to check out your local farmer’s market or farm stand for happy, natural plants. Best...
PING PONG EGGS AND A NEW WINDOW
I bet you guys have been dying of curiosity about my egg situation—oh!—I mean my chicken egg situation. Well, ever since I got the first one, about two weeks ago, I’ve been collecting one almost every day from the same box. I’m assuming it’s from the same hen lady. They’re getting a little bigger and none since the first have had double yolks.
A few eggs have been left on the main floor of the...
