Sunday

I'll tell you what kind of a day it was: the kind where I go out early to feed the animals and never return inside. Or, not until well after noon. 

(A good morning kiss between the two cats who really like each other)

It's beautiful out there. And shockingly, totally shocking the daylights out of us -- the mosquitoes have gone away. Oh, maybe a few remain, but I sure did not notice any in all my time outside.

(The big bed has a profusion of white flowers right now...)

There is plenty of weeding that I must do to keep up with flower field maintenance. Not really big stuff -- I'm keeping up with it pretty well -- but plenty of fast growing spreaders that should be pulled, roots and all, by hand, again and again until the growing season nears the end. 

And, too, I need to water the newcomers. Young plants that have small roots can't take a week or two of piercing sun without a refreshing water soak. And so I give them that this morning too. And let me tell you, this is totally enjoyable stuff. Perfect weather, few bugs, plenty of birdsong, with the occasional dart of humming birds, swallows and dragonflies. I mean, bliss!

(One day lily starts its robust blooming period right now! It's Bitsy, with small blooms on tall spikes)

Breakfast is in the lunch hour. On the porch. Kolache from yesterday's brew pub (they're Eastern European milk buns with cheese and jam), and delicious berries from the farmers market. Can it get any better?

Toward evening, the young family is here for dinner... 

... and believe it or not, this is the first time that we can eat it outside, on the porch.

All three kids love June fruits!

And speaking of June fruits, after dinner, Ed and I noted our evening visitor to the new orchard.

She gracefully arched her neck and we looked to see what she was after. 

And what a surprise -- it was the cherries! Just a couple of days ago, they were barely noticeable, but with a few days of sunshine, they ripened quickly.

Thanks you for showing us what's growing in our own orchard!

We go to bed on the early side. Tomorrow, we need to be up and out at a beastly morning hour. On a mission to get some red white and blues, only the French kind. More on that in my next post!

Good night!

Saturday

Chicago is a complicated city. Very livable for many, though not for all. A grab bag of fascinating neighborhoods. With many exceptionally splendid, fresh and honest eating places scattered throughout. Madison, by contrast, has some great top end restaurants, and some very good midrange restaurants, but what it lacks is casual places -- brew pubs perhaps -- that serve creative and reasonably priced foods, ones that change with the seasons, ones that you could take your family to (outdoor seating would be nice in good weather) when you just wanted to have an interesting yet casual meal outside the home. It's not that we have none of this -- but we don't have much of this. 

The young family in Chicago have in their neighborhood a brewpub that was a godsend for them through much of the pandemic. When you could not safely eat out, even outside, this place prepared meal kits for you to take home and finish off in the safe space of your kitchen. These days they go to it often and they are known, in the way that neighborhood joints love their regulars just as much the regulars love their fave eatery. Still, I'd never eaten there. There were always too many other options I suppose. Today, this changed.

A morning at their home: first, still in pj's. 

Primrose is intensely working on her coloring project. The girl is very artistically inclined, but in different ways than Snowdrop. This four year old will labor for hours over one drawing or coloring page until it is all done. Every space meticulously filled. She does that this morning.

Will she finish before we leave?

Yes she will.

Time to get dressed!

Everyone ready? Yes!

We had eaten a quick breakfast earlier, but for brunch, or lunch really, we go over to Middle Brow. "Their" place. 

It's a brew pub, but with excellent coffee and terrific bread to boot. And of course, some fantastic fresh and honest foods. 

Outside.

("Hey, I want to get in on this!")

Really, it's perfect. So much so that I even picked up a four-pack of their beer to bring home. I haven't actually joined the generation of beer cognoscenti, but in Montreal, I caved and sampled some of these micro-brews and I decided that sometimes, if you just want to sip something for a prolonged moment, say with someone else, then a cold beer with notes of this and that, very light, maybe fruity -- well, it just hits the spot. 

But not for lunch. This day I stay with coffee. 

Oh, how I love this meal with the young family, as the warm sun makes me feel like suddenly, we have left spring and are plunging head first into summer.

This wasn't a super long visit to Chicago. We came up with the date just this week and of course there's lots going on now, what with Father's Day, and Bresse chicken possibilities, and flowers needing my oversight and care. And still, it was a fantastic visit. My daughter always makes sure that I get the most out of my time there -- food wise, chat-time wise, granddaughter-wise. Every minute is wonderful. Every meal -- delicious, every smile of theirs -- so warm and deeply gratifying.

I'm home now. I'm getting good at this drive between their place and mine. Too good: I put on my music and I enter some zone of meditative thought that is so all encapsulating that today I actually missed the highway turnoff for Madison! 

Ed asks -- you want to take it easy and have pizza tonight? Sure! With a Middle Brow beer. White light. Belgian style, with (taste of) apricots and spices. Cardamom for warmth, crispy wheat for midsummer days.

And with love.

Friday

Well, never say never. Ed has a friend. A cheese farmer who comes to our Thursday market with his cheeses and curds. If you're a Madisonian, you may know him -- Farmer John. They always chat. Yesterday, Ed was spelling out our chicken issues: no one to butcher chickens we may choose to raise for their wonderful succulent marbled meat. And wouldn't you know it -- John has the equipment. He'd be happy to help us out. So maybe we're in business? At least the issue is on the table again: should we pick up three to four Bresse chickens, to add to our flock of five? yesterday, the answer was a clear no. Today, it's looking closer to a yes.

I suppose this is the moment when I'm getting to be a little nervous: will they get along with our other chickens? How will it feel to pluck the four young ones out and send them on their merry way to the roasting pan? 

How ever did we embark on this interesting detour??

Meanwhile, it's a beautiful morning... (Hey, Peach, you may be getting some "pen pals" soon!)

I'm just waking up to it, when Ed reminds me -- you said you wanted to wipe down the glass roof on the porch?

I did. I mean, I do. Perhaps not at the crack of dawn, but it is cooler in the wee hours of the morning. I climb out of bed and out the window, onto the roof. He throws the hose up, I take out a bristle broom and get to work.

I have learned to navigate that ever lightly slanted space even when it is wet and slippery. As I brush and hose, I think to myself -- will I do this into my 80s? Or will we let the pollen settle in, creating a permanent milky patina over the surface? Ed says he doesn't mind the haze on the glass panels. I'm the fussy one. 

He feeds the animals, I take a quick look at what's blooming. Let's go back to where the good honeysuckle is mixing with the sweet William and asparagus.

Oh, hello Happy! Nice to see you resting in the dirt... Ready for more girls?

I love the full grown cover crop we put in next to the new peach orchard. It reminds me of fields of wheat in Poland. (This is, however, cereal rye.) It moves with the wind!

And speaking of future years on the farmette, Ed finally reached the people who have been tending the land to the east of us (Heartland Ecological Group). This strip of property is part of the development that is going up all around us, but by virtue of our proximity to the wetlands, we have a wide buffer that has been designated as green-space. The strip to the east was supposed to be used for community gardens, but in the end, that project has been scrapped and instead we are getting a prairie. I mean, is that luck or what? The farmette is going to be surrounded on two sides by a blooming landscape. I could not be more tickled. (Here's a view toward the farmette across the soon to be prairie. The farmette extends all the way along the thicket of trees that Ed never wants to cut back! You can just barely see the roof of the farmhouse poking through.)

We reflect on our luck as we settle in for a beautiful breakfast on the porch. Black walnut cranberry bread from the market. With jam for me (strawberry and basil -- Ed calls it my frou frou jam), butter for his slice. And note the strawberries -- they are local. The season is coming on strong. I'd say we'll peak in the next two weeks. 

And then in the late afternoon I get in the car and head down to Chicago. Time for my June visit with Primrose and Juniper!

And as I pull off the highway and drive over for my usual first stop at Olivia's -- to pick up some flowers and other life's essentials -- guess who I run into, walking home from school!

Well now! I have company for my errands! Someone to help me choose the appropriate flowers...

(The young family finishes their walk as I drive the few blocks to their home...)

Such changes... I cannot believe Juniper is in "school" now! 

(I bring some Wisconsin berries for the one who loves berries...)

Oh, how quickly they zip through these early years of life!

Primrose, of course,  is the big girl in town. I do so love this age of both independence and playful engagement. 

I eat dinner with the kids. Well, Juniper is just learning to work her way through mushed avocado...

Primrose and I are a little more advanced in our eating habits.

And then the parents go out for an anniversary night on the town (which is more like a dinner out on some patio, since both kids are still without Covid vaccinations, though not for long now!). I stay home with the little ones. As usual, I am the world's least reliable "get them to bed by bedtime" grandma ever. I mean, Juniper is out, but Primrose? I'd never seen the movie we were watching! How could I possibly turn it off at the most exciting point of the story?! And she needed three books! Plus a story! Plus an extension of the story! 

Phew! I better be out of here tomorrow before the parents realize they have an over-tired and under-slept little girl!

Some of us just don't know how to pull the plug on fun.

With so much love...

Thursday

Seven years ago, a tornado target south-central Wisconsin, exactly on the same day that yesterday's tornado swirled through our state, only yesterday we were luckier -- it passed a little to the west of Madison. We got the winds and the stormy skies, but thankfully we did not get that dangerous mass of air sucking up everything in its path. Other communities were not so lucky, though at least we know that no one was hurt. We had plenty of warning. Many businesses closed down early. Kids were picked up from summer programs and taken home. People took care.

It's gratifying when people take care. 

Our clean-up seven years ago was huge and it took place just a handful of days before my younger girl's farmette wedding. This morning the post storm clean-up was nearly non existent. No large limbs toppling, no fallen trees. A clear sky and a sweet breeze to welcomed us to a new day. Oh, and another day lily. A new one, still very short, even as it will give maybe one or two blooms this year. Here's one of them!

And still, the warmth continues. We closed the doors and windows early. Keeping the house cool is getting to be more challenging. But breakfast is on the porch! The morning is that pleasant!

We review the chicken idea. We have heard from plenty of chicken people that if we want to raise broilers in small numbers, we have to learn to butcher them ourselves. I don't see that happening. What's the point of taking in a few young chicks, only to slaughter them some five months later? Seems like a gruesome hobby. Even roasting and serving the finely marbled meat of a Bresse bird doesn't motivate me to learn how to butcher the birds. We'll eat chickens, but someone else has to do the dirty work, and it seems there aren't many out there who will take your birds and turn them into chicken dinner.

I say to Ed -- how about if we raise little pigs, like we saw yesterday?

No. 

But they're smart and cute and would make lovely farm pets!

We have six cats that make lovely farm pets.

Not the same...

And perhaps that's a good thing.

For the moment then, we are with our six cats, four hens and a rooster. Oh, and a groundhog family that has been hanging out in the barn lately. And don't forget the swallows!

So many swallows! Lucky birds, treasuring their freedom, swooping down, chirping to their young, screeching at anyone who dares to come close to the nests high in the barn's beams and eaves.

With love...

a piggish day

It's hot again. We do have air conditioning, but if we keep windows closed, the house actually does stay fairly cool with minimal extra cooling. Only occasionally, toward the end of the day, will we hear the AC motors click on for a while. Our upstairs bedroom gets the brunt of the heat and that's a tough space to cool down. Or at least, even with covered vents below, you'd have to run things to a pretty chilly level before you could have that cold air drift up to where we sleep. Still, a fan works wonders and rather than crank up the AC, we keep it at a modest 77F (25C) and add a fan upstairs to chase the hot air out of there. So, we're doin' okay!

Outside -- well, what can I say. Hot is hot. 91F (33C) in the early hours and without a breeze. Not pleasant working weather. But pleasant for flower viewing!

Though I spare Ed the porch breakfast. We eat in the cool-ish kitchen. With a Dance tail in the picture, because these days, it's never too far from us at mealtimes.

It is a perfect day for a Zoom call with a good friend. I mean, I could have stayed on, chatting to her for hours! (Thanks for your patience, Diane!) Why move anywhere at all?

And yet, by noon, I close the computer and Ed and I do get going. On his motorbike, just up the road to One Seed Farm. 

You have to understand Ed's thought processes to get why this visit makes any sense. Working in the fields behind the barn (it's where we planted nut trees last year and where we plant all our veggies and, too, lavender), gives him ideas on how to best use that land. His latest? Perhaps throw it open to some more chickens. Not egg layers, mind you, but broilers.

That is what you call an Ed idea. From its inception to reality is a long path and usually, we never get to reality. We get lost somewhere along the way. But not always. Sometimes we actually implement the idea! You never know!

Since One Seed Farm raises and sells chickens, Ed concluded that they have valuable information about the process of raising/butchering broilers. So, we reached out to purchase one of their broilers and in picking it up, Ed opened the door for a general conversation about chickens.

We are coming to hefty stumbling blocks: we don't quite have the stomach for butchering our own animals and finding a place to do it for you in very small quantities is very difficult. Time and again we are told -- do it yourself. Well okay, but we wont. So we keep on exploring the possibilities, even as we have located our most perfect chicken hatchery, raising the very chicken we want (an American Bresse, which would be the French breed, but raised on American terroir). Right about forty minutes south of where we live. Amazing. 

Still there's no reason to go down this lane if we cannot find away to get that deliciously marbled meat from these (one hopes) happy birds. Again, it's a process. 

In the meantime, One Seed Farm has other interesting things going on: they raise other animals. Pigs, for example. And here's a thought: remember how two years ago I was really pining for goats? I may have been barking up the wrong tree. Goats are great. They eat your weeds. But pigs! They're even better: they are smart. They are beautiful. And they actually dig up your weeds so they dont grow back. Remember that these animals are truffle hunters! They root around for roots! I should have pressed for pigs instead of goats.

Of course, I could not give up a pig for slaughter. Never. That happy and smart animal deserves to graze on roots and grasses rather than making an appearance on your breakfast table. 

So we're back to chickens. Hopefully happy, but not too smart. We go back to looking around for someone who will do the dirty work for us. Then, and only then will we drive down to the hatchery that has the best chicken meat on the planet. Only it's still small and cute and you have to pet it and feed it and raise it to grow up to be a fine old broiler..

Storms came tonight. Nothing got knocked down, no trees fell on top of our farmhouse. We are grateful. I'll leave you with two photos that will introduce a new feature (that will probably last all of one month) here on Ocean: farmette gems. Today, I offer you our first day lily. Technically, other small yellow ones have been flowering along the driveway, but those are just little peanuts. This one is a real queen.

And here's success on our picnic table: the three bushes of the potted fraises des bois are producing! Lift up the netting and you get... one or two "wild strawberries.." Not exactly a plateful, is it?

We are not greedy. As I said, we are grateful.

With love...

Tuesday

It's not even noon and they say it feels like 101F (38C) outside. Our thermometer on the porch gives me a slightly cooler reading of 96F (35C). But the humidity is something else! We are sizzling out here in south central Wisconsin. If you're south of us, you'll have little empathy -- I hear you're not only sizzling but downright broiling. Eek! Welcome to the presumer summer. (Hey, what happened to spring? Oh, I see. It was washed away with the cold rains of early June.)

(stepping out into a steamy garden)

In the morning, before the heat beast lumbers in to smother us, I weed. In the lavender field (which is only moderately successful).

(On the other hand, the tomatoes are all happy and thriving!)

(You know who else is really happy? This very young monarch. Welcome, little guy!)

And I weed the more distant flower fields.

And I get my share of bites. Not mosquito, but deer flies. June, unfortunately, brings out the deer flies. I can only be mollified because I know that theirs is a two or three week visit. I do not know where they go next and I don't care: so long as they move on, I am happy. 

Breakfast is on the porch as a gift to me. I mean, it is toasty out there! But Ed knows how starved I am for porch breakfasts.

Then -- here's something new: Ed is reading up on broiler chickens. No, not the ones in your local grocery store. The ones raised on a farm just up the road from us. 

Are you interested in picking one up for us?

Um, why do you ask?

Because I thought we'd go up to One Seed Farm and chat to them about raising broilers. And while we're at it, we can pick up one of their birds. Frozen. For our own use. A five pounder.

Ask questions about raising broilers? Are you thinking we should raise broilers?

It's just an exploratory idea.

You think we should cut chicken necks with an ax and serve our pets for dinner??

You dont do the butchering. Someone else does it for you.

So one minute we're chasing Henny around the farmette lands and the next we're handing her over to a person with an ax?

No, it's not like that. Let's just go get our frozen chicken and talk to these people. You do know about Bresse chickens, don't you? (I do: they are a legendary French chicken that is purported to taste like no other chicken anywhere.)

You think we may be able to raise Bresse chickens here? In Wisconsin? At the farmette?

Let's just go visit a farm tomorrow. One step at a time.

So we have a date. For tomorrow. Honestly, I do not know where this is heading, but you cannot say that Ed is bereft of interesting ideas.

As for kids -- you want to know what's happening with the grandkids, right? Well, each week is different for each grandchild. Primrose and Juniper are attending summer school in Chicago. This week, Snowdrop is attending Robot camp in Madison and Sparrow and Sandpiper are home with a sitter. Next week -- well, that's next week. For now, I have a few days to catch up on farmette work and on Like a Swallow work. As Ed says -- we have such a comfortable life! Farmette work and a retreat to a cool house at the end of the day. What could be better!

With love...