Apr 26
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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If you were me, you would have picked up your “peepers” this morning, bright and early, at the Beaufort post office. Still don’t know what I am talking about? CHICKENS! That’s right folks, chickens are shipped by the US Postal Service. I had no idea they shipped live animals, but, in fact, they do. Apparently they do it with some regularity too since someone on North Street apparently received their birds yesterday according to the nice lady at the Post Office. Their large box of 50+ baby chicks must have dwarfed my little box of three bantam Golden Phoenix pullets though…
Of course, many of you reading this right now likely think that I am absolutely nuts. That’s OK too. My husband also thinks I have finally lost my mind. I realize I live in downtown Beaufort and not on a farm. But, chickens do really well in urban settings. Especially the lovely and small bantam variety I chose. I love chickens (and not just to eat them). My own parents allowed me to have 8 chickens during my childhood. I learned so much from them. I had four red hens and 4 black hens. I should say, I started with 4 of each color… For awhile, my Dad would replace them without my knowledge when a raccoon dined on one (or sometimes more than one). After they got bigger, they weren’t as easy to replace. So, I was forced to learn about the cruel world of animal nature. Eventually, an electric fence was installed aound the fabulous coop my Dad had built for them. This kept out the other “critters” and kept my birds in. We were treated to fresh eggs for many years. The last of the hens died a natural death about 8 years after they were bought for me. None of them died at the end of a hatchet- these were pets.
Our three chickens are quite cute. I will take photos soon. They should lay us three eggs (one per bird) almost everyday. It generally takes two bantam eggs to equal one large egg. But, I expect that we’ll still have more than enough fresh eggs. I will know what our chickens are being fed… no antibiotics or tiny cages here! Plus, I can use their manure for my garden and compost. The side effect of the children enjoying them too is also great. Morgan is very excited about them and Tony is already in love with them after only a couple hours. Maybe they’ll learn the things I did like how to clip wings, why chilckens molt and what that looks like, what to feed them, etc. I suspect they will also enjoy watching them devour our organic produce scraps. I always enjoyed watching a good watermelon rind being pecked to death.
If you’re interested in urban chickens, or chickens in general, look in my links section. There are some good resources. And when you hear that some crazy hippie lady has chickens in her backyard in downtown Beaufort, it’s true.
Apr 23
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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Anton has named our new home “Sanctuary” and if you happen to be one of the people who have called on our new Beaufort telephone number, you will know that he answers the phone with this sentence: “Hello, and thank you for calling Sanctuary.” Of course, he says this in one of his most dramatic voices which immediately cracks the caller on the other end of the line up (if they know us) or leads them to think they have dialed a horrendously wrong number (if they are a telemarketer or a casual acquaintance).
We really do feel as if our little cottage on the corner of Burroughs and Depot is our sanctuary. We have decorated it exactly to our combined tastes with lots of concessions and compromises made along the way. Our big (for us) yard is coming along quite well. I have a garden planted. The flower beds have been weeded and mulched and, in some cases, recreated entirely. The bare patches in the grass are being mended. Our little front porch bird that built her nest just outside our windows has now hatched her babies and feeds them every morning as we watch and listen to their peeps. We have windows everywhere and the weather has been beautiful lately.
Our children have gotten to experience all sorts of things that they never would have in Charleston. Tony now knows the joys of playing in mud puddles and running naked through a sprinkler (I took photos to use later in his life as bribery). He also knows what it feels like to play outside all day long taking breaks from his swingset and slide only long enough to eat. Morgan got the “big” bed she so craved and picked out all of her room’s colors and such. Heck, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen a chocolate brown wall for my bedroom but I’m not her. And, it’s just paint. So, we let her go crazy. She has also already grown to enjoy living downtown. She doesn’t remember ever living anywhere that she was able to actually walk to a park, restaurant, etc. Now she enjoys taking the dog for walks with Mazzie and walking downtown with Anton.
Of course, we still have lots of work to do. Our kitchen cabinets are hideous and don’t close properly. Our floors need to be refinished. There isn’t a level spot anywhere in the house. The weeds in the backyard outnumber the real plants and grass. The bathroom still isn’t painted and the molding around the tub we had to replace hasn’t been installed. But, we’ll eventually get around to all of it. The house is a lot like us… quirky and flawed but working on being better… Still it is a perfect “sanctuary”. Now I just have to create a sign for the front yard that says as much (because I am quirky)!
Apr 22
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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Happy Earth day everyone. I am going to post the poems that Morgan will be reading to the Beaufort Unitarian Church this morning as part of their Earth Day celebration.
Earth Day
Author- Jane Yolen
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.
And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.
That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Our Hold on the Planet
Author- Robert Frost
There is much in nature against us. But we forget:
Take nature altogether since time began,
Including human nature, in peace and war,
And it must be a little more in favor of man,
Say a fraction of one percent at the very least,
Or our number living wouldn’t be steadily more,
Our hold on the planet wouldn’t have so increased.
Apr 16
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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Apr 13
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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I love my reusable grocery bags. I bought several pre-Compact and have several we were given by our organic produce guy. I wish I could crochet the bag below though! First of all, it’s just cute. Of course, it’s reusable and uber-practical since it folds into it’s own bag. I still haven’t mastered knitting though so I suspect that it will still be awhile before I can make one of these. Maybe some of you can make one in the meantime though (since I know for a fact that lots of you are ultimately cooler and more talented with the yarn arts than I am)….
Thanks to one of my fellow Compacters for turning me on to this.
http://www.crochetme.com/reduction-tote-bag
Apr 13
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized, Rants
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This is SICK. And I have already warned everyone that if anyone ever has me made into pencils that I will haunt them forever.
http://www.nadinejarvis.com/projects/carbon_copies
Apr 13
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized, Raves
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SUPPORT AUTISM CHARITIES! Click above and watch videos!
Apr 10
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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This is a subject that Anton and I have discussed at length recently. Today a post on The Compact Yahoo group brought the subject back into my thoughts. Members were asking what happened to the people “like us” from the 60’s and 70’s and why their strides towards minimalism seem to have been lost.
Here is my reply post to the group:
“This is an interesting subject to me as a 30-something that has always been very crunchy (in opposition to my parents who did some crunchy stuff but aren’t exactly environmentalists). It seems that there is a generation of people, the original “hippie” generation of the 60’s, that lost their sense of youthful idealism sometime in the wretched excess of the 80’s. Of course, some remained socially and environmentally aware and active. Others have returned to their original way of thinking with some of the world’s recent events. But so many seemed to have changed. They no longer protest and rally…. Now they live in McMansions and shop till they drop.”
Apr 07
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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It’s a small update, but at least it’s a start.
Apr 07
2007
Marlaina
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Category: Uncategorized
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Find this song and listen to it… From a University of South Carolina grad, no less!
Artist: Amos lee
Song: Freedom
Album: Supply And Demand
don’t wanna be a martyr in this war
don’t wanna hear the same excuses anymore
that everything’s a threat
and it’s only gonna get worse if we let it
don’t wanna blame the rich for what they got
don’t point a finger at the poor for what they have not
though the politician and the priest
live in the belly of the beast because we fed it
freedom is seldom found
by beating someone to the ground
telling them how everything is gonna be now, yeah
now if the tables were turned tell me how you would feel
somebody busted up into your house telling you to stay still
while the leaders will deny defeat
innocents they testify by dying in the street
freedom is seldom found
by beating someone to the ground
telling them how everything is gonna be now
freedom is seldom found
by beating someone to the ground
telling them how everything is gonna be now
