nearly wordless wednesday

Experiment:

can drinking catnip tea every day

beginning in early Spring

make the human body

inherently repellent to mosquitoes?

To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented research.

I shall report my results.

~~~~~

respite

I follow a lot of art-related twitter accounts.

Museums and galleries, around the world.

People who post specific artists' work or periods of art.

And many, many artists.

I've "met" some wonderful artists - 

painters, sculptors, printmakers and woodworkers - 

on twitter.

And it's all good fun.

Recently the Royal Academy of Arts began posting cues for a "daily doodle" as a tiny respite to the ongoing pandemic grimness. The first one I saw was:

That made me laugh, so I looked around for a pen.

It took me longer to find the pen than to draw this ferret:

I don't see the RA cues every day, but today was:

This time, I welcomed a reason to focus for a little while.

That is one of the best things about Daily Markmaking in general:

while I'm doing it, I'm not doing anything else.

My attempt at the New England Cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis). This is the native rabbit once common throughout much of New England, now rarely seen due to habitat loss. I'm not sure I've ever seen one. I'd have to be very close to tell the New England Cottontail from the Eastern Cottontail. That little black mark on this one's head, and the black edge on the ears? Two possible identifiers.

~~~

I hope you are finding ways to feel happy and productive amidst the very real danger the whole world is affected by at the moment. Do you have particular ideas to share in the comments?

Which reminds me...

numerous people have pointed out that the term "social distancing" was an unfortunate choice and I agree. It is inaccurate: we are required to be "physically distanced" but are very much able to be "socially engaged." Comptonia has long been a substantial part of my own social engagement. I'm very glad that you choose to make it a small part of yours.

~~~~~

wednesday wittering

How is everyone getting on?

I hope those of you who don't have your own blogs will say hello in a comment from time to time. Ever since I tried to sort out that commenting glitch and in the process discovered that more than 1,300 people subscribe to Comptonia, I've been wondering who you all are and what you are up to. There couldn't be a better time to reach out a little bit and connect with friends on the internet, right?

blooming where we are planted

Is everyone taking care of themselves? Plenty of sleep? Eating well?

I've been craving fresh greens but resisting going to the grocery store. Suddenly I remembered how easy it is to sprout seeds. Funny how something that has been a habit winter after winter can just be completely forgotten. This winter I didn't dust off the sprouting jars at all.

But once I (finally) thought of it, a quick rummage produced a bag of organic mung beans. A couple of tablespoons of beans and some water, and in a couple of days there were plenty of fresh tasty sprouts for snacking, for adding to soup, and - a surprisingly successful experiment - folding into omelettes.

sprouts added to soup just before serving - warm and crunchy

A couple of weeks ago I signed up with Misfits Market for a bi-weekly delivery of a small box of organic veg and fruit. During the winter I'd considered trying such an arrangement for the pre-garden season, and when Staying Home For The Safety of Oneself And Others became the norm, that clinched it.

the top layer - fruit and more veg beneath

The first box arrived yesterday, and it brought both the fun of opening a mystery package and the challenge of using every item in the box before it can lose quality. Yesterday I had a lettuce and tomato salad for lunch - so simple, so good! - and roasted bok choy and carrots for supper. That's more fresh veg in one day than I'd had in the past two weeks.

salad again today - a treat

I like the company's mission statement, their ethos, their apparent passion for reducing food waste and providing access to affordable organic food to more people. But at the end of the day, it's the delivered product that matters. So...we'll see. After I've had another box or two - or three - I'll post a little review of my experience. Meanwhile, the company offers a referral discount code, so if anyone wants to try it, just let me know.

~~~

And of course, the other kind of harvest - cashmere - continues.

Slowly, slowly.

This evening I combed Lily of the Valley for the first time this year.

Lily is always one of the most difficult goats to work with. As I carefully, gently comb, talking quietly and offering treats, Lily chooses to sink to the floor of the barn like a hundred-pound pillow. She then stretches her neck to it's most uncomfortable-looking extreme, and twists her head around with an expression that suggests she knows death is imminent, and while she is resigned to her tragic fate she cannot help wondering "why?"

Every.

Year.

~~~

This picture is from yesterday's walk.

Piper is helping me check on a patch of trailing arbutus we noticed last Autumn. Epigaea repens, mayflower or trailing arbutus, is the "state flower" of Massachusetts.

Maybe this year we'll see it bloom.

I'll keep you posted.

Take care.

~~~~~

thankful thursday

I hope you and yours are keeping well.

If you are able to stay home, I hope you feel "safe at home" not "stuck at home."
It is such a luxury to have the option.

If you are among the people working to keep people and animals healthy, supply chains functional, and everybody fed, thank you so much and please take good care of yourself.

I am thankful that all are well here.

The hens are providing organic eggs daily.

Eloise waiting for the Daily Apple.

~~~

The goats have enough good hay to take us through, with careful feeding, to first cutting. And a delivery from the feed store last week provided my usual Spring top-up of supplies, which my Occasional Helper very helpfully came by to put away for me. I've missed having him here lately, but we usually work together on projects and although he was willing to come, I could not justify the unnecessary risk. (To him, to me, to the world at large.)

However, unloading 50-pound sacks from a feed order is always a solo job, and the bonus since-you're-here task of shifting a dozen bales of hay out to the "distribution centers" saves me a heck of a lot of heavy lifting and dragging for a couple of weeks.

It's uncertain when I will have Occasional Help again,

but I'm certainly grateful for last week's visit.

And I'm not the only one:

 Violet, the eldest, tasting the new mineral mix.

Bud, the youngest, waiting his turn to taste the new mineral mix.

~~~

It's been quite cold lately, but unless it is raining,

Piper and I have been taking daily walks along our road.

It's a team sport.

I do the looking...

and Piper does the sniffing.

 ~~~

There have been many "firsts" in the past week.

The first wood frogs singing.

The first robin in the paddock, first pomegranate finch at the feeder.

And literally overnight, the goldfinches began to color up! One day all the finches at the feeder were the same muted green, and the very next day:

 ~~~

In other green and gold news:

the marsh marigolds are coming along:

I hope you are finding many things to feel thankful for these days.

It's a gift we give ourselves.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~