A Bird in Hand, so to speak :-)

Our remodeling crew had a snow day today after an ~10 inch snowfall yesterday. After getting both our home and the farm plowed out and shoveled (my husband and I both felt like we needed naps by 10 AM!), we decided today would be a good day to head back out to the farm to do tedious work like stripping wallpaper and applying waterproofing stuff to the basement walls without being in the way of our crew of skilled craftsmen.

Taking a break, I looked out of the kitchen window to see for the second time a very large all white bird fly through the open area of the SW portion of our property. I "flew" to the other end of the house to look out the windows to see if I could get another view of this bird to make an ID. Nope - no luck again. I look for it every single time that Kaya and I walk the land, but so far, I have not made an ID. Whatever it is would be very exciting - it is clearly not one of the red-tail hawks that are common here, even at this time of year.

However, while zipping through the house to get a better view of my white mystery bird through the windows at the far west end of the house, I glanced out a south-facing window to see movement in a tree close by the house. So, after rapidly assessing that no big white mystery bird was going to pose for me to make an easy ID, I quickly ran back to the bedroom window facing south to see what the movement was and if it was still there (hope hope!).

Aha! five (5!! instead of one like I recently saw and posted about) male Eastern bluebirds, plain as day, and as beautiful as can be, close-up to see all their feathers and contrasting colors. They were alternating between posing and then dropping down out of sight to an area close to the house that could be seen from our walk-out basement, back to the tree, then flying farther out into the yard where I could now see a new puddle.

So I ran for my camera, ran downstairs to the basement, picked my way through all the construction stuff, glad the work crew was not there to shove aside!, told Dick about the excitement, then ran back up the stairs trying to get the best view of these moving targets (birds never sit still in contrast to plants!), realizing all the windows were filthy and/or had screens, oh no! any photos will be awful, back through construction zone trying for a better view trying not to trip on all this stuff, trying not to step on Kaya, trying to zoom in with the camera on the run, what an event! So what you see is "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush". My big white bird will just have to come back sometime when I am outside to see it, follow it, and get that ID, and someday I'll be outside with my camera to get better pix of our bluebirds, too. :-)

(Photo: 3 of the 5 male Eastern bluebirds outside our bedroom window; one at ~7 o'clock, 1 at ~8 o'clock, and the third one at ~10 o'clock, which is hard to see)

(Photo: zoom close-up to see one male Eastern bluebird sitting out by the more distant puddle where our sump pump was dumping water this afternoon)

(Photo: Construction zone in the basement I had to navigate to see the bluebirds at the puddle closest to the house. Note the great (!!) windows facing south that will be used for growing lots and lots of plants as soon as we move in.)

(Photo: Bedroom construction zone I had to navigate to see the bluebirds in the tree outside this window - this wallpaper (flying angels) will be coming down. Thankfully, it is only a border.)

(Photo: Living room/dining room construction zone - 4 walls of wallpaper and a very well stuck border (complete with mildew behind much of the border) in the process of coming down. Note: Kaya supervising on her pillow.)

(Photo: Garlic field under a snowy blanket.)

(Photo: the field to the SW of our house where twice I have seen the big white bird flying through, both times in the early afternoon, flying from east to west ~ 15 feet off the ground just this side of the shrub/second growth line.)

(Photo: Snowballs on the spruce tree - I wonder if today's high winds rounded off the snow on the branches from yesterday's snowfall.)

(Photo: Kaya - what's down there??!! I tried and tried to get a pix of her snowy nose and ears without success this time.)

(Photo: Kaya up to her knees and shoulders, as happy as can be. Tonight she'll probably pay for all this hard exertion with her lame back legs. I hope we don't have to carry her upstairs for bed.)

Actually I never did nap today, and now I am wondering if I'll need to be carried upstairs, too (just kidding!). :-) :-)

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

What's New? We are officially farmers!

No action on Groundhog Day at the two groundhog homes that I know of on our farm. We had a cloudy day with light snow but no evidence of groundhog emergence, at least based on the fact that no paw prints were visible outside the two holes that we saw groundhogs enter last fall, which our old dog Kaya regularly tries to investigate. So does that mean we'll have an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter? I'll let you know what actually happens!

(Photo: No pawprints seen around our groundhog hole on 2.2.10. I suppose it could have poked its head out without venturing out any further before backing up to return to hibernation.)

I did finally hear cardinals singing today for the first time this year, a few weeks later than I have heard them in the past, however, a clear sign that spring is on its way.

However, the BIG news is that as of today, February 4, 2010, my husband and I are officially signed up as new farmers with the USDA. Last year we registered at our Local Food Summit as "farmer wannabe's". This year we are registered as farmers for our upcoming 2nd Local Food Summit. Woo-hoo!!

So here are a few pix of what's going on at the farm right now. Repairs and remodeling are still in progress but it looks like everything should be finished by the end of March for us to start moving in during April. Another woo-hoo!

(Photo: Kaya with me on our regular walk about the property. I am always looking to see what I notice that is new. You may have noticed that very few of my pictures are taken with sunny skies. Because Michigan is almost completely surrounded by the beautiful and extraordinary Great Lakes, it is a very cloudy state during winter months.)

(Photo: Even a tree with no leaves can create a sheltered spot where less snow falls.)

(Photo: the fuzzy magnolia blossoms, not really any bigger than when I took a photo a month ago or so.)

(Photo: the bank of windows in our south-facing walk-out basement, which will be perfect for indoor growing next winter!)

Step, step, step - we're getting there! We're getting bids on a barn and a driveway over to the new barn location, making contacts regarding erection of a hoop house, signing up for various extension education and/or organic growers meetings in the upper Midwest, ordering seed for more green manuring of our land prior to planting more garlic next fall, learning what USDA programs we will qualify for and may wish to participate in, choosing paint colors, stripping wallpaper, still pulling out mouse nests from the house, etc, etc, etc.

There are not enough hours in the days, and we sleep very well at night. When we get impatient about all we want to do, and how we sometimes, even often, wish we were 10 (or 20!) years younger, kind friends remind us that it is the journey, not the destination, that counts. Thanks - we needed and appreciated that gentle reminder. We are fortunate. Step, step, step! :-)

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe - Vegetarian Lentil Paella

February is Heart Healthy Month (or something like that!), and as much as I usually focus on information related to cancer on this blog, it is a fact that many more women die of cardiovascular related diseases (like heart attack and stroke) than cancer. In fact CVD is responsible for over 40% of all deaths of American women. In addition, it behooves us to remember that women are six times more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer (that is a very important message for breast cancer survivors, too), and heart disease kills more women over the age of 65 than all cancers combined.

It's thought that 80 percent of heart attacks and related events could be prevented by modifying behaviors -- like adopting a healthy diet. Thus it is reassuring to know that something we can do with our diet actually helps us reduce those risks.

Evidence keeps accumulating that a traditional Mediterranean diet can optimize health. The most recently published study (American Journal of Epidemiology, December 15, 2009) showed a 40% reduced risk of a first heart attack or other heart disease-related event. Past studies of varying sizes and designs have shown that a Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of death in people who've had a heart attack, curb the risk of stroke, and boost survival in people living with heart disease.

Specific components of a Mediterranean diet differ from region to region but, generally, the key features include high consumption of olive oil, plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts and seeds. Fish is favored over other meat sources with a relatively low consumption of red meat (approximately one serving per month). Alcohol, especially red wine, and dairy products are used in moderation.

Here is a delicious and easy heart-healthy (and cancer-fighting, too!) recipe that incorporates nearly all of the components of a traditional Mediterranean diet.

Vegetarian Lentil Paella

Ingredients:
2 large sweet peppers - chopped (red, orange, or yellow or combo)
2 medium onions - chopped (combination of varieties, ~ 1 cup chopped)
6 cloves garlic - peel and then mince
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup lentils (brown) - rinse and pick out any stones
1 cup long-grain brown rice (not instant)
4 cups broth (combination of vegetable and fish broth)
1/8 teaspoon saffron (may use 1/4 tsp. turmeric)
1 pint canned tomatoes
1 cup frozen (thaw ahead of time) peas
1 cup mixed olives (preferably pitted!)
chopped fresh parsley or cilantro for garnish

Directions
1) In Dutch oven or large cooking pot, sauté peppers, onions, garlic in olive oil until onions are tender.
2) Add lentils, rice, saffron, and broth to pepper mixture.
3) Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes until both rice and lentils are cooked and liquid is absorbed.
4) Add tomatoes, olives. Heat through.
5) Add peas and cilantro. Heat through.
6) Add salt (if desired) to taste. I did not add any since the olives themselves already contribute a considerable sodium content to the dish.

This recipe makes 4 generous servings. Serve it with any other vegetable, a salad, and some whole grain bread (to make sure to sop every little drop of this delicious dish). A glass of red wine would make it a complete Mediterranean meal. :-)

Photo: Easy to make your own vegetable broth, using vegetable peelings and ends that have been saved in a ziploc bag in the freezer. I added some left-over fish broth to this broth, too. While this was simmering, I chopped the onions and garlic, emptied the dishwasher, swept the floor, and made a cup of green tea to drink.

Photo: Paella ingredients - All the vegetables are locally grown, either from our garden or other farmers. Organic sweet peppers are very hard to find in grocery stores and very expensive when they are available. They are SO easy to freeze during summer and fall to have available during the so-called "dark days".

Photo - Vegetarian Lentil Paella with Rice - a one-pot meal all ready to eat and enjoy. Add a few walnuts to a side apple and cabbage salad with a yogurt-based dressing plus a glass of red wine to drink and I think you would have all the components of a health promoting (and delicious) Mediterranean meal.



"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Bluebirds - A Recipe for Happiness

I've been looking, looking, and looking for an Eastern bluebird on our new farm property since we first went to look at the house and land last March. I have seen one fly across the road about a mile away on Dec 27, land and pose in the sunlight next to the road for a great view, but that had been the only one I've seen. Until today! While driving down our driveway, I saw one fly from the dead ash tree at the front of our land (in the center of the photo at the top of my blog) to the stand of staghorn sumacs just to the south of our garlic fields (on the right side of the photo currently at the top of the blog).

I don't remember where I first learned of the long and widely held association between bluebirds and happiness. However, I still vividly remember the deep happiness I felt the very first time I saw a small flock of bluebirds (February 29, 1976 at Festge County Park, just outside Madison, WI), and I also clearly remember the look of happiness that spread over a friend's face when she opened an office "secret-Santa" gift to find two blue glass "bluebirds of happiness".

One of my favorite artists and writers is Julie Zickefoose. Although many people may recognize her name from her lovely NPR commentaries, I was introduced to Julie's art and writing years and years ago in Bird Watcher's Digest magazine and have been a fan ever since. When I heard that Julie was coming to speak at a local bluebird festival several years ago, I quickly looked through all of my past magazines to find an issue where she had drawn the cover artwork to take with me, hoping for an autograph. She happily autographed 5 covers for me, and 3 of those 5 were of paintings of bluebirds, one of her favorite subjects that she paints using observations of bluebirds on her own farm in southern Ohio.

In the early 80's I was a bluebird trail monitor for several of the trails established in the northern Illinois forest preserves nearest to our home at that time. Two of those summers, I monitored the trails checking on the bluebird houses with my youngest son in a carrier on my back. The first summer was understandable and easy, as he was only 6 months old. The second summer was more challenging as he was now 18 months old and considerably heavier. I really envisioned that he would love to walk those trails with us, and he tried. Of course he got tired, and I did expect to carry him part of the way, but what I didn't envision was his aversion to having any high grass or twigs touch his sturdy little legs. He was so upset (!!) that I still remember the instant I sighed with sadness, put him into the carrier on my back, and thought to myself "this child will never be a naturalist". (Thankfully, thankfully, 27 years later, my worries in that regard have turned out to be totally unfounded!)

However, that summer was my last to volunteer for bluebird trail management in Illinois. The following year I was on chemotherapy and the year after that I was still too debilitated from my treatments to do all the walking required to monitor the trails. Then we moved to Michigan and that enjoyable part of life was put on hold.

Until now! Seeing that bluebird today has brought back such past happiness and also given me much happiness to look forward to. I knew I was remiss at not getting bluebird houses set out last fall, so the bluebirds that stay all winter (and many do in this area) would potentially have a place to take cover during nasty winter weather and also have first choice of a nesting box for the upcoming spring. While I cannot get any poles in the frozen ground at this date, I am going to quickly look for other mounting locations (like one of our clothesline poles?) and also be ready to get some up in the best locations as soon as the ground thaws enough to do so.

According to Wikipedia, the bluebird is a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. So I take the January appearance of a bluebird on our property as a positive sign for the renewal that our new home and land is undergoing in 2010.

Although I did not have my camera ready to take my own photo., I leave you with two beautiful images of bluebirds in sumac during winter. The photo is from the web site for the Tennessee State Parks and the painting is from Julie Zickefoose's web site. If we are lucky, we may have the opportunity to move a beautiful old barn like the one in Julie's painting to our property to both preserve and restore (stay tuned - I'll be sure to let you know if the stars align for an opportunity and effort of this magnitude).




I hope you find your own bluebird of happiness, something that brings back happy memories in addition to something to look forward to with happiness.

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Milestones

Short and sweet! I have two (two!) engaged sons, one planning a wedding for summer 2010 and the other for summer 2011. I am so proud, excited, and thankful that both of my boys have reached this milestone in life with happiness and confidence, each having found a truly lovely young woman to love, each of whom we also already love and eagerly welcome into our family.

To say that I am grateful to have this opportunity to see and share in their happiness is a serious understatement. In fact, I would say the 'goose-bump-feeling' must be close to pure bliss. :-)

We did ask that they chose a date to be married that is not smack in the middle of our garlic-harvesting season, but I don't know what other input and options we, as parents of the grooms, will have. Much is still to be determined, and we'll all enjoy the planning and the process!

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow, inch by inch, row by row

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Signs of Spring

Yes! Although some are from last year, some are from this year already, too!

(Photo: Queen's Anne Lace, often called "bird's nest" during winter months as the remaining flower structure closes in on itself to look like a very small bird's nest)

(Photo: some bird's nest beginning that was never completed last year, or maybe even a complete but flimsy nest, or perhaps what is left after nature has taken its toll on the structure - this is in a shrub of some kind approximately 8-10 feet from the ground right next to a trail)

(Photo: Very well structured bird nest - there were two of these very close to each other that looked practically identical - these two nests were in some dense second growth 4-5 feet from the ground)

(Photo - Red-twig dogwood - I love seeing the beautiful red bark so clearly in winter without the leaves and in stark contrast to the snow)

(Photo: Fuzzy buds on what I believe is a magnolia - I don't remember seeing them a week ago!)

Large flocks of robins are roaming my neighborhood, chuckling and chortling but not singing yet, Carolina wrens can be heard singing nearly every day, tufted titmice are calling and singing their hearts out from the tops of trees, and cardinals will begin singing to establish mating territories very soon (I start listening for their songs in mid-late January, often hearing them for the first time of the year right on Martin Luther King's birthday). In addition, the days are already noticeably longer and brighter as we move farther and farther away from the winter solstice.

I needed a break from the inside messes to step outside to observe how the seasons are progressing, both enjoying winter and looking for glimpses of spring, too.

All this now seems even more beautiful tonight while finishing up the writing for this post than when I took the photos early this afternoon. Why? A good friend just sent an email telling me that a another good friend we both knew from our Madison days in married student housing (but had each lost touch with) died recently after a short 4-month battle with cancer - sigh and sob..........

Enjoy winter, each and every day, while also looking for spring. I count my lucky stars that I still have the opportunity to do so.

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow, inch by inch and row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

A Home Blessing

The holidays have come and gone too quickly. Our grown boys were home from the East coast and the West coast for 7-10 days, which was simply not enough time for them to catch up on their sleep, to finish holiday shopping and wrapping, baking and cooking, writing our family holiday letter, visiting with friends and family, host an open house at our new farm (not waiting until everything is done), and just relaxing and doing nothing. :-)

My husband and I have not yet taken down and put away all of our Christmas decorations knowing it is our last year in this home, having now switched into high gear making the myriad of decisions about the details of the remodeling and repairs we are having done to the house on our new farm. It has been overwhelming, we have gotten tired and "grouchy", and then came the earthquake in Haiti to remind us to put all of our problems and grouchiness in a true perspective, i.e., our "problems" are what my husband has always liked to call "the problems of success".

Right after I re-oriented myself to how fortunate we are to only be worrying about "Are we over or under budget for this item?, Are we ahead, at, or behind our contractor's time-line with these choices?" Have you and I reached consensus on this decision?, etc, etc," I took a few minutes to start reading the book, To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue. The first chapter is suitably titled "Beginnings". From this book, I was able to share with my husband the Irish proverb "Tús maith, leath na hoibre," a good beginning is half the work. The sweet smile on his face (his instant recognition that all of this mess plus all these decisions are getting us closer to our dream) was heart-melting and something I'll remember forever. :-)

Here are just a few photos of our current mess, which represents incredible progress, a good beginning is half the work!

(Photo: New roof in progress, front view, hopefully the landscaping that we want to keep is resilient)

(Photo: New roof - back view. Chimney repairs have already been done to stop the leaking from that source)

(Photo: New siding on west side, new bedroom windows installed, new bathroom window blocked out almost ready to install, new roof being put on)

(Photo: New private entrance being made from the hallway bathroom to the main floor guest bedroom, all repairs were necessary due to the leaking plumbing from the upstairs bathroom)

(Photo: Gutting of the main floor bathroom, all plumbing is being replaced or repaired for this bathroom plus the bathroom above it so that nothing will leak anymore! Everything still functional is being reused or removed intact where possible in order to be donated to our local Habitat for Humanity's ReStore.)

I'd like to end with the following poem, a blessing, by John O'Donohue in this same book:

For a New Home

May this house shelter your life.
When you come in home here,
May all the weight of the world
Fall from your shoulders.

May your heart be tranquil here,
Blessed by peace the world cannot give.

May this home be a lucky place,
Where the graces your life desires
Always find the pathway to your door.

May nothing destructive
Ever cross your threshold.

May this be a safe place
Full of understanding and acceptance,
Where you can be as you are,
Without the need of a mask
Of pretense of image.

May this home be a place of discovery.
Where the possibilities that sleep
In the clay of your soul can emerge
To deepen and refine your vision
For all that is yet to come to birth.

May it be a house of courage,
Where healing and growth are loved,
Where dignity and forgiveness prevail;
A home where patience of spirit is prized,
And the sight of the destination is never lost
Though the journey be difficult and slow.
May there be great delight around this hearth.
May it be a house of welcome
For the broken and diminished.

May you have the eyes to see
That no visitor arrives without a gift
And no guest leaves without a blessing.

We currently have a brass four-leaf clover over the main entrance to our home, given to us by my father when we first moved into our current home. Although it is no longer shiny and the stem has broken (life takes a toll on everything), we will take it with us to hang over the front door of our new home, a link of continuity to my family and the hope that our new home will also be "a lucky place, where the graces your life desires always find the pathway to your door."

As you begin 2010, cancer survivor or not, I hope your home is also lucky, a place of discovery, a house of courage and forgiveness, and that no visitor arrives without a gift or leaves without a blessing.

"Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row"

Diana Dyer, MS, RD