September 2014 - View from the Front Porch

29 09, 2014

Harvest Time Bounty

By judythemorgan|2014-09-29T06:00:36-05:00September 29th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

As fall magnifies its presence in our little neck of the mountains, my husband and I have been exploring the beauty and bounty of the season.

We recently visited an organic farm apple orchard to pick apples for applesauce and spiced apples.

Of course, we could have simply harvested from the crab apple tree in our front yard, which is loaded with tiny crab apples.

We didn’t for lots of reasons.

The fruit is quite tart.
Coring the tiny apples would have been nearly impossible.
The mule deer love to eat the tiny apples.

And, besides, plucking the apples from the plentiful harvest at the organic farm was a great adventure.

I came away with a bag full of juicy Honey Crisp apples.

When we weighed-in to pay, we had half a bushel.

Confident we had enough for applesauce and spiced apples, we headed home to make our applesauce.

I have to tell you resisting the luscious apples was hard. So hard in fact that when we finally began to peel and prepare fruit for applesauce. The pot was hardly full.

We ended up with only four pints.

You won’t hear me complaining because the stewed apples I made for breakfast and the apple and peanut butter we enjoyed for lunches were soooo good.

And, I’m not discouraged about so few jars of applesauce, but I am rationing.

How about you? Are you enjoying fall’s harvest?

26 09, 2014

Exploring Their New Home – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-09-26T06:00:50-05:00September 26th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

We moved the chicks out into the chicken yard several weeks ago. We’ve gotten past the “gathering chicks” stage where they must be retrieved from under the coop each night and put into the coop. Now they are beginning to explore their new world.

One day I looked out and saw them sitting on the fence between the big and little chicken yards.

They were eating the leaves off the tree. The problem was that they are slightly uncoordinated and would fall onto the wrong side of the fence – in with the big chickens. This was very distressing and I have spent an inordinate amount of time returning chickens to the right side of the fence.

Today when I was unloading chicken feed I saw them using a piece of bamboo as a ramp.

I’m not exactly sure from whence the bamboo came. I suspect it came over the fence from the neighbor’s yard. In any case, the chickens were climbing up it to get to the top of that fence.

Much to my relief, the chick arrived safely back in the chicken yard. We have had to retrieve chickens from between the chain link and wood fence and it is no easy task.

Then there was the chicken in the tree:

It reminded me of taking my children to the park when they were young. Matt climbed on everything he could find especially if it was taller than him.

Alas, the mother in me came out and just as I had removed Matt from high places before he could jump, I moved the bamboo so the chickens could no longer climb on it.

A little bit of danger is fine, but so far I have managed to keep all 22 chicks alive and I don’t want to ruin my record.

24 09, 2014

Change – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2021-09-22T05:56:57-05:00September 24th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

In last Monday’s blog, I talked about the changing seasons. Winter gives way to spring, spring to summer; summer to fall, and then we’re back to winter again.

There’s something comforting in the constancy of seasonal changes. We accept the change is coming, and we welcome each season for what it offers.

Why then do we perceive the small and major life changes we face with stress and fear and worry?

Life is not static, but a flow of change, never staying the same. It’s messy, chaotic, painful, sad, dirty …, and never perfect.

Bad things happen. So do good things. The sad truth is we cannot control every aspect of our lives.

We accept seasonal changes. We should also accept changes in life.

Consider this quote:

Unfortunately, instead of accepting change, we react with anger, frustration, and stress. We allow change to steal our peacefulness.

Let me propose three ways to handle change.

Laugh – Laugh even when whatever change has thrown your way is not funny. You’ll find a certain amount of detachment which can lead to acceptance.

Breathe – When things change and anger or frustration seeps in, take a deep breath. Breathing allows you to calm down and think more rationally.

Pray or Meditate – Try the Serenity Prayer, attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous.

This counted cross-stitch of The Serenity Prayer hangs in my office. Whenever the winds of change blow my way, I find reading those words helps.

No matter what happens in your world today, smile, breathe and accept whatever change may bring.

22 09, 2014

Bye, bye Summer

By judythemorgan|2021-09-22T05:53:39-05:00September 22nd, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Today is the Fall Equinox and signals the official end of summer.

I know you thought Labor Day ushered out summer or the first day of school ended the carefree days of summer. Not so. Those are the traditional end of summer.

What is the fall equinox?

According to Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, a 19th-century poet who lived in Ireland with her American Counsel husband:

It is the summer’s great last heat,
It is the fall’s first chill: They meet.

According to Weather.com, “Meteorologically speaking, autumn began on Sept. 1, but the autumnal equinox marks the astronomical start to the fall season.”

Being a wordsmith, I like the dictionary definition for equinox: The twice-yearly times when the lengths of day and night are equal. At equinox, the sun is directly over the Earth‘s equator.

I’ve never clocked the hours on the day an equinox occurs, but I do know that after the date marked on my calendar daylight changes. The days start to get shorter than the nights.

To me, the fall equinox means we say farewell to the scent of sunscreen and welcome the smell of wood burning in the fireplace. Temperatures begin to drop and leaves change color.

The signs of change are all around us. What signs of fall are you seeing?

In my neck of the woods, leaves started turning early. Some say that means a long, cold winter. That’s okay with me.

While I’ll miss summer, I can’t deny I’m looking forward to a cup of green tea beside a crackling fire and huddling beneath a quilt to read.

Are you looking forward to the change of season or do you agree with Edie Melson’s quote that summer is too short?

19 09, 2014

What Day is It? – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-09-19T06:00:02-05:00September 19th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

We bought a new mattress last week. After 17 years we thought it was about time. It was delivered on Saturday.

Perhaps that explains my confusion.

I slept fine on the new mattress until sometime after midnight when I awoke with a start and thought, “I didn’t put my swim bag out.”

Monday-Friday mornings I swim at 5:30 a.m. before my body can wake up and realize what is going on. I normally put my swimsuit and shoes in the bathroom and my swim bag in the living room the night before so I can leave without making any noise. This morning was going to be tricky.

When my alarm went off at 5 a.m., I quietly got my swim bag from the closet and then tried to locate my shoes in the dark.

I have two pair of Crocs – one red and one turquoise. I have been known to appear at the breakfast table wearing one of each. Since I was not going to eat breakfast before I swam, I wanted to make sure my shoes matched each other.

Remembering my probability and statistics course, I grabbed three crocs knowing that two would match.

I headed into the bathroom where I found a dress hanging in front of my swimsuit. I moved it and began to put on my suit.

I thought, “What did I fix for Sunday lunch? I don’t remember Sunday lunch?”

Then it dawned on me it was Sunday – not Monday. That was why my swim bag was in the closet and my clothes were hanging in front of my suit.

The change of having a new mattress had messed up my internal calendar.

So I jumped into the shower and got dressed for church, leaving my shoes and my suit in the bathroom. When I went back into the bathroom that afternoon, my shoes were still there.

What amazed me was that neither my husband nor son said anything about the three shoes. I guess they have grown so accustomed to my idiosyncrasies that they hardly notice.

17 09, 2014

Beauty – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-09-17T06:00:07-05:00September 17th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Edie Melson’s graphic of Thoreau’s quote about heaven under our feet fits perfectly with today’s word – Beauty.

Recently my husband and I have been out and about traveling to farmer’s markets and orchards to buy fruits and vegetables to store for the coming winter.

As we’ve wandered the back roads to organic farms, we have seen beauty everywhere — truly heaven beneath our feet.

Wouldn’t you agree God’s handiwork testifies to what incredible sights we’ll find in heaven?

15 09, 2014

An Unexpected (and Uninvited) Summer Visitor

By judythemorgan|2021-09-22T05:50:25-05:00September 15th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

This summer has been a revolving door of visitors at our house and we’ve loved it!

We’ve seen folks we haven’t seen in thirty years and caught up. Plus we’ve gotten to spend time with family.

There has been, however, a surprise and frequent visitor recently.

It’s that time of year in the forest. Black bears, who are actually brown or cinnamon-colored, are feeding up for the long winter hibernation.

A bear’s natural wariness to find food overrides his fear of humans and his nose is one hundred times more sensitive than ours.

Bird and hummingbird feeders provide as much as twelve hundred calories so the bears prowl around looking for easy food. We do our part to keep the bears wild by bearproofing our house, which means we take our bird feeders in at night.

Only, our visitor came mid-morning!

On his first visit, Buddy Bear, as my sister named him, emptied our homemade feeder, and ignored the hummingbird feeder hanging ten feet above his head according to the bearproofing pamphlet instructions. It was too high for him to reach.

Finished, Buddy sat a spell before he moseyed off.

Buddy returned for a second sniff and, finding none, wandered off again.

Next day he came again. This time sniffing no food, he sauntered up to the rock outcropping above our house. We watched him from the large dining room window. He watched us. We wondered if he thought we were in a people zoo.

Eventually he traveled on. But Buddy returned a third day.

Finding the feeder gone. He decided to take a rest up next to the house.

That was when my husband decided that Buddy was becoming too friendly and used one of our forest ranger provided firecrackers.

The loud bang sent Buddy scurrying away.

A fourth time, he ambled by, pausing mid-way up the hill and looking down, but kept going as if remembering the firecracker. (Bears are very smart and have great memories.)

We’re hoping that the firecracker did its job. If you look closely, you’ll noticed that Buddy has tags on both his ears.

He’d been a very bad boy. A bear is tagged and relocated from an area where he’s done some damage or been a threat to humans.

Bears only get two chances. Third time the animal is destroyed.

We don’t want that to happen. They lived in this place first and we’re willing to share unless the visitor is very, very bad.

Btw, we never use firecrackers on our human house guests — even if they are very, very bad.

12 09, 2014

Chick Update – Miller Farm Friday

By judythemorgan|2014-09-12T07:00:00-05:00September 12th, 2014|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The chicks that hatched at the end of July are doing great. We started feeding them fermented chicken feed right from the beginning based on Rachel’s research, and we have had no illnesses or deaths. This is great news.

We have had a different issue.

When I was changing the paper under the brooder one day, I noticed the plastic tub we put their food in was upside down and it was moving. I thought perhaps some of the paper was stuck to it, but it moved even when the paper didn’t.

Upon closer examination, I discovered a chick under the tub. He didn’t seem nearly as disturbed by the incident as I did. Several times after that there were chicks under the tub. Sometimes there were other chicks standing on top of the tub.

I’m not sure whether it was a variation on hide and seek or king of the feed tub. In any case, no chicken was harmed in the playing of this game.

Now the chickens have gotten big enough that most of them don’t fit under the tub.

Of course, we do have a few bantams that are smaller so I still check whenever the tub is upside down.

I hope that some of them will be big enough to move out into the chicken yard soon. I think Rachel is coming home from college next weekend, and she can help with the process. I’ll keep you updated.

10 09, 2014

Word-Magic – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2014-09-10T06:00:46-05:00September 10th, 2014|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

Webster defines word-magic as magic involving the use of words in a manner determined by a belief that the very act of uttering a word summons or directly affects the person or thing that the word refers to.

According to Christopher Vogler (one of my very favorite writing teachers):

“Many cultures believed the letters of their alphabets were far more than just symbols for communication, recording transactions, or recalling history. They believed letters were powerful magical symbols that could be used to cast spells and predict the future. The Norse runes and the Hebrew alphabet are simple letters for spelling words, but also deep symbols of cosmic significance.”

Chris goes further to say, “When you “spell” a word correctly, you are in effect casting a spell, charging these abstract, arbitrary symbols with meaning and power.”

My spelling is so bad I’m not sure I have to worry about any words I write casting spells. Half the time, spell checker can’t even come up with choices for what I’ve typed.

I do believe, however, that once the words form into sentences and sentences into paragraphs another magic occurs – story magic. Vogler calls it The Hero’s Journey, a mystical path that readers sense on some level.

Don’t you have a sense of magic when you read or hear some stories?

It’s the incredible ability of certain authors to cast a spell and transport readers into an imaginary world with their word pictures.

But there’s another aspect of word magic, too.

Consider the adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me.” As much as we might want, or wish, the saying to be correct, the truth is words have the power to hurt or heal us.

Whenever we speak, we should choose words carefully.

As writers and storytellers, like the shamans or medicine men and women of ancient cultures, we should recognize the incredible power we have with our words.

Pearl Strachan Hurd was a British politician in the 1930’s whose sole legacy is this quote, emphasizing the destructive power language can have.

Atom bombs conjure images of death, violence, and war. Not a pretty picture at all.

Ms. Hurd’s quote very dramatically reminds us of the need to be cautious with our words and the power of word-magic.

8 09, 2014

Harvest Moonlight and Spooning

By judythemorgan|2014-09-08T07:00:00-05:00September 8th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

SOURCE: : http://cheddarbay.com/Shanghai%20Breezes/MoonFestival/moonfestival.html

Recently, I attended a stargazing gathering at the home of our local Night Sky expert, Darlene Danko, who writes a weekly column by that title for our local newspaper. It’s one of the first columns I read.

Last week, Ms. Danko set up her computerized telescope in her front yard and invited the neighbors to join her.

It was fascinating to see craters on the moon and rings on Saturn up close. We saw lots of other stars and galaxies, but the moon and Saturn were the best.

For the next few nights, all of us will have the opportunity to see a full moon without such a fancy telescope.

The moon will be coming up at dusk or nightfall for several nights in succession, a progression of moonlit nights that characterizes the harvest moon.

The term harvest moon probably came from farmers who used the extra moonlight during fall harvest. Then in 1903, Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth popularized the name in the popular song Shine On Harvest Moon. Here are the words:

Shine on, shine on harvest moon Up in the sky,

I ain’t had no lovin’

Since January, February, June or July

Snow time ain’t no time to stay Outdoors and spoon,

So shine on, shine on harvest moon, For me and my gal.

The old sheet music cover (and words) warm my romantic heart.

And, this year the Harvest Moon is a bit bigger than usual … because it’s also a supermoon.

Astrologer Richard Nolle came up with the popular name supermoon to describe a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. Technically the phenomenon is a perigee full moon, or a perigee new moon.

Whatever you call it – harvest moon or supermoon, I’m just going outside tonight and enjoy the bright, orange orb. Maybe do some spooning on the porch with my honey.

How about you?

Monthly Archives: September 2014