ROBIN HOBB

Yes.  I have ladybugs in my house.  For better or worse, my home is pretty permeable to them.  It's not as bad as the old house, which I shared with a number of friendly residents: possums and raccoons in the attic, all matter of insects inside.

Every fall, the ladybugs invade, looking for a place to hibernate for the winter.  And I am alwasy astonished that such tiny pieces of life can enter my home, hide behind a picutre on the wall or up im the corner of the ceiling, and be still for months.  Then, when spring touches the house and the sunlight comes in the windows, there they are!  And I open the windows and take out the (ineffective) screen and spend a pleasant quarter hour watching them open their little red and black shells, put out their lacy black wings and take flight.  What a miracle.

As for my title to this blog, like a lot of US Citizens, I am having a 'Buy Nothing' day.  It's a quiet protest to some things my federal government is doing.  Will it be noticed?  Unlikely.  

But on this day, I will instead donate.  Used items, clean and folded and sorted, will go to a second hand store instead of into a landfill.

Then I'm going down to the Yelm School district offices.  For the second time, our school district levy failed.  The levy would have added $2.50 cents to my property taxes per $1000 of value.  Not a lot, but my local schools depend on it.  So today, I will go into the offices and write a check for that amount and donate it to the school.  I can ear mark it for lunches or the arts or sports, etc.  It's a tough choice.  They are all important.

I don't understand how people can think that art and music are 'extras' in a kid's education.   Or food!   

I'm 72.  One of the worst things I can imagine is being 82, and the kids that are 8 right now are 18 and voting, but they don't read well or understand statistics.  Or worse, they don't vote at all because they were never taught about how democracy works.  Undereducated people are a shame to my country and my city. 

So I'm going to put my money on the table.  I don't have any kids or grandkids in the Yelm school system anymore.  But everyone one of those kids can impact my life for the next (X) number of years that I am alive here.  I want them to have the best education they can get.

So that's my rant for the day.  And yes, I'm letting the ladybugs overwinter in my house!

Robin

Yesterday, Feb 1, six writers gathered at the 35617 S R 507 S in McKenna WA.  We were a diverse group, with backgroiunds in film, theater, gaming, mainstream and fantasy writing.  But it was a very congenial group, and I was pleased at how quickly lap tops were opened and the writing commensed.

As mentioned before, the idea is to provide a space where writers of any ilk can find a couple of distraction free hours to work.  Today I was down there by myself from 1-4, and I was very pleased at how much work I got done on my edits of a first draft.  Coffee, tea and cookies were available, but I could not suddenly decide to run the vacuum or do a load of laundry, or any of hte other tasks I give myself when I get stuck on a project.  I made a great deal of forward progress.

If you live in the vicinity of McKenna (Or don't mind a long drive!) and would like to know when the room is open, please send me an email at Robinhobb@robinhobb.com and I will add you to the mailing address.  At this time, it looks as if Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the best times for people to gather.  But there will also be hours when I am just there working alone, and if anyone wants to come and silently work at the same table, that would be fine.  

The space there continues to evolve and I hope it will become more pleasant as time goes by.

My other projects this week are to learn more about beekeeping.  I have a hive box now, and extra boxes to add on top as the hive prospers. (I hope!)  My next step is to order bees.  I can just order a box of bees to put in the hive, and give them food and so on until they establish themselves.  Or I can order a nuc.  That is where I buy several frames that have some honey and brood in them already, and some bees and a queen that has already made a mating flight.  Tomorrow there is another meeting of the Pierce County Beekeeping Association and I hope to attend and learn enough to make a valid decision.

If feels odd to be ordering flower seeds and thinking of bees when she just had our first snowfall.  It wasn't deep, and it melted off the roads almost immediately.  But I do think we are going to have a prolonged winter this year.  The weather man says that the nights are going to continue to drop down below freezing.  I'm goimg throug a lot of birdeseed and chicken feed keeping my birdfeeders and chicken troughs full.  

Currently, my evenings entertainment is writing to my congressional senators and representatives, and any other politician that I think is doing a good job.  I like to send real letters, but I encourage anyone who wants to share thoughts with any government official to send a letter or an email.  It's very satisfying to think that my lone voice might be heard, and in some way encourage people who are working long hours for their constituency.  

And I've nothing else to share.  So it's time to shut the laptop and plan tomorrow.  I hope you all had good days today!

Well, this should not sound like Doom and Gloom and Portents of Calamity.  But I'd like to tell you a bit about how Fred and I maintain a lot of self-sufficiency.

First, the Chickens.  When we bought this place years ago, it came with a flock of chickens we named the Motley Crew, as they were all sorts.  We named the two roosters Chicky Noodle and Pacho Villa.  And there were 25 Buff Orpington chicks in a brooder in the bathroom.  Yes, it was that kind of a house.  

So in a short time we had excess of 40 chickens and a very steep learning curve.  

Eggs and Meat (as in chicken) is not going to get any cheaper any time soon.  And it will never be as cheap as it once was.  That's how things work.  They never go back to being the price they once were. Avian Influenza is not going to vanish.  It's a fact of our lives now.

  Now, if you take the path I've chosen, eggs will be cheaper than what you will pay at the store. But not free.  And your meat supply will be cleaner because you will keep it that way, every day of the animal's life. I do no hormones, no pesticides or herbicides anywhere near the chickens, and everything as clean and natural as I can keep it.   

 We have a flock of 9 hens and a rooster named Red.  Some of the hens are a bit old but we get from four to 9 eggs a day.  We supply ourselves, our extended familiy and some of our neighbors. They have a nice, tight chicken house, with clean litter.  They come and go outside as they please, in a very large open pen.   

Our favorite source for chicks is Murray McMurray hatchery.  We have used them for years.  I order chicks in batches of 25, some for eggs and some for meat.  They come to the post office ina box, we bring them home and put them in a brooder.  We always order them vaccinated against pullorum.  A brooder can be as simple as a box or tub, and a heat-producing bulb in a clamp on fixture. Clean water, chick-starter from the local hardware or farm store, and you are off.  They CAN be kept in your bathroom, but I don't recommend it.  A garage or outbuilding that is safe from mice, rats, cats etc and in a few weeks, they will have feathers and be too big for the brooder.  That is when you will need a tightly built chicken house and a generous pen.  Don't go too small with either of those.  More room means you can keep them cleaner and safer.  I feed mine a mixture of cracked corn and pellet. Any vegetable waste from the household goes to them as well. 

This is obviously a very short summary and if you are thinking about it, it's best to go to the library and check out a few books on chicken keeping.  Some cities say you can keep chickens in your back yard, usually four, but no rooster.  Check your local regulations before you get in too deep.  Remember that cats, dogs and curious kids can be a hazard to them.

I'm not going to talk about turning birds into meat here, except to say that we get much better meat than any I could buy at the store.

Vegetables.  They are going to cost more, too.  If you have any dirt of your own, you should, in my opinion, buy garden seeds now and plan your garden.  Seeds are going to be in more demand as people realize that food prices are not going to come down. Vegetable starts from the nursery are also going to cost more as demand goes up. A lawn is something you water, feed and cut, and then do it again.  If you devote a portion of what was lawn to vegetables, you will water, feed and harvest and eat.  If you don't have a yard, but have a balcony, a lanai or a sunny windowsill, you can still grow a few things.  In some places, you can apply for an allottment or a garden plot.    

I am making my garden 1/3 larger this year.  I will be making some of my acreage available to extended family if they want to tend a garden plot of their own.   

It's a lot of work.  The food you will grow is far from free, but it will be clean and taste better than anything you can buy in the store.  As you get good at it, your plants will produce more and the cost per tomato or bean will go down.

The library is your friend for learning about growing your own food.  I recommend a TV show called Gardeners World. A big book called Organic Gardening is very good.  I am sure there is stuff on YouTube but that isn't my cup of tea.  

But for now: If you are going to try growing food, buy your seeds now.  If you are considering chickens for eggs or meat, begin your research now.  

I fear that food prices are going to soar and that there are hard times ahead.  I sincerely hope I am wrong.