A week left until Samhuinn

I am enjoying the cooler autumn weather. Getting outside chores done has become more comfortable. With the cooler air and the absence of the ever present midges and mosquitoes it's easier to get lost in the day 

We are up to 22 chickens. Two roosters; Mortimer and Stanley. I am hoping that we can get the coop enlarged before the ground freezes or at least the new poles put in. It is so mucky out there for. We expect fifteen of the hens should start laying in the next few weeks 

My first summer with the greenhouse was a bust 

My tomato plants grew huge but I think in the end that it was just too hot in the greenhouse. Learning curve. I have some spinach and broccoli and peas and kale that hopefully will continue growing until the cold really starts to get serious 

This is our foster cat Beauty. We take her to Corner Brook tonight so she can make the journey tomorrow to her new home in St. John's. We are going to miss her but are confident that she ha an awesome home to go to 

 I did it again. I talked hubby into helping me out dreads into my hair again(maybe I have some hope of making a free-spirit out of him?) Now to wait for them to tighten up 

I like it when I can see what I have done

Again, not too much on the go. Spent a few hours today picking up chunks of wood with my sled and hauling them up to the wood shed. Feels good to see it getting filled up once again.

The temperature is starting to warm up.
I don't know what it is about early spring but I never seem to be able to get warm. I have been fine all winter but now that we are looking towards spring; my blood is cold. I get like that every year. Though it seems to feel more drastic to me as I get older.

I thought about it but didn't do it as I was picking up the birch logs. Next batch of birch that comes down I am going to take some bark and put it in apple cider vinegar for use on summer salads.
I will cover that when I do it.

I have gotten in the habit of letting the chickens out of the coop when I am outside. They are starting to get braver and venture a little further each day. Today they discovered the spruce boughs that are on the ground and spent some time scratching around in those.
I was worried at first that I would have problems getting them to go back in their coop. I was worrying for nothing.

Join me in an exciting adventure

http://authors.lorecaster.com/about/

Come and adventure here with me! Everything requires practice to master and creative writing is no different. I have been a writer as far back as I can remember. I recently found and read some short stories of mine from when I was maybe 13 or 14. A time when I was consumed by airplanes and living in the woods(well one stayed with me). I have a stack of journals full of my history as well as poems and rants. My eyes are always searching out words. I read everything I can. I must say that the past few years writing has been on the back burner for me. Besides just living life I have found it harder to concentrate in the past few year.
Now here is a chance to work on the lack of something in my life that I truly love and enjoy doing. By using the seeds that are one course of generating ideas for a story in The Idea Garden, ones mind is engaged, sometimes your funny bone is tickled and sometimes you may gain experience doing research and learning something new.
Hopefully the practice of sitting down and concentrating may help with being able to focus.
So if your writing has been lying dormant for some time or even of you are an active writer, come and join us growing seeds into trees.
Like us on facebook too please ;) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Idea-Garden/218059818290810

On another note; I am spending a few weeks in town house and dog sitting. I am not spending the same amount of time in out in nature as I would like.....but my wanderings last night made up for it.

Dark night and silent sea,
Venus shining down on me.
Open my heart, bare my soul,
for isn't connection the ultimate goal?

It was extraordinarily peaceful standing on the shore looking out at the water and although the moon is close to her darkest time, Venus shone so brightly making the water glimmer and making me feel something glow within my soul. I could hear the waves softly lapping at the snow covered ice at the water's edge. 

I relished the feeling for a time. Soon I started to hear something growing louder and louder in my consciousness; the sizzle of the hydro wires that were beside the road behind me. As I turned to look at them a car with those nasty, bright headlights drove by, both telling me the moment had gone.

 

On a different note, my spruce needles are still at home sitting covered in grape-seed oil. If i get a chance to go home between now and the full moon I will bring the oil and the other items I need to complete it with me. If not, it will be fine until the following month.

I have been suffering with a bad tooth lately. At some point I will have to go see a dentist but until finances allow I have to figure ways to help myself out. One thing that has been helping is using one of those toothpastes for sensitive teeth. It works but I feel uncomfortable using something with fluoride in it. 

My solution that turned out to be helpful quicker than I thought it would was to make a tincture from whole cloves. I basically emptied half of them out of the glass bottle they came in( since I am not at home it was the fastest thing I could think of to make the tincture in). I then filled it up with vodka so that the cloves were covered with it. The next day I found that the cloves had absorbed the liquid and expanded and needed a topping up with the alcohol. This is the first clove tincture that I have made but instinct  (and a bit of knowledge) led me to know that this is what would help.

I made this Thursday evening. I tried the tincture today and the alcohol has already absorbed enough of the clove to numb my gums a bit and give a bit of relief.  I will leave the cloves and vodka together probably until the next dark moon. It will be an interesting learning curve with a tincture that you can feel the effects of immediately as the tincture matures.

Hopefully, the next post will not be on my experiences in dentistry!  :p