Tammy's Bird Brain » farm

It’s Official

Tammy — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:20:19 +0000

I am officially a farmer because I now own two cows.

When winter comes I will not be a farmer anymore but for now I will happily call myself one.

I will post some pictures soon but I just wanted to announce it because I am pretty excited about it.

farm update, running update & egg whoppers

Tammy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:41:34 +0000

Happy Spring to everyone. It is so nice to see green poking out of the ground and to be outside in a t-shirt! Eva loves to be outside and lately we go out and she plays while I turn my compost pile. She loves to chase the ducks and chickens. By the way I have chickens again. Our neighbor wanted some so they asked if we would share the property. I also got 8 more baby chicks which are growing in my basement. One has died but it was sick. I am still trying to redeem myself from my last chicken fiasco. Remember those Silkie chickens I had? Well I only got 2 of those this time. I learned that Silkies are popular in Asia. Silkies have black meat and black bones. Their bones are ground up into a powder for medicinal purposes. Obviously I will not be using my Silkies in this way but who wants to eat black meat anyways?

My compost is looking and smelling great if anyone cares. Remember my leaves anyone? Well now they are one big pile and I turn it daily. I get ridiculously excited about my compost and how great it looks. As I was turning it yesterday I saw the steam coming out of the center and if you know compost that is a good thing because it means the middle is getting hot and things are working and that’s why you have to turn it. I know, i know, it is weird to be this excited and it is weird for me to actually be typing this out but this is my first time composting and it is actually working. I also get really excited because the chickens love my compost pile and they go scratching around in it and poop all over it and poultry poop is good for composting. Woo hoo!!!

I will get some pictures so that you all can see how amazing it is.

I am so happy that the time has changed with daylight savings and now I can spend more time outside and I have time to run after work. Over the weekend I ran in a race in Moab, Utah. Moab is one of the most beautiful places in Utah and I love running there. I have been there for the past four years during this race. Moab hosts a half marathon and a 5 mile. I have always ran the half but this year I decided to listen to my body and run the 5 mile instead. I was sad and it was hard for me to switch but running a race when you are not ready is miserable. Last time I ran a half when I wasn’t ready my knee gave out and I wasn’t about to do that again and I promised myself I wouldn’t. So I kept my promise and ran the 5 mile. Usually we run this race with a lot of friends but this year it was just me and Clint. It was lonely at the start without someone to hang out with and it was cold. It took 3 miles for my feet to warm back up and then I only had 2 miles left. I finished and thought “That was way too short!”. I realize 5 miles is a long way but this time it was like a blink of an eye. I pushed myself and did it in 43 minutes which is actually good because the first mile was a 10 minute mile. So I was running an 8:45 minute mile. Not bad for not much training.

I did learn something really important this weekend and I am so grateful for it. I learned that I really love running. I have ran for years and a lot of the time I have wondered why I do it. It is a battle for me to keep at it and I find more reasons not to run then to run but this weekend I realized I really do enjoy it. I was so sad not to be able to run the half; I missed the signs counting down the miles, the stops at the water stations, the goo (energy pack), being motivated by the runners around me, getting choked up by the runners around me, and most of all I missed pushing myself to the finish line and being sweaty and tired and sore. I missed all of that and it made me sad though I am happy to know that I really love it.

At the moment I am very sick. I have a headache and a stomach ache and my tongue hurts. All from those egg whoppers that are in stores now for Easter. I love those things and I can’t stop eating them. I CAN”T STOP!!!! Really I can’t! They are so good.

Phases

Tammy — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:29:08 +0000

I have gone through some lame phases in my life but they have helped me learn about life and become who I am. Like the phase where everyone seems to be cooler than me and so I would just copy people and their mannerisms trying desperately to be cool. This phase lasted a big portion of my life. I would change tactics quickly when people would call me out on them like when my mom asked me one time why I wasn’t moving my upper lip when I spoke. “Uh, because this girl at school talks this way and she is way cooler than me.” I didn’t actually respond this way I’m sure I just got red in the face and walked away. Or the one time someone asked me why I was suddenly pronouncing my T’s. “Uh, because it is so lame to talk with a hideous Utah accent since the girl from California made fun of me for it.”

In high school I was like “Yeah, I am just one of the guys, they just tease me and push me around because they like me. I just don’t get along with girls but that’s ok I prefer to hang out with guys anyways.”** This is a stupid phase. One of my biggest regrets in high school is not hanging out with my girlfriends more because I was too worried about getting the guys to like me; which they never did by the way. I think the trying too hard completely backfired. I allowed myself to be treated horribly by guys because I was raised thinking that if a guy treats you badly that means he likes you. Ummm…..NO! It means he will treat you like crap, have absolutely no respect for you and then go for the girl who won’t give him the time of day. I’m glad I can look back and laugh and hopefully I will be able to pass my wisdom down to my kids. Yeah, I know, I won’t hold my breath.

One phase during my 20′s was that I wanted really close girlfriends because let’s face it, we all want amazing girlfriends like the girls on Sex and the City. Admit it or not we would love to meet once a week for an amazing dinner or breakfast and gossip about stupid girl crap and get the chemical high from our brains. (I can’t remember which chemical but I love it!***)

I remember the time in my mid 20′s I finally became comfortable in my own skin. I stopped wearing a padded bra and embraced my small boobs. That was a pretty big deal for me. hahahaha.

And as you know I received my brain when I turned 30 and I am loving it! A brain provides comfort, wisdom, stability, rationality, actual confidence and gets rid of a lot of insecurities and petty behaviors. I have accepted my Utah accent and actually like it; I also have some great girlfriends. And as you continue to get older you don’t have time for silly crap, which is nice.

I realize I am rambling and doing a horrible job grammar wise but I am in my 30′s and I just don’t care if you are analyzing this post.

So the phase I am in now is motherhood mixed with this new organic/buy-local/gardening/free range thing. I ordered my organic heirloom seeds and the square foot gardening book. I am well on my way to becoming the “do it all soccer mom while secretly taking speed”. (Crossing my fingers.)

See ya, don’t wanna be ya.

**If are a woman and you have noticed that throughout your life you do not get along with other women then you have a problem. It is not the other women’s problem. All women need other women to provide strength and comfort. You need to look inward to figure out what’s going on there.

***looking forward to Michelle’s birthday party tomorrow night!

deep snow on the farm

Tammy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:47:58 +0000

Have I mentioned that I love where I live right now? I live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom cottage that is surrounded by a huge yard that has about 8 huge, old trees on it and then behind the house is 2 more acres with a barn. The driveway wraps around behind the house which I love and the garage is not connected to the house; it sits back and to the side of the house. The trees are so old that one is perfect for a tree house and I am trying to convince my father-in-law, who is an engineer and whose engineering company I work for, to engineer me one.

Anyways, I have big plans for my little farm. I have already added ducks and geese. I have plotted out my garden (in my mind) and have been getting the leaves ready for it. We are thinking about raising a cow and we are definately getting more chickens come spring. (Did you catch the farm talk I just typed?) Ya, so I am a small time farmer but I love my farm cottage so much it makes me smile when I think about it.

Today when I got home from work I pulled in and hopped out of the car and immediately called for my two cats (see I am totally a farmer). The thing that is disappointing with my cats is that they are not really farm cats and they aren’t mousers. They don’t even kill spiders for me. Anyways, I called for my two cats and the long legged one immediately bolted through the door but my little butter ball Grey I could barely make out beyond the fence in the back yard. I forgot to mention it snowed a lot today and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. I called to Grey and she called back but wasn’t moving. The snow was too deep and she had given up trying when she saw me and decided to just cry for help. I went out to her and picked her up. Her whole underbelly was covered in snow. It made me smile and she seemed grateful. I am totally a farmer and I just saved one of my animals from certain doom.

On a sort of related note; my mom and step-father are going on a church mission to Johannesburg, South Africa so I am watching their two cats while they are gone. These cats ARE farm cats and I look forward to the many gifts of half eaten animals they will bring me (not really). These cats are professional mousers and I am so glad not to have to worry about mice getting in my cottage.

So now I am snuggling up on my couch with the lights on my dead Christmas tree casting a happy glow and the snow outside silently falling. This is when I love snow. When I am cozy and warm in my house and the snow is softly falling around me.

Tomorrow morning I will feel differently.