dogtown

out here in the woods, the dogs rule the land. we've got three: annie, bogie and birdie. annie is bogie's daughter and birdie is bogie's sister; the siblings are border collies and annie, a mutt. they live outside and keep watch over the property. on any given day we find countless ticks on them dead and alive, large and small, and the girls have no fear pulling them off. they are docile and sweet, however, filthy and unruly.


birdie stays in the dogpen. she yelps like a pup and howls like a hound. her fur is fluffy and her body, round like a barrel. bogie is her penmate but his slim, athletic frame and relentless determination enables him to dig his way out of the otherwise impenetrable perimeter. annie, on the other hand, is free to roam. so while bogie and annie are galavanting around the farm, birdie paces back and forth, yelping and howling with a tune of excitement and envy.

often times, father and daughter laze about on the lawn, but much of their day is spent darting and prowling through the woods. when bogie picks up a scent his pure-bred instinct sets him off like a rocket through the brush, clearing 8 feet in one leaping stride. annie takes off bounding after him and without looking back they enter a world no human could survive.


one afternoon annie pranced up the driveway with a limp and bloodied carcass in her mouth: a headless rabbit. there is no question that bogie made the kill but his humble demeanor gave his companion the honor of carrying the prize home. mouths panting, they laid down in the shade next to the carcass, nosing at it every now and again. we determined they had had their fun so junior went out back and dug a grave. within an hour the rabbit was dug back up and devoured. poor birdie stood behind the chicken wire and watched.

most often bonnie and clyde come strolling home thoroughly soaked and muddied with looks of contentment and shear exhaustion. their marauding is costly. annie has a dislocated hind leg from chasing after a 4 wheeler. so whenever she's pushed it too far she limps around until she's good to go again. a couple weeks ago i noticed bogie virtually unable to walk. katie took a look at him and thought she felt a bone out of place. great another one, she thought. after an x-ray the vet deteremined it was, in fact, a foreign object. so they opened him up and removed a stick about 5 inches long. it had broken clean off behind his shoulder. no doubt one of those leaping strides landed him in doggy surgery.

for about a week bogie was on lock down, tied to a tree. during that time he put on a couple much needed pounds but, even still, he is no match for some of the mangey beasts around these parts. some nights the atmosphere is heavy with barking and howling, like a long distance conference call from across spotsylvania county. and when the sun is up there are no leash laws.

the other evening annie and bogie got into a brawl with a german shepherd looking thing. katie and i ran outside and made some noise only to see two more dogs heading in their direction. the fight broke up. bogie stood at the fence opening and faced off with a pit bull while annie jogged back and forth. the shepherd and the third dog ran off when we threw sticks but the pit wouldn't back down. he could have torn bogie apart but we figured he was friendly when he started wagging his tail. when the pit fianlly sauntered off bogie and annie followed at a distance to make sure the dogs went back to where ever they came from.

more than likely the pack followed the scent of a dead raccoon to the woods behind our house. around 5 am one morning early last week katie woke to the sound of incessant barking. she got up figuring the racket was over the horses having broken out of the pasture (which is often the case) but found a raccoon hobbling down the pebble walkway along the house. miraculously, i did not hear the commosion from the camper. katie called from work that day and asked that i look for the raccoon to make sure it had made it out alive. during my daily ride gloree and i found the poor creature, dead: another kill. within a day or two turkey vultures had set up camp and dragged the carcass out of sight.

the life of a country dog is like none other. yesterday i watched as bogie walked over to the dogpen and nose at the latch; either tired or hungry, he wanted in. to my surprise he is still in there, resting up for his next escape and great adventure through the woods and river, covering acres upon acres of red virginia clay.

from the garden

back in new york a dear friend of mine introduced to me the art of frying zucchini blossoms. previously, i had the pleasure of eating them in italy, but never expected i'd make them myself. it's not hard really but one would think tossing a delicate little flower into a searing hot pot of oil is murderous. all it takes is egg, flour, salt, crushed red pepper and oil for frying.

my ingredients last night:

3 blossoms

1 baby zucchini

2 eggs

small hand full of corn meal

sea salt

black pepper

crushed red pepper

canola oil

first i steamed the baby zucchini in a diluted chicken broth. steaming before frying ensures that your fried veggies will be juicy, fully cooked and won't need to spend much time in the hot oil. now i'll admit my batter was pretty eggy (i could have used just one egg) but pouring in the left over mix makes for a tasty bonus. one might even say leave the egg and flour separate, but mixing the ingredients all together makes for a fine spongy crust.

so how long did i fry? only until the batter was golden brown, they are delicate flowers after all. when the zucchini went into the steamer i place the blossoms in the batter and let them soak, then set them aside. so in fact, the zucchini chunks were fried first, the blossoms second. and boy were they a mouthful - literally! i had forgotten how delicious they are, and to my surprise i got them just right.

at the same time, i sauteed cauliflower with mint, basil, garlic, olive oil, butter and a generous pour of white wine. near the end i tossed in 1/2 a vine ripened tomato (not from the garden, but the toms are growing!). i used only the smallest bit of salt (one thing i'm trying to cut down on) and crushed red pepper to taste. together with the zucchini fry we put the cauliflower over a bed of romaine lettuce and squeezed on some lemon.

while the meal was not entirely from the garden, katie and i got a taste of what dinner will look like later this summer, and no doubt it looks good...

virginia is for lovers

with obama ahead 15% in the Newsweek opinion poll some people are getting fearful of his inevitable win this november. i have not lived in a republican state in nearly 10 years and having lived in nyc for 5 i haven't even been close to witnessing the right-wing fanaticism i've encountered in the past month: road rage and vandalism. but then again i hadn't driven a car with left-wing bumper stickers or had an obama sign in my driveway; i lived in a 6 story apartment building.

the case of road rage happened during the drive my sister and i took down to richmond shortly after i moved to her house. i was driving and had just pulled into the slow lane when a big diesel pick-up forcibly squeezed in between our car and the car ahead of us. the erratic move confused us both. the truck then slammed on its brakes only to then gun the engine blowing black exhaust right into our grill. jaws dropped, we quickly realized what had just happened. there was a bumper sticker on the truck that read something to the effect of "giving heartburn to the left." so it goes without saying that the truck driver was acting out against our bumper stickers: "obama '08", "IRAQ like Viet Nam only without the humidity" and "Tolerance." not to mention katie's car is an eco-friendly prius. the encounter was startling.

then the other day as katie was driving down the gravel road she noticed the neighbors had an obama sign at the end of their driveway. how nice to think, fellow supporters just up the road. but as she drove past and looked in her rearview mirror she noticed handwriting on the reverse side of the sign. "oh no, that is my sign," she thought. on the way back down the road after she returned from wherever she went, katie stopped and took her sign back. and this is what it read:

when she showed it to me i immediately thought, "huh, terrorists really aren't liars at all." then i noticed the uncommon spelling of muslum; unless the redneck vandal was trying to be clever as with the spelling of peace instead of piece. there was also the quirky looking use of lower-case i's... kenny jr then pointed out that lying was spelled wrong. the next day our sister kaeli came to visit and she pointed out that for some reason they thought americans should be possessive and sheeps shouldn't be. this is blatant evidence that people who would commit such slander have the tendancy to be frightfully uneducated.

i regret to say it but both experiences are enough to make me want to get the hell away from such ignorance and aggression, but then i wouldn't be here. i admire my sister's bravery; she openly advertises her politics in one of the most conservative states. while i had my fair share of scary encounters back in nyc, fascism was not a part of my reality. maybe living outside the liberal bubble for a while will help me keep a broader reality in perspective. how is it that such hatred can dwell in such a beautiful place? virginia is for lovers for godsake!

a hand full

ain't they cute!!!

la palace

so here's where it lies. on my first night i set up camp in the pasture. then i found a nice sandy pad outside the barn but i became concerned about all the sun exposure to the tent so packed it in for awhile. now i think i've found juuuuust the right spot: behind the house in the company of a ubiquitous country trampoline.

here we have the luxurious interior, outfitted with a fabulous coleman sleeping bag that opens up all the way for unrestricted range of motion.

and lastly, the moon-roof. no tent is complete without one. notice how it moves across the tent walls with stylish modern grace. from below i've enjoyed countless nights gazing at the stars, listening to the crickets, cicadas, hounds, horses, donkeys and 4-wheelers.

it's been a month

a lot has happened and been accomplished in the past month. most noteably, i have gotten to know my two nieces, mckenzie and elysia, and my nephew kenny better. they are amazing, crazy, brilliant and totally clueless all at the same time. elysia, who is four, can do a front flip on the trampoline!!!! she shocked us with that one a couple of weeks ago. kenny won the end of the year spelling bee for his second grade class, and mckenzie has a lovely shower singing voice.

and then there is my sister katie. i commend her for raising three beautiful children and building her childhood dream - a horse farm. we just gotta make sure she stays on the horse. a couple of weeks ago she took a pretty nasty spill. luckily nothing was broken. i watched the whole thing and man did it bring back memories. when you fall off a horse time seems to slow down, and you just watch, watch, watch the ground get closer until BANG. now that we're older it just hurts more. by now, she has healed up nicely and will be back in the saddle this weekend. let's just pray the weather is permitting.

for the past couple weeks we've had very severe conditions - either terrifying thunderstorms (a lightening bolt struck a tree next to the house, peeled the bark clean off) and tornado warnings or cloudless, humid, 100 degree days. i've been practicing my yogasanas on the river deck and i sweat just as much out there as i did in a hot yoga class. but the humidity is what i relate summer with and can't imagine it any other way.

while i don't wish for any more thunderstorms (i'm talking very scary, blinding, deafening) i do pray for rain... for the garden. everything is growing and looking healthy, but i'm not holding my breath. there is no knowing until the plants bear fruit. and if the yield is high we are in for it!

14 beds:

a gillion radishes

2 broccoli

2 cauliflower

4 peppers

3 cantalope

2 cucumber

2 eggplant (ichiban & green)

1 zucchini

3 straightneck squash

3 watermelon (might get rid of one for space)

9 tomatoes

2 thyme

1 parsley

1 dill

1 spearamint

3 basil

4 green beans

lots of corn

yet to plant:

8 swiss chard

2 spinach

and finally, i'm going to plant some beet seeds

now that things are growin' the bugs are a-comin'. i'm picking squash bugs off my zucchini plant everyday! so far they haven't done any damage, but they stink and they're mating. in addition, little black fleas (i think that's what they are) are eating up the eggplant leaves. i put a cheese cloth over them the other day and yesterday i didn't see any bugs. so far store bought and home remedy (garlic, cayenne, hot water) bug sprays aren't working very well. luckily i see ladybugs in the garden everyday.

my next concern is whether or not the zucchini (above right) is being pollinated. so far two male flowers have bloomed but it looks like they are not opening all the way for the bees to get inside. this, however, is all speculation because the male and female flowers have not bloomed at the same time yet. last year my friend had trouble with pollination because she had no bees. so she had to handle pollinate with a q-tip swabbing the male and then the female flowers every morning. i've got the bees...

while i am extremely proud of the work that's been done in the garden, i'll show you some work that proves i'm a real artiste...

sk8r

the do was all his idea. he says he wants a mullet next, but i just won't do it and his mom won't allow it. now were he a city boy, i'd consider it, but here in the sticks it's just plain redneck.

hurry up and wait

these pictures are outdated but i'd like you all to see the progress before i upload the most recent pix. i had some moments during construction where i could not see the end in sight. every time i looked over my shoulder all i could see were more rocks. i had to say to myself, "one bed at a time." now the hard part is over and i am getting hungry for tomatoes and eggplant...

here you'll notice i've started defining the garden beds, and some manure has been spread. laying down the beds is a good time to contemplate what will be planted.

the garden is on a hillside so i had box out the beds to prevent erosion. i plan to add more soil to raise the beds. building the beds up this way, i am also looking ahead to next summer so that they are ready for katie to work.

this is the bastard cornrow view, and what the garden looked like when i arrived. after getting all the rocks out of the main garden i kept ignoring this end. but once the corn has established some good roots i plan to work the soil and get the rocks out. that's my nephew kenny jr, he helped me lay mulch along the walkways. because the dirt in the walkways is so compacted the mulch is also helping to prevent erosion. not to mention it looks so nice.

that's me laughing at the bastard cornrows. look at the difference!