Mr. Jefferson at Walnut Grove

Since this is July, the month in which we celebrate the birth of our country, I thought I would offer a tribute to my favorite Founding Father. Many of you know that I am fascinated with Thomas Jefferson (and remain thoroughly convinced that we are somehow related, our mutual relative no doubt having been cast out of the family for some noble act of non-conformism like multi-racial marriage. ha!) While I share many of Jefferson's political views, I most strongly share his fervor for gardening and affection for home and hearth. I admit too, that like Jefferson, I am an idealist. With Walnut Grove, I am doing much what Jefferson did with Monticello--attempting to create a uniquely personal oasis where my aesthetic and ethical values can merge. It seems only fitting, then, that Jefferson's spirit infuse my little utopia: A Twinleaf wildflower ("Jeffersonia diphylla"), a gift from Lance, grows in the woods near the house; bright green peas ramble in the garden in early spring (the English pea was reportedly Jefferson's favorite vegetable); and an occasional deer grazes in the lower meadow at dusk (Jefferson stocked the woods around Monticello with deer for a "picturesque" effect). And next time you visit, you may even see Lance prancing about in britches and silk stockings!

P.S. Lest I seem a too loyal subscriber to the popular WASPM (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, Male) version of history, I would like to say that Abigail Adams perhaps out-shined all of the revolutionary generation. She would have made an excellent president.

The Third Age

Earlier this month, 40 baby chicks arrived at Walnut Grove from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa. They are a motley crew of classics and rare breeds: Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons (gold), Dominques (or "Domineckers," as we call them here in Appalachia), Araucanas (the green egg layers), Delawares (white), Cuckoo Marans (a dark brown egg layer from France), and Silver Grey Dorkings (an old breed from England). Lance immediately took to the Dorkings, and he made it a habit of singing "The Dorking Song" to them every time he went into the coop. (FYI: "The Dorking Song" is basically the word "dork" sung to the tune of "Surry with a Fringe on Top" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway play "Oklahoma.") Though certainly not Mozart, "The Dorking Song" had a positive effect on the little diddles, and now, one of the Dorkings--"Dora"--jumps into our hand every time we open the brooder. Looks like she will follow in the footsteps of Henny Penny and Lance Jr. and will soon be foraging for worms at my side as I dig in the garden.

We have dubbed this generation of chicks "The Third Age"--in reference to J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Lord of the Rings." The First Age, lead by Henny Penny, included our very first chickens--the Black Giants from Uncle Baker and the Rhode Island Reds and Golden Laced Wyandottes from Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Betty. The Second Age, originally led by Lance Jr, and now by Galadriel, included the first batch of chicks we ordered from Murray McMurray back in 2005. Petie, the rooster I "inherited" from my Uncle David when he died, is still the proud patriarch.

Pictures: (1) Dorkings and Araucanas in the brooder, (2) Dora

The State of Things, Spring 2008

Here are some long-overdue pictures of the house. As you can see, Mike has restored one of the side porches and is working on the other one. The masons are slowly but surely covering the chimney--which they have dubbed "the Empire State Building"--with stone. We're still waiting on the windows.