February 26th

Lent begins.....

and also

fasting and giving up something.

The Catholic church has

dietary restrictions 

set for today and Good Friday.

It is up to us to fast on all 

Friday's during Lent if we desire.

But why?

Why fasting and giving up something

only for 40 days till Easter?

Well, 

that's what it's all about.

Starting with the ashes...

They represent dust, 

meaning, "From dust you are,

and unto dust you shall return."

Humility in the face of mortality.

Forgiveness from sin.

The ashes are the original

recyclable material too.

They are last Palm Sunday's

burned palms.

Then there's fasting.

It's meant to curb the desires 

of us mortal humans, and to

center our lives with prayer

and devotion.

The abstinence from meat is

a similar devotion.

Abstinence just means to

refrain from eating the 

flesh of mammals or fowl.

That also pertains to soup or gravies 

made with them.

Fish is allowed.

Why?

Traditionally meat was

expensive and only eaten

during times of plenty, feasting

or rejoicing and by the rich.

Fish also has ties to the apostles as

"Fishermen of men".

Why Fridays?

It's because of the traditionally

celebrated day of Jesus'

crucifixion.

Giving up something that

we've always done,

for only 40 days,

is really fruitless.

However, 

 doing something positive,

like helping others

or volunteering,

or praying

seems more in line with

the meaning of Lent. 

So, in keeping with dogma

I hope that this in some

small way, has shed light

on our curious traditions.

And no,

it doesn't mean to eat crawfish

till they shoot outta your nose!

*********************

The first mirliton!

There's a few more on the vine.

I'll wait till those get bigger

and make something with them.

Romanesco Broccoli

These have a slightly milder

taste than regular broccoli,

and they're so pretty!

A living Fibonacci Spiral.

Eggplant

They haven't stopped producing.

Thankfully.

Tomatoes

A lonely little plant nestled

in with the bell peppers

decided to produce these 2

and then died.

Kinda sad....

Cauliflower

Just boiled to use in salads.

There's a small piece of broccoli too.

*************************

A few days ago this baby

appeared on the patio.

The chicken girls left it alone,

so we thought his Mom would

come back or check on him.

We went out several times to 

check on how he was doing,

but he didn't wander too far.

In this picture,

he's sitting in the scratch feed pan.

We thought that was a good

sign that he was trying to eat.

He's a baby Brown-headed Cowbird.

They are native to the south and

are frequent visitors to our

backyard farm.

To our surprise, when we went out

the next morning,

he was laying on his side

a few feet from the scratch feed pan.

The CEO tried to pick him up,

but sadly he was dead.

There was no obvious way he died.

But...

Now, there's an adult

Cowbird circling near the patio.

His Mom?

Maybe.

So sad.

******************************

We had spaghetti and meat sauce

for dinner the other night.

The CEO asked for garlic bread,

but I had other ideas...

This is focaccia.

I made it with refrigerated pizza dough,

crushed garlic, olive oil, onions,

green onions, leeks, parsley

and parmesan cheese.

Then baked as per package directions.

Yum!

************************

Scarlet Sage

It isn't edible, just pretty.

Amaryllis

They're about to bloom.

Chrysanthemums

*****************************

Lucy lounging in the sun

outside of the coop.

Ethel.

This is the very thing that

we hope they stop doing.

Chickens never listen!

***************

On to the next celebration!

************************

"Be sure you

put your feet

in the right place,

then stand firm"

A. Lincoln