Alive enough and updates

I recently listened to a wonderful program called Alive Enough on the radio show "On Being." This is for anyone who is fascinated by the ways in which cell phones, the internet and in particular, social networking have changed our habits, ways of thinking and personal interactions. The program is NOT anti-technology. Instead, it offers us insight into the implications of our habits and encourages discussion within our family and other important relationships.

This is something Farmer and I have discussed in relation to our role as parents. We don't want to shield our kids from technology and in many ways, it is important that we "keep up" with our changing world for their sakes. But we have to acknowledge, as this radio program does, that things are lost that we can't get back. Some of these things are not that important like the fact that instead of our pictures being kept in boxes on shelves, they fill our computer memory. But other things are vital to the health of our relationships, like insisting that we (as much as our kids) are present in our families instead of being constantly logged on or wirelessly connected. It is something that we should at least think about, rather than blindly accepting every new advance that comes our way.

I also like what this program says about how important it is for our kids to learn how to be quiet and alone.

On another note here are the farm and personal produce updates:

The first CSAs of the year left yesterday morning in a truck bound for Chicago. Produce is not yet plentiful but it is beginning. We also tasted our first strawberries for they year. They are almost ready and U-pick is expected to kick off next week, followed by the Strawberry Festival in town.

Last week, I used up my final quart of canned tomatoes from last year. Unfortunately, we won't have fresh tomatoes again until later on in the summer but this just gives us an opportunity to miss them before they become prevalent again.

More chicken tragedies:

Either we are the worst chicken owners ever or the predators in our area are especially diligent and a little bit nefarious.

As I wrote a few months ago, we bought twenty chicks from an auction to raise into layers and roosters. I've been taking care of them, first in our home, then in the greenhouse and lately in the chicken coop. They are still too small to allow to roam free in the chicken area so I placed them in our dog's old cage and spent a few hours tying chicken wire all around the cage.

I was careless one evening when I left them outside our back door in the cage. My mother, who was visiting, woke me up in the middle of the night to say that something was getting our chickens. I raced downstairs in my pjs and immediately saw a creature running away. Unfortunately, it left a dead chick behind.

So, we moved the cage into the chicken coop at night, confident that they would be safe.

It was not to be.

EM opened the coop to find the bodies of several chicks that we had only four chicks left alive.

Yes, that's right. We started with twenty and now we have four. I can't believe it. We are both heartbroken...the poor chicks...and poor us for all the time and money we spent raising them.

So, we proofed the coop again last night hoping also to catch a racoon in a trap.

We have a terrible track record with our chickens. Terrible.

My irises finally bloomed!