Tulku loves a good scratch. He´s not what I’d call an itchy dog, his coat is glossy and he is healthy, happy, calm and strong. He’s never been to the vets. So, when around the full moon in the Snaketamer, when he began scratching through the night, I knew something was up. Parasites We live in the country and our dogs are free to roam. They are exposed to a wide-range of microbes and parasites from cows, sheep, wild boar,…
In another post, Yellow Dock: Badger Medicine for a New Story I recounted how our dog Freya got a new tale and became my teacher. So, the other day, when she began digging again, relentlessly, all over the newly grassed loonie pad, I took notice. She knows so much more about the gods and nature spirits than I do, as she runs with them every day. This time she was eating clay, rather than roots, so I duly searched on…
Year One in the Garden We moved here in May 2013, into the cabin we built, and in the winter of 2014 we cleared about an acre of straggly pines, from a gentle south facing slope to the west of where we were renovating the old house. Situating the garden was a big decision. We considered putting it closer to the house, which would have been more convenient, but it wasn’t feasible with all the building work going on. These…
We finally got to put up the trellis for the tomatoes. We’ve wanted to get them closer to the house for a long time, but first we had to build the house and clear the rubble. That’s taken a few years. We used abandoned yurt poles for the main supports and washing line, with a couple of hula hoops to make the trellis, because that’s what we had. the dreamcatcher weave is an easy way to make the trellis and…
Greetings! My name is Zubynelgenubi, Zubi to my friends. I’m a gallo piñeira and I’m the king of the five star chicken coop, that was made by my valet Mister D, following my instructions. Mister D had a hard time finding a good design, one that would be relatively easy for him to make and that would meet the needs of me and the starlets. Mister D said that many of the designs on the internet either looked very pretty,…
DIY greenhouse from salvage This was our first greenhouse effort: Several hundred euros, several hundred pieces to put together, eighty-five pages of instructions and fifteen minutes of wind! Obviously way too suburban for our environment. We salvaged some bits of polycarbonate to make cold frames and the mice ate everything – now we have cats. Next, we tried a walipini. Walipinis don’t work in clay, with wet winters. Most of the posts on the internet that show how cheap, efficient…
Foraging for weeds Whatever the weather, our day starts with walking the dogs and (sometimes with cats in tow) and sometimes foraging for weeds. We are lucky to live in an area where there is no intensive farming, no crop spraying and lots of hedgerows, meadows and verges, where the wild plants flourish. Our own land was not occupied for 40 years before we moved here so, although it is hard work clawing out a few patches for cultivation, at…
Enough of everyone else’s shit yet? The first year here, our neighbour farmer dumped a trailer load of cow manure on the garden, when I wasn’t around, and told my husband that I asked for it! Well, that was an error of communication, but it really brought it home to me in the most graphic way: I had to be really clear that I wasn’t going to take anyone else’s shit anymore. I have plenty enough of my own. The…
The Role of the Warrior Priestess This post spews out of my repugnance at the vile creatures of the totally misguided women’s protest movement, but what could I say that hasn’t already been said? Instead, I’m going to push that spectre of poisoned femininity out of my mind and try to define the role of the warrior priestess, or witch, if you prefer. This archetypal role is available to any woman who claims it and can handle it. The lineage…
Fake viruses I spent a lot of time last year considering viruses, the herpes virus in particular. This was mostly because of Dean’s basal cell carcinoma and when some one came to visit with psoriasis, I recognised that this was the herpes virus too. I’ve been planning to write a post about this for some time, but something didn’t seem quite right, until finally the reason for my hesitation became clear. I had made a fundamental error in that I…