Celebrating Sarah

Tiny Kitten Sarah ~ July 2011~ first day home

Remember that tiny little stripey kitten that I first wrote about last July? My kitten Sarah, the little princess that  came into my life to lighten my heart, and  reminds me so much of my sweet Jessie, has been doing very well. She is healthy, playful and growing.

She is a delight and she comforted me and also Frieda during Frieda's last few months here on earth. Sarah kept watch over Frieda and would follow her room to room around the house. Sarah kept my heart full of love and allowed me to take care of Frieda when she needed me most. She also reminded me that both Jessie and Frieda would return to live with us in our home again. I believe with all my heart that she is right about that.

Sarah & Frieda ~ March 2012

Anyway, the reason for this blog post is that today is my sweet Sarah's first birthday! She was born 1 year ago today! May 9th. Yay Sarah! Way to be! She's a feisty little Taurus. We sang happy birthday to her over breakfast. Salmon & trout flavored breakfast this morning. For her, not me.

Happy Birthday Sarah! 

Love, Mama Jen

I have more pictures than words for this post. So here are a few photos of Sarah since she came to live with us here in our mountain home.

July 2011~ trying to blend in...

July 2011~ she destroyed that pink mousie

What? You told me to relax. So I'm relaxin' (she loves paper)

Princess Sarah on top of her tower ~ April 2012

I love her dearly, especially when she kisses my nose and bites my fingers & toes. She keeps me smiling.

I love you, Mom! Is it dinner time yet?

 More photos and stories of Sarah and our lives together to come in the future. I promise. May we live many, many happy years together.

© Copyright 2012 Mountain Harvest Basket

Furry Purry Princess

Going home with Mama Jen

This past Tuesday while buying cat food at our local feed store, I met a cute grey tabby kitten that they had there for adoption. She was all alone in her cage. Her brother had just left to go live with his adopted family literally moments before.

I held this little kitten in my arms as she immediately started to purr very loudly. I talked with her and walked with her for about 20 minutes while Jack found and purchased our case of cat food and loaded it into the car.

Her energy was very sweet. She reminded me of my sweet Jessie in many ways. I just didn't think I was ready to get a new kitten yet. It has been 7 months since Jessie passed away, and I still miss her dearly every single day. My belief is that she will return to me in a new, healthy, young kitten body, sometime soon, but not quite yet. I checked that sense with my inner Guidance and realized that this new kitten was not, in fact, my Jessie reincarnated, but nevertheless, she was definitely meant to come home to live with us.

I left her at the feed store overnight and came home to think, meditate, pray and worry as I tried to decide if adopting a new kitten right now was in my best interest and the best interest of my household.

I don't have a bunch of money, and I already have two cats. Frieda is 18 now and needs special health care on a daily basis. So adding a kitten and all of the expense that goes with it, plus the time a new baby takes was a big decision for me. It's a long term commitment too, as my kitties are definitely my family members, not just my pets. Once they are adopted, they stay with me and they receive the very best of care.

Long story short, my meditation, anguish, worry and prayer produced the decision for me to go back to get her and bring her home to live with me.

She told me that she wanted to be called "Sarah". So that is her name.


Everyone, this is Sarah!

The name Sarah means "lady" or "princess" which seems to suit her personality, at least so far as I can tell. She is a gentle spirit.

She is calm and sweet, but also active and curious. She follows me everywhere and always wants to be under my feet or cuddled up on my chest.



Hi Mom!

My house is NOT kitten proofed! It's been 19 years since I have had a young kitten live in my home. Jessie was the only kitten I have ever had live with me. Frieda and Charity were young adult cats when they found me. So now I must go room to room and make my house safe for the new baby kitty and also for me.

She is about 9-10 weeks old and not quite 2.5 lbs. Counting backward week by week, that means she must have been born in early May. Which makes her a Taurus. My Frieda is also a Taurus. I have yet to see how the two of them will get along together, as the vet recommended I keep them separated for a couple of weeks in case Sarah, being a young kitten, has any kind of virus or infection that might harm Frieda in her more delicate health condition.




Bye Mom!


So I am sharing my bedroom and master bathroom with Sarah and all of her stuff. Litter box, food and water dishes, toy balls, toy mice, bed basket etc. That's not so unusual around here. I have frequently shared my bathroom and bedroom with my kitties. Usually Jessie or Charity when they needed to be doctored and separated from the others. Never one so tiny and constantly underfoot as this one is though. I really have to watch my step around her.


Cat nap time

Sometimes Sarah looks so much like Jessie, as in the photo above where she is curled up sleeping, that I must remind myself that this is a new kitty, a whole new life, my sweet Sarah.


She is a welcome addition to our family. Now you will know who Sarah is when I speak of her in future posts.

She is a gift of love that has brought healing joy to my heart.




© Copyright 2011 Mountain Harvest Basket

Whispering Jessie's Song

I named my sweet Jessie kitty after the John Denver song "Whispering Jessie/Jesse". She has always been a loving and free spirit, like the woman he sings about in the song. It is a beautiful song for my beautiful baby and friend. It makes me cry, especially today. Please enjoy the music and words. Turn your speakers up.




© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Whispering Jessie ~ My Sweet Baby

Whispering Jessie Noble
October 1, 1992 – December 12, 2010

My sweet, precious kitten. My very best friend, confidant, and companion. She is the most beautiful of kitties in the whole Universe of kitties, and I told her so every chance I got. She is a sweet, strong and brave girl. She loves me so much, she trusts me with everything, and I love her with all of my heart. There will never be another kitty quite like my sweet Jessie. There is a huge hole in my heart today. A very sad day for me. I will be sad for a long, long time to come. I miss her so.

I named her Whispering Jessie after the John Denver song. Jessie always purred very loudly when happy or when comforting me, but she mewed and meowed in a very soft, whispering voice. Her quiet gentle movements around our home will be missed. Her presence in my daily life filled my heart with love, light and warmth. She taught me so much about love and life. About friendship and commitment, even when times got tough. She taught me to play and to laugh and be happy. She always comforted me when I was sad, upset or crying. She would come to me and purr and rub her face on me, my leg, my hand or my face. Any part of me that she could reach. She was strong and a fighter when it came to adversity. She loved me and trusted me so. Her eyes were bright and deep. Her sweet soul radiated for all to see.

She went quickly and died in my arms. Rest and be at peace now my sweet baby. I love you with all of my heart and soul. Come to me in my dreams and meditations. Visit with me and comfort me. Guide me and love me for all of my days and nights. I know we will be together again. Please let me know it is you when you come to me again. I love you, I love you, I love you more than anyone will ever know. You are the most beautiful of kitties in all of the Universe of kitties. Ever there was.

All my Love Forever,
Mama Jen

©Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Help to Protect Our Pets' Health

My Sweet Friend and Companion

This is an important issue to me, even more important today since now two of my kitty Jessie’s medications are compounded and created specifically for her. “Standard” pills or capsules in “standard” doses will not work for her or many other pets.

I’ve copied this email letter from the compounding pharmacists organization, and printed it below for you to read. I have forwarded their letter to my main veterinarian and to my pet loving friends. I plan to forward it on to other local vets here in the mountain area.

It's easy to follow their instructions on how to send an email form letter to your congressmen as there is a link at the bottom of the email that takes you to a form letter that we can send. Just fill in the blanks provided at the website with your own name and address and they will send an email letter from you to your local congressmen. It only takes about 1 minute to complete this. You can tell them to send you a copy of the letter they send out for your records.

Please join me in supporting and protecting our compounding pharmacies. I use their services and products for my own hormone supplements too. They have improved my life and now my sweet Jessie’s more than I can express.

We need to have the flexibility and convenience of specially prepared medicines for ourselves and for our pets who trust us to take care of them.

Thanks & Love,
Farmer Jen & Whispering Jessie

Here’s the link to use if the one below doesn’t work: https://secure2.convio.net/iacprx/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=219


Text from the compounding pharmacists email letter:


Protect Your Pet's Medications and Help Save Your Best Friends Life

Do you share your home with a pet? Whether feathered or furry, you know they’re an important part of your family and depend on you for love and care.

Part of that care is making sure your pet has access to the medicines and healthcare that’s right for them whenever illness strikes. The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) wants you to know that there’s something you can do – TODAY – to help guarantee that.

Over the past several months, IACP has worked with Congress to correct a discrepancy in the Food and Drug Administration’s policies on prescriptions for pets. The FDA has declared that preparing compounded medicines from pure pharmaceutical ingredients is inappropriate and even illegal. Why they have that policy is unclear, especially since the Agency recognizes the necessity and appropriateness of pure ingredients for human prescriptions.

And that doesn’t make sense. Your pharmacist needs to be able to use bulk products to customize the right dose for your pet. After all, a small kitten has markedly different medicine needs than a large dog, a parakeet has different needs than an iguana.

Yet, the FDA thinks the only “right” way to customizes medicines for pets is to make pharmacists use commercially available tablets or capsules that may contain other ingredients, fillers, or dyes that your pet can’t tolerate.

What can you do to help fix this problem?

Thanks to IACP’s work on your behalf as a pet owner, we have a formal letter from Congress going to the FDA. IACP has worked hard to secure bipartisan support of this inquiry. Congressman Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX) and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have agreed to be the lead sponsors and have already begun working with their Congressional colleagues to obtain as many signatures as possible. The more Congressmen that sign the letter, the more powerful it will be.

As soon as you can, contact your member of the U.S. House of Representatives and ask them to sign onto the Gonzalez/Blackburn Veterinary Compounding Letter. Tell them to contact either Cara Dalmolin in Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn’s office at (202) 225-2811 or Julie Hart in Congressman Charlie Gonzalez’s office at (202) 225-3236.

To make this as easy as possible for you, IACP has also prepared an Action Alert e-mail that will automatically send this request to your Congressman. You and your family can each send an individual e-mail by going to the following link – URL here

It only takes a few minutes to call or send an e-mail about this important issue. With your support, we will have as many Congressional signatures as possible. That will show the FDA that their unfounded and questionable position on the use of bulk chemicals/APIs in veterinary compounding is under serious legislative scrutiny.

Background About This Issue

The FDA has asserted (and in one case issued an injunction against a pharmacy on this issue) that custom preparations of medicine made pursuant to a veterinarian’s prescription cannot use active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), also referred to as bulk ingredients. They insist that compounding for animals must be done from finished (not bulk) product, even if this eliminates treatment options or negatively affects the quality of the medication. This interpretation will have a direct impact on your ability to compound veterinary products from APIs.

This position has far-reaching and negative implications for animal health as this would mean that most compounding could not be done or could not be done effectively. For example, converting a medication into a sterile injectable for a dog that is unable to swallow medication cannot be done from a finished pill; making a cream that is rubbed and absorbed into a cat’s ear must be made from API; and preparing medication for tropical fish eliminates the option of using finished product that has fillers that would contaminate their living environment.

The letter being developed asks that FDA withdraw their earlier guidance on this issue and allow an open comment period before its provisions are finalized. It is imperative that affected parties (veterinarians, pharmacists, pet owners, etc.) have an opportunity to comment on such a far-reaching guidance document.

FDA’s current position on this issue adversely affects pet and animal owners and veterinarians. It also adversely affects compounding pharmacies that make these veterinary medicines per prescription, the vast majority of which are small, family-owned businesses.

Click here to take action!



© Copyright 2010 Mountain Harvest Basket

Wet Weather in May

Seedlings ~ Rainy Day Window

Rainy, grey and cold weather here again today. Unseasonably so.

My tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings, all warm weather crops, are taking forever to sprout their "true" leaves this year. They are growing long and spindly, looking for some warm sunlight. Some have keeled over and died. Usually by now, even though I started them late, they are thriving and almost ready to plant in the garden. It will be a few weeks yet before I can set these seedlings outside.

The photo above was taken this morning. Those are my recycled yogurt container seedling pots sitting up high (out of kitty reach) in my half moon window. This window faces east and usually has hot morning sun, but not today. It is cold and foggy out there even now.

This next photo was taken a couple of days ago when it was a bit sunnier. That's my main raised bed garden partially planted with cold weather crops.


Raised Bed Garden

You can see the garlic growing toward the back. Several kinds of greens are planted in between the rows of garlic. They are still very small and hard to see in the photo. I have found that planting my tender greens in between the garlic plants helps to keep the bugs off of my greens. It's not foolproof. The slugs still get in there as do the pill bugs, but the other pests seem to be repelled by the garlic sentinels. This year I planted spinach, mesclun, bok choy, Swiss chard and two kinds of lettuces. There is also some broccoli on the other side of the garlic patch in the shade when this photo was taken in the late afternoon. It is doing quite well as broccoli likes this cold damp weather we are having.

A big bunch of curly leaf parsley grows to the left of the garlic. That bush was planted there last summer and has thrived all winter providing me with wonderful fresh parsley for my salads, soups, stir fries etc. I did cover it with a milk crate and plastic sheeting to protect it when we had snow and freezing weather during the coldest parts of winter. It did beautifully and continues to thrive there. Unfortunately, the parsley is planted right in the middle of the space where I planned to grow my root veggies this Spring, so I had to plant my beet seeds all around the big parsley bush. Hopefully the beets will get enough sun there. I love hearty beet greens and pickled beets.

Between the parsley/beets and the side wall of the raised bed I planted radishes and carrots and a long row of snow peas. All have sprouted, but are still so small that you can barely see them in this photo.

The foreground of the garden bed is full of many little weeds that will be pulled or tilled under when I get ready to plant that area later in the month.

The big bushy lettuce to the right and in front of the garlic "volunteered" itself from plants that went to seed last summer. That variety of lettuce is Reine des Glaces (means Queen of the Ices) and is a cold hardy loose leaf crisphead. It is one of my favorites to grow. See a better picture of it below:

"Queen of the Ices" Lettuce ~ I call it simply "Ice Queen"

It is one of the lettuce varieties that I planted this year in between the garlic rows. I plant it every year.

Since I had my camera in hand this morning snapping photos of seedlings and the weather, my sweet kitties just had to get in on the photo action. Below is my best friend Jessie looking half asleep as she poses for me in the morning window light.

My Sweet Jessie

And then of course, Frieda had to ham it up for the camera. She posed demurely and waited for me to take this photo of her. All before their breakfast was served, too. Such patience was displayed.

Furry Frieda Poses for the Camera

Well, that's today's garden and weather report from Mountain Harvest Basket. Too wet to be outside today. Back to my other rainy day activities like laundry and baking.

© Copyright 2009 Mountain Harvest Basket

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Jessie

My Sweet Kitty Jessie

Today is my baby's birthday.

Jessie, my precious silver tabby kitty is 16 years old today. Old enough to drive if I'd let her. Old enough to date. She's smart enough to do those things alright.

Ah, but these are human milestones. Feline milestones come much sooner. Kitties progress from kittens to adult cats by age 1 year. In feline years my baby's age is the equivalent of 80 years for a human. Even so, she doesn't look that old.


Jessie & her furry friends

Just look at her cute face and big bright expressive green eyes. She is so beautiful, even now when she is older and moves a bit more slowly. Her fur is still smooth and shiny, with the most beautiful stripes and patterns. I never tire of looking at her or petting her. She loves her neck and chin scratched gently, purring all the while.

My Jessie is way more than a "pet" to me. She is my companion, my confidant, and my best friend. She has comforted me when I was sad, upset and crying. She cuddles with me and purrs peacefully when I am happy and smiling. She sleeps with me most nights either in her basket beside my bed or up on the bed if there is room. She understands me, and I her. We know each other very well. We can read each other's minds most of the time. I call her my psychic kitty. She also understands what I say to her. She reads my body language and tone of voice, and I swear she understands my words most of the time. I guess she really senses my feelings, my energy and my thoughts more than my words.

She is my precious baby, my friend and companion. We have both grown older. She has a few health problems now. I give her medicine twice per day for her hyperthyroidism, and I give her subcutaneous fluids once a week to help her kidneys function better for her. Always a small slender cat, she is so skinny now since the hyperthyroidism hit. I worry for her health and longevity every day. I weigh her every few days and keep track of her weight trends. She needs to eat more to gain more, but she doesn't gain much. Again, I worry.

I love her so much. The thought of not having her around forever saddens me and makes me cry. Who will comfort me with her soft meows and loud purrs when she is gone from this life?

She is a very good kitty. A loving friend to me. I have tried to be the best mom for her.


Jessie at her scratching post

So enough of the sad thoughts about her getting older and leaving me. (I have tears in my eyes now.) She is still here, and in good health, all things considered. She still brings me joy every single day. I miss her when I must leave home for a few days. I worry about her when I am away.

She is 16 years old today. A Libra girl. My sweet baby. Her full name is Whispering Jessie, because her meow is so soft and gentle.

Happy Birthday my sweet Whispering Jessie! I will always love you.

© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Homegrown Dried Herbs aka Kitty Drugs

Kitty Drug Stash ~ Catnip

Just a short post to show off the great "kitty drug" stash that I was gifted with from Hardware Bob a few days ago. No, it's not pot/marijuana, (although I have heard that some folks do smoke it). It is beautiful organically grown catnip that Bob grew in his garden and then harvested, bunched and hung it to dry. He then sifted it through a collander to filter out the big stems and crush the leaves. He has no kitties of his own, so he grows the majority of his catnip for me and for Joggin Jack. Between us we have 5 cats.

I keep it up high in a closed cabinet and the whole cabinet smells like catnip now. My kitties love it. I rub it on their scratching post and toys. It stimulates their nervous system and makes them a little "high". Perks them up a bit.

Oddly, it has the opposite affect on humans. Catnip tea is a mild sedative safe enough for children to drink. Calms them down and helps them sleep. Much like chamomile tea. In the cold winter months drink catnip tea as hot as you can tolerate it to help break up and clear chest congestion. Tastes pretty good, especially with a bit of honey added to it. We save the really "good stuff" for our own consumption as tea.


Jessie ~ my precious baby

My Jessie loves her scratching post, especially after I rub it down with dried catnip! Thank you Bob for the great herb stash. My own catnip crop was rather slim this year.

© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Sometimes I Forget and Need Reminding

Be a deer...outside my bedroom window...

I've been thinking.

I've been thinking about my life.

Time to make some definite changes. I feel so old lately. I miss who I used to be. I've lost touch with myself in the past few years. I need to find that creative spark within me again. That flame in my own heart. I need to find it and nurture it and help it to grow strong and bright.

I need to make my body strong and supple again. I am feeling my age. Already, at only 47! I need to feel younger, stronger and more vibrant. I must fight for what I want in this life. I can't let time ravage me and make me weak.

Spring is the time for new growth and change. Now is the time for me. Now is the time for me to live. I must dance while the music is playing. I must sing and be heard. I must stop being so afraid. Afraid of what, I ask? Life. Afraid of life, is the answer. Life is the answer.

Sometimes I forget who I am. I forget my strengths and my wisdom. My experience and my knowledge. I forget what's inside of me. I forget what I know and how I feel. I forget, and then suddenly, I remember. All at once it comes rushing back in. Like a tidal wave. Knocks me down with its force, but also refreshes me with its truth.

Sometimes it takes others to remind me. Sometimes just a quiet evening. Frequently my kitty whispers in my ear, tells me that I am someone special in this life.

Sometimes I remember. With her help.


© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Everyday Comfort

My Jessie loves clean laundry...

My kitty Jessie is my best friend, my baby and my everyday joy. Her full name is Whispering Jessie, named after a John Denver song. She has been my companion and confidant for 15 1/2 years now and I hope she will be with me for many, many more. She understands me. She nurtures me. She worries about me when I am upset. She also seems to understand what I am saying to her, or maybe she just reads my mind. She is an amazing being. So beautiful and graceful even now as she grows older. So loving and trusting. I love her with all my heart. I don't know what my world would be without her, and I don't want to find out.


My sweet Jessie loves me.



© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Morning Tea, Simple Pleasures

Morning Tea in the Sunshine of my Porch

A couple of days ago I enjoyed my morning tea outside in the sunshine. I stood on my front porch and listened to the birds chirping and the squirrels chattering. The mug I chose that morning is a relatively new one that I purchased on a road trip I took last summer to visit my Dad who lives in Texas. Partner Jack and I drove there and back and managed to find some interesting scenery and diversions along the way. The best one we found was just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico in a little town called Tijeras. We exited the highway in search of a bathroom stop and found a wonderful little gift shop/coffee bar/open air art market. Very quaint and very artsy. The gift shop/coffee bar is called the Just Imagine Gallery and on the weekends from May through October they have the Tijeras Open Air Arts Market on the lovely grounds adjacent to the gallery.

Well, the smoothies and the food were excellent. The gift shop was stocked with lots of interesting stuff. The mug in the photo above is a Laurel Burch design that has the following philosophical quote written on the side:

The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears...




There's the quote ~ barely visible ~ click the photo to enlarge it

I have a book somewhere around here that has the same title. I believe it is an Native American saying.

Anyway, as I was pouring my tea in my beautiful philosophical artsy mug, I was thinking to myself that it is the little things, the simple pleasures in life that can mean so much to me. They can comfort me when I need it. They can bring back good memories when I need some. They can start my day off with a positive note.

The photo below is my favorite because it has two comforting things shown in it. My tea mug with it's nice quote and memories of our fun time in Tijeras, and of course, my sweet Jessie kitty who is my very best friend and companion. She is so cute and curious and attentive. I will write more about her another day. For now, enjoy your simple pleasures and have a positive day filled with good memories.


Curious Jessie with the artsy mug ~ in the morning sun

© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Chicken in my Kitchen

Barbara in my kitchen

It's been almost a week since I've written anything in this space! I have been busy. I have been sick. I have a sick chicken. That's Barbara in the photo above standing on a card table in my kitchen. At least I think it's Barbara. I have two hens that look very much alike. Barbara and Lucy. They are my favorite breed, Buff Orpington, and the only way I can really tell them apart is by their personalities, which are quite different. Well, I had noticed that Barbara was acting strange for a few days last week, not very active and not wanting to sit up on the roost at night or even in one of the nest boxes as she had always done. Then I noticed last Thursday evening when I went to close up the hen house, that she looked very weak and her comb was a darker red and she just didn't look well to me. So I brought her into my house (to keep her warm and separate her from the rest of my flock) in a big dog carrier that I keep for just such an occasion. Clean straw lined the bottom. Food and water dishes hang on the door. I set her cage near the woodstove to keep her warm at night. She ate a bit of oatmeal and cooked rice from my hand that first night, but not much.

I have doctored sick chickens before, but it had been 5 years since my last sick hen. My three remaining girls have been quite healthy up until now. Anyway, it was late at night when I discovered that she was ill, so I had to make do with my own chicken care knowledge until I could call the vet in the morning. There are several vets around our mountain area, but only one who really will take care of a chicken. Most people don't take their sick chickens to the vet. I am affectionately known around here by vets as "the Chicken Lady".

In the past I have learned to give antibiotic injections and subcutaneous fluids to chickens, as well as to give them medicine, food and water by syringe or eyedropper placed in their beak. It's been interesting and challenging. I have been successful in healing some of my hens over the years, and I have lost a few as well. I worry over the sick ones and cry and grieve over every lost one.

So that first night, Thursday, I gave Barbara some subcutaneous (SQ) fluids to help hydrate her and keep her comfortable and warm. I called the special vet who doctors farm animals in the morning and asked her if I could still safely use the bottle of injectable antibiotics that I had that had expired awhile ago. She told me to go ahead and use it and guided me on the dosage. She was the one who trained me to give the injections a few years ago. So since Friday morning I have been giving injections of antibiotic and SQ fluids twice per day to my old hen Barbara in the hope that it will cure her of whatever infection or ailment that she has. She refuses to eat and is very very thin. This tells me that she has been having problems for probably weeks before I noticed anything wrong. Her fluffy feathers and stoic attitude hid her illness from me. I am worried that she won't get better.

This afternoon, Barbara and I traveled the 30 miles (one way) or so to the special vet's office in a neighboring town. The vet examined her, told me to keep giving her the antibiotics and the SQ fluids and also told me how to force feed her to get some nutrition into her so she might possibly heal and recover. It looks pretty grim, but I must try to help her heal. She is old and doesn't lay anymore, but I have grown attached. She is one of my pets.

Six years ago, when my partner's grand niece visited here, she was only 3 years old, but quite precocious. At the time, I had another hen temporarily recuperating in my home, in the big carrier sitting in the middle of the living room floor. This little girl was intrigued by my chicken and also my vegetable garden. I let her pet the chicken and showed her how to feed the other hens who were outside. She helped me harvest some baby carrots and we washed them for her to take with her as a snack on the trip home. On the ride home, her lasting impression of me with my animals and my gardens, was shown when she turned and told her grandmother (my partner's sister), "She has to live with the chickens!"

So yes, I do live with the chickens from time to time anyway. They get doctored in my kitchen on a card table that is in the way of everything. They sleep next to the fire, in the big dog carrier in the middle of the living room floor. They are a curiosity to my two indoor cats, who have both been very respectful and tolerant of their chicken guests. Jessie, my sweetheart tabby, is very curious and gentle. I placed the vase of miner's lettuce on the floor for Barbara to eat (she didn't want any) and my Jessie came running right over to explore the greens and have a quick taste. Miner's lettuce grows here as a tender weed in the early Spring. It is edible and full of vitamin C. Not bad in salads, although I usually just pick it to feed to the chickens.

I have my hands full with challenges this week. My own health challenges (I was really sick on Saturday, better now) and my pets health challenges. Life is busy around here right now.

Please send Barbara any good healing energy and prayers that you may have to spare for her. She is a good little hen. I want her to live a long and healthy life.


Jessie and Barbara with fresh miner's lettuce

© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket

Nurtured By Nature

Springtime on my patio table

It’s been a few days since I’ve felt like posting anything here. My life and my mood have been less than ideal this week. Too much work, too little money, too little time and too little energy. Same old stuff. Add to that some health concerns about my precious kitty companion Jessie, and some partner relationship issues and you have my ingredients for a less than ideal week. Well, at least it’s Friday today. Not that Friday signals the end of the work week for me since I am self employed, but it still triggers some ancient relaxation urges in my psyche.

My sweet kitty Jessie

I want to thank my good friends both locally and in my blogging world for being so psychic and sensitive and for expressing your concern for my well being. I love and appreciate every one of you. You have reached out to me without me even asking you for it.

So here I sit sipping my second glass of cheap Merlot wondering what I will make myself for dinner. When I am stressed as I have been this week, I tend to eat rather haphazardly (which doesn’t help my mood or energy level) and I find myself missing my Mom a lot more than usual. I guess it’s her nurturing and her love that I miss the most. And her laughter. She had a great laugh.

I also miss her more around holidays, my birthday and especially as the season changes to Spring. I have always associated Springtime with my Mom. She loved her flowers and her garden so very much. She was very much like a beautiful blooming flower herself. A bright yellow King Alfred daffodil or a velvety red Mr. Lincoln rose (her favorite). At least in my eyes. She was bright and sunny most of the time. Colorful always. Fresh and vibrant. Full of life. That was my Mom. I miss her every day, but especially this time of year.

King Alfred Daffodils

It’s a wonderful time of year, my favorite season, so it’s not a sad time. I just think of her more as the flowers start to bloom and as I start to work in my garden again. I know she is with me, directing me, telling me what plants to put where and how to plant them. You see, my Mom could grow anything. She definitely had a very green thumb. I used to say that she “could grow popsicles from planting popsicle sticks”. Since her death almost 11 years ago, I seem to have cultivated my own green thumb, when before I couldn’t grow much of anything. I truly believe her spirit lives within me and helps me to continue doing the things that she loved so much.

I love to be in my garden in the Spring. I love the new growth, the new beginnings filled with promise. I enjoy seeing the earth wake up after a cold winter. I love dreaming and visualizing my bountiful harvest while planting the seeds and seedlings in the moist soil. I can feel my Mom in the garden with me. I enjoy my garden and nature in general for the beauty and the feeling they give me, but I also enjoy being in my garden because I feel so much closer to my Mom when I am there.

I’ve neglected my garden in the past couple of years. Oh, I still grew some veggies and a few flowers and herbs, I should say they pretty much grew themselves, but I haven’t really given my garden enough priority or attention to truly feed my soul, make my spirit soar and allow myself to be nurtured by nature, and of course feel closer to my Mom.

So this Spring, I think I must make my garden a higher priority in my life and get out there and plant my seeds, hold my Mom’s hand and harvest some love to feed my spirit. Oh yeah, along the way I’ll harvest some veggies too.



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