The Herbal Gurggle

Hanging in there

2010-08-28T19:02:00.005-07:00

Neil and I worked for a lovely lady last week that made us a CD of pictures. This was probably the nicest job we've ever done together: hanging out in the shade of this massive oak. She made us lunch too!

Ty update from his mom and dad

2010-05-16T11:58:00.002-07:00

Ty at 3 weeks.

Dear friends,

There is uncontainable joy in our hearts each new day we get to spend with Ty and see how he has grown. He is 3 and 1/2 weeks old now and over 3 pounds, eating well and filling out those little cheeks. He is doing well without breathing assistance or IV fluids, meaning fewer wires and tubes, so for now Jack and I (and you too!) can cuddle him easily. Ty loves his new bed, an isolette--we call it the condo--which is a graduation from his warmer. There's a peaceful white noise in there and the nurses are giving him lots of good care.

We can feel your love from every direction and there are no words for the depth of our gratitude for your support. Ty had some serious bumps in the road his first couple of weeks on this earth, and there could be more but for now the focus is on good health and this little guy's incredible will. Thank you for celebrating with us! Here are some pictures taken the day before his 3-week birthday. As you can see,he's still rocking the sideburns.

Love,
Mary & Jack

welcome to the world

2010-04-24T17:01:00.004-07:00

happy early birthday on April 22nd to: Terrence Joseph Rockers AKA Ty
weighing in at 2 pounds and 13 ounces!

easter morning: quite a change overnight.....

2010-04-06T19:47:00.003-07:00

creasy and a snow bear

yeah!

lynda and steve stuck in the driveway

easter weekend: saturday

2010-04-06T19:24:00.003-07:00

saturday was sunny and we went for a walk around the property.

upstairs

2010-03-27T13:29:00.001-07:00

2010-03-27T13:14:00.001-07:00

new house

2010-03-27T13:08:00.002-07:00

due to all the peer pressure, i decided against cleaning my house first and just decided to post the darn pictures. here you go suckas!

spring chicks and st. patty's

2010-03-27T12:42:00.002-07:00

if this picture looks like a redo form last year, well, it is. creasy doesn the same thing every day as she did last spring: stick her head in the box and wine at the chicks hoping they will understand dog and play with her. we have 4 black australorps, 1 gold wyandotte, 2 brahmas, 4 americaunas and a real live mom who hatched 9 babies at a friends house. we brought here here the day she hatched them and are raising them up until the mom can return to her home. we'll keep half the babies and our flock will be about +15 more layers. The really cool thing about all this is that we are getting a jump on the season this year. we got the chicks 2 months earlier this year, so we'll get eggs starting in late august. next month we're getting 25 meat birds in the mail. that should bring our grand poultry total to right around 50 birds!!

some home corned corned beef and some green sparkling wine complete the spring equinox.

old hens

2010-03-27T12:32:00.004-07:00

elders first please. here are the new digs for the old ladies.
ole jeff was here for a lovely week of feasting, unpacking, dice rolling, and some good old fashioned manual labor. here he helps with the design and execution of the run. neil and i finished it off after he flew away back to CO...well, mostly neil did the cage work, but check out the nesting boxes i made all by myself. we relcaimed some redwood fencing to make all the boxes and ramps. we salvaged old fencing for the run and jeff and neil cut fir saplings for the posts. the coop it self if an old rabbit hutch were someone used to raise them up for sale. total out of pocket cost: about $5 in screws and such. this bear proof building has proven to be a life saver after hearing countless horror stories of raising live stock in the country, we are lucky to have been provided with such a sound shelter. this is where our 8 current layers reside. they actually love the nesting boxes now and lay all their eggs in there instead of all over the floor like before.

the herbal gurggle may be back...

2010-03-27T12:22:00.002-07:00

at least, i hear rumors that my husband is going to take over posting and such. who knows it may happen when we get this internet-less life rectified. in the mean time i am spending some of this fine afternoon on a porch poaching once again. worse ways to pass the time. here are some random snow pictures from the house, a lovely pedicularis species "indian warrior" that i saw for the first time in bloom last week, and some "eggs in action" a delicious picture of a steak dinner salad from recent fare.

more mexico fun

2010-03-23T15:31:00.002-07:00

best bedroom ever

ouch

cancer party!

little hatchlings trying to make it to the open ocean

san pancho, mexico

2010-03-23T14:43:00.001-07:00

fire time

secret beach

sayulita door

bonito fishing

mexico dream house

2010-03-23T14:19:00.001-07:00

goldston dreams do come true

2010-01-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

new years in mechanicsville: camp hangover

2010-01-04T19:54:00.003-07:00

miriam faces her fears head on in 2010.
miriam, neil, amy, kate, scotty p.

stop, andrews time....oh, oh

2010-01-04T19:42:00.004-07:00

we were welcomed with a shrine. we ate, we drank, we reminisced....
rodney, creasy doggie, sarah, neil and me.

agate beach on the autumnal equinox

2009-11-11T18:28:00.002-07:00

turkey time

2009-11-11T17:42:00.003-07:00

getting ready for the holidays: neilio with his turkey

october

2009-11-11T17:33:00.004-07:00

pumpkin feeding frenzy.

OUR FIRST EGGS!!!

our chickens suffer a skunk attack; one girl gets nursed back to health, 2 others = not so lucky.

halloween with alex and bianca.

2009-09-13T16:40:00.002-07:00

when salmon fishing got canceled, we hit the coast for some rock fishing

a man and his dog

last days of summer veggies

chickens taking refuge under the apple tree in the first rains of the season

neil trims a gnarly douglas fir

2009-09-01T15:29:00.001-07:00

more from my 30th: river day with snorkle and dogs

2009-08-10T18:49:00.001-07:00

neil's fishing trip in CO with ole jeff

2009-08-10T18:43:00.001-07:00

drinks in the mission: vittum brothers and me

2009-08-10T16:13:00.002-07:00

azzy and michael

2009-07-27T09:56:00.004-07:00

pearl and ben got hitched and we partied in black mountain

2009-07-26T17:44:00.003-07:00

black mountain homestead

"them some quiltin' people"

some pre-wedding music: simon plays the saw

alex, me and homemade apple mead

cleanup

Crackin' a cold one and kickin' back.

2009-07-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

i stole this from squibgrowsup.blogspot.com

my birthday

2009-07-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

we may never see the pictures from the tubing adventure in the river. we may only have this one relic of the giant turkey leg bbq.

neilio's birthday

2009-07-07T13:45:00.005-07:00

complete with surprise guests, wine tasting, redwood tour and a horse shoe bbq, it was a really good day.

wasnt easy getting the pins in, but the demolition crew finally got it done.

does anyone want to see what a double ringer looks like?! here it is. done.

redwood walk

these are the surprises.

portraits of all those in attendance:

crimedog

deni

alex

neil

me

2009-07-07T13:40:00.002-07:00

new house pictures

2009-07-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

finally. it's true. we have a house.

chickens 101

2009-07-07T13:34:00.001-07:00

although a long time coming these pictures of new home construction, but i finally have some good internet access, so here they are. alex and bianca made the first stage of project chicken coop happen. they also made the first stage, of "get all these boxes out of our life and have a living room" happen. thanks guys.

FoodInc -- THE MOVIE

2009-06-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

if you wanna be part of this family, you gotta know how to travel

2009-06-16T22:23:00.003-07:00

the first week we had the chicks we needed to hit the road for a few days. no problem. creasy doggie kindly lent her new friends her kennel and we took 10 ladies on the road with us.

micheal moore in his younger, less crochety days

2009-06-16T11:08:00.003-07:00

the herbalist richard mcdonald from NM shared this with me this morning! i love it.

seaweed

2009-06-11T10:34:00.002-07:00

slippery, predawn excursion to the windy tide pools.

we saw this lady who was probably at the end of her life.

creasy-working-doggie with a backpack on for the first time

sea palm, the most delicious in my mind and one of the cutest and more endangered seaweeds
the walk back was against the wind; we were back at camp by 8:30am laden with seaweed.

the lost coast

2009-06-11T10:18:00.002-07:00

a couple of weeks ago neil and i journeyed out to the lost coast of ca, the western most point in the US and one of the most remote. we were there for a seaweed gathering adventure. this was unequivocally the windiest place i have ever been in my entire life. the beach = not fun = you could hardly walk = cant see because your eyes are dry = aerobic exercise just to stand in place. We drove up to the bluff above and then i though i would really die, as in be blown off the cliff for merely walking erect. the power of wind.

california lilac (Ceanothus) one of our newest and most prized medicines,
a fantastic lymphatic.

creasy however, found the inland mattole river to be the best thing that ever happened to her. the pictures dont do it justice, but she was having a private rapid run. she would run up and jump in and let herself be taken down the rapids then run the 1/4 mile back up and do it all again. awesome. no inner tube required.

BLOOD & GUTS WARNING

2009-06-11T10:14:00.001-07:00

appologies to the vegan / ep lovers in my family in advance.

we helped dee and jeff butcher a couple of lambs last week, one for us and one for them. we hung them high in the barn overnight. so much easier than the steer!

mixology preparations.

2009-06-11T10:08:00.002-07:00

with all the cherries being hawked roadside, we just had to find the time to preserve some of my new favorite acoutramon: the maraschino cherry. but how to make this treat without plasticization and red 40? Turns out, so easy! Pickled pearl onions to boot.

load it up, move it out.

2009-05-17T11:40:00.002-07:00

see you soon NC!

our favorite graduate!

2009-05-16T15:11:00.001-07:00

SHANASTA made by bev rouse

2009-05-16T15:08:00.001-07:00

more memphis and flagstaff

2009-05-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

memphis

2009-05-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

2009-04-26T06:11:00.003-07:00

lacrosse in the park

packing it in, once again.

really, a 3000 pound tv?

maple syrup making in Tamworth, NH

2009-04-26T06:01:00.002-07:00

Susan and Neil at Barnstormers

Stoking the Fire

Sushi in New Harbor

lighthouse: New Harbor, ME.

2009-04-26T05:58:00.001-07:00

who let these people in?!?

2009-04-26T05:54:00.002-07:00

Bath, ME

2009-04-26T05:49:00.002-07:00

the bath waterway and bridge as seen from su and jody's house.

makeup time with anha. we went for birthday icecream.

maybe the best lobster i've ever had even though we didnt catch it. also probably the messiest lobster i've ever had.

cousins

NH in march is cold.

2009-04-26T05:45:00.001-07:00

hot tip: there is still a lot of snow.

dinner at pete's

we pose with al on the bridge.

dont try this at home

2009-04-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

cause it don't work...contrary to the myriad videos on utube, i guess it is impossible to actually pop popcorn using triangluated cell phones. who knew? but thanks for trying Al.

international espionage: spies like us.

2009-03-15T15:48:00.003-07:00

these two dudes are totally undercover. i dont even know who they are. i dont even know what they're doing.

Che and inspector Closeau

guanciale

2009-03-02T11:15:00.004-07:00

on one hand its a good thing that mom is feeling ill today. she was asleep while i sawed the cedar stick to fit in this old fire place. she didnt notice me wrapping my pork jowl in cheese cloth, fitting a string through one end and hanging it in the fireplace. The glass porch is the coldest place in the house right now and i hope it stays that way for a couple of weeks that i need to air dry this stuff. i cured it in sugar, salt, peppercorns and lots of thyme from the garden and now it just need to get dry and stiff. guanciale is a lot like pancetta or bacon when its finished, it is a fatty part of the hog full of flavor and meat. i've only had store bought guanciale once, but i'm really looking forward to trying my own when its done. i've been waiting since last summer for the weather to cool down and allow me to hang this sack of pork around the house.

dice and doggie

2009-02-26T11:16:00.002-07:00

cheryl, gil, amy, neil, jack and creasy

2009-02-21T14:14:00.001-07:00

Michael Roland Shaw Moore
January 9, 1941 - February 20, 2009
Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, teacher,
musician, herbalist.

So very beloved.

me and mm in 2006

salida canyon hike: COLORADO

2009-01-30T16:55:00.005-07:00

mid january with crissy, jeff and 4 dogs.

crissy and a super old cedar

ridge top

mzr: back on the ranch

2009-01-30T11:48:00.002-07:00

crissy and i took a walk. we found a bone yard. walked on a frozen river and got caught in a blizzard.

here's jeff's porcupine friend pooching around the yard eating some stuff. he looks like a sloth and has a bad leg that was broken.

YESSSSS!

2009-01-20T09:54:00.002-07:00

you will be judged by what you build, not what you destroy.

44 baby

frisco, co...9000 feet and ice cold

2009-01-20T09:29:00.001-07:00

maddox petting the doggie: they played ball all night.

me with dustin and maddox: coffee run.

we like to party

2009-01-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

neilio helps out the flaggers

2009-01-18T20:46:00.001-07:00

fishy fishy

2009-01-16T12:26:00.001-07:00

last days in CA. lots of fishing, not so many steelhead.

a bay tree in flower.

a windmill farm near tahachapi, ca. on the way back to the big az!

red rocks hike

2009-01-16T12:17:00.004-07:00

mcdowell, our fearless and fast leader, took us out of flagstaff to enjoy the volcanic formations of red rocks. we lost the trail and hiked over the icy snow, occasionally falling through the packed trail into the powdery depths of the white precipitation. we also thought there would be little to no snow up here at 8000 feet so we didnt wear any appropriate clothes. looks like we were wrong!

so we lost the trail and ended up onto this hill with a great view.

then we had to slide down this hill to get back to where we were supposed to be.

a close up of the volcanic rock.

inside the cinder cone. neil, addy and creasy.

red rocks.

pinon pine and juniper forest transitioning to ponderosa pine

neily hoists a peace sign

2009-01-11T19:15:00.003-07:00

we helped Helen re-light her son's peace sign. you can see the lights all through town.

neil climed up, lowered it down and we restrung the whole thing.

check out the size of this pine!

the man admiring his work.

cancer crab party

2008-12-17T14:52:00.001-07:00

doggie cannon ball

2008-12-11T12:32:00.003-07:00

i've been trying to post this movie for the last 1.5 years and was finally successful. thank god. this is the first time creasy doggie ever swam in deep water in a lagoon on orcas island in the san juans off of washington state. little did we or she know that this fateful cannon ball would turn into a life long obsession with swimming.

mom, just for you I used google video so you can easily put them on your ipod.

south dakota in september

2008-12-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

i should be embarrased, but i'm not.

2008-12-11T12:18:00.001-07:00

check out this worm i found

2008-12-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

2008-12-09T10:17:00.002-07:00

a little post thanks giving b-ball.

crab party.

2008-12-09T10:08:00.001-07:00

neilio saves this barn from imminent destruction.

can you find him in there?

pistol and lurch go for a ride

snuggle time

2008-12-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

herb time

2008-12-08T12:27:00.001-07:00

distillation of douglas fir
pressing out the marc
aralia root

briceland vineyard openhouse

2008-12-08T11:59:00.002-07:00

2008-12-08T11:53:00.002-07:00

so embarrasing mom

creamed eggs and toast

even more embarrasing

2 faced

2008-12-08T10:16:00.001-07:00

bianca finally makes it to the redwoods...and up in them.

winter work time

2008-12-08T10:11:00.001-07:00

2008-12-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

jaime & neil in literal fishing heaven

2008-12-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

dont say we didnt warn him

2008-12-08T10:04:00.001-07:00

exploring around benbow i found the first and the only bolete we've eaten this season. the brits call them penny bun, so cute. its a constant dog party around here

2008-12-08T10:02:00.001-07:00

raven and 70s house wife make candied apples for halloween

sincerest of appologies folks

2008-12-02T13:01:00.001-07:00

the server i am using keeps getting reset and that is why i havent been able to post anything. i cant get a picture up to save my life. hope to find a new way soon.

happy birthday creasy doggie -- you're two!

2008-11-05T13:25:00.001-07:00

i only hoped it could be this good!

2008-11-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

friends at the beach

2008-11-02T17:02:00.003-07:00

2008-11-02T15:56:00.004-07:00

we hung a split level door for easy access to the smoker and played around with drafting vents on the top to pull the smoke through the pipes all the way through the box.

this is a cold smoke machine as opposed to hot smoke. cold smoke is done at a lower temperature, between 80-90 degrees and keeps for a lot longer than hot smoked goods. there is 12 feet of burried pipe from the fire pit to the box for the smoke to cool before hitting the meat. we used oak and alder wood for the beef and its really smokey flavored. we just stoked the fire all day long and let the fresh air run through at night to rest the meat.

it took about three days for each round of beef to be completely dry. we might have over dried some of it, chewy but good.

smoker assembly

2008-11-02T14:46:00.003-07:00

the foundation of the house of meat.

i looks like an out house, but it is packed with meat.

we used these baking racks as shelving, perfect fit and we were able to get a lot of meat in at once.
trimming and cutting the meat took A LOT OF TIME. like way more time than you really want to spend doing this sort of thing. plus we had to do it at night because the flies were so bad. the first time neil and i cut meat we were swarmed in the most disgusting display of winged creatures i have ever seen.

jeryky time

2008-11-02T14:10:00.004-07:00

warning. the following pictures chronicle the demise of a 1600 pound bull with a bum hip and how we subsequently turned him into jerky over the last 3 weeks.

it took us less time to skin this year because we didnt gut it we just took the legs off to hang in the unfinished bathroom/meat locker. we cut out the briskets and brined them into corned beef. we cut as much other neck and shoulder meat as we could and left the carcass to the coyotes and mountain lions.

im on the night train

2008-11-02T14:05:00.001-07:00

mycological wisdom

2008-10-23T11:18:00.001-07:00

thanks to gil for sharing this paul stamets video. take 17 minutes and educate your selves!

6 WAYS MUSHROOMS CAN SAVE THE WORLD
(I cant embed it for some reason, here is the link)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

pumpkins for obama

2008-10-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

ashlyn and her jack o lantern

2008-10-02T18:44:00.002-07:00

its hard to say and mean about too many people, but i hate this woman. she is the worst thing that has happened to the political playing field in a long time. everything she says irks me past reason; her accent, her "straight talk to the american people", her supporters and her perfect hair.

low carb diet from the mainstream media: medscape

2008-10-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

DFamily Reunion

2008-09-30T19:26:00.002-07:00

Camping on the Umpqua River. Neil and Crime Dog did a lot of fishing. Amanda and I played a lot of cards and made a lot of food. We hiked to some hot springs, watched the dogs swim in the coldest water ever and had a great time.

Crater Lake. Mom and Dad said this was the first place they took me when I was 6 weeks old. Just how I remember it.

Hello. Anenome.

Applegate Valley: Southern OR, Wine Country

Weird mini donkies. head scratchers.

all the way for this?

2008-09-30T18:59:00.003-07:00

South Dakota
dont do it. no matter how tempting. this is worse than south of the border (and no pedro)

this was slightly better.

These mushrooms in Montana were way more worth it. Spiny Hedgehogs, they are toothed mushrooms that are slightly bitter but edible. Also called hawk's wings. We sampled some, not great, but if you're hungry. ...

Then we found these shaggy manes. MMMM. egg batter and sauteed? yum.

LET THE BROKEN HEARTS STAND AS the price you gotta pay

2008-09-18T09:34:00.016-07:00

BISON. another national park grazing bison herds.

CAMPING IN THE HOT DRY SUN.

BADLANDS. YOU GOT TO LIVE IT EVERYDAY.

2008-09-18T09:34:00.013-07:00

This is what creasy doggie looks like before she rolls around in fresh bison poop and smears it all over her entire body.

chi town with wilson

2008-09-18T09:34:00.008-07:00

little poland. first a buffet with all the golomki, kraut and perogis you can eat then a sausage shop with more intestines and potted meat than you can shake a slim jim at.

larks bbq and car wash: the best of benton harbor

2008-09-18T09:34:00.004-07:00