This morning I went to let the chickens out of their roost.  As I entered their shelter I noticed one of the leaves caught in the netting moving quite rapidly and spinning in the wind.  I thought it odd that the leaf was moving so strangely and then realized that it was making noise as well.  Turning to look at it more closely I realized it was a very small brown bird!

Somehow he had become stuck by one foot in the bird netting I use to keep the chickens in and the hawks out.  Slowly and carefully I stepped up onto the outside roost, hoping the whole time that it would not come down under my weight, and tried to free the little fellow.  It wasn’t going to work!  He had managed to spin himself so tightly that I wondered how he had not cut himself in the closely wound filament.  Climbing down I then went to the house to get a pair of scissors.  On the way I thought about the poor little bird and how it had to have been there all night in this freezing weather!

Arriving back with the scissors I cut the netting and then brought him into the house to do the fine cutting with my embroidery scissors.  The poor fellows heart was beating so fast that I hoped I could get the job done before he expired of fright.  Carefully I slipped the little scissors under each strand of the filament, cutting and again cutting, so gently to release his leg and foot.  Once loose, I checked him over and made sure he had no broken bones.  Thankfully no damage!

Now I looked him in the eye and realized what a tiny treasure I had in my hand.  Small as a sparrow, but more finely made, his little legs no bigger around than a toothpick.  As I watched he began to relax and I realized I had to let him go.  I took him out the front door, YIKES!  Claus is out, no deal!  Heading back in and to the back door I stepped out, opened my hand, and he flew off landing on the side of the old incinerator’s bricks.  Resting a moment he then flew over the fence and into the field.  Gone, but unharmed.

Now, each time I see a little wren, I will wonder… are you the one?

Picture Credit:   http://birdsbybaranoff.com/images/1935%20carolina%20wren%20a85x11.jpg

For a fun video of the little fellow, and to hear his lovely song click HERE.

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(Old news finally makes it to print)

Growing up in California we come to revere trees, to see them as something to hold harmless, never to destroy.   Yet go to any place that has an abundance of trees and you soon discover that the opposite holds true.  Need more space?  Rip out the trees.  Want more sunlight?  Rip out the trees.  Need to plant a field or an orchard…?  You get the idea.  Although there are certainly exceptions.  We do have some ancient trees here and they are protected by those who are lucky enough to have one on their property.

I live in a place that once was totally forested, though nowadays not so much.  The hills (they call them mountains here) are pretty much left alone, and any boggy area, stream, or river is usually tree lined.  Neighborhoods are fairly full of trees as well.

So here is my dilemma.  I live in an area that is pretty much a pocket of trees surrounded by fields and  crops.  It is beautiful here and all the trees provide shade in summer and a view out my window.  They are lovely.  I have three types of oak, maple, dogwood, holly, and native fringe trees.  They all provide shade, lovely fall color, and some bloom, and that is the crux.  I want to grow my own fruits and berries, and that takes sunshine, lots of it.  On my little acre I can’t plant in the leach field which as it happens is the south side and therefore the sunniest part of my property.

I can’t plant on the northeast corner because that is where the best oak in the neighborhood is growing.  Yeah that one, the one I paid the arborist so much to clean up, too shady there and I can’t disturb the roots.  The south west corner is where the mini-barn/garage is going and where, as it so happens, there are two other large oaks I want to keep because they put shade on the house on those blistering summer days.  So that leaves the northwest corner…

The area will certainly be big enough to hold the orchard, but there is a very big oak and a very old dogwood there.  The dogwood is not so hard to cut down as it has lost its crown in the last storm we had.  So we took it out today.  However, there is still too much shade for the orchard.  I feel as if the oak tree is standing there looking at me.  I see how big it is, and I understand how long it took to get to that height.  I wonder if the neighbors will hate me in the morning as I’m walking towards the tree man to tell him to cut it down too.

Do six fruit trees, three blueberry bushes, and two muscadines make up for one very large, old oak tree?  I have second thoughts, but too late now to change my mind; it’s down, being cut for firewood.

Meanwhile, I look at my little fruit trees all lined up and waiting to stretch their roots into to soil and their little limbs to the sky, and I decide that it was a good trade.

Those of you who know me real well know that I have Celiac and anything made with flour is verboten!  So, as it is every year I have two opportunities to either make a pie or make as sister and I call it  UGLY PIE!!!  It is always so, the uglier it looks the better it will taste.

So, today I wanted to use up my green apples from the apple farm and began the preparations.  Peeling and cutting apples, mixing in sugar, cinnamon, and my secret ingredient.  Then came the preparation of the crust.

Sorry folks, but this one comes out of a bag.  It is safer for everyone that way.  Not only does it come out looking and feeling like crust, but it usually tastes pretty close too!  Well, to avoid all the trouble that Gluten Free crust can give you, huh?  You don’t know what a pain in the backside GF pie crust is?

Well, GF pie crust does not contain gluten, and it is the gluten in any pie crust, cake, noodle, pancake or bread that makes it hold together.  So without this gluten you get a sticky, unruly glob that looks like crust, but has to be assembled like a patchwork quilt.  As soon as you get it rolled out (between two pieces of waxed paper, not wax paper BTW, but that’s another whine for another blog post) and try to get it into the pie plate and onto the top of the pie, you get REALLY TICKED OFF BECAUSE IT ALL FALLS APART.  Ahem, sorry but… you can’t imagine the frustration.  Well enough of that…

So today I get to the crust part and actually got the bottom crust into the pie plate in relatively one piece!  In went the filling and I was feeling quite accomplished.  Now for my traditional “Pile of Fall Leaves” top crust, now where did I put those cookie cutters…  No, not here, no, not there, hum, better go back around and check again.

Aurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh!

MY VERY SPECIAL ONE AND ONLY ANTIQUE GF  OAK LEAF COOKIE CUTTER IS GONE!

I have been here over a whole year and I just figure that out!

NOW WHAT WILL I DO???

Punt.

So, I rolled out the crust and put it in the freezer for 3 min. to set it so I can get it off the paper.  And, since this crust will be a solid I cut a hole into the center so the little Pie Bird can peek out of the middle.  So far so good.  Now for the moment of truth… I invert the paper, center the hole over the bird, and begin to release the paper from the crust…

ITS A MIRACLE, IT DID NOT TEAR!

Now because it is in place I begin crimping and this goes well too!

Next, I have a bit of fun and cut little birdie feet all around the top and sprinkle on some sugar.  Well, nothing left to do but put it into the oven.

About an hour later I open the oven to peek at the progress and get a face full of SMOKE!!!  Seems that as beautiful as it all went together there were cracks in my fluted crust edges and the pie bird apparently went on strike!  What a mess!

Thankfully, the pie was done anyway and I removed it from the oven post haste.

So how did it look?  See for yourself!

So uh, by our definition, my sister’s and mine, does this mean that if my pie looks OK that it will taste like it was made with road apples?