by Laura Parker Roerden For the last several days, I have been collecting eggs for our incubator. It’s a spring task that a hardened criminal could get behind. Since only still warm eggs can be successfully hatched, my morning chore requires sorting eggs by their temperature. It’s blustery and snowing here at the farm, soContinue reading “Warm Eggs in My Pockets”
Author Archives: Laura Parker Roerden
The Hinge
by Laura Parker Roerden I love this world. And not just in morning, when the long, dark drug of night opens like a clam to the light. I love the hinge itself that swings back and forth as the tide washes over; an attempt at renewal. I love not just the mighty whale but theContinue reading “The Hinge”
Five Mysterious Things
by Laura Parker Roerden 1. All week a peregrine falcon has been stalking our chickens from the remains of a dead tree on the edge of the barnyard. This morning, we found the falcon inside with the chickens in the coop. This top predator, built like a torpedo and armed with talons, had spent the entire nightContinue reading “Five Mysterious Things”
In These Times
by Laura Parker Roerden Hitch your plow to a strong horse; It’s time to go into the fields once again to do the plodding work of planting one blessed seed after another. Blue seeds, purple ones, grey day ones: all pressed with intent into soil amended by bits of remaining trash transformed through alchemy into nutrient. Treasure the onesContinue reading “In These Times”
A Marine Conservation Compass
by Laura Parker Roerden This summer’s cinema blockbuster Finding Dory has rightly set off alarms in the marine conservation community against an anticipated spike in blue tang sales for private aquaria, which would decimate wild coral reef populations. But there is a deeper conservation message, simmering just below the film’s surface (if you will pardon the badContinue reading “A Marine Conservation Compass”
For Cousteau
by Laura Parker Roerden We protect what we love, an explorer once told us. But of what love did he mean? The love for a flower or that of a son? The love for a rock held safe in our palm, or that for a steeple? The love of a farmer for a seed or ofContinue reading “For Cousteau”
The Nests
by Laura Parker Roerden Go to the nests, she said. They are no longer hidden by the leaves. They are round, and have born tiny birds now strong enough to fly. You’ll know them by their shape, like hands now wrung. But the nests are high, she answered, and sway in the wind. Do not beContinue reading “The Nests”
Eggs, Eggs, Eggs-stravagant Equinox Eggs
by Laura Parker Roerden Each spring we increase our flock with new heritage breed chicks. This year we added all-heritage breed Buff Orpingtons and Araucanas. Buff Orpingtons, as their name implies, are buff-colored hens that lay tan eggs. Araucanas come in a array of colors, my favorite is almost cerulean; they lay different shades of blueContinue reading “Eggs, Eggs, Eggs-stravagant Equinox Eggs”
Safe Passage: Thoughts About #Fall
by Laura Parker Roerden (October 17, 2011) I feel held by the fall. This thought comes to me during my morning run along the River Bend towpath, in the lee of the Voss farm, one of the six other dairy farmers in Uxbridge while I was growing up. The Voss farm is no longer aContinue reading “Safe Passage: Thoughts About #Fall”
The Five Very Best Tips for Preserving Tomatoes
by Laura Parker Roerden My first experiments with preserving tomatoes involved burnt fingers, cuts, and a bloody looking mess of tomato waste everywhere that reminded me of that classic Julia Child SNL skit. Fortunately, canning does not have to be a horror show. Over time and with the help of my fellow canner and friendContinue reading “The Five Very Best Tips for Preserving Tomatoes”