Amy’s Journal

This year, a few flocks of wild turkeys have decided to make our ranch their home and mating grounds. They wander around the hills together, splaying their plumes of feathers and making that horribly loud noise turkeys are known for. It isn’t that bad in the daytime, but when they decide to sound their mating calls all night long the night before a big test, I feel the urge to break my vow as a non-killer of animals and go strangle them. Of course, I have never acted on that urge. Stormy(my dog), whenever she sees them, barks and starts to run off into the hills after them. I have always called her back because, although she is a vegetarian dog, I figure her instincts would take over and she would go on a turkey hunt. I am not home all the time, however. About a week ago, our web director Michelle gave me a ride home from school. As we were driving down the driveway, Michelle pointed up on the hill and said, “What is going on?” I looked up at the hill, and there were two flocks of turkeys, about 14 turkeys in all, on the hill in a small clump. Running around them was Stormy! She was herding them together and nudging them across the hillside. The turkeys, looking completely calm, willingly waddled in whatever direction Stormy pushed them, although the larger ones seemed to ignore her all together and simply follow because that was where everyone else was going. Turkeys can fly, so if they had felt threatened, I’m sure they would have picked up and flown away. I was right that Stormy’s instincts would take over, but they were her shepherding instincts, not hunting instincts! Now I let Stormy go into the hills whenever she wants so she can herd the turkeys. Poor girl, I need to get her some sheep.

When I was a little girl, we had a big organic vegetable garden behind the house. I have faint memories of picking snails off broccoli and eating plums and tomatoes fresh from the garden. Oh, the good old days. In third grade, our vegetable and fruit garden was, sadly, bulldozed away and replaced by a lot of concrete in the form of a swimming pool. I was thrilled. I still am. But a couple of months ago I started missing fresh vegetables and felt the need to get my hands in the dirt. Then my boyfriend Andrew teased me for being the Amy of Amy’s Kitchen and not even having an organic garden. He said that I talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk. That was the last straw. Last weekend, we built three raised beds and had some dirt trucked in. I decided to start with starts (baby plants) instead of seeds. I know that’s kind of cheating but it is a little late in the season and I am not very experienced. I went to the nursery but they didn’t have very much. I bought what they did have and planted it in the freezing weather. You wouldn’t think it was late March /early April with the weather we are having right now. I will plant some more when I get back from Mexico and will let you know how my plants are surviving, and what variety I planted. So far I have bell peppers, cilantro, strawberries, green tomatoes, and all different sorts of lettuces. (My picture is from mid-May…my plants are starting to get bigger).