Hen and Chicks re-launch

I wasn't made to be a professional photographer for a modeling agency, and I'm glad did not choose that career path. After almost an hour and over fifty attempts, below is as perfect as we could come to a photo for our company, Hen and Chicks.

This is a good sampling of the other fifty photos. AAAAH! How much inspiration does Lydia need to gather from the clouds, trees, and any other object that is not the camera lens? Anyway, it's done.

So we are attempting to sell stuff. We did so on two previous occasions, and it was fun. Now we'll see if folks in Taidong like baked goods enough to buy regularly. Here is the very beginning of this new venture: www.henandchicksindulan.blogspot.com. Ken will translate this page, and link to it on facebook. If anyone in the city places an order, we will deliver on Thursdays. I wonder if it can all really be that simple. Again, we'll see...

(A handy accident - we like the way the "H" in Hen kind of looks like a "K". Both work. Hen and Chicks, Ken and Chicks)

Almost like Shirati guavas

We just discovered today that the guava tree growing right beside our gate is bursting with sweetness. For the past few months, I have watched it dropping countless neglected fruit. I occasionally took a halfhearted bite out of one or two, but it was just too much of a hassle to navigate around the worms. For some reason, when Ken picked some today, they just came alive on our taste buds.

I thought we were farmers

Every now and then I feel like we are making strides toward true farmerhood. For example, today, I managed to erect a few more bamboo poles for my elaborate bean lattice, and plant a few seeds with the girls. I felt good. I felt that I had gotten a lot done...until later on that day, we went noni picking at the home of a family of brothers who have welcomed us to take as much as we want. These brothers raise fish in the gutter beside their house, keep wild bees for honey, raise crabs, raise chickens and ducks, and on top of all that, plant and sell pumpkins, and much more, I'm sure.

Wow.

The one brother (below) who welcomed us to his noni trees (above), caught some fish for us to take home. 

Then, after explaining how to get bees to move into a man-made hive, quickly disappeared and came back with a bottle of liquid gold. To give away such a scarce resource as raw honey indicates a kind of generosity that I have yet to attain.

The youngest brother invited us to watch him feed their crabs with chopped up fish.

This kind can fetch a pretty high price. They have fur on their claws.

For supper, we feasted on delicious fresh fish. 

Before and After

These skeleton instruments were inspired by Pingu.

We are inspired by this family's resourcefulness. Maybe someday we will be able to add crustaceans to our list of animal husbandry. Maybe someday we'll have our own supply of wild honey. Maybe we'll have a cow and some goats someday!