A Common Life
Welcome to A Common Life where Morgan and Taylor offer month-by-month gardening advice to help your garden thrive. We also share our personal journey in seasonal living, aiming to foster a deeper connection with others, nature, and our Creator. Our hope is to encourage and equip others who are on a similar journey and to provide a space for community around these ideals.
A Common Life
31. Community Support, Rogue Roosters, Prescribed Fire, and More | Looking back on February '24
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Music on the podcast was composed by Kevin Dailey. The artist is Garden Friend. The track is the instrumental version of “On a Cloud”
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of A Common Life podcast. I'm your host, Taylor, and I'm here with my beautiful bride Morgan.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone.
Speaker 1:And in this episode we're going to be looking back over February and talking about all the fun that happened in February. Babe, we got through February.
Speaker 2:We have made it through. I didn't think it would happen. I was.
Speaker 1:You were dreading February and it did not disappoint.
Speaker 2:I know I think I talked about on the looking ahead to February, how it's going to be awful, and you're like no, it's not.
Speaker 1:It was it was awful. It had a lot of highs and a lot of lows.
Speaker 2:What's the lowest lows of my life? Lows.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, we didn't lose any lives, but it was pretty bad. Yeah it was bad.
Speaker 2:So do you want to talk a little bit about it? Well, I don't want to talk a lot about it, but I went down, my body just kind of decided to stop working at the beginning of February.
Speaker 1:Right after I'd come home from Guatemala.
Speaker 2:Yes, like during. While you were in Guatemala, yeah, and I think there's a lot of factors to it, but the diagnosis is Hashimoto's, which is the autoimmune disease for your thyroid, and so I feel like at this point I've learned so much about our thyroid and what it does for our body, but it basically regulates all functions.
Speaker 1:So if it goes down, you go down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Went down hard and I'm on the up but I'm like February is just one big giant blur to me. But I will say some great things that came out of it was one. We have people who take care of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a really amazing community group of people that really love us and care for us. Yeah, it's really incredible Something to really be thankful for.
Speaker 2:Carol stepped up her granny game. Granny Carol.
Speaker 1:Brenda.
Speaker 2:My mom.
Speaker 1:Granny B. Granny B came out.
Speaker 2:My mom has just taken such good care of me and my babies and has done all of our laundry and just loved us so, so well. It's been really beautiful to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I said, a lot of lows and a lot of highs too. We've learned a lot. Sometimes you have to go through the really hard parts of life to to get the experience and the wisdom and the empathy and the softness that is. That is just that comes with experience and hardship. And you know I say that with a lot of like shame, because I know a lot of people have gone through so much harder.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, and even then it gives you more sympathy and empathy for the folks that have had it harder. Like you know, I can't imagine, like Some of the terrible stories that I read this week, that she's kind of drugged me down with like people losing kids in the worst of ways.
Speaker 1:Like that's just Totally unfathomable and, like you know, it was bad for like a week. We didn't really know what was going on, we didn't know when it was gonna end. But you know, you're still here, yeah, we still have all of our kids and our family and friends just rallied around us. So, yeah, there was a lot of good. In February, too, I did go to Guatemala and it was a really amazing trip and Looking forward to that story.
Speaker 2:Continuing down fold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, being written and the future that it holds. It's pretty cool and we look forward to bringing you all along with us in that. We're gonna go back again soon. Morgan's gonna come with me. So one of the things about your thyroid we've learned is that we, if your thyroid's not working and it can't regulate Everything in your body, some your, your adrenals, your adrenal glands kick into gear and you can begin to run on just like adrenaline and that's kind of what your body starts fueling itself with.
Speaker 1:Yeah so when that happens, your cortisol levels go up, and we had a couple Instances in the month of February that raised our cortisol levels. Yeah, we did you want to talk about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you Know, having four kids can raise your cortisol levels. Perpetually yes yes, but like right in the middle of all of this, this is after you got back from Guatemala.
Speaker 1:It all kind of is blurry. Yeah, well, anyway honestly now me questioning was this in February or was this January it?
Speaker 2:was February. It was February, I don't know about the first one, but I'm pretty sure it was February. But we are getting ready for school one morning and Virginia comes in. This is what we're talking about, right, yeah, okay. Virginia comes in this like laughing and she's like mom, do Rooster, do Hinn's cockadoodle do? And I was like no, baby, that's Rooster's. And she was like well, some of our chickens are cockadoodle doing. They must think that there needs to be a Rooster. And so they're just making the Rooster noise. And so I tell Taylor, I'm like oh no, we are in the middle of a neighborhood and we're already kind of we're not breaking the rules.
Speaker 1:But we're not really asking. We're definitely breaking the rules. We're not following the zoning laws. I mean, we had four and they don't smell, they're fine, they're not a problem, but we are breaking the rules. One of them died, so we were down to three. Yeah, and so, while Virginia is having this revelation, one morning I forget, I think I came home from the office to get something and I heard a Rooster and my first thought was, wow, we have neighbors who have chickens too. And my second thought was they need to get rid of that Rooster, because you can't have Roosters in the middle of a neighborhood like silly neighbors and kind of went on about my business and then it kept coming and I'm like, oh, that sounds like it's coming from our chickens, but that can't be because we don't have Roosters.
Speaker 2:Listen, you've been saying from the beginning that these chickens are dumb, but here's the deal they were just Roosters. At this point we thought it was only one. Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I was giving the chickens a little bit of a hard time, because once they started going through their little adolescent period and the Roosters started Roostering, they started scratching more and they started acting more like chickens. I think they were just really hungry and they hadn't quite figured out how to scratch yet. They weren't like mature chickens, they were like adolescent chickens, and I was giving them a hard time calling them city chickens because they weren't scratching. They did start to get better as they matured.
Speaker 2:Well anyway.
Speaker 1:So we have this Rooster now and we're like crap. Well, the day goes on and we don't do anything about it. It's kind of like crap. The day goes on. You're just like next thing you know you're in bed and you're like oh shoot.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we have a.
Speaker 1:Rooster. We have a Rooster.
Speaker 2:Well, I kind of forgot 5.30 or like 5.15 in the morning.
Speaker 1:I was more like 4.30.
Speaker 2:We hear the Rooster going loud, bonkers, loud, like could wake up three streets down from us.
Speaker 1:And it was just like back to back to back. I mean, this was like day number two for this Rooster having its voice and he was letting it rip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so Taylor jumps out of bed.
Speaker 1:Oh, and then we also have Miss Marjorie that lives next to us, who's like 132. Sweetest old lady you've ever met in your life. But she doesn't need to be woken up. I mean, it's like I don't know, maybe she likes it, Maybe she likes it, but still, you don't want to be that neighbor.
Speaker 2:No, no.
Speaker 1:This got a Rooster in the middle of a neighborhood cop and do it at 4.30 in the morning, so I jump out of bed already, not sleeping well. Just, we're not thriving right now. I go out there in the middle of the night. I mean it's in the morning but it's still dark. Snatch this Rooster up and stuff him in a kennel.
Speaker 2:And put him in the shed, stuff him in our Chihuahua's little kennel and stick him in our garage, and then I come back, get in bed and we start to go about our day. Yeah, and then basically it's like hey, we got a Rooster in the kennel in the garage and go do something with it To me, who's already falling apart and not supposed to be raising my cortisol levels, and so All you had to do is take it and just Let him go somewhere.
Speaker 1:Well, we called a few friends. Nobody wanted him, but we did have a friend that stepped up. Yes, we did the one and only.
Speaker 2:Terry Woods.
Speaker 1:The great Terry Woods, and so.
Speaker 2:And so I mean I go oh, oh, so we get home. We get home and I'm like Virginia, I need your help carrying that kennel with that rooster to the car, because I don't really wanna do it. She's like oh, I wanna do it. I'm like okay, great, so hold on.
Speaker 1:Let me paint the picture. The rooster is in a toawa kennel with the door shut, inside of a shed with the door shut and I'm at the office working and I get a text that says what that says the rooster's out of the kennel. It's loosened the shed, yeah Well, and then, like 30 seconds later, I get a text that says the rooster is out of the shed, it's loose in the front yard.
Speaker 2:Well, the toawa kennel isn't the sturdiest kennel. The door is like falling off of it the handle. You know it was messed up. You had to end up zip tying it because it was so bad. So Virginia, sweet Virginia, just picks up the kennel and then it falls apart into like three different pieces and then the rooster goes on top of this filing cabinet and then we're both running around like, oh my gosh, can't get him. And so then we decide we were gonna trail him with some food, like give him a little bit of food, and lead it to the kennel, like cancel and gruddle it. And that didn't work.
Speaker 1:The chicken thought it was about to die. The last thing it was about to do was eat.
Speaker 2:So anyway it got out. I'm like yelling Virginia is freaking out. We finally catch it and stick it back in the kennel. And it calms down when it goes back in, lock the kennel, put it in the back of my car, drive it to Terry's house. And I'm like making this big deal, like, okay, you grab this side, I'll grab the other side and we'll take it. And she's looking at me like, just open the door of the kennel and let it go, it'll find its way. So we did, and then it went. So three days later, yeah, three days later.
Speaker 1:Another one of our chickens, another hen decides it wants to be a rooster, so it starts cockadoodle doing.
Speaker 2:And I didn't even tell Terry. I still haven't told her. I took it to her house and dropped it off.
Speaker 1:I know, this time we didn't even tell her that we were bringing a rooster. You just pulled up into her yard, opened up, let another rooster go and Bye, bye.
Speaker 2:So, sadly, we only have one chicken and I keep telling Taylor it's lonely and he says chickens don't have feelings. So we're only getting one egg Every two days or so. But okay, this is very interesting. The roosters found their voice at the exact same time that she started laying. Is that a thing you already knew, cause I didn't.
Speaker 1:Well, I think they went through like their adolescent type stage and into maturity all at the same time.
Speaker 2:You know. So if you have a rooster and you're frustrated with your chickens, if it's starting, If it starts cockadoodle doing and you're in the city. Any day. Now it takes Terry Woods house. And just let it go. Oh man, okay, oh man, that's right.
Speaker 1:So we had a good time at the South Huntsville Garden Club in February.
Speaker 2:We did.
Speaker 1:You were running on fumes, I was running on fumes, and I hope so she invited me to this South Huntsville Garden Club with a bunch of ladies.
Speaker 2:I was supposed to go by myself and I didn't even know if I was gonna make it or sound coherent at all, and so those were some dark times. I brought Tay Tay and the South Huntsville Garden Club. Ladies loved him.
Speaker 1:I mean, what can I say?
Speaker 2:The ladies, the old ladies love you.
Speaker 1:They love me.
Speaker 2:But it was really, you know, just being around other people who loved a garden and talking about what you love, I mean it was great. I hope they ask us back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was great. We had a really good time. Glad we did that, even though we were both just exhausted.
Speaker 2:I know. I feel like we should give them a different version of us, Like go back and be like. I'm really sorry, I don't know. I think we did a good job. One thing that was super cool that happened there was I had a friend who gave me a card at the beginning of all of this, encouraging me, and it had a picture of was it Van? Gogh?
Speaker 1:I think it was Van Gogh's picture, rembrandt.
Speaker 2:No, of, let me look it up. I think it's just called Lily's. Okay, yeah, so it's Iris's, by Vincent Van Gogh was the front of this card and it's really ministered to me because I've been listening to Jess Rae's album and she has a song on there about from Matthew, about. You know, look at the birds they don't sow a reed. And look at the flowers they don't toil or spin. But you know, why worry about tomorrow when all you really have is today? So this picture is super ministered to me and I was hardly making it when we got to this garden club meeting and we go down where they have us all set up and I pull out my computer and stuff and I look on the wall and there's a huge painting of this picture and it just made me smile and it was just like the Lord was like I'm here, I'm with you and I see you. It was really special. So yeah, we enjoyed that.
Speaker 1:We got some seeds going in February. Late January we seeded some kale, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce. It's been growing all February, did really well and you seeded.
Speaker 2:I did. I seeded tomatoes and peppers and basil. Then I ended up seeding cucumbers who knew they don't transplant. Well, taylor says I'm gonna just throw them out, I'm gonna try.
Speaker 1:Okay, you try, baby, okay. And we put some peas and potatoes in the garden.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:I didn't chit them.
Speaker 2:You didn't what.
Speaker 1:So you chit potatoes, and that means you make them sprout out. Chitting is like a thing.
Speaker 2:Chit them.
Speaker 1:You chit them. It sounds. Yeah, I don't really. I really don't know. I would never use that language, but I saw it somewhere and apparently chitting potatoes is a thing. Anyways, we just cut them up. I'm going to put up a little video of what we did.
Speaker 2:It was so simple and easy.
Speaker 1:And we just put them in the ground.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And they haven't sprouted yet. So we're fingers crossed. Yeah, peas got some peas and potatoes in the ground. We just said that, but if you forgot, we did and let's see. Oh, I got to do a control burn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Is that your second? The first time was at Legacy, yeah, so this was the second time I've been a part of a control burn prescribed burn and it's where you light a forest on fire on purpose. It doesn't burn the trees up, it just burns the underbrush. A lot of times they do it in pine trees predominantly and it just clears out all of the saplings and the small trashy stuff underneath the trees. It's really good for wildlife, it's good for the trees and it's a lot of fun doing it. I was going to say did you have fun? Oh, yeah, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1:It's a cool land management practice that the Indians, the Native Americans, used to do to keep their forest floors clean and it's something that helps prevent catastrophic fires, because all of the brush and the debris and the build up on the forest floor, it builds up and up and up and that's fuel and if you don't periodically go in there and burn it off, then when a wildfire does happen and some of that stuff catches it, it can be catastrophic. But this helps prevent that. But really landowners do it to help with wildlife, yeah, yeah, and if you have a pine forest stand, then it helps kill the weeds that are growing in the pine stand.
Speaker 2:Didn't you tell me before, too, that the most, what is it? The most idealic landscape for a human like what our natural minds want, is like this A savanna.
Speaker 1:Is that what you're saying? A?
Speaker 2:savanna.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think they've done studies where they put up landscapes and when people choose the landscape, that is most commonly chosen is a savanna and that is like a forest type setting with grass growing underneath, like a treeed landscape with green grass growing in between and underneath, and so to get that you do have to control all of the brush and saplings and stuff and you can get that with a fire. I took some cool pictures and shared them on the newsletter.
Speaker 2:Do we say we have our first egg? Yes, we did say that.
Speaker 1:I don't know actually if we did, but we did get our first egg. In February too. We had some other cool first two trees budding out, first daffodil. A lot is happening.
Speaker 2:We went to our first concert.
Speaker 1:We went to our first concert. That was awesome. Shout out to Ellie Holcomb and Drew Holcomb. They did a great job.
Speaker 2:So good. It took Virginia and Wendell, our oldest too. It was really special, it was.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's going to be it for this week. We look forward to being with you again next week. I think we're going to do an eating reading, listening episode. It's been a while since we've done that, so we're looking forward to doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And until then, happy gardening.