One-Year Blog Anniversary!

Wow, this date snuck up on me! Hard to believe, but it is the one-year anniversary of my blog!!

In honor of this momentous (ha!) occasion, I'm sharing my very first blog post. I can guarantee none of you have read it, because - when I started this blog - I was scared to death of being 'out there' in the blog world and didn't tell a soul that I had started a blog!

OK ... I told one friend and one of my sisters, but that's it. And my husband, but that's a given.

It was a very covert marketing plan.

It wasn't until around October that I actually started truly trekking into the blog world ... perusing and discovering YOUR wonderful blogs!

So, here it is, originally posted on June 26, 2008:

Eau de Chicken Manure

It’s official. We have gone all-organic with our outdoor lawn fertilizer. After reading an article that all but pegged the rise in childhood leukemia cases to the use of common lawn fertilizers (due to certain ingredients that link back to ‘Agent Orange’ and other crazy stuff!), we switched cold-turkey.

Or should I say ‘cold-chicken’.

Maybe I should explain.

After reading the article and making the decision to switch, it just so happened that a well-known lawn care company appeared at our door offering a special introductory offer for lawn services, including fertilizing. They offered an organic alternative, so we decided to take them up on the lawn fertilization portion.

They came in the early-morning hours, leaving a little yard sign in the lawn as proof of their service.

It was a beautiful blue-sky day, and a comfortable breeze was pumping wonderfully fresh air through the windows and into the house. As I made my way down the stairs to grab a quick bite to eat, I noticed a stench that I couldn’t immediately identify. There was no one else in the house except me. I’d showered and – as far as I could tell – did not have a stench.

Wait a minute.

That is not exactly “fresh” air coming through those windows. That is the distinct smell of … chicken manure?

I quickly learned that chicken manure was the organic treatment used by the company and applied to our lawn that morning.

Mere minutes after my chicken manure ‘aha’ moment, I was back upstairs working diligently at my computer. And, with the window open, could hear a young voice, fairly close to our house, say, “Ooooh, it smells like dog poo!”

I hoped with all my might he wasn’t referring to our house, and quickly decided it was a good time to get the mail, allowing me the covert opportunity to investigate the smell from outside.

It did smell … but, truly, it wasn’t that bad.

I guess now it is just a matter of waiting to see if we ruffle the feathers (sorry!) of any neighbors with our au naturale fertilizer!

[Author note: A year later, we are still getting the same service and have noticed that it doesn’t even smell anymore after they apply the fertilizer. Though … we’re not certain our neighbors would say the same!]