Hazelnuts and Stubbornness

Hazelnuts

We received a surprise package in our mailbox today.  I thought it was a phonebook, from the look of the bag, but it turned out to contain three, young Hazelnut bushes from Arbor Day Foundation.  I had forgotten that I had joined the Hazelnut Project!

I always get excited adding new edible plantings to the homestead (can you tell?), but I have serious trouble deciding where the actual plants should go.  And faced with plants that can live from 50-100 years, it feels like a major decision.  But I have eighteen hours to decide before I stick them in the ground.  No problem.  Right?

Oh, and I am not sure I like hazelnuts, I have nut issues, but I have 4-5 years to develop some recipes.  Hello hazelnut butter and hazelnut oil.  Ice cream.  Pie?  Possibilities!  Pictures tomorrow, when the new bushes are in the ground.

Stubbornness

It seems I may have some contrary, bull-headed, subversive, stubbornness issues.  I am sure you were too polite to comment up until now, but I am aware of it.  

Case in point: 

I have an extraordinarily large family.  We had 32 relatives at Thanksgiving dinner, even with several first cousins absent!  But we all seem to really like each other.  No B-movie stuff for us; we all look forward to Thanksgiving.

At some point on Turkey Day, I was talking with a favorite aunt, who was giving me some free advice on starting up here on our little slice of heaven.  I am sure she meant nothing but the best, but she inadvertently brought out my stubborn streak.  She said that "of course" we would want to try chickens, but that we wouldn't want more than 6, all hens.  And I, like any rational person, took extreme umbrage.  

I started planning a L-A-R-G-E Flock.  40 hens, 20 roosters.  The chicken house would be bigger than my own.  How dare she tell me I would only want 6?  My husband would just have to lump it!

Then, she proceeded to tell me that I did not want a dairy cow.  Two milkings a day; TWO!  "Of course" I wouldn't want that.

And again, my calm, rational demeanor dictated that now I would want, no, need, two dairy cows, and a dairy goat.  That I was smart and capable, and a bit of a homebody, so of course I wouldn't mind being tied to the homestead every day and night!

Yeah, crazy-Jen made an appearance on Thanksgiving.  But I am all better now.  No worries.

And, yes, I confessed to my husband and he didn't run screaming for the hills.  And he actually seemed a bit accepting of the massive chicken idea.  Fun times!

Oh, and probably not a good idea to tell me "Of course" and follow it with an assumption about something I might not want.  Turns out, I can be a bit stubborn.