Cat and Mouse

This whole time I thought Calvin was trying to teach Trouble how to hunt and kill mice... now I think he does it just to get her out of his hair. She is a kitten and as such will be very energetic and rambunctious... he is older and cranky at this point.

And on that note, we can always tell when Calvin caught the mouse for her as it is unharmed and she gets to play with it. She brought one in the other day that she caught all by herself and it was in half and the organs were falling out. Jed and I just sat, watched, and laughed the whole time. We were commenting on how we might want to get her out of the habit of eating the mice inside since we find it funny, but not everyone might find it very hygienic. I love our sense of humor.

Living room images =)

Guacamole recipe

This is for mexican guacamole, which means it will be nothing like the stuff you get from the store.

You'll need:

ripe avocado
ripe tomatoes
onions
chile peppers
garlic
cilantro
lime juice (real, just squeezed)
salt

Directions: Peal avocado and place the meat of the avocado into a bowl. Start smashing with a fork. Next chop the tomato, onions, chile peppers, garlic, and cilantro. You want some but not as much as the avocado. Lastly, add some lime juice and salt to taste. Then use your chips to enjoy your home made guacamole. =)

Things I wish I would have known - gardening - pinching

Pinching is a wonderful thing. A lot of gardening books will post on this, but they mostly talk about stalk shoots and side shoots and how to pinch them off so that you can get bigger growth, but the part that I think helps out the most is pinching off the shoots that are about to seed. Even if you have a "slow bolt" type of plant, pinch off the stalks that show that are about to bolt so that the plant can continue to produce. This works for herbs (basil, mints, etc) as well as things like spinach so that you can get more leafy greens. This will cause your plant to produce more greens in an attempt to grow more seeds. If you let it go to seed too quickly then it will focus all the nutrients on the seed making process and none on your leafy greens. Try it next time and see if it will provide more greens and then just let it bolt(go to seed) when you are ready.

Things I wish I would have known: Gardening - mounding up

Have you ever heard the term mounding up? Well, this applies to many of your allums and others, meaning your onions, shallots, garlics, leeks, celery, potatoes, carrots, and others. What mounding up does is it ends up building up your bottom shoots or your root head. When your shoots start thickening (such as onions) simply mound up a little bit more soil around it to build it up and to fool your veggie into thinking that it has to grow some more to reach the air. The root will expand and grow giving you a bigger head when you harvest. If you plant down far enough (seedlings) you should be fine, but if you are planting seeds then you will want to mound up to give you bigger veggies. The same applies to your celeries so that the shoots can be blanched and that you get bigger stalks. This falls into the "Something that could have been brought to my attention yesterday" category since reading all the gardening books it doesn't really tell you this. I figured it out after much trial and error, but I thought others might want to know.

NOM NOM Honey

I was just directed to Honey.com and found a ton of really nummy honey recipes. These include jams, peaches packed in honey, and a lemon honey jelly... they all sound fabulous!! I can't wait to try some of these at home. NomNomNom

Honey Packed Peaches
http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/recipe-details?RecipeID=131

Strawberry Jam
http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/recipe-details?RecipeID=1231

Honey-Lemon Jelly
http://www.honey.com/nhb/recipes/recipe-details?RecipeID=130

Lettuce/beets/radishes/turnips/squash

All sprouted or are in the process of sprouting. It's been hotter than the dickens (according to Jed) with the temps in the 105's area and the plants have been taking a beating. I'll see about watering some more tonight so that they can keep growing. The lettuce looks about ready to pick as well as the onions, tomatillos, and some more cilantro. I'll see if I can make some green enchiladas from the garden... that would be yummy.

Livingroom and Moon

I'll see if I can post some images of the end product of the livingroom when I get home. Although the light isn't really the best in the evenings. Talking about evenings, did anyone else notice the gorgeous moon out there last night? Looked like dawn all night because the moon was so bright. The stars weren't really visible because the moon was blocking them out.

1 year Post

One year ago we moved into our home. Before we moved in we took out all the carpets, washed everything (many times), stained the floors, painted walls, and cleaned some more. We took out one of the cabinets and the dishwasher. Thanks to many friends who stopped by to help us we were able to finish a lot before we even moved in. We continued working on items and then had a house warming party in Sept because frankly, if we waited to have the house warming party until we were finished we would never have it. We continued the work inside with painting and outside with gardening. We constructed coops tore down makeshift pens and continued to see what worked best to contain the animals. We acquired pigs. Lost pigs. Shot a pig. Cursed at a pig. Enjoyed the company of our chickens. Cursed coyotes and predators for the death of our animals and continued to try to maintain a garden. On New Year's Brighid told us of this really nifty tradition in which you get at least 12 different types of fruit and have your house all clean for the new year. The fruit represent the bounty of the next year. The cleanliness means the organization for the next year and then you spend that day doing what you would like your next year to be like. We cleaned the house, had fruit for breakfast, and spent the whole day working on projects such as constructing a better bridge to get to the other side of the back yard. In short, we hoped that this year would be productive and fruitful. We've continued to work on projects at a crazy speed, but other projects get put on hold until we're able to get to them. The wood burning stove went in and the cheapo fireplace went out. The bread oven is started, but I still need to finish putting additional layers. (At the moment, the cats use it as a shady spot to hide in so that they can scare the chickens.) The master bathroom is almost done and we're getting ready to start work on the hallway bathroom. I spent this last weekend working on the painting in the livingroom so that I can mark that off my list. The livingroom has already gone through a redecoration and it's starting to look like what I would like it to look like.

So I guess we can say that the first year in our home has been very busy and productive. We look forward to many more and to the addition of more self-sufficient measures such as solar and wind power. My goal is to get us off the grid completely, but that is a long term project. The front garden is blooming and I just found a local supply(as in around the corner) for horse manure that I can get every day of the year. =) Which means that I'll be working on the back garden soon. As the job market is lagging and my interviews seem to flop, I'll continue working on the house and see what comes of it. To our house and our family: a toast. May we meet again for many years to celebrate the work that we've put in to construct a haven and a home we feel happy and safe in.

Death of a duck

When I picked up the Pekins I could tell that one was a lot small than the other. That was supposed to be because he was standard and she was a jumbo. As they grew I was not so sure, but it was clear that the little male had hip/feet issues. He would sometimes fall on his back and be unable to turn over. As we moved them outside this happened less frequently and we were hoping that the exercise and the sun would help him. Weak legs are usually caused by a low temp in an incubator (causing the last things to develop aka the legs to not fully develop and thus causing weak legs) so I'm assuming that is what must have happened.

When we moved them outside the geese saw both the baby pekins as their children (though at first they tried to shoo them away), adopted ugly(to a goose) children, but their children non the less. They would devote their time to the pekins and bring them food, teach them how to search for food, swim, and clean themselves. In short, the geese were very attached to their pekins.

Today I came home to find that the male pekin was dead, on his back near the pond. My only guess is that he got flipped over and was unable to turn back around and died of dehydration/exposure to high temps. I knew something was wrong because all the geese were surrounding the pekin and had their heads hung low. They didn't make a sound or come over to greet. They just mourned. I approached and they came over slowly and quietly. They led me to the pekin and surrounded him and tried to cover him with their outstretched wings. I'm not usually a sentimental person but to see the geese mourn for their adopted child made me sad. When they were done they stepped back and I walked in and picked him up. I could not bring him in since I did not know how long he had been dead and I wanted to make sure he did not die in vain. I placed him under the dead sycamore so that his body can feed the next tree that we plant there. The geese walked with me as I placed his body in the hole. I put the tree back over him and could only tell the geese I was sorry for their loss.

Jed loves me =) I am Kronos

Sooo, Jed always has a really hard time picking out presents for me because he says I'm difficult to shop for. For example he thought I was just joking when I first asked for a composter. This year, I hinted that I would really, really like a grass scythe and he surprised me and got me a kick ass scythe set. It came with everything and it was actually built to my height and specifications. The one thing he didn't know about is that the scythe blade is gold colored. The first time I opened it my first thought was: Kronos? Do I get to control time now? Although this is not the case, the idea is pretty cool. =)

I'll have to post how it works after I have enough grasses and items to cut down... once things start growing again since the goats/sheep have done a pretty good job of clearing everything else.

Mead update

While Guy and Sharon were over we were able to bottle up the Sage honey mead and the Ginger/Sage honey mead. I know that Guy and Sharon didn't really like the slightly lingering aftertastes... but man am I in love!!! It tastes just like a cool, bubbly, coconut juice. It tastes fabulous and helps whenever we're slaughtering any of the animals.

And a short story:
Guy and I bottled the sage mead and in order to do that we ended up clearing up (aka: drinking) the contents of some of the half containers. One was nice and bubbly and fun and the other one was a definite date rape (Thanks J for giving it that name) drink. We ended up leaving the date rape drink because it was a little too intense and we could only sip w/o getting almost instantly drunk. It is very, very sweet, but also very, very alcoholic.

We still have one carboy full of really sweet mead (date rape) that I think I'm going to cut with apple juice to cut some of the sweetness and the alcohol level. =) We'll see how soon we can bottle it.

Borage - anyone want some?

I planted some organic borage in the front and luckily all of them sprouted, but on the down side, they all sprouted. I have an excess of borage. Would anyone like a seedling or two? You can eat the young leaves (not the full grown as they are a little spiky and sticky), the flowers attract beneficials, and helps with skin rashes and inflamation.

PS. Image from http://adamofeden.ca/Glossary.aspx

Books

I wanted to make some recommendations on books for the incipient modern homesteader. Rosie and I have learned a lot from our books, and a lot more from the hands on we were inspired to do from our books.

Anything by John Seymour, the man was a visionary. He wrote quite a few books on how to be self-sufficient on a small plot of land, in many cases a small urban back yard. He takes a no nonsense approach to the modern homestead, there is very little philosophy in his books but a damn lot of good advice and guidelines for any one who desires to be more than a "consumer" of our world. I can not recommend his books enough. No really, stop what you are doing right now and go get one of his books.

Farm City by Novella Carpenter. A young woman who decides to start a farm in downtown Oakland. Not a lot of advice for a homesteader but more along the lines of a kindred spirit who goes threw nearly the same experiences Rosie and I have in many ways. If you want to see what is possible in a small space this is a fun read.

The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan. She concentrates on doing more with less, if you have a yard you can have a small farm. For our readers in town and city this is a great book, she can suggest how to get more from a small raised bed garden or a window box.

Storey's Guide to Raising "fill in the blank". I can only half recommend this series. While there is some very good information about building feeders, noting illness, treating mild sickness, picking breeds, and feeding much of the books spend a lot of time on the idea of "profit" and how to make more money off your livestock. While there is nothing wrong with this idea, Rosie and I are not trying to make money on our animals, we are trying to raise them for our own use. So the information is good but the aim is off in our opinion.

I am sure there are more good books out there, but these are the ones I have been reaching for on a almost daily basis. Good luck, good travels and don't let the pigs bite you.

Freeeeedom!!!

Our ducks have watched Finding Nemo too many times... they are taking advise from Dory and are pushing on the door in the morning to knock it over. I discovered this yesterday morning when I couldn't sleep. I heard them all quacking quietly and hearing a commotion from the duck coop. I went out to make sure it wasn't a coyote and watched them all push at the door until they knocked it over. One duck got too excited and quacked loudly, only to be sushed by the other ducks. They all then quacked quietly as they ran over to the pond for a very early morning swim....

That flighty mistress, Fate.

Fate is a fickle mistress and in our home personality counts for a lot. We had been talking about if we wanted to breed from one of our animals, she is reasonably healthy and a decent breed. Then she made a very large mistake.

She snapped at Rosie while Rosie was petting her.

Rosie was not hurt in any way nor was she even startled but in that split second that member of our farmyard lost her chance of passing on her genes and moved from the yard to the menu. Right now we are full up with meat in our freezer from Big Goat, so there is a stay of execution but it is only a matter of time. That one act sealed her fate.

There is no room in our home for a hostile animal, I will not have the threat of injury hanging over the heads of my guests or my family. We had a rooster who was hostile to people...... He was delicious.

Big goat is delicious

Did you guys ever watch the movie Up? Do you remember the joke the dog makes? (It's funny because the squirrel was dead) Yeah, that's what this reminds me of. =) Not that I'm mean or any... ok yeah, yes I am... she had it coming, but for breeding reasons more than anything else: She had a double nipple, which we do not want to pass on to any possible future offspring. She was under developed due to many internal parasites that had lived in her for way too long. So we did the best we could. We took away the parasites, fed her as much as she wanted, and then we're finishing the loop by eating her.

It was a clean kill and she went quickly. We then hung her up, skinned, disemboweled, halved, and put her in the freezer. Thank you, Big Goat, you completed the contract.

And of course we had to enjoy home brew while we slaughtered.... we could not have it any other way.

Friends

This last week we had friends stay over and got to many different projects. I feel a bit bad that I made them work so hard... but on the other hand we did get to finish and work on many different cool things. Thank you Guy and Sharon!!!

Things we got to work on: bread oven.... which is a lot more work than thought out... even for 3 people.
Finished or mostly there: pick up and split firewood, pick up posts for garden edging, slaughtered big goat, weeded the front garden multiple times.

=) Thank you both for all the hard work and letting us hang out with you just that little bit more. You guys are amazing! We look forward to seeing you at SCA events and hopefully (I'm being selfish here) we'll find you jobs down here.

Front garden

I have 7 raised beds, 1 citrus strip, 1 plot, and all the edges next to the gate. At last count we have:

plot:
Corn, onions, squash, bean, and pumpkins

edge:
5 grapes, 2 blueberries, 4 black sage, 3 rosemary, sage (salvia officinalis), english thyme, marjoram, 2 lemon balm, rue, german chamomile, yerba buena (spearmint?) echinacea, strawberries, ollallieberry, and lavander

citrus strip:
tomatoe - Beefsteak, peppermint, nasturtium, aloe, misc. baby plants ... to be determined when they get some more leaves

Trees:
1 almond, 1 apple, 1 lemon (meyer), 1 lemon (kafir), 1 orange(Valencia)

1 raised bed:
chives, lemon balm, borage, fennel, cardamon, 5-6 watermelons, 6 cucumbers, caper bush

2 raised bed:
lettuce, asparagus, artichoke, Chaste tree

3 raised bed:
bush beans, climbing beans, eggplant, pickling cucumber (a lot of each), asparagus, artichoke

4 raised bed: (Salsa)
tomato - Mr. Stripey, tomato - Roma non-hybrid, cilantro, tomatillos, sweet peas, 3 watermelons, 2 chiles, 1 pepino melon

5 raised bed:
celery, spinach, potatoes, sun flowers, pepino melon bush

6 raised bed:
potatoes and sun flowers

7 raised bed:
P(flowering beneficial), stevia, bay laurel, radishes, beets, turnips, okra, squash

Harvesting Almonds

We've started picking the almonds and letting them dry. We have a basket in the back setting. I would love to get a count of how much we're getting but we have a tendency to eat them before we get a chance to weigh them. I'll see if we can actually get a count. =)

Gardening - keeping track

I've come to terms with being a night gardener... =) When I'm working I get a short amount of time during the night and in the morning before work to be out in my garden. I see my just sprouting sun flowers and my ears of corn as I run to work or when I drive back in. I cherish that moment of walking in the garden.

Sooo keeping track:

This morning (8/11) I planted:

Pink radishes
Red leafed lettuce
Early red beet
okra
Loose leaf lettuce
turnips

Last night I watered all the raised beds to give the the existing plants that little extra umph in water. I planted them this morning since the soil was still wet and it allowed them to heat up throughout the whole day. We'll see how many sprout.... and if we can keep up with our veggies. I might end up making some clotches to keep the plants warm just in case if the temp dips. It's supposed to be in the 100's this weekend.

Personalilties

I remembered this morning that many people assume that animals have no personalities; that they simply sit around until they are ready to go into their plastic wrapped containers.... so I'll gladly refudiate that. =)

Our older chickens wander around and follow us. They like walking behind us or if they think we have something tasty they run (waddle?) like mad until they get to us. Then they simply just lounge around waiting for us to do something fabulous with grains or worms or something they have never met but that will make them drool.

The ducks chill in the shade and swim in little circles in the pond. They also run around in a little raft (group of ducks... if they are in flight they are a "team" if they are in water they are a "paddling") of ducks as they find new patches of grains to nom on. They are runner ducks so it's funny as hell to watch them run around with their little high kick waddles.

Our turkeys are our puppies. They follow us around where ever we go and they make sure that we know they are there. They're extremely intelligent (as with pretty much all the animals) and like to hang out with us. We once sat out back having a picnic and had turkeys come over and sit on the blanket to have lunch with us.

And then we have the identity crisis poultry. The geese think that the baby chicks are theirs and the two baby pekins think they are baby chickens who think they are geese... I mean honestly.. how can you not love them?

Goats.... what can I say? They do 360's off the base of the bread oven, follow us around, demand petting, and they give a little bleat of joy when they see me with the green wheel barrow because they think it has pulled weeds for them. =)

We keep learning the personality types of the pigs and the sheep. The sheep are allowing us to get closer to them and they have come to associate us with food and that is a good thing. The pigs are hilarious as Oreo loves baths and back rubs; he also likes smearing food all over his face. Macaroon on the other hand likes sleeping, holds back when it comes to food, and likes eating her watermelon in bites of a wedge that I'm holding in my hand. She's my dainty little girl.

The bees are happy bees that are awesome and have their little quarky side. Some will just dance around and land on me while others will be pissed off and follow me all the way to the van bouncing off my head letting me know that they did not appreciate getting dolled up with a teal burka and then taken for a wheel barrow ride....

I think just like cats and other animals they all have their personalities and add to the enjoyment of life at the farm.

Macaroon, Macaroon, Maca-macaaarooon

You know how Jed says that I have mad scrounging skills? Well, not too long ago I picked up another 5 gallon glass carboy on craigslist and other beer making supplies and also.... I found some livestock. =)

I saw a post for rescue piggies and sheep. I responded thinking that these would be totally awesome for manure. I was contacted a few days later by the poster who said that she would pass on the information to the rescue shelter. A few weeks after that I got a call from the lady in charge of the piggies and sheepies and let me know that the sheep and a piggy was available. I had previously been told that they might have found a home for the sheepies as well so I didn't actually know what we would end up with. I spent a week making homes for all of them and then called back to let them know that I was ready. I was going to drive half-way to pick them up and then put them in the back of the van. (You can hear Jed cringing at this part.) Well, they ended up calling me back and said that they would just drive them down and as the animals had been with them for so long they were going to waive the adopion fee. Score!!

So last week we ended up having two hair sheep (still need to find out what types they are) a female pot belly pig and a castrated hampshire pig. They arrived a little irritated and nervous but the sheep started eating as soon as we got them in with the goats and the piggies calmed down with food and water. So now we have those additions to our farm/ranch. The sheep are called Lavern and Sherlie (one's light colored and the other is dark colored), the potbelly is named Macaroon and the hamp is called Oreo. =) The piggies love watermelon and are very friendly. We're still working on the sheep.

Longing to be home

I love my work... but I've been finding myself wishing I was at home working on projects. I get to go home and work on the garden and bathroom, or constructing pens or altering other pens... I know 4:30 isn't that far away but sometimes it feels like an eternity.

To add to this in the fall I start my classes for getting my teacher's credential and hopefully all will go well. We'll see if the economy will even allow me to have a job after I receive my credential next June. Hopefully low-income, in-need schools will still have openings for someone like me.

Heat

You become aware of all your senses on the farm, the smell of the plants will let you know how they are doing, the appearance of the ground will tell you how much humidity there is and on days like today you can hear how hot it is. We do not have an outside thermometer but it is so hot the animals do even want to make a sound, the chickens and the turkeys sit in the shade and pant, the goats don't even call out to my approach. The ducks and geese are too hot to even acknowlage my presence, let alone run to a "safe" distance. It is so hot the daily routines of our animals are on hold until the sun dips down below the horizon and the mercury drops at least a little. This evening I expect a flurry of activity as every one tries to catch up with the days "chores" but for now it is seiesta time (a nap threw the hottest part of the day as practiced in Spain and Mexico) on the Depew Farm. But not for me, I have work to do. Gotta make sure that all the animals have enough water to get threw the heat, I add a little apple cider vinegar to every ones water (helps fight parasites and adds electrolytes) and make sure that the geese and ducks have a good spot to swim and clear their beaks out. Rainbow (a chicken) has left her chicks under the coop while she sits on some eggs, so the baby chicks get their own water, make sure there is water for her in the coop, fill up the goat troughs, make sure the adolescent chicks have more water, put out a bowl for the turkeys and adult chicks and fill up the little pond for the ducks and geese. Days like today I am very glad we have a good well.

Disconnect

As many of you might know, I have a tendency to lose touch and to be extremely hard to reach.... I guess I just like my time of disconnect. Jed puts up with the whole energy nazi thing as long as it doesn't mean that the router gets turned off.... but I do, I turn it off every time he goes to work because frankly if I don't need to be on the internet I'd rather not be. I like being able to walk away from the phone or the computers and be able to dig in the garden all day. There is something liberating about spending weekends just working in the yard and being so exhausted that I welcome going to work because it means I'll get a break. I like waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning and working non-stop until about midnight just to do it all over again the next day. My work cutting back my hours has been a mixed blessing. Although I don't have the money I do have the time to work outside. I think one thing that Jed and I have in common is that when we're home... we're off. But to go with that, although I'm extremely hard to get a hold of, I do enjoy those moments because I'm able to think about things that I've done and things that I've experienced with others. Those moments allow me to sherish the times I've spent with friends and family and look forward to those moments that we'll create in the future. All in all, this first year in our home has made me very thankful for the ability to work the land. I guess in a way every time I disconnect it allows me to get closer to those that I hold dear.

Home Vs. Dwelling, Work and Job

I was having a conversation with some of my co-workers and I was struck with our differing perceptions in regards to home and work and such things. Where is your place of solace? Where do you go to recharge and be at peace with your self and the world? Some people find that inner calmness at church or perhaps a park, a movie theater or the ocean. For Rosie and I, we find that moment at or home. When I finish a shift I have a need to wash off the blood only I can see and silence the screams that only I can hear, my place of solace is my home. The sound of goats chewing weeds and the cluck of chickens brings to an end the sounds of suffering and pain. Running my hands threw the wheat and dipping my feet in the stream cleans off the blood only I can feel. The smell of growing things and the slow whisper of the trees cleans my lungs of the sent of death and decay. Planting trees and collecting eggs reminds me that life is a cycle and that there is more to the world than pain and suffering, more than broken bones and pools of blood. Green shoots and baby chicks show me that the cycle goes on and that an eternal life springs from the soil and decay of the past. To swing a scythe and cut with a sickle is to be baptized by your sweat and aching muscles, to be forgiven of your past sins.

For us, working in our small farm is not a chore or a job. For us working our small plot of land is an act of meditation, cleansing the mind and caring for our bodies. The constant work of plant, harvest, raise and slaughter is a act of worship and our temple is under blue skies and in shaded places. When we must leave our home, our place of peace, we long to return. For it is there in our home that we find a satisfaction and a fulfillment that makes all else in the world seem pale and over wrought with a meaningless substance.

To our friends: If you need that place of solace, if you need that moment of quite, come and be welcome. Friends, our gate it is open to you, enter our home and find the simple joy of good food of rich drink. Come and learn to be a steward of the animals that will offer up their bodies to feed your family and the plants who grow to fill your plate. If you count yourself among our friends then our door will always be open to you. Come and find what we have found.