Beauty in change

I love walking out into the yard. The front yard is looking well with all the growing garlic, lettuce, spinach, brussel sprouts, favas, peas, as well as our perrenial strawberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, asparagus, artichokes, and blackberries. The almond tree is done blooming and the last of the petals are falling down. The apple tree is starting to bud out with the red tips from the flowers are starting to open. The herbs are coming in with the mints taking over the pathway as well as the garage, the comfrey and others near the patio are looking happy.

I lived in Morro Bay for many years and noticed that I really missed the change in seasons. Seeing plants at every stage of their development, including dormancy seems to bring out its beauty. I find myself anticipating the seasons that much more. Spring and summer are wonderful with the food coming in, but it's also the quiet in the winter from the lack of birds, it's the wind blowing in the fall that lets you know that the temperature will change soon and things are ready to go to sleep. I find myself forgetting to take the camera outside with me to take you all on the trip so that you can see how things are progressing. I wish to show the obsurd growth on one of my white currants and the tiny flowers it's just pushing out because it just wants to give fruit. The spring growth gives me something to look forward to, but it also lets me know how the roots did during the winter. It lets me know if my pruning did the plants good during the dormancy or if I need to change it around next year. I'm not sure if it's the work that adds to the pleasure in the changes, but I do so enjoy our home.

Homesteading with a baby - assigned tasks

I don't think I can actually call Ivan a baby anymore, he's more of a toddler, with that comes all sorts of new troubles but also some perks. Ivan really enjoys feeding the animals, so we decided to have him be in charge of feeding the birds. We have 6 baby Ameraucana in the library and Ivan really enjoys going in there and feeding them. Since they are small and eat through all their food fairly quickly we go into the room about 4-6 times a day and Ivan scoops up handfulls of feed and places it in their feeder in their box. He will sit there watching them and feeding them for 5-15 minutes at a time so we have to keep him focused. He also enjoys feeding the birds outside. The only down side to Ivan feeding all the animals is that he takes his share of food as well. He's limited to a handful of pellets although the birds and/or Zuzu have a tendency to deplete his personal stash as soon as he is out of my realm of influence. He's also in charge of watering the trees, which he does with great gusto, as well as filling up the watering buckets for the animals. Most of the time he is able to move from tree to tree and waters them, but more often he ends up drinking from the hose, getting naked and playing with the water. Let's just say it is a work in progress. He does water the trees by letting the water acumulate at their base, him bathing and drinking is an added bonus he gets.

Difficulties that arrise from assigned tasts include his spilling/wasting food by deciding to put it in non animal related places. There are other times when he's just done and ends up just melting down which means that the task takes even longer to complete as he will not do it nor will he allow us to work on it. As a whole, he is more of a help than a hinderance and we'll see how that improves with time and effort.

Overall I'm thankful for my helpful little guy.

New buds and blooms

I have a few minutes either in the morning or in the evening to walk around and check the trees. I've noticed the French Prune, Barlett Pear, and Keifer Pear leafing out so far. The Panamint Nectarine and the Muir Peach are both showing signs of budding. The Eishemer apple is in bloom as is the Ranger peach and the Golden Apples. I'm watching the Imperial Prune, Santa Rosa Plum, and the new Golden Delicious Apples intently to see when they will start to show the beginning signs of budding. The buds on both the walnuts are fuzzing up and opening so I'm anticipating their bloom soon. The grapes are all leafing out and we're checking to see how this year's crop of boysenberry will do. The peas are starting to grow and curl around any grass stalks in the way and the favas are starting to kick into gear. Spinach is ready to start a long season of harvesting (hopefully) and all the brussel sprouts are gaining height. Most things are growing like mad and the almond in the front is showing promise. We'll see how this spring treats it to see if it will actually give us an abundant crop this year.

Propagating Grapes Part II

After leaving the grapes wrapped in newspaper within a garbage bag the buds started swelling and the roots started developing on the cuttings. I would periodically check on them to make sure they had enough water and to make sure they were doing all right. The roots have developed enough (maybe a bit too much) and now it is time to set them out in the ground. I took the cuttings out and placed them in water overnight as Ivan decided we were done gardening. If you propagate, feel free to plant out as soon as you see baby roots growing. Dig your area down deep and leave a few nodes above ground, but leaving as much area below ground as possible for them to have a good root system. After they are planted we're going to see about protecting them from the birds until they have grown a bit to not be bothered by them. I look forward to lining the south paremeter of our property with grapes as well as sending a few off with Holly to play with.

This same system can be used for olives, pomegranates, mulberries, berries, figs, willows, and currants. This year we've propagated figs, mulberries, currants, and grapes. We'll see what the future years bring.

Brown Cow and Baby Brown

As of yet we do not have a name for baby brown cow so we'll just give a brief description of the pregnancy and labor along with some images.

We managed to breed cow on the first time and we really feel that it helped with the whole process. We kept track of her cycles and our AI lady, Charmaine was able to come out and work her magic on May 21st. Cow took and had a smooth pregnancy. She continued to give us an insane amount of milk through out the year and we dried her off in December. We had the vet out twice, once to check to make sure she took and the second time to make sure the pregnancy was running smoothly as we've never had a bred cow on our farm. Cow kept getting bigger as the year progressed and was showing signs of near labor at the beginning of this week. We did have a couple of close calls when we thought she might be going into labor but it turned out to be false labors. At the beginning of the week cow starting showing signs of her tail lifting and her ligaments loosening. I would go in and brush her as well as scratch her. She seemed to be comforted by those small things.

I noticed cow laying down and lifting her tail and rocking back and forth. Jed noticed her back hunched with her starting to push so we both concluded that she was in active labor. The actual pushing part went by quickly with the feet coming out first and the baby shortly afterwards. Cow was soon up and cleaning up the baby. As a side note, cow has never been allowed to keep her baby as she was being used to breed miniature cows so the baby would come out and be taken away before she can make any contact with it. At first she seemed really attached, but I think she's gotten over the new mother thing. She seems to acknowledge the baby but does not follow it around. She does her thing and takes care of the baby but is not too clingy. I think it also helps that baby cow is very independent and runs around with the sheep. I think she thinks she's a sheep... that might be interesting in the future.

Second sheepy of the season

The second sheepy was born last Sunday. I was about to go out to feed the animals in the morning and I noticed that the second NC ewe was huddling with a small bundle. Yup, baby was born in the night. Nice that cow and the second lamb were born on warm sunny days rather than in the middle of the wettest, coldest night of the month. All babies are doing well and they are all having fun playing with each other.

Food/Edible Forest

I find it amazing when I'm finally able to put a term to an idea we've been working on. While reading the book Free Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom, she mentioned edible forests and it peaked my interest. As it turns out edible or food forests are practices in permaculture in which every aspect of the landscape is edible. Some studies are looking into the idea that most native american cultures had already perfected this technique and were using them to help feed future generations. As the European idea of farming did not incorporate permaculture at this extent they thought it was gathering rather than harvesting from a sustainable practice of agriculture. Upon more research I found that Australia has a huge movement in this technique with tons of videos on YouTube on how to create food forests. I also found that one of the oldest food forrest is located in Morrocco and is over 2,000 years old with over 80 different types of fruit and food being produced with the help of some 800 "farmers." As you can tell this idea has consumed my time since I found the reference.

Since we first started to populate our backyard we had always inteded to create a landscape in which everything was edible (edible landscaping) but this idea goes one step further; the plants themselves help feed the soil and each other so that the cycle is closed and can go on without human interaction. This idea is so exciting that I'm really looking forward to the time when our vegetative food production can help maintain itself. I know we'll have to add water to the mix, but if we can grow an area that can live off of the water that rains naturally then we can be set for a while. We are planning on having a set area that will be dedicated to annual crops as we do enjoy our tomatoes, lettuces, garlics, and many others so that we can still grow these while a food forest grows up around them. I'm trying to figure out a way so that we can have annuals self seed themselves in the forest. As the forest grows the the decay of the annuals helps feed the soil microbes, bacteria, and fungi which will help feed the plants. The whole cycle feeds itself and helps replenish the nutrients that are needed by the plants.

I can imagine the backyard with different layers of canopies producing fruits, nuts, and fuel for our winter fires. Bushes and smaller trees providing fruit to preserve and enjoy while we're outside. Smaller plants growing up around these working as companion planting such as white yarrow, comfrey, tansy, sage, rosemary, and others that will help the trees and bushes, as well as themselves being enjoyed as spices or teas. Other perenial veg such as artichokes and asparagus helping shade the ground cover during the harsh summers. The ground being covered in strawberries and other herbs that hug the ground and help protect it from erosion. Vines such as sweet potatoes or grapes growing up the trees or along the borders of the property. Tubers such as jeruselum artichokes, potatoes, or any of the other roots dotted around the landscape adding more nutrients to the soil. All these things feeding us, the animals, and each other. I wish our area was big enough to help change the weather partern but I know that one little acre can not change our area as a whole, but it can change the life of the plants that we care for.

If you ever want to geek out a bit do a little research on permaculture and food forests, who knows, you might want to start one too.