Walking

I've been going for walks during my break and my lunch hour. I find that the noise and bustle of Paso contrasts drastically to the sound of out at home. At our house we do have vehicles passing, the noise of the airport, and the highway off in the distance, but sometimes there aren't cars/trailers/motorcycles/atvs passing by the house or airplanes/helicopters overhead. Sometimes it just gets really quiet and you can hear the frogs, crickets, livestock just going about their day or night. Sometimes you're just outside and you can hear the sound of the wind in the trees. I think that is something that I really appreciate out where we live. I can see the stars and I can hear the wind; two things that I really can't do while I walk in town. I find my walks, although refreshing, especially on days like today where I end up walking while it's raining, lack the mellow sounds of my home. It's nice having a home to look forward to at the end of the day.

Continuing with the edible landscaping

I've made most of the front an edible landscape with raised beds, but I hope to make all the fence line be more of an edible hedge/barrier.

Pathway into the house. From the gate to the door: Lamb's ear, oregano, winter savory, chard, sage, comfrey, mint, horseradish, and some more chard. Ultra dwarf lemons and limes in pots.

One of our raised beds: Softneck garlic with lettuce and an heirloom tomato in the center. Yes, we were watering it because we hadn't received enough rain. =) Luckily, it's rained the last couple of days.

Fence line along the driveway, Along the fence: Mint, grapes, lemon balm, rosemary, grapes, thyme, feverfew, rue, grapes, pomegranate. Sharon's strawberry bed right in front of that. It's no longer a bed as we've let them spread out and are letting them grow as ground cover along that whole side of the yard.

Looking at nothing

I sometimes find myself amused at what Jed might think I actually do when I get my "garden" time; I seem to walk around and look at the ground, plants, trees, grasses, seeds, and sometimes I just seem to be looking at nothing. I was thinking about this yesterday as I walked around the homestead. I was lucky enough at my work to be stationed really close to home and thus there are some nights that I actually arrive home fairly early (around 5:15pm) and so I get to play while there is sunlight.

Yesterday I was able to check on all the trees to see how they are all doing. I find that one of the female pistachios has a ton of potential nuts while the other (closest to the coop) is just barely waking up. Pistachios have a tendency to fruit biannually and so I'm checking to see if my calculations for the previous years will show that we have fruit from the trees on alternating years so that we have pistachios every year rather than a huge harvest one year and none on the next. I check to make sure none of the birds have gotten into any of the new trees and that there aren't any nests in the new plants. I touch the ground to see how much moisture it has, how warm it is, if there are active worms in there, if the seeds are germinating, if I need to add additional mulch, and many other things.

Yesterday I walked around with a turkey egg in my hand while looking at the trees. The feel let me know that they had enough calcium and maybe just a little extra. The shell was hard with extra little calcium deposits on it. The coloring is nice and the shape is fair. It tells me that I might need to provide a little more water for the birds to drink. It also tells me that the turkeys are laying a little later than previous years, which makes me want to add a tom to our flock as soon as possible.

I look out at the grasses to see where bacteria is active the most (around the trees) and where I need to let the sheep roam. It tells me where we have a tendency to walk and where I could use a little bit more help with the soil.

I stare out at nothing to get the feel of the whole place, to see the cows and sheep interacting and how the place will look in another 5 years when the trees are all in production. How the sheep and cows will move around the trees and what I can do to keep the animals from devistating the orchard while enjoying its benefits. I imagine the tall canopies of the trees and the grape vines all along the borded, the berry bushes covering some trouble spots and the stream just a little bit deeper, the strawberries flourishing in the back and the fruit production all around. I guess I look into my perception of the future of the homestead as well as the present and compare it with the past. All those images amaze me and fill me with joy to think of what the future holds.

The mist that we call rain

California has had one of its driest years in record and so it seems that we have no respite from the drought. We've had a couple of showers in Feb that did bring in a couple of inches of rain, but that accounts for all the rain we've received since July of 2013. I just took a walk around the block during my work lunch break and there is water outside. The sky is gracing us with a steady mist that we Californians like to call "rain." I'm hoping that the rain continues as we planted the corn (Wapsi Valley) a week ago. All the trees are blooming and leafing out, which makes me happy. I'm hoping that if we do end up getting an El Nino summer that the rain will allow all my trees to grow well this year and hopefully we'll have a good harvest next year. So far it looks like if we'll have an all right harvest of apples, peaches, and almonds. The pistachios are letting me know that I do not have a say on whether they provide nuts or not, so we'll see how this year goes for our pistachio production. We're adding another type of potatoes (Purple Vikings) as we've grown those before and they worked well for us. This year I was able to propagate a bunch more grapes and managed to plant about a dozen two nights ago, just in time for our rain. I'm hoping they do well. The types that propagated well were the flame and the Red Globe, both would be used for home eating, jam, juice, and raisin production so it's not like if they will go to waste. The chickens will also have dandy time jumping and eating those. I think they greatly enjoy it when they are able to feast on the elderberries throughout the summer. A couple of new grape additions to the house were the concord, champagne, black manuka, and crimson. The champagne and crimson are not looking so good, we'll see if they leaf out at all. The rest of the grapes are happy and thriving. So far all of the grapes out front seem to be growing well. The different types that we now have on the farm include: Red Globe, thompson, perlette, flame, crimson, concord, black manuka, champagne, and crimson. We seem to have the full range of colors going on, but we'll see what this year brings with quantity and quality. If it turns in to a not so hot year we might end up with a poor quality harvest, but the plants might grow very well. As I always end up having left over propagated grapes (a couple dozen went up north yesterday with Jen and John - Thank you guys!!) I was playing around with the idea of offering the grape plants for a dollar on craigslist next year just in case if people were interested. I'll have to think about it a bit more before then, but it's an idea. Raspberries were added to the mix again this winter. I found a brandywine purple raspberry to add to the fall golds, indian summer, heritage, and cumberland. We'll see how this summer treats them but if they all survive and thrive then we'll also have the full range of colors for our raspberry selection. We're hoping to have raspberries for fresh eating as well as jams as they seem to disappear just as quickly as they appear. I have another small order of strawberries coming in to help with the Ivan quota of strawberries. If all goes well I'll also get to add yellow and white strawberries this year (at latest late fall 2014 or early spring 2015) so that we can mix up the variety of strawberries on the farm. Boysenberries continue to thrive and grow. I pulled up another 31 runners from one plant this year and was able to hand off some to my classmates. This is another plant I'm thinking about selling next winter if all goes well. I was able to plant many along the north border and they are still driving so hopefully we'll have a couple of good growing years and then the third will allow for production. Blackberries continue to drive and we have many growing in the front yard along the northern border. I'll have to be very vigilant with these so that they do not take over the whole northern part of the property. The currants have turned out to be very vigorous and hardy, which is exactly what we need on the property. The gooseberries seem to be coming back stronger and the blueberries are waking up. The asparagus is growing and I have a few more to add to our mix so that the whole family can have tons of asparagus to eat every year. We're hoping to add a few more different types of perennials so that we won't ever have a (hopefully) bad year; if one thing fails we'll still have many other veg/fruit varieties to fall back on. I'm also leaning more towards the perennials because I find them easier to take care of. The pineapple guavas are growing well and I'm thinking about adding a few more to the property. Our Patterson apricot seems to have died due to borrers. I cleaned, painted, and protected, but I don't think it was enough. I'll have to be that much more vigilant with our trees. I was able to protect the Ranger peach and another one of the small apples, but that one just didn't make it. We did get a few more apricots to the property this year, so hopefully that will help us with the apricot productions. The sad part was that they would have been in production this year as the tree was of adequate height and growth. As you can tell, I (Rosie) tend to focus a lot on the vegetative part of the homestead. There is something so peaceful, relaxing, and productive about working with the plants that I have a tendency to focus on them. I'll leave it here for now, but I'll keep updating the plant list as the year progresses.

The Winter that never came

We're getting close to the middle of winter here and it has not brought any relief. We have not recieved any rain as of early 2013. From 2012-2013 we received about 3 inches of rain and we have not received any since then. Our town does not even have a rain chart as there is none to report. But in other news... Our first sheep of the season has made it onto the homestead. It was born on the 20th of January by Sheepie #1. Darth Sheep sheepie is looking HUGE and we'll see what she ends up with. I was finally able to clean out the front yard: pruned the grapes and got them ready to propagate, pruned the apple tree, cleaned out the boysenberries, watered the garlic, and got things ready for the almond tree pruning. Added some more trees to our list: Italian prune (to make up for the one that Anush killed), Smyrna Quince, Russian Quince, Arkansas Black Spur Apple, Hudson's Golden Gem, Seckle Pear, Warren Pear, Chicago Fig, Another fig that starts with a K, Royal Medler, Rainer Cherry, Bing Cherry, Candada Apricot, Harcot Apricot, Anna Apple, and some more I'm probably forgetting. Now we've really, really hit our tree limit and we'll see if they all live and grow well. We'll have to keep watering them as the sky and weather do not seem to want to work with us. My goal is the have fresh fruit from March until December with dried/jam/preserved fruit for the rest of the time that we do not have fresh fruit available. The only trees left to prune are the Ranger peach and the Almond out front. After that we'll hopefully be winterized and be ready to bring on the Spring. We have the old potato quadrant that is ready to be planted with other veg and the south-eastern quadrant ready to be planted with our future potatoes. We'll have to till it soon to see if we could start our plants. We're in the middle of constructing our Poultry Palace/Chicken Palace and we're working on the roof at the moment. It should be done shortly so that our chickens can have something to lay their eggs in as well as a location for our ducks and geese to nest in. Since we tore down the old chicken coop we found ourselves with pieces of a metal garage door and other metal bits around the back yard. They were able to be moved off site this weekend thanks to a guy who picks up metal and appliances for free in our area. Now we just need to clear out the left over pieces of detritus and the back yard might be a bit more organized. It seems as though we're busy but slow all at the same time. Ivan makes everything last so much longer than it needs to be, but that' life. We're hoping to be able to get to more projects soon.

Blood, Sweat, and Shears

I know we've mentioned John Seymore quite frequently on this blog because he has become a very insightful link into our self sufficiency, he also tends to be very blunt and honest. In regards to shearing sheep he says, "shearing sheep is hard work, anyone who tells you otherwise is lying," and I can honestly tell you that he was telling the truth. I ordered a couple of hand shears from Amazon to see which ones I liked the best. As it turns out I'm very glad I made that choice because the one that was highly suggested ended up sucking so bad that I ended up returning it. I didn't even get to finish one clip as it just didn't function. The basic shears worked really, really well. We ended up taking two days to shear three sheep. The first day we closed the sheep up in a corner and dragged out the sheeps needed. We had to manuver the sheep a bit as we were staring to make sure we got everything. Casanunda was easier as he was smaller and I was able to finish him in a half an hour. I tried the same technique with one of the sheep and it sucked as it took an hour and a half and I ended up with about 3 cuts on my poor sheepie. The following day we got the other sheepie and I ended up just laying her down and finished her in about 20 minutes with a nice close sheer. I will definitely do it that way next time. We'll post more about shearing next time to make sure that we're actually working with a method that works.

2013

Rosie and I have been trying to work up to a post about the year of 2013, it was a bad one and it is hard to start. We wanted this blog to inspire people to do great things, and this year was not inspiring.

 I will start with a list of some of the trials we have faced this year, in no particular order. 

Mcgee, our max cat died after a short sicknes.

Our chicken flock was killed, every last one. By a dog we intended to be a companion to Zuzu.

With the loss of our flock our 4 year old breeding program was annihilated. 

Our septic system failed and required trenching and pumping.

One of our sheep died from no apparent cause.

We lost our two willow trees, after several years of very good growth.

Ivan had to have some minor but very expensive dental surgery.

Our well pump died again, 3 week with limited or no water.

Rosie's bee hives died.

Our own medical and dental needs have been ignored due to time and money constraints. 

The cabbage and  brussel sprout crop failed.

It has  not rained in 3 years, feed prices have gone up x3. Imagine if you woke up tomarrow and gas was $15 a gallon, its has had that kind of impact on our finances.

Our families had several serious and potentially life threatening illnesses. 

Due to all of these we have a huge backlog of farm projects.

Ivan destroyed Rosie's laptop requiring a replacement. 

We have had to drop our hobbies and are spending far less time with our friends than we want.

Zuzu, our dog, died suddenly and unexpectedly.

I am sure I am leaving some out, really when you are kicked in the teeth this many times in a year you start to lose track.

In the big scheme of things this year was not as bad as it could have been, we weathered the storm and made it threw to the end. Our ship may have been ravaged and we lost some friends along the way but perhaps we are in for some clear sailing now. Our finances are in shambles, we will be in debt deeper than ever before and for longer than we expected. Emotionally we have been drained, not the up and down but the down and then down deeper. All of the things we do to keep sane and balanced have gone out the window, we don't have the time and money or because we crawl into bed each night early as we can and dread the coming morning light and the new trials it will bring.  

2013 can go die in a fire

If we have not seen you, our friends and families, know that it is no reflection on you. We have been used up by the trials of the year. We are thinking of you all and missing you even more than you may know. There have been few workshops and even less farm days, nearly no parties, and for that we apologize. But we have not been fit for company, the house is a mess as are our moods.

Now we enter 2014; We know that our trials are not all behind us with the turning of a calendar page, and much of what the new year will bring will include new trials and well as new triumphs. If we are slow to restart much of our old joviality please be patient with us, we are rebuilding for a new year and hope soon to open the doors of our home once again to friends and family as we have done in years past.

The hearth fires have not died.

Banked under the ashes lays a heat set to rekindle the blazing warmth our lifestyle once embraced. On a evening soon our halls will once more ring with music and song, strong drinks and warm food will pass from hand to hand, cold nights will be met with warm smiles and open arms, the land will turn green once again, bright orange egg yokes and fresh bread, sizzling meat on the spit and pots of stew over the fire will once again fill our home with the feeling of contentment and the promise of a life shared with family and friends. Join us and together perhaps we can wash away the darkness of the last year with some shared joy.

We hope your holidays have been bright and this new year finds you well.

Jed, Rosie, and Ivan Depew.