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.