whew, compost sorted

having emptied my compost bin into the garden to amend the soil for the tomatoes left work to be done. while tabitha was milking i paxied* toly. we went trough the clover field--previously known as the wishº field--previously the cows only pasture. i took the covers off the three stage-one bins and sized up our task.

the contents of the three bins were very different. one was obviously comprised of large whole cow pies. two was made of a finely broken up mix of cow pies and straw--from the loafing shed foor. the third was large cow pies and lots of straw. their respective states of compost was also different. the large cow pies were the least composted. where it was composted it was wet and hot--steamy. the finely broken matter bin was almost finished composting. the third was also very composted but only in the center of the bin. the composted matter was white hot and probably would have burned my hand had i touched it.

i forked all three bins into the center (big one). i did my best to blend the three evenly and break all large cow pies into small chunks. finally i had to get toly off my back because the full silage fork was heavy enough. kassi came out to the field to play so toly could be entertained somewhere besides my back. then the chickens descended upon me. they wanted into the long neglected bins to eat the bugs and larvae. at every rest break they would go crazy on all four piles. the bin that was mostly cow pies had the most larvae in it.

i took several breaks to give the chickens a chance to rid the bin of as many bugs as possible. lots of bugs makes rich and tasty eggs. i am not sure what the chickens think of me. they hang underfoot while i'm working on the compost and splitting wood but flee from like crazy the rest of the time. maybe it is because i chase them down until exhaustion and toss them out of the garden whenever they manage to trespass there.

tabitha weeded the beets--sorely needed. toly and kassi almost made it the entire two hours it took for me to combine bins. somehow toly managed to climb the orange gate and break into the garden. stomping freshly planted tomatoes was the first order of business--he only got a couple.

i covered the center bin in preparation for the impending storm. rain and compost bins don't mix. i've had it happen in the past--a huge festering mess.

as i forked and forked i imagined an aeration solution. if i were to bury several pieces of pvc pipe with holes in them exposing the ends to the outside, would that do the trick? i have some old drainage pipe that would work perfectly. next time i fill a bin i'll have some pieces of pvc ready. has anyone heard of anything like this? mostly i'd like to cut out the need to turn the compost more than once--or not at all.

this bin should really get cooking over the next few days. i wonder if tabitha would mind if i were to swipe her show kitchen thermometer. it has a probe on a cord that could sense the temperatures deep in the bin. maybe i should get my own "dirty" thermometer.


* (put toly in the ergo-back-back carrier)
º (dandelions gone to seed are wishes)

the tomatoes are in

or, it is too late to plant tomatoes. the handle on the tiller started to crack. i took it apart and brought it to work with me. after much calling and asking advice i ended up with someone from the phone book. he was great and fixed it straight away. i only had twenty dollars and he accepted it and a promise of some tomatoes since he was instrumental in their planting.

tabitha planted while i prepared the soil and ran interference for the kids.

this is our sweet potato planting. we used the mowed winter wheat clippings from the tomato rows.


the kids managed to keep themselves busy.


our newly sewn clover is coming up really nicely in the resting pasture. the cows are out on the new pasture until this gets a chance to grow a bit.


here is my empty compost bin.

here they all are. the three outer ones are going to get turned into the center larger one very soon. my composting collecting endeavors have all but halted since the cows are fertilizing the new paddock. the chickens have been scattering their manure most efficiently.


this is the new chicken tractor hunkered down for the coming rains--that are conveniently timed to water our newly planted tomatoes.


beets beets and more beets. yum we love beets.


pretty little leafy greens and onions in a row.


cabbages and broccoli.


here is the swiss chard--our staple leafy green.


here is the newest hive. it has a second swarm combined with it. if you look closely you can see a light green debris at the front door. it is the news paper that separated the two groups of bees during their combining.


this is our elderberry tree. tabitha planted two smaller ones just around her. she, the tree, protects our house. the trash can is my attempt at a temporary rain barrel. the rock beds have dead wisteria and trumpet vine. we'll try again as soon as time allows.


these are our lovely jerusalem artichokes from tansy. i can't wait until we see how they produce here. we loved having them for dinner at her house.


i secretly stole away to the berry patch.


so tasty.


these are the tomatillos from sugar mountain.

proper bee attire required

i have been stung on my eye and in a few other places.
the worst thing is, i am scheduled to help with one of our favorite neighbors re-roof their house today. i have been looking forward to helping for months. i just cannot see with focused depth perception and getting on a roof without depth perception is a really bad idea.

bee suit takes higher priority.

it is too late to plant squash and cucumbers

that is the type of statement that my father-in-law always says after he plants something. i really don't think that it is too late. but, we did get our squash and some of our cucumbers in. we still have our pickling cucumbers to plant. that is going to be an ordeal. after realizing that we don't have enough garden space, we decided to expand. we plan to take out the fence dividing the yard and the garden and encroach into the yard. that'll be like old-times pulling roots and tons of rocks.
we were going to use the new space for sweet potatoes but garden space issues have forced us to change the map once again. the pickling cucumbers and melons will reside on the new boundary fence row. the bean arches will now be in the new area instead of the sweet potatoes.
why? i always forget that the upper corner of the garden gets quite a bit of shade in the afternoon. that is good for cooler crops but hot loving things don't like it there.
the new bees are officially moved into their new hive. i need to work on those bees so badly. it is just so daunting with such a lame pseudo hood.
we have spent our GW money twice over. not on hookers-and-gin like they'd like but on necessities and the new cow. we need more hive stuff badly and can't make the GW money stretch that far. we should have honey coming out our ears by the fall. i plan to sell some to cover these expenses. bees are such a huge investment.
the garden needs more soaker hoses, cattle panels and "T" posts. that is gonna cost us. luckily the garden is a good investment. we are just now running out of our stores. pasta sauce ran out a few weeks ago.
gardening for me always involves soaker hose repair. yes they suck as pablo once pointed out. but there is no real alternative for us at the moment. i have devised a cheap method of splice repair though. i cut a short section of 1/2" cpvc pipe, slip it into both ends to be joined and use 16 gauge galvanized wire to twist as a hose clamp--this works for 5/8" soaker hose. i have repairs that survived all last summer, winter and probably this summer too. i have researched for alternatives but they seem to involve such a commitment--pressure reducers, filters ect...
eating mostly from the farm is becoming a closer reality. having our own milk products heavily tips the scale toward sustainability. we are having salads every night. mostly micro greens from the excessive planting--they need to be thinned.
woody, you'll be happy to know that our giant incense bamboo seems to be doing fabulously. tabitha dug in that area to plant some extra local bamboo and ran across a huge rhizome. it was running six feet away from the mother plant and as stout as my thumb. we might be covered up in the stuff before too long:)
this afternoon i built a new hopper feeder for the new chicken tractor. the old top to the old washing machine was instrumental the the hopper part. i used 1/2 of a length of pvc pipe as the trough. i'll get photos tomorrow.

spring garden progress

beets are looking so tasty. tabitha has been thinning them and we have been having the most wonderful salads.

this is where the cucumbers and squash will go after saturday. they changed their forecast.

the old chicken tractor that has served us well for two seasons. this is the before i'll shore it up for another term of duty. i feel like GW forcing the worn down battle hardened into another term of service.


i used to have one of these as a child. tonka, the standard by which all vehicles should be held.
to conquer the tonka.

the ultimate achievement.

bloom

makes fruit.

hi little peach. you look so tasty.

strawberry so jelly.

show me your belly..

or your truck.

faster

faster

little truck

oh, oh

little truck.

another swarm

yesterday we had another swarm from the second hive. it is my own fault i know what to do and how to prevent them. i'm not lazy just swamped. we boggled yesterdays attempt. today tabitha witnessed another incarnation of that swarm and it landed much lower. i pulled a similar move to the first successful capture. get the hive body directly under the swarm and knock them in--cover them quick. here they are in all their haphazardness.

tabitha suggested that we name our hives so we know what to call them when talking about them. i suggested that we name them cool cities. paris, st. petersberg, london, ect... she said this one should be named emeryville;)

so now we have four hives. will we get any honey? i'm not sure but we have plenty of bees. the big issue is i don't have a proper suit. my mosquito net of a hood is near impossible to see out of. i have been stung several times. not that i really mind getting stung once in a while but it is very distracting when i am trying to accomplish hive improvements.

next week i'll get in there and tear into the hive mess.

after the swarm capture i tilled and amended more of the garden.

we need to plant squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. planting tomatoes are queued for this weekend. the little tomato plants are looking really good.

we'll need to trench and bury them to the very top again this year. the plants that we planted that way last year did the best.

tabitha coined a new phrase that were are using quite often around here. the phrase is "o'melay intensive." the definition will evolve but basically involves taking on too much and jumping in with both feet. the only difference between "o'melay intensive" and complete irresponsibility is, we are fast on our feet. tabitha is smart and informs herself amazingly quickly. i can build, make or brute force my way through most anything. is it frustrating but amazingly fulfilling.


the chicks are growing and looking healthy. we are expecting our second batch next week. i need to finish work on their chicken tractor and shore up the old one for the second batch. they will be out in the pasture soon.

chicken tractor part 1

our chicks have arrived--25 broilers 6 hens. we are expecting another batch in a week or so. we only have one dilapidated chicken tractor. the old tractor served us well but there is lots of improvements that we have learned we need in the new one.

improvements are:
• less weight
• narrower
• higher
• support the horizontal wire better.
• make it completely from emt and other galvanized metal
• no goats

our past tense goats almost destroyed the old coop. it stood up fairly well considering the destructive nature of goats. i'll shore up the old one when this one is finished--just in time for the second batch of chicks.

the new tractor starts with new dimensions. eight by ten by two feet respectively. the new one needs to be narrower to get through our ten foot gate entrances. it wants to be taller cause we raise our birds to an excessive weight of 12 to 15 pounds. at that weight they get too tall for the old 18 inch height.

i use a standard emt 90° connector at all eight corners. i take off the cover plate and screw the verticals into them and re-assemble the 90°. rather tristan took them apart and re-assembled them. he was a huge help and the task was just perfect for him (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey).

he got frustrated very frequently but i had plenty to do and allowed him time to figure things out himself. he was so proud have taken apart every 90° and re-assembled the modified versions. home schooling lesson modified to be helpful--everybody wins.

i figured out a method of attaching the cross supports using a hole at the end of the pipe and a heavy gauge wire threading the hole and around the crossing pipe. this new technology (to me) affords the dismissal of pvc pipe supports.

after i assembled the skeleton i rolled out the 4' chicken wire for the top and attached it by twisting a light gauge wire around the pipe. i stretched the wire as best i could--it'll sag eventually. the largest unsupported span is 2.5' by 4'. that size will only sag minimally.

i then wrapped the side in 1/4" hardware cloth. standard chicken wire won't work on the sides since the chickens sleep next to the edges and raccoons can reach through the larger chicken wire and eviscerate the chickens. we have had this trouble in the past.

wiring the hardware cloth and chicken wire to the pipe is tedious but i simply went anal retentive on it. wiring took a very long time since i want this coop to stand up for many years to come. i figure one year of goat destruction equals ten years of regular use. but i still stepped up the frequency of wiring. this thing will rust into the ground before it fails mechanically. no more goat trampoline.

simple math skill seemed to allude me when i was compiling my parts list. i didn't purchase enough hardware cloth--fyi (2x8)+(2x10) doesn't equal 25:) the door and waterer are slated for today. i might build a feeder also since all purchasable ones don't meet our specific needs. the feeder needs to meet this formula--(3" per bird X (1/3 number of birds)the amount eating at any given time). the threes cancel and it is roughly one inch per bird--easy peasy, why didn't they just say 1" per bird? the feeder will have a hopper since we are lazy and only want to feed them once per day--when we move them.

shade/weather cover will be a piece of this heavy billboard tarp we have covering everything around here. the door will be a piece of scrap metal roof from the barn. the bucket waterer will sit on top of the door to keep it closed. the door frame/support must be robust. i have some scrap aluminum that will work for this. where the wheels slip on the ends i have to put a skirt that closely follows the ground since young small birds escape there all the time during moves.

i had an epiphany for the center support. i used a sweep emt 90° and made it swing to the ground but flexible enough to skid over stuff during any rough terrain moves. this structure is flexible enough to follow most contours on our property. this makes for a tight fit to the ground--especially since we put a heavy rock on each corner.


other news tabitha spent the day mowing and mulching. we are short of straw this year and we will suffer for it.

kids play on pile of chat.

tristan might be peeing in this photo.

i removed the long overdue bean arches and mowed up the seedy weeds. i used them as mulch around my bamboo. good luck competing with bamboo weeds..