Autumn Lingers

We still haven't had a killing frost yet. Last week I covered part of the wood pile.

There should be plenty of extra wood in-the-dry under there for the entire winter. Four rows ten feet long by five feet high. Sorry to bore you but this is how I document this sort of thing. There should be a few ricks of wood left over for next winter.

I might use the surplus to make some terra preta. I have discovered an easier way to make charcoal than previous searches have revealed.

It is described in detail at http://www.saveourskills.com/lump-charcoal

Last week I also turned the compost from these two bins..

..into this larger bin.

I wet it down as I forked it over. Yesterday it had settled about a foot and was giving off considerable heat.

Last evening I took a break from work and raked some of the upper field with Tristan and Toly. We raked hickory nuts and leaves onto a huge piece of tarp. They helped me drag it to the pigpen and dump it. several more evenings like that and we'll have the entire paddock cleared of leaves and hickory nuts and acorns. The pigs should really enjoy the fodder.

The chickens are finally laying a reasonable amount of eggs again.

One of our neighbors had a stroke and gave us his chickens. I reluctantly took them, because I felt bad for him. They promptly gave our hens mites and probably worms. One day I went to collect eggs and there were merely a fraction of the expected amount. Since we treat everything naturally and only when necessary it takes a while to get over this kind of stuff. That was several weeks ago and with intensive treatment and they are finally getting better. No good deed goes unpunished--I didn't even like that guy either.

I also got a bit more slipform masonry completed on the milking barn.

The weather has been perfect for this kind of work and I have been stuck in-doors doing web design. Aarrgh..

Here is that bad cow on pasture furlough. She has been promptly going directly for the acorns. She can poison herself if she eats too many. We have been keeping her up and feeding hay until I can do something about it.


The boys are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Their raw diet agrees with them. They still have that sheepish puppy look to them. astrid has been keeping the dominance pressure on them even though they are beginning tower over her. Ianto, the tallest, is starting to not take it anymore. I imagine there will be a power change very soon.

play park

my wood cutting area has morphed into a complex and dangerous play area.
ramparts and bridges divide the separate "rooms" (rounds).

very dangerous.

the kids balance has improved ten fold since this "park," as the kids call it, has been here. toly's domain is usually on the actual stump and he traverses to the fell log. kassi and tristan flit across the rest of the play area in such a graceful fashion that i plan to incorporate some of this concept into a new play area for them.

i have been making some serious progress on cutting, splitting and stacking some of this tree. other duties of the daily nature supersede this activity. i have to steal away every second to get this task done.


the greenhouse has been flourishing.

the kale and swiss chard are really beautiful.

just a couple of more days until we'll be eating salad from these beds.

i love swiss chard.

i like it steamed with a touch of salt the best. greens like this aren't especially popular to most people that i encounter in person. it is difficult finding a common conversational denominator when my mind continually wants to chat about our glorious greens. politeness usually forces me to chat about hunting. don't get me wrong hunting is great and all but our greens are really cool.


we just had a little visit by the local johova's witness. david is a really nice guy. today i just drug him around and showed him stuff, how the greenhouse is doing. a captive audience forced to admire my greens. he hadn't been by to see my finished root-cellar either. he left his cohorts in the car and just basically took a tour of the omelay spread. other than the bible in his hand, a subliminal message, no other message was foisted on me. i really like david, we understand each other. he got to save face with his car bound accompaniment while we had a nice visit. best of all i got to brag on my beautiful greens;)

courage

i finally mustered the courage to cut that leaning tower of pisa the electric company left in my front yard. no matter how many times i cut a tree with a larger diameter than the length of my chainsaw blade it always freaks me out a little. my saw didn't really meet the radius length either since it was more of an oval than a circle i barely managed.

i cut the stump about chest height. any lower and i wouldn't have been sure to get it down. as it was, when it started to go i stepped away from it for safety and it leaned to fill my notch and stopped right there--hung. a couple of rakes from my spinning chain across the newly revealed notch and it fell.

tristan had been helping me all morning. he is learning to stack wood. he stacked that whole smaller row. sure it is only the first layer but most of that wood came from across the yard. he can move a wheelbarrow flush with wood. mostly he loaded the wheelbarrow completely full with wood and i'd come and wheel it over to his pile and dump it there, where he'd stack it from. it is surprising how much that frees me to get other dangerous stuff done.

these stacks are ten feet by five feet tall. this wood sitting right here is likely enough to get us through next winter. oh, but that isn't the half of it. we'll have several more stacks like these before this tree is completely worked up.


i chased tristan off while felling the big log. when i was done i discovered him collecting acorns.

he was getting them for the pigs. they get so excited over acorns. he took it upon himself to provide them with some excitement. such a good-natured boy.

the acorns were falling heavily this day. you could hear them pelt the steel roof of the chicken coop every few minutes.


tabitha was out getting groceries from the yard.

these turnips ended up as part of the most glorious turkey-pot-pie. it had sweet potatoes, acorn squash, chard, onions, carrots and garlic. nearly all the ingredients were from our little farm, sans the turkey. it was so good that i ate a second huge helping and almost exploded.

we have to burn-carbon today. that is what we call it every time we drive anywhere. i must attend a seminar on our heath care. the state health care is changing affiliations and i need to understand the new stuff completely to make informed choices for my family. the whole family will go to springfield with me. we'll run all those errands that get queued up and likely end up in a fabric store or two. we love our new van. it has been such a blessing in disguise. don't get me wrong being in debt really sucks. none-the-less we love our van and are happy as things are.

farm update

the new cow is officially named Rori. all other names were rejected. she is producing a gallon and a half per day. we have ordered feed from a grain mill in Clever, MO. i'll have to make the drive tomorrow and pick it up. leaving after work means that i'm well on my way there already.

the other cows are jealous of rori getting milked. the ration of food that the cow gets while being milked is a coveted thing. they stand around at the entrance and try to get in while tabitha is milking. we need to re-think the entrances. maybe a dutch door will be in order.

tabitha and i scooped all the manure from the field today. i had to construct a compost bin from pallets. we filled the entire thing--many many wheel barrow loads. i make a little rampart from a flat board and drive the wheel barrow up and tip it in. it saves scooping the manure from the wheel barrow to the bin. we cleared the entire loafing area next to the milking shed.

we then forked ruined hay from the last round bale and scattered it around the loafing area. it makes for nice bedding especially during the impending rainy days ahead. we also put some of the driest stuff in the milking shed floor--cozy.

nimue, since her illness has been growing deformed hooves. we have tried to find a farrier without success. finally tabitha and i decided to try to cut them ourselves. i have some flush nail cutting pliers that are just like hoof trimmers. i held nimue while tabitha clipped. we only did a little and will do a little more in a few days. it was hard work even with tabitha's milk-maiden hand strength. nimue would lean all her weight onto me as i lifted each leg. what fun, we are proud for the progress and attempt.

i went to MFA and picked up more woven wire fence and another roll of gaucho barbed wire. we'll be able to finish the lower paddock this weekend. we also need to surround the bees with fence from the cows. we also plan to get another hay delivery of two round bales into the lower paddock. this should go a long way to getting them improving the soil in there. while the cows are in the lower paddock i plan to reseed the the barren areas with clover. we also hope to treat all the cows with whole grain oats while they are down there. this will encourage the chickens to spread the manure into the pasture.

three cows are pushing the bounds of our property. tabitha calls it o'melay-intensive. we collect the manure for our garden and improve the soil using the broiler chicken tractor. the areas where we moved the tractor the last two years are strangely free of weeds and healthy with grass that we never planted. we'll continue these measures until we need to expand further into the "way-back" beyond the ravine. i'll start cutting paths and getting fire wood from there next year. i have been contemplating what sort of vehicle i'll need to get in and out of the "way-back" with wood.

now to answer questions:

wendy, lisa, tansy, suzanne, beth, thank you we have been busting our butts. hard work feels good when you have so many aspirations.

nt moore, if you saw the soil here you'd not believe it. it is mostly rock. digging with a shovel is often impossible. we dig our holes with a HEAVY steel pointy rod. it is used to break the soil (clay and rock) like a pick and scoop it out of the hole usually by hand. even augers mounted on tractors are useless in these parts.

lisa, the kids slept the-sleep-of-the-just both nights.

donna, cedars are weeds in these parts. they are feral and invasive. they are habitat for ticks and chiggers. the "way-back" is filled with cedar. it is just a pain in the ass dragging them to where we can use them.

madeline, hot baths--yummy

hillbilly, still sore today--maybe even worse.

cat, tabitha is due july 24th.

danielle, yes tabitha is a superwoman. passion drives you to take your body further than you thought you could.

note to self: fix roof leak above laundry room.

spring farm report

hens are laying fourteen large eggs consistently.

onions are in and sending new shoots.

garlic is doing great.

some beets, chard and greens are planted--nothing up yet.

just planted tons of sun-chokes, thanks tansy.

seedlings are doing well.

winter garden stores are holding steady.

there is three and a half cord of oak cut and ready for next winter.

back fence is still in the queue. this weekend or bust, honest i swear..

full moon, we need to plant the rest of the beets this afternoon.

bees are an infectiously exciting flurry of activity.

both cows are still pregnant. no milk from the pile.

the cat is huge and pregnant. there will be kittens very soon.

the root cellar is very close to being closed up.

the bathroom is also very close to being done.

we went through three cord of wood this winter--including the wood still on the porch.

no progress on the milking barn for a while.

the milk shed still needs to be painted and trimmed.

the bean arches need to be moved and that area needs a good tilling.

yard garden beds need to be dug and prepared.

raspberries need to be transplanted.

solar water heater needs to be started.

there is still about three yards of compost waiting to go into the garden. two more yards are about 1/2 and 1/4 complete respectively. i have to set up two more compost bins. the cows are manure machines--i can barely keep up. when we get them on the back pasture that manure will get spread by the chickens. we'll start feeding the cows a small amount of whole grains. it passes through the cows and the chickens learn very quickly to spread out the manure in search of grain. a thin layer of manure will go a long way to fertilizing that back pasture. by the time we move the cows to the new pasture i should have a large queue of compost waiting.

the rest of the house is stirring--more later.

pink dress

tabitha made kassi a new pink dress. it was a huge hit--so frilly. she lined it with surplus bed sheet material--very soft.


happy girl


so dancie


can you see the true love?


i put tarps down across the garden. we want to get in there with the tiller.

it has been so wet since spring like conditions started. that i stole the tarp from the root cellar to cover the garden. it rained four inches last night and today.

this water is about a foot deep. not suitable for a storm shelter.

i plan to cover the entire left gap adjacent to the pump house with infill. water should shed out and away from the root cellar. this is a worst case scenario. i'll manage the watershed once i have some more infill. the old tin is covering the poly bags from sundamage--kinda.


here is a view from the back of the root cellar--the bottle wall. this will all be covered by infill. just ahead on the right is going to be the solar storage tank. it will be made like a cinder block building--holding several hundred gallons. i'll insulate it and stucco hydraulic cement on the inside walls--think of a swimming pool. the solar panels will be just above on a rack. they'll cover both the tank and pump house facing south. it is going to be a drain back system--an attempt to manage the hot summer heat and freezing winters. the large thermal mass should last through several cloudy days.

saturday i hauled several wheel barrow loads of gravel into the infill area. i know where i can get some light weight aggregate. i'll need several truck loads but it'll be worth the trouble.


this little pile of wood is all that i have left for the winter--minus the filled wood box on the porch. i hope it will last. only a few loads are in the dry. did i mention that we are expecting over a foot of snow this evening?

ice storm of 2008

ice every where. the wind is supposed to pick up this evening and knock out the power. we heat with wood and cook with gas. water is provided via a water tower down the road. we should be fine. i have a small 1000 watt cheap-o inverter that could power our fridge if necessary. the freezer will be fine as long as it is freezing outside and we don't open it. the inverter is a modified square wave and i'd be scared to try it out on the new computer. maybe our craptastic tv would be ok if we really got desperate.


i can't help but think of doctor zhivago when i see all this ice.


i guess north of us springfield really got hit. many places up there are already without power.


i wonder if honey bees would find this beautiful?


the ice build up on the gentle sloping calf pen loafing shed.


the cows have really been going through the hay this winter.



this is the little fence around the porch to keep the chickens out. the top rail is extra wide so tabitha can set her laundry basket on it.


this is my little princess

she says she's a mommy when she wears this hair bandanna. i installed the trim around this door yesterday. it was sorely overdue to be installed. now i just need a bit more trim wood for the bedroom door and around the ceiling. after that the wood filler and white painting can ensue. the wall base still needs to be ordered and bought.

i have put our purchases list into a spread sheet in google docs. if you have never tried google docs i recommend them. they aren't as robust as microsoft office but it is free.

we are about $2100 short of filling all of our needs with our tax return. things like a new front door and insulated front window will have to wait again. not really a big deal in the winter because extra wood heat is basically free. summer air conditioning is where the real need is. tabitha will be big and pregnant this summer and air conditioning will be important.

that rick of wood that i started on jan 25th is almost gone. the past two days have been rough--burning the stove full blast. it will be gone tomorrow. nineteen days per rick during the coldest period. also that rick was all sticks loosely stacked by the nature of their irregularity. i think i can count on a rick per month of the next winters quality of wood.

rough and tumble

this guy really is rough and tumble


kassi is pretty rough but here she is just tumble


one of the few times he is tumble without the rough


just cute, playing some role playing game of their invention.




for my record---->
i had to refill the wood box on the front porch. it has been really cold. i also used about half of the rick of wood by the barn. the wood is comprised of smallish sticks from the branches of the large trees that i sold last spring. it burns very hot and has about cooked us out of the house on this extremely cold day.

carrots anyone?

i must find room in the garden map for carrots, broccoli and cabbages. arragh.. i'll post an updated version later today.

danielle, we mostly eat edamame as a vegetable--a whole food in moderation. the kids love it they eat it like mad when we cook it. we get our protein elsewhere during our meals. we eat tofu occasionally from whole soaked soy beans. we believe that the protein isolates in over eaten soy products are the true problem. we love swiss chard--tristan's first food.


Jbmaine, sorry i didn't include scale in my map. the garden is 70 feet by 40 feet of plantable area. i'm going to squeeze more room from somewhere.

sugarcreekstuff & pichinde, we will probably do two separate orders of chickens, six each time. one order will be buffs and the other will be golden laced.

Kevin and Beth, yeah if you consider actually collecting the seeds the work was too much to attempt as anything except a labor of love.

--------------------documented--------------------
loaded wood box on front porch--it should last until february. one and a half cord of wood cut, split and stacked by driveway for next winter--another 3/4 cord to go.

christmas cards

this is our christmas card photo that we are including in our christmas cards. i am finishing seed descriptions and photos. we should be ready to send everything off by monday.

today i cut a giant swath along the fence row where we plan to put the new fence. it was mostly scrub and just a few trees. i also cut down a large oak that was shading our intended pasture. it should amount to about a rick of wood. i have several more to cut down from that same area. they should provide more than enough wood for next winter and probably a surplus for the wood fired hot tub--if i have it done by next fall.

where the bodies are buried

before i put the bales around this it looked like a fresh grave


i finished the hot bed / cold frame today


it looks like it is going to work. planting will start tomorrow.


this is the little pile of wood that was from a single little tree that was down near the ravine. the sections were laying in the forest litter. i wanted to wait until the snakes were gone before i lugged them to the house. i'll burn this wood late winter.