farmstead photos too

these are our guineas. adam and eve because they live in the garden of eden


closer tristan, closer.



princess



enrique and romeo--the coalition of the scared.



the great mole hunter. she was discovered with a decapitate mole and we praised her greatly.



isn't this hat the cutest thing ever?



or maybe from this angle?

killin' time

eight of our larger cockerels have gone to chicken heaven. they dressed out at a minimum of nine pounds and look so tasty i can't wait for our first roast chicken dinner. it is always a learning experience when killing a grip of chickens. i sliced their neck on the last few and they seemed to bleed out better. i also tried a new method of cutting them open that leaves a self trussing piece of skin for the legs. we like most of our chicken left whole for roasting. i greatly dislike eviscerating them but is seems to be my job. we set up a whole station out in the front yard--outside the red fence. this way we could keep an eye on the kids, on the occasion they'd be outside, and still enforce the red fence barrier.
the kids were amazingly well behaved. we left them to their own devices for the better part of four hours. the children's library was strewn across the bathroom floor and that was about the most mischievous thing that occurred.
this afternoon we harvested about thirty pounds of garden produce; squash, beans, and cucumbers. it started to rain while we were in the bean arch. it was magical. tabitha is now making pickles, dill spears. i like a good dill pickle. she is going to add some of our fresh garlic. i am making a russian cucumber salad. i had a salad almost everyday my last trip to st. petersburg. it was during the white nights and summer harvest. i was there a month and i was awake most of the time. when the sun doesn't really set i don't feel like sleeping too much.
i dug a big hole for the chicken entrails, i put it next to the road on the other side of the wood pile hoping that the cars would scare any industrious varmets from digging it back up. digging a deep hole here i the ozarks is quite a feat. i use a five gallon bucket of water to loosen the clay and rocks from each other.
tristan is getting very excited for his birthday. it was really hard on him to watch kassi have hers, blow out the candles and open presents. we plan a trip to silver dollar city for his big day. the kids have gained the ability to argue. they seem to innately know which button will be the most effective at this moment. although, the kids love each other and are so cute and generally concerned about the others happiness. kassi was just crying and tristan said "kassi i'll make you happy" and ran to the other room and got her a surprise. it was just her pink ball but she seemed to perk up. everyday we agree that it is the best thing we can do for our child is to give them a sibling. kassi is so loved by both parents but the love that tristan and kassi share is deep beyond anything we as parents can understand. seeing the true empathy come pouring out of either child when the other is hurt is a sight to behold. it makes me choke-up every time.
our neighbor is celebrating the fourth in true ozark fashion. he spent his last three pay checks on fire works and has a strict regime of making sure at least one explosion occurs every three minutes. our cow hates him.

photos july 1

we are trying something new on this two and a half rows of beets. we have buried the soaker hose and have planted on either side of the hose in the "wet zone." we'll see how this turns out. i imagine it must be easier against U.V. damage on the hose.



these are some of our larger tomato plants. we tried to show, given me standing next to them, how tall they are. during this photo taken a few days ago they were seven and a half feet tall. now they are over eight feet tall. who would have thought that eight foot stakes wouldn't be tall enough?


this panorama is taken while i was standing on top of the most north-easterly rock ring. the camera is over twelve feet in the air. if you look closely you can see tabitha standing next to one of the tomato plants on the right side of the shot. she is busy inspecting her garden--killing all errant interloping insects.
the lady bugs are sticking around. i was just there at the wrong time of day. they hide in the shade during triple digit temperatures.
the bush beans that we just planted are going crazy.
i'm off to kill some chickens. we had three casualties we must do them all in. happy fourth of july.

produce stand

we have been contemplating setting up a cucumber stand. the main concern is the perverts that are rampant here in these parts--we have had trouble in the past.

____________

later that same summer during my youth, we brought our excessive bounty back to the city and sold it at a little produce stand in our front yard. it was our version of the lemonade stand. we didn't make much money but it was great fun none-the-less. i remember our neighbors really appreciating the fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and beans. i'd sit there with my trusty salt shaker and sample the goods.
the following summer i made a cart to pull behind my moped out of wheel chair wheels. my produce stand was mobile but only local to the little village that we lived in. it was about three miles from where our garden was. people there weren't as receptive to the produce stand and the whole concept really didn't have the luster of the previous summer.

____________

i have nostalgic idealistic memories of a produce stand and wish it possible here. we have an excess of cucumbers right now and would love to share our bounty. here is my idea for a sign.

PRODUCE STAND
Current vegetable "CUCUMBERS"
NO PERVERTS!!

i finished repairing the stucco on the house. i also tore out an old single pane widow and patched that area too. getting the painting done is getting closer and closer. we were going to do it on the fourth but they are predicting rain.
weekly garden panorama will be very soon.

ten thousand ladybugs

tabitha released over half of our ladybugs. donna gifted us with them hearing of our aphid plight. the first release went fairly well but by the end of the following day i couldn't see a single ladybug. tabitha released another mess last evening we'll see how many stick around today.
our fresh cucumbers are amazing. we had toast, fresh garlic mayonnaise, and sliced cucumber sandwiches for dinner last night. it might not seem like a meal, but it is. when i ate my first bite i said "this is the best cucumber i have ever had." now it is the best cucumber memory i have.

____________

as a kid of eleven or twelve, the year before we moved to the country we grew a huge garden on the newly purchased land. the whole family would bale into my dads (previously my grandfathers) old ford truck. i loved that truck it had a style that is still unparalleled. my dad would have prepared several trash cans of water. with salt shakers in hand, off we would go. it was seventeen miles to the new school district and garden. the flies that lived there during the summer were rampant. the first few fly bites of the year swelled and ached. the garden was lush and plentiful. tomatoes, cucumbers and greenbeans were our main crops. now to put those saltshakers to use. i'd pick cucumbers scrape the green skin off with my teeth, salt them down and devour them. scraping the skin was a necessary evil to get to the goods. oh what a delight it was to bite into those juicy cucumbers. that is my first memory of picking fresh cucumbers from the vine and eating them on the spot.

____________

the main difference between those and our cucumbers is the skin is not bitter. there is no need to remove it. it truly amazed me upon my first bite. they are a japanese style long cucumber that has no equal. this heirloom variety was chosen buy my lovely wife and flourishes here in the ozarks. tabitha has put so much thought into the varieties and type of plants we have grown it is really making all the difference.
well not all the difference all of her diligent gardening is what truly makes the difference.
we have a party to go to today--barbecue, pig roast, potluck. the host is an extremely talented bluegrass musician. allegedly there will be plethora of talented artists there.
photos to come...

sunflower

we are so blessed. this sunflower is in our little flowerbed just in the front yard. we didn't plant too many things that weren't staple food items. it is nice to sit on the front porch and enjoy--heaven on earth right here on our little farmstead. as we get a handle on our survival tasks we will incorporate more beauty and aesthetic agenda items. our house is still not painted. we started to prime the south wall but new fires usually overturn our plans. the beginning of each weekend is a triage assessment. after we are sure the garden, livestock and ourselves will survive for one more week we look at our long list of things to do. the root cellar, the milking shed and paint the house are weighing heavily on me.

we harvested our first batch of edamame. kassi loves it she couldn't wait until dinner. we have been buying them in organic frozen packages. the kids have always liked them but kassi simply wouldn't stop once she tasted them. she ate most of our first little harvest all by herself. she was making little yum yum um yum sounds the whole time she ate them. tristan ate half of a cucumber straight from the harvest basket. it is a constant struggle to keep the kids from repeatedly eating cherrios for every meal. having fresh fresh food really helps to win the battle. also having a surplus garden harvest means that the kids aren't psychologically hindered by portion sizes or having to finish their plate because of the normal cost of organic vegetables and general waste concerns. besides, the chickens really appreciate the table scraps.

now this is fresh

a little evening harvest for dinner

from the garden to the dinner table within an hour.

farmstead photos

these are the girls


this is romeo and enrique they are hiding from the girls. all those hens gang up on them and they are constantly in hiding.


tasty tasty yellow squash.



yum, tomatoes are forming.





these are from the bean arch. rattlesnake polebeans. they are sweet and tender with little purple streaks.



this is our mole retardant castor bean plant. the leaves are huge.



this just before we picked a mess for dinner.

yellow squash, and goodbye mayday

our garden is coming on. we have been eating from it for quite some time. john always appreciates my left-overs that i eat for lunch. yesterdays statement was "you really know how to eat." we feel very blessed and wealthy. most people don't eat like this.

on a sad note, goodbye to mayday. uncle matts dog mayday has been very ill and will be put down soon. she has been his companion for many years and it is a sad day to say goodbye to such a good friend.

goodbye mayday...

weekend garden photo update

this is my compost system. i'd like these to be a bit taller but they seem to work well. they have been keeping up with our needs. the closest bin was full to the brim with partially composted material a few weeks ago. this is how much it settles, rather consumes its self



these are our edamame just to the right of the mulched walkway. then corn then the bean arch. on the left is our squash trellis system. we were just out injecting our squash with BT (an organic bacteria "the worm killer") i hope it kills the squash vine bores otherwise we're ruined.



these are our tomatoes on the right side of the bean arch. this is also recently mulched with wheat straw. tabitha says it releases potash into the soil as it rains. we have four rows of tomatoes in this photo. we have experimented with different trellising methods. from staking each one to letting nature do her thing. we'll see what is the best method for this little farmstead.




these are my wonderful children reading their books instead of watching TV. it is a constant battle to keep the television from them. notice in this photo that the floor isn't strewn with toys and general kids stuff. yeah, it surprised me too.



our weekly panorama of the garden

mulch, meager harvest, broken washer and pig roast

we have harvested our meager tongue of fire beans, onions and red potatoes. none of these groups had a soaker hose. amendments to these areas were also lacking. i tilled in the compost that i strewed across those areas a week or so ago along with the dead plants. we plan to plant some bush beans (our bean arch is not really producing many beans), some more beets, some pumpkins and possibly a different variety of cucumber.
i loaded several heaping wheel barrow loads of wheat straw and mulched the garden rows. the garden looks much better. the weekly panorama will show the improvements. i'll take a the series of shots and paste them together for an update this afternoon.
we went to a little neighborhood party at mikes last night. the kids had a great time. kassi has really warmed up to john and pam, our neighbors. they treat kids like big people. kassi and tristan really like to be treated as equals. kassi is hardly shy anymore. she had some revelation at her birthday party and ever since she has been much more out-going. john and pam both noticed it. john said that it validates the ritual of birthday parties. kassi also got a belated birthday present--a big pink ball. it was a huge hit.
i played an eighth of a game of horseshoes. i stink at horseshoes and didn't get any better last night. we had pig roasts on the barbecue--very delicious. mike uses the webber grill indirect method which takes a while but produces a superior entree.
our washing machine took a dump friday. i disassembled it and discovered that the belt from the motor around the drum pulley had managed to come off. i put it back on and realized that it is no longer aligned properly. the entire inner workings are molded plastic and afford no tracking adjustment. there is no obvious wear or reason for the misalignment. i spent the better part of friday trying to fix it. i am sure that planned obsolescence is the major factor in this break down. we bought the washer at sears and here in the ozarks no one will work on them (kenmore). springfield is the closest repair center and it would cost us a fortune (the better part of a new washer) to get it repaired. tom loaned us a washing machine for the interim--having kids doesn't allow for any down-time on washing clothes. the washer is an old style top loader and uses tons more water. on the bright side our old washer has been doing barely an adequate job for the past few months and is really noticeable having a perfectly working washer--our clothes smell better. the decision to get a new washer is made. i demand something that i can repair myself and cookie cutter plastic crap won't make the grade. we spent a bit of time researching washers and visited the local appliance store. they made a recommendation that we didn't expect and the unit seems to meet all our requirements--water and energy saving are some of our biggest additional concerns. now we just have to compile the necessary funds.

belly

tabitha in our bean tunnel. it is a very nice place to be.

poison ivy

what an evil plant. i have been awake since 3am itchy and miserable. i have taken a few homeopathic remedies but the effects have seemed to have worn off during my brief sleep. i have re-dosed myself and am waiting for my oatmeal/baking soda bath to fill. yesterday i researched poison ivy and remedies. i guess jewelweed (crushed leaves and rubbed on the affected area) is the best known remedy. cortisone isn't an option for me since i have a reaction to that also. jewelweed doesn't grow here (it will soon). i guess it likes better soil than the ozarks normally afford.
general misery has consumed me lately and i haven't felt like blogging about it. i hate poison ivy. it has been too hot to tolerate being in an itchy covering.
we have had a dog stalking our chickens for the past few days. my first inclination is to kill it but i opted for the slingshot method. i had one of these high powered slingshots as a kid. it used surgical grade tubing for the rubber bands and was far to powerful for a teenager. i practiced with that thing almost daily. it was the closest thing to a real weapon that i was allowed.
i bought one while we were out yesterday. it was inexpensive and seemed like the most humane first step. sure enough when we got home that dog was there trying to get into our broiler chicken cage. the stupid slingshot was still in the packaging and the dog ran off during my frantic preparations. after checking the perimeter of the coop i decided to see if i could hit the broadside of a barn with this thing. sure enough ffwhap--the barn didn't have a chance. on to more difficult prey, i set up a piece of roofing tin roughly dog sized(a little bigger). two or three random shaped stones later i realized that there was obviously some muscle memory coming into play--i couldn't miss the thing. i decided to move a little further away--say 12 feet.
just kidding... i got about 70 feet away and was planning on trying again when tabitha came around the corner and asked "what ya doin'?" "nothing" like i was fourteen again and just killed some desireable michigan foul. anyway i picked up another rock and fired it at the offending dog, i mean, tin target. CLACK i got him. i mean i hit the target. she called me out, mentioning something about reliving a childhood machismo fantasy. a few shots later and more than hundred yards between myself and the dog-target i was confident i could reliably hit the dog during our next encounter. alright cujo, you're next.

my beautiful girl

kassiopeia

kassi waiting for her birthday party. tristan could be a clone of me in this photo. i have a picture of myself that a person couldn't tell which is which.

weekend panorama

click me i get bigger
weekend panorama 6/17/6

kassi's birthday celebration

we expect anna, chuck, peyton, drew and brett from springfield. john and pam will stop by too. we'll have homemade icecream fresh blueberries and a big time. we also expect a storm this morning. our garden would like that. i cleaned the tub, toilet and sink yesterday. i took the drain, toilet seat and faucet escutcheon apart for a deep cleaning. the toilet seat was the worst for obvious reasons. having two small kids with questionable aim means that crud forms where it normally wouldn't. hospitals aspire to the depth of my cleaning.
we have to tie up plants before the high winds of the storm. i'm off... pictures to come, also look for the weekly panorama very soon.

blueberry picking

we took the kids berry picking. they had a blast. it was a huge treat for them. tristan dressed all in blue for the occasion. kassi won't be seen in anything except pink. i swear to God that we have made every attempt to not socialize her to like girly things and she still does. at this point we just go with it.


kassi is offering you a berry, just take it.

this is where all the good ones come from.


see how many i stole from daddys bucket?

geez those blueberry muffins were good. lets go look at our booty.


whew that was a big time.

me too

photos

this is the chicken tractor. it is made out of electroplate metal tubing (cheap stuff), chicken wire and corrigated steel. it is strong and light, so light that we weigh it down at night with rocks on all the corners.

we have a troublesome automatic waterer that clogs with algae every few days and three wall mounted bin feeders. here is the original description and when it was still clean and chickenless

our bean arch is filling in.

the arch is a nice shady spot in the garden

pig loading fiasco

tabitha's father, mike has been raising us a pig along with three others. they are down at his pond. when he put the hog panels up around the pond there was plenty of room to walk around and manage the pigs a bit. months later the pond has been sealed to the upper brim and most of the enclosure is pond. we tried to get the pigs into the trailer to take to slaughter. no chance, they immediately retreat to the water. mike now has them without food and the feeder in the furthest section of the trailer. they cannot get to the feeder and are hopefully very hungry. hopefully, this morning he'll be able to load them with cat-chow-bribery and hopes of access to their feeder.
we yanked a tomato plant from our garden to perform an autopsy on it. it has strange black veins in the upper stem immediately before dying leaves. we feared we had the great potato famine virus that also affects tomatoes. the only thing that can be done if we had it is, scorched earth and plant somewhere else for the next five years. as far as i can tell we don't have it. the aphids are still rampant and consume tabitha's already too busy schedule. the garden is such a roller coaster for her. each success and defeat is absolute and usually opposite from the last. at any given moment she could be in complete elation or the depths of sorrow over it. this coupled with pregnancy hormones means that the extremes are far greater than usually possible.
the broiler chickens are huge, slow and tasty-looking. we have been moving them daily around our northen adjoining lot. they leave a path of devastation and fertilizer. we hope to clear that lot more thoroughly very soon. mike has offered to brush-hog it as soon as hay season settles down. it is a perfect place to move the chicken tractor around. i'll try and get photos up this evening of the tractor, the huge birds and the aftermath.

hot weather

i has been very hot and humid the past few days. the garden loves it. the kids are getting used to the heat. i opened that new tarp up further, supported it around the edges and filled it with water. the kids played in "the pool" and had a great time. tristan could tell that it was temporary but still asked "can we keep that pool?" i have already emptied it since it is too white trash. i'll figure something else out for the kids to enjoy that cools them down.
it will soon be time to butcher chickens. as we moved our chicken-tractor yester-eve a few got out. they are easily caught and very heavy. i don't relish the idea of killing, eviscerating and plucking so many chickens. next week we'll go and help a friend butcher some of his. we hope to get ideas to help streamline and ease the task.
tristan has been sick, fever and general suffering. kassi now appears to have the same thing. i hope it is easier on her she cannot simply lay around like tristan can. she needs to be held much more when she doesn't feel well.
i mowed the lawn this past weekend--what a task. i already had to sharpen the blade--did i mention that it is extremely rocky here? i also used it to mulch some of nimue's old hay for the garden. we have some tomatoes with cedar shavings, grass clippings and some with wheat hay mulch. it will be interesting to compare them and see if any one is better than the next. the garden is full right now "baby seeds" give way to huge plants that consume the garden space around them.
we got about fifty mason jars from cousin-bruce. i emptied the contents of roughly half of them into our compost bins. the pickles (from 82) actually smelled really tasty. there was a salsa that also smelled good and it had ocra in it. that recipe is lost to the annals of time.
i am compelled to get the root cellar going. when we can our garden bounty it should go into cool storage immediately. there is no place like that in our farmstead at this point. the door is still my main obstacle. i need to visit springfield and see what options the re-store has.
we put the little roosters in with the big laying chickens. they get picked on and chased around. i hope they survive. they made their way back to the roost with the other hens last night so that was a huge step. their names are enrique and romeo. enrique is the male silver laced wyandotte. he'll hopefully parent a new generation of wyandottes. romeo was our free chicken that came with our order. he is a blue andalusian and very cool but definitely the outsider. he was chased into the garden and stayed there all day. enrique tolerated the dominant hens a little better. we will see what today brings.

panorama

i plan a weekly panorama of the garden while in season. it will show up very skinny and is a link. if you click on the panorama image another larger image will appear. on most windows machines it will automatically size it to fit your open window. click on it again and it will zoom to intended size. if you then use the slider across the bottom you can move back and forth. that will give you the illusion of standing in the center of the panorama and turning left and right as you slide respectively. try it on the last image of my last post.

garden update

tabitha in our bean arch. the beans have mostly reached the top. they just need to fill in and make lots of beans.


my lovely daughter and her true-love, the swing. she likes to have me do an under-dog. i run under her while pushing her really high 9 or 10 feet into the air. after a little while she'll stand up on the swing while still swinging higher than most kids, her age, like to go and say "i not danger." feisty feisty child.



with any luck this will be a tasty pumpkin in a matter of weeks.




weekly garden panorama

slip-n-slide

yesterday afternoon i partially unfurled the big tarp i got for the root cellar moisture barrier. it is huge 48' by 20'. the kids were outside playing in the sprinkler and decided that we needed an ozark slip-n-slide. the kids were naked, sorry no pictures. they had a blast kassi was scared at first but i eventually grabbed a piece of soft rope and slowly pulled her down hill at a slow speed. she warmed up to the idea very quickly and soon both kids were careening at break-neck-speed down our sloping back yard. i'll use remaining HUGE piece of the tarp as a temporary roof for the milking barn, fountain pond liner, hay-bale tarp and possibly a liner for a homemade solar storage tank.
tristan came down with some flue last night, fever, aches and pains, and headache. the poor boy. it has been so hot here that the afternoons are better left to sitting in the shade with a huge iced tea and sweating--or careening down a slip-n-slide.
the battle of the organic garden continues. we have had several visitors--you can see our garden from the road. everyone had said "you can't grow tomatoes without seven dust" and "how much top soil did you get hauled in?" our response has been "NONE and we are gonna give organic gardening a try."
we have spent a fortune on soaker hoses. they are so great. i can't imagine watering without them. we have a huge surplus of tomato plants in case organic yields are low. if they are not low we'll be canning like crazy. salsa, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes and tomato paste. we are also going to attempt ketchup and maybe sell some of them at a little stand. our road has plenty of traffic to support a little stand but we have had a few creepy visitors so we might take them to the weekly farmers market the next town over.
cousin bruce has offered us some canning jars but we have to empty them of their ancient contents first. our compost bin will love having the nutrients. i'll have to add extra hay to the process to balance the new influx of green matter. my second batch of compost is almost ready and my bin system is already over loaded. maybe i'll start another pile just for the new addition. this will keep my compost system from bursting at the seams.
the bean arch is coming on--there are several runners that have reached the top (8 feet high). the squash and pumpkins are huge. we have been eating new potatoes. i'll take photos of the garden this afternoon.
tabitha has several friends that i read their blogs. i feel self conscious about posting--so i hardly ever do. and yesterday was a prime example but i would like to make one statement and put it out there. children are a combination of the two parents not only genetically but socially--especially strong character traits. if something about your spouse troubles you to the core you should be able to discuss it and address it, otherwise your children will adopt compensating roles or similar traits. i relish the idea that my kids turn out like tabitha and i--or not. kids are their own person and can rise above adversity but should they needlessly have too?

progress on the root cellar

i rented a pipe threading die yesterday. the pipe that ran through the root cellar has been cut, new threads cut into it and re routed. i installed a main shut off valve and hose faucet in the back of the cellar. it will be great for adjusting the humidity in the root cellar.
tom came by and helped. he went and got his loader and filled the the bottom 3-4 inches with the creek gravel that we got the other day. we installed the the drainage pipe and ran it out away from the cellar. i'd like to get started filling the bags with dirt. i have an inspiration to make a combination tube/shovel that scoops and fills the bags in one motion.
i have found an auction house that has steel clad re-enforced insulated panels. i'll use them for the roof of the cellar. i will still use some steel angle as additional support and a three inch concrete steel re-enforced slab on top of that.
my main obstacle is the the door. i'll need to get the door and figure it into my entry. a visit to the habitat for humanity re-store might be my next move. i hope they'll have some insulated steel clad doors that i can cut shorter and install opening inward.

questions?

the weeds are just hiding. no really, tabitha is a very diligent gardener. i can't take any credit except purchasing the expensive hoe (mothers day present) that she loves--admittedly it does work amazingly well. we also have started mulching heavily.
the pole bean arch is made from local bamboo and sisal twine. it took a really long time to make but i think it is worth it. it looks very organic--kinda like a giant caterpillar. the aprons were her grand mothers passed along from her aunt. some of them are super cool--funky.

i get bigger

spring blogging slow down

sorry about the lack of posts lately. work around here has been overwhelming. the garden, cows, chickens, root cellar, yard work, and helping mike buck hay has taken every ounce of spare time. our garden is really looking great. we have some potato blight that really frustrates me. our tomatoes have aphids and nothing but hand squishing them seems to work. our pole bean arch has started to fill in. it looks so organic that it pleases me immencely. we have planted more edamame i hope it grows like crazy. the kids really love it. we have put up fencing to train our squash, pumpkins and cucumbers and suspend them from--any old panty hose can be sent our way.

we got another big bale of fresh hay for the cows from jack--he is such a nice guy (salt of the earth). i got a few yards of creek gravel for the bottom and around the walls of the root cellar. this will be great for drainage. i got a huge piece of vinal to cover the cellar earth/poly bag walls and roof before i cover them with dirt.

canoe trip

our neighbor tom took us canoeing sunday. the kids loved it. the water was a little low and we scraped bottom a few times but mostly it was a nice easy float. the kids loved the rapids and giggled the entire way through them. they even renamed them "the sillys." happiness abounded. when tom and i went to retrieve the trailer to load the canoes we saw our other neighbors john and pam on their bicycles. we stopped and talked they expressed an interest i accompanying us on our next canoe excursion. later that evening tabitha was talking to john and pam and decided that we needed to go again the very next day.
we borrowed the canoes because tom already had his fill--a wise choice. our new plan was to take a slower trip and fish along the way. tristan was much braver this trip wanting to hang off the back floating in the water. he made it difficult to maneuver or make any progress while he was in the water. tabitha had the fishing pole and was fishing like crazy.
tabitha caught a huge small mouth bass. it out classed the rest of our mess four fold. she was the fishing queen. we had a few snags and had to canoe over to the hook snag origin. this made extra paddling for me especially with my sea-anchor-tristan slowing all maneuvering.
the kids ran out of patience after about three hours. there were long periods of kids complaining but they mostly loved it. when we got home we cleaned the fish, picked beets and chard from the garden. we had an ozark dinner--fresh caught fish, fresh steamed vegetables from garden and fresh milk to drink. that is what life is all about. we experienced great satisfaction from that dinner being completely from our recent efforts.
i have sore muscles today and plan to take it easy.

spring garden

click me spring garden

the garden is coming on

our tomatoes got a bad case of aphids. i mixed an organic spray that included neem oil and sprayed the plants. later that evening the neem oil separated and coagulated into a clump. the sprayer got tripped (a small boy was involved) into the on position. the pressure sprayed most of the liquid out into the yard where the device was abandoned. i went to re-medicate the plants and managed to mix a super strong batch because the clump of concentrated neem remaining in the sprayer. i merrily sprayed the tomatoes and scorched them. they started to shrivel and brown up. tabitha panicked, there was pointing of fingers and several rude comments made. needless to say most of the tomatoes narrowly survived my over medicating them.
i have been working with our neighbor doing some construction. it has been nice i get to leave the car home for tabitha and ride to work with him. he pays 50% better and i don't spend $30 per week on gas.
we were, at the drop of a hat, planning on going canoeing this morning but a friend of toms borrowed one of his canoes unbeknownst to tom until late last night. we could have still gone but it would have been too much trouble for tom and his family to accommodate us also. chuck and anna were planning on coming to visit today but that was canceled earlier due to our illnesses and tristans impending turn for the stomach virus. we'll work around here today and maybe visit the creek around lunch time for a picnic.
i am in quest of a ketchup recipe from homegrown tomatoes. we have searched the internet and know the basics but any personal experience would be appreciated.
the rootcellar hole has become the new playground for the kids, especially tristan. i have to get a load of gravel to put in the bottom to get started.

Hog pond

In January my in-laws moved to a new place. I helped him dig his pond out--I mostly watched and mike drove the scoop tractor. There were cat-tails that had penetrated the clay barrier. It held a wet mud and that was all. After we dug the muck and cat-tails it promptly rained. The pond only held a foot or so of water.
In February Tabitha decided that we need to raise some pigs for meat--another iron in the fire. After the pig commitment was made we promptly found out that we were pregnant. Mike agreed to take care of the pigs. He has a nice warm barn. The pigs were happy and grew to the bounds of their 20'by15' pen. He then surrounded his pond with 15 to 20 cattle panels and set the pigs loose.
they worked their magic. trodding the edges with their little feet, eating all the cat-tail roots and generally making a piggy mess. The pond got a chartreuse green bloom of algae and still looks really scary. Then it rained and rained. The pond held so much water that now he is concerned about overflow erosion. Rumor has it that now he can remove the pigs and the pond will hold water for many years.
the main downside is that it takes a year for the pond to become a healthy eco-system--or a swimming hole.

Root cellar

This is the begining of our root cellar. Our neighbor came over with his back hoe tractor. He dug the whole thing in a couple of hours. The roots were amazing. I could have never dug the thing by hand. He wouldn't accept cash for the work. He got a gallon of milk from us the other day and loves it. He also said that he would like to pay for milk in the future--we won't let him, of course.

Up on the beam

I worked 20 plus feet in the air most of the day Thursday. I was a bit scared at first but I told myself that I've been in worse height situations plenty of times. I am naturally kind of scared of heights but have mostly overcome my fear through internal brainwashing. I just keep telling myself everything is fine until I get distracted enough by the job that I forget that I'm in any danger. I like facing my fears and overcoming them.
When I was a child I was scared of most everything. Eventually I got it in my head that I needed to start to overcome my fears and it has been a continual process ever since. I remember having night terrors as a two and three year old. They mostly involved me climbing our stairs from the basement in slow motion trying to escape dinosaurs. I remember being completely stricken with fear during the day every time I would climb the stairs. I always ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I hated being the last one in line to go up. It was far too slow and my dreams usually involved not being able to scream while being attacked. I could have been easily ambushed during such a slow ascent while not being able to scream, no one would be the wiser.
Tristan has inherited my night terrors--sometimes he wakes screaming. I attribute it to having a creative imagination at a very young age. My consolation about his night terrors is that we still co-sleep. I recall never wanting to sleep alone. This was especially troublesome for my sister since I wet the bed until a comparably late age. Sleeping separate is a recent development for our species and I believe that is another reason why we are becoming more detached from our surroundings. Actually, I ended up co-sleeping with my sister, most every night, eventually if not right away. I have a special attachment to my sister probably because of it. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I know that my sister would protect me and loves me deeply--and I her.
Yesterday three of us set an entire timber frame wall and rafter in the great room. Great is for great-big room. It is beautiful and excellent to see it how it goes together.
I'd like to bring up the ridge beam that I cut months ago and possibly set the vertical posts for the milking shed. Having recent timber frame experience has given me incentive and the skills to finish our milking shed.
Yesterday I came home to visitors--it is nice to have guests. I played with all the kids. They play together very nicely. Tristan and Peyton exclude Drew in some of their games which I wish didn't happen but they'll have to work that out themselves. I also mowed more of the yard. There is still more to mow today. The yard looks so much better freshly mowed. Hopefully we'll also finish planting the garden--it should be dry enough.
Happy Mothers day tomorrow.

It's a boy

i admit it, i was wrong. i guessed it was a girl. i might hear the end of it by the time he is born. Actually I'm happy to see a healthy baby in there. We have chosen a name Ptolemy Gustav wren o'Melay. The name Ptolemy just came to us in epiphany fashion. It is off the beaten bath as far as names go but has great historical significance. Most notably an Egyptian pharaoh and a Greek astronomer.
it is so exciting.
i also got a gasoline powered lawnmower. No big deal you say? Well, if you could see our over-grown lawn you'd think otherwise.
I'm timber framing today. Exciting business.

Ultrasound tomorrow

We have an appointment for an ultrasound tomorrow. I hope to find a healthy baby and of course it would be nice to findout the sex. It is exciting and gives a sense of accomplishment. We will finally choose the name and start calling her/him by it.
I finished the automatic waterer for the chicken tractor. It is ready to go. Mike came over and moved our barn/shed into place with his propane tractor (king of the hill).
Merlin, the calf, got out last night and had his fill just before milking time. tabitha got a quart--one sixth of her usual gallon and a half. It was a bad cow conspiracy. We fixed the segregation problem. Gates were exchanged and attached with stronger locking mechanisms. Tomorrow morning will be better.
we covered our asparagus with composted manure--some of the tips were breaking the surface. Our fruit trees got a layer of manure too. I emptied half or our compost bin and turned some (in progress) compost into the vacant half. Then the freshest compost got turned into that vacant spot--the shit shuffle. We'll have plenty of finished compost ready for the 'all red' potatoes when their covering time comes. It should be in about two weeks.
My new tiller has been ripping through shear pins like there is no tomorrow. This soil is so rocky it is amazing. The safety shield has several dents and scrapes. I have taken to putting the rocks across the street to extend the approach to my mailbox. We get all our mail at the p.o.box but someday we might want to change that.
we planted new tomatoes in the newly removed, killed by hail, spots. Yes, this morning was a fairly violent thunderstorm.
We also have aphids on our tomatoes. We have been trying everything, this last effort included neem and peppermint. We are really trying to stay away from the pesticides. We'd like to claim all natural/not-certified-organic.
we have got several gallons of milk in the fridge. tabitha has successfully made butter and we have been drinking the milk like crazy.

Setback

Negotiations with the company that I was, and still am, hoping to work for have slowed to a snails pace. Ben, my current boss, has expressed a desire to hire someone that can travel (all over the Midwest) and work for weeks at a time. That is not the job for me. I need to be around my family daily. Ben certainly wouldn't pull any rug out from under me but it is best for him (and I) if I were to move on--he said it in a much nicer way. I told (said desirable company) my situation and need to extend my efforts to finding something else (hint, hint). No takers there. I guess my current solar experience skill set is a difficult sell for those higher up the corporate ladder.
I can easily do the proposed job way above expectations and put something together that would make them a decent profit using existing manufacturing infrastructure and distribution network.
I have spent a bit of time having meetings, working on proposal type stuff and continually offered my recent solar experience. I can design and build a working manufacturing proposal that would make selling the new "solar division" easier to the higher-ups but it is too much work to do while I'm trying to make money at another job and do my back-log of work around here. I don't believe there has been any lack of good faith but I still feel discouraged none-the-less.

chicken tractor

we finished building the chicken tractor today. it is made out of 10 pieces of electrical conduit, 10 feet of 1 1/2" PVC, 10 feet of 4" pvc, some scrap corrugated steel roofing and the chicken wire. it should last quite a few years assuming it doesn't get damaged by feisty children. it cost us around $35 to make. my hands are sore from wiring the chicken wire to the conduit. have a few new blisters and several little cuts. it took a little longer than it should have because i designed it on the fly.
it sits directly on, and is open to, the ground giving the chickens access to the grass and dirt. it is light enough to move around the yard so the chickens can mow our lawn and fertilize it at the same time. they will live there full time once they are old enough. the unit is ten feet by ten feet by 18 inches tall. i have yet to finish the automatic waterer. i need a small piece of hose.

omelay.com

my website finally has a new home--thanks to donna. i uploaded my resume and made it the first page. the rest of it will have to be parsed through later. our cob plans have changed so much that i won't put that back up until i make the changes. it is cold and rainy here today. we were planning on doing a bit more planting but the ground is too wet. i'm off to get more supplies for the chicken tractor.

heaven

this is what heaven smiling on our farmstead looks like.

thanks for the salsa ideas

we'll try them all and decide which one works the best. the first tomatoes that don't get immediately eaten will get the salsa test. contributors will automatically get sent a sample of their "selected" recipe. if the salsa doesn't make the grade then said contributor will be getting "their salsa" for every holiday henceforth.
just kidding....

anyway, we are excited to try to make salsa. our garden will be our life very soon. the kids each got a cherry tomato plant from the heirloom seed festival. tristan meticulously choose the tomatoes for kassi and himself. tabitha had to read him every description and show him a photo of each. he is so much like his mother in some ways.

the cow is going to kill me. the stress over each and every thing is too much. there is so much invested in that cow that it consumes our life. i realize that there is no gain without pain but this pain-to-gain ratio isn't balancing out and won't anytime soon.

one of our friendly neighbors got a barn/shed for us. he said he'd trade two cords of wood for it. it is 10 feet by 12 feet and is in pretty good shape. it will be a good place for hay, milking paraphernalia and gardening tools. we need to get it moved into place (it is on skids).

heirloom day

this is my lovely wife tabitha. she is really starting to get that pregnant woman glow. not that she isn't normally lovely but there is something about being pregnant makes tabitha glow.
we had a fun time at the festival. we bought a new hoe for the garden. yes it is pricey but tabitha really wanted it and mothers day is just around the corner. it might seem silly to spend twice as much on a hoe as necessary but gardening should be a pleasure and having the right tool makes it all that much better. these hoes are made from recycled agricultural tempered steel and are hand crafted. tabitha was outside after milking--hoeing every errant weed in our spring garden.
i am in quest of a can-able salsa recipe. the kids love salsa and we will hopefully have a bounty of tomatoes. my goals are to can over 200 jars of plan canned tomatoes and 100 jars of the yet to be discovered perfect salsa. many have suggested, including farmgirl, that we use the canned tomatoes to make salsa on the fly with fresh ingredients. yes that is a real possibility but the difference between making and having a ready made snack for the kids is huge. there are so many moments during the day that the kids need a snack and there isn't time to really make one.