muscle fatigue

the parade of chickens.


we fenced for two days. my hands are sore the most. my whole body is sore but i can barely type. we are two thirds the way done fencing in the paddock to the ravine.


this is what we started on the first day.


this is the second leg of the first day--yesterday.


here is one of the corner posts next to the rocky crossing.


here is the view from below up the second leg. it curves around the ravine a bit.


this is a view from above. it looks a little messy cause i had to cut that huge looming tree and it took out several other trees when it fell. so i have a bit of a mess to clean up yet.


here tabitha is digging the holes for the third leg. can you see the kids playing in the woods in the background?


here is kassi climbing a tree. in this photo she is about 6 feet off the ground.


tristan is playing on some vines near the creek.


here they both are. i love seeing my kids playing in the woods.


this is what we have to to the second day.


this is what we did the second day. the second post is the one tabitha was digging in the earlier photo.


we only had to put in two post on the right side. the approach to the rocky crossing is a bit tricky.


this it the furthest corner on our second leg--only one more leg to go.


here is the view toward the rocky crossing. that is a cattle panel acting as a gate at the end of this run.


this is my two wheeled dolly. this is indispensable in the ozarks. i don't have a tractor so when i do stuff it is all by hand. this tool carries rocks that i can't lift and fence posts that are too heavy to shoulder.


just a nice photo of the girls. they were following me around thinking i should feed them--i did. they are like pets with benefits. they are pleasant to be around and feed us at the same time.

photo update

things are really greening up around here.


this is the top corner post. it is double tensioned because it might hold a gate someday too.


this is the lower first corner. we are cutting out the ravine from the paddock. the cedar posts got sap all over my gloves. these are tensioned to keep the corner straight under fence pressure.


this is the redbrand woven fence. we hope this will help keep the chickens home..


and one surviving guinea.


i use gaucho barb wire. it is cheap and lasts. some people hate it because it has a memory. it'll coil back and give you a good poke.


this is my trusty wheel barrow. i wish i had three more of these. we use the chat (gravel) to help pack the fence post down in. i use the flat end of the heavy bar to really drive the post sturdy with chat, rocks and dirt.


here is our chicken tractor. it has seen a few hard years of use. it needs a re-vamp. i just bought the stuff for a second tractor. we are going to raise three broods of broiler chickens.


a view of the garden from the barn loft. i can't wait to make some progress on the barn.

photos of the new cow to come this evening.

pablo this is for you, and anyone who'd like to guess too.




this is the new cow. we might name her frida. she is pleasant and pretty

new cow

we just confirmed the purchase of a new jersey (in milk). yes we have two cows--but not really. one of our cows is owned by our friends. we are her care takers. we dried her up cause she is due very soon. i look forward to her freshening soon--fresh cream in my coffee again.

anyway, the new cow (yet to be named) will arrive tomorrow. we are getting her from a friend--whom we trust. she is bred back via AI to a show jersey bull--fingers crossed for a heifer. she is due in late fall after our cow, nimue. we'll be in the milk then..

we have been working on fence around here, as best we can. the rain thwarts our every other attempt. we'll need more pasture for all these cows--at least pooping space. it's raining now else i'd take photos. tomorrow it is supposed to let up for the weekend. hooray!!!!! i'll be fencing and working on my root cellar.

the new baby is definitely a boy. whoo hoooo the toilet seat stays up--the boys outweigh the girls(just kidding). we are going to name him romneya (it'll be Rome for short). the kids already call him baby rome-rome.

i laid tile all day today at bobs. i have a helper now. in true bob fashion the tile were all surplus. i have to make something out of a pile of discarded tile. i finished about thirty square feet of tile after spending a few hours planning, measuring and imagining. in my minds eye it should look great. such a huge challenge but great fun at the same time.

rained-out

i really wanted to get some fencing completed this weekend. the rain has saturated the ground. when i tried to dig the corner post holes they filled with water faster than i could dig them out.

i tried to work on the root cellar. flooded..

i set up the solar pump and started to pump it low enough so i could work on the door area. it started to rain in earnest. i fled.

i moved some gravel to the bathtub drain overflow. it was making a muddy ditch. the rain had saturated the little leach field that is under the yard. the bees were drinking from there and i'd prefer them to get better quality water that is available just a few feet further from them.

my kombucha addiction has infused into my soul. i can't believe that i'd never had the stuff before my recent discovery. i drink at least a pint of the stuff everyday--i would drink more if i had it. i have three gallons brewing at any given time. sometimes i get a little anxious and pour a glass a little before it is finished brewing. too sweet. i like a dry dry strong kombucha. i have to start another gallon so i can start bottling it for those hot summer days where i'll need a few pints to keep me going.

i tried to brew some from a bottle from the health food store. it was a dismal failure. i really need to split another scoby and start another gallon i figure it i have five gallons going at any time i might be able to bottle some for long term carbonation. i have only ever filled six grolsch bottles at a time. by the sixth day and the last bottle they were really tasty--effervescent.

tristan got a guitar from the goodwill yesterday. he loves it. he had been writing songs. drawing the little notes on paper. where did he learn that? one of them titled horrible song. the other on is called jack into a box. such a fun boy.

toly is down to prevacid every other day. he smells a little acidic every now and then. we have aloe juice which seems to help. we are trying to wean him from the strong drugs--taking our time. he is mostly happy. luckily nothing has come back from all the tests so we want to try to deal with this via diet.

i really hope our carrot experiment works out. it was a ridiculous amount of work getting the beds ready. i guess it can take up to two weeks for carrots to germinate. we planted two separate heirloom short-carrot varieties. we eat lots of carrots.

we feel very lucky to have squeezed our spring garden planting in. the rain intervals have been relentless. the list goes:

beets a big wide row

swiss chard another big row

half a row of broccoli

half a row of cabbage

a row and a half of onions

half a row of mixed greens, beets, chard

two raised beds of carrots

jerusalem artichokes

the garlic has been in since fall

the asparagus is perennial

stuff left to plant at a later date

pole beans

pumpkins

squash

cucumbers

melons

sweet potatoes

edamame

okra

basil

more greens

seedlings started

tomatoes

tomatillos

hot peppers

chamomile

rhubarb

nasturtiums

lavender

thyme

fennel

celeriac

help in the garden

toly loves to run the tiller. tristan was giving his expert opinion. toly would have none of it--he has to do it his way.


toly was convinced that i needed this hammer. his method of taking a soil sample was to taste it--yummy.


this is the second row of onions with some mixed greens and beets.


here is a nice wide row of beets.


here is our over-wintered swiss chard. the arugula already went to seed.


here is the carrot bed. i dug out down to the sub soil and piled the dirt on a tarp. the soil from the 17 by 3 area amounted to about three wheelbarrow loads. i built some frames from some rough sawed wood. we then mixed in a load of compost and a load of sand. we pulled the edges of the tarp and folded the soil over and over. i set the frames about 1/2 half way into the earth. we added the carrot mix and soakers. if this method doesn't produce decent carrots then we'll cross them off our list.


i moved the bale ring form the cows mostly eaten bale. it becomes an instant bed.


my bees are happy with the peach blossoms. they are such wonderful creatures.

their activity is amazing.


the asparagus is about to start coming on. there are two tiny spear heads in this photo can you see them?

easter egg hunt

all these photos click through to larger photos if you'd like.

































such a flurry of activity. the kids had a blast. did you notice that many of the pictures were of them in mid run? they traversed papa-nancy's yard many times. kassi was also very excited when we got easter presents from my parents (gandme and grampa). she'd really like to meet them.

garden map update

as is always the case we didn't stick to the map. so i just changed the map.

i tilled the lower part of the garden and added four wheel barrow loads of compost. the lower part is the left side of the map. i'll try to get a soaker hoses ready so tabitha can plant the appropriate things (beets). we have been known to eat tons of beets. last year our fall beets failed dismally and we suffered. mostly we couldn't get into the garden in time.

yesterday we set three big cedar corner posts. i cut them in the morning and they were very sappy. i also had to cut more of that huge red oak up. i had to get it out of our way for fencing.

we also moved sixteen wild raspberry plants to the upper yard. they are planted next to the strawberry raised bed.

i made a compost tea to amend them in. i hope they do well.

needless to say i am ruined muscle sore right now. it was carrying the huge fence posts and digging the holes (extremely rocky even for ozarks standards). forking the compost into the wheel barrow this morning did me in.

happy easter

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.