A Couple of Things...

Two things that have changed recently.  First, I have gotten the horses moved back up to the pasture behind the house for the winter.  I hope it's for the winter anyway, cause dragging buckets of water out to the back pasture on a sled was a massive pain in my ass!  there are some concerns still with the front pasture.  I still need some type of shelter.  I have no idea why this is so hard to figure out.... but it is.  It became necessary to go ahead and move them when I found that a deer had gone through the back fence causing the electric fence to short out.  I have got the front fence with so many extra connections and jumps to additional areas that there doesn't seem to be a lot of juice running through it.   I REALLY hope the girls don't put it to the test!   More frustrations!  Will I ever overcome the fence dilemma?!!

Oh well, I am enjoying walking around the house and seeing their beautiful faces.  My first instinct is to make sure they are inside the fence instead of meandering around outside.  Then, I am filled with joy.

The other thing done is the chicken yard.  Woohoo!!!  It has been fun to watch them.  The extra space has brought out more chicken-y behavior.   I have now gotten to hear an egg song.  And the contented nest building song.  The "she's stealing eggs" warning and, also, the "Hey! there's food here" announcement.  I'm learning lots!

I wish I could say that I have also learned to overcome all of my fears with taking care of my animals.  I have not.  Maybe that's something that will happen next summer.  Maybe that should go on the to-do list now... fear eradication and possibly buying a chainsaw.

Louie

All kinds of stuff

My brains keep flitting over stuff.  Stuff that needs to get done.  Stuff I haven't worked on.  I should have worked on.... now winter is coming... now I am having panic attacks ....which keeps me from getting anything done.  So much stuff!!!

First I'll start with chicken stuff.  I spent some time building a four seater nesting box.  It did not look all that great, but I figured who cares?  The chickens won't complain, right?  I had measured the door on the wee coop and made sure that we could get in.  Spent an afternoon and part of the next morning knocking it together.  Then hauled it out to the coop.  Shoved it in there on it's side.  Then tried to tip it up into it's standing position.  Oops!  The center roof brace is in the way and after several attempts the nesting box is still not installed.  Best laid plans and all...

It occurred to me, after a fair amount of cussing, that I should have just gotten some five gallon buckets and cut them down.  I could slide them out of the way to get to the water and feeder and it would have just been so EASY!!!  With that in mind, I will walk around later and look for buckets, especially buckets that have gotten a crack in the bottom that can't do bucket duty anymore.

Today should hopefully (Please God!!) be a big day.  I have gotten some bird netting to help finish up my chicken yard.  The yard has the wee coop in it sitting on concrete blocks.  The structure is one of those cheap shade houses.  Just the frame, not the cover.  Put the cover on it and the wind will blow it into the next county, but so far with it standing as frame alone, we are doing okay.  Then the chicken wire went up.  I had two rolls.  The four foot tall roll went around the north side and the three foot roll went around the south.  It doesn't quite meet up so that is where I will install the door.  The bird mesh will go over the top today.... with luck.  That's the goal anyway.  Chicken yard door and bird mesh.

I also want to work on getting the horses moved.  I need to set some  steel rods set and string some temporary wire.  Ideally, I would also get two holes dug and set two posts that would be the basis for a lean-to run in shelter.  It isn't what I had hoped for, but it will get them onto fresh grass for a day or two.  I will immediately need to be concerned with what to do next and try to see if the neighbor guy will have hay for sale. (Please, God!)

And that brings me to money........

I have been toying a bit with farm math.  I have been looking at blurb.com for my book.... have I mentioned this before?  I do not remember, but anyway, it looks as if a six inch by nine inch hardcover book would sell for $4.95.  With that in mind...... if my book sold for $8.95 then I would have four dollars after paying for each book.  From that I would probably have to give half to the government for taxes.   I will figure two dollars pure profit from each book.  The goal (Please, God!) for the book is to pay off the mortgage so Mac could take early retirement and hopefully take care of himself, get some muscles back on his legs and with luck live in peace, etc.,etc.  Roughly we owe $168,000.00.  I will need to sell 84,000 books.  Shit!  That's a lot.  Well, you never know.  The world is a big place and surely there are 84,000 demented people out there that might not mind my ramblings so very much.  I have my outline and my forward written.  I am currently on my third start of chapter one.

That's my stuff for today.  First, chores.  Then, my chicken stuff.  Then, my horse stuff and then, if there is anything left of my day, I will start in on chapter one once again.  (Please, God! just let all of my stuff work out today!)

Louie

Sorry about that......

I have been gone again.  I'm terribly sorry.  It couldn't be helped.  A week ago, more or less, the family gathered together at my mother's for an annual dinner.  We came.  We ate.  We left with either a virus, or possibly, a bubbling morass of bacterial cultures, virulent enough to attack and take down every adult family member.  The little kids were unscathed, but they tend to just eat desserts and chase each other around the yard out in the fresh air.  A strategy I might adhere to in future.

The first night of illness was an epic onslaught.  Yes, I was onslaughting like crazy and I was reminded of my own mortality.  I clung to my bed for three days after.  Then began the battle for normalcy.  Well, normal for me.  As of yesterday, my stomach has stopped feeling like a huge heavy weight, tender to everything I swallow.  All that remains is that bit of depression that seems to follow an illness.  I have hopes of being back into the light completely tomorrow.

There is something about spending long periods of time swaddled in that suspended animation known as illness that does something to your mind.  You tell God that you will be good from now on.  You'll be kind to animals and small children, and possibly even strangers..... on occasion and if they don't smell funny.  You tell yourself that when you are strong again, you will do great things.

I've gotten past that stage.  My promises to God have been chalked up to feverish dementia and I'm feeling kind of sorry about that too.  Something that did bubble up while ill was the memory of promising myself that I would someday try to write a book.  I try to keep my promises, even ones to myself.  So, I am going to  write a book.... probably a really sucky book.  Isn't that exciting!?  I will add my name to the extensive list of two bit, second rate, less then necessary authors.  To compensate, I will do my best to have a real nifty cover.

Then I need to try and reconsider all of those God promises.

Louie

Tired....

We are having a full moon.  I love the full moon.  I sleep harder, sounder.  I think I am calmer.  This morning I watched the full moon slip away and the sun show itself in shades of pink and violet.  So now, I sit here and try to decide what today will be good for.  What can I accomplish?  I had heard it was suppose to be a sunny 65 degrees out today, but I think I have been lied to.  I am trying to gain the courage to tackle the chill in the air.  I have a load of clothes washed and ready to go out onto the line.  Chores need to be done.

I think that ripeness of the full moon has made me feel decadent and lazy.  I can't seem to get myself going.  In my head I'm busy, like always.  Ideas are perking away, but my body continues to say "No.... no, thank you anyway.  Not today."  I almost feel like it would be a good decision to go back to bed and then start over again.  Maybe I would get a better start.  Maybe then I would get something done.

We'll see if that works.

Louie

There will be SYRUP!

As usual, it takes very little to make me jazzed.  I finally made it out to grade some of my black walnut trees.  I have chosen ten to start with.  They are on the fringe of the woods, so they will get good sun exposure and they are at least ten inches in diameter.  Each of these trees has had an orange length of baling twine tied around their trunks so I will be able to find them next spring.  This is step one for making black walnut syrup next spring.

Step two was ordering a book from the library via the interlibrary exchange.  The book is called "Backyard Sugarin" by Rink Mann.  A slender volume that touts it can teach me everything I need to know to collect sap, build an evaporator, both temporary and permanent, then boil down to a first class syrup.  I hope Mr Mann truly does have the power to convert me into a syrup mavin.

I have found an internet source for tree taps and other sugaring supplies.  As soon as I get some allowance I will be putting in an order to Ok Hardware in Wisconsin.  I've also found several sources for  steam table pans that will be my first evaporator pans.  Might move on to something else later, but if Mr. Mann doesn't have any objections then I will start with those.

I have not built a sugaring shack.  I will just have to figure out some sort of temporary shelter to start with.  In the meantime, I need to start getting firewood cut and stacked.  I look forward to this chore.  Being out in the woods is restorative, like when I spend time with the horses.  My spirit could use more time in the woods.

When next spring rolls around, my little farm will officially have two crops..... hay and black walnut syrup.  Granted they are teeny, tiny crops, but it is a start and I feel like I am finally on my way.  My goal has been for a very long time now to have at least five products from the farm and each should net around four thousand dollars.  That would be the minimum that I need to support myself.  It's a goal and it seems like it takes me forever to reach my goals, but I feel so good!  I feel like I can honestly say that there is going to be SYRUP!!!!

Louie

Looking Back

Sometimes I like to take some time and look back.  I never realize how much I do accomplish until I take the time to look back.   We are getting there.  Slowly and surely.  I have been trying to weigh my success and failures.  Last year I tried perpetuating my tomatoes through cuttings.  It seemed like it was going so well!  The cuttings set roots very well.  I think I had less then five cuttings that failed at this step.  I had experimented with putting washed egg shell in the jars to help the rooting.  I didn't take notes.  I should have taken notes, but my feeble memory tells me that the jars with egg shell set root faster.  Overall, the cuttings with no egg shell eventually did catch up.  The cuttings did so well they set leaves and some even blossomed.  Where I ran into trouble was when I bought the potting soil.  After the very well rooted cuttings went into the soil they died as if hit by a plague.

I have read a few articles, nothing with data or any of those pesky facts, but articles that said the government allows a certain amount of industrial waste to be discarded through products like potting soil.  They say it acts as a fertilizer.  I will no longer buy potting soil.  Any seed I plant in the stuff will no longer do well.  Most won't germinate.  Those that do die in pretty short order.  I talked to a lady that used to run a green house business and she said she would not use american potting soil.  All of hers came from Canada. So, I have been debating whether or not the tomato cutting experiment was a success or not.  I "think" if I had put my cuttings into good garden soil and wintered them over in the green house with some heat that they would have done very well.  As it is, I can't really say that.  After the green house is finished and I am properly set up, then I will try again.  The project was definitely worth the effort.

Another of my experiments was "winter sowing".  The premise was that you always have dropped fruit or veg that leaves a seed and it comes up the next spring as a "volunteer".  So go ahead and get seeds out, let them experience the winter and they will come up when the time is right all on their own and without all of the coddling, mess and the general havoc that comes with seed starting kits.  Again this was kind of a success/failure venture.  I had plants come up.  Not all of them.  I think I probably made some mistakes.  I couldn't keep the tops on my containers.  The tops were suppose to offer some protection like a cloche would.  My friend, Suz, who used milk jugs, had germinated seeds in each container. I didn't.  What I did get started was the best crop of kale I have ever had.  Granted kale is a cold loving plant but still, I will take it.  This is one I will try again.  I am thinking I will go ahead and buy seed now and set it back.  I always get the cold crops in too late, so this might be a good alternative to waiting for greenhouses to open.  Broccoli, cauliflower, beets, brussel sprouts, so I think these are the ones that will go into the winter sowing experiment again.... oh yes and kale!

The garden was better this year.  But we had the drought.  We had wicked high temperatures.  We had an invasion of munching bugs.  I didn't get enough put up.  I have some bread and butter pickles.  I have some frozen tomatoes for soups.  No where near what I had hoped for.  So I am trying to come up with strategies to overcome these problems.  For the drought, I am looking at some other methods of watering.  Mr. Hillel of Israel won the World Food Prize this year for a method of irrigating that uses far less water.... wick irrigation.  I will look into it.  To battle the high temperatures I will also be looking at buying some shade cloth.  I will try to protect my plants from sun burn from about 1:00 -4:00 in the afternoon.  I'll try... it will be another experiment and I will have to have enough money to buy supplies.  As far as the bugs go, well I will be spacing out my plants .... A LOT!  Then I want to put in bird houses in fairly low locations.  Put bird baths on the ground.  Anything to get those natural predators in low where I need them.

I tend to beat myself up with things that I perceive as failures.  Actually, they aren't failures, I just couldn't get to them.  There was either no time, or no money or the heat was so extreme that it would have been dangerous to be outside for very long.  The project isn't a failure, perhaps I am, but not the project.  I still have a great deal of winter prep to accomplish.  I have to review my farm plan, and try to knock down into steps, the things I want to accomplish next year.  The next time that I look back, I want to see so much more.

Louie

Weather Wise

Yesterday started with so many good intentions.  The chores were done.  Bits of trash picked up.  Pots were stashed and I was starting to burn off the garden.  It didn't really want to burn, but we were making headway regardless.  Then the skies opened.  It didn't take long to get soaked and a bit chilled.  So, once in the house, I wrapped up and as I became warm, I feel asleep.  The day was lost.

I should pay closer attention to the weather.  But it has become more difficult to tell when it is serious or just teasing me.  Last night on the news a stock analyst was second guessing oil futures.  Wall Street thinks it will be a mild winter.  This might help people like me who are walking into winter with no hay.  I will keep working on getting pasture fenced and accessible and rotate the horses onto new ground.  I wonder if Wall Street has their own weather men.....

I'm watching the clouds this morning.  The sun is not fully up yet.  There is an almost solid cover of clouds.  This morning they look like inverted rolling hills.  Nothing jagged or menacing, no gashes of bright colors.  I have no idea if this is good news or not.  Like always, we shall start and see where we end up when the day is over.

The next three days I will be attending a horse clinic.  It will be featuring the Parelli instructor, Dave Ellis.  I should be excited, but I am getting bogged down with how to manage my chores and Mac.  While other people at the clinic will be hanging out, having a bonfire, listening to guitar playing, I shall be driving over an hour to get back home and make sure everyone has eaten. Making sure that meds are taken and in general be distracted by everything at home.  It is better then nothing and I will take it.  I know that once there, I will feel better.  I will feel hopeful.  I will have a better idea of what I want to do.  I will feel better because I will get to talk to people and not spend all of my time with in my own head.  I think my brains are getting a bit of cabin fever and getting out will be a good thing.

As I have been writing, the sun has gone.  The clouds have flattened out and the world looks gray.  I hope it doesn't stop me from getting things done, but I know it will make everything take longer and feel heavier.  I guess that means I had better get to it.  Chores do not do themselves.

Louie