Productive weekend

We've had a stretch of beautiful sunny weather, and some days have even been thankfully free of the well-know, persistent springtime winds. This weekend we finally made a dent in some of the chores we've been picking away at.

On Saturday Matt bought his new pride and joy - a guitar he's been searching for and dreaming about for quite some time. Although he finally got to play it that evening, we spent most of the day dismantling, hauling, and then re-assembling the custom greenhouse Matt built a year or so ago. There was nary a breeze in the morning, but by mid-afternoon when we got on the highway between Mendocino and here, with the teetering stack of greenhouse walls on top of the lumber rack (should have taken a picture of that!), it was gusting probably to 20 mph. As we drove, we wondered how strong a wind it would have taken to lift the truck's wheels off the ground. We looked a little Beverly Hillbilly, but did make it home in one piece.

On Sunday, Matt set the remainder of the posts for the dog run, got some of the fencing up, and also built the first of 2 greenhouse benches. Meanwhile, I seeded another random assortment of herbs and vegetables, as well as digging up more of the garden. I timed myself and found that in half an hour, I dig something around 12-15 feet of 40-inch-wide bed. (Each bed is 40 feet long!) It's pretty slow. But because the ground has been so compacted by years of horse grazing, I'm "double-digging" it. I think (hope) it will be worth it to have the soil loosened that deeply.

My big ambition had been to try to start selling at the Farmers Market in a small way this year, but I think I'm way too far behind. The market starts in May, and though I have an absurd number of seedlings going, I still haven't gotten anything into the ground! The potatoes have started sprouting in their box on the kitchen floor, so they will definitely be the first things to get planted. The best part is that with the greenhouse here, I won't have to haul seed flats in and out of the house, and look at anemic little plants wishing they got more sun than an east-facing window can provide.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Mamas

As you see we actually managed to get a picture with both moms and all six dogs!

We had a great visit with Matt's mom and mine. Although they kept trying to insist on doing chores or slaving in the yard, who can make their mother work when she's only there for 2 days? Our stubbornness, and the rain and wind, managed to keep them at least pretending to relax.

Is it wrong to say, "if my mom can teach chickens, you'd think fifth graders would do a little better?"

It was windy but beautiful on Sunday when we went to the Botanical Gardens.

The final shot is a sunset barn picture Matt took.

Matt's been organizing the garage. I planted a couple of Ceanothus out in the front yard, and started seeds for several more flowers, herbs and vegetables. Other than that, we haven't accomplished much of interest... we can hardly wait for the weekend!

Dogs... and potatoes

Matt's been working away on the dog run. It won't be done in time for both moms to visit with their combined FIVE dogs - but since all the dogs are small, it'll be fine. Even in the house, if the predicted rain materializes. Sammy will have to share the attention, but since the other dogs are much more spoiled (tee hee), I'm sure the treats will be flowing.

I've continued to work on digging up the garden beds, although we haven't yet gotten the compost, and I haven't covered anything with black plastic. Today our seed potato order arrived - 2 pounds each of five varieties of organic or naturally-grown taters (All Blue, Inca Gold, Mountain Rose, Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold). I also saved a bunch of the Purple Peruvian fingerlings from last year, and they're sprouting. Even though we don't yet have the fencing up, all the posts are there. If I plant the spuds this weekend, we'll have plenty of time to put up the mesh before the shoots appear above ground.

Don't let anyone tell you deer won't eat potato leaves. Although they're poisonous, I had my potato crop eaten down to the nubs TWICE by deer last year. Aargh.

The 3 chickens have recovered from their trauma, and have finally stopped freaking out and flying everytime I walk into the coop.

Have a great weekend!

The first hard lesson

I'm sure it won't be the last, although hopefully the last of its kind.

Unfortunately, our chicken housing concerns had revolved more around weather than the abundant wily predators. To make it short, there were only 3 chickens when I went to let them out today. All that was left was a handful of feathers, barely noticeable outside the coop, in a shadowy corner of the barn. Little did I know that as I took pictures of them frolicking in the yard on Saturday, that it would be one of the last times we saw the little black one, front and center in the photo.

It was a frustrating (although I suppose not surprising) reminder that it's not all fun and games - there will be hard stuff to deal with. And predators (likely a raccoon in this case) don't take breaks or give you a head start. I realize it is not very "farm-like" to get sentimental about a chicken. I think the most disheartening part is that these creatures rely on us not just for food, fresh air and clean water everyday - but also for their protection. And we failed them. Tonight, we finally finished making the coop secure against the biggest threats.

Big Blue

The great blue heron was back in the yard on Thursday, hunting in the tall vegetation. I managed to get a few photos this time, and after a few minutes it took flight.

Breaking ground

For the past couple of weeks we've had all the materials we've needed to put up the deer fence for the garden. And we've been slowly getting out there and working on it. Yesterday I finally finished pounding in the last of the round posts; today Matt set the supporting 4x4 posts in concrete, and I finally started laying out the beds and started "busting sod." [The plan is not to till, but to turn over the sod (roots-up), order a couple of yards of compost to spread on it (one local place actually delivers certified organic bulk compost) and then cover it with black plastic to rest a while. Hopefully the thick layer of compost and black plastic will be enough to kill the sod (by excluding light). Not sure how long it will have to be on there, but it'll be an interesting experiment.]

Matt's also been working on converting the car canopy into a greenhouse (last picture). Tomorrow after work he'll finish up setting the last few 4x4s, and I'll start putting up the netting and continue turning the sod.

Wildlife friendly

Since we've been here, we've seen a fair amount of wildlife - deer (aargh), huge flocks of migratory birds - especially American robins and yellow-rumped warblers, and a great blue heron we've seen foraging in a wetter patch of meadow. Matt took this picture a couple of weeks ago.

What a concept - plants in the ground

Being cheap, and being a renter for so long, has made me balk at the thought of planting into the ground permanently anything I liked a lot. Except vegetables, many of which are annuals even in our mild winter climate. When we moved into the Russian Gulch house, I bought an absurd number of half wine-barrels to grow vegetables in, since we weren't really supposed to plant anything at all there.

So now, a bunch of tortured perennial plants, transplanted an absurd number of times, root-bound to varying degrees and screaming for open ground, are getting their place in the sun, so to speak. The contorted, stunted "bonsai" lavenders and rosemaries; the hydrangea Vanessa & Bill gave us that I wasn't about to leave anywhere, the dahlia I bought at the botanical gardens knowing full well it was going to have to sit in a pot forever... they are all waiting their turn.

Pictures: Some of the lavenders have been planted by the garage. Also, we went to the botanical gardens with gift certificates from a while ago, and put them toward the purchase of a few wax myrtles (native shrubs), a couple of "tea tree" varieties (Australian shrubs but not invasive), and Matt's new pride and joy - The Beloved Bamboo in the Priceless Pot (OK, I'm just calling it that, but he really does put it in the garage at night to keep it warm and safe from the icy wind. Eventually it'll come out of the pot and be split into two and put in the ground to fend for itself. And to give Matt credit, the pot was on sale.)

"The Girls"

Playing (chicken) house

I saw an ad on craigslist for organically-fed chickens early in the week before we went to Santa Cruz (a couple of weeks ago now) - and the farm was along the way (but about 3 hours from here, so it made sense to combine the errand with another trip). We had planned on getting chickens, but this opportunity made us expedite our plans. The resulting hurried coop was pretty shabby at first (Matt started outfitting a corner of the barn but we ran out of time so I tacked up some greenhouse plastic.) It's looking much better now, thanks to Matt's hard work. Here are a couple of before-and-afters.

We "Hart" our new tree

There was a long unidentified box waiting for us in the office at work. What the heck? As I walked through, the personnel lady exclaimed, "aren't you going to open your package?!" Huh, strange. So I opened it up to find a wonderful gift to us from Neely and Jason - a Sierra Beauty apple tree. It's an antique variety, the apples from which (Neely said) you can sometimes buy at farmers markets. We can hardly wait to eat some - though it might be a while. The next day, we planted it out near the other trees. Also in the box was a book, The Home Orchardist. It is extremely interesting, and I have learned many things. One really important thing I learned is that we need at least one more tree... another pear variety to pollinate the Comice. Though the label said semi self-fertile, apparently it will produce much better if it has another variety to cross-pollinate it. Who knew?

Thank you, Jason and Neely!

Fruit trees and family labor

The weekend after escrow closed, my mom and brother came up to visit. They came planning to be put to work! The weather wasn't terribly cooperative, but we did manage to get 8 fruit trees planted: 2 Comice pears, 2 Santa Rosa plums, 2 Granny Smith apples and 2 Fuji apples. The dogs tried to help by vacuuming up all the deer poop on the ground. Thanks, guys.

Other than that, it seems like the whole visit was spent hiding from the rain: shopping (in hardware stores), laying around, and eating (although I'm sure my brother would have preferred more eating). But it was fun!

Blank slate

I have a lot of catching up to do, since we've already made some progress, despite the pouring rain and the irritating distraction called "employment."

These are some pictures we took the morning after we got the keys. (The barn, an overview, and the front of the house.)

Welcome to Furlough Farm

Ok, that's actually not the name. In searching for a name - for the land itself and hopefully the market garden business to come - we have been at a loss. Vanessa (jokingly, cleverly) suggested Furlough Farm, and for now it's the best we have. (Other than VegMo! - but that's just a bit too much.)

We needed a name for the blog, and so there it is.

In case anyone who doesn't know us actually looks at this blog... on February 6, 2009 we became the proud owners (thanks mostly to my mom. Thanks, Mom!) of 4 acres with a 1930's "farmhouse," a garage, and a massive old barn. (OK, like most people, the bank actually owns it.) There was little else on the property except for one young apple tree and one young plum tree. We want to document our journey from the blank slate it was, to the sustainable homestead we dream of. At some point my mom will move up (after retirement... or maybe before!) We'll build another house, and she has promised to shear the sheep.

Stay tuned for photos and progress reports...

Angela & Matt