Good ideas and states of limbo

The spring winds seem to make planting any spindly climbing thing out in the open a risky proposition. On top of that, I saw a really good idea on a Mother Earth News blog that I knew we could immediately adapt. So, into the wine barrels (not the open garden) went the bean and sugar snap pea starts, as well as a couple new rows of peas. At the Russian Gulch house we grew peas on one trellis per barrel and planted (too many) radishes, or cilantro or something else in front of them. But it'll be nice to be able to have twice as many beans and peas in a sheltered place (right next to the kitchen, actually).

The only "down side" is that it gives us one more reason to keep putting off the chore we know is at hand - getting those beds really ready. The truth is, I admit defeat. If I am going to insist on creating new beds the somewhat lazy way, we'll have to start in winter, then cover the beds with plastic for several months. (That wasn't possible this first time, but maybe next year...)

Our goofy twist on American Gothic

By only slightly-popular demand:

"Why the *bleep* did you put me on there, but there are no pictures of you?"

"How come you never put the pictures I take of you on there?"

"Why don't you post pictures of yourselves?"

I figure I should be a little more cooperative, especially consdering that I always want to see pictures of people.

So also, "Hi" to the one reader we don't know personally, who likes our blog. :)

Matt's tool of choice is a McLeod, not a pitchfork.

iHuevos!

We had just been joking this weekend that we almost forgot the chickens weren't "just pets" - Oh, yeah, they're supposed to lay eggs! But then we realized we didn't really know how old the chickens were when we got them, so it might still be a while.

Ok, so anyone who knows me realizes I am SO NOT the person to feel like I'm connected to the cosmos in any crazy way. Let me make a "long story" short. I usually only go into the coop a couple of times a week, since their waterer is a gallon and that lasts 3 chickens for several days. I just filled their water yesterday. But when I went into the barn after work to grab their handful of cracked corn I use to make them happy to see me (hey, bribery works), I suddenly remembered that I dreamt last night that the chickens had laid eggs... so I went into the coop, and there were our lovely first 2 eggs. Is it flattering to be on the same wavelength with admittedly not the most brilliant animals in the kingdom? Not really. I almost titled this post "bird brain." :)

I've been using rice hulls as bedding. I'll write more about that later, 'cause I think it's kind of cool.

Taters

I don't think I ever mentioned that a few weeks ago I finally planted all those potatoes that were sprouting in the box on the kitchen floor. The problem is, the potato "patch" isn't very photogenic... so I can't bear to make you look at it. :) I used an area I'd already dug up when I was experimenting with bed sizes; this bed is too wide to reach into the middle without walking (or laying) on the cultivated soil, which is absurd. Trial and error, folks. So, we've been mulching it with cut grass in hopes of keeping the weeds to a minimum. It's been working pretty well so far, and finally (just before I was starting to panic) a few little leaves are starting to unfurl through the dry grass.

Down home fun

Last weekend, our friends Neely and Jason headed out to the coast for a visit - and we were happy to have them stay with us! Neely, the (previously-and-soon to be again) professional grower amongst us, brought an awesome heirloom high-wheel cultivator that's been in her family for a couple of generations. While Jason and I dodged the camera, Neely demonstrated (and Matt had to try out) the cultivator. That'd be way faster than the fork! Even though Neely generously offered to let us use it, we are afraid that the one boulder on the property would jump in front of it... We might buy one from a cool company that still makes such things. (At the risk of sounding commercial... check out Lehman's.)

Don't worry, though. The pictures above are as close as we got to "working" during their visit, and we had a fun, relaxing weekend.

(PS - Neely, don't kill me for using your picture. Also, since it was getting dark and the camera was being cranky, all "action" photos were too blurry, so I had to use the ones of y'all standing still!)

Our implements of (grass and weed) destruction

Yes, we are considering getting a real mower.

Then our neighbors might stop thinking we are insane (or at least think we are a little less so).

Future flower garden

Matt and I have been working on this existing railroad-tie raised bed near the house. It was apparently a garden at one time, but then also apparently became a repository for beer caps, wood ash, plastic scraps and other detritus (judging from the bucketload of junk we dug out). Although the location would be perfect for a kitchen garden, we obviously don't trust the content of the soil. The good thing is, it's also a perfect location for a flower garden. It'll be mostly perennials and/or natives, but there will be a few annuals and other random flowers as well.

The smart one in the family

While we were working, this is what Sammy was doing, in many different locations: kickin' it in the shade.

Make work

Since we live each day in mortal fear of running out of things to do (har har), Matt and I keep creating more projects to take on. Recently, Matt's friend Gary offered us 6 Douglas Fir saplings that he had left over from a project. Of course we wouldn't consider passing up free trees. Since it is late to be planting trees, and it's been dry this spring, we know we'll have to haul water to them. So we're trying to plan spots that aren't too far afield. They're still in their pots, but we hope to get them planted and growing soon!

And in thwacking (and pulling) some of the massive "wild" mustard plants that make the yard look unkempt, I stumbled upon a surprisingly large number of (some species of) native blackberry plants. Since we'd wanted to plant berries but decided not to take it on this year, it seems perfect to cultivate these. They are completely choked with weeds. I started pulling, naively thinking it was a half-day project. I'm realizing now only heaven knows how long it will take, but considering how much more extensive the population is than I'd originally thought, I'm hopeful that the blackberry harvest will be substantial, especially after a couple of years. Hopefully soon I'll be able to tell you exactly what species of berry it is.

Here's what the area looks like now:

Springtime

Having good weather forces one to be out working in the yard, even when said person would rather spend the weekend lounging in the shade, drinking something cold. The past 2 weekends have been unseasonably hot here, clear and sunny with temperatures in the 70's. This would probably be great if a) we were acclimated to it and b) it didn't smack of "inconvenient truths." Climate change, anyone?

Thanks of course to all the sun, the fruit trees and shrubs are growing strong... but so is the grass. We still only have a (gas) weed-whacker, a manual push-mower (yes, the kind with no motor), and 2 kinds of what we're calling the "grass thwacker" - basically a manual weed-whacker (think of the old farm days.) We're creating heaps of grass clippings, which were at first going into the compost - until we ran out of room. Then we started adding them to the chicken coop as entertainment and/or bedding. Now we've got another big pile, which we'll try to dry (like hay) for use either as mulch, or one of our original uses.





Matt's been working on the "hop yard." We bought one rhizome each of five hop varieties, and Matt is building a massive trellis/ shade structure/ privacy screen. The posts are anchored in concrete. He dug out the beds and amended them with compost, then shaped the mounds. Today he got the rhizomes into the ground, and soon will finish the supports for the vines to grow on. Eventually, a bench will sit within the semicircle.

Who is Animalia?

(In case you were wondering...)

You've seen "posted by Animalia" at the bottom of each blog message... Animalia is Angela. It's just an old account nickname I use occasionally.

Why Animalia? I have a Wildlife degree... I study "Kingdom Animalia."

Above is an elephant seal pup that was lounging on the beach in December.

Embrace your wild side. :)

Happy Easter!

Hope your day was wonderful!

(Ceramic Easter basket hand-painted by my great-grandmother, Mama Fannie; stuffed animals from my mom.)

Rural harmony

The deer isn't actually inside the chicken pen, but behind it. As long as the deer aren't in the garden, they are more than welcome to help out with the mowing!

Gopher hunter, take two

We finally stopped him from digging when it became clear that even the sick, slow, injured or stupid gophers would have all been long gone.

Out with the old...

Matt's new guitar had a fatal defect... so back to the music store we went. After trying everything out again, he picked another winner. He loves it.



For you curious types, the flaw was that the pegs kept popping out when he tighened the strings. Even a new set of pegs wouldn't work.

Nicest dog run fence in town

If you know Matt, you know he likes to bring an artistic touch to all of his projects - even the dog run. Hence the 2x6 redwood railing on the front. Soon he'll router a design onto it. (He says maybe a vine, but he can be a little unpredictable so who knows what will materialize?)

Farm dog

Well, Sammy's trying his best to fulfill that role. He shows an interest in rooting out the gophers - no matter how long ago the gopher may have actually been there. He thinks he's in trouble in this picture, but really I was just trying to run and get the camera while he still had dirt on his nose. He'd cleaned himself up by the time I got back, but he hasn't made much progress on catching anything as of press time.

Compost, finally

This weekend, we finally got a truckload of organic compost to put into the beds. Now I'm feeling a little sheepish about rolling out huge swaths of black plastic on what is essentially our front yard...

Why I don't want to roto-till

Not that I judge anyone who does...

OK, so admittedly on the political spectrum I fall somewhere between bleeding-heart liberal and hippie. For some that might be explanation enough. And really, it's true I don't want to give the oil companies any more money than I have to, even to buy the few gallons of gas necessary to run a power tiller. Oh, and hand digging is good exercise. And it's practical enough for us since we're not trying to make a living from our garden.

But another good reason is to spare the earthworms! Every gardener knows the benefits of earthworms to the structure (looser) and content (richer) of the soil. The soil here is quite literally crawling with them. The compaction is the down-side of the past horse grazing, but fertile soil (due to their production and distribution of manure) loaded with earthworms is a major benefit. I'm not sure if it's true but I'm thinking that in a place like this, where the horses would have needed to be fed hay in addition to the grazing they could do, that the animals actually added more organic matter than just letting the grass grow and die (as happens in "natural" grasslands) would have. (Of course that source of fertility was imported from somewhere else.)

Finally finished digging the second row today. I'm definitely noticing the difference in difficulty digging now that it hasn't rained in a couple of weeks.

This post is dedicated to all the worms workin' away in our gardens as we speak...