Does anyone have a supply of used brick?

With spring in full gear and the rains gone for a few days we decided to jump in and start the path that will connect the house and studio.  Since the completion of the studio we have been forced to cross the grass in the back yard and it wasn't long before we had a dirt path--which turned to a muddy mess (inside and out) every time it rained or snowed.

Well, no more!  We'll just use the bricks we salvaged during the demolition of the Wendell school a few years back.  Problem is, lots of people heard about the brick give away and we were only able to salvage half a path worth...

Fortunately Diana works at the local grocery store--which is the social center of town and, as we're quickly learning, the networking hub for everything.  One day, while running the cash register, she asked a local stone mason she knows if any locals he knows might have a supply of used brick.  "As a matter of fact, yes! he said.  Apparently several years ago they demolished the nearby King Hill School and I guess not as many people heard about it because he told Diana one lady inherited a majority of the bricks!  She is rumored to have "thousands of them". 

We haven't made contact with her yet, so our brick road remains a dream for now, but hey, how long can this lady go before she runs out of groceries?  And when she does I'm hoping Diana will be at the register so we can work a deal!  If she actually does have thousands, our pizza oven may be one step closer to reality as well!

Our Morning at the Elk Ranch... and it has nothing to do with elk

Now that we're settling back into big city society while off the road, we're reconnecting with some of our contacts in the local area.  One such contact is an acquaintance of Diana's who manages a ranching operation just outside town.  The rancher who owns the place seems to do it all, from cows, to elk, to crops, and he runs a small time wood mill where he cuts red fir into some really nice board lumber. and they have tons of scraps which would fit really nicely into our wood cook stove!  So Diana asks the manager what they plan to do with the scraps and she replies -- "just come and load up all you want, any time."

Holy cow, the mother load!  We thought we entered firewood heaven.

But wait, there's more!

Apparently the milling operators are only interested in certain prime cuts of lumber because, not only do they have the round edge scraps, there's a ton of dimensional red fir in all sizes, shapes and lengths mixed in!  We have plans now to side the studio with some of the nicer boards.

Here's the truck with a half of a load left from our first run.  Notice all the 8' trim pieces and 2x2's on the left!

And of course we recruited all hands to help unload.

We stopped at two truckloads today (about 2 cords) , but have formed a plan to return to the massive pile twice a week until we have filled our wood pile and the wood piles of everyone in town who needs it!  We will not run out of fire wood this year!

While talking to the manager of the ranch before we finished loading for our first trip we asked what they do when they get too many scraps.  She said they used to cut it up and sell it off, but that the workers are needed for other tasks now.  Instead, in the recent past they have just lit the pile on fire to get rid of it.  Can you believe it?  

Afterwards we celebrated our victory with a picnic in the back yard! 

That wood rack in the background won't be empty for long!

OK we may be a bit crazy... but

Since we're staying home this summer we figured why not, we'll get a turkey. What could possibly go wrong?

We were picking up our order of Araucana chickens to add to our flock anyway and what's one more bird, really?

We'll see how it goes, but our plan for now is to have him join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

He does already stand head and shoulders above the rest, doesn't he?  Can you pick him out of this line up?

We're really looking forward to the eggs that our new Araucanas will be giving us.  This is the breed that lays Easter eggs! (Photo borrowed from http://www.weis-family.org)

Homestead head count update:

3 Dogs

2 Cats

2 Rabbits (just had to post a picture of them relaxing in the sun)

1 Turkey

2 Roosters

10 Hens

6 pullets

1 pig

Should be fun!  We'll let you know how it goes!

 

Hammy is Here!

Took a detour after church on Sunday and picked up this little guy.  His name is Hammy (named by Diana) and he weighs in at about 35 pounds.  He has already settled in and rooted up his entire sty!  What a roto-tiller!

When picking him out from the rest we decided to try to pick the most stubborn, ugly wiener so it would make parting easier in a few months.  Didn't work--they're all cute at this age.  We're counting on the fact that he'll get uglier and meaner as time goes on since he won't be able to stay full time.

Here is our re-purposed pallet pig palace! 10 pallets, connected with 2 x 4's and lined with chicken wire.  We installed a shade awning at one end and some side wind breaks.  The top section of  the near corner facing the camera comes off and creates a step over doorway.  

Our local Nutrena feed rep gave us an easy formula to use to make sure he's eating enough to make weight by August.  He should top out somewhere around 250-300 pounds if all goes well.  The compost pile will just have to suffer a bit in the mean time.

We'll keep you updated on his progress!

Vermiculture is coming to the homestead!

So we’ve been composting for years now… You know the little stainless steel bin that sits on our counter that collects all the compostable kitchen waste?  Then we have to take it out to empty into the big compost pile out back and turn the pile from time to time.  Eventually it provides us with some great garden compost.

But then we recently caught up with some friends of ours who live in Alaska and they introduced us to Vermiculture – composting taken to the extreme!  The practice of vermiculture simply uses Red Wiggler worms (thousands of them) to do your composting for you – and in a very efficient, semi-automated way!

Here’s our new set up

Yes, it’s just a modified Rubbermaid garbage can!  We cut an access door in the bottom. Caulked in evenly spaced PVC tubes to form a shelf and viola!

Start by layering a few moist newspaper and cardboard scraps on top of the shelf, then add a layer of compostable scraps, then a few hundred worms, more newspaper and cardboard, more scraps, worms and etc. until your at the top or out of worms.  As the worms eat through the mass of scraps, they form castings (poop) which is GREAT for your garden!  As they eat, you add scraps to the top.  Castings make there way to the bottom (between the PVC tubes) where you can collect it.  Castings then go directly to the garden as top dressing!  And the beauty is that the worms constantly migrate to the latest uneaten scraps (toward the top of the bin) living in a suspended environment.

We’ve learned everything we know to this point from our friend Sandy.  She has a web site packed with information you should all check out at www.wormsandstuff.com

We’ll let you know how the project progresses as time goes on.  

...Now let the castings fall where they may!

Odds and Ends… after a long winter!

Got a new coat of paint on the garden fence… and the new bunny hutch.  Still have to pain the gable end of the studio.

Restrung some of our older wind chimes.

Put up new garden ornaments.  These are Tibetan Monastery Bells we found at a really neat shop in Nevada City California during our stay there.  I love the sound they make!  Still have to hang  our Tibetan Prayer Flags but will wait for warmer/calmer weather.

Watched the Forsythia bloom and the Weeping Willow leaf out! As well as many other trees, bushes and plants around the property.  Can’t wait for the lilacs to bloom!

Ran wire for the new 30 amp service to the 5^th wheel and buried half of it so far (man is our ground hard!  Add “aerate lawn” to my list of to-do’s.

Also have hard wire service to the studio now and will soon have the garage and garden shed wired as well.  And plan to run a 20 amp off the fifth wheel pole to power the “Streamline Trailer Guest Room”.

And more re-purposing of pallets – into a fence to keep the dogs out of our laundry line area.  Came out looking pretty good after I dog eared the slats.  (Add more painting to the list.)  Tried to install some double-swing hinges for the gate, but the $17 Chinese hinges that came from Amazon.com arrived broken (and they were cheaply made to begin with!)  I’ll have to come up with something else since I can’t find the hinges I need locally!

So much to do and so little time!

Gardening Season is upon us!

And this year it holds special significance since we’ve been unable to have a garden for the last few years.  Our canning pantry is in dire need of restocking and our bodies are craving pickled beets, pickled asparagus, fried okra and fresh homegrown tomatoes!

This year we finally found a few minutes to set up our greenhouse and cover it with some poly.  If it works out (and early indications look positive) we’ll cover it in subsequent years with a more permanent hard panel system and install venting, watering, etc.

We’re still using a raised bed system in the garden and all the beds are now set up with independent irrigation spigots that run drip irrigation.  We can then alter the drip emitters or install drip tubing or small bed sprinklers based on what we put in each bed. 

I’ve already got the first row of “cool weather crops in the ground here and the irrigation is set.

This photo shows the simplicity of my system.  The incoming water usually comes from irrigation, but since it’s not on yet for the season I have it running on city water for now.  That line plugs into a timer which feeds a manifold that supplies water to each tap at the beds.  Eventually I will install a multi-zone timer so I can run water at the beds at differing lengths of time, but for now this system works pretty well.

On our menu this year:

In the ground already – carrots, beets, kale, radishes, snow peas

In starter trays in the greenhouse – tomatoes (lots of varieties), peppers (even more varieties), okra

To be planted later (May) – beans, cucumber, lettuce, pumpkins, melons and probably more!

But this year – NO ZUCCHINI!  I’m sure we’ll still end up with enough zucchini so choke the pig!