Hiccup Starts...

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Seems getting a project done always includes hiccup beginnings, and getting the electric fence put in was no exception.

As we went out to pound in the three grounding rods, we realized that the fenceline needed to be moved. It had been curving down around the pool area...





It went up again nearer the house, so the horses would have a little more pasture area...





and then went back up again down by the greenhouse frame.





We had been planning on extending the garden area sideways, toward the fruit crop direction, but instead we decided to extend it upward toward the house and move the fence so it would be straight and parallel (as close as you can get in with lopsided everything) to the house area.

We used a hose to mark the straight line we would follow. I took this photo when we were done along this area.





If you remember this amazing contraption my dad built for us last year, we fell in love with it all over again. It made getting the posts out a breeze! This one is dug out because we started that before Michael remembered how to drop the winch down further.





You just park it over a fence post, hang the winch from the ring at the top and wrap a chain around the post.





If you are on a hill, use a board. Some of the hills were so steep, we actually place the frame uphill from the post, right next to it, instead of directly over the top. Start winching...





...and the post comes right out!





We also moved some of the posts to create an interior fenceline inside the original fence. That's where we planted the blueberries. Since the compost bins are down there and we'd like to plant fruit trees along there as well, we are closing it off from the horses.





We dismantled the garden fence so we can redo that. The horses had trampled it down beyond repair, so it will be new and improved with this new electric system.

We also began mowing. Guess who ran over the electric wires we had laid down from the old system? Yeah, me. I was near them, Michael yelled something to me, and I began trying to look and hear him instead of where I was going. I wonder if he was telling me to watch out for the wires...

Here he is untangling the mess.





We don't have a working weed whacker, so we have to rely on sprays along edges of buildings and fences. Usually we have to do it so often that it gets away from us. We decided to invest in this stuff, which is very costly, but we are only going to use it on the most problematic areas, and hope that the one application will last for the whole growing season. The regular Round-Up will have to do for the easier stuff.





These little sprayers are sure uncomfortable on your back. You have to bend down a long way for long periods. So that's what I did while Michael fixed the mower blades.





We both soaked up as much sunshine as we could. I'm sure our Vitamin D levels are horribly low. I've been having a tough time dealing with the dreary weather all winter, so I was so happy to finally be out enjoying a sunny day of 75 degrees in a short skirt and spaghetti strap top. I even got a little sunburned. But we sure feel a lot better!

Today has another list. It's spring break so we are using it to full advantage!

~Faith

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Scenes From Thursday

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Here's a shot of the celery we have that is the happiest. As yet unplanted, but it's in the shade, sitting in a puddle of water. Very wet feet! They like a lot of water.





We were so busy all day that I didn't bring out my camera until most of the day gone. But here we are adding another tier to the potato boxes. We'll have to find a way to carefully add in the dirt when they are high enough. To save money we are using scraps of anything; deck trimmings, barn siding, even the trimmings from the neighbor's saw mill. You can see one board with the bark on it.





We picked up all the rocks, moved the mulch, mowed, raised the electric wire - all around the garden. Then we added chicken wire as a barrier to keep the little bunnies out.





This is the area I planted all in corn for the most part; mostly a hybrid sweet corn, but also an old open-pollinated variety so I can save seeds. I don't think I mentioned it, but with all the weirdness happening financially I wanted to have a garden that I didn't need to repurchase seeds for again. It will take a little effort, but I hope I will make myself do this. I will post instructions for each seed saving technique as I do them myself.

I am doing a Three Sisters planting here, meaning corn first, then add in beans, then squash; like the old story of the Indians. You wait until the corn is about 4 inches high before you plant the beans, and likewise for the squash.

I WAS going to also do this in combination with succession plantings of the corn. But as the season gets later and later it's just not going to be enough growing days. So yesterday I put in all the corn. I'll still be pushing it a little, It's going to be nearly July by the time the squash, pumpkin, gourds, and such go in. I may have to bump it up just a little.





With the little area I had left below the corn, I put in a double row of cucumbers, still needing the stakes put in, and I inter-planted peanuts with broom corn.





Over where I was going to add in more celery and celeriac I chose instead to use the space for a more sure bet, a GIANT pumpkin hill, on the right (This is looking a little like a moonscape); you know, one of those award winning, humongous kinds. And to the left of them a little double circle of Indian corn. I hope it will be enough for good pollination. I may have to go out and shake a little pollen down onto the tassels to make sure.





I was pleased to see this little lady bug in our happy sugar snap peas.





But on my evening walkabout, I sure wished she was over on my eggplants!





ACK! Flea beetles or aphids (My knees hurt too much to bend them, my sight is too bad, and I was too much in a hurry to kill them to take the time to look.) already, and I just put these in a few days ago. They'd already sucked the life out of 2 and were well on their way to finishing off the rest of them. Michael did his best to try to look disappointed. Actually, he was. He's been working really hard here too, and was not happy to see even this crop decimated. I went back down with a sprayer of soapy water, but I suspect I'm too late and will have to replant.

We mowed most things yesterday as well. Michael rode the tractor mower for about 3 hours getting the major stuff. I did some edge work with the push mower. The field looked so pretty with the buttercups still growing. The horses eat around them.

We've been getting a lot of grass clippings for the mulch pile. Not enough dried vegetation to add with it, so we have stored it in the bin to the left of the current compost pile. On the outside you can see our meager brown pile, all fluffy with leaves. Not enough to do well with the huge pile of very heavy and packed green clippings.

I found the mulch pile much too dry. I had hoped that with the wet grass clippings and steady showering, it would have enough moisture. So I did much watering and turning of the pile for about 10 minutes. I think it's still too dry and will have to pay more attention to adding water each time I add materials from now on.





My dad will also bring out his pine needles. I won't add too many to the compost pile, as it will end up being acidic at first and I don't know where or when I'll be using it. But the needles will make excellent mulch for acid loving plants like azaleas and the blueberries I'd like to grow again.

This problem is new. I'm not sure what this is, but some little tunneling creature is digging along under the chicken yard fence. I would say a small vole, but I thought they liked grassy and mulchy areas...





So all the rocks we had taken out of the garden soil and picked the piles up, went here. We are going to line the bottom of the fence all the way around, maybe on both sides. You really have to keep a step ahead with predators.





And we got three eggs again today, our current usual. After the upsetting events of the last few days, egg production was off. The golf ball is a training aid for new hens. They look around, think that other hens are laying here, and this is the best place to lay as well.





Hawk Tales! - As we worked yesterday we saw the pair of hawks repeatedly come back and circle over the chicken yard, their cries are beautiful. I'd love to know what they are saying. They would change their angle of sight, think, eye the chickens and the sun on the line, circle and cry some more. I'd stop my fence repair and Michael would put the brakes on the mower and we'd watch and wait....

But they never dove and they finally went off for good. I'm hoping it worked.

Michael got this whole area behind the fence cleared of scrub trees last night. WooHOO!





With so much rain, we have to 'make hay while the sun shines'. So we juggle the schoolwork in with the rain. Homeschooling is so wonderfully flexible. Not only that, but one of Michael's courses this year is horticulture. So he's getting hands-on learning.

One more morning before the rain comes back this afternoon. Hopefully lots will get done in those hours. I'm looking forward to a good rest this weekend for Mothers' Day!

Faith

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An Average Hawk.

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We really wanted an average sort of hawk. Not a dumb hawk and not a really intelligent one either.

But, according to hopes concerning the fishing line hawk barrier, it would not be so. Michael came up from chores late the next evening, after returning from a boy scout merit badge outing, and announced, "I think we have a dumb hawk."

We'd lost another chicken.





Apparently the sight of fishing line glistening dangerously in the daylight did not deter this hawk from obtaining another dive-thru chicken tenders meal. However, it is clear from the damage that his departure was not so quick and easy as he had expected. Instead of one small pile of a few feathers, this time there were several piles of a lot of feathers, indicating that the hawk had hit the ground roughly in several places in it's attempt to find another exit.






There were several areas of broken fishing line, with feathers stuck to them, as well.













It's clear to see that this hawk had a surprisingly difficult time escaping and was probably unhappy about it. The fishing line that was broken on the ground was all tangled up, so he likely had to deal with that. I'd have been much happier if I'd found the chicken, revealing that the hawk had decided escaping was his number one priority and not getting out with that chicken; a lesson learned. But no dice.

So we have a hawk in training. Either we are training him that dive-thru chicken tender meals cost more than he is willing to pay, or we are training him to persevere. Michael and I had a discussion on whether to go buy wildlife netting, which I located at Lowe's and would cost us about 50 - 75 dollars in addition to needing to build supports for it, or to redo the fishing line where it was broken. He just could not make up his mind. So I made the executive decision to see if the line trouble was enough to discourage the hawk for good. It may cost us another chicken, but I'm hoping to save the money as it is pretty tight these days.

We are not getting as many eggs, due to the stress of the hawk hunting going on in the chicken yard. I can only imagine the terror of chickens running for their lives as this hawk careens about, bashing into one side and then the other. Kind of like a Japanese Godzilla movie, for chickens.

I hoped yesterday we'd have more time to work before the rain started up once again, but we finished tying line while it was raining. My dad brought by some bags of lawn clippings for our compost pile and we spent the rest of the morning in the house. I worked on sewing vests for the civil war costumes. Then we were gone for the rest of the day doing Michael's home school swim team, visiting friends, and going to Bible study.

Keeping you updated on Hawk Tales.

Faith

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April 24, 2009 ~ Greenhouse Work

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Isn't this wonderful! We are so excited about having a large garden area tilled! It always gets filled up, but right now it looks big. LOL



Here is the compost bin my dad found and fixed for us. That will be filled soon also, if all goes well.



This is a great thing for your plants or your compost pile. We collected up a bucket of horse biscuits and filled it will water to soak overnight. You can pour this 'tea' over your plant's roots for a feeding, or pour this over your compost pile to get it going really well. This bucket is for our compost pile.



The compost bin is working as it should. This pile is already 1/2 the size it was just a few days ago.



That area about in the center of the the photo and under the base of the whole tree line is covered in wild blackberry brambles that will take over completely if left alone. Our mission: to hack most of them out, except leaving the ones growing over rock ridges so we don't damage the mower. We'll get just as many berries, since you can't get into the middle ones anyhow.



MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!



Heading up to plant our first sweet corn up there. Looking forward to digging my toes into that soft earth. :)



Rocks mark where we planted 1' in diameter circles of corn about every 2 feet. This is the beginning of our first Three Sisters succession planting.



The day before, a friend came over for a few hours and helped up dismantle the greenhouse. It was hard to do. Mostly because the bolts had complete rusted through. The reason was cheap bolts. They are half the price, but will rust completely and break. We had a lot of them that broke and came out twisted. The rest we had to saw off with a hacksaw.



What a relief to get them all off. We picked it all up, stacked it neatly out of the way, and made a list of new bolts, nuts and washers we'd need to put it back together. We still have to take the hoops out, but there is no sense in doing that until we are ready to assemble again. They just lift out, but we have to pull or dig out those hoop holding pipes then.








Man. It's a dog's life.

Faith

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April 19, 2009 ~ Some Good News and Some Bad News

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The good news is - We got our first load of great composting materials.






The bad news is that we don't have a working truck to haul it in, and we expected it in bags...






Still, I thought it was mildly amusing that I showed up at church with a bunch of grass in the back of my car. LOL

It was to rain that night, so we had to get it offloaded after we got home late that night and before the rain soggied up the field, making it too wet to drive in.

We added a little earth, a little manure, and a little rain that night to get it cooking.

Faith

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April 16, 2009 ~ Finishing the Compost Bin

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The second course was more difficult than the first. We had to hold the bent pieces of tin up in the air while we drilled and tied them securely. One more pair of hands would have cut our time in half. But we did it, through sheer determination and hard-headedness.

We finally realized the drill bit was too dull. We were basically ramming the spinning bit through by force and then when we were drilling two pieces at a time, the first piece's "donut hole' as it were prevented us from even getting to the second piece.

We gave up and mostly began hammering a spike through instead. That was much quicker.





It's very sturdy and I'm really pleased. The compost materials will go in the largest bin, on the right end, then be pitched successively to the left, until we have finished compost.

I took a little time to photograph some little flowers we don't notice very often in our busyness.
















All things bright and beautiful,
The Lord God made them all.

Faith

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