Outdoor Chickens

Yesterday, our feathered friends experienced unadulterated sunlight for the first time. Ahhhhh. I think they really like it. They were a little unsure of the journey from the shed to their newly-configured horse trailer-turned-coop in the plastic tub, seven to the wall. But not long after they arrived, they began to venture out the door, exploring the smorgasbord of fresh grass seed, insects crawling in the dirt, and anything else remotely edible. Ella had a great time, talking to them, and offering them freshly pulled grass.

The real test came at dusk, whether they would know to go inside the trailer or not. Only 4 were hiding under the chassis when I went out there to close them up.

I am so excited about our chickens! I'm excited for eggs and meat, and tillers, and compost makers. However, I don't think I'm nearly as excited about them as Acer, our dog is. At last, this little herding dog has a job. She is so committed to it that she is forgetting to eat. Lick the pan from a roasted chicken? NO WAY, man, I gotta herd the chicks!

Vermin: Gophers, Earwigs, Symphylans, and Birds

I'm not sure if it's because we have settled in a little and the vermin have had a chance to find us, or if this year is just particularly good for them, but I am having a heck of time succeeding at growing food plants. Our cold frame is infested with never-be-seen earwigs that allow my seeds to germinate and create their seed leaves, and then the following night, the munch them down to the dirt. In some cases, plants have matured much farther than seed leaves, and THEN they decide to pick them off, one by one, until I do something else, or move them.

What makes it out to the big garden has been plagued by the furry digging vermin, the gophers, despite an active trapping campaign. We HAVE caught at least 5 or 6 gophers with the traps, and have utilized the attracting properties of a sheet of plywood lying on the ground to ambush them, but no matter how often I collapse their runs, they continue to do donuts in my one bed that currently has anything in it, creating large voids that roots can't cross. All I could think of today, as I furiously followed their tunnels around each and every beet baby was the song we sang for Cabaret last weekend : "I saw that 'tater shakin', saw it disappear, they're working on my corn now, i won't get one ear, they're diggin my potatoes, they're trampin on my vine. I got a special plan now...restin on my mind."

The birds are manageable, so far, they are only picking off strawberries. This I can remedy with some simple bird netting.

But lastly, symphylans...a long-dreaded, and diligently-avoided pest arrives at our garden at last. These little buggers look like tiny, white centipedes, that crawl around maddeningly fast, and eat the root tips of our lovely garden plants. And they LOVE soil that is loose and well-aerated, coincidentally, just like a garden bed.

I did move my newly sprouted basil out of the cold frame, along with the summer and winter squash. I can't afford any more time setbacks on them. Tomorrow, my friend Dana is coming over to help in my garden, and I will return the favor for her next week. Today, I built the tomato trellis, and brought out the tomatoes to harden them off. And I rescued the lettuce starts, which were suffering the earwig treatment.

Pests are a funny thing. For me, they invite an inquiry into methods and wondering if I'm approaching things the proper way overall. And desperation leads to strange contemplations, such as, should I commune with the gophers, and plant them their own veggie garden, in hopes they will leave mine alone? If my soil was really healthy, would the plants grow so fast gophers couldn't harm them? What about those symphylans? Mostly, at this point I'm grateful that I purchased a CSA share for this season!

Not Word Inspired

I haven't been so inspired to write things in particular lately, so I thought I'd post a few of my recent photographs that I like, from around the homestead, our trip to Mendocino last weekend, and etc. Hopefully, words will come again soon, and we will be starting back up on our house, too, so we'll have more interesting updates. Enjoy. P.S. Sadly, I know that there are some serious dust spots on a few of these images, I finally had the camera cleaned when Ella and I went to town last week, so they'll be looking better soon.

Around and Around


Ahhh, childhood...


Just an Early Morning at Home


Ella Checks on our Seedlings


Come into the Garden...


Ella Learns About Dishwashing from the Guru of the Art, my Uncle Jim


The Lovely Nancy Roca


Mr. 89, Phil Schneider


Playing Store


Concentration


Drew's Sicle Bar Mower


Another Misty Morning at East Mill Creek Ranch

Recent Arrivals

Spring is really on the verge of bursting headlong into summer. We've had a window off the yurt for over a week now, tomatoes are ready to go in the ground, and we are no longer needing to have fires, though a few recent nights have been borderline. It begins to get light between 4:00 and 4:30 AM, and the last light fades from the western sky somewhere around 9:30 or 10:00. It's only fully dark for 7 hours!

I thought I would offer a partial list of the plants that I've noticed blooming recently:
Purple vetch
Himalaya Blackberries
Thimbleberries
Wild Flax
Scotch Broom (naughty invasive plant!)
Buttercups
Thistle
Stinging Nettle
Dandelions
Sorrel
Wild Cucumber
Wild Oats
Poison Oak
Lupine
Plantain
Chickweed
Crimson Clover
Douglas Iris
Cow Parsnip
Poison Hemlock
Bird's Foot Trefoil
Wild Strawberries

And the birds who have returned, some of my favorites:
Bullock's Oriole
Lazuli Bunting
Western Tanager
Black-Headed Grosbeak
Barn Swallows * They have babies in the nest already! And they chatter lovely songs as the swoop and dive overhead.
Olive-Sided Flycatcher * Just heard it for the first time yesterday, perched on the garden fence, its characteristic voice.
American Goldfinch

Birds who live here year-round, but are more active and happy!
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Quail
Black Phoebe
Stellar's Jay
Wood Thrush * Have yet to hear the Swainson's Thrush, my all time favorite bird song.

Also, I solved the hawk mystery, at last, after a few more sightings. The key distinguishing field mark is the white crescents at the end of the wings, visible from below, points to the Red-Shouldered Hawk. This particular morph has been quite confusing, since we aren't supposed to have the light-colored version here in California. But we do, at least here on our place. I also caught sight of the red shoulders one afternoon as it took off out of the deep grass near our driveway and banked right away. It is still flying around and making a lot of noise. When Ella hears it, she panics a little and asks to be held, and says, I don't want to see the hawk, mommy.

Beltane/May Pole

Our local Pagan High Priestess, Kirsten, once again organized our Mattole annual May Pole event, marking Lunar Beltane and May Day, which this year also fell on Mother's Day. The Pagan celebration of Beltane marks the midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, the beginning of summer, and has traditionally been a celebration of fertility and virility, with the phallic symbology of the May Pole, as well as the ancient rites of the bonfire and the meeting of the goddess and the stag. This is much oversimplified, and I am not an expert by any means on this subject. It's definitely something to explore more deeply.

Anyhow, we gathered midday on Sunday at the beach, and a group of men went down the beach to collect the pole that Kirsten had selected. Meanwhile, we dug a hole to place it in, and made garlands of willow and flowers to wear on our heads. We drank May Wine (white wine with flower petals in it!), ate hard boiled eggs, built a fire to welcome the fire element (and to cook hot dogs for the kids...not sure who brought the hot dogs!), and just spent some time being together. The collective community energy has been a little overcome with grief these last few weeks, as we are all still processing Cordelia's death. Her memorial was the day before at her family's home, a beautiful and full experience of grieving and celebrating, as one large family.

At last we put the pole up, and divided up the ribbons, and attempted to do the appropriate weaving dance to create the beautiful basket weave around the pole. It was successful in some sections! Mainly, it was a fun way to come face to face with most of the people at the pole. I couldn't help but feel grateful for the lovely families and individuals who arrived to participate on a windy, overcast day at Mattole beach. To summer....

Loss in a Small Community

It's a fact of life that death is included in the package. But sometimes, it seems, we are tricked into forgetting about life and birth's opposite counterpart, the inevitable place we each return to, at a time not of our choosing. What makes it so excruciating is that here, where we know most of our neighbors, when someone leaves, whether it be "timely" or unfairly early, we know them. We've had many, many small interactions over years. And we know their family. Sometimes, we know the energy and love their parents have devoted to them. We have seen the chronicles of their growing up. We know the burden held by those who love them. And even in not knowing them well, we feel the seismic reverberations of grief rippling through our small community, through all those who know and love them, from the time they were little, until they grew into a vibrant, beating, pulsating energy heart-star.

And as a parent, it is unfathomable to imagine losing one's daughter.

This family that has been visited by the Reaper, they are pillars of our community. They are loved deeply, they are a well of inspiration and hope for many, they are strong, and have persevered through hard and happy times. They are our friends, and they support us over and over again selflessly, and yet, they are given this new reality to grapple with.

I am feeling each of you tonight, wishing I could change what seems so wrong, and hoping to find faith in it being an appropriate event in time and space. I am wishing each of you the ability to find your peace with it all. I love you all.

Rest in Peace, dear Cordelia.

Back to Homestead Project Reporting

OK, Swine Flu out of my system, ready to report on the latest goings on...yesterday was my first full day home alone in almost three years, and I put myself to work on some larger-scale garden/homestead projects: constructing our first, true compost pile, and revamping our graywater system.

Compost Pile


The compost scene before all the work


The pile under construction, with a few layers of dirt, green stuff, and dry stuff


A layer of freshly pulled fava beans, aka green manure


The finished product, in view of the kitchen composter, solar panels, and orchard

Having a small child has altered my ability to put in garden time as I would like. Tasks that need to be completed always keep a to-do list full, and compost is no exception. For the nearly three years we've lived here, I have just piled weeds and such for compost without much attention. This technique does produce useable compost, though at a much slower rate than with concentrated effort. We finally had enough material to build a large pile, and we also needed a spot for the graywater sludge I was about to pull out of the stinky graywater pit, as well as the slowly increasing supply of chicken droppings.

So my first order of business was to consolidate the two windrow style piles I've made with last year's corn and tomato stalks, brassica remains, and this years grass and weeds I've pulled from beds I'm preparing for planting. First you layer some sticks or woody stuff, to try to create some aeration at the bottom of the pile. Then you layer dirt, green stuff, and dry stuff alternately until your pile is the size you want! Oh, and it is also important to water your pile as you build it, aiming for the moisture of a wrung-out sponge. I'm not sure how you test this, but keeping it moist helps the pile get active and rot faster.

Graywater System Overhaul


The beginning of new excavation and sod removal, with the stinky "before" mess showing


First layer of dirt removed, ready to move the lava rock gravel


The pit all dug out with the mound in the center for a tree. The bathhouse, source for a lot of graywater, is the boxy building in the background.


The newly created pit with woodchip mulch bottom and raised sides, looking toward the outlet pipe


Finished mulch pit, showing some of the plants that stand to benefit from the installation (blueberries, fig tree, garden bed, etc.)

After lunch, I took on our graywater pond. It's been in operation for about a year now, and within a few months, it's ability to digest all the particles of food from our kitchen sink was overwhelmed. It seems that the volume of water compared to the size of the "mulch pit" was too great as well. This represents a design error on our part. But after viewing a great graywater video interview with my friend Trathen Heckman of the non-profit Daily Acts about his awesome graywater system in Petaluma, CA, I got some ideas churning. This was helped out by Drew hiring our neighbor to make a giant pile of woodchips this past weekend.

I decided I would greatly enlarge the mulch pit area, and fill it with woodchips, constructing a much-improved, true mulch pit. This involved a lot of dirt and mud wrangling, hacking up a fresh part of the lawn, and rearranging the gooey water and gravel such that I could work with the space. After several hours of shoveling and hauling, I admired my work, exhausted! The idea of the mulch pit is to plant something in the center, like a fruit tree. I am going to wait and see how it performs, but just may add a plum or apricot, or some such thing, if the pit demonstrates its ability to process our bath, kitchen, shower, and washing machine water. I'm optimistic about a non-stinky location to recycle all that great water for garden use.

We also may cover the outlet, and fill up the pit further, so it's less of a pit, and more of a depression. Then we could use the space instead of avoiding it all together.

Amid Swine Flu, Life Goes on

All the swine flu buzz has me a little worried. I am an amateur epidemiologist at heart, tracking illnesses around our little community. For me this is motivated by my somewhat irrational obsession with trying to not get sick, and my anxiety around certain kinds of illnesses. But this virus floating around appears to be serious, and I wonder how much Mexico is keeping hidden from the public eye. With a global transportation network, I have no doubt that this illness is worldwide already, just as other flus travel around on airplanes, boats, trains, and then pass around in public locations like schools, restaurants, and offices. You don't have to be a genius to look at the numbers. Each infected person probably lives with other people. A global immune response, perhaps, all these flus? Why are people in Mexico the only ones dying? Have there been many more cases than reported? Many interesting questions remain to be answered in the coming weeks.

Bath House Finishing

Before...


After...


Sean Nailing Recycled Redwood Tongue and Groove Wainscot


Window with Wainscotting


Door All Done Up


Sink and Medicine Cabinet, Cheezy I know, but hey...

I can't say we have a reputation for fully finishing things around here, and this project is no exception. After nearly three years of use, our bath house was still unfinished around the bathtub (with flashing paper flapping around and allowing water to hit the wall when toddler tidal waves hit unexpectedly), it didn't have door trim, it didn't have baseboard trim, it didn't have light fixtures, it didn't have a mirror or medicine cabinet, and it still doesn't have a finished ceiling. But with the visit of dear friends with a toddler in tow, we managed to accomplish a lot in that little space, making it so much more pleasant to use and enjoy! (Thank you so much, Sean, Jen, and Myrika!)

I forgot to take a before photo that showed the underneath of the tub structure without a cover at all. I did take one that shows the walls surrounding the tub mostly uncovered with wainscotting.

So this weekend, we installed that wainscotting, installed the door trim, baseboards, two light fixtures, a medicine cabinet/mirror unit, and covered up the area under the tub. It really does look fabulous. The last thing that will make it so very nice will be to sheetrock, plaster, and paint the ceiling. Not sure when we'll get to that, but I hope pretty soon! Enjoy the images.

The CHICKS Have Arrived!

I took my first solo town trip since Ella was born last Friday. I had a doctors appointment, and our chicks were scheduled to arrive at a local feed store.

While I was waiting to be seen at the clinic, I got a call from the feed store...they said, "The hatchery shorted us 20 chicks, so we're calling everyone to come as soon as you can, and it's first-come, first-served at this point." **ARG** Well, I'd already been waiting a half hour, so I asked at the window when I would be seen. The surly desk attendant phoned to the bowels of the clinic, and nodded, and hmmmed, and uh-huh'ed, and hung up. "It's going to be at least another half hour". Well geez. I decided to go pick out the chicks, lest they get snatched by someone else.

When I got to 3G's, they still had 17 of the 25 buff orpington hens we had ordered. I then randomly chose seven more birds from the mixed breed brooder box. Two of them are roosters for sure, but the other five are anyone's guess. Hope they turn out to be hens. I picked pretty looking ones, it will be interesting to see what they turn out like. While I was choosing them, the phone rang again, and the clinic receptionist told me "They're ready to see you now." It had only been 12 minutes.

They had quite a wild day, driving all over the county, culminating in a trip over the Wildcat on their way back to the ranch here. They took it all in stride, and though it probably wasn't a very good idea, I couldn't help but hold a few of them while I was hurtling down the highway at 65 mph.

All but one are doing really well. It's kind of like having newborn around, just a little. They need a constant temperature of 95, and continuous supply of food and water. We've been experimenting with lodging and lights, litter, trays and hot water bottles. We doubled their brooder by attaching a second box, with a door cut through it...now they have a bedroom with a warm light, and a living room with the food and water. They are really fun to watch! They already scratch in the food, and peck at specks that they think might be bugs, and they zip around unexpectedly when spooked. My favorite is when one of them falls asleep in the food dish, just lays down and droops it's head, and closes its eyes. There is sure to be more chicken writing in the months ahead. Stay tuned!