Difficult Week

Part of life, especially an out of the ordinary life, is problems. Right????

This week was a frustrating one.

First of all....

It was difficult to sleep in the tent because last weekend it rained quite a bit. I didn't notice any specific leaks, but it was exceptionally humid. The comforter always felt moist and I kept waking up sweaty.

So the next day I was taking the sheets off to put them in the dryer, and I noticed that there was a small portion that was soaking wet. I also found a small slug on the floor next to the bed, which at first I thought was the culprit. But THEN, I lifted the mattress up (which was resting directly on the ground) and it was soaking wet as well. It seems there was a seam in the tarp-floor which must have leaked some moisture from the ground up into the mattress. The mattress was not only wet, but also MOLDY on the bottom. MAJOR BUMMER! We ended up propping the mattress up in my mother in law's living room to dry in front of the heater and fan. I think we will still be able to make it work, as long as we put the mattress up on the metal frame rather than on the ground. The reason we had initially put it on the ground rather than on the frame was because the ground is, shall we say....unlevel? So it was easier to make the bed level directly on the ground rather than on the frame. But, alas, we will have to just make it work on the frame, so we don't make the mattress moldy...

So this was on Tuesday, and we managed to make it until Friday until we reached yet another snag.

We let our chickens out, as usual, on Friday around noonish. A few hours later, Trystan informed me that the neighbor, whose property is a vacation home, was upset because the chickens had gotten onto her property and supposedly pooped on her car....

So this means that we can't let them free-range anymore. This depresses me exponentially. They loved going out and having free reign of the property. I truly believe it wasn't the chickens that pooped on her car, but just a regular bird, since I have never seen the chickens actually climb onto any of our cars.

We built them a little make-shift fence out of some free fencing we got from our awesome, amazing, wonderful friend Judy. They seem to be happier than being in the tiny coop all day, but one of them escaped today. We just let her hang out outside for a while (mostly because I couldn't find her) and eventually I found her pecking around in the coop, and then I put her back in the fenced area with her little chicken friends. We plan on putting the coop up next to the fence so they can go in and out as they please, but until we can do that, we will have to get them from the play yard to the coop manually. This means luring them into the enclosure with feed at the beginning of the day, and then one by one carrying them back into the coop at the end of the day. This has become more difficult as they figure out ways to evade being captured. But we will soon put the coop next to the enclosure so it will be easier.

So that was our week, a bit more exciting than usual!

chicken magic

As a follow-up to the last post, concerning chickens in the tree post of a few days ago...

I went out one night to make sure all of our clucky friends were safe and sound in the coop and not in the apple tree, and as usual a few were still in the tree.

I think there were 3 or 4 and I was able to get all but one out. This one was being a very stubborn little pullet hen, and I eventually made Trystan go and pluck her out since she had positioned herself in a way that she was sort of blocked in by small branches and inaccessible to me, and I did not have the height (or the nerve) to maneuver her out. She was in no way stuck, I was just afraid that if I were to pick her up she would fall TOO far and get hurt...but mostly I was just being overly cautious. I think I shall start calling this particular chicken "Stubborn Bessie". Yes yes, that suits her well :)

So the next day I was discussing the issue with our neighbor, Art, and he gave me a GREAT tip for getting them out of the tree. The trick is to push very gently on their chest with one hand, just enough to get them off balance and then they will jump onto your hand. That night I tried it and it works amazingly well. I did it after it started getting dark, and the chickens were all kind of in a trance. I don't think they see very well in the dark. When I tried setting them down in the coop, they seemed very scared and confused about letting go of my arm, and it took them a while to make their way up the ramp into the sleeping area of the coop. Eventually they found their way up, I think they just listened to their little friends softly clucking and followed their sounds. Lately they have gotten more and more friendly and affectionate. Have I mentioned I love my chickens?

Bedtime for Chickens

A recent blog post of mine talked about the chickens, and how we have been letting them out every day for the afternoon/early evenings, and how they put themselves to bed.
Well, in the past week a new development in chicken behavior has occurred. Around the time they usually put themselves to bed in their coop, they have been all climbing into the nearby apple tree and trying to sleep there.They would have stayed there all night and been dinner for owls, so we decided, as hard as it was for us to disrupt their cuteness, that we would have to get them into their coop. We did this fairly easily by picking them up and just putting them on the ground. They then beelined it very obediently to the coop. The picking up was the roughest part, as they like to flap and squawk like you're about to kill them. It was a little scary at first I'll admit, but then I learned that they were fine, I just kinda kept my head out of the way lest I get hit in the face with a wing.
So there's the story, and now here are some pictures of cute chickens in an apple tree. Enjoy!
(Don't worry, the cat didn't get them, he is kind of intimidated by them...)

Reaping the Fruits of our Labors

Hello All!
today was an EPIC day....EEEEEPPPPPIIIIIIC!
We just returned from a fabulous weekend trip to Portland, in which we enjoyed lots of bike riding, met some cool new people, and ate at a REAL restaurant for the first time in sooo long.
Unfortunately, before we left on Friday I had forgotten that we ran out of eggs from our favorite roadside stand, hadn't bought more, and now they were closed since it was Monday.
Trystan was getting in the car to go get some from a stand further away that may or may not have had eggs, when I decided I would go and look in the coop to see if the chickens had been busy. Now I have been doing this every so often for the past two or three weeks, to no avail, as the chickens are still a teeny bit young to be laying. They are about 4 1/2 months old, and from my research MOST chickens don't start laying until 5-6 months (they have been known to lay as young as 4 months).
So, out of curiosity I opened the hatch and LO AND BEHOLD.......AN EGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I can't even describe how excited I was! I felt like a kid in an Easter egg hunt. One you'd been waiting 4 1/2 months for, and you weren't sure when the easter bunny was actually going to start hiding the eggs. Needless to say, I was pleased.
Another happy surprise was the other day when we started digging through the soil in our potato patch and discovered lovely, large potatoes hiding like little jems in the dirt. We fried up a whole bunch the other night and they were like no other potato I'd ever eaten. I was amazed at how easy it was to grow them. We virtually put them in the ground and left them for two months. Can't wait til we can have delicious omelettes and home fries using all of our homegrown stuff!

Domeside, Cluckers, Garden progress

The ole' blogmonster has been dormant for a while but has decided to rear its LOVELY face.

So part of the reason it's been so long since I wrote is because we decided to move. Into a dome.

It's a geodesic dome we bought from sheltersystems.com.It's made out of a kind of tarp material. It.is.awesome.

I love waking up to the sound of birds and sun streaming in from ALL SIDES! I also love hearing the frogs as I go to sleep at night.

We were able to fit most of our stuff in it, as it has about as much square footage as a studio apartment. We obviously don't have a kitchen or a bathroom, but we are able to use the main house's facilities. We parked the dome on Trystan's moms property near the lake.

So why a dome, you ask? Well, the answer is money. We were paying a lot in rent, and wanted to start saving. Since summer was coming up, we decided to just take a big risk, do an experiment, and try our hand at outdoor living for a few months to save up for some large business-related expenses and save for deposits/moving expenses so we can move into a house afterward.

We at first considered campers, but those were too small, and we don't have a truck to pull it. Then we researched yurts, but they were too expensive. Through one yurt manufacturer I was turned on to teepees, but alas, the poles were expensive to ship and quite large, so we would have no reasonable way to move them when we go.

Out of sheer frustration and desperation, I did a search for "Tent" on craigslist, and one of the first things that came up was a 14' diameter portable geodesic dome for sale for about $250 somewhere up in Bellingham. In the ad was a link to sheltersystems website, which is where the people selling theirs on craigslist had gotten it from. I checked out the website and realized quickly that this would be a much more reasonable solution. It was quite a bit cheaper than the teepee, and deconstructs to about the size of a large suitcase (even the poles!). This would enable us to easily take it with us when we move.

So we took the plunge, ordered it, and it came about a week later. We chose a spot, leveled it off, and constructed the dome. The hardest part was trying to get the space level (which, despite our best efforts, is not *quite* level). The dome itself was constructed in less than an hour!

We also ordered a custom fit floor covering, which also attaches to the dome walls. The floor is made of a tarplike material, so we went and got a carpet remnant to put on top. The carpet doesnt quite cover the whole thing, but pretty close. It instantly felt homey! We put our bed, bookshelves and books, clothes, small sofa, and dining table inside. We ran an extension cord in from a nearby outbuilding, ran a phone cord up from the house, and we were set! We have power, phone, even internet! We are able to pick up the wireless from the house about 150 feet away, and are able to stream Hulu and netflix without much trouble.

The dome is also close to a carport, which we set up a little "Kitchen" on an old workbench and it works great. We have a mini fridge, an electric wok, a microwave, and a toaster. We are able to cook and eat most our meals up there, although occasionally we use the kitchen in the house :)

We also cleared an area near the dome and put some rocks in a circle to make a fire pit. We put some outdoor chairs and benches and an outdoor table out there for when friends come over. Everyone loves to hang out in/around the dome. It has great energy!

I have read some things about how round homes innately have good energy. I don't know if it's because the curve is a more natural shape than the perfectly straight corners of a normal house, but I believe it is true. When you're inside, you just feel like you are wrapped in its warm embrace. It especially helps that it lets in SO MUCH light. Our previous apartment was very very dark all the time, and had a definite affect on our moods.

One of the other most delightful (in our opinion) things about outdoor living is how CLOSE you are to nature. I have gained a much greater appreciation for the plants, trees, and insects that we live amongst. It doesn't sound so awesome to most, I'm sure. But it is. At first I was scared. One of the first nights in the dome, there were carpenter ants coming literally OUT OF NOWHERE. I do have to confess we squished quite a few. Not proud of that. But I guess we all have our flaws:)

Anyhoo, back on topic. So we have come to a place where we are much more comfortable living amongst our crawly neighbors. They haven't made nuisances of themselves, which is very gracious of them considering we're technically crashing on THEIR couch. Hard to remember sometimes though, especially with the slugs, like this one I found crawling up the wall one night...

Well, that's the Dome-Saga so far.

In chicken news:
The little cluckers are about 3 1/2 months old, and we will be on egg-alert soon. We have been letting them out of their house for several hours in the early evening, and they love it. They stick together, stay on the property, and put themselves to bed around 9 pm every night. I can't believe we were so worried! The other day we heard an eagle screech overhead and they IMMEDIATELY ducked under cover and one of them stood on guard making a low rumbling kind of noise. It made me feel more confident that they understand the dangers and are smart enough to get to safety before they get snatched up. Whew!

The garden is doing well. We got a bit lacadaisical about it with all the moving, but it is still producing. The radishes are done, and were good, but I was a little disappointed in how small they were considering how much foliage they had. We have been eating fresh salad for over a month, recently started eating broccoli, onions and garlic. All the herbs are great, especially the chives and dill. I think I will be able to harvest a kohlrabi tomorrow. We have lots of tomatoes flowering but not fruiting quite yet, but soon. The peppers suffered from an aphid infestation, but are recovering after several agressive sprayings of Neem oil and pepper spray.

I think that's all for now, I will try to write a more detailed post about the garden stuff later!

Garden Goings-on

Here's what's happening this week in the garden:

Alliaceae (onion) Family:
The garlics I planted in November continue to do well and thrive. A friend had given me some Walla Walla sweets back in March (I think?) and they are looking very healthy. Some chives from last year actually over-wintered and are coming back vigorously. A few of the chives are looking a bit yellow. Any ideas as to why this is happening??? The leeks we put in a week and a half ago look good too, still tiny, but good. They are in an unprotected bed, and we found deer hoofprints in the bed, but none of the leeks got nibbled - yay:)

Asteraceae (lettuce) Family:
Amongst the garlic are a few volunteer lettuces from the mesclun mix that had inhabited that bed last year. I think they are enjoying the shade from the garlic. I planted two rows of mesclun, one row of romaine, and one of spinach early in March. So far the mesclun are doing well, as are the romaine, but the spinach didn't develop at all. A few little cotyledons came up, but they mostly got eaten by some bug that didnt seem to care at all about the other greens right next to it. Hmmm....

Brassicaceae (cabbage) Family:
Between the onions I planted radishes two weeks ago and they are finally developing their second set of leaves. Nothing seems to have made a snack of their cotyledons (knock on wood) even though I have kicked a small handful of slugs out of the garden lately.
Yesterday I transplanted about 15 of our broccoli starts (and possibly a few kohlrabi, as I got a lot of them mixed up...) out into one of the raised beds, and they are looking pretty good so far.

Cucurbitaceae (cucumber) Family:
Monday we transplanted 6 of our cucumber starts outdoors and they seem to be suffering a bit of shock. Their cotyledons and second set of leaves are both looking whitish at the tips and a little less green all over. Does anyone know if this will subside or if there is something seriously wrong?? We also put 4 pumpkins out a few days ago, and they seem to be suffering from the same thing, but a little less so. We're going to plant a few summer squash in the same bed as the pumpkins. I also recently read about "The Three Sisters" of Corn, Beans and Squash. I had already planned on planting two rows of corn at the edge of the bed that the squash are in, and now I think I will plant some pole beans next to the corn so they can vine up.

Papilionaceae (pea and bean) family:
The peas I planted in late February/early March, are doing well. They are about a foot and a half to two feet tall. They're a bit peaked looking, so we are going to try fertilizing them with some alpaca manure tea this week. We cut some bamboo poles and propped them into an a-frame semi-structure and are training them up the poles. Hopefully they will make a lovely little pea-fortress.

Solanaceae (potato) family:
The potatoes have not shown their faces yet. I check every day and still nothing. Our tomato and pepper starts, on the other hand, are doing well. We brought about half of our tomato starts out and put them in the hot house about a week ago. So far they are looking ok, but aren't as big as the ones that are inside under the lamp. They also suffered a bit of shock at first, and some of the leaves have a whitish discoloration on the edges, but it is minimal and they seem to be recovering already. Within the next week or two, we plan to put the tomatoes outside, once we make sure we have plenty of protected bedspace for them. We were worried about the peppers because we had planted them indoors at the end of January, and they hadn't seemed to grow much. Two weeks ago, I repotted them and now they are flourishing. I am confident that they will grow lots of big happy peppers this season. At the end of May we plan to transplant them to their permanent spot in the hothouse.

Fruits:
Last week I dug out a forest of weeds that was growing in between the fence and a big raised bed and laid down black plastic. In one section I cut three holes in the plastic and put three strawberry plants and they are looking great. We still haven't found a good permanent place to put the raspberry. I got one in a pot from my mother last summer, and never put it in the ground. I thought I had killed it, but it came back this spring and looks just as healthy. There are also several apple trees on the property. We did a little bit of pruning on one this winter, so hopefully we get some apples this summer.

Herbs:
We had started a ton of basil and a little bit of oregano, dill, and sage indoors. The sage looks (and smells) awesome in their little starters. The oregano hasn't shown its face yet, but I know that it takes a while to develop. The dill is lanky but developing its second leaves nicely and looks overall pretty good. The basils are doing terribly. So far only a few have their second set of leaves and they are all extremely short. What are we doing wrong here?? Does dill just develop really really slowly?? We got some thyme, lavender, and marjoram as starts at a nursery and they look awesome.

That's the update for now. Much more to come later. Share your gardening stories and advice with me please I'd love to hear it!!!

More Chick Pics

The babies are growing! They are even fatter now than when we took these pics a few days ago...







We are in a routine now, in which overnight they stay in the secure top part of the tractor with the heat lamp on them, and then around noon every day we put a ramp leading down to the bottom part, which is directly on the grass and is only protected by chicken wire. They stay down there until evening, before it gets dark, then we put them back up top.

At first, they didn't understand that the ramp would take them down to their grassy playground (which they LOVE!), and we would have to *gently* usher them down, or physically pick them up and put them down there, but the past 3 days, they have gone down all by themselves. They are still very ungraceful about it, and don't always use the ramp to get down the entire way. Sometimes a few will go all the way down the ramp, but mostly they walk down a few steps, then tumble the rest of the way down in a flurry of feathers and peeps. One day I opened it up, and walked away to see what they would do. I was inspecting my garden, when all of a sudden I glanced over and what looked like 5 or 6 of them all flew out at once! Needless to say, it was very cute.

Once they get down there they are very much like children who have been cooped up inside for a while. They flutter around, pecking and running laps. They often look like they are bouncing around.

They are indeed getting very fat. The Buff Orpingtons and Austrolorps (which I read, are actually an Australian breed of Orpington, initially called "Austral Orpington" but it was eventually abbreviated to Austrolorp) are the largest, and you can tell they would be good meat birds. The Buff Orpingtons have a particularly pronounced comb on their heads, and two small reddish streaks on the undersides of their beaks. Every day it seems they become more and more brown. The Austrolorps are still primarily black, with a bit of whitish yellow on their bellies. One is still larger than the other, but the difference is starting to even out. My little "Simon" (as I nicknamed her after Simon Birch since she was the runt) is getting larger and putting on more weight :) The smallest are still the Silver Laced Wyandottes, but every day the size difference between them and the other girls becomes less and less distinguishable. Their feathers are developing into what will in their adulthood become a beautiful black and white lacy appearance. They are still the most elusive to me, and are usually the last ones I catch to put them up at night. My favorites are the Ameraucanas. Their feathers are brown and fancy and they are the easiest to catch and hold.

As I write it is becoming darker and I should go put them in their cozy sleeping area!