Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden

We keep a feeder out year round for our local hummingbirds. They're fun to watch and quite bold. But I was hoping to add a little something to keep them and some other nectar-drinkers-slash-pollinators happy. So, why not plant a butterfly/hummingbird garden?

We have this huge round thing I am assuming was once a trough in the front yard. Why is it there? I have no idea.

 The green thing in the middle was once a decorative windmill. The windmill part broke a while ago. Now I pretend it's an abandoned oil derrick.

Anyhow, I've been putting some compostables in there and covering it with hay, so! Move the hay out of the way.

Rough up the soil a little.

Add some seeds.

Water gently.

Make a mental note to buy a new hose.

And then cover everything lightly with hay for protection.

Hopefully in another week or so we'll have something more interesting than dirt and old hay in there. This past week has swung back and forth between cool and rainy and sunny and warm, so hopefully the plants are happy.

Finally, here is a picture of a bee sitting on an old paint can. The unusually warm weather means all the little critters are out and about early this year. You can see how much pollen she's gathered already!

Beetastic!

IT'S ALIVE

While I'm working on the garden I realized now would be a good time to start some seeds. We've had a very mild (and regrettably dry) winter. The beds aren't ready and I don't have a fancy seed-starting setup. What's a guy to do?

How about stuffing some potting soil into Dixie cups and setting them on top of a warm satellite receiver near the window?

 

Not the most elegant solution, but it could work, right?

It totally worked.

As of now I have some salad mix, sweet basil, and cucumbers sprouting. 

Growing plants is like magic. You put these stoney looking things in the ground and add water and in a few days a plant shows up! And if you tend that plant well and let it grow you can eat it!

I occasionally confuse science with magic. In my defense, both are awesome.

Power Outage

Just as I was finishing up my shower yesterday our power went out. It was windy so it wasn't unexpected. It did throw a little kink into my usual morning routine, but it wasn't an unwelcome one.

My usual morning routine involves rolling out of bed. Sometimes there's a shower, sometimes there's breakfast right away. Usually I turn on the computer and plop down. I intend to do some writing, maybe review some homework. I inevitably end up chatting with my girlfriend Carrie (when the one you love is several states away you talk as much as you can), browsing Facebook, poking Pinterest, scanning Imgur, reading my blogs...basically anything other than what I intended to do. This either goes on until I have to leave for school or until I realize I really REALLY need to get to work outside.

Yesterday there was no power and no computer. So I dried off from my shower and admired the silence of the house while I got dressed. There's a constant hum of electricity in a house you don't notice until it stops all at once. When it comes back on you don't understand how you ever ignored it. I opened my bedroom window for some extra light. I changed the sheets on my bed. I picked up a few items I've been meaning to get rid of and put them in a bag to take to the thrift store later this week. I put away some freshly dried clothes. I swept. I sat down and counted the change I've been saving. All that in the span of an hour.

Then the power came back on and my routine went back to normal. Computer on, breakfast in front of me, planning to to do some writing and some homework. Instead I ended up on Facebook and got caught in a conversation about which The Lonely Island band member was tallest.

I love having electricity. I love the internet. I love the ability to stay connected to people no matter how far away they may be. But I think, maybe, I could use a few more power outage mornings.

I got out last night with my new-as-used tripod to try and capture the cloud halo around the full moon. I took a dozen pictures, but the very first was the very best (but still not that great, I need more practice).

My Dream Farm

School and outside are keeping me busy. Just had my first test of the semester last week. Got an A. Take that, chemistry! I'm still working on the fence for the garden and pictures will be coming soon. In the meantime, I've been daydreaming about my ideal farm.

The goal is to be as self-sufficient as possible. To have what we need and use what we have. I don't want a lot of wasted space or a large house I have to try and maintain.

I've been looking at some "tiny houses" like those featured at Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and Texas Tiny Houses and I think something like that would fit the bill. What I've noticed from looking at these incredibly small dwellings is that they are laid out to make use of every last square foot. I've also realized I don't need a ton of space. Now when kids come into the picture my opinion might change, but even then I see no appeal in a 3200 sq. ft. McMansion. I far prefer the charm of old Victorians, Queen Annes, Craftsman bungalows, and these purpose-built tiny houses.

When I think about my farm I picture something from the old Charlotte's Web animated movie. A sturdy old barn shared by multiple animals, each with their own space and their own purpose. They would have shelter when they want it and sunshine when they don't. I'd also like several acres of pasture so I can set up a good rotational grazing system. The animals that benefit from grass should be able to be out there as much as possible.

We'll help conserve water by using rainwater collection and a greywater recycling system to water our gardens, and as much solar power as we can. I don't feel the need to be entirely off grid but I figure every little bit I can do helps.

My girlfriend is more the plant person in the relationship and I'm really hoping she'll take up a lot of that. I'm fine with the labor portion but she has the real skill. She knows what to plant and where and when and why. Hopefully she can  keep me from messing things up too badly.

Livestock is what I get excited about. First of all I have this romantic idea of using a draft horse instead of a tractor for most things. I don't know how feasible that is, but a Suffolk Punch is so much cooler than a tractor.

amandabhslater via Flickr

And on the topic of working animals, a stock dog and a livestock guardian or two would be okay.

NatalieMaynor via Flickr

There would be Dorking chickens for eggs and meat.

cranneyanthony via Flickr

And some miniature cattle for milk and beef.

florador via Flickr

Stephen&Claire Farnsworth via Flickr

And some American Chinchilla rabbits for meat and fur.

And some adorable sheep for wool and adorableness (I don't have any fondness for lamb or mutton, but hey).

michaelcobballen via Flickr

It's fun to dream.

A Reminder About Working Outside

After a couple of days of rain the ground was soft and the sun was out. It seemed like a perfect day to get the beginnings of a garden fence going on. It was so pleasant I was only wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans.

And I managed to get sunburned. It's not bad, but my face and one of my shoulders are just a little pink today.

Remember you can get sunburned even if it's cold. Even if it's cloudy. Cover up or wear some sunscreen!

Adventures in Composting

Yesterday I built a compost bin. I'm so proud of myself! I think I succeeded in building it because I started with low expectations and decided I wasn't going to drill or nail a single thing. So how do you build a compost bin without drilling or nailing?

Pallets my friend. With pallets.

 And bailing twine.

  And some made-up knots.

 

 

 

Yeah, that'll probably work.

 And maybe if you're feeling ambitious a staple gun and a little bit of screen.

Throw it all together and what do you get?

 

BOOM. A compost bin. Well, close enough. Given my general lack of abilities I think this a perfectly serviceable solution for my composting needs. I'll be getting more pallets eventually and adding a second compartment to the left as well as a "door" for the front. 

Alright, so we have a compost bin. Now what should we put in it? HORSE POOP.

 

OLD EGGS.

STRAW.

FIGHTER JETS.

Okay, not fighter jets. I saw two of these guys (or ladies, hard to tell from such a distance) flying around this morning and snapped a picture for you, my five dearest readers.

In addition I got some barn cleaning done, let out the horses and chickens for some grazing time, and got all my laundry done. I feel like a Successful Adult (tm).

Procrastination

Things I Have Done Today Instead Of The Work I Should Be Doing:

• Slept in late.
• Ate hotdogs.
• Chatted.
• Checked Facebook, Pinterest, and an assortment of message boards.
• Daydreamed about playing in the dirt.
• Stared wistfully out the window while taking a picture for this post.
• Made tea.
• Wrote this post.

Work is hard.

Salvaging At Home

In an attempt to not buy things, I went digging around our property to see what I could find to make a fence. We have a pile of wood and other assorted things that we'd once intended to be a burn pile. We found that we don't have enough land to burn things legally, so we were stuck with it. That worked out alright for me because I got quite the haul today.

I think there's enough there to fence off my garden area. I also found extra stuff I have no use for but might still be able to use for something.

After a day of digging through wood I decided we needed chili for dinner. I made some turkey chili with ground turkey meat and some of the stock from our Christmas bird, plus some jalapeno cornbread to go with it. It was a tasty evening.

With all of that in mind I'm feeling wonderfully sore and tired. I think I'll be heading to bed early tonight. I might even indulge in a nice hot bath before bed.

Frustrations and Student Life

I'm writing from the campus library at the moment. I just finished two homework assignments online while chatting on Facebook and listening to my MP3 player to drown out any unwanted background noise. Isn't technology amazing?

Classes started last week and in an effort to be a good student, I'm letting my studies take up a decent chunk of my time. Due to my lack of financial aid I'm only taking the two classes I absolutely needed this semester (introductory chemistry and trigonometry for the curious). So there's not as much work as their might be otherwise. Still plenty to keep me busy.

I decided over the weekend my mysteriously swollen pointer finger is never going to be the same. I still have no idea what's wrong with it or what I might have done to cause it but the show must go on. It's only minorly painful and limiting, so I can live with it. To that end I attempted a little more work on the chicken tractor this weekend.

I say the Mystery Finger is slightly limiting. I can do things like type and hold a pencil just fine. Activities that require a little more pressure are harder. Things like buttoning pants and operating drills. I managed to get my pants on just fine but working the drill proved to be more of a challenge.

This may be why I had so much trouble getting screws into the wood. I doubt it's why the wood started splitting. It could be related to why I stripped almost all of the screws. And it might have something to do with the entire thing falling apart when I tried to move it.

When I feel less inclined to set the entire thing on fire I'll give it another go. For now I think I'm going to move on to other, hopefully less frustrating projects. Even if they end up being frustrating at least it's a new frustration, right?

Introducing: The Chickens

I did something to my finger last week. I have no idea what except that it's swollen and sore and making day to day activities painful. So in lieu of any progress happening outside (there's been none) I thought I would formally introduce some of the animals! Today, I'd like to you to meet our chickens.

 

Agnes is our oldest chicken, and technically belongs to my friend Kim. The roosters are in love with her-hence the bald spot. Bad boys. She's a Black Sex-link and even though she's several years old is still a prolific layer of some of the biggest brown eggs I've ever seen.

Here's an Agnes egg next to an "extra large" egg from the store. I think Aggie wins this round.

 

Next up we have Peggy, our Easter Egger. Easter Eggers are often confused with Araucanas, but Araucanas are a standardized breed whereas Easter Eggers are more of a 'type' of bird who lay colored eggs. Peggy has green legs and a lovely little beard, and routinely give us lovely teal-colored eggs.

 

Much more exciting than those store-bought white ones, right?

 

This demure little thing is Izzie, my Old English Game bantam hen. She weighs about a pound and fits in my hand pretty easily. This is assuming you can catch her. It doesn't happen often. She's not actively laying right now but when she does, I'm always impressed. Given her diminutive size she gives us some big eggs!

 

This came out of that little bird. Show some respect!

 

Izzie's near-constant companion and undisputed ruler of the roost is Mateo, a Dutch Booted bantam. Everything you've ever heard about bantam roosters is absolutely true. He's a third of the size of our other roo but is absolutely the boss. He fears nothing!

 

And that leaves us with Hank. Hank is massive. And a massive wuss. He can't even hit on any of the girls because Mateo won't share any of his action. He's a Buff Orpington/Cuckoo Marans cross and absolutely gentle. Good thing too, because he's certainly big enough to do some damage.

Right now all of our birds live together in one coop, but once the tractor is done Izzie and Mateo will move in there and be my backyard/garden helpers. I would ideally like to have one more large hen, but we'll see how that goes.

Zen and the Art of Chicken Tractor Building

I suffer from depression. I promise we're going to get to the chicken tractor, but let's start there.

Depression sucks in the most literal of ways. It sucks the energy and will and motivation right out of you. Sometimes there's no reason for it. Sometimes something can set it off. Yesterday I found out that I won't be getting any financial aid for the spring semester. Due to my finances that means I likely won't be able to attend. Because of the courses I need to take missing this semester adds a full year onto my transfer plan. This is a bummer.

Yesterday afternoon I had no interest in even looking at the chicken tractor I've been struggling to build. My utter lack of carpentry skills mean it's a fight for me to get even the most basic steps done. What was the point of messing with it?

I remembered I took some pictures the day before.

 

I know this doesn't look exciting to anyone who's ever built anything but I think this is the very first time I've put nails in something and had them stay straight. This was the board I'd started with, for comparison.

Even a minor victory feels good. When you're depressed that's what you need. You need a little victory. Something that makes you feel good and capable and successful. So I eventually convinced myself to head outside and reset a wonky leg. It wasn't much but it was enough to make me feel like I accomplished something. It was enough.

By the time I had my minor victory for the day it was getting dark, so I spent some time in the coop with the chickens. We have a large coop with a run for the big birds. The tractor will be for my bantams.

Mateo, Izzie, Peggy

"WHAT?"

Hank in all his orangeness.

Today I'll see what other little victory I can manage. I'm going to get this tractor done bit by bit.

Native Plants

I'm spending some time tonight looking at the list of native plants over at Intermountain Nursery, dreaming of what I might be able to add to our property. We have several spaces here that are/were/could be gardens, and I'm working on fixing a few of them. We've tried gardening before, growing pretty flowers in certain areas. It's never ended well. I blame a lack of research and a lack of commitment. Which is why I'm reading now.

Native plants and xeriscaping  are smart, sensible ideas for a garden. One, you're setting yourself up for success. These plants are built to thrive in your area. When I wander the garden center I always think "Wow, that's nice. If I take it home will it live?" That's not to say native plants are foolproof, but these bad boys are designed to thrive and reproduce in your areas. The odds are in your favor.

They're also excellent if you're worried about water consumption. We live in a Mediterranean/borderline desert climate. We're surrounded by several irrigated fields and we're on a well. Simply put we don't have extra water to put toward maintaining verdant lawns and plentiful flowers. Using native drought tolerant plants means less watering. I would assume this also works if you're worried about too much water. Native plants should be used to the seasonal changes in precipitation in your area and bear them better than non-natives.

While searching for native plant information I came across several state native plant societies. They seem like a great place to get started and I'd say there's a good chance your state has one. My fellow Californians can check out the California Native Plant Society. If you're not from California you can still look. Go ahead, it's okay. I won't tell. But if you'd prefer try searching "(your state) native plant society" and enjoy spending half a day looking at pretty plants.

Even here in the valley it's possible to have a beautiful garden. Hopefully I'll have a little progress of my own to report soon.

via niiicedave @ Flickr

Obligatory New Years Post

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope last night was fun and you didn't do too much you regret this morning. I added a single shot of rum to a vanilla milkshake, then toasted at midnight with some entirely non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider. Wild.

I'll confess I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. They tend to peter our for several reasons. Still it's nice to think about what the new year might bring. So here's a list of things I want to do that are in no way actual resolutions.

1. Make a garden: This is in progress right now. I've attempted it in years prior, but always with too little planning and too little time. I have blueprints and lists and everything this time.

2. Bs or better: Really I'm very pleased with myself when I pass a class, especially given that I'm now venturing into chemistry and higher level math. I do not have natural talent in either subject. However I'm really hoping to raise my GPA so I can be a little more competitive when it comes time to send out transfer applications. The "good enough" grades aren't good enough.

3. Travel: It's not that I don't, but my traveling seems to be related to the animals most of the time. There's a show here, we need to go here to pick this up...I appreciate those opportunities, but it's not quite the same as traveling for the sake of travel. When I do travel it tends to be to the same handful of destinations. On the one hand I keep going to those same places because I love them. On the other hand, there's a lot of California I haven't seen. I've started clipping destinations for day or weekend trips out of magazines and sticking them in a jar. The idea is when I have the money and inclination I pull one out and go. We'll see how this system works.

I'm also not a big believer in overburdening oneself with too many changes at once. So I think these three are good for now. I've been taking it easy while I'm on break but I know in a couple of weeks I'm going to find myself very very busy.

Finally, to start the New Year off right, have some eggs!

Mmm, eggs.