Living Simply
Still here... midsummer update
It’s been a month or so since my last post! I’ve only been on the internet once or twice a week with gobs to read and download during those times. Anyway, hows about a few updates?
Petunia continues to do very well. As you’d expect she’s getting bigger everyday and has had a good deal of space to stretch out her legs in the fenced chicken range for three or so weeks. She loves to run and play, especially on the cool days. She gets along swimmingly with her feathered neighbors.
Speaking of feathered neighbors… the chickens have been good and bad. First the bad: too many roosters doing what roosters do. We have five which is far too many for a flock of 23 hens. We’ve separated three out too a chicken tractor which has quieted the flock tremendously and the hens seem far more relaxed these days. The future eating of these roosters has caused quite a good deal of ruckus with the three children who, unfortunately see them as pets rather than livestock. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem encouraging a relationship with the chickens. I talk to them and watch them everyday. But it is not practical to keep so many roosters. In any case, that has been an issue. 
Another issue is the flock size. I’d initially planned for 10 chickens and five guineas and I think that was a good plan. Twenty eight chickens, can cause a great deal of damage when they free range outside of the designated chicken forage (a good sized area of about 25 by 40 feet). We keep the fence closed but there are always 8-10 hens ranging around at any given moment. I can’t possibly fence off every plant or planted area and these girls seem to have a nack for finding MY plants. I think the planned flock size of 10 would have worked better because their range would be greener and they would be happier and more likely to stay inside the fence.
The other issue is eggs. When they all start laying we will have too many and not really enough to sell for any kind of profit really. Just enough to take up more time driving in for feed and to deliver eggs. I see it as a coordination nightmare. I’d rather just have 10 hens and enough eggs for me and family. I’d still get the benefit of better compost as well as a flock that could be more easily controlled in the garden. The whole experience certainly has me thinking more about chickens, gardens, “problems,” “solutions,” and permaculture design.
The garden is okay. No more rabbits which is great but the chickens have taken over there and done a bit of damage. Nothing terrible but damage nonetheless. The basil has been fantastic. I’ve harvested the garlic which was a pretty good crop. Been eating a good bit of lettuce as it recovers from the bunnies. The eggplants, while surviving, have not looked very good thanks primarily to constant flea beetle attack. The peppers, as always were very slow to get going but those that survived the insects and bunnies are starting to fruit.
The fruit trees are mostly doing well as is the comfrey. I’m pretty happy with the food forests generally. Will be ordering more pawpaw as well as June Berries fairly soon and those will go around the east and north side of my cabin with a few low growing fruits such as blueberry.
The building of Kerry and Greg’s cabin is delayed a bit but will probably get started before too long. All in all I’m pretty happy with the way the project is developing.
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Updates
Petunia (the fawn) seems to be doing very well. She’s eating 6 times a day now down from 7 times and around 32 ounces of formula. She be getting bumped down to 5 times a day soon and will then be getting more formula at each feeding. Her feeding schedule keeps me busy and close to home!
Last Friday I picked up 5 Guinea chicks and four of them are doing very well and growing up so quick! Sadly, one died a few hours after I brought them home. That was the second death in two weeks here on the homestead. Earlier in the week one of our Barred Rock hens was killed by one of the roosters. We’re pretty sure it was Junior as he has displayed far more aggression and violent behavior than Chip. More than likely he will become dinner before too long.
I’ve been 99% vegetarian since 1989 but have eaten a few (mostly freshly caught) fish in just the past few years. Now that I live 250 feet from a lake full of fish it seems sill to not use that very local and healthy source of protein. Along those same lines I’ve decided that I will also share in the occasional rooster since there is no way we can keep every rooster we end up with. We’re already at four out of 28.
The garden is coming along. I’ve been a bit frustrated by the crazy amount of spring rain which was keeping me from planting and then drowning what I had planted. It’s dried up just a bit and my water logged tomatoes are recovering well. I also finally attached a foot high strip of chicken wire to the welded wire fence all the way around and so have (I think) made the garden area rabbit proof. If I had done that a month or two ago I’d have lots of nice lettuce and spinach to eat now. As it is I have a little that survived and just planted a good bit more. Live and learn.
Most of our fruit trees and bushes are doing well. The notable exception are some of our Apples, the Golden Delicious. Their leaves are covered in bright orange spots which is Cedar Apple Rust. From what I’ve read it does not actually infect the tree but stays on the leaves. We’ve got LOTS of Eastern Red Cedar in this area so there’s no getting rid of this. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get fruit out of these trees or not and will have to do a bit more research. Some of the other apple varieties are resistant and show no signs of the rust.
On a positive fruit related note, the Currants and Gooseberries are all doing very well and even have a little fruit on them! I don’t expect a real harvest this year but I think this bodes well for next year! Our peach trees are also doing very well and already have peaches on. I suspect that I probably should have pinched them off to encourage growth of the trees but I didn’t and they are half grown peaches now so I’ll just let them go. I still need to get the blueberries and elderberries planted though they are doing great in their pots.
Last, we’ve nearly got the kids cabin finished. It has taken a bit longer as the past two weekends were slow in progress due to me having poison ivy all over my hands and a very sore back and also Greg had plenty of other work around here so he got a bit distracted. The inside is almost finished though and the remaining painting and then carpet laying will be happening today and tomorrow. I suspect that the interior will be 100% finished by Sunday and that a few items will be getting moved in this weekend. The exterior still needs trim, caulk, soffits, and paint. Kerry and I will likely be doing the painting with the kids sometime in the next week or two. Also in the next week or so we’ll be getting a load or two of river rock for the designated swim beach on the lake.
The next big project is building the largest of the cabins for Kerry and Greg. Greg cleared the area with the tractor and will be marking off the posts so we can drill holes and fill with concrete. I suspect we’ll have that done by the end of the month and that we’ll start construction of the cabin at the beginning of July. Our hope is to have the shell of it done by mid to late July and interior work done by mid to late August. We’ll see.
All in all I think we’ve made a good bit of progress in the past year. With each month the site looks more like the little eco-village we want it to be. Last but not least, I’m pretty happy with my level of involvement in town. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been doing layout and writing a weekly permaculture article for the The Madison County Crier and I’ve also been helping out a bit as a board member of the Fredericktown Revitalization Initiative. I’m chair of the design committee of the FRI and there’s much more that I need to do on that but I knew that summer would be a time that I’d have to focus energy on homestead projects. I was also hoping to start a free workshop series on food forests, ecological gardening and permaculture to take place here at the homestead but so far have not had alot of interest. There are a couple people and it may at least warrant one or two meet-ups or an extended, informative tour around the homestead. We also had a no-till garden seminar back in April which went over pretty well.
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Orphaned Fawn
Meet the newest resident at the permaculture homestead. Saturday morning my friends Karen and David were using a tractor in one of their fields and came upon this little fawn who ran to a nearby creek and then jumped from a rock ledge into the water eight feet below. David used a chain to rappel down to the water and retrieve her. By the time they got her back to the field she had been handled by the both of them and they were afraid to leave her alone for fear that her mother might not take her back due to any left over human scent. They left her in the care of friends but as it turned out those folks were not able to keep her so they brought her here just before sunset.
She was pretty freaked out as you could imagine. As of late afternoon Sunday she was settled down and fairly calm and starting to drink the formula for baby goats which also works for deer. It goes without saying that she is quite adorable. This morning after feeding she nuzzled up under my beard between my neck and chin and let out a series of squeeks. That’s a moment I will never forget. I could get used to this.
Garden a'growin
With the recent rain and now very warm weather the garden is really coming alive. The tomatoes have not looked very good due to the flooded soil but now that we’ve gotten a bit of a lull they are perking up and starting to look pretty good. I’ve got four different kinds of basil coming up as well as zinnias and cosmos. Squash and melons are now planted around the corn bed. Sweet potatoes are in as well. I still need to plant more squash and cukes as well but things are moving along. Oh, and I’ve got all of the comfreys from the initial planting out around the fruit trees.
Another cabin almost complete
We did not get much done on the kids cabin this weekend as I was having a problem with my back and could not do much. Greg did get a small covered front porch on. Next week I expect that we will get the rest finished: trim boards, soffits, electrical, and the downstairs paneling. Last will be painting inside and outside but that probably won’t happen right away. Oh, and landscaping will also need to be done. I’m hoping to put in a variety of native wildflowers along the sidewalk and the front fence which will eventually get built. I’ll be posting images in the next update. It is an adorable little cabin, something out of a fairy tale.
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New Cabin Progress!
We’ve started work on a new cabin which will serve as a place for the kids to sleep and play, especially during the next several months as we work on Kerry and Greg’s cabin. The original idea was to rebuild Emma’s playhouse but as we realized that the space would actually be more than a place to play but a needed sleeping and storage space. We ended up re-using wood for the floor but the rest is new lumber. 
The salvaged wood from the original playhouse which was built from wood pallets will be re-used again as a shed extension for storing the kids bikes as well as a variety of equipment. Nothing goes to waste! In fact, from a permaculture perspective there is no such thing as waste, just resources which are not being properly used.
I’m always amazed at how quickly we are able to get these buildings up. It’s true that they are small and that certainly makes things go much more quickly. We’ve still got several days work on this cabin. We have to finish the roof and then the inside finishing, probably about five to six more days. Our site is slowly starting to have the look of a little village with the various buildings, gardens, food forests and paths. Hard to believe that we’ve only been at this for a year!
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Junior and Waffle
Meet the newest residents here at the homestead! Junior the rooster and Waffle the hen have landed and are now getting acquainted with the fellow chickens. Tomorrow I’ll be having two or three eggs for breakfast thanks to Waffle. Two very beautiful birds!!
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Garden in full swing
So much happening!! We’ve had gobs of rain these past couple months, so much that I’ve had trouble finding time between rain to plant. Just as we get a break and the soil begins to dry just enough to dig in it rains again and turns it all to mud. That said I’ve been able to sneak in 40 of my 80 tomatoes, five heirloom varieties. 12 of the 21 comfreys have been planted around four fruit trees. Basil, nasturtiums, zinnias and cosmos all planted with more many, many seeds of those still to go in other places. Many varieties of eggplant and pepper, about 60 plants are needing to be transplanted into pots from their seed trays. I’ve got mounds of soil waiting around the edges of the food forest for squashes and melons. Those will get planted in another week or so, when the soil warms just a tad bit more. Speaking of food forests all the trees and bushes are off to a good start. I’ve found what appear to be gooseberries growing wild around here and will be transplanting them and observing to confirm that they are indeed gooseberries. Much to done but much more to do!
The bees have settled in nicely. The queen is out and laying eggs and the others are all busy gathering pollen. The chickens are all growing up very fast. I’ve taken to calling them my clucking cuties.
In construction news, We’ve cleared the area where we will be building the kids cabin. This will be an 8x12 cabin with a very large loft and should be big enough for 2-3 kids to sleep in. When my sister and her family move down this will be a place for the kids' stuff as well as a playhouse and guest house. We’ve got lot’s of salvaged wood to build it so the cost should be minimal, mostly insulation and siding.
I hope to post a few photos soon.
Oh, and we had a crazy storm here last week. Winds of 80-100 mph which were sustained for 20 to 30 minutes. At the time I thought this is crazy, seems like a hurricane and sure enough, they are calling it an inland hurricane. Damn thing even had a defined eye. We had minimal damage because the tornado 3 years ago cleared out many of the biggest branches of the trees it did not destroy. In town though they’ve had major damage to homes and trees. Climate change in action.
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The Bees Have Landed
Yesterday morning at 6 am I got the call from the Fredericktown post office that the bees had arrived. Lickity split I got up and mixed up a spray bottle of sugar water and was on the way. I was back home by about 6:50 and quickly changed clothes and gathered up the few things I would need to introduce the bees to their new home. Luckily the sun was poking out through the clouds and rain seemed to be holding off. By 7:15 the bees were freed from their mailing package and buzzing in and around the new hive. I have to say that it was a totally enjoyable and fun five minutes! 
A year ago I was just starting to research bee keeping and was fairly certain we would give it a try though I knew we’d have to wait till this year to do it. Now that I’ve been living here for almost a year and have a good start on the kitchen garden and the food forest as well as the recently introduced chickens, I’m happy that we followed thru with the bees. All of the critters, plants, buildings, paths are increasingly connected and intertwined just as planned.
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Morel
Thanks to my nephew Jake for finding it and this is his photograph as well. I ate the mushroom though… my first and boy was it good! Now I understand why they are so sought after and I know I’ll be looking for them too. I sauteed this one and then scrambled it with three of our chicken eggs. Very tasty!!
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Food, Foraging, Living Simply, Morel, Mushrooms
Pesto with Hickory Nuts!
A couple weeks ago I wrote about using dandelion greens with basil for making pesto and today I have another variation on that. I’ve got gobs of kale coming up in the garden so I wanted to try mixing those in with the basil and dandelion but realized that I had no pine nuts. But I did have about 1/3 cup of hickory nuts that I de-shelled a couple weeks ago so I tried that and it tastes fine to me. So, no more need to buy pine nuts for pesto!
Can I just say how cool it is that I have a Shagbark Hickory tree growing ten feet from my cabin? I get plenty cool summer shade and buckets of hickory nuts in the fall. For those that may not know, hickory nuts look and taste very similar to walnuts. My only complaint is the amount of work to get the nut meat out of the shell. Yeah. That takes a good bit of time. Which reminds me that it seems a few permaculture folk have a notion that nuts can be a more important, more substantial part of the human diet, possibly even replacing cereal grains. While I certainly like the idea I’m not sure it is practical given the work involved in getting the nut from the shell. Perhaps there is a technique or some inexpensive equipment but from a quick search on the Google I don’t think so. In fact, I’d like to plant a few more nuts in our food forest and need to investigate the nutritional content and ease of processing of those that will grow well here.
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Busy Birds and Bees
As I sit waiting for my evening coffee to brew I’m reading through a variety of news feeds and listening to the frogs and birds outside. A Carolina Wren just landed on the corner of the front porch and is carrying on about something important. It has been a rainy couple of days so not much done other than letting chickens in and out of their coop to the newly fenced in chicken range. I’ve also set up the bee hive with cardboard and mulch and removed a few small cedar trees that were growing in the area.
It’s been a whole week since my last post?? Wowza time flies. Lots of little happenings around the permaculture homestead last week and weekend. I got the second hardy kiwi arbor set-up in the food forest, complete with a nicely mulched seating area. Kerry and I got the nasturtiums, dill and chives planted around the base of half of the fruit trees. We also transplanted a few plants from her woodland garden to our gardens down here: columbine, wood poppy, purple coneflower, hosta and a few others. I planted zinnias and cosmos along the outside of the garden fence. I also planted New Zealand spinach and a few other greens in the keyhole beds near the cabin. I moved gobs of rock that had previously been out in front of my cabin up to the greenhouse to provide better drainage and a bit of a heat sink. Of course before I could put the rock in I had to dig a good bit of soil which was used to form growing beds inside and just outside the greenhouse. About half a day of work and 75% finished. Greg got the first four rain barrels which all had food/drink ingredient residues, nothing too bad. I’ve cleaned them and moved them to the back of the cabin.
This week or weekend, when it stops raining and dries a bit I’ll start getting seeds in the ground: squash, melons, cukes, herbs will be in the first round. Then corn, beans and another round of salad greens. Last will be tomato, pepper and comfrey transplants which are all looking fantastically healthy after a bit of a rough start. I’ll also need to get the holes dug for posts of the rain barrel stand. Oh, and I picked up a Heritage Raspberry which will need to go into the ground probably up along the fence of the chicken range so they can share in the fruit. Three elderberries ordered from Edible Landscaping so those will get planted in the food forest sometime next week. Lots to do.
Last but not least, a bit of community news. Friday night is the first of many weekends of Pickin on the Square: free bluegrass music every Friday night on the town square of Fredericktown. I can’t wait. I’ve got the new website for the Fredericktown Revitalization Initiative up, have a look. We still need to tidy up the pages and add more content but it’s a good start I think.
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Zebra Swallowtail
I’ve been seeing these around but usually while I’m working, hands dirty and no camera around. Went out this morning to work on the path to the kiwi arbor in the food forest and saw one nectaring from the Autumn Olive so I grabbed the camera and got a few shots.
Dandelion and Basil
I grew some Basil in a pot this winter. Not alot but almost enough to make decent batches of pesto. I had the thought this morning that I just needed a bit more to stretch it so why not substitute in a bowl of dandelion greens? I made the decision last year that I would eat more wild greens like dandelion and violets since they are so numerous and high in vitamins. Kinda silly not to! Dandelions are an excellent source of Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Potassium and Manganese. Source. 
Seeing the nutrition content listed on that page has me wondering why in the hell we have not all been eating dandelions on a regular basis? 112% of the daily recommended Vitamin A???? 32% of daily Vitamin C, 535% Vitamin K. What’s really great is that they come up so early in spring, long before most planted annuals. I’ll certainly be adding them in to all my salads, pesto, and any other meal that calls for greens.
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Chicken Coop Greenhouse
We’ve nearly finished the chicken coop greenhouse! The Coop is pretty much finished and the 23 chicks will be coming down this weekend. We still have to put the light in and finish up the chicken run on the east side. At some point we’ll be installing my 2 small solar panels on the roof which will run the light and ventilation fan from the greenhouse. In the picture below you can see all the nest boxes on the left and a feeder waiting for chicks.
The greenhouse still needs the door added on the west side but that’s pretty much it. Oh, we’ll be adding a gutter to direct rainwater to 2 rain barrels which will be added to the interior of the greenhouse. I’ve already moved in a table, pots, soil and other goodies. The tomato plants are very happy. I’m looking forward to getting all the little seedlings off my kitchen table and in a warmer brighter environment! I’m also looking forward to eating lettuce, spinach and other greens next winter!!
We spent around $400 for the greenhouse which is not too bad. All of the glass was salvaged (thanks to Greg’s friend Jamie for a couple of those!) which really cut the costs down. I think 8x8 greenhouse kits often sell for $2,000 or more so I’m super happy to have this.
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The Sunset Party
Fantastic color last night. We’ve had more and more ducks showing up day-to-day. For a week there were maybe 5 and then 10 and suddenly there were 200 or more out there. They’re not close enough to get a good look but no matter, I’m just glad they are out there. Now that spring has come the nights are filled with frog song. I’m surrounded by this amazing life force… all of these beautiful creatures with their many voices. Yup, it’s a party.
Spring Garden Updates
Lots of progress this past week. The tomatoes have all come up and will be transplanted into a variety of re-used plastic containers tonight. The broccoli and cabbage have all been planted out to the garden. A row of sugar snap peas is planted along the garden fence with another row going in this week. More cardboard and straw has been put down into the new garden expansion.
The chicken coop is 95% finished. We’ve got the walls and roof finished and the laying boxes built in. Left to do is to put in the east facing door and a chicken wire wall on the inside to separate the chickens from a small area for feed storage. Last is to paint it and move the chickens in! Hopefully we’ll get the greenhouse started the next time Greg comes down.
Upcoming tasks: Move the compost fifteen feet just outside the garden area; finish cardboard/straw mulching in the new garden area; plant potatoes; start peppers, basil, comfrey and a few other things in seed flats; mulch in a few new paths around the garden and food forest.
Reclaimed Wood Chicken Coop Greenhouse and Other News
We made a good bit of progress on the chicken coop greenhouse this past weekend. As it stands today the only money spent was for nails and electricity for the tools. The base is an old porch and all of the lumber was taken from an old cabin on our property. The strutcture was abandoned many years ago and there’s a good bit of damage but much of the interior lumber is very useable. We spend the morning gathering wood and by evening we had most of the shell built. The door is also reclaimed and the window is one of four that were being given away due to flood damage. Actually, they were new windows that had never been used and the damage is very minimal… mostly they are just dirty!
The next step is to put on siding and roofing which will cost some money but not too much. Then we’ll use the other two windows as well as 2 sliding glass doors (just the glass, no door) also saved from a landfill to build the attached greenhouse. We’ll be buying some treated lumber for that as well as some roofing but it also is mostly free from recycled materials. My guess is that we can have both structures pretty much done with about three days work. 
Last will come a few finishing touches like installing the 30 watts of solar panel to the roof and wiring in a light and fan for circulating air from the greenhouse which will, in theory help warm the chickens in the winter. We’ll also be harvesting the rainwater from these roofs into 4-5 rain barrels which will be used for plants and chickens. The barrels be painted black and placed on the back wall of the greenhouse where they should heat up a good bit for passive solar heat during the winter.
I’ll post more when it is finished but I’m very happy to be taking the next big step in the permaculture design.
In other news, I’ve now got at least six loads of wood mulch, each load the size of a small car… that’s alot of organic matter!!! All of it local, the product of utility tree trimming. Thanks to all that mulch and a huge load of cardboard I’ll be putting in new paths through our food forest as well as new layers to last years mulch. I planted fava beans around the fruit trees Saturday and came across many earthworms in the greatly improved soil. It is absolutely amazing what 6 months to a year of cardboard and straw mulching can do to for the soil. Lastly, I planted gobs of onions and transplanted the kohlrabi seedlings to the garden. I’ve got 60 seeds of 5 varieties of tomatoes planted in flats.
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Beeeeees and other updates
Yes indeedy. The hive and various bits of equipment arrived yesterday. I’ll get that set-up and painted in the next week or two. The bees will arrive sometime mid April. Sweet!!
I’ve started flats of broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, and kale. I’ve ordered four hardy kiwi vines which will arrive sometime in mid March to be planted at the base of the arbor which will be built on the west side of the food forest. Thanks to Roger who works for the local utility I’ll also be getting several loads of mulch delivered in the next few weeks, probably 3-5 loads which will be more than we can use.
My first experiment with fermentation went well! I successfully fermented a head of cabbage into sauerkraut which I’ve already eaten! I started eating it after about nine days. I’ll start another batch next week and will be using two heads instead of one. I was not sure how it would turn out or what I would even eat with it. What I discovered was that since it was pretty salty it was a great addition to vegetable soup. I just put a big spoonful on top of each bowl and stirred it in a bit but did not cook it as that would destroy some or all the good live bacteria culture. I could probably let it go longer since my cabin stays cooler the fermentation is slower. I imagine if I’d left it go another week before starting to eat the end of it would have been a bit more sour.
Oh. I almost forgot the chicken update. In addition to the five chicks Jake hatched two weeks ago they (Jake and Greg) bought another 10 chicks of different varieties. But it doesn’t stop there. Oh no. Another ten were ordered. Yes, they have lost their minds. So, we’ll have a larger flock of chickens than I expected but Greg and Jake are confident we can handle it. WE being the keyword there. If need be we could always sell a few as there always folks looking to buy a few hens. We’ll see how it goes.
Lots of little steps all adding up to a good bit of progress I think!
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Buddy and the Girls
A little video of the five chicks being born, nothing fancy. Jake asked me to name the new rooster so I’ve called him Buddy. Such adorable little critters.
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