Holy- you know what

Here are two piles of future fertility. Weed seedy pasture grasses are part of the mix, which just means more stuff for the chickens to eat that I don't have to plant or buy.

Yesterday I cleaned out both chicken houses in the backyard. We have a greatly reduced, older flock in the back of four hens and a rooster, but they still generate a significant amount of black and white gold, even with the deep litter method, to warrant the occasion. 

The deep litter method involves putting fresh bedding over all the richness until it's as deep as you want. The layers beneath slowly compost and can help keep the place warm in the winter. However, my stores have dried up and the weather has been so wet that it has not allowed enough time for our wealth of fallen leaves to dry enough to shred and bag up. And I wanted to get some cover and pasture crop growing around the fruit and nut trees planted in the chicken pen before they wake from their winter's dormancy.

After spreading my treasure around, I need to put up some protection from the chickens  before I sow the seeds.

The inexpensive netting is stretched between a few posts, pinned to the ground using snips of old fence wire, and extended to form baffles at the top with forked sticks and scraps of twine.


Now I can sow and water (gravity fed with the rainwater collection system I built on the nearby tractor shed last year)  safely while the chickens pace the perimeter in frustration. Yes, as soon as I started throwing down seed, the rooster came over and began chattering excitedly. The hens quickly joined him to see what the fuss was about. A good test for the net barrier, which did the trick.

A good afternoon's work. A blog post of euphemisms. Just wait until the coffee kicks in.....

Mobbing Along the Meadow

My day begins before dawn. I sip coffee and work on my computer stuff before the activity begins. The sun pops up and then the kids pop up, one at a time. There are breakfasts to get and lamb's milk to warm, and then, once the kids have dined, dressed and the baby diapered, it's time to do the chores.

First, the lambs are let out of their paddock and posts are driven in at the corners to secure it for the pigs.


Next, the pigs are let through to root in the paddock the lambs grazed in the day before.

Posts are driven in to secure the sides of the panels.

The three panels where the pigs used to be are moved to create a new paddock joined to the other one. Then the lambs follow their little mistress into their fresh grazing quarters.

The chicken tractor follows the general path of the sheep and pigs. It is moved to fresh ground on dry days. 

The tall, dead grass from last fall is cut a bit at a time with a sickle to provide fresh bedding for the animals, though enough is left standing to give the chickens plenty of hiding places from hawks.

The spent bedding is spread over the rooted up pasture after the pigs have gone through.

Some areas in the pasture stay green all winter. The dead stalks insulate from the cold, as well as the thick layer of humus below. More biomass exists in the areas where the slope levels off, as it collects the overland runoff from the higher ground during rain showers. Terracing the land for this purpose can greatly increase it's productivity.

Another small resident waits eagerly for a stray seed to grab from pig's breakfast.

Here is a small, terraced garden where the pigs and chickens grazed last fall. It has been divided into beds and paths, and sown with cover crops. The paths are sown with perennial clover. The work is done a bit at a time when there is a break in the rain and a couple of fair days to dry it out enough to work the broadfork.

Hugelkultur and Water

Last year I bought a stella sweet cherry tree from Gurneys.com and planted in my garden. I saw it leaf out in the spring and then slowly die from the top down. What I learned later was that it was really dying from the bottom up. That is, the roots rotted in the waterlogged soil. This kind of tree does not like wet soil. Enter hugelkultur. Credit goes to Paul Wheaton with his article about it on permies.com, where I was introduced to the concept, and with the ongoing discussions, experiments and successes going on at the forums, I gathered enough information to recognize it as a potential miracle. Self fertilizing, self irrigating- and it also happens to be a kind of raised bed. Thus add self aerating to the mix. Just what I needed. Hugelkultur is basically a mound of soil on top of rotting wood. The wood acts as a sponge, holding water for much longer than in a regular garden bed, and it also acts as a substrate for beneficial fungi. There is a symbiotic relationship between plant roots and fungus mycelia- a sort of nutrient exchange that goes on between them. Some relationships are species specific, but I am taking a gamble that a more general exchange also happens, or that the bed creates the ideal conditions to facilitate the evolution of symbiotic fungal-bacterial-plant root polycultures. We'll see.

Gurney's nursery promises to replace any tree as long as your garden exists. So I e-mailed them and they were as good as their word. A new one was sent this past week. It arrived Saturday, on a rainy day. It came as a bare root and needed planting that day. So I had to construct the bed in mucky soil. Not the best day for excavation. First, I used an A-frame level to make sure I placed the bed along a contour. This is so it would receive runoff evenly. I removed the sod, then a little soil beneath it. Next, I added a layer of old, rotting firewood, then returned the sod upside down, followed by the last of the excavated soil. I dug another layer of the clay subsoil on the uphill side of the bed to create a small swale, packing the clay into the side of the bed at the bottom edge.  I added a layer of half finished compost to the top before planting the cherry tree and seeding the rest of the bed with oats, clover, snap peas and carrots. I will probably add a few strawberry plants as well.

Two days later it rained again and the swale filled with water. Extra water drained via the buried tile that runs under it into the pool on the far right. However, it is also full. Anyhow, the swale kept the water longer, and I am hoping it will function to recharge the buried wood in the bed during dryer times, capturing afternoon thunderstorm runoff, and reducing evaporation speed through it's simply being concentrated for a little longer in that space.

For more hugelkultur step by step photos, go here.

Beside Vernal Pools

Living on the edge of wild has many advantages. Fresh revelations occur. Like vernal pools. I had always known there were some areas that filled with water during the winter and spring, but dried up in the summer. To my delight, I discovered that they not only have this lovely sounding name (vernal pool is so much more poetic than a puddle in a ditch), but they provide a unique habitat for certain types of amphibians to complete their life cycles, away from the hungry dwellers of permanent pond places.

Today my daughter led me on a delightful adventure. She and her sisters had been doing what kids do best- exploring places where there is mud and water. And she had found eggs. She related the discovery while we were finishing up some homemade cards for our church members' birthdays. 

"What were they like?" I asked

"They were white and shaped like this." She held up her fingers and thumbs in the shape of an oval. 

"Like chicken eggs?"

"They were under the water. They were bigger than chicken eggs, but harder than frog eggs."

My curiosity was aroused. Wild turkey eggs washed away by heavy rains, perhaps? I promised to go down there with her after we finished lunch. Here are more details about our expedition.

Snow Ice Cream!

It doesn't have any snow in it. We just used snow and slush to freeze it in the ice cream maker. We don't have an ice maker, so we make ice cream when it snows. Yum!

Ain't it thrillin'?

Yesterday was a warm, sunny 63. Today it snowed. I think it is the first real snow we've had since the year before last.

Confessions and Superheroes

This is the post where I must be brutally honest about my shortcomings. I hate it when I screw up, especially when it might affect relationships with people I care about. Yesterday, I invited some good friends to come over and help feed the lambs, forgetting that it was the day I was to pick up a delivery for a food co-op I had ordered from. The call came one hour before they were to arrive, and the delivery was also expected at the same time! I frantically bumped my son off the computer and sent messages via facebook to my friend, Kelly, explaining the situation.

This is also the story of two superheroes. Kelly immediately volunteered to stay with the kids so I could go get my order. She arrived with her four kids and one of her nieces a few minutes later, and I took off with Jude, leaving her with 9 kids, 18 chickens, 7 cats, 2 dogs, 2 lambs and 2 pigs. All but the pigs were running around together in one mass of unpredictable movement. Except for the one glued to the computer. Add to that swings, slides and an assortment of wheels, and just about anything could happen.

 I had no worries. I was only sorry to miss all the fun. Kelly did not just step in and pick up the muddled pieces of my poor planning,  she also took pictures!

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins

Did I say two superheroes?
I arrived home shortly thereafter to behold a glorious sight. 9 children, fed and happy, playing in the afternoon sunshine, including the one stuck to the screen. Kelly had managed to pry him loose, and his brother. We had a lovely visit, and they left awhile later with some freshly milled flour and yeast. As they were piling into the minivan, whether or not they belonged, (ahem, Hardings, please come out of their car!), and Kelly and I were exchanging goodbyes, Seth waved and wailed desperately, "Mama, let me tell you something!"

"What is it, Seth?"

"Um-uh-I was stuck and Lindy saved me."  So we ran over to thank Lindy before they left.

That makes two superheroes in our story today.

photo courtesy of Kelly Hawkins