Path To Sustainability

Blog moving. Hoping you'll follow

2010-01-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

Switching errors so we're going back to blogger, the website is www.oxrayfarm.com or www.oxrayfarm.blogspot.com

It's official... here we go

2009-11-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ok the move has happened, keep in mind that we are learning and some of the "stuff" I want isn't up there yet. Mostly because there is a HUGE learning curve with this new program.

But anyway the same ole us just different locale.

Ready?

http://www.oxrayfarm.com

Moving day

2009-10-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

We've decided to move this blog to a different host site. Not for anything bad blogger did, just what isn't there. I want some big kid kinda features that blogger just doesn't offer. Wordpress does, so I've been in the process of putting the finishing touches on the new look.... I'll let you know the official name and place shortly. This way you can change RSS feeds if you check us out that way. It will still be the same us but with easier access to whats new on this urban farm.

Potato Harvest

2009-10-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well I must say I am disappointed at the harvest numbers this first year. But I think I know why, it took us until about late July to truly figure out our watering system. The potatoes grew a ton at the top and a ton at the bottom but not anything in the middle. So all in all we got roughly 60 pounds of German Butter ball and 35 pounds of the fingerling Rose Finn Apple. We may do something a little different next year using tires instead of all this dirt. It really is a lot of earthmoving just to uncover some spuds.

But we did have some major help, this is why Curious the chicken has her name.

Dual Flush Toilet Retrofit

2009-10-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

In our efforts to save water we decided to install a dual flush toilet. But we didn't want to replace our newer toilet because that seemed the the farthest thing from environmental! So after some research we found a dual flush toilet retrofit kit! Say that 5 times fast!

Heres the facts: our toilets are "low flow" meaning they only use 1.6 gallons per flush.
With the dual flush kit:
1.) rinse mode or #1 flush - .8 - 1 gallons per flush
2.) full flush or #2 flush - 1.3- 1.6 gallons per flush

Now I am all for the "if it's yellow let mellow" but after a few of those a rinse flush needs to happen. We did have some quirks with the install and getting it just right. But now that we've figured it out and the dual flush works really well!

We got the kit from Dual Flush Kit. It's reasonably priced at $30, compared with some retrofit kits I've seen. However this one has the advantage of being entirely made in the USA, Michigan in fact which they proudly display all over the box. We have 3 toilets in this house, but we only bought 2 to test out. I should have just gotten that third one but oh well, this spring we'll make that 3rd one happen. Jacob my handy man was only able to install one before his shoulder surgery so the second toilet will get done some time in January.

I also haven't started the cloth TP campaign yet. We ended up with too many late fall chores I needed help with before Jacob's surgery so that got pushed to the wayside for a while. But I intend to move to cloth, at least for #1 I'll keep you posted!

Hoverflies

2009-10-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

All summer long I've been seeing these "fly bee's" and didn't have any idea what they were. They react like flies when you get close to a plant, by jumping off and moving. Where as bee's don't give a hoot about you and continue on doing whatever they are doing. Also the markings on these fly bee's are similar to an Italian honey bee but they have giant eyes like a fly. I was most confused because I have never noticed them before.

My mother did some sleuthing and found a wonderful website about these guys. They are called hover flies and that is the perfect name for them! Garden Safari has great information and pictures about hover flies. The pictures are even better than Jacob got with our little camera.

They seem like excellent little pollinators hopping from flower to flower. All of the pictures can be clicked on for a bigger image.

Potatos

2009-10-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

This is only the surface stuff what I could reach with my fingers under the ground. YIKES!

quickie

2009-09-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

I am having the most glorious time on etsy finding all sorts of goodies and gift ideas for the crew. Much of the Yule season gifts will be food and home made yummies. But a few things will be outsourced, by artists only! I am very excited about the finds, foods, and fun!

By the way, happy Autumn!

Strawberry Harvest

2009-09-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Our goal was to keep up with plucking the flowers off the the strawberries the first year, in order to give them adequate root growing time. About late July we gave up because the job of plucking strawberry flowers was over whelming. These are from our ever bearing crop, and boy are they ever!

These pictures were taken on wednesday the 16th. Yesterday I picked at least this much if not more. And even before that we've harvested a small bowl. If this warm weather keeps up we could have fresh strawberries right up to frost! Fresh strawberry yogurt! Local milk, local honey, very local strawberries! Life is good!

Dog Days

2009-09-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Nap time.

Been a while

2009-09-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

We've been slammed with all the fall chores that have suddenly jumped up and said "SURPRISE!" So I'll leave you with some pictures of the county fair we went to last weekend. More posts to come...

Towels, Tissues and TP

2009-09-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

Some time last week during my surgery down time we watched online a program called EcoTrip. The show covers many topics from salmon, to light bulbs. By the way if you happen to have a Netflix account, which most people do ( I bum off my moms.... thanks mom!) you can watch them instantly on your computer. Which is what we did, owning to the fact we have no TV. I digress...

The show that directly impacted us the most, or where we felt we could do the most changing was the paper napkin. Which can be subdivided into TP, paper towels, and kleenex. Most of the tree pulp used to make these everyday items is "virgin" wood and contains chemicals like crazy to make it white. So owing to the fact that our trees make up the bulk of the army fighting global warming, we thought it wise to do our part to keep some of them standing in our stead. Which means, when I go out anywhere and wash my hands I use a paper towel to dry them. That must change. When I reach for a kleenex and toss it away. That must change. And the big and scary TP must also change.

This challenge from a blog I follow called Crunchy Chicken couldn't have come at a better time. Helping us with all the information and facts about moving to cloth TP.

Crunchy writes:

According to Charmin, consumers on average use 8.6 sheets per trip to the bathroom. That's a total of 57 sheets per day and an annual total of 20,805 sheets. There are 230 million adults in the U.S., each averaging a roll and a half per week. Since each roll of toilet paper averages about .5 a pound of paper, that's about 40 pounds of TP per year.

That equals 4.6 million tons of TP used each year. And that's just from adults. To take the calculation even further, if all U.S. adults used only Charmin toilet paper or the like (aka "virgin fiber" with 0% recycled content or post-consumer waste), the environmental cost is approximately (not including the issues with Dioxin):

78.2 million trees
1.35 million tons of air pollution
32 trillion gallons of water
2.1 trillion gallons of oil
18.75 trillion Kilowatt hours of energy

Rather scary huh?

So we went to our local thrift store to get some supplies. I got a small towel that I cut into four pieces and sewed the edges against fraying. They measure now about 6x3 inches, which will easily fit into a back pocket or in my purse. Now when I or Jacob wash our hands we will have our towel where ever we go. Next up kleenex, I couldn't find any old handkerchiefs to buy, plus I don't like the idea of them being white for bloody nose reasons. Anyway, we got some well used napkins in that same thin fabric like a hankie and today I am working on cutting them into the more manageable kleenex size.

As for the TP I purchased an old Cotton flannel sheet that will be cut and sewn. I am not sure on the size yet because I have some other supplies to get in the mean time. Such as a container for the used TP before washing. Also I am waiting for our front loader washing machine which should arrive on the 25th of this month. I haven't posted about that but I will. For more info and all the questions you could ever possibly ask visit Crunchy Chicken's blog.

Cover Crops and Chickens

2009-09-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

I harvested what little buckwheat we had growing today. Those stupid sparrows! They just don't listen when I yell at them! "BUFFET IS CLOSED!" Sigh...

I am waiting for some inoculant (stuff that you soak seeds in to give them the right signal to sprout) before I plant my biomass peas and cereal rye. With any luck they will both grow right through the winter. Thus keeping weeds from germinating and my soil from erosion during heavy spring rains. I am concerned that the birds will get them, but both these seeds need to be planted deeper in order to start whereas the buckwheat can be surface planted.

The baby chickens are in the garden for the first time and not quite sure what to do with the extra space. Now that the growing season is pretty much over I don't feel bad about letting the girls out into the garden again.

What to do with the front yard grass?

2009-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Over this weekend Jake and I have been toying with what to do with the grass in the front yard. We considered doing rows of strawberries with grass clover mix in the walk way. But I've seen how most June bearing strawberries grow and I don't think we could make it work. Plus our next door neighbor is FAR from organic with her turf bright green front lawn. I wouldn't want any ground growing edibles near the property line. Then we would have to build a fence to keep everyone out of our lovely strawberries! Plus the watering system.... right. So we've decided to grow strawberries in the circle cut out's we made for the fruit trees. Like so:
But that still leaves us with the grass problem. My big dilemma with grass is the fact that it doesn't feed anything I own. If I had a goat... I would consider keeping that lawn. Since I don't own any thing that eats grass I want something that feeds me or feeds the bees. We are going to do lawn/clover mix in the back yard so the dog, chickens and bees will benefit. In the front yard we've decided to go with a creeping thyme lawn. It has the best drought and foot traffic tolerance. Once it gets established it needs watering like once a month! It's been on our minds because the neighbor down the road has an almost completely filled in thyme lawn. It flowers purple in the early spring and the bee's were all over it. It NEVER has to be mowed and smells wonderful when walked on.

See how this is almost grown in. more photos here.
But in order for the thyme to "take" well it must be done in the spring. So come spring of 2010 we will rent that sod cutter again, receive many strange looks from our neighbors and rip out more grass. The clover for the back yard will have to be done in the spring for the same reasons. Hopefully this will solve our barren grass issues. We really have crappy soil here. If you ever wanted to put in a clover lawn mix this is a great article. Establishing White Clover in Lawns.

Late Summer Potato Update

2009-09-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last week my Mom dug into the potato beds for me, because why not? In about a 1 foot square and only 2 of the 3 boards down she pulled out 1.5 pounds of Rose Fin Apple fingerlings. Based on this fact I think the potato growing up experiment worked! When we actually harvest both beds we are going to get a weight per bed/type of potato. But for now... look how huge these guys have gotten!

Bumble Dinner

2009-09-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be weird if this looked like dinner?

Today Show features raising chickens in the city

2009-09-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

I saw this video on another blog I follow. But I wanted the rest of my family and readers to get the scoop too. Backyard chicken flocks!

Lettuce gone to seed

2009-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had a leftover lettuce plant that volunteered this year. Considering it was planted 2 years ago we decided to water it and let the super thing grow. It is a type of red lettuce similar to butter head. I like most mortals had never seen what a lettuce flower looks like, and wondered how do you get lettuce seeds. Wonder no more.

No it's not a weed but it sure looks like one....

The growth of Chickens

2009-09-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Man they get big quick. Sometimes when they are in the brood box it seems like forever until they go outside. But all the girls have been outside together for a little over 1 week. The RedStars are much more wild than the Buff Orpington girls. Flying is top priority for them, when they were in the brood box I was calling them Raptor Babies! Anyway, we haven't clipped there wings yet probably tonight. As they get bigger Curious looses her hold as dominate chicken, she was never a leader anyway. Red will probably take over the "roo" role in this flock.

It only took them 3 days to figure out the ramp up into the coop. Curious was a really shitty teacher so Jacob had to go out and coax them up the ramp with seeds. It took the BO girls well over a week to "get" the ramp. The RedStars are figuring out how to roost now which will be much better for clean up and the overall care of the coop.

A video of Redstars Vs. Curious and the sunflower seeds. To give you an idea about the size difference.

Old Fashioned Gym

2009-08-29T19:25:00.001-07:00

Raspberry Jam

2009-08-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well it is as promised a recipe for canning stuff. We did this about 2-3 weeks ago I know it's late but here goes. I made 2 different recipes because I have a brother who doesn't eat any processed sugar, so I had to attempt a wholly honey sweetened raspberry jam. Both were delicious! I do favor the sugar one only because honey tends to be a stronger flavor and there was a hint of it in the jam. Ok to the goods.....

bloggers note: For all my jams everything I add is either local or organic all of the fruit I have access to isn't organic accept the raspberries, so truly this is my only organic and local jam. Feels good.

Traditional Raspberry Jam (my way)

11 C. Mashed Raspberries ( I used a potato masher, rather nice for aggressions)
2 C. Honey (local please, don't by that shit from China even if it is cheeper)
1 C. Sugar
Pomona's Universal Pectin which allows for the drastic underuse of sugar to fruit ratio. This pectin is activated by the calcium rather than sugar like traditional recipes.
5 tsp. Calcium water comes with the pectin
5 tsp. Pectin

Heat mashed raspberries and calcium until bubbly. In a separate bowl mix pectin with sugar/honey this helps the pectin dissolve in the raspberries when you add it. Once it's bubbly add the pectin/sweets mix and re-bubbly it. Have your sterilized jars/lids/rings ready to go and the water bath boiling. To test if the jam is "set" to your liking I put a small dish in the freezer before I begin. After the jam has everything in it and is bubbling away, I take a spoonful and dump it on the freezer dish and put it back in the freezer for about 1 minute. This just brings the bubbly jam down to room temp quickly so you can see if you like how thick or runny it is. It was perfect so we moved onto the packing jars, lids, rings and get them in the water bath! We boiled ours for 12 minutes. Adding 1 minute for every 1,000 feet above sea level you are. I didn't write down how many 1/2 pints it made but I think it was around 12.

Jason's Raspberry Jam

This is the only honey recipe and it is a very small batch. It yielded 5 half pints.

4 C. Mashed Raspberries
1 3/4 C. Honey
2 tsp. Calcium
2 tsp. Pectin

Everything to process is the same as above, only I would have cheated and added about 3 Tbl. of sugar to help the pectin dissolve. It wouldn't blend with the honey and I ended up with pectin clumps that I had to squish. It slowed the process down considerably.

Seed thieves

2009-08-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

This would be why are buckwheat hasn't filled out.

Surgery and Farm Update

2009-08-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

I've been gone I know. I had surgery for a Hysterectomy on Tuesday. This has been a LONG time coming surgery with many alternatives attempted before the actual removal. Some people I am sure gasp at the idea of Hysterectomy at the age of 30. But I have had "issues" with the girl parts since "FOREVER". The thought of this 2 week, 1 time recovery, pain process is thrilling, compared to the once monthly week of incapacitation. For me the pain one week per month was worth this horrifying surgery. I don't come out of anesthetic well. Think roller-coaster dizziness/nausea. For having the abdomen cut into, looking forward to that outcome was not fun for me. But for the most part I am over the hump so to speak. It's been 5 days now and I have actually made it upstairs to the land of the living.

All my animals were sure I'd abandoned them. The cat and dog have since learned of my recovery, the chickens however are unsure that it's me. Since I can only wave and call to them from the basement door. Not allowed to go outside do to the dizziness factor. We have united the baby hens with Curious the one BO hen we have left. Our cover crops are coming up well and the potatoes seem to be doing better now that we've figured out the water system. The grapes have taken off now that they have something to climb. Raspberries are also taking off due to the figured out water system. All is well on this urban farm thanks to Mr. Sustainability who has been a champion this last week. I owe all my recovery and overall running of this operation to him. Thanks baby!

I'll try to get some posts out of the things I did before surgery, like raspberry jam..... but that will be later for now I need to lay back down.

The Completed Garden fence

2009-08-12T17:57:00.001-07:00

Which looks far better than rebar. Plus it will hold another grape plant.

Pesto

2009-08-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

This year I wanted to make more pesto than I saved for last year. Mostly because I want to give it as gifts. Plus I under valued it's greens in winter potential and didn't make enough. I get the magazine organic gardening, they had a contest about pesto reciepes. Send in the reciepe and Maria at Maria's Farm Country Kitchen, will test them and decide a clear winner.

She devised that the secret to great green pesto is blanching the basil. Last year I didn't do this and my pesto did turn brown. It still tasted fine but I wanted it to stay perfect summer green. So this year I tried blanching it. Some leaves turned brown all though those may have been the ones I couldn't get out of the boiling water so fast. Regardless, it is a bright beautiful green. I packaged it in 1/3 cup and 1/2 cup sizes inside ziplock bags. I flattened the bags like I did with the veggie soup stock to save more room in the freezer. Now I have small very flat baggies of pesto for gifts and winter greens.

The Pesto Recipe

2 c. (packed) blanched basil
1/2. c. parmesan or favorite hard white cheese
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. nuts (I used walnuts but pine, almond, cashews... whatever works you may toast them if you like)
3 medium garlic cloves (however hot you want them... some asian varieties get very spicy!)
dash of salt/pepper
dash of fruit fresh

I layered all ingredients in my food processor basil, everything else, basil. Then I processed it for about 1 minute. Scooped it out into level 1/3 or 1/2 bags then into the freezer. I decided this amount would be perfect for meal sizes. I didn't want to just freeze the whole thing and then chip off pesto from the large block when needed as some websites suggested. Voila!

I still have 3 basil plants in the garden 1-2 is for dried basil and the other is for pasta sauce when the tomatoes start rolling us over.

Solar Dehydrator Project: Part 3 Finishing Up

2009-08-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Now that the cover is built and the main box is put together, it's time to put the wheels on and the 2 x 2 legs. Here are the drawings.

I cut a 4 x 4 at a 45 degree angle for the blocks that will be used to attach the wheels. This way, the surface that the wheel attaches to will be level when the whole box is at a 45 degree angle. I attached the the blocks to the main box by screwing through the main box from the inside of it. This wasn't easy but we managed after a few tries.

After the 2 blocks for the wheels were attached, we attached the wheels to the blocks. Since the provided holes in the wheels were to big for my drywall screws, I had to drill out smaller holes.

Now to attach the legs so the box will stand on it's own. There are a few variables here that will determine the length to cut the two legs. One is how deep the 1 x 2's were placed on the cover and the second is the size of the wheels that were put on. So this is what I did to figure out how long to cut the legs. First, I placed the cover on the box. The top of the leg has to be low enough as to not interfere with the cover. So with the cover on, I drew a line on the outside of the main box at the bottom of the cover. Then I took the cover off. Jen held the main box up at about a 45 degree angle. Putting the main box at a 45 degree angle makes the 1 x 2's that hold the trays on the inside of the box level. I put a level on one of the 1 x 2's used to hold the trays and Jen adjusted the main box until it was level. At this point, I took a 2 x 2, placed it against the box towards the top, leveled it vertically. Then I marked the 2 x 2 about 1 inch below the line that marks where the cover rests. Also, I drew a line where the 2 x 2 meets the main box (vertical) so I could put it back in the same spot after I cut it. I then cut two 2 x 2's exactly the same with the top of the 2 x 2 at a 45 degree angle. I then attached the 2 x 2 to the main box on one side. I measured out the placement of this board so I could attach the other board on the opposite side in the same position. Here is a picture.

After this was done, we painted the the main box and all the pieces for the cover. Now, we used a leftover black paint that we had used for another project so we wouldn't waste it. I admit it probably wasn't the best because it stunk pretty bad. I believe it was a Rustolium paint. Because of this, we let the box dry and air out really well. It just happened to be about 3-4 weeks before we needed to use it and by that time it didn't smell anymore. Looking back, I probably would have used an exterior latex paint or something like that. With a little research, you could probably come up with what's best to use.

So while the paint was drying, we moved onto building the four trays that hold the fruit. Here's the drawing for these.

I made the mistake of only giving 1/8" of play on both sides of the tray. This was too snug of a fit for the tray when placing it into the dehydrator. Especially after putting the screen on. I'd strongly recommend making one tray, see if it works, and then making the final three. This saved me from having to redo all of them. I used the miter saw to cut all the pieces. We set the pieces together on a flat surface, nailed them together with the brad gun, and then put the corner braces in each corner to add strength. I predrilled the holes for the corner brace screws because I was worried about the wood splitting. I just used a drill bit that was smaller than the width of the actual screw so it would still thread into the wood. After this, Jen attached the metal screen.

Now the trays were done.

When everything that was painted was dry, we finished making the cover. We removed the protective plastic on the plexiglass, put it into the cover, and used the brad gun to attach the final cover boards that hold the plexiglass in. Also, we stapled the bug screen over the two ventilation holes on the inside of the main box.

Solar Dehydrator FINISHED!!!! YEAH!!!

Here are some final pictures and a video of the finished product with some final thoughts. Please feel free to ask questions!!!

Solar Dehydrator Project: Part 2 The Main Box

2009-08-09T16:37:00.001-07:00

Now for building the main box of the dehydrator.

I will be posting a video of how we used the circular saw, a 1 x 4, and c-clamps to cut the plywood. It’s a bit difficult to explain in text. But we lent out our camera so it will be a few weeks before I can put that video together.

We started out with one 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood that was 1/2” thick. Here’s the drawing of pieces we needed.

The 2 pieces of plywood that are going to be the top and bottom sides of the dehydrator need to have a hole cut in them for the ventilation. Here’s the drawing.

Next is to cut all the 1 x 2’s to reinforce the plywood box and to hold the food trays. Here’s are the drawings and some images of the boards cut and placed in their proper spots.

Now to put it all together!!! We used wood glue on all the seems and 1-1/4” brads. I’m so glad we have a friend that owns a brad gun!!! It made it so much easier. In this next video, you’ll see me adjust one of the boards by cutting it with a hand saw. This is because the board was a little too long.

Solar Dehydrator Project: Part 1 The Cover

2009-08-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here we go!

In this first video, I explain why I started out making the cover first.

I started making the cover by cutting the 1x4’s to length according to the following drawing. The 1x4’s are cut to the length’s in the drawing for two reasons. First, this will give an 1/8” gap on all sides of the plexiglass so it can easily fit inside the frame of the cover. Second, it gives an 1/8” gap on all sides for the cover to easily fit over the main dehydrator box.

Next up is how we went about putting the frame together.

Hey brainiac, did you do that right?.....

Now for the 1x2’s that will hold up the plexiglass on the inside of cover frame.

Here’s is a side view drawing of the cover. Note: the gapping for the plexiglass doesn’t necessarily have to be 1/4”. Just make the gap slightly bigger than the thickness of the plexiglass. The plexiglass we used happened to be 1/8” thick and I gave it 1/8” of play. If your plexiglass is thicker, you’ll need to adjust this. I saw one person that used Lexan for a hinged door-like cover which was pretty nice but I didn’t want to put the effort or money into it. Lexan is much stronger than plexiglass but it’s expensive.

Here's the drawing for the final cover boards.

These last two videos finish up the cover.

Solar Dehydrator Project Intro

2009-08-09T12:08:00.001-07:00

Last year Jen and I spent quite a bit of time going up to Green Bluff north of Spokane, WA and picking fruit. This was such a wonderful experience and gave us quite the appreciation for fruit picked ripe off the tree/plant. Nothing beats it! It gave us a great reference point for just how lame typical grocery store bought fruit/vegetables are. But, like some things in life, it comes with a bad side. Most of the fruit at Green Bluff is not organic. So we compromised. At this point in time and for this situation, we are putting local food above organic. It’s not organic but it didn’t have to travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to get to our home. We definitely would like the best of both worlds and we are continually on the lookout.

I do have to give props to one grower at Green Bluff, Vern and Nancy Fallstrom at Strawberry Hill Farm.
They do what they call nutritional farming. My understanding of it is that they are organic but not certified. That’s a drastically oversimplified explanation of it. If you want more information, I recommend talking to Vern. He’s a great guy with a wealth of information. Jen and I will keep going back to his place for as long as we can. His farm is definitely a farm we’ll try to model our garden after.

So back to the point. With all this great fruit on our hands, we looked at our options of preserving it which were canning, freezing, and drying. We went out and bought an electric food dryer. One of the round ones with all the plastic trays. Well, after using this thing, we realized that some of the wetter fruit took over a day to dry with this thing on constantly. UGH! Also, it tended to dry unevenly from the top to the bottom and it didn’t hold too much fruit. It would cost us from $1-2 per day to run in electricity. Not too bad but it was added cost.

So off to the land of information, Google. Heck, within about 10-15 minutes of the internet-space-time-continuum ( 2-3 hours realtime) we had a plan to build a Solar Dehydrator. Here’s the plans that I worked from Solar Fruit Dryer PDF.

I neatly tucked these plans in the back of my head in the engineering box and mulled them over during the winter months. Actually, I forgot all about it until Jen said in the spring, “Okay, we need to build the solar dehydrator.” Then my brain sprung into action and came up with a plan in a couple of days.

I modified the designs to fit our needs. Basically, instead of the dehydrator being 4’ x 4’, we made it 3’ x 4’. Also, I modified the lid to use plexiglass instead of plastic film and I put some wheels on it for ease of moving around. TRUST ME, you want to make the effort to put wheels on it. It’s quite simple and it makes WAY easier to move around. With wheels, one person can easily move it around to face the sun throughout the day. Without wheels, you’d need two people to move it and that would get annoying.

Jen and I are all about sustainable living. Thus the name of this blog. But that is only the first part. More importantly than living sustainably ourselves, we try to encourage everyone to do the same and give them freely the information they need to do so. Leading by example is our goal. Therefore, we constantly try to document everything we do so others can do it also.

We didn’t do a great job of documentation when we built our chicken coop (which will be posted soon). So this solar dehydrator is our first good venture into a complete project.

A few things about the project. The measured drawings are done by me. Amateur! I’m not a CAD expert. Though, I’m pretty proud of my results for a first try. Last time I did any CAD drawings was back in college about 9 years ago. I have no idea how much the whole project cost us but I’d be willing to be it was under $100. I had to get VERY creative with the tools I used. I don’t have much in the way of fancy tools ( I’m crossing my fingers hoping that will change over the next few years ). The main tools I used were a brad gun (borrowed), circular saw, c-clamps (borrowed), tape measure, pencil, drill, miter saw, and my brain (sometimes this one malfunctioned).

Please feel free to ask questions or point out mistakes. But most importantly, BE SAFE and wear protective gear especially Safety Glasses!!!!!

Mason Bee Block Update

2009-08-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well they've been up for several months now. Many bee's have laid and covered babies for next year. We'll definately have to add more of this size. So far the giant 3/8" (thumb sized) has no bee's in it. All the other sizes do, the most active being the 5/16" size.

All of the images are clickable for a closer look.

New baby Meet and Greet

2009-08-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

It went well I think. WB our low ranking adult orpington chicken feels the most threatened by the babies. Which I knew would happen. She ruffles up her feathers and tries to look huge, then she chases them around the yard. Curious our other adult girl, cares little for them. She will peck at them and put them in there rightful place but otherwise takes no notice of them. Yellow the baby (whom we think could be a roo?) had no fear of the big girls and felt free to charge and poke. It's gonna get real interesting around here.

Monarch Way station update 2

2009-07-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when sun and water get a hold of of a perennial garden.

For those of you who are new to this blog (I picked up some followers through Cold Antler Farm, I changed this section of my grass lawn to a flower garden in August of 2008. This will be it's first full year in growth.... and grown it has. All of the pictures can be clicked on to make them larger. To WILD gardening!

Earlier this year I posted about this garden here.

For the planting and extreme baby pictures of the butterfly garden those are here.

Braids

2009-07-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

I brought the garlic braids into the house and placed them into there final resting place. Hung from the celling they will stay there until the current braid is done, then we will bring one down to use.

Guarded by the "kitchen witch" together they'll keep the kitchen vampire free. *phew* I was worried for a while.

No TV entertainment

2009-07-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone asks us "What do you then?" when ever they learn we don't have a TV. Garden, walk, make elaborate dinners, and read are all possible answers.

Here's another.

What to do with a speed radar, a road bike, and a camera....

It's big time here at the Oxrieder farm.

Bead Lake Day Hike\ 30th Birthday

2009-07-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the hiatus it was my birthday last weekend and we took some time off (sorta). Jake, Me and the munchkin all went for a hike. The big "30" went over smoothly!

Here are some highlights.

Chickens, Roosters, and Babies oh my!

2009-07-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well I sold Bee today. I had some snafu's with getting a buyer for her but now it's been taken care of. She is off to rule the roost at someone else's farm. Luckily they have a RIR rooster who will no doubly help Bee out with her need for motherhood. The transfer went smooth, however I felt bad because she was in the nest box, ready to lay an egg when we snatched her. I distracted the other 2 with a bowl of yogurt and the heist went off without a hitch. Hopefully the witless wonders won't even notice she's gone.

The babies are doing good, I noticed when they first arrived that one of them is distinctly more yellow than the other three. Red Star's are sexlink chickens which means they come out different colors. Males are yellow and females are a rusty brown. This yellowish one is bigger, with more developed wings. I think they might have sent me a rooster. Which sucks because they sent me a rooster last time. I ordered 4 chickens and ended up with 3. It seems like that might be happening again. But I must wait and see. The color difference isn't as drastic as this picture. However with the more developed wings it makes me think Roo.

Picture from here.

The plan was to sell WB and Bee and keep Curious and 4 new baby hens. So I would have 5 total. It looks like I might be keeping WB and Curious and 3 new baby hens.... who knows.

Here's some pictures and a quick video I took today of the girls(?) I tried to get angles of the giant wings the yellowish one has. But the color difference is very subtle.

Heat wave

2009-07-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Heat wave. We are in for it now, solid 90* weather with no break in sight. Tomorrow we could reach into the 100* extremes. I hate this weather. For mainly that it keeps me inside during the day. We live in an area where all the trees were clear cut for the development of houses. Sadly all of my trees are at the baby stage. Maybe this weather wouldn't seem so bad if there was shade to be found. Alas.

Things I need to remember to do during this heat.

1. Fill the bird bath (sometimes twice per day) not only for birds but for bees as well.
2. Late evening watering of chicken run grass to cool the birds down.
3. Check and re-check all the plants and adjust water accordingly.
4. Hydrate myself.
5. Bake... at night... oh and it might be advisable to cook on the BBQ hmm...... what should I make for dinner?

Maybe I should buy another fan just incase one of mine goes bust?

Project New Fence

2009-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

We almost got the fence done yesterday but Jacob got called out. (The life of a phone guy) So we will finish the frame today. I do have a "so far" picture, but this was before we cemented, thus the beam supports are still in place.

Our reason behind the new fence, since we had one in place already is mainly for sturdiness. See, we ordered 2 grapes this year and intended to put them around the arbor. Well one of them wouldn't sprout so we thought it was dead, just incase though, I removed it from the ground and repotted it. In it's place we got another grape. Both of the "arbor" grapes are doing splendidly! But now this one in the pot has started to grow! After much thought and debate as to where to put the thing.... we opted to make our fence a bit sturdier. So we've cemented wooden posts instead of rebar. We'll then put the wire fencing back up and string the grape vine through it, should be fun!

I'll post more pictures of project new fence... as I take them...

Cherry Jam With Pomona's Universal Pectin

2009-07-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

We had a busy week thus far. Mostly along the lines of canning and dehydrating cherries. I made a cherry jam with the new Pomona's Universal Pectin. I must say I am very impressed with it. Here's the recipe:

Cherry Jam

10 c. Blended Cherries (not sure how much I started out with since I just grabbed and blended)
2 1/2 c. Sugar ( I only used this much to make it sweet and to help bring out the flavor that can be lost by canning)
6 tsp. Pectin
10 tsp. Calcium water (this activates the pectin and comes with the package)

Place blended cherries in a big pot, add the calcium water to the mix, heat it up to bubbling (just like any jam). In a separate bowl mix sugar and pectin. Once the cherries are boiling add the sugar/pectin mix it and return to boiling. Test the mixture for "set", I usually put a small dish in the freezer to cool the jam for an accurate test. Scoop off any foam on the top. Ladle jam into hot half pint jars, put the lids on and water bath process for 12 minutes. It made 13 half pints.

The jam is very firm, I am not that fond of cherry jam so I haven't tried it accept for the original test. But my family says it VERY good! I intend to do the same with raspberry jam later in the week. I haven't figured out the cost per jar of jam but I will do that, considering I only used 6 tsp of pectin and 2.5 cups of sugar.... in just supplies the cherry jam is cheaper than the strawberry.

The strawberry recipe is Here.

New Chicks

2009-07-15T07:55:00.001-07:00

After much debate about eggs vs cost of feed we've decided to get some more chicks and sell some of are other girls. Bee our hen who keeps going broody is our biggest eater. She goes broody about once per month and is insistent with it. Bee would be best kept with a rooster where she has the opportunity to hatch her own babies. When she goes broody, even though we 'break' her of it within 3 days, a switch is thrown in her body and she doesn't produce eggs for at least 1 week after she is broken of it. So 3 days of broody 7+ to get back in egg gear. Bee is eating that whole time and not producing eggs... she is eating more than she is giving. So I posted an ad for her on craigslist, desperately trying to find a farmer with a rooster for her. Once she hatches her own chicks, for the rest of the season she will continue to lay eggs. Making her worth her feed cost because she raised X number of babies for the future. I don't have that option, or am I looking for a 'breeding' flock.

Now WB or white back, has lately started laying better eggs but they are still only passable. The shell is still soft no matter how much oystershell and eggshell I set out or add to the food. She produces about 5 eggs per week. Pretty good all things considered, so we may keep her. If she can not get her egg shells in order she becomes dinner. Not for me but for someone who may raise meat birds for themselves. All of my girls have been raised organically so they can fetch a good value for there meat. Buff Orpington's are "dual" purpose birds meaning eggs and meat. The only one of my chicks that has consistently laid good eggs is Curious. We would keep her, the feed to egg ratio for her is excellent.

That brings me to our decision to get more chicks. This time we went with a breed called Red Star a "sex-link" breed meaning that the males and females hatch different colors, so you know who's who! They are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and/or several other birds depending on color. They have a mellow temperament, and lay up to 300 eggs per year (per bird). Buff Orpingtons by contrast lay between 160-200 eggs per year. So our feed to egg ratio is much better. A Red Star is not a heritage bird, they are a "hybrid" so I feel somewhat weird raising them. But, when we get our land we will choose a hardy heritage bird for a breeding flock.

Some pictures:

Adult Red Stars

picture from A Windy City Gal.

Our baby Red Stars

Ziplock Recycling

2009-07-15T07:14:00.000-07:00

After we wash the bags we place them on the fridge by magnet to allow them to dry. Sexy isn't it?

The Giant Rock

2009-07-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Post hole number one down.

9 to go.

P.S. This is why we brought in soil.... because one can't grow in rocks.

Pretty Dragonfly

2009-07-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

We saw this little guy hanging off our deck. Isn't it pretty?

Friends

2009-07-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hope.

Worm Bin Glop

2009-07-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well our little red wiggler compost worms were looking mighty hungry. Plus we hadn't run them through the "water bath" in a while to get some of those yummy worm "castings" or worm poop. Hey... organic farmers put livestock poop in the garden, but I also use worm pooh!

So I scooped the worms and glop into some leftover screen, Filled a small rubbermaid tub with water and proceeded to do the soak and dip method of harvest. I filled the bucket 3 times and each time got a considerable amount of brown goo water. Which I dumped into a garbage can for storage, donated by my mother.

Poor worms were rather water logged by the end but that's ok because then they get a nice meal of strawberry tops, paper, coffee/tea grounds, and some veggie peels.

Looks like a feast!

Strawberry Fruit Leather

2009-07-06T16:27:00.001-07:00

What's with the recipes? Anyway a fruit leather recipe that is totally easy!

Strawberry Fruit Leather

1.5 lb. strawberries ( I kinda guessed on this.... I don't know maybe 5 cups)
3 TBL. Honey
Dash of fruit fresh to help it "keep" longer

Pick off greens and wash strawberries. Place in a pot, mash with potato masher until pulpy. Cook on medium heat until it reaches about 160* or slightly bubbling, (just before a rolling boil) this is to kill any germs. Add the honey and mix well. Place in a food processor or a blender until liquid.

Line 2 baking trays with plastic wrap. I have smaller 9 x 11 baking trays you may need to up the strawberries if you have giant ones. Pour an even mixture of the strawberry liquid onto the baking tray about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Place the trays in the dehydrator (plans coming I swear) or in the oven on low. Mine were done in about 7 hours, the temp out side was about 88* so the temp in the dehydrator was 120* or more. Remove from plastic wrap or roll the fruit into the plastic wrap and store.

A useful website about strawberry preserving.

Dehydrator action shot

2009-07-05T09:25:00.001-07:00

Look at that baby hard at work!

Veggie Ciabatta

2009-07-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

I made a truly yummy dinner and I just wanted to share the recipe for ya'll.

Veggie Panini

Ciabatta bread from the bread guys at the market
3 baby first squashes (about 5 inches big)
fresh green onions
fresh garlic (from the garden ;o)
tomatoes
fetta cheese
mixed spices ( rosemary, thyme, chives, oregano, onions)
Olive oil

Slice up the squash into strips or rings, whatever. Place in a dish to marinate with some olive oil and TONS of spices. Get really heavy handed with the spices since squash have little of there own flavor. Marinate for I don't know, 20 minutes *ish* Now place in a grill basket or on aluminum foil and grill on BBQ until tender and starting to slightly darken.

Cut ciabatta in half length wise, Place a BIG sprinkling of chives and onions (you can cook first if you prefer them softened) Lay the cooked squash on top sprinkle with fetta cheese, top with thinly sliced tomatoes and then add more fetta just because you can! Drizzle with the olive oil and spices left over from marinating the squash.

Place (carefully) your towering creation onto the BBQ on low! I placed this creation on the top shelf of the BBQ so it was further away from the flames. Close the lid and grill for like 10 minutes, the bottom should be crispy maybe slightly brown and the cheese melted.

Remove from BBQ cut into squares, give thanks to the farmers who grew and made this lovely thing for you, now ENJOY!

What not to do when pick axing

2009-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

What not hit when pick axing and removing rocks from the garden. Off to the store to repair the sprinkler tube!

First Garlic Harvest

2009-07-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

It feels good to actually pull something out of the ground! We've been so damn busy and have nothing to bring inside to show for it. If we stand at the window though, we are reminded "oh yeah, that's why I hurt all over!"

Garlic was harvested Thursday June 25th in the evening. From what I read garlic doesn't like to be in direct sunlight so we ended up starting the harvest around 7 PM

This was our temporary solution before we devised the hanging system. Garlic needs lots of air flow in order to "cure" correctly. So, we placed them on screens while we figured out what the heck to do. We ended up bundling them in 8-10 making sure they had plenty of room around each bulb and hanging them with string on a wire rack set up on the front porch. (first picture)

I don't have the official tally since (honestly) I forgot. But they seem pretty good. For previous garlic posts about how we planted and what we grew click planting and spring tally.

Chaos season... I mean canning season begins

2009-06-30T10:41:00.001-07:00

Last year was my first ever canning year. I learned a lot, like patience, grasshopper, patience, also get it fast because the goods are going quick. I could kick myself for our laziness with cherries last year. Anyhow! Canning.

Our jam last year was runny, mostly because I didn't want to use TONS of sugar to make the jam "set" right. I found upon sleuthing Sure-Jell "pink" allows you to make jam using little to NO sugar! WOO HOO. Only the "no" sugar option is reserved for Splenda. YUCK! Regardless we were still able to use 1/2 the sugar the normal pectin calls for to "set" the jam.

Our reciepe:

8 cups of mashed strawberries
4 cups of (organic, fair trade, sugar)
1 package of Sure-jell pink box pectin
Sprinkle of Fruit Fresh (instead of lemon juice, helps the fruit stay color or keep from browning.)

From there we followed all the directions at Pick Your Own. This website has all the pictures and step by step instructions. We fudged on the recipe a little, it should be 6 cups of strawberries to 4 cups of sugar, but that was too sweet for us.

Which brings me to my most recent discovery. The Sure-Jell pectin from above is close to $3 per box. Which in the long run is expensive. So I tried to search out low to no sugar pectin in bulk. I discovered Pomona's Universal Pectin.

According to some forums I searched this is THE pectin to use. If you do a lot of canning (jam/jelly) this is the cheapest solution in the long run. It comes in 1 oz. 1/2 lb. and 1 lb. boxes. But here is the kick! It is so strong that 1 oz will make 2-4 batches of jam depending on the size batch of jam your making. The Sure-Jell (1 oz. package ) will make 1 batch of the above recipe. The only down side is you must weigh it out, because it is in bulk. It won't be an issue for me because I have a kitchen scale.

I bought some of the Pomona's Pectin for future batches of jam, I'll review it after I try it OK?

Our 36 lb. of Strawberries ended up in 15 pints of Jam and 18 lb. of vacuum sealed for freezer and future use. We plant to go back up and get more for right now eating and possibly more jam... gifts maybe?

Strawberry Picking 2009

2009-06-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

This year we utilized our lovely Green Bluff Growers again! Only decided to try Knapps Farm this year. They had a giant field of strawberries, which was good because we crawled all over it like ants to honey! They had 3 types growing, only two were ready to pick. I don't remember the names, and didn't care because hello? IT'S STRAWBERRIES!! AHHHH! Fruit is officially rolling in and I am stupidly excited about it.

We ended up with 36 glorious pounds of strawberries! It took us about 2 hours to pick as much but we were being really choosy.

The Story of Stuff

2009-06-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about this little video for a while now and I think it deserves a post on the blog. This is called The Story of Stuff. It is about 30 minutes long, but worth it I promise!

What can you fit in a Toyota Prius?

2009-06-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

As it turns out... a lot!

Growing Rocks

2009-06-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

As promised a picture of the rock pile we've collected. This is for just one raised bed. We pick axe, then use a pitchfork to lift out the rocks. Each bed takes us about 40 minutes to complete. The rock layer is in some spots only down 1 foot, easily reachable by most vegetables.

When we get done rock harvesting all the raised beds, I'll take a picture of the giant pile.

Seaweed, Bioplastics, and corn in a car?

2009-06-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this article the other day on MSN and wanted to post about it because it mentions the car I drive. The Toyota Prius hybrid. The picture is Toyotas 1/x hybrid, a concept vehicle made of bioplastics and seaweed.

Toyota's 1/x hybrid concept, whose bioplastic exterior contains seaweed, has the same interior space as a Prius, but weighs only 926 pounds - about one- third the weight of a Prius - and aims to double its fuel efficiency.

The article talks about different car manufacutres using more sustainable materials to make cars with. I thought it was a step in the right direction, making cars a bit more earth friendly in the long run.

Here's the article for further poking around. A Car Made Out of What?

The Last Beekeeper

2009-06-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

A profound trailer and a difficult subject, we all want more time on this "little blue planet."

For the website click here.

WB's weird chicken eggs

2009-06-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

We have had a chicken laying really weird eggs lately. They went from fine to little to no shelled eggs in about a week. Doing some sleuthing trying to figure out which hen it is, we've come to the conclusion it's WB or white back our low ranking hen in the peck order.

WB took to laying her weird eggs in all sorts of places, the ramp up to the coop, in the grass run, or near the nest box but not inside it. Then I would have to get the cat litter scooper (what I use to clean the coop with) and lift the weird thing away so the other girls won't eat or trample it.

She seems has healthy as she's ever been, so I was at a loss to figure out why the soft eggs? Doing some poking around on Backyard Chickens forum page, I found that hens can lay weird eggs for a number of reasons. Mostly that she has some sort of illness, the list of afflictions was scary! However she is just fine, no coughing, drooping, or lack of appetite. But I did find that if a chicken suffers a fright it can cause her egg production to be really strange i.e. weird eggs, no eggs etc..

I had to think back to about 2 weeks now, WB got caught by the sprinklers that water the grass in the grass run. She was stuck next to the fence for 6 minutes while the sprinklers got the lawn. Our fence has about a 1 foot gap away from the grass that isn't watered, so she was never getting soaked, just unable to move much unless she wanted to get wet (which chickens HATE). That is the only thing I can come up with that would have frightened her into stupefaction. We nicknamed this chicken "fraidy" as in afraid of everything, so I am sure this has to be what startled her.

In order to remedy the situation the troops at Backyard Chickens advised to have more oyster shell on hand, and supplement with yogurt and a leafy green, like spinage. So I've done that for about 5 days now and the shells are getting more solid with each day. Yesterday she actually laid her egg in the nest box, I am sure feeling it was adequate for the box now. It was still a bit papery so we didn't eat it, but today her egg should be much better.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'll keep you posted on the ongoing chicken saga.

Before and After

2009-06-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

July 4th weekend marks our "lets rip up our back yard" one year anniversary. This is also my 100th blog post. So I'll keep it easy just some before and after pictures, our quick year in review.

Monarch Way station update

2009-06-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

Last August I planted our Butterfly/Bee Garden in the front yard. All of the plants I got on discount because it was the end of flower season and they were looking pretty sad. I have added some plants to the list in that post. Namely milkweed, another lavender, a tiny start of a blue fescue grass, more creeping thyme for the walkway, and several random types of sedum.

Here's the updated pictures. It still looks pretty bare, but I plan to remedy that this year. I also want to expand the borders around my garden, which are currently harboring bark and a drip line tube, but nothing living.

The other side of the garden

2009-06-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

We've been debating on wether or not to use the "other side of the garden" for raised beds, fire pit, hammock swing, orchard or what ever? It came down to it that if all else fails and we don't truly need that much garden space we can always put in flowers. So we decided to build the beds a few weekends ago and get them placed. But before we could do that we had to level out the ground. I've driven the car on it, played on it, and the ground was generally rutted, pitfalled and hard as a brick!!

We fired up the rototiller and got to work. Making the ground lumpy and messy but at least workable. Jake came up with a wonderful idea to level out the ground. He got a pallet, placed rocks on it then drug it around the yard.

Here's a video to partake in the humor of it all.

Now the beds have been placed, spaced and ready to be filled. But first we are going to pickaxe the soil to get all the rocks out of it. ( I'll post some pictures of the on going rock pile drama. )

Potato Idea

2009-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

I was messing around on some blogs I follow and found this wonderful idea about potato planting from HomeGrown Evolution. But further poking round I found this step by step instructions and results on Build as you grow potato bins. This is essentially a square foot gardening method, but you build up not out.

I was unaware the reason behind "mounding" potatoes. In order to get a good harvest you mound the spuds to create more space between the top of the seed potato and the soil. This gap is where new potatoes grow. the taller the space the more spuds you get. I've heard people use old tires and when the potato gets as tall as the top of the tire, you add another tire and more dirt inside. This method is essentially the same thing.

When I planted the potatoes originally, I intended to mound them in the same raised bed with little thought about the why of mounding. But when I read the build as you grow article it states that the average yield is 10 pounds of potatoes per 1 pound of seed potato using the mounding or hilling method. This way however he got 25 pounds per 1 pound of seed potato. And he further states reports of up to 60 pounds!!!

I planted 2.5 pounds of seed potatoes, for each type of potato. Which means I could get up to 150 pounds of spuds!!!

This is what my raised bed looks like. I tried to show the height difference from the other raised bed in the foreground.

We opted to modify the bed we had since the potatoes were already growing when I discovered this. Jacob and I added a longer 2x4 in each corner so we could effectively raise the bed by 2 additional 2X6's. Giving us a raised bed that is 1 foot deeper 1.5' deep total. Next year we may decide to try and build it even higher and contain all the different potato varieties to one raised bed... but next spring is a long way off so we'll deal with that later.

Fruit Trees and Blueberries

2009-06-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Just some quick pics about the fruit bearing tree/shrubs. All of them have been placed into the ground. The fruit trees in the front, with more room for 2 more (we are still deciding on what they will be) and the blueberries in the back yard next to the fence. We wanted to find a spot for them that would stay somewhat sheltered blueberries are notoriously difficult to grow where I am, we really want to make them stick around!

Tree's

In the front the cherry, behind and to the right the apple, and behind and to the left the peach (which is hard to see).

Blueberries

There are 3 there. From left to right Bluegold, Northland and another Bluegold.

Freak show apple

2009-06-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a picture of our 'science experiment' apple tree. See all the tags on it, each of them represent a graft. Each graft equalling a different type of apple tree. All of these are grafted onto a dwarf root stock, thus making the apple a dwarf freak show. I can't wait, it should produce yellow, red/green, and red fruit all on the same tree.

The trees we planted last week are doing good, the apple and cherry are both leafing out and showing signs of progress. The peach however is looking kinda sad. I think when it was removed from it's original location and shipped to me somewhere along the way one of it's main roots was broken. I am fairly certain it will survive but struggle this first year.

I have tons to post but little time to do it, but I promise I'll get it up here.

Can I get a clone?

2009-06-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

OH my gosh busy! So I am going to be a cruel blogger and give you a list and no pictures. Only because I don't have them all off the camera or sized or anything! We built a solar dehydrator (plans, videos, pictures to come), 8 more raised beds, leveled off the ground, raised the potato bed into a genius idea ( of course I will share), dug three holes and planted all the fruit trees, dug 3 more holes for the blueberry bushes (decided they should be in the ground). Then we refigured the drip system and put into place the first stage of our watering plan!

AHHHHHH

Sorry I totally haven't been around much but YIKES! Much planing and construction work is going into this garden long before any plants are. They better appreciate all this work and put out some good veggies!

Veggie Soup Stock

2009-05-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

It looks like a yummy pot of veggies right? It's not, it's the leftover veggies that are going to make stock. I wanted to find a creative way of using the ends of onions or the garlic that is kinda going or (really growing), the ends of carrots, leeks, and green peppers. I felt compelled to use the onion and garlic the most because the chickens or compost worms won't eat it. I just felt bad wasting it, but now I don't have to.

I found this idea that it's been so long I can't remember where but anyway, save in the freezer all parts of "stock" veggies you wouldn't eat but still have the overall flavor.

So I got out an old coffee can with a lid and started putting random yuck ends of veggies into this container. Over the last several months I have been able to fill it and half of a second one. It was taking up too much room so it's time for veggie stock making.

I sacrificed a can of diced tomatoes and some celery leafs dried from last year to add to the stock. Also a generous pinch of salt. I just filled the stock pot with water, so I don't know how many cups of water I started out with.

The stock boiled for about 2 hours, just long enough for all the veggies to mush and the flavor of the stock was what I wanted.

I let it cool and put 2 cups in a plastic ziplock bags. Placed each bag on a baking sheet to go into the freezer for a quick freeze before going in a freezer bag then stacked for easy storage.

Arbor Stain

2009-05-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

I stained the Arbor yesterday! I think it looks good. We wanted to find a stain that followed our earth friendly path. The only one we came up with is Soy Guard. We could get it locally from The EcoDepot. But no other options were available.

The only down side to Soy Guard is the GM soy it is made from. Otherwise it does seem to be a similar product to the Behr stain I have used in the past. I will say this though, the Soy Guard will only last about 2 years before it breaks down, so repeated coatings are likely. However our grape vine will be so big by then we won't be able to re-stain. I don't think that using this on a deck or high traffic area would be the best option, repeated walking stress will probably cause it to ware faster.

I did like the very low VOC of the Soy Guard. It didn't burn your nose just opening the can! It hardly smells at all, which makes me feel good about using it.

Gimme 5

2009-05-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

I was reading through Eating Well magazine and found a small column titled "Editors Picks" that had a small quip about recycling #5 plastics. Most communities, mine included don't recycle #5's. (Every time I write that I think of Short Circuit.... sorry showing my age again.)

So I wanted to find out more about it. The idea behind it is this, at many locations USA wide you can drop off your #5's in Whole Food's Stores. I don't have one where I am at so my other option is to mail them in. The project is called Gimme 5. From your recycled 5's this company, called Preserve makes everyday things from cutting boards to tooth brushes.

Johnny 5's come mostly in yogurt, butter, and hummus containers which I make myself so I don't see too many of them. But randomly I will get one, and I know my mom gets them a lot too. So I am going to save up my #5's and send them every few months (or once a year.... depending on how many I get.)

Chicken Un-broody?

2009-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well I did some poking around on Backyard Chickens website to find out how long a chicken would be broody. It turns out if your bird doesn't run with a rooster they can be broody indefinitely, potentially costing them there life. Often the trigger for the hen to stop brooding is baby chicks. Without a rooster she can sit on eggs all day and never hatch a peep. So I decided to nip the broodiness in the butt.

After reading what this person did I got out our dog kennel, flipped it on it's lid so the vents in the side would be near the ground. Then we taped several rebar posts together and fit it through the vents so she could have something to roost on. Then placed her inside at night.

The next morning I released Bee from hen jail. Then when I opened the coop door to let birds 2 and 3 out she immediately went into the nest box. So I shut out my 2 girls who were laying and waited for them to give me the " MOM I NEED TO LAY AN EGG" call. I then went outside and placed each bird by herself, door closed into the coop for the egg laying ritual. This seemed to work because it kept Bee from getting up to the nest. We locked her in jail for a second night, by the next morning she was cured! I have been able to leave the coop door open for my 2 layers and Bee shows no sign of returning to the hatching business. I did watch her for a few days though just to make sure. Someone, in the above forum, said it can take several try's to break a broody hen. I do feel bad for her, I was content to let the broodiness run it's corse but many said it truly varied on the chicken wether or not "running it's corse" would help. I was unaware it could have such health risks for her, since she only came out once per day (if that) to gobble some feed and drink a tiny bit before returning to her "eggs". It does make perfect sense that being broody is hard on a hen's body.

From what I have read it can take several weeks for a once broody hen to begin laying. For now my birds 2/3 are keeping up the one egg per day.

We are now a drama and "don't steal my eggs" free zone having put to rest the broodiness.

Fruit tree decision

2009-05-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well I just did it. Yep I purchased the fruit trees that will make an orchard of the front lawn. Who says you need grass? I got them from RainTree Nursery. This lovely nursery sold me all the fruit that is currently growing (accept for the grapes... they are still asleep) in the garden. The fruit we eat the most are cherries, apples and peaches. No citrus grows where we are so when the mood strikes in December we usually buy some. The varieties I chose are as follows.

Dwarf Apple stock with 4 different apple grafts. The apple needs other apples to pollinate with, I have limited room for 2 apples so I opted to go with a "science experiment" apple. It will be more pruning work but for the space saving I think it will be worth it.

Lapins Sweet Cherry. This after some extensive research is known as the self pollinating Bing Cherry. The problem again is space, with a variety of tree that can self pollinate I am saving room and money on more trees. This guy is hardy to my zone 5 and from the forums, blogs, and reviews sounded like the best variety for us. Plus I use the "Bing" cherry as my pie cherry because of it's sweetness thus equalling less sugar added.

Avalon Pride Peach. I liked that this peach started it's life in my state, even though it was on the more temperate west side. This peach is similar to the Red Haven Peach, which Jacob and I both loved. I will admit I am not a peach professional, but for our zone and it's flavor, this Avalon seemed the best one for us.

In order to give these fruit guys room to thrive we are going to have to remove a weeping willow tree we planted 2 years ago. Admittedly it was not a wise move considering they get giant and eventually we would love solar panels. I like the idea of having edible landscaping, thus the willow was not a smart decision. The fruit trees will have to be staked and mulched heavily! But with any luck they will be producing good big fruit for us in about 2 years.

Of farmers market excitement

2009-05-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am seeing a physical therapist for my shoulder injury (we apparently have bad shoulders in this house hold.) While in the routine small talk she asked what my plan was for this weekend. I proceeded to express my enthusiasm about the reopening of the farmers market. She remarked (not unkindly) about how strange a person I am to be excited for such things. A mention of "I don't know anyone who gets so excited about the farmers market." I thought to myself how odd this seems. I am delighted to be one of the few but growing number of people who can't wait for fresh, local food. I look forward to my "Fidel Castro" boys (the resemblance and dress is rather comical!) The busy nature of it, the pain in the ass location it is. All the relationships I am cultivating with the people who grow me my dinner. I am very proud to be one of this lot.

I have spring fever and the reopening of the farmers market makes me hope I am contagious.

More on the water footprint

2009-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can't remember where I saw this idea but I am running with it. I went down to my recycle center and asked for a large bucket with a handle. They gladly gave me one and away I went. Muddy and yucky this buck was, I had high hopes for it. This little white ugly was going to save some several gallons of water per day for me. Jacob cleaned it, we designated a towel for it and now it lives by our shower door.

I decided we needed to be saving the cold water that runs from the tap before the shower gets warm enough for a body to enter it. All that water could easily be used for something else, instead of it's highly productive use of going down the drain. I haven't been able to fill the bucket yet because I keep using it to fill the toilet tank.

When it's time to flush the toilet, I walk into the shower room and grab the bucket. Take off the lid of the toilet then flush. Once the flap at the bottom closes having emptied the tank of all it's water and flushing the toilet, I fill up that tank with the water I saved from my shower.

I have also used this water for my indoor plants. Any number of water related necessities can be filled by this water. The bucket is clean, and it was clean tap water that came out of the faucet to begin with. It isn't fashionable to have a giant white ugly bucket next to the shower, but practicality and ingenuity are not often fashionable, i.e. women's underwear.

Peace and water saving ideas! ( and I mean no offense to thong wearer's everywhere.)

The Furminator

2009-05-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you find a new product and it is really awesome, one just has to write about it.

The Furminator by all accounts lives up to it's name. I was skeptical of this "miracle" brush to say the least and I was also put off by it's $40 price tag in the store. I will say I got sucked into watching the videos when I was at Aslin Finch the other day. I thought no way! My short haired mutt Kai sheds so damn much we call her the fur factory. I have given up being anything but covered in dog hair, no matter how hard I might try. But this brush according to many reviews on amazon and many videos seemed to be just the "miracle" it claimed to be.

I decided to give it ago, having decided maybe we could sell coats or possibly learn to weave dog hair into more fashionable clothing if we could get it off of her in chunks.

I purchased the Furminator from Amazon. At exactly half the cost. I still thought $20 was too much to spend on a brush... but if it made my comforter cease looking like a polar bear pelt it would be worth it!

I am happy to report that it is worth it! Stupid amounts of fir came off of Kai, holy cow! Sadly I don't have any pictures of the stupid giant pile! I do however have a video.... from Jacob's perspective (keep in mind we had been celebrating mother's day with lots of beer, wine, and mom's favorite brandy, we are weird to begin with.... but...)

Here goes, the pile is giant, two good handfuls. I have brushed her again since then and proceeded to get at least one more handful from her. I could probably brush her every day and get the same song and dance.

Caping off Existing Sprinklers

2009-05-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

For the sprinkler zone we have converted into garden use there were only 2 sprinkler heads that needed to be removed. Well we didn't want to dig up the piping so we opted to just cap them off. This way when we turn on the garden zone these two sprinklers won't turn on and water the dirt.

For previous faucet/sprinkler conversions click here.

Here we go, dig out the faucet head you wish to remove.

Be careful not to get any dirt in the tube because this can clog the pipe line.
Parts you need: 6" or greater riser (the grey part) it just depends on how high out of the ground you want this to stick. We went with at ground level. A double 3/4" threaded coupling and a 3/4" threaded cap.

Make sure to use teflon tape to get a nice good seal and put all the parts together.

Teflon tape the pipe in the ground for a good leak free seal.
Install, screw on, place, add or any other word you would care to use just hook it together.
Now go and turn the sprinkler zone on... does it leak? Nope, of course not because you used teflon tape and created a nice good seal. Now bury it!

Replace the grass so all you see is a nice white cap. Mean while the chickens, expecting worms since you did dig into ground after all... pace back and forth awaiting there snack.

Voila!

We have ordered a bunch of stuff for the garden hose conversion... but we have family coming in this weekend so I doubt we will get to that.

Stay tuned...

Radiant Heat Insulation

2009-05-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

This was actually a very hard project to take pictures of. Getting the scope and angle of the garage is often difficult. So here goes.... We decided LAST May to install Radiant Guard heat insulation to our attic. Several sheets of that later, and the tempurature spiked along with impeding shoulder surgeries.... lets just say we didn't get anymore done. So Jacob and I decided to do the garage since that was an easier task due to the fact that there is no other insulation to deal with!

The Radiant Guard we purchased from ebay is here.

The naked garage before.

We hung the roll of radiant barrier (RB) from a stick so we could unroll it easier. We measured out the length of the garage plus a few inches of oops room. Then used a board and a box cutter to get a "straight" cut.

Up in the rafters before setting the RB. Trying to get is straight. You must leave 3 inches on the bottom of the rafter and 3 inches on the top, this helps the hot air move toward the vents in roof.
This is the close up view of the gable wall. By that I mean the ends of the garage or the wall with the actual garage door in it = gable wall. We left about 3 inches of RB on the sides in order to tape that down later.

Now here is where it gets tricky installing the second piece. See the lower half is already stapled in place. It looks like there is a giant gap in the RB. Well we had to go around some of the wood trusses that support the roof. In order to do this you must measure the top half and staple it then work your way down to join the other sheet of RB.

See this is the wood we had to go around. The top half of the picture is towards the roof of the garage and the lower half is towards the other sheet of RB.

Another close up of that wood we had to go around. This was for every wood truss on both sides of the garage. It made for slow going of the install.

This is the view after the second piece has been done and finished with stapling.

Another angle of the same side. Like I said it is hard to get the scope and angle of the picture taking.

A quick video for I hope a better explanation and maybe better view.

We added a third small strip to bring the RB about 3 inches away from the peak of the roof.

Then I purchased on ebay a roll of aluminum tape. Just like this.

The tape seals all the seams and edges. You could use duct tape but our garage in the summer gets really hot and duct tape would melt. This aluminum tape is rated to like 150* so it should with stand the heat.

On a side note, the RB is really thick like construction paper, it isn't like aluminum foil that is flimsy and can tear, this stuff you can roll up and stretch (with in reason) and it won't break, so it is rather easy to handle during an install.

The reason we did this... that is best explained by the Radiant Guard's description.

"Start lowering your heating and cooling costs by up to 40% by installing this double-sided 99.5% pure aluminum foil radiant barrier to BLOCK 97% of the radiant heat coming into your house through the roof during the summer and RETAIN the heat escaping out of your house through the roof during the winter."

Here's hoping it works!

The first bee tenant

2009-05-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

I noticed we have our first mason bee tenant. I went out today and there is a second one covered in mud as well. Mason bees, cover the opening with mud to seal the larva inside.

Nature at its best.

Coffee Break

2009-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy! I know with the impending spring almost everyone else has too. I just thought I would offer up a coffee break.

Bee goes Broody again

2009-05-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

Constructing the Arbor Part 3 (Final)

2009-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to Constructing the Arbor Part 1 and Constructing the Arbor Part 2.

Now on with the story.

The next step of the project was making the vertical 2"x2"s for the sides of the arbor. The design in the book had four vertical boards but Jen and I decided that five looked better. We just leaned the boards up against the cross-braces to see what it looked like first. The vertical boards require measuring from the top of the top cross-brace to the bottom of the bottom cross-brace. Next, I used the miter saw to cut 10 2"x2"s to length. While I did this, I had the thought of putting dowels horizontally through the vertical 2"x2"s. I thought they would be a good for the grape vine to have something horizontal to grab onto as it grew up the side of the arbor. So Jen and I decided to put in three on each side. So we made a quick run to the local hardware store and got six 3/8" x 48" wooden dowels. I measured the inside distance between the two posts and cut them about 2 inches short of that length to the give the dowels about a one inch gap from the post on each side. Then I measured from the bottom of the top cross-brace to the top of the bottom cross-brace. I divided the length of the 2"x2" by four to get my measurement for the even spacing of the dowels. I marked the 2"x2" with pencil and drilled the holes in the 2"x2"s with my drill bit that's one size up from 3/8". I made a test hole in a scrap piece of wood with a 3/8" drill bit and I could not get the dowel through so that's why I went one size up and it fit snug. So after I got done drilling the holes (wishing I had a drill press so I could get the holes perfectly straight) in the 2"x2"s, I put the dowels through and then took the whole thing as one unit and attached it to the arbor one board at a time.

I first measured the distance between the two posts on the side, divided that value by 6, and then marked the cross-braces. Each mark in the center point for one vertical 2"x2". Jen helped me out by holding the boards while I screwed them into the cross-braces like so...

So here's the what it looks like after completing one side.

So the final step in the arbor process was the 2"x2"s that go on the top. I placed a couple of them on to see if wanted to cut them down. We decided they looked fine at the full 8' length. After this, I thought we could cut the pattern in the top boards the same as we did for the two top beams. I tested it out on scrap board and it worked great. So we made the following marks on each board and cut them out with the jig saw.I thought this added a nice touch. I then marked the center of each of the 2"x2"s on the bottom side for centering when placed on the top of the arbor. I measured the center point on the top cross-brace on each side and ran a fishing line between the two top cross-braces. I lined up the center line on the bottom of the 2"x2"s with the fishing line. This centered the board on the top of the arbor.
Now, I needed to mark the top beams so I could place the eight 2"x2"s evenly spaced apart. To do this, I measured the length of the top beam, divided the number by 9 (I'm using the number 9 because there are nine spaces between 8 boards and this will get the spacing even), and marked the top beams on both sides with the first mark being that distance in from the end of the beam. I placed the first beam on top of the arbor, centered it with the fishing line, lined the sides up with the mark on the beam on both sides and then screwed the 2"x2" in place.

So here's what they looked like all screwed into place.So here are a couple of views of the finished arbor. YEAH!!!!

Please feel free to ask any questions. I'm happy to help!

Constructing the Arbor Part 2

2009-05-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to Constructing the Arbor Part 1

Okay, here we go again : ) I left off last at finishing the notches on the posts.

Jen got a piece of plain white paper and drew a design for the ends of the top beams. We cut the design out and traced it with a pencil on both ends of both beams.
After that was done, I used the jig (saber) saw to cut the design out. I took it really slow I didn't break the bit, especially around the tighter curves. Check out those awesome safety glasses! ;-)

Here's the finished beam.

Now I took the finished two beams and attached them to the posts. First, I measured and marked the top of both beams at their center point. Then I measured the inside distance between the posts and divided it in half to find the center measurement. Jen helped me put the first beam on the posts and center it up. Then I drilled 2 holes all the way through the beam and post for the 5" carriage bolts to attach the beam to the posts. Finally, I put the bolts in and fastened them down with the nuts and washers. As you can see in the picture, I offset the bolts because on the right side of the post in this picture is where I will be attaching the top cross brace with the lag screws. I didn't want them to run into the carriage bolts.

So here's how things are looking at this stage. This gives the best perspective of the proper orientation of the notches that were cut to accommodate the beams.

Now it's time to attach the bottom and top cross braces. Okay, I forgot to take a picture of just the cross braces being attached so here's a picture ahead of schedule to give a good perspective of the cross braces. So measure to the outside edges of the posts for the bottom brace and the inside edge of the beam for the top brace. My posts were set slightly less that 4' apart so I could get 2 braces out of a 8' 2x6.

Here's a close up of the top and bottom braces. I put the bottom cross brace around a foot off the ground. I just did what I though looked good. I drilled guide holes on each side for the lag screws. Again, I drilled the guide holes so the lag screws wouldn't break while screwing them in. Also, make sure you use a drill bit that's smaller than the lag screw. You want to make sure that the lag screw still has wood to bite into. Don't forget the washers.

Next post I'll continue on with the vertical 2x2's that will attach the cross braces and the last minute idea I had concerning the dowels.

Good day and remember, safety first!

Potato Planting

2009-05-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I got my planting potatoes from Seed Savers Exchange, I was expecting them to come already growing. No such luck, so they had to sit out for about 2+ weeks to start growing before I could plant them. So I am a little bit behind on the potato front. I will remember to order the potatoes a bit earlier next year ( unless I can save some of my own....).

Potato types:

German Butterball
Rose Finn Apple

The garden book I love called The Vegetable Gardener's Bible says that each potato should be about the size of or slightly larger than a golf ball. If they are bigger you must cut them and let it heal over for a few days before you plant. Well all my planting potatoes were the perfect size so I didn't have to cut any of them. The garden book suggests you give each potato a light dusting of agriculture sulfur. This wards off fungus diseases and potato beetles.

Here we go...

I set up two rows about 1.5 feet apart from each other and 3 inches deep. Ready for the potatoes.

Growing potatoes on a plate?

The Rose Finn Apples in a sulfur bath. In a paper bag I placed about a handful of the sulfur and then shook the potatoes around in it. The handful covered all the potatoes I had to plant, it is only a dusting.

Rose Finn's ready for bed! Place each potato about 1 foot apart.

German Butterballs in the same boat.

Ta Da! The two completed beds ready for watering.

Um it's dog time... dogs are pretty sure about it.

2009-05-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

"No potatoes! It's squeaky time....

Mason Bee Blocks

2009-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Since the beekeeping dream must wait one more year, Jacob and I decided to make bee blocks. Bee blocks are for mason bees of all shapes and sizes. These bees are solitary and docile and they need a place to lay their young, enter the bee block. Most mason bees nest in old beetle holes, but you can manufacture them a home.

We opted to do many different sizes to accommodate different bees. We drilled 3/8", 5/16", 1/4", 3/16", and 1/8" for those who don't speak "boy" this means almost thumb sized to pretty tiny.

Here's how this works, Take a piece of wood, usually a 4x4 or a 2x4 and measure some holes in varying sizes mark where you want to drill. Remember this isn't rocket science, don't get too caught up in perfection, seriously the bees don't care.

Now if you have it, take a clamp or two blocks and stuff the wood block into it, so you can hold it to drill. Bees only like a front door, so make sure when you are drilling you stop about 1/2" before the back of the wood. In this picture we are drilling 1/8" sized whole, very tiny.

Jacob is using our little air compressor to blow out some of the wood shavings from the bee holes. You don't have to do this, but make sure to knock it out on the ground to empty out those shavings.

We opted to use some wood glue and secure a roof. See all the different sized wholes?

Close up! Left is 5/16" size and right is 1/8".

The roofs stick out about an inch over the top of the block, you don't have to do this but the bees do appreciate a rain blocker. Make sure to place these guys holes facing east to catch the early morning sunshine.

Solo Chicken

2009-04-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

What happens when two out of three chickens is in the nest box? This is Curious complaining loudly about how she is totally abandoned and alone.

You feel bad don't you? Really?

"Where's the scratch lady...or better yet oatmeal?"

Tortilla Chips

2009-04-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

I am going to expand on the Tortilla blog post. Now I am going to see how they taste as tortilla chips! For the tortilla reciepe and directions go here to the tortilla post.

Recipe amendment and update: The original post states I am going to try to incorporate whole wheat flour to the recipe. I have and the measurements are, 1 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour and 1 cup white flour equaling the same flour amount. Everything else has not changed.

So once the tortillas are done I took 5 from the stack and cut them into 4 fat strips, from there I cut at angles to make the traditional triangle chip shape. Really very easy. Pre heat the oven to 350*.

Lay a single layer of "chips" on a baking sheet. I lined mine with parchment paper so that they won't stick to the surface. Sprinkle the chips lightly with salt, then stick in the oven on the middle rack for 5-10 minutes. My average time was around 8 minutes until they turned a golden brown.

The 5 tortillas yielded about 1 quart sized ziplock bag of chips, just to give you a rough estimate. If you have a party or a lot of eaters you may want to use the whole tortilla recipe which yields around 15-17 tortillas.

Here is a picture of the finished product, but it is hard to tell the volume of the chips.

I did read to freshen up the chips, place them in the microwave for a few seconds then allow them to cool to re-crispin. I am not sure why you would do this, maybe homemade chips go stale much faster? But if this happens I'll let you know.

Enjoy with your favorite salsa or the occasional splurge of guacamole (unless you live in the south and can grow Avocados... we in the north can not.)

Watering the garden design part 1

2009-04-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well watering the garden became a decided challenge when keeping our water footprint in mind. We could have gone the easy and cheeper route, placing an oscillating sprinkler in the middle of the garden. But watering the rows of dirt didn't seem all that earth friendly since water is a hugely threatened natural resource. The plan we decided on was to convert our lawn sprinkler system into garden friendly adaptability. Basically we wanted to be able to attach soaker hoses to every one of the raised beds, but our hose outlets on the side of the house were WAY to far from the garden... what to do? Got it, replace the sprinkler heads with outside faucets, connect hoses, then soaker hoses and still be able to use the sprinkler timer for everything.

Part one: Sprinkler head conversion in pictures.

Dig out the sprinkler head.

Apply teflon tape to a double ended riser this one is 3/4" round and 12" long. Purchased at Home Depot in the sprinkler plumbing section.

Attach a double threaded coupling, this is so you can attach the riser to the sprinkler tube buried in the ground. I'll have to ask Jake what size it is, I can't remember and he is my "extreme engineer!"

Update: he says it's also 3/4 inch.
Attach a single or double or however many faucet heads you want, to the other end of the riser.

Voila!

Now add some teflon tape to the threads on the end of the sprinkler tube, not a good angle for picture taking sorry about that.

Attach the riser and all fun pieces to the sprinkler tubing.

Now we cut a 2x4 to attach this tubing to. You don't have to, but we have a dog... and I know this would get run into and busted... water everywhere.... drama... drama... and wet dog smell. We used a simple flexible metal strapping? I think it's found in the H/Vac ductwork section, we've had this roll of stuff for so long that I forget where found it.

Attached with drywall screws. I know they will rust and stuff but most likely the metal strapping will too so in the long run we will have to come up with something better, but for now what we had on hand works.

Don't forget to turn on the sprinkler system and check for leaks before you bury everything, also turn the faucet head and double check that you get water coming out. If all is good...

TA DA! We installed 4 of these sprinkler head replacements, however there are 2 more sprinklers in the sprinkler zone that we have to cap off. Not sure how we are planing to do that but when we do I will post about it. After that, is the next stage in planing, that being the elaborate network of hoses and soaker hoses... stay tuned.

Constructing the Arbor Part 1

2009-04-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is the husband, Jake.

First and foremost, let me emphasize right off the bat that SAFETY ALWAYS COMES FIRST!!! Please be safe at all times and use the appropriate safety gear. Please use safety glasses, good tools, and a good ladder. If you don't believe me, I'll send you a picture of my x-rays of my dislocated elbow from falling only 5 feet off a ladder. And yes, I was being careless on the ladder and paid a big price. I don't mean to be scary, just honest. So everyone, let's be safe and have fun!!!!

NOTE: I have not included exact measurements but I will tell you what to measure. As with everything, it's tough to be exact so you have to measure as you go. For the beginners, remember that boards don't measure out to how they are named. Example: a 4" x 4" x 8' (pronounced four by four) is not actually 4x4 inches. It's actually 3.5" x 3.5" but the length of the board is exact. Go figure. Be wary of this when measuring as it can throw things off a bit if unaccounted for.

This is the first post showing how Jen and I built our arbor in the back yard. This arbor will have grape vines growing on it. We got the basic plan for the arbor out of a book from the library which gave a parts list. The book plans had a bench in the arbor which we didn't want. So we just mimicked the opposite side instead. Also, we decided to put our arbor where our garden gate is. The posts for the garden gate were already cemented so we just attached two of the four main arbor posts to the gate posts with lag bolts. Since this is not the normal design, I'm not going to include those lag bolts in the parts list.

So here is the parts list for our arbor:

4 - 4" x 4" x 10' (posts)

4 - 2" x 6" x 8' (cross braces and beams)

18 - 2" x 2" x 8' (verticals and slats)

6 - 3/8" x 48" (dowels)

8 - 80lbs bag of cement (2 per post. We only used 4 total. See above for the reason why)

16 - 1/4" x 4" galvanized lag screws with washers (attaching cross braces)

8 - 1/4" x 5" galvanized carriage bolts with nuts and washers (attaching beams to posts)

36 - 2.5" galvanized exterior screws

These are the tools I used (the most important is capitalized):

circular saw, miter saw, hand saw, jig (saber) saw, drill, wheel barrow and shovel(mixing cement), level, pencil, tape measure, SAFETY GLASSES, and socket set

As I said previously, we used the existing cemented posts for the garden gate to attach 2 of our posts to. We used 4 lag screws with washers for this. Tip: pre-drill a small hole before screwing in the lag screws. We had 2 of the heads break off. They were 90% of the way in so it didn't matter.

Next, we dug the 2 holes for the other posts. The holes for the posts are 2 feet deep so that the total height of the posts above ground is 8 feet.

Make sure you center the post in the hole (unlike this picture).

Since two of the posts were already bolted in place, we used the straightest 2" x 2"s we had at the top and bottom of the posts to hold them in place for cementing. Use the level at this stage to make sure the posts are straight up and down. After we had the 2 posts leveled off and secured, we mixed the cement in the wheel barrow one bag at a time and cemented the posts. We let the cement dry for about 2-3 days, removed the 2" x 2"s, and continued.

The posts needed to be cut so they were all the same height. I measured and marked one post at 8 feet. The two posts we cemented were about an inch or two taller than 8 feet. After I marked the one post, we used a straight board and a level to mark the other posts. I used the circular saw to cut the posts.

Note: the notches go on the outside of the posts for the beams that will go left to right in the picture here.

Now, I needed to cut out the notches in the top of the posts for the 2" x 6" x 8' beams. Careful here! I penciled in the notches and Jen caught that I had them on the wrong side. She saved the day!!!

Also, remember that a 2" x 6" is actually 1.5" x 5.5"

I used the circular saw to do most of the cutting but I had to use a hand saw to finish.

After I was done, I put one of the beams up just to see how it would fit. Looks good!

Spring Garlic

2009-04-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last fall we planted our garlic here's the post about the planting. I wanted to plant Lorz Italian and Music garlic but ended up with Lorz and a miscellaneous type. Somehow I mixed up the bags and.... well whatever it's garlic as long as it grows, Music is a hardneck garlic but I ended up with two distinctly different soft necks so, I guess we will just have to wait and see.

The count last fall:
Lorz Italian= 89 cloves
Misc ? = 70 cloves

So far this year, baring one accident with the dog there are 154 garlic plants. We planted 159 so only a few didn't sprout (or they could just be late, here's hoping.)

A busy April thus far

2009-04-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

A busy busy spring we have had the last few weeks. For starters we have really made the big push to get the raised beds finished. I knew we had the fruit plants coming around April 10, so we had to act fast. The fruit plants list is as follows:

2 Himrod Seedless Grapes
2 Bluegold Blueberry's
1 bundle (25 plants) Earliglow Strawberry (June bearing)
1 bundle (25 plants) Tristar Strawberry (ever bearing)
10 Tulameen Raspberry's

Now for the blueberries we purchased a used 50 gallon plastic container and cut it in half drilled some drainage holes in it and gave it a good cleaning. I decided to go with white because I didn't want the blueberries roots to get too hot in our arid summers.

Everything else needed to get into the ground. Franticly we built raised beds, got compost, and eventually planted the strawberries and the raspberries. The grapes however needed to wait, we were building an arbor for them and the construction was going great, but the fruit got shipped sooner than we had anticipated. Jacob is working on a how-to-build an arbor that I will let him post about.

Much of the last 3 weeks has been outside prep work, getting fruit into the ground before it starts to grow. Now this year I will trim all of the flowers from the fruit. I have already done so with the blueberries. Every site I have found says if you let the fruit plants concern itself with growing it's first year, your following harvests will be more plentiful. I think because the first year the plant spends all it's time growing roots and strength instead of fruit. It will be really difficult to wait another year for any fruit harvest, but I am told it is worth it.

Weather and Eggs

2009-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Strange weather has been happening lately. We got 3" of snow this morning, but heavy winds, thunder, lightning and hail have also been present. It is shaping up to be a wild spring again this year. Ahh, how I long for a sense of normalcy. I am kind of glad though about the weather as it is keeping me in doors. I think if it were nice outside I would be very tempted to do work in the garden. I however can't because of my injured shoulder, still it doesn't stop me from wishing.

Weather problems aside our chickens are doing splendidly! I did an egg tally because I haven't done one yet. Since our girls started laying the day after Christmas we have received 198 eggs.

December/January 59
February 66
March 73

That is 16.5 dozen! I have 3 full dozen in the fridge, I need to hit up the neighbors and see if they want any. As the light shifts we are getting pretty consistently 3 eggs a day at the very least 2 eggs. I told those girls to start churning out the eggs and they have delivered!

Earth Hour 2009

2009-03-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well yet again we were the only ones on our block that participated in Earth Hour. Ok I take that back the house next to us is dark... but that's because it's for sale and has been dark since December. We started late this year too, at 8:55 Jacob and I went downstairs to the breaker room and flipped the main to the house. *Boom* quiet. I find it amazing just how much noise is in the house that we ignore. Like the fridge, freezer, furnace, water heater etc... all make a quiet humming noise, but when that is shut down everything becomes quiet. We shut down it all, everything, not just all the lights but everything. When we get done with Earth Hour we have to reprogram our clocks. We couldn't turn on a light in the house, even though walking into a room and attempting it gets pretty funny it is amazing how habitual we are.

I follow a blog that brought to my attention some of the hypocrisies of Earth Hour participants. I will admit our first year of doing Earth Hour I am guilty of this. Lighting candles. But what kind of candles. Most candles are made with paraffin a petroleum product. See previous post about the yucky side of candles. So we changed our tactic and spent the money on beeswax candles. This year we were 99.99% petroleum free, (we used a lighter to light the candles.)

We ended up doing the dishes, brushing our teeth, getting generally ready for bed, stretching, gabbing, finally we went downstairs and turned back on the main breaker to the house.

Our experience was a good one, mostly a quiet vote for the Earth. But a blog I have recently begun to follow called Eco Yogini had a much different view of Earth Hour. She went down to the "show" that was being put on, like a big new years eve party countdown and all. Saddened by the lack of "eco" thought that went into the party, she went home. I know her post is long, but it is very worth it, she makes some wonderful observances.

Glass Milk Bottle

2009-03-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

I was at our local organic store on Friday and was absolutely wowed! Glass milk bottles, seriously? Yep! This company Straus Family Creamery sells there milk in glass re-usable bottles. Here's the scoop, you purchase the 1/2 gallon of milk and then pay a $1.50 deposit fee for the glass bottle. When you're done with the milk, simply return it to where ever you bought it and receive your $1.50 refund. The grocery store then ships the bottle back to the creamery to be sanitized and re-used.

Each bottle just has a logo on it, not "type" of milk like whole, nonfat, 2%, that can be found on the lid. Which means any jar can be used for any type of milk.

I so love this idea! I am at odds however with the amount of fuel it takes to get the milk bottle back. But at least it is something, most people don't recycle, but if they were forced to (in order to get that 1.50 back) wouldn't it be worth the cost in gas? I recycle everything I can, we don't have a pick up facility it is strictly drop off only. So most people around here are not bothered to recycle. But returning the milk bottles to the grocery store you purchased them at seems a reasonable opportunity for everyone to participate in reusing.

I made some cheese with this milk and some local raw milk. I have to let it age before I try it out, but it looks delicious!

Sugar in our Salt?!?!

2009-03-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

So it's finally time for me (Jake/Jacob/The Amazing Husband) to finally post. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm lazy. But come-on now, Jen does such a WONDERFUL job, how can I ever compare? ;-) That's a good cop-out right? Anyways, on with the story....

Jen bought salt the other day for bread making from Safeway. Seems innocent enough right? Well, I guess not. As you can see from the pictured label, the "salt" has 5 ingredients. Since when does salt have 5 ingredients? Man, it seems like every time I turn around, ingredient lists have more and more and more and more items. Well, I had to investigate what the hell those other 4 seemingly unnecessary ingredients are for.

First off, Dextrose? Huh? What's sugar doing in my salt? Well....(1.5 hours of internet research later)... and I as far as I can tell, Dextrose is used to stabilize the potassium iodide. The potassium iodide will evaporate out of the salt over time and that is the added ingredient that is actually helpful to the human body. But I couldn't find any information on how long it takes for potassium iodide to evaporate out of the salt. So is the dextrose truly necessary if you go through your salt in a reasonable amount of time? I don't know.

That leads to another ingredient in salt, potassium iodide. This ingredient is necessary for the human body in very small amounts to avoid goiters. A goiter is an enlarged thyroid gland. If you have a strong stomach, you can look up goiter in Google and see images. The pictures are enough to realize that potassium iodide in salt is perfectly okay with me!

Next up, sodium silicoaluminate. This is an anti-caking agent. Hmmm.... okay. I couldn't find anything incriminating for that one.

And finally, sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda). This is another potassium iodide stabilizer.

So with all that, here are some of my concerns and questions:

1. Dextrose is made from corn most of the time. So the big issue with this for me is GMO (genetically modified organism). I 110% have a problem putting anything into my body that has been genetically modified to tolerate being slathered in Roundup. If you don't know how scary GMO truly is, watch the video "The World According to Monsanto" and if you not scared, you should be!!!!
2. How unstable is potassium iodide? Days, weeks, years? So if you used it in a reasonable time, would we still get the benefit of the potassium iodide without the added stabilizers?
3. How are these additives processed themselves?
4. What is done to salt to get it perfectly white?

I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

So this is what we did. We went to our local awesome organics store Huckleberrys in Spokane and got Real Salt from the bulk foods section. It has a strange pink tint to it. Not only did we save packaging by bringing our own container but we are also getting a much better product that is much less processed. Here's what Real Salt's website says:

Compared to RealSalt brand salt, regular “table salts” and also many sea salts appear stark white because they have undergone harsh bleaching and refining. By contrast, RealSalt is extracted from deep within the earth, crushed, screened, and packaged without any bleaching or refining. RealSalt’s unique “pinkish” appearance and flecks of color come from more than 50 natural trace minerals, including iodine.

RealSalt’s incredible taste is truly unique and something only Mother Nature could create. We bring RealSalt to you in its natural state, without additives or chemicals of any kind.

For Real Salt's website, click here.

So this is what we'll be using for now until something/someone convinces me otherwise.

Peace In!!!

Birds helping Birds

2009-03-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have Buff Orpingtons and many bird houses on the side of my house. This is what I noticed today. Think spring!

Beans Beans Galore

2009-03-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

So I have never been lead astray before by the glorious website Pick your own. I used plenty of the recipes for last years canning. So now that I have my lovely kitchen scale I decided it is time to can some beans. The measurement for beans is in weight not cups so I couldn't can until I got the scale.

Well the canning dried beans link from pick your own says that roughly 9 pounds of "dried" beans will yield 9 pints of finished canned beans. WRONG! Maybe if it was 9 pounds of rehydrated beans. So this is what happened I measured out beans and got them soaking per the directions on the website. It became very clear and if I would have really thought it out, it would have been obvious I am going to end up with WAY more than 9 pints.

Heres the starting measurements (dried):

3 Lbs. Kidney beans
8 Lbs. 14 Oz. Great Northern White beans
7 Lbs. Black beans

At this point I was expecting equal parts of each of those numbers in pint sized jars. Meaning 3 jars of kidney, 9 jars of white, and 7 jars of black. That didn't happen.

Upon further research it turns out roughly (depending on the bean) 1 pound of dried beans after all is said and done will yield you 3 pint sized jars.

So I soaked, boiled, then pressure canned my stupid amounts of beans. I will be sharing this with my parents and really getting good at putting beans in everything! It is a good thing they last about a year because I am going to need that long to use them all.

Final count: in pint sized jars

11 Kidney
30 G.N. White
24 Black

65 pint sized jars, well guess what's for dinner?

Homemade Yogurt

2009-03-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is so easy it's kinda stupid! I have been making my own yogurt for about 2 months now and it just occurred to me post about it. Jacob and I did some basic figuring about the cost effectiveness of making your own yogurt. Here is the simplified version.

1 Gal of milk (safeway organic) $6

1 less than quart of safeway organic yogurt $7

4 full quarts of yogurt per gallon of milk makes each yogurt quart $1.50 each

$7 if they make it OR $1.50 if I do.

Now that is the simplified version, we went into how much each yogurt (starter package) plus the yogotherm (see link below) would set back each quart of yogurt and it still came out to be ridiculously cheeper to make it ourselves. Ok enough blabber... here we go.

Ingredients and Tools:

1 quart of milk (any kind)
2 Tbl. Dry milk powder ( optional, makes for thicker yogurt)
1Tbl. thickener like pectin or gelatin ( optional )
1 packet yogurt starter Or 2 Tbl. yogurt with live cultures
Big sauce pan make sure you have stirring room, so 2 quart or bigger pan
plastic or stainless steal spoon
Yogotherm or equivalent if your handy (see below)

Ok so heres the rub I use milk, dry milk powder, and I have only used 1 yogurt starter... the rest if the time I have used 2 Tbl. of yogurt left over from the previous batch. If you don't have or want to purchase yogurt starter you can just go to the store and buy a new yogurt and use 2 Tbl from it to start your yogurt. It really is extremely easy!!!

1. Heat milk and optional thickeners, mixed well to 180* stir often so the milk doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. I have found it is slow going until the milk gets to 160* then it leaps to 180* very quickly. Keep an eye on it and don't boil it, if you do... get new milk and optional thickeners.

2. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool to 116*

3. At 116* add the starter packet or the saved from last time yogurt ( I promise this does work ). Mix well and place in the Yogotherm for at least 6 hours or until desired consistency. I leave mine overnight.

Ok let me explain what the Yogotherm is. The inside is a plastic container roughly the size of a large cottage cheese container, with separate lid and all. The outside is a plastic lid and bottom fitted with styrofoam. About 2 inches on all sides even the lid. You could probably make something like this with a plastic container for the inside and a cheep grocery store "beer cooler." And it wouldn't be as expensive. Now don't get me wrong the Yogotherm is really not expensive be cause it isn't an electrical device like a lot of "yogurt makers". This baby doesn't plug in, it relies on the styrofoam to keep the yogurt at the correct temperature. The whole thing is $40 and I purchased mine from CheeseMaking.com.

The advantage to the yogotherm is even temperature control. With a homemade device you might have weird or different experiences. I love this little guy and think it was totally worth it!

Yikes cold front

2009-03-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

I think our Bee isn't broody anymore but she is still torn about leaving the coop. She likes to stay right inside the door just thinking about leaving. The other two girls have to muscle her outta the way so they can leave because they have no such compulsions. Poor thing. At least she isn't as grouchy pants, it was funny the "gobble gobble" sound she would make when I reached under her. Easy humor, what can I say.... I don't get out much.

We are experiencing an extreme cold dip. Right now the temp is 3*! Windchill -8! Our normal lows right now are in the 30's, it's a good thing we got about an inch of snow a few days ago to add as an extra mulch to the poor tulips and crocus that are trying to "think spring." I checked on my garlic and they are safe and snug under all that hay and shredded paper. Which is a good thing, I need that garlic! Braids and Braids of it!

Not much else is going on around "the farm" as we call it. It's funny how now that we have chickens we live on a farm.... ah weird city foke. All the real farmers are going...WHAT?!?!

Stay warm!

Broody Hen

2009-03-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

So Bee, as she has come to be known is broody. I laugh every time I go out to collect eggs from our one nest box. She has been revving up to it for the past few days now. I could collect the eggs and she would then leave the nest and behave like a normal chicken. But today that changed, apparently the "instinct" has set in and she is in it for the long haul. Not sure how long that is going to be but at least it is cause for humor. I have thought about contacting Lucky a farmer friend to see if he has any real fertilized eggs she can hatch, because none of her's will!

Bee almost gobbles at me every time I stick my hand under her to feel for eggs. She looks at me with those accusing eyes of her. How dare I steal her eggs! HA HA HA, it really is funny. Maybe tomorrow I will get a video of it so everyone can make fun of my sense of humor.

The other two hens dumb and dumber or really White Back and Burned Nose (come on all three are the same breed it's hard to tell them apart) aren't sure what to do with themselves. They get all the good stuff now, no fighting over the oatmeal or the scratch *insert evil laugh* Those two are running the joint now because the Queen Bee is out of action at the moment. There may be an uprising or a Monarchy change while Bee is occupied who knows!

Made From Scratch

2009-03-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

I came across this blog while searching random green things called Cold Antler Farm. A wonderful blog about a woman my age and homesteading. This gal Jenna had written a book called Made From Scratch, so I picked it up at the library. A lovely book about her adventure into becoming a self sufficient woman.

Mostly her ups and downs about the reality of farm life. The chapter that really struck me was about the rabbits. She has to go through a tough experience putting down one of the rabbits. Truly eye opening because most of the books and magazines gloss over the reality of farm life. Like, what happens if your neighbors dog gets into your yard and starts a massacre of your free range chickens? Or your rabbit breaks its back and needs to be killed quickly?

Gardening, sled dogs (or pack dogs), and cooking are all topics she discusses. Made From Scratch, also goes into antiquing. Everything was made better back then right? Well why not go purchase it then, plus your buying something with history and supporting local businesses. I already garage sale, thrift and antique shop, but what a lovely way to get that idea out there to the general public. A great book, not very long it was was a rather quick read for me.

Oh, and Made From Scratch won the Books for a Better Life award under the green category.

I have many of those books on my to read list, if you scroll further down the page too all the finalist books are listed as well. So many great reads.... now if I just had more time.

Garden Yikes!

2009-02-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

I think I had stars in my eyes when thinking about this garden. I am pretty sure I thought, that an 80 x 35 foot garden would be easy to plan and get ready. Well as this major snow has melted we've been discussing some MAJOR oversights in the garden design. Namely, water. How are we going to water this thing? By hand, every morning at 4 am before it reaches 100* by 10 am? Or at 9 pm by hand giving a pint of blood to the mosquitoes every night?

Secondly weeds! I like the square foot gardening method. Which is similar to what we wanted to do, only our garden is laid out in mounds. Ok so the sides of those mounds of soil is.... well bare soil = weed city! With Jacob just out of surgery and 2 more scheduled for this year this is starting to sound like disaster. Now don't get me wrong I'm not giving up on getting my hands dirty this spring. I ordered almost $200 worth of fruit, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes! All of these guys get some priority time! We still have to build an arbor for the grape vines and get 2 plastic barrels to cut in half for the blueberry containers. There is so much work to do around here it's kinda stupid. Along with the re-designing of the bed layout and the major water oversight we have some serious planning and brainstorming to do.

We kinda ran out of time last fall, mostly because of canning season which there will be less of this year. I really can't wait until all the snow is gone. It will be nice to see the garden... even if it's just mud.