Cabin Crafted

Category: farm

  • It’s Official (on paper)

    Spring officially arrived in our little corner of the planet on the coldest windiest day we have had for weeks. The Forsythia is showing yellow, the Lilac buds are swelling, the little plum has a few blooms though we have yet to get fruit from it. I fear the apple and pear trees will bloom this week which has warm days and mild nights just in time for the weekend deep freeze. The wind finally died down overnight after howling and producing uncomfortable wind chills all day yesterday.

    Some years we get lucky and get fruit, some years, the trees bloom and get hit by frost and there is little or no fruit to enjoy fresh and to can. Our elevation is almost exactly that of town, yet with all of the pavement, buildings, and parking lots a university town has, it is always a few degrees warmer there and the trees and flowers show spring sooner than in the hollow in which our little farm sits. However, this hollow is often a few degrees warmer than the farm at the bottom of the mountain. Maybe we will get lucky and it won’t freeze or the forecast will improve as the week progresses.

    The plan had been to transplant the greens into the little ground greenhouse this week, but with below freezing temperatures expected for at least 3 consecutive nights, it might not be a wise plan. Perhaps the spinach and Komatsuma would be okay getting moved out, but not the lettuces. The herbs in the Aerogarden are overwhelming the counter in spite of frequent pruning and heavy herb use. They too need to be moved to the gardens. Last year the hydroponics sat idle during the summer and replanted in early fall before the frost came. This year, the larger one will grow salad greens that don’t do well in hot weather, rather than taking up space in the garden for frequent resowing to stay ahead of the heat and bitterness. The garden plan hasn’t been redone since the greenhouse was added, but some plans have changed and some produce will go in large pots or half barrels instead of in the ground to allow the planting of more 3 sister’s garden and potatoes which were fairly successful last year but not in this year’s plan. There does need to be a better storage system for them however. The basement stays cooler than the rest of the house as we don’t run the HVAC system down there most of the time, but the area where the shelves are build also houses the chest freezer, air handler, water heater, and pressure tank, so it stays a bit warmer than ideal for storing potatoes or apples and as it is less well ventilated, the potatoes and apples don’t do well in there together.

    The Swallows are back so the hummingbirds aren’t far behind. The Swallows are checking out the nesting boxes in the gardens and always get them before the Eastern Bluebirds. There is one that hasn’t been mounted on a pole yet, so once the Swallows settle, it will be mounted for the Bluebirds. Soon it will be time to make the syrup for the hummingbird feeder and maybe add a second one this year.

    And spring will bring two beehives to the farm. Son 2 has had them shipped, ordered the bees and will come up to set up the hives and be the basic maintainers of them. He will have to show me some basics and together we will erect electric fence around them to thwart curious bears. We don’t see them often, but we do see them occasionally and last year, one got my bird feeders at night and destroyed them. It is time to move back to bringing them in at night as the weather warms and the animals start to wander more.

    We are still weeks away from the last frost date, but getting closer to getting back to gardening. The last of the paths were cleared over the weekend and some of the beds that had already been done, hoed to clear the recurrent weeds. There is still a Creeping Charlie issue around the edges of the garden and beginning to move into the path that surrounds the boxes. It is an annual fight that I guess will continue into this summer.

  • That time of year

    Every year around Thanksgiving, children draw, color, and make turkey’s, always puffed up with their tail feathers fanned. Every year I chuckle as that is a behavior only of Tom’s and only during spring mating season.

    The season has begun, the hayfield fills several times a day with a dozen birds. Most of the year, they look like feathered armadillos with head and tail down, back humped up as they slowly march across the field looking for grub. Then the mating clock chimes and flocks of Toms gather posing for each other with their chest puffed out and their tail fanned, later doing their strutting little dance trying to attract one of the Hens. It is a fascinating process to observe.

    I didn’t see my first wild turkey until 35 or 40 years ago, and they were difficult to spot in the woods of the mountains when we hiked. The most we have ever seen at one time here is about 18-20 and they aren’t very fearful of people or cars. They are such muted looking birds until you can get close and see the irridescence in their feather.

    It is amusing, the misinformation our kids learn. Probably most of their teacher’s don’t know that the classic Thanksgiving turkey pose is actually a spring mating dance.

  • It is coming

    Spring really seems to be trying to win the battle with winter with a series of mild days and nights not reaching down to freezing. The mini ground greenhouse was checked in daylight and opened so as not to overheat in yesterday’s bright sun and mild temperatures and not everything had failed as feared. It was watered and given the afternoon sun as the open sides face west. The spinach that overwintered is okay, the Komatsuma looked a little weary but will probably perk back up, most of the lettuces took a hit. One looks okay, one may recover, the others are toast but the sprouts indoors are thriving and will be planted out in a couple of weeks.

    The tiny daffodils in the garden were mostly picked prior to the freeze and are producing new buds, the full sized daffodils had yet to bloom prior to the freeze and are just now showing buds. The Daylily and Iris greens that had emerged seem to have fared okay and fortunately, the Forsythia, Lilacs, and fruit trees had not yet bloomed here on the mountain like they have in town. You can see cherry trees, forsythia, and spring flowers all over town and some of them took a hit.

    With the stress of the world news, more spinning and knitting is being done to calm my mind. Two designs are being done for hats for the Museum gift store, one easy to design, the other should be, but the paper plan so far is not satisfying me. The spinning took a turn as the new spindle that hubby gave me for our anniversary had a shaft failure. The 2022 version of this spindle has a slimmer, longer shaft and the very thin neck that provides a place for the half hitch broke off. A new shaft has been ordered, but it required a spindle change until the new one comes.

    Additionally, as the stress is causing sleep disruption, some social media has been logged out of for days and is not missed. Perhaps it will leave forever. One was kept only to keep up with kids and events from a couple of groups, but the kids send pictures via text or Instagram or Google share and the groups email as well as posting on social media. The walks have been more vigorous as stress relief and to calm the mind.

    We have rainy days for the next several, but it looks like walks can be scheduled around the rain. The spinning group challenges are still being met as they do not incur stress, but rather alleviate it. This month there is a word of the day and it is to be represented in a picture, with or without discussion including the current spindle spin. The word a few days ago was Achievement and this is the representation.

    Taken at the beginning of our daily walk in front of the map of the Huckleberry trail. We have missed fewer that a small handful of days all winter, regardless of the cold, walking avoiding icy trails, walking in snow flurries and a few rain sprinkles. Not all have been pleasant, not all at the pace we like to keep, but persistence, thus Achievement. Today’s word is Peace, much needed right now, and this is my peace.

    Our beautiful retirement farm and the garden and animal chores it brings. We all need Peace right now.

  • Ewww, what’s that smell

    A shepherd friend of mine has posted periodically the making of suet cakes for the wild birds. Because everything in the pet area of Tractor Supply and the local pet supply store have either gone through the roof in price or are not available, I ask her for her recipe. Of course it requires suet as a base, so I asked the beef guy at the Farmer’s Market if he had beef fat and he did, a 2 pound package, vacuum sealed. Not having ever rendered fat before, I googled it. It can be done on the stove, in the oven, or in the microwave. I chose the microwave. It only takes 3 to 4 minutes to melt down 2 cups worth in the microwave and two pounds was 5 rounds of cut up chunks, but oh, does it ever smell bad. Once melted, you strain off the liquid fat, discard the solid chunks, which the chickens ate like it was candy.

    Once it is all melted and slightly cooled, you add peanut butter, cornmeal, oatmeal, and birdseed thoroughly stirred together. I don’t have but one metal baking pan with sides, so I have been saving the plastic squares that the commercial suet cakes come in for this project. There weren’t enough, but there was one foil cake square in the pantry.

    Tomorrow after they are cooled and solid, I will cut the cake pan into 4 pieces and they will be wrapped and stacked in the refrigerator or freezer until they are needed for the wild birds that live here year round or migrate through spring and autumn.

    I’m still trying to get rid of the odor though, the beeswax warmer is on, a beeswax candle is burning, the floor washed with a floor cleaner that actually smells better than the fat, though I normally don’t like it either. It may be time to simmer a pot of cinnamon, clove, and star anise.

    I wonder how many times I can reuse the plastic forms? And next time it will be melted on the stove, the camp stove, outdoors.

  • Avoidance

    Another beautiful day kept me busy outdoors and away from the anxiety producing news. Saturday’s are Farmer’s Market day and breakfast out. The market was a zoo. Some protein and storage veggies, plus a loaf of rye bread with cherries, walnuts, and raisins for breakfast toast to go with an egg. Egg delivery, a small grocery run, and Tractor Supply for chicken scratch and dog kibble all made and home by 1 p.m.

    Once everything was put away, a ladder was pulled out and the carpenter bee traps were hung. It is early, but with a few days of warm weather, some will emerge. We need at least 3 or 4 more. And tomato cages are needed to stake up the raspberries and blackberries that are in the half barrels. Tractor Supply had neither, so we will venture out again soon to one of the big box hardware stores to see if the can be obtained there.

    The hydroponic and a starter pellet flat were seeded yesterday with tomatoes and peppers in the hydroponic garden, and spinach, Komatsuma, and two lettuces in the flat. The lettuces from the hydroponic garden were trimmed back for a salad and they were planted in the new mini greenhouse. Once the new seed sprouts and get enough size, they will join the spinach, Komatsuma, and lettuces in the greenhouse. We do have a couple of bitter cold nights next weekend, but by then the transplants from the hydroponic unit should have settled in and with the greenhouse closed, should be fine.

    All of the beds and most of the paths in the garden have been weeded. There are still some stakes from last year’s failed tomato trellis to be pulled, but all of the string is removed. The cornstalks and pepper bushes need to be chopped up in the compost and that entire pile turned.

    Tomorrow is another nice day and because the top of the chicken run collapsed in one of the heavy snows last winter, I am going to reconfigure the pen and try to put another top up for the period when the hawks are actively trying to feed their chicks and free ranging the hens becomes hazardous to their health and they need to be closed in except when I am out in the yard or garden with them.

  • Ready for spring

    A notice that the hydroponic pods will be received tomorrow, sent me on a flurry of activity yesterday and this morning. The Komatsu was pulled from the hydroponic unit and planted in the garden beside the overwintered spinach and covered last night with a plastic bin. This morning the lettuces were removed and potted with hopes of moving it also to the garden after tonight’s temperature drop into the 20s. The unit was scrubbed out thoroughly, refilled with fresh filtered water and fed. Once the pods arrive tomorrow, they will be seeded with two types of tomatoes and two types of hot peppers to get them started.

    The local nursery opened yesterday and a stop made to pick up seed starting pellets for the starter trays for other veggies and seed starting medium for the transplant pots as the tomatoes and peppers outgrow the hydroponic unit and before they can go in the garden.

    While we were out for our walk today, the wind picked up strongly as the front started moving through, dropping the temperature and clouding the sky. The plastic crate that was my mini greenhouse wasn’t large enough and a stop was made to pick up a larger one or a sheet of plastic to put over the hoops, hoping to get more spinach, Komatsu, and some lettuce and radish seed started in the garden. My search led me to this 3 X 6′ mini greenhouse.

    Putting the frame together was easy, it took both of us to get the cover on it in the wind. It was tied to the frame and rocks placed along the inside edge of the cover that folds to the interior. It is still very light and I feared the wind would carry the entire unit away and damage it. To solve that problem, 6 nails were hammered in to the garden box and para cord strung over in three places, hoping to tie it down. If I leave it in this box for the spring to allow greens to grow, the garden plan will have to be altered, but that is okay too. There are two boxes that it will mostly fill, but as some of the greens are already there, it is a good place to leave it. The other box will have peas in it and they will be gone by the time to start the fall greens. I think the greenhouse cover can be removed and the frame covered with row cover to allow cole crops to be grown without cabbage worm damage. With the cover in place, the season can be extended both fall and spring to get more use from our garden.

    I’m ready, knowing it is too early to get too deep in the garden yet, winter isn’t over, spring is still teasing us. It will be cold tonight, cooler than today, tomorrow, then warming up for a few days. Next week we will have cooler weather again. The local weather blogger recently posted that March is the only month in the 100 years that weather has been tracked that we have had both a 90 f day and a foot of snow. March is fickle.

  • Saturday with the Grands

    After my post yesterday, the grands and I set out to finish the pruning task. As soon as we got out there and started on the big peach, we spotted this:

    This was the biggest Eastern mole I have ever seen and it has been tearing up the yard. It was in the grass and I had leather gloves on, so I picked it up to remove it away from the yard, away from the chickens and the neighbor cat. It was removed to the woods, but will surely return. Did you know that moles bite. Fortunately, not hard enough to get through leather gloves.

    We managed to get a good portion of the pruning done, except one very over grown apple tree that has a badly damaged secondary trunk. The top was broken out and there was older damage farther down that trunk. It had two thumb thick branches that bent down and were rubbing the damaged trunk. Tall grandson, on a step stool was able to remove the broken top and cut off one of the bent branches. We finally decided that the trunk needed to be cut below the damaged areas and worked on it, but it was getting to be dinner prep time and our fingers were frozen. We quit for the day, but will have to return to finish removing the damaged wood. The burn barrel is full and there is a huge pile of branches to be removed away from the orchard.

    This is just a portion of what was cut. This was a task that was years past due. More will have to be pruned next year to bring these trees back to good condition, but the inside of each crown is opened up to allow more airflow and light. No more crossed branches, no more water shoots. Guidance says not remove too much in one year. Hopefully, once they are in healthy condition again, it will become an easier annual task. There is still a dead peach tree to remove, it has been dead for several years and is small, but has never been taken down.

    While we were out and about, we saw the local Maine Coon cat who decided that he could tackle a full grown free ranging chicken. The chicken is slightly injured, it looks like a puncture wound near her breast, the cat is ok according to his owner. Unfortunately, the injured Buff Orpington is the one hen who won’t let me anywhere near her to pick her up and try to assess the damage. It occurred to me to get her from the coop last night after dark, but forgot. This morning, as usual, she wouldn’t come out of the coop with me in the run. There are a few bloodied feathers on the lower left side of her breast but above her thigh. She is moving with no impairment. Monitoring her over the next few days is in order and if necessary, just close her in the coop after the rest have departed and try to catch her in the enclosed space to see the damage. They are free ranging again today since the run cover failed, the run doesn’t keep them in and they need to be able to get in and out of the gate. If one flies over the fence they are too stupid to realize they can fly back in.

    Sunday morning hot blueberry made from scratch muffins have been consumed by hungry kiddos. A plan to entertain them is in order for the day. Tonight we return to their house so I can get them off to school tomorrow and help with evening schedule until their Mom gets back around bedtime. I love having this opportunity with these kids.

  • Letting Go

    Tuesday morning in the drizzling rain, the recliner was unloaded at the dump. It was much easier to unload than to load, but it is gone and so is all the other trash we picked up while hoisting it up the bank and along the road.

    The German Shepherd again has an infection and was due for heartworm test, Lyme test, and two vaccines. After the dump run, we loaded her into the car and headed to town for her appointment with the vet. Because we were early, she took our walk with us, the rain had quit. We only did 2 miles, but other than a couple startles, she did great. It has been a long time since we tried walking her on a leash in public, but she stayed right by my side for the most part and kept a slack leash, just like she was trained to do when she was young. We only passed one other dog and that pup didn’t seem interested in meeting, but she didn’t over react to it either. Her biggest fears are bikes and other wheeled riders, like skates, skateboards, or scooters, but there weren’t any out in the damp day.

    Her vet visit was long and pricey and she came home with 21 days worth of antibiotics and a very expensive anaerobic culture sent to the Vet school for analysis. She has had an on again/off again infection all of her life. All we have been able to do in the past is put her on antibiotics until it calms down and wait for it to flare up again. Like the big guy, she is an old dog now, she will be 10 next month.

    I finished knitting another hat, but can’t find the pom pom maker. This one is a mill spun yarn doubled to make another bulky hat. I’m really trying to use up the bits of left over yarns that occupy space around here. The bulky hats are quick and can be sold inexpensively. Another is on the needles, half hand spun and half mill spun yarn.

    The caramel colored one is all mill spun superwash. The black and pink is a mix. The black is 75% acrylic/25% wool mill spun, the pink which really is more red is a variegated reds to black and is all handspun wool of unknown origin. Since I can’t find the pom pom maker and don’t want to cut them out of cardboard, I will attempt to purchase a new one at one of the local arts and crafts stores today, unless the old one miraculously reappears.

    So you say, where did the title come from today? Well, in part because I am using up little bits of yarn to sell items cheaply, clearing out, and in part because I have reached a point in my life where things I don’t use or don’t love, don’t need to stay in the house to cause clutter. This winter has been a destash winter, many items sold or donated to clear out “stuff.” It is by no means done, but a work in progress, boxes of clothing, household items that just occupy space. Today, a spindle. A tiny little beauty of a spindle, gorgeous wood, made by my favorite spindle maker, but it just sits. It is too small for me to use comfortably and I hate for it to just sit unused. Jenkins spindles sell as soon as you list them or offer them to someone seeking one and that is the case here. It is packed up and labelled to be dropped off in town when we brave the current monsoons to go get supplies.

    We went from springtime back to winter overnight. During the winter, I have been wearing an Eddie Bower down short hooded jacket that I used to use when we could still trust our aging bodies to ski. When worn with ski pants, it was fine, but with jeans or twills, my lower body gets chilled while walking, even if leggings or long johns are under my pants. Over the weekend, I saw a great sale at Eddie Bauer and purchased a mid thigh down coat and hope it arrives within the next day or so as it is again cold. There likely won’t be a walk today as it looks like the rain has set in for the entire day. This purchase of an item in, means the ski jacket will be donated and probably another hooded coat that gets little use, so item in, at least one item out. There is a donation pile of other clothing and household goods forming, but I need to find a box to hold it all. When the box is full, it goes to one of the thrift stores. There is still so much that might be someone else’s treasure that need to go in the box.

  • Dinner Earned

    A beautiful spring like day, sunny and in the 60’s. We loaded a very heavy destroyed recliner in the back of the old CRV. The back would not come off like most do, so it was a struggle to load, but we did and drove to the convenience center. I feel like Arlo, who knew the dump was closed on President’s Day. The chair is still in the back of the car and we will have to unload it tomorrow in the rain. Maybe the attendant will take pity on us and help.

    We took a nice long walk along the river and returned home. I have had erosion fence laying over the east garage bed that is full of day lilies and Dutch Iris, protecting it from the chicken scratching. The bed on the south side of the garage has Bearded Iris, day lilies, lavendar, echinachea, and where I plant much of the calendula was left bare and the chickens have dug in it, kicking out mulch, and digging holes. I took time to stand the erosion fence up and add to it to enclose both of the beds, weeding as I went. The day lilies and bearded iris are beginning to show new growth and the deer and chickens now need to be kept out.

    Of course since I was out there, the hens thought I must be bringing them treats and were quite confused that they were now blocked from them.

    Because it was still gorgeous out, the garden clean up was also begun. The north edge of the garden had a weed that didn’t seem to be bothered by the frigid period we had and was beginning to spread. My photo memory from today a number of years ago had me weeding the asparagus bed which is at that end of the garden.

    A couple hours later, it is cleared and the last box end finally attached. Some of the soil will be shoveled into the bed then newpaper and wood chips or spoiled hay will be placed there. The asparagus bed is cleared and a couple of the beds also done.

    The next 4 days are rainy, so no more will be done there for a while. After the rain ends, the cold returns. But it is started and seed has been ordered.

  • We Did It!

    The wind finally died down over night, the sun is bright, the day still chilly, but doesn’t feel frigid with it calm and sunny. We took our walk, a bit longer than most days, just because it was nice, then came home to tackle “the dump.”

    It takes a very inconsiderate a**wipe to dump discarded furniture on someone’s private property when one of the county convenience centers is only 2.5 miles from here and the other less than 5, both will huge dump trailers and assistance at the farther one.

    We hauled the double hooked tow strap up to the tractor and on down the road to the creek edge. The chair was about 20 feet down an embankment, near the edge of the creek. With the tractor directed the way it looked like the chair would be easiest to drag up the embankment, I scrambled down and attached a hook to the metal framework, hubby attached the other end to the back of the tractor. The tractor pulled it up the hill until it got caught on a small tree. Hubby couldn’t free it, so we turned the tractor around and started pulling the opposite way, it freed from that tree but got caught near a larger tree. Another reverse of direction as the road is narrow and banked, shortening the strap by hooking both hooks on the frame and looped around the tractor blade frame and it popped up onto the road.

    You can see the creek down the hill over the arm of the chair.

    We loaded it into the bucket of the tractor, picked up bottles, styrofoam clam shell containers and plates, and loaded it back down to barn.

    The convenience center isn’t open on Sunday, so it will have to wait until tomorrow to be loaded into the old CRV (I think it will fit in the back) and driven down to where it should have been taken in the first place.

    By removing it, the cooler, and the trash, we hope to indicate that it isn’t a dump. In those first few years here, we removed a water heater, a stove, a washing machine, part of a vehicle, and dozens and dozens of tires, along with the bottles and cans that were impacting the creek and someone’s water supply, maybe ours.

    I wish everyone felt the same way we do about treating the environment and other’s property with respect.