Progress has been in fits and starts (most of the time it feels like I'm going backward), but I can look around and see that while things may not be perfect I am moving forward. I'm also learning a lot! Here is an update on several projects: Skirting! When we bought the place, the skirting around the bottom of the house was plywood. Plywood is not meant for long term exterior use so it needed to be replaced. Thanks to the assistance of Jonathan, Meg, Rick and my mom, I have insulated panels with an exterior finish surrounding the bottom of the house. There is metal flashing on the top so water doesn't sit on it. We also added a rabbit-proofing measure as well by folding some fencing into an L shape and stapling it beneath the panels. The cover for the water heater is also more appropriately sized and insulated. Almost ready for winter! Gutters are installed and working well. I only have two barrels to catch water right now, but I will get more or I will figure out how to direct all of the water to an underground tank. Early on, my mom and I built several conveniences including a ramp for the dogs at the back door, shelves under the kitchen sink and a gate to keep the dogs in the bedroom/off the stairs.
I've also made a lot of really nice compost by burying my Bokashi along with some shredded newspaper. It was so much easier to dig the hole with the backhoe! I'm getting better at using the tractor, but I don't mind letting visitors use my toy. Holes for all the apple trees are dug thanks to Sarah, Chris, Thomas, Mom, Meg and Rick. I'll be getting watering stakes, wind straps and compost this week and picking up the trees next week. After that major project is finished, I'll focus on getting the pump shed ready for winter so the pipes don't freeze again.
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In the satellite image, you can see that there are two stream beds. I didn't walk over to the one farther from the house to see if it was also flowing though. Hail piled up on the deck, but it melted quickly. The storm shredded many of the plants including my last two peanut plants:( The watermelon plants survived because the plastic bottles protected them from the pronghorn and the hail! Too bad there isn't enough time before the first frost for them to actually produce watermelons. I learned so about this land today. What an amazing day! I started creating sourdough starter in early July. Using a mix of wheat flour, all purpose flour and water, I attracted wild yeast. They began feasting, getting bubbly and a little stinky until the resulting sponge was doubling in size in less than 24 hours. This document details the process. If anyone wants some of my mother sponge, I'm happy to share. I've made a lot of different recipes with the sourdough discard and the sponge including pancakes, sugar cookies and banana bread. Making crackers failed in a smelly and ugly way, but oh well. I use a high elevation recipe to make bread. It takes a long time! A lot of it is waiting, but you do need about 4 hours during which you can fold and turn it every 20 - 30 minutes. I've learned from my mistakes, and now I can make a reliably good looking and flavorful loaf. If I mess up too badly, I just toss it into the compost. For the past five years I have enjoyed working at Colorado Academy. Teaching 6th and 7th graders and helping teachers integrate technology and design thinking in their classes makes me happy. The community has supported me through a really hard time this year. Our plan was for Alex and his brother Nic to live on the farm in Villa Grove while I continued to work at CA for a couple more years, but Alex died on September 18th, 2020. We had a little more than a month to plan a future we will never have together.
Absolutely beautiful! Next time, I'm going to set up the good camera on a tripod outside the screen on the other porch. I want to do repeats from the same position so I can see the sun rise further north and south as the seasons change. It just happened to line up really well with that space between peaks this morning.
So I figured out where the dogs were picking up all the burrs. It's these plants that look really innocent when they're green and fuzzy with little white flowers. When they die and dry out however, they shed prickly burrs. I used the photo in a Google Image search to find similar plants so I could identify it, but Google keeps telling me it is Juniper. I wish! Juniper is native to the area and provides shelter for a diverse range of wildlife. Like piñon pines, they are short trees that do well in our rocky, nutrient poor soil, and I will probably plant some of both eventually. Until then, I will rip up every one of these horrible little plants I can find even if I can't figure out whether I should or not.
According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture, they're not on the noxious weeds list. If you know what they are, please let me know!
I used to blog for my Master's classes. I also blogged at ASFG to describe how we were using technology in classes. Writing a blog is not something that comes easily to me though. I don't like sharing myself with the world, and I struggle to write the perfect sentence so I stopped when I felt like I didn't have to do it anymore. Now, I want to document our progress on the farm so I'm choosing to blog again. On the day we closed on the property (August 4th, 2020), I walked around looking at all the plants that were growing. Some of them are native and beneficial and some are not. Below you will see pictures of the plants I think we want to encourage. Now, I just need to learn their names! |
AuthorTeacher, tinkerer and farmer. Archives
September 2021
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