Month: March 2010

Garden update – 1 more row

On By stefrobrtsIn garden, lawnmower2 Comments

One more row done – that’s three down and one more long row and one more short row to go. And of course this is just the compost layer. As soon as we get a chance to mow I’ll be laying on a layer of cut grass. On this latest row, halfway through I ran out of the chicken compost and had to switch to the llama compost.

And I moved the llama compost from the driveway to the garden with my new lawnmower! Yay! It also mowed a little path through the field to pull the trailer through, and did fine. Too bad it can’t shovel compost for me – I’m afraid I’m the weak link in getting more work done around here!

Alki update

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, mighty, pets1 Comment
Alki on the porch with Mighty (when she was at the vet hospital they had to shave spots on both her front legs for the IV – so she looks like she’s wearing furry boots until the hair grows back)
Alki is hanging in there. Everyone is over their doggie colds, though Alki still gets a bit of a cough now and then. She’s definitely feeling better, and is even downright perky sometimes. I thought for sure her time was about up, but she’s like the energizer bunny, she just keeps going…

Rain, rain, rain and a new lawnmower

On By stefrobrtsIn garden, lawnmowerLeave a comment

It’s that kind of day – wet and windy and sort of miserable compared to the beautiful week we’ve had. So no working in the garden. Can’t do much anyway because the van is gone and it has all my cardboard in it, and I can’t go pick up bales of peat moss  with the car.

But I can thin out my tomato sprouts and figure out what else I should be getting started in the house to plant when the time comes.

Out in the garage:

Our new mower! Not exactly new, in fact it’s at least as old as the last one, but it doesn’t have the baggage of years of frustration to go with it. I have decided I’m going to like it, and take good care of it so it will last a long time. It’s almost kind of cute.

Same kind of engine as the last one, except this one is 18hp with a 46 inch deck, so a bit stronger and wider than the old one. Automatic. Pretty much identical to the old one in every other way.

We struggled for a long time if we should spend the money on a used one, or twice as much money for a new one with fewer features than we wanted – but at least it would be new and have a warranty. That’s why I spent yesterday driving around looking for Sears refurb models, and visiting the local tractor dealer to check out their deals. The van breaking down sort of pushed us to do the cheapest thing we could get away with for the time being. This one came from a guy who repairs mowers on the side and resells them, he’s a friend of a friend, so they recommended we go see what he had, and this one looked good and had all the features we wanted. Either way, we had to get one soon, there’s just no way to maintain 3 acres without a lawn/garden tractor of some kind.

Van takes a holiday

On By stefrobrtsIn carsLeave a comment

I mentioned how the van took a day off from starting earlier this week. Well today I was out and about, driving it on a wild goose chase to find a new mower, and we ended up way over in Portland when it decided it had started enough for the day, and refused to run anymore 😦 I was pretty annoyed, because not only do I NOT need another mechanic bill, but I hadn’t even found the elusive ‘great deal’ on a new rider mower I was trying to hunt down. So the van is now at a Ford dealer over in Portland, and my cousin gave me a ride back home. Kind of a lousy way to waste an otherwise beautiful day.

Another day of progress in the garden

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, gardenLeave a comment

Our van took a ‘personal day’ and refused to start yesterday, so it spent the day relaxing in the driveway. It’s back to work today though, ready to haul stuff around. That’s a good thing, because I’m going to need it to go pick up some peat moss and vermiculite for my soil mix I plan to put in the raised bed. Can’t exactly bring that stuff home in the car!

I got two of the beds covered in cardboard and chicken compost.

Same thing in the raised bed. The chicken compost is just the first layer, next comes grass clippings, as soon as I get some mowing done.

When I run out of chicken compost I have a big pile that was cleaned out of my friend’s llama stall, which has been composting since last year and it looks pretty well broken down now.

Barclay helped out in the garden and kept me company, and he enjoys chasing the water from the hose! Fun times! I closed the main gate and let him and Jack out into the front pasture to play while I moved cardboard from the van to the garden. I was in the garden working and suddenly here comes Barclay running at full speed, delighted to have found me! Then he stayed in the garden with me the rest of the afternoon, even while Jack was still out exploring the front pasture.

More progress in the garden

On By stefrobrtsIn gardenLeave a comment

Starting with some 2×10 untreated pine boards, I screwed stakes on the ends and set it up and pounded it into the ground.

But before I got it pounded in, the screws sheared off! So I finished pounding it in and re-screwed the board onto the stakes. With the stakes in place I was able to put the sides on, and get them squared up and attached, then add the front board.

There’s my finished raised bed, 8 x 4. I’m going to make a cover for it so it will act as a cold frame this winter for growing greens into the off season.

Now that the raised bed is in place I can finish building the remaining rows. Next step is to gather enough newspaper to layer on the rows and cover that with compost followed by soil mix, and to get some wood chips to lay on the walking paths. I’m glad I’m getting such a headstart on the garden this year, there’s so much to do!

Cleaning the Coop – the deep litter method

On By stefrobrtsIn chickens4 Comments

If it looks like the debris under the roost is about a chicken deep, that’s no illusion. We are practicing the deep litter method, so I started out with a layer of pine chips, then as they roost and poo in there I throw more chips on top, and now, several months later, it’s about a foot deep! It got pretty stinky during the winter when they were trapped inside because of the hawk incident, but otherwise it’s usually not too bad in there. The chips do a good job of keeping the smell down.

The roost is like a big ladder, and it’s hinged at the top, and the bottom lifts up and I can secure it to the ceiling using the hook and chain the food bin hangs from.

Which leaves me free and clear to shovel out the poo. A suspicious hen watches from the doorway.

Three heavy wheelbarrow loads later, and I’m down to the vinyl flooring. It’s still in good shape, except for right by the door and the air vent. I’ll need to clean those areas up later.

Half a bale of fresh pine chips…

Down comes the roost and hang the chow bin back up.

And invite the girls back in to check out their fresh and clean coop. Ready to start the deep litter thing all over again.

And out in the garden, I have a whole wagon-load of chicken debris, partially composted. I’ve heard this is good to put straight down on the garden, since it’s already partially composted and mixed with chips, or I could compost it a bit longer if I want. I’ll do some research before deciding.

Busy Garden weekend

On By stefrobrtsIn gardenLeave a comment

I started out by taking out a little tree that was in my garden, and in my way. We planted it years ago, but it never did take off, and a couple years ago the goats stripped the bark off it, and it really never had a chance after that. I poked a shovel into the ground all around it and didn’t hit any roots, so I gave it a good push and it pretty much popped right out – the root ball wasn’t any bigger than the day we planted it!

Then I began layering cardboard on the ground, outlining my beds and walking paths. Cardboard goes on the walking path, and it will be covered with wood chips. Newspaper and compost will go on the planting beds. This is ‘sheet mulching’ or ‘lasagna gardening’. It’s supposed to allow you to start a garden on a grassy area without any digging.

We have a lot of these red ‘landscaping timbers’ left over that we bought for a project years ago and they have been in the shed ever since. I got some stakes for them (they look like ten inch nails) and used them to outline the beds – just to help keep the wood chips and compost on the right sides of the line. If I don’t like them later they will be easy to remove. I like straight lines, so I think they will be helpful.

So that is the layout for half of the garden. The other half will have a raised bed/cold frame in the back, and a couple shorter rows in the remaining space. I’m also saving some space for a couple narrow beds up against the shelter where I can grow some lettuce and spinach without it getting too much sun, which was a problem when I tried to start them during the heat of summer last year.

So now I just need compost, and wood chips. I’m on the list to get wood chips from the county, still waiting to hear back on that. But for the compost…see the next post.

Sick days

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, barclay, pets1 Comment
Barclay, contemplating being sick
Alki is still having trouble with her coughing problems. She went to the vet yesterday and the vet x-rayed her and decided the coughing was caused by flabby old lady parts sagging into her airway. I don’t think I buy that though (though I certainly paid for it through the nose) because Alki has never coughed until the day after she came back from her hospitalization.
Then yesterday Barclay was kind of lethargic, and I thought he was still tired from playing so hard with the other eskimos on Sunday. But he did this weird backwards sneeze, kind of like a snorting fit, a few times, and by afternoon he seemed really miserable. By evening he was really pitiful, moping around, sleeping under my desk or by my feet, making gurgling congested noises, and freaking out everytime he had one of those snorty fits. Unfortunately this went on all night, with him miserable and snorty, and Alki coughing (despite the pills the vet gave her). I got no sleep at all, comforting poor miserable dogs!
This morning Barclay feels much better. He’s only done one little snort, and he’s up and around and wagging again. Alki had several bad coughing fits this morning, and was coughing up foamy stuff. I don’t know of that’s better than not coughing anything up at all. I gave her another pill and she’s resting now, and I have a call in to the vet. Hopefully this is just a bug that’s passing through and she’ll beat it.
Update: Talked to the vet this afternoon. By the time I talked to her Jack had started coughing, and she agrees it sounds like Alki picked up a bug and gave it to the other two. Nothing to do but wait it out. Barclay is much better. Alki quit coughing up foam. Jack is just heading into it, and looking kind of miserable. I’m just hoping for a better night’s sleep than last night.