Small Carbon Footprint

Amusing video

2010-02-19T14:31:00.000-08:00

This video is amusing (economic content, rap style) and I had to share. Unfortunately you'll have to click the link to view.

So, halfway through February, still on house build, but we're close to the finish line. Amazingly, we have our "final", the last and final inspection and occupancy permit. We also have new obstacles. Both the bank and the insurance company require an electric heater (in an off-grid house!) to supplement the wood stove which is our primary heat. In case we leave at one of the few times each year the temperature drops below freezing. DH Matt is running around jumping through the hoops...most of our walls are concrete, floor also. This is not easy.

Now I have just received a call from out mortgage lender saying that the underwriters are refusing our loan because it is a non-conforming loan...off-grid house and the land value is 90%. I'm serene about that because I think they'll finalize the loan anyway. The loan we're applying for is 20% of the land/house value. It's a sweetheart deal for the bank. The issue is that banking is no longer about risk. The government assumes all risk if the loan conforms to Fannie/Freddie standards. Which this doesn't.

I asked her not to tell DH yet, though. Wait until we hear more on Monday or Tuesday, 'cause this isn't over yet.

I might tell him tonight, after he's had a glass of wine. I'd hate to ruin his weekend, though.

Winter Dreams

2010-01-27T22:24:00.000-08:00

So, my surprise for December was supposed to be "winter stratification", which is where you take old discarded plastic containers and make mini-greenhouses for plants which need winter cold to germinate. Ideally this is done at the winter Solstice. Check your timepiece; I'm late.

What can I say, this entire building-a-house thing is complicated. Right now the complication is that I have too much stuff to fit into the small house that we've built. Somehow the obvious response, "build it bigger" does not amuse my husband nor fit our budget. So I am faced with the completely ridiculous notion of getting rid of stuff. Understand, this is not just about me...my guys need to drop a load too.

I do have the most "stuff", mostly miles of books, assiduously collected and special books, on a multitude of subjects. Special subjects, like Celtic mythology, world religions, cooking specialty food, architecture, agroforestry, shamanism and magic, art, poultry keeping, and a wall each on plumbing and electrical, gardening, roses (a wall unto themselves, my rose books), psychology and enneagrams, permaculture, aquaculture, health and healing, Chinese medicine...you get the idea. There are not enough bookcases for my books, they inhabit rooms. And fill the large dining room table, and several enormous antique amoires...and chests of drawers and boxes in the garage. I could describe the content of each of these books at length...they are well marked with tabbed pages, margins scribbled and notes written in the before-and-after pages. Parting with even one would be painful.

The other major obstacle to down sizing is my depression glass collection. This took me more than 20 years to assemble, I bought my first piece when I was 15...I have had everything. Any pattern or color you can think of in depression glass, I either have it or have given it to special friends. Any piece of depression glass, except carnival glass, that you can think of I have owned, no matter how rare. I gave a lot of it away or sold some the last time we downsized, keeping only the reds, gold, and greens. And only 3 patterns of each, with a few special exceptions. That's still a lot of glass, packed in a lot of boxes. When we owned the Victorian there were enough odd nooks and walls that I could display everything. The sunlight would work its way in through the tall windows and reflect off of the colored glass in rainbow glints. I loved to watch the sun move across the room in my office as I worked, gleaming with various colors as the light hit cabinets spaced according to the path of the light. This new house is a budget house, modern with no spare corners for a glass etagerie (or 3).

I find that there are obsessions in my life that other people don't have, and these take up space. Books, depression glass, vitamins ( I have closets full of specialty vitamins, wierd, I know), knitting yarn, gardening catalogs and seeds. I hate to sleep and have no time or interest for TV because there's something to keep me interested in every moment of the day and night. I don't know if there are enough hours and days in my life to satisfy my passion for permaculture and agroforesty. Certainly there's not enough square footage in the new house.

I severely downsized (by storage spaces rented, not by elimination) when we lived at our last place, a 1200 s.f. mobile home which was intended to be temporary while we built our "real" house there. One year turned into two, and we still hadn't built because our building site had soil stabilization issues. One entire side of the hill eventually collapsed and we gave up on that site...and I realized that I had put 2 years of my life on "hold" , in "storage". So this time I am truly downsizing...not placing in storage. it's really a challenge because I have to leave enough of my obsessions so that I'm really involved in life and not waiting for life to begin again. It greatly helps that we'll have two greenhouses and lots of land to plant on. Still, this is a winnowing period for me, a cutting away of old interests and passions to make way for the new. it's exhausting.

Hoop Houses Failed

2010-01-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

We had an unusual winter storm here recently, three feet of snow fell in one weekend. And, my hoop houses failed. Heck, I can't even find the edges of my raised beds. Those lumps over there may be the peas. I have to admit, I am worried about my fava beans. The rest, of course, was an experiment. I spent a few hours shoveling snow off of some of the hoop houses....I uncovered perhaps a third. I harvested some carrots, bok choy, and turnips. The rest are still under snow. My broccoli was mostly okay, cabbage also fine...the corn salad and miner's lettuce I wouldn't worry about in any event...also fine.

So next year I would prefer metal hoops...or at least 3/4"plastic placed every foot. Agribon is too delicate for snow country, although it was fine for even heavy rain. The expensive new fabric, dio-betalon PV film, was well worth the money. The hoops collapsed, as this was a heavy snow; our legendary "Sierra Cement" weighted down with water which will feed the water needs for most of California when it melts in the spring. That dio-betalon film looks more like something woven by fairies than a good snow protectant. I am convinced now, though.

I love this new bok choy (pictured above), both for the color and the flavor.I would call it "purple bok choy", but Johnny's Seeds calls it "Red Pac Choi". Ah well, tomatah, tomatoe. I will add that this is a hybridized seed, not good for replicating by saving seed. That would usually make this on my "no-no" list, but this stuff is too good to miss. How about you, any too-good-to-miss hybrids that you can't resist planting?

The Latest on the Mortgage

2010-01-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

So, the money situation (Heloooo Obama?!) is so tight with the banks that we might get our mortgage. Lending practises are tight to the point of insanity. And, Understand, we're talking a loan of 20% of the valuation of house and land. I actually want to go a bit high on what we need, and purchase gold with the balance as a hedge against the mortgage. If gold appreciates then the economy is under water and we need the help. If it doesn't appreciate or loses value then the economy is sound and our usual streams of income are solid and we don't mind the non-movement of gold. This is my idea of mortgage insurance.

It doesn't help that our property is odd to a mortgage lender...off-grid, dirt roads ($25K of gravel, actually, but to them it doesn't count), large acreage. Finding insurance is difficult...wildfire zone, and all that. The lender asked if we had a "comp", a comparable house which was off-grid and large acreage. Actually, we do...the house we sold nine months ago.

Some friends of our are talking about walking away from their mortgage. Even though they love their house. His business isn't what it used to be...down about 50%. As is the value of their house. it just makes economic sense for them to walk away, as the property won't be worth the money they'll be paying monthly for it for at least a decade.

I used to think that a mortgage was a moral valuation...your word of honor to pay, because you agreed to. Now, as I watch corporations (legally defined as "people") walk away every day from underwater commercial mortgage I have realized that this is another form of cultural naivete on my part. The corporations are "bad citizens", as they do always set a new and lower moral tone for the nation (and, I'm sure, internationally). But when they raise the stakes the other players (Poker, it is the National Identity) have to match the ante or fold. Which brings us to the Wikipedia definition of the quaint word, "mortgage. "This comes from the Old French "dead pledge," apparently meaning that the pledge ends (dies) either when the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure.": So, thanks to the corporations we can drop the word "Mortgage" once and for all and call it the "dead pledge".

Water Buffalo

2010-01-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

If you've read any of this blog then you'll know that DH Matt and I are aiming at a permaculture agroforestry project. Since our crop (trees) takes 20 years per cycle we need to pasture animals under the trees, both for income (breeding, meat, milk) and to keep brush down. We've looked for years at goats, which most small farms in this area have. We've looked at milk goats, meat goats, and hair goats for yarn production. We've looked at Nubian goats, LaMancha goats, and Oberhasli goats. Goats make sense for this climate and hilly terrain, which is why most people here have them. Still neither DH Matt not I can warm to goats. Matt doesn't like that they are prey animals to the prolific mountain lion population here. Their eyes creep me out (sigh).

We've considered sheep, but as this is goat country the few people here who raise sheep have problems finding a shearer...hair sheep have hair instead of wool, but they are basically meat animals and we want dairy animals. They are also more preyed upon by the local wildlife than are goats. Sheep are also difficult to milk. Cattle don't work on our land; they are grazers and we need less finicky browsers. Cattle also vastly prefer flat ground.

The January/February 2010 issue of Hobby Farms ran an article on water buffalo. We read about the Riverine (dairy) water buffalo, and it just made so much sense. They are large enough to deter predators, mild, friendly and smart, produce rich milk, and are browsers who need no grain supplement. The are "people lovers", very social critters who will hang around people for the company. Their milk makes delicious cheese and butter and they can be milked with minor adaptations to standard small farm milking equipment. They are resistant to disease and to parasites (the same reason we chose ducks instead of chickens). They can be acquired for the same price as a dairy cow, about $500, and they are already being raised in a similar Mediterranean climate to ours in Italy. Water buffalo are "easy keepers", needing only hay or straw and a salt lick.

We are researching tree fodder (another project) and dietary needs of water buffalo right now, as well as trying to find a pair of heiffers. We hope to use AI (artificial insemination) instead of a bull, both because we don't want our WB to inbreed and because we want to import Italian bull sperm from the dairy herds to improve our stock. My husband has volunteered me for the AI project...I told him that I thought that this was something best hired out.

New Duck Shelter

2010-01-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

The ducks have been out of the bathtub and into an outside enclosure for about eight days now. I feel like a new woman...a woman who can sleep at night.

DH Matt and I found a 7.5' x 13' x 6'h kennel kit at Lowes, for $250. It took us a morning to assemble and another few days to gather extra materials...chicken wire for the top and bottom, tarps for their shelter. I ended up wrapping another 3' high layer of chicken wire around the perimeter base after I saw the ducks panicking and putting their necks out through the wires. Whoever coined the phrase "bird brain" knew what they were talking about. The result is rather like a Fort Knox for ducks...as it must be to foil the local fox. Of course, the fox is quite spoiled on cat food it collects from our back porch and probably can't quite collect itself to the effort of killing ducks.

I created a warm "house" for the ducks inside the kennel using two layers of hoop house. DH Matt and I pounded garden stakes into the ground, 2' apart (6 hoops) and set 8' 1/2" pvc pipe onto the stakes, bending them to form hoops. Then I set a second row of 10' pvc pipes 4" out from the first. I covered the first, interior set of hoops in heavy Agribon cloth for insulation, then layered a waterproof tarp over the second, exterior,set of hoops. I used 1/2" pvc pipe clamps to make everything tight. As it turned out, the ducks were agoraphobic so I had to cover the entire setup with an exterior tarp before they'd venture out of their shelter.

photos to follow (when Kodak dies and a better software company eats their meal)

As it turned out I was still rising early to feed and water the ducks. I regularly made my son a few minutes late to class due to duck tending. I had to serve them several times a day. Then my new feeder and new water unit arrived from Fleming Outdoors. What joy! I had ordered their 16 lb plastic feeder when I first thought of moving the ducks. Now their feed empties down for them automatically. And with the Low pressure Automatic waterer hooked up to a garden hose, the ducks are self-watered. I have a project in mind for them for a bathing pool, they do miss their nice warm twice daily tub baths. And I do still feed them bean sprouts, tomatoes or lettuce twice a day. They are rather spoiled duckies.

Winter Garden

2009-12-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

As you can see from earlier posts, one of my experiments this year was with four-season, hoop house gardening. I really wasn't expecting much for the first small try, but I have to say that I am thrilled with the results. Here's today's Bok Choy and Merida carrot harvest. Isn't that gorgeous?
Some days I have little white turnips ready to harvest, other days it's chard or corn salad. I love hoop house gardening in the winter.

Introducing: The Ducks

2009-12-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

The red light is from their heat lamp; without their feathers grown in they can get chilled. I'm not at all an expert on raising ducks now, but I do have expertise on raising ducks in a bath tub. For those of you who are charmed by this picture and want to try it, I have two words: duck shit. You really have to not mind it...or mind cleaning the bathroom twice a day and a certain (large) amount of sleep deprivation.
I have to say that after doing this for a month that I have a new appreciation for the phrase "duck soup". And no, it's not edible.

Blame the Ducks

2009-12-29T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a month since I last posted. The reason would be: ducks. Or, as in this case, ducklings which arrived at 3:00 am December 2 at the post office. I had alerted the Post Office the day before, so they knew to call me in the early morning. This is an agricultural area so they do get a lot of chicken deliveries, although ducks aren't popular here. Perhaps because our long dry summers mean extra work for duck owners.

The Post Office opened to the public at 6:30 am, so there I was to pick up my ducklings. It's part of the routine that you open the box at the post office to check the viability of your critters. Chicks are usually stressed and panting, so I had brought electrolyte solution to give to them. I was expecting some very anemic, exhausted babies. I opened the box, which was madly cheeping and shaking, and out popped the ducklings, evidently tired of their box. There were only nine of them, but it seemed as if the post office was over-run by my "raft" of lively , vigorous ducklings as they popped out of the box with agility, escaping all over the Post Office floor. This is an elegant old Victorian Post Office, so you'd have to picture the effect. Luckily our area has a numerous amount of elderly women who are early risers and stop for their mail first thing in the morning. They were charmed by the ducklings...luckily also they were amazingly agile elders who rounded up the strays in no time flat. Just their usual morning duck run...the things I must miss because I'm not usually an early riser.

I popped the duckings into their bathroom bathtub brooder,which had a heat lamp (an extra $100 to the electric bill). I had thought I would have to introduce the ducklings to food, like chicks, but they were born hungry. As soon as I introduced food they were on it. And on it, and on it...they doubled their size every day for weeks. And, like little babies, they cried for more food and water 3 times a night. Now you realize why I hadn't posted; new mother syndrome, a.k.a. sleep deprivation.

I would love to tell you that we get along "swimmingly", but there was the unfortunate meal worm incident. You may perhaps recall that I was raising meal worms to supplement their diet. At 3 weeks old they were such great big downy babies that I thought it was time to introduce their meal worm treat. I had put half of the 5000 meal worms in the fridge and saved half to breed more meal worms. I pulled out the chilled semi-hibernating meal worms from the fridge and sprinkled about a hundred of them over the ducklings. The result was far from my expectations. The ducklings immediately began shrieking (I think they said "snake!") and formed a duck huddle as far away from the meal worms as they could get...trying to form One Big Duck. I have to say that the did a fairly impressive imitation. And every time an itsy bitsy meal worm (their natural food) raised it's head or uncurled itself as it warmed up the ducklings went into new paroxysms of shrieking and huddled farther away into One Big Afraid Duck. What a bunch of girls.

And they stayed afraid until I removed every blessed last meal worm. Ever since, to the ducklings I've been The Lady Who Throws Snakes and when I walk into the room they make One Big Afraid Duck. This doesn't endear them to a woman who gets up 3 times a night to feed and water them, swims them twice a day, cleans up endless piles of duck poo and schedules her day around duck needs. They're a month old now, and it's getting a little better in our relationship since I've learned that they'll eat fresh micro-greens out of my hand. Still, I don't believe that I'll offer them meal worms again. I have emotional scars.

Drowning Sucks

2009-11-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

First, the youtube video

And now, the rest of it. As the USA debt stands now, well, I'm not a pencil pusher. But plenty of other people (in high school we called then GWM, "Good With Math") have pushed their pencils. The inevitable conclusion they arrive at is that within five years the USA cannot service it's existing debt . Let me repeat this; cannot even pay the interest rate on it's debt in five years. It's called the Greenspan-Guidotti rule,which is basic math speak for the same issue we all would face if we had too much credit card debt; eventually we can't pay the minimum, let alone the balance, and we default.

So, I said to DH Matt what would that look like in this country? We have State financial problems in California, and already we are seeing closures of State financed programs. The schools and libraries are in serious trouble. What if there were no Federal funds? Our minds boggeled just thinking about this. Hospitals rely on Federal funding. The government would still honor medicare, medicaid and social security, but it would freeze hikes just when inflation runs rampant.The poor and the elderly will suffer. There will be no wildfire funds...colleges will possibly close. My imagination stops there, because with both the State and the Federal governments broke, life as we know it is, at the very least, disorganized.

Party Talk

2009-11-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

I really have foot-in-mouth-disease sometimes, especially after two glasses of wine (red) at parties. I was recently listening to a woman who had received chickens and a chicken coop for her 50th birthday (romantic, she said !!!) describe their demise by a bear while she and her husband were out of town. Their sad death was reported to her by their neighbor. As if in an out-of-body experience I said to her, "Ooh, did she describe the bear as 'eating them like popcorn!?' That's what I always hear people say when they talk about the bears getting into chicken coops." The woman was rather confused, but said that ,no, she hadn't heard any references to popcorn. Duh, why do I take that blond chick anywhere? She says the most astounding things.Perhaps I won't let her drink, next time.

THANKSGIVING

2009-11-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

I harvested Merida carrots today (Territorial Seed) , yum! Sooo crisp and sweet. I also picked some Sage and Tarragon and harvested a head of cabbage for the Thanksgiving table. Tonight for dinner (Tuesday) I used the last of the fresh tomatoes (well, not absolutely the last...the last 2 cherry tomatoes I picked today,then jammed into my jacket packet...then sat on them on the way home) with garden-grown tomatillos and the last of the peppers to make an incredible chicken chili.

I planted American Ginseng ( Panax quinquefolius ) and Rhodiola Rosea (from Horizon Herbs) in among the trees today. They're both endangered species of medicinal herbs. I'll have to remember to give them a water in the summer if they come up this spring .California's not their usual territory . I'm crossing my fingers, it would be great to give these endangered species another foothold. I'm studying up on Goldenseal now...another endangered herb that I'd prefer to see preserved by many, many people. I happen to have the loamy woods soil that these herbs prefer, it's just that our summers are darn dry.

Ginseng is, of course the panax, or " panacia"
cure for all diseases. and if you think Chinese Panax is preferable...well, they'd rather import ours. American Ginseng
rocks, which is why it's now an endangered species. It is, of course, the root which is medicinal. Rhodiola Rosea is a universal adaptogen...use it and grow strong in all ways (eyebrow wag).

Mortgage Coming

2009-11-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

So, our entire plan...the basic premise...was to build a small house and hold no mortgage. This, after holding two mortgages at once while we paid for our land. That was stressful.

I see a mortgage coming, though. It's that awful cost overrun from the Hebel block walls. And a few price increases we absorbed in building materials. We could get away with a tiny mortgage, but I think we'll do a little larger one and put in hydro power to ensure a solid power supply in the winter, a second greenhouse (and, darn it, fix the first one), and some led lights for the greenhouse for plant starts. I'll blog on those led lights soon, you bet. The balance I want to put into gold, yes, even at $1200/ounce. I have a feeling it'll be a bargain. An old geezer once said to me (and he was, too, a dirty old man who liked to schmooze and pinch the 20-something girl l I was then) that when gold is rising that there's a lot of risk..."danger is in the air, beware". I believed him; he had such a look of sad old memories on his face when he said that. DH Matt agreed, we should cover our "bases".
How about you? Have you purchase gold or silver yet?

You Have To See This

2009-11-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

This is a graphic chart of unemployment in the United States. Click on the link, it's amazing.

Update on the meal worms. They have arrived. I did decide to bed them down in the laundry room; DH Matt's back has miraculously improved and he is not inclined to sleep in the den. He appreciates that meal worms are very quiet. He wouldn't even know that they are here if I hadn't told him. No, he doesn't need to see them, thanks. Also, no interest in a recipe I found for meal worm spaghetti.

I reeled off the names of a dozen women we know who have invited critters into their house; all of the women are aged 40-something. Most of them are rescuing dogs...this subject came up because one of our friends moved out of his house and into a rental in town when his wife took on 3 more rescued dogs. That brought their total to 6, all big dogs, in a small house. This was, as the saying goes, a "deal-breaker" for him.

I pointed out to DH Matt that this is biology at work. The women we know who are moving animals into the house all had children in their thirties . If they had followed the old biological pattern they would have had children by age 20 , and their children would have had children by age 20. So, no grandchildren....collect critters. DH Matt said he can deal with ducklings and meal worms. But, I'd better not rescue cats and dogs (said the man who rescued 13 cats and moved them into our first house...achoo! We have 3 left, all outside cats but not by their choice).

Meal Time!

2009-11-18T21:49:00.001-08:00

Well! Doesn't this look nummy? Meal worms!This is my latest experiment, about which DH Matt is less than enthusiastic. Believe it or not, people have eaten these.

Hot Mealworm Appetizers

Ingredients:
5 ml (1 tsp.) cayenne
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp.) black pepper
85 ml (1/3 cup) mealworm larvae, slightly thawed
30 ml (2 Tbsp) butter or margarine

Place all ingredients together into a sauce pan. Sauté, stirring constantly, until the mealworms are golden brown. Drain and serve. Or, these may be added to a hot bridge mix available in many grocery stores. Or, one may add them to 'Party Mix' made from cold cereal squares, pretzels and nuts. The combination made at home to which one could add the mealworms for extra nutrition, fiber, and interesting texture is as follows: Melt 1/4 cup margarine in roasting pan in preheated 250°F oven. Stir in 5 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, l-l/4 tsp. seasoned salt, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder. Gradually add: cereals (2-2/3 cup corn squares, 2-2/3 cup rice squares, 2-2/3 cup wheat squares); I cup nuts and I cup pretzels. Stir to coat evenly. Bake I hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on absorbent paper to cool. Store in airtight container. Makes 10 cups.
(Courtesy of the Food Insects Newsletter Editor and taste-tested by undergraduate and graduate students at Montana State University and various dinner guests at the Dunkel/Diggs home (thanks for the invite, Proff...I, um,already ate) : found at
http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/mealworms.htm)

Seriously, I would have to weigh half of my current body mass via starvation and have tried dirt first before I would eat meal worms. But, ducks love them. And little ducklings need to be introduced to healthy food early before they develop an unhealthy love for Frito-Lays. So, I have tubs prepared (so hard, throw corn meal in a plastic shoebox) to host the 5,000 meal worms which will be arriving shortly. DH Matt has now, suddenly, acquired a sore back which will necessitate his sleeping in his den at the other end of the house about the time the meal worms arrive to take up residency in the Master Bathroom. I should warn him not to do his usual leftovers search in the fridge...half the meal worms will reside there to be duck meal while only half will be breeding parents. He'll get used to them...I just can't imagine a parental moment when he'll be saying, "Oh, aren't they cute?" I do expect to see him sneak a Frito-Lay to the ducklings.

Kids Don't Listen?

2009-11-12T22:28:00.001-08:00

Today I learned the most horrible, shocking news: my kid (DS, 15) actually doesn't listen to me. I don't mean when he has ipod glued to his head... he's so used to having earbuds in that he leaves them in when we've forbidden music during homework. Not having them inserted feels strange and unnatural to him, and I confess that I have difficulty recognizing him without them.

No, I mean the worst kind of "doesn't listen": he doesn't listen when I ,and, apparently, his other two parental units, Dad and Mid-Evil-Step-Dad (he truly tries to be evil, but it just isn't in his nature) are imparting parental advice and governance. He has a vague idea of the topic...and after that he just tunes out.

DS Matt (a.k.a. Mid-Evil- Step-Dad) is amused that I even imagined that DS listened to lectures. Understand, people pay me a lot of money per an hour for the kind of advice I'm dispensing to The Kid. These people hang on my every word; they laugh, they cry...they schedule appointments six months in advance. So, I'm amazed when I realize that The Kid doesn't listen.

Background story: DS is flunking Chemistry at the community college. He's 15, so his admittance there is shaky anyway, he cannot afford to fail. And, he has worked on the wrong Chemistry homework, due today. Would I drive him back to the college in an hour? Of course, but as every parent knows the price of admission to this party is the non-stop dispensation of advice each way.

Which advice he cannot recap to Mid-Evil Step-Dad upon arrival home. Hello? DS Matt said that I should have charged him for the ride. I think that I should have charged him for the advice. Then at least one of us would have something out of the experience. A kid should listen to his Momster.

[Update 1/13/09...kid mercifully passed Chemistry with a "C". Mom was waking up in the middle of the night with the Van Halen song "The Cradle Will Rock" ringing in my mind..."have you seen Juniors grades?!"]

The Business to Be In!

2009-11-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed how much business the farm supply/garden businesses are doing? Peaceful Valley Farm Supply says that their sales are up 20% this year. Amusingly enough, I see their same customers when I dash up the road to "Hydro-gro"...ahem, I go there because they have the best propagation materials, not because they are a "grow shop". For those who are wrinkling their brow in puzzlement and need to buy a vowel, that is code for "growing-medical-marijuana". And wow, do the supply shops ever rake in money! Nothing like a cash crop to make people open their wallets. My moth drops open when I witness the cash bundles that the customers drop there. This really makes me want to own a garden supply shop. I would do it too, except that the poltiticos are swaying in the wind regarding medical marijuana. Fed or not?
Legal, or not? Recreational use legal (and tax to the max) or not? I have a simple policy when it comes to investing money...stay far, far away from politicians with empty pockets. And these days every politician seems to have pockets to let.

More Politics (Comic Relief)

2009-11-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

This, from Stansbury and Associates:

Today's comic relief brought to you by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner via this quote from the Wall Street Journal:

"I believe deeply that it's very important for the U.S. and the economic health of the U.S. that we maintain a strong dollar," he said at a roundtable discussion with Japanese reporters.

"We bear special responsibility for trying to make sure that we are implementing policy in the U.S. that will sustain confidence not just among American investors and... savers but investors around the world" that the U.S. will fix its budgetary problems as its economy improves.

Great job so far, Tim... Your comments really instilled confidence in the American people. The dollar touched a 15-month low and gold went as high as $1,119.10 an ounce today (up 26% this year).

Hoo, "Franz", you really crack me up.

You'd trust this face, right?
Memo to self " Buy more gold".

Experimental winter crops

2009-11-09T21:23:00.001-08:00

It's difficult to tell in this picture, but those white lumpy shapes are hoop houses for my winter garden. How well they'll work as our real winter weather with snow and winds sets it...no one knows. But if it fails, that's okay...I'll have more information with which to make intelligent decisions for next year. I can already tell that I've made mistakes. I'm okay with the cabbage and corn salad, the carrots and the parsnips. Instead of broccoli and peas I should have just concentrated on spinach.
Because it's shorter and has a direct cycle...edible leaves instead of "fruit" as the product. Under straw in this photo, and there is a lot you can't see in the back, are plots of fava beans, onions and garlic.

Now I need to be clever enough to both mark the plots and to carry a notebook out there and diagram all of the plantings. Because as we all know too well, markers can and do fade. I don't want to be the proud propagator of "mystery garlic" in a few years. I already have "good drying beans".

Ducks ordered

2009-11-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Ducks ordered, two male and six female. Yes, I know, these are not the previously discussed ducks; these are Khaki Campbell ducks from Nature's Hatchery. I have realized that I have more time now than I will have all year...and more space. For the eight weeks that it will take to raise the ducklings until they are feathered in enough to live in an outside shelter we will still be living in a larger rental house. Where I have an extra bathroom. When we move these ducks will move into the blue "parts truck" (DH Matt didn't mind, anything goes as long as I don't ask him to move that truck)
which will be surrounded by electric fencing.

Nature's Hatchery raises K.C. ducks all year round, so I can actually "brood" them in a bathtub. I'm looking forward to this...a new adventure. Both the ducklings (awww, cute!) and the fencing are new learning curves. The fencing is Perma-Net from Premier1, which with accessories ran about $200.
The charging/power system I chose is the Patriot PS15, for another $200. I have some doubts about the sealed battery pack lifespan, but the ducks won't survive our wilderness for long without some heavy protection. In spring we'll build them a more permanent house.

I have an intuition that electric fencing will figure prominently in our future. I recently put some aged chicken manure in the greenhouse; the greenhouse was ransacked several times over as the various local bears examined (meaning tore apart, strewing my greenhouse floor with manure) the plastic bags. And everything else...my garden fence has several bear sized holes now. I can just imagine what the bears will do to our fruit trees and berry bushes in the spring...and I would love to grow some corn this next summer. Electric fencing; it's the future.

These are "egg ducks", not "meat ducks" (unless a bear gets hold of them), Khaki Campbell ducks produce more eggs per year than most chicken breeds. I do still want Brown Chinese Geese...but I don't want to brood goslings in a bathtub. A wise woman knows her limitations. And values her sleep.

Halloween, End of October

2009-10-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

The experimental Winter Garden is in. All covered up. I have 60' of Fava Beans planted, with staggered harvest dates. I know, not so much for the Overgardener, but I'm fairly indifferent to Fava Beans. I have 30 Broccoli plants going...how they will overwinter I have no idea, although they are under row covers. This is experimental. I planted eight types of garlic, only 120' there. Some onions...in both gardens. Cabbage, winter lettuce, carrots, chard and corn salad round out the winter greens menu. Now I have nothing to do during November except garden clean up, and occassional watering. December will bring a new experiment...a surprise.

Ta Da!

2009-10-31T23:36:00.001-07:00

The roof is on! Now we can run around in the rain and celebrate!

Confidentially, we already had what might be the biggest rain storm of the season. Without a roof. This house was a swamp. The walls (luckily concrete) steamed every time the sun hit them. We wouldn't have had this issue if the block had gone up as easily as we were promised. Our labor costs and time for the walls were 3 times our estimate.

So, the final vote on AAC, Aerated Autoclaved Concrete is in....thumbs down. It's been more time (extra month) and about $20K extra over stick built. The support was non-existent. We will not build with this product again. We would not recommend this product, Hebel Block, to be used in California.The entire experience was a horror show (suitable for All Hallow's Eve) the guys would rather have done without. None of them wants to touch this product again. Nyet. Never.

Okay, It's Not Pretty

2009-10-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the back of the house...which was, if you've read earlier posts, intended originally to be my husband's garage...his "shop". Above, you see his "parts truck". Notice that it is up on blocks. I don't see this truck moving anywhere in the future, do you? This might always aggravate me. Unless...Luckily for us all, I'm a visionary. I envision this truck as my new "duck coop". I imagine the little quackers will be very happy in there. As far as I know, DH Matt has no plans for the upholstery. Just as well, don't you think?

Frantic Work

2009-10-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

So, work has been frantic. The work on the house has been frantic. And, the garden work has been...frantically busy (really, one can't be frantic in a garden). This four-season gardening is new to me. And, it's a lot of work. The few Winter crops I have chosen to grow are all experimental. I have, under row covers, corn salad ( winter-hardy type of lettuce), turnips, chard, bok choy, cabbage, and broccoli. I have starts of peas (again, experimental) , some of which I'll plant in the garden under row covers and some of which I'll grow in the greenhouse.

Speaking of the greenhouse, it didn't fare too well in our first storm of the season...which was a whopper of a gale, often gusting to 60MPH. The toll: three broken windows and a blown off roof panel. So my greenhouse is not workable this Winter, as DH Matt is still working on the house build and has no time for the greenhouse.

I've been planting garlic and onions...lots of both. Today I hauled hay bales in my Subaru (not sometime I'd recommend unless you're fond of spitting out straw) to the garden and mulched. Hours of mulching later, I had my potatoes and fava beans nicely nested into straw, as well as the garlic covered to eight inches. I also laid sections of newspaper over the paths and mulched them with straw. Anything to avoid hours of spring weeding.

My experiment with "root cellar" storage of turnips, rutabega, and daikon radish has left something to be desired. Perhaps...yes, a root cellar. Lacking one, I put my bushel baskets in the garage.
Our Northern California winters are different from the East Coast where I grew up. There, at the end of September it is decidely cold. Pumpkin harvests are accompanied by warm cider, a definite neccessity. Here, although it will during the winter snow quite a bit and get down to 17 degrees above zero, it does this ever so gradually. We have many 75 degree weather days even at this time of year. My root vegetables are becoming soft, and sprouting more greenery. As far as they are concerned it is spring, time to take off and go to seed. (sigh)

Take Your Banker to Lunch Day

2009-10-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

This is a friendly reminder that tomorrow, October 13, is Take Your Banker to Lunch Day. As you may recall, this is a gentle transition for the Bankers as they ease into the post-Columbus Day long holiday while nursing a hangover. It is , discreetly, the anniversary of another hangover, the takeover of bankrupt Lehman Brothers by Nomura Holdings, Inc. A foretelling of the future, perhaps, as power and money transition from West to East. And for you, it is your chance to put a personal face on the public whom they lunch off of every other day.

Please bear with me as I cover some of the finer points of Bank Lunch etiquette. It goes without saying that you have booked the most expensive and exclusive restaurant in town for this lunch. Plan to pay for this with the new savings your neo frugal lifestyle has engendered. You know, of course, that your bankster, ah, Banker, will order the most expensive food and wine on the menu...perhaps you weren't aware that the finer pontificates of Banker etiquette would have you cutting their meat and spoon feeding it to them.

Croon soothing noises, avoiding sudden movements as Bankers are very skittish and prone to cut and run. Some table hopping on their part is expected; they may very well be lunching with three parties at once. This is well within the boundaries of their normal behavior, and nothing to be excited about. When you leave the waitperson a tip, it's important to tip 20% as the Banker will scoop up 4% for themselves. This is personal habit, as they are so used to receiving Federal (ah, yours, originally) Money at 0% interest and then loaning it back to the Feds at 4% interest. Those jokers, aren't they cute?

Above all, please don't take a page from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) , as he asked Richard Fuld: "Your company is now bankrupt, our economy is in crisis, but you get to keep $480 million (£276 million). I have a very basic question for you, is this fair?" Your Banker will be completely bewildered by this question. Fair is so relative.

Final Harvest

2009-10-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Time for the final harvest of tomatoes and potatoes. Time for the final harvest of squash. Time for the final harvest of naive investors.

My potatoes are a bit small, but since the rains and frost are coming this week I'll harvest them anyway. It's the third crop this summer, so it's no big deal. I'm planning to grow some tubs of potatoes in the greenhouse this winter also. I still have a lot of green tomatoes, but as they'll split in the rain they have to come out and be stored. Hopefully they'll mature. I'm not harvesting the investors, simply observing that procedure. Pity they're mostly so young. Hopefully this will be a maturing experience. They really should learn to read a price/earnings ratio.

I went wild over the potato selection at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply; ah, the Over-Gardener strikes again. I'm still trying out potato varieties and growing seasons for this new climate and altitude. I have a new greenhouse and I'm not afraid to use it. I purchased 10 varieties of potato. Ahem, yes, overkill, I agree. I get carried away with enthusiasm. Much like those naive investors. At least I'm aware that the winter climate is not conducive to growth without some protection. Those investors really might want to use a thermometer and check the numbers .

One crop that we are letting mature, which we think will do well over the winter, is a modest amount of gold mining stock we still hold. In fact, we think that the worse the winter is the better it will perform. Gold mining stock is a funny thing; people think of it as a "safe" storage of money, when it really isn't. Think of it as a business which prospects for gold, digs it a lot, then sells off its' assets. The gold is only held for a very brief period of time, all else is potential and speculation. Most of the time you'd be better off speculating on which potatoes will grow well in your climate. The thing about the mining stock is that when the weather is very, very bad the stock can take off in a very steep ascent. I think that we're in for a rough winter.

Time For a Rant

2009-10-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Excuse me, rant ahead; proceed at your own discretion. Awfully wicked non-PC comments, gross links.

Our local paper- no great shakes, it is published six days a week but it doesn't even carry AP news because of the cost- ran a story recently on the swine flu shots available. The story ran something like, "Oh, I'm so Scared of the flu, gather the women and children and run for the hills, Oh Goody, the Government is here to save us, that swine flu shot is Dandy."

Okay so far (yawn) typical local story without much thought or insight.The part that made me see red?

"We know it's safe" (referring to the vaccination), said by Health and Human Resources Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Oh please, no vaccine is "safe". Is this safety factor the reason why Baxter Labs, maker of this vaccine, asked for and received complete waiver of liability? This statement is going to come back and haunt Ms. Sebelius. Her next public quote on this topic will be something like, "Of course, 'safety' is a relative term". Our proud government said something similar in a 1970's Sixty Minutes interview after Guillam-Barr syndrome appeared in some flu shot recipients. Words are cheap. Spread some around. Um, Kathleen, my garden could sure use a load of horse manure.

I have actually thought about writing an Opinion column in that same paper, listing some of the atrocious "adjuvants" in the vaccine such as formaldeyde, thimerosol, and a squalene level which is a million times higher than the same squalene adjuvant which has damaged, maimed, and killed 160,000 veterans of the Gulf War. Yes, the latest research has unearthed some interesting news and government admissions ("Rats! Caught!") about Gulf War Syndrome...don't believe the Wikipedia entry, please do your own search at these links if you need some evidence. The form of the vaccine which does not contain adjuvants, the aerosol mist, contains live flu virus. In my opinion, never a good thing.

So, I had thought about writing that column. I decided not to. Every nation which has introduced swine flu vaccines has had a 38% refusal rate (except China; refusal of government programs there qualifies a person for organ donation). That part of the population is wary, or does the research, easily available on the Internet, about health concerns around this flu. The fact is, this flu so far has been far less of a killer than the regular flu. The people with good instincts and/or intelligence are self-selecting against this vaccine. I like that, actually.

You see, I'm a gardener. Every planting must be thinned so that the strongest survive. Infected and non-producing plants are yanked out matter-of-factly. I select the best seeds to reproduce and do not replant the weak and prone to disease. Call me wicked, I don't mind, but if the careless and fearful people are self-selecting themselves to be culled, that is a choice made of their own free will.
Now if I can only convince my garden to self-select....Kathleen, over here for more of that horse manure.

Waterfowl Instead of Chickens

2009-10-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you've read earlier posts you know that I have long lusted after the ownership of chickens, both for eggs and for their nitrogen-rich manure. I was torn between choosing Buff Orpingtons or Silver-laced Wyandotte, both good foraging breeds which can withstand a colder climate.

We have some issues with raising chickens in our forest, besides the obvious predator problems. The most serious issue is that our soil does not have earthworms and it would not be a good idea to introduce them into our woodlands, as they would destroy the duff which shelters new tree seedlings. Chickens need a high protein diet if they are laying eggs. As a permaculture site, we do not want to be purchasing chicken food at the feed store. The entire concept is that we feed them from the land and their manure goes back into the soil to make a full circle. As I have counted the calories and dietary requirements for laying chickens, the equation falls short unless we raise earthworms or black soldier flies for them to eat. Growth and production of both worms and flies slows dramatically in the winter, just when we would most need them for our chickens.

The solution came as we were examining chicken structure plans. Our chickens would require an insulated, possibly heated hen house. Heating the hen house on an off-grid site was simply a no-go situation. But geese prefer an uninsulated shelter. They are entirely vegetarian, and depending upon the breed (Chinese) they can lay more eggs than most chicken varieties. The Chinese Goose is also known as a "weeder" goose, because they will happily eat young weeds out of the garden and leave more mature vegetable plants alone. Just don't let them in with the lettuce or peas. The Chinese Goose is also a great watchdog...no intruder or predator will escape their notice or loud comments.

We're planning on ordering six Chinese geese from Metzer Farms for egg production, as well as two mating pairs of Pilgrim Geese (shown above, top). Pilgrim Geese are mild mannered and quiet, not so much egg birds as meat birds. DH Matt and I are uncertain if we'll be able to kill a goose (or be able to eat it afterwards) but we want to try two temperments of geese to see if we prefer one over the other. Chinese Geese can be more tempermental and excitable. We're also going to try ten Golden 300, a duck breed which has been developed at Metzer for maximum egg laying capacity.

Ducks and geese can share the same shelter. Ducks need a little bit of insect protein, but I'm confident that they can forage and find this on their own during the summer. In the winter I'll sprout yellow peas for them, yellow peas because they are higher in lysine than green peas.. Ducks, and especially geese, are far healthier than chickens. Waterfowl don't have the respiratory illnesses common to chickens or require antibiotics for treatment. Duck and goose eggs keep far better than chicken eggs, up to seven days without refrigeration. They have less of a sulphur odor. These geese and ducks are bred to be primarily land birds, and require only a kiddie swimming pool and sprinkler to keep them happy in the summer.

Racing the Winter Storms

2009-10-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

Here we have our house-in-progress. You will notice that we are in October and the second story is not yet completed . No second story = no roof.
This is a less than happy situation.

DH Matt and his crew have been out here working away six days a week. The core issue is that, despite all of our years of careful research, we had been unaware that our AAC building blocks were sized for a metric system. No where in the literature did it mention that these are actually Mexican made Hebel block. The sales reps told us that the plant was in Mexico, sure. They omitted to mention metric sizing, during the many, many conversations we had with them. Add to that California seismic requirements for rebar spacing (IN FEET AND INCHES) and we have a recipe for near disaster. Our walls have cost three times as much in labor as we had budgeted. Every piece of block needs to be altered in some way. This is not the easy Tinker-Toy project we had envisioned, planned for, and budgeted for.We had hoped for a paid-for house, but with this setback we will be $30K in debt at the end of the project.

I'm simply grateful that we are building a small house. This problem would be exponentially larger with more square feet involved. The good news is that, despite appearances, the walls will be complete this next week and roof trusses will go in. The roofing, simple galvanized steel (barn vernacular design) will go in the week after, hopefully winning the race against the start of our rainy season by a good week. For those of you unfamiliar with California's Mediterranean climate; we have approximately five months of absolutely dry weather in the summer time. A rain is so unlikely that it makes the front page of the newspaper and goes into the historical record. And then, the rains come. And come...in dryer southern regions rainfall might be only thirteen inches. Here in the mountains we have more than one hundred inches of rain each winter.

Because of the California budget crisis we had layoffs at the City Hall, especially in the building department. So, the plan check department was understaffed and we received our building permit much later in the dry season than was normal. Of course, we all know that there is no "normal" any longer, we are living in unusual times. The unusual has become the norm, if we can wrap our heads around that.

We're not certain that we would ever build with this block again. We might chose to, after experiencing a winter with these well insulated walls. We do notice, though, that the documentation for this block is woefully inadequate. Considering the amount of this block that the manufacturer's and reps sell for commercial and residential building in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico there is no excuse for the lack of a building manual. It's laziness and lack of attention. Which always builds up in a building boom...there's no reason and no time to provide documentation when the product is flying out the door. I hope that now that they have to actually work at sales that the AAC business will remedy the situation with a good manual and better documentation.

Busy Harvest Time

2009-10-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is one day's harvest from the garden. My nights are full of processing this produce...canning, dehydrating, freezing, or serving it up for dinner. Above, we have purple tomatillos, three baskets of tomatoes and a basket of peppers. What is not shown in this picture is the five bushels of onions that I have recently harvested. This sounds like the basis for...organic salsa!

Mt tomatoes are low-seed paste tomatoes, mostly Amish Paste. For convenience I simply chop them roughly into quarters and put them into my ancient food processor. I process the peppers, onions, and tomatillos the same way, then I cook the whole slurry down fro two days on low heat until it becomes a thick sauce. I pressure can this, and summer is preserved for a cold winter's day.

Fall Planting

2009-09-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Fall is here, it's time to plant Garlic and Onions. This year I'm planting Walla Walla onions, which are better planted in the fall if you want them to reach maximum size and sweetness in July. These onions are large, white, and sweet...you can chop them without crying. Below, we have Chesnok Red garlic, also called Shvelisi after it's originating place in Russian Georgia.It is just the perfect garlic. The cloves are large and easy to peel and the garlic has true garlic depth without getting nasty about it. I'm also planting Elephant Garlic, which isn't a garlic at all but a leek. This doesn't have the true garlic taste, adding it to a dish which requires garlic is a waste of time. But it is exceptionally easy to peel and adds character to dishes which would be overwhelmed by garlic, such as scallops, or a bean cassoulet. The other onion I'm planting this fall is the Egyptian Walking Onion, also known as the Multiplier Onion. This onion is usually used year round for green onions, or shallots, although it can also be let grow into bulbs. The trick is to never, never let it go to seed. Once established this onion will continue to multiply itself in the bed by rooting along the length of the green stems. If you haven't ordered your garlic and onions yet, it's probably too late.
You can still find some at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, although their supply is limited. One Stop Poppy Shoppe still has sets of the Egyptian Walking Onion.

I've been yanking down my pole beans. Then I'll plant fava beans 3" down and thrown some aged chicken manure on top. The chicken manure will water down in the fall rains. The fava beans will pop up in March and be ready to harvest by late spring. After they're harvested it'll be time to plant the same bed again, this time with tomatoes. I had 30 tomato plants this year because it was my year to dry tomatoes. I do that every other year, as dried tomatoes keep for two seasons. This coming summer will be a smaller tomato planting, probably just a dozen for summer use.

I'm trying an experiment with some of my fava beans this year. We have a swampy field where a seasonal stream ends and empties out. By midsummer the field is gorgeous, filled with wild sweet peas. I can appreciate the view, but I did try picking sweet peas this year to see if we were missing anything. They took forever to shell and the result was dry and tasteless, not sweet at all. So this year I'm going to pull up some of the sweet peas (it's a large field, there will still be plenty to look at) and put down some fava beans, about 5 pounds worth. It would be great if they naturalize there...no weeding, no watering. A gardener's dream come true.

Sustainable Vs. Unsustainable Living

2009-09-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have to say (just to have it on record) that DH Matt and I are not eco-nuts. Which, again for the record, is like "Co-Co for co-nuts" in reverse. Yes, I know that that doesn't make immediate sense, which is why I said it. One statement, "eco-nuts", is a consumerist denial of a genuine movement which mocks "consumerist" values. The other statement is consumerist advertising. Truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

DH Matt and I are logical, reasonable people. Logical, reasonable people look at the "consumerist" culture and realize that it doesn't work. A cycle of continuous unplanned growth is not an economy; it's cancer. It's not logical that a middle class consumer can/does constantly purchase designer label goods (cars, clothes, shoes, accessories, electronics, travel) to, what, aggrandize their ego? Allow them to feel that they've arrived? Nor does it make much more sense, except in the sense that they can actually afford it without credit, for even the wealthy to purchase these same items, again to aggrandize their ego. The non-gap between rich and poor had reached such a crescendo that the rich were going into hock to pay for leather tile on their walls or custom tile patterns so that they could demonstrate their wealth. Since the upper middle class already had all of the previous emblems of wealth. The standard was pushed higher and higher.

Someone has to pay for the lifestyle when the middle class are aping the wealthy. And, again for the record, historically the wealthy who have to demonstrate their wealth don''t remain wealthy. But, for the wealthy, demonstrating their wealth is at least half of the fun. This period in American history distinctly reminds me of the pre-French Revolution era.

"Much like the bourgeoisie, the nobility utilized gardens to display their wealth. The difference, of course, was that the nobility displayed their wealth not in the garden, but through the garden. By building large and interesting gardens on his property nobles were able to gain notoriety. The size and the various elements of the garden, such as aviaries, menageries, and fountains were all components of a garden that could speak of a noble's status."

Every gardener knows that when you reach for fountains and statues then things get expensive, fast. Well, of course I would put all of the excess in recent years into gardener's terms...replace "house" for every garden reference...or better yet, "McMansion" and you have the real state of things (or, pardon my pun, the real estate of things). Where has all of this faux wealth come from? Again, to put it into historical terms we should look this time at "Empire England" in the colonial days. The fashion after the French Revolution was for faux austerity, modeled in women's fashion by Indian cottons printed in new patterns. And tea, coffee, spices and chocolate. Eventually England built up such a trade imbalance that the British Empire collapsed. Sounds uncomfortably close to today, doesn't it? Fact is, all of our "comfort" has come upon the backs of Chinese and Indian laborers who were desperate for jobs. Not so they could purchase garden statues, just so that they could eat. Today these same people aspire to a standard of living that we enjoyed in the 1950's. Some meat on the table each week...a dishwasher...a washer and dryer.... a car per family...and some privacy.

DS Matt and I are "faux impoverished". Sure, small house...limited resources. Big land. All 160 acres of it. This, for the record, is a retirement investment in timber. We're not stupid enough to attempt to establish an estate on middle class currency. We have convinced ourselves that we are "environmental stewards of the land".It's just a pure coincidence that we also have the true wealth currency of the era...privacy...and paid for. So, we have despoiled a previous wilderness. Logged previously, more than once, of course. Surrounded by other timber/ranch parcels, of course. In other words, virgin land is rather a myth.

The point I'm trying to make in all of this is that there is no "righteousness" in choosing sustainability as a lifestyle. We chose it because the alternative is death. We as a culture drown in both debt and excess....and waste. Someone has to be on the next wave to model a lifestyle that consumes as little as is reasonable. That consumes as little as the person in India or China so that they can have their place in the sun. We don't have a "post consumer" ego about that, it's simple logic. Do I really for one minute think that by recycling and purchasing used instead of new that I can "lift up another culture and the guy in India can buy a motorbike? No, that too is bogus reasoning. But I and others like me might mitigate the post-empire collapse this country is about to endure. We're just pioneers, sign posts on the road. What we're doing on our land is actually much easier on a smaller parcel...much easier in communal living, or much easier in a planned suburbia.

Borage in the Garden

2009-09-12T17:42:00.001-07:00

Borage is, to me, a garden essential. The flowers are beautiful, especially when grown near comfrey. The flowers are edible...I love serving guests tea made from mint grown in my garden with wonderful blue borage flowers floating in the ice cubes. It's an old country belief that growing borage next to tomatoes makes the tomatoes taste better. I don't know if that is true, everyone tastes foods a little differently....but I do know that borage near tomatoes gives you more tomatoes. And cucumbers, melons, and beans...because bees love borage and it brings them into the garden. I just love the happy feeling of borage in the garden, and then again when the blossoms are used as a bedtime tea. Happy dreams.

Comfrey in the Garden

2009-09-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

It's recently been pointed out to me that my garden approach is different from that of many people, and that some of my plants are uncommon to a garden. I think that this is first because the focus of this garden is on sustainability, and second because I consider many garden plants to be a first product, a starting place to process the plant into another useful form. If there is a third reason, it would be that I love to try new things.

One of my favorite plants in the garden is Comfry. In past years that I've grown Comfrey, it has self- seeded throughout my garden. I have never thought that this is a bad thing, comfrey and borage (another vigorous self-seeder) look beautiful together and are medicinally extremely useful. If one patch is good then more are simply bonus. This time, though, I decided to try the varietal Russian Comfrey because it is sterile. A gardener can take root cuttings from the comfrey but the plant will not send seeds out into the garden. Furthermore, since the plant does spread through its' root system I am growing my comfrey in a half wine barrel. I also have true comfrey seeds in case I miss the joyful profusion spreading through my garden.

I consider Comfrey to be an indepensible item in any home medine cabinet. Dried comfrey leaves are crushed into powder and then used in a poultice for any skin irritation..poison oak, an allergic reaction to topical irritants (men who react to spermicide shoul take particulat note of this, it relieves pain and irritation in seconds), and any irritation caused by many garden plants. The comfrey leaves are always wrapped, never put into contact with the skin because of numerous fine hairs on the leaves. The other folk name for comfrey is boneset and comfrey is the first herb I reach for to treat a broken bone or sprained joint, again used as a poultice. Comfrey is rarely taken internally...only in the first three days of a broken bone and then in small amounts; it can be toxic to the liver. Never give comfrey internally to a child or a pregnant woman.

If you're not ordinarily a poultice user then comfrey is a great place to start. An undyed paper towel is slightly saturated with hot water...the comfrey powder is sprinkled on, about a tablespoon. The paper towel is folder over, sprinkled with a bit more hot water, then the poultice is wrapped around the injury and left there for five minutes for skin irritation...wrapped under a bandage and left for sprains or breaks, such as a broken foot bone which would not ordinarily be set. Comfrey poultices can be used on a broken bone to bring the swelling and discomfort down sooner.

Comfrey is also used in the garden as a good source of potassium. I grown comfrey near my potatoes. When the potatoes plants are six inches high I clip comfrey leaves and mulch the potatoes with them. I then cover the potatoes with a thin layer of straw, as the comfrey turns into a green slime that i'd rather not view every day. Extra comfrey would be a terrific addition to the compost pile, although I wouldn't know about that. "Extra" comfrey to me is like "extra" money. It's a nice concept but it's so useful that there's never enough to go around.

Sustainable Gardening

2009-09-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

A sustainable garden has to produce an entire cycle, making the loop from fertilizer to plant to production, back to compost while introducing as little outside energy as possible. The same concept applies to sustainable living, although in both cases it is currently impossible to reproduce our current standard of living without introducing outside energy. Even our pioneer ancestors had a lot of help from the Indians and had European imports.

In my garden the two most critical issues are carbon and nitrogen. Currently I'm importing many, many rice straw bales into the garden for the carbon. I'm planning on introducing chickens to the garden (chickens, meet garden) this spring when we have the time to build a chicken coop. This is more challenging than it sounds in bear and snow country; the coop must be built like a fort, an insulated fort. This will give me manure the following spring, two years from now. It will still be raw, not aged manure, so realistically I won't have the manure cycle down for three years. In the meantime, chickens need to be fed, another importation of energy. We have forest with a few sunny cleared patches, little water, no summer rain, and many wild critters to eat corn. We also have gluten allergies, which rules out growing wheat, barley and oats for chicken/human food and the necessary carbon.Entering the picture: millet (pictured above right, proso millet) and buckwheat (pictured above left, mancan buckwheat).
Millet will provide seed heads for both chickens and people to eat, and the stalks should provide the needed carbon. Millet is similar to wheat in it's protein profile, 11%. Perfect for chickens. Millet is also good for the kidneys of the humans who eat it; good clean kidneys keep us energetic and looking youthful. Millet and buckwheat are excellent choices for the small homestead gardener because they don't require a lot of water, tilling, or fertilizer and they are relatively easy to harvest with a hand sickle. You can throw the entire seed head to the chickens or put a sheave into an old pillowcase to thresh it for human porridge. A standard blender will turn buckwheat groats into buckwheat flour for pancakes. We plan to till these into a fenced clearing and use a rain bird on them once a week. Both millet and buckwheat will produce two crops a season even at our altitude. The buckwheat can be re tilled for "green manure" to enrich the soil. Buckwheat is also the only grain which provides the essential amino acid lysine.
I purchased my seeds at Seedland, a site which sells seed for hunters (hunters are terrific at creating wildlife refuges...at least, a refuge before and after hunting season). The shipping cost for 100 pounds of seed added a third of the price, but the seed price was low enough that it was still a good deal. They had mancan buckwheat, which is a bit more productive than common buckwheat, and they also had proso millet rather than the more standard pearl millet. Proso give more distinct grains and is easier to thresh; pearl millet is a bit more productive and is usually thrown straight to the chickens.

European Vegetables

2009-09-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

I've had some production issues this year in my garden, nothing major when compared to anyone else's but not what I expected in my garden. Plants usually love to show off for me..."Look Ma, see what I can do!" At 3500' elevation, in a timber forest, I had some new challenges. The core issue is that my seeds are adapted to valley gardening. After all, most people do live and garden in valleys. More importantly, the seed producers are located in valleys with a different climate from my own. By selecting only one variety of each plant and saving the seeds I could have adapted plants in 3 years. That is, after about 3 years of experimenting with the different seed strains. So, 6 years until the garden produces the way I want it to.

I keep a picture on my desk of Bell Rock in Sedona Arizona because of what it represents to me. A female friend and I traveled to Sedona more than a decade ago. We wanted to climb Bell Rock , we were hikers and rock climbers in those B.C. (before child) years. Try as we might, we couldn't even get onto the wide skirt of the rock...every path ended in a drop off or rubble. Yet we could see other people far above us, people who weren't even wearing good rock boots, who were managing to climb the rock. For two days we tried, and for two days we failed. The third day I suggested that we start with a meditation. When we finished opening ourselves to higher energy...we could see stairways in the rock. We easily danced up all the way to the very top where most people never climb, and down again in just two hours, half the normal climbing time. We felt such a feeling of accomplishment. A man stopped us, and asked if we had been the two women he had seen up there. He said that he lived in Sedona, had in fact moved there so that he could hike and climb the rock every day. But he had never seen anyone go where we had gone..he wondered how we had done it. We looked at each other and laughed, then told him that "we took the stairs". And so I keep the picture where I can see it, both to remind myself to ask for help, but also as a reminder to always look for the stairs.

So faced with a six year cycle I "looked for the stairs". I remembered that I had read in "The Four-Season Garden" that the first European settlers had a tough time with their gardens. The light was stronger in the new world and the nights were warmer. They had to adapt their seeds over a decade to the new climate. The same was true for the settlers in Virginia, one of the reasons that Jefferson's work at Monticello developing new plant strains and experimenting with new crops was so important. So it stood to reason that European strains would be adapted to lower light levels and cooler nights. Indeed, my best winter squash this year is the French 'Cinderella" pumpkin. It's a bit amusing, similar to the Jerusalem artichokes that I could only find in the U.K., that the pumpkin had to travel "over the pond" and back again to be locally adapted. Taking this trend a step further, I have purchased European seeds for my next garden. I purchase seeds all year around, because I'm more likely to get the strains that I want to experiment with.

At Cook's Garden I found the seeds I was searching for. They really have a terrific European selection. I purchased Violetta Lunga Precoce , an Italian eggplant....what a great name, huh?
I also bought Teton spinach, tromboncino summer
squash,pictured at the right (with, I guess, a serving suggestion), Blue Solaise Leeks and Filet Triumphe de Farcey bush beans. I also bought Melon Charentais, a french heirloom melon which is not related to the musk melon varieties that we typically grow in the States. I did not by any means purchase all of the European varieties featured at Cook's. For instance, I don't care for arugula. Silly I know, but as I recently found myself wondering why I had planted cabbage when my family would have preferred a double spacing of carrots...well. I'm not planting arugula. Or cabbage again. And the summer squash Ronde de Nice looked appetizing but small. I tried to picture grilling a zucchini shaped like an egg and failed.

Purslane

2009-09-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Purslane is an edible weed. In previous years I've had to yank it out of my garden because the deer love it so much they'd jump my fence and eat the purslane and my roses. I had always wondered what was so appealing about purslane that the deer would brave a large jump over a high fence for this weed but not brave it
on a daily basis for the roses. I had tasted a bit of it because I did know that Europeans ate it. It was okay, tart and crunchy, but nothing special. I threw it away. I was recently searching for garden plants with large amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids and the winner was- Purslane. Here's a Wikipedia entry about purslane:
"Purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular^[4]) than any other leafy vegetable plant. Simopoulos states that Purslane has .01 mg/g of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). This is an extraordinary amount of EPA for land based vegetable sources. EPA is an Omega-3 fatty acid normally found mostly in fish, some algae and flax seeds. ^[5] It also contains vitamins (mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, and some vitamin B and carotenoids), as well as dietary minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Also present are two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish betacyanins (visible in the coloration of the stems) and the yellow betaxanthins (noticeable in the flowers and in the slight yellowish cast of the leaves). Both of these pigment types are potent antioxidants and have been found to have antimutagenic properties in laboratory studies."

Wow, who knew? The deer, of course. Purslane can be rather invasive...and it doesn't need much water. Which makes it a perfect container plant. It is absent at my new garden, possibly due to the altitude. I found seeds for it (yes, I laughed at buying them) at Cook's Garden . The seeds are for a "Golden Purslane" which should be quite pretty. If the dark wild kind shows up then I'll interplant them.

The building Continues

2009-09-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Look at that, the first floor is finished. Maybe we'll meet our October deadline to have the building weather-proofed. Because then the rains come, and perhaps snow by Halloween. I can remember many Halloween trick-or-treat nights when DS was smaller where it snowed. The first snow of the year. No amount of candy was worth wading through a blizzard to him, although I was always game.

I remember that DS and I had a lot of pre-Halloween arguments about snow friendly costumes. It seems that we always fought about footwear and outerwear. I was so relieved that Harry Potter came along; wizards wear shoes and warm capes. I made him wear a wizard costume (not the same one) five years straight. It was so much better than a ninja (black clothing on a dark night- ugh!) and wizards carried sparkeling, lit up easy-to-see in the dark wands.

So, hopefully the house will be zipped up by Halloween...or the trick is on us.

Sad Video

2009-09-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sharing this video with a heavy heart. I've never been a fan of conspiracy theories. The idea that a group of people could plan and execute a diabolically clever plan over a period of two hundred years does not compute. Especially if measured against the yardstick of stupidity and greed... yeah, S and G work for me in most cases. But, I've seen disturbing trends toward fascism in the USA and the Obama administration which promised to reverse that trend is perpetuating and accelerating it instead. Hence, this alarming video makes just too much sense.

It's made by the loud guy, Aleks...when he starts grandstanding you'll be better served by fast forwarding. His mind is good but his ego adds too much whipped topping. I'm going to stress here that the video is non-partisan...they hated Bush also...but if you're a fan of the President and you don't want to be disillusioned then don't watch this video.

I'm a person who takes a leaf from the Missouri "Show Me" book, I have to see something to believe it. If this video hadn't juxtaposed President Obama's campaign promises with demonstrations of his actions once in office I wouldn't have given this video any credence. The claim that the Federal reserve is behind the government...well, it's not in this video but President Kennedy made the same claim just days before he was assassinated. Clinton,early in his administration, said that he had no idea where the real flow of power in the government was until he took office.
There was no link available to insert it into this blog. The video is titled "The Obama Deception HQ Full length version".

When you finish the video, you'd do best to skip the comments section below it at the youtube site. I don't know why they allow that caliber of obscene language, I'm not vehemently opposed to a slightly crude word but the top comment definitely matches the Supreme Court definition of obscenity; "I know it when I see it".

Gogi Berries

2009-09-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

This year I've grown some Gogi Berry plants; also known as the Favorite Food of Herbivores. I bought three as plants, since growing Goji Berries from seed is rather challenging. Little did I know that every kind of plant eating creature...rats, rabbits, deer, gophers, moles, voles...find the Goji Berry leaves immensely delectable.
The plants have all always been inside a fence. They have been the only item eaten inside that eight foot, chicken wire reinforced at the bottom, EVERY-RABBIT-REPELLENT-KNOWN-TO-THIS-WOMAN fence. First elevating the plants, then wrapping them in a second layer of wire have not been a deterrent to the determined hebivores. I have one plant left, which despite being sheared three times is determinedly chugging along.

The herbivores have excellent taste. The fruit of the Gogi Berry plant, when dried and eaten like fruit candy (yum!), has amazing anti-oxidant and longevity promoting properties. It is possible to consume too much, so please limit yourself to a handful a day if you want to try the dried berries. They are available at any health food store.

You can attempt to grow your own plant from the health food store dried berries. The seeds must be left in the dried berries until you are ready to start them. I suggest early spring. Place the berries in a damp paper towel for three days, then separate out the seeds, they are tiny. Your sprout rate will be low, about 25-30%. Damping off of the seeds is a real possibility, make certain that your sanitation is immaculate. The starts like shade, filtered light; too much light will kill them.
When they are 4" tall with strong stems transplant to pots and place outside in dappled light. I suggest that if you want three plants, start with twelve. Protect from every creature that grazes. The plant will overwinter in zone 7, possible zone 6 if protected, and will produce the coveted berries in the second the third year. Eventually you will have a six foot bush, so allow plenty of room.

Late Nights, Early Mornings

2009-09-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting recently.
I have been plagued recently by an outbreak of rabbits in the garden. Large, succulent melon eating rabbits. I don't eat meat that's not born of egg (a religious observance) but DH Matt has recently been talking about shooting rabbit for his dinner. I can see his point, but the image is rather horrifying.

I haven't posted recently because the harvest is upon us. I am up to ears in onions, cabbage, tomatoes, and green beans. Every night is processing night. I'm dehydrating the green beans and some of the tomatoes. The cabbage is a dismaying disappointment, my ball head cabbage is lose and billowy. Exactly what will not store in a root cellar. So I'm puzzling over it...we don't like saurkraut.What else can one do with cabbage? I like it in stews in the winter. I'm going to experiment by cutting it into strips and dehydrating it. Why not.
Here's a delicious youtube video which I couldn't make paste or pasta out of. It's about health care reform, titled "One Single Payer System". Enjoy.

Horrifyingly Entertaining

2009-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Garden in August

2009-08-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

Gardening With Altitude

2009-08-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

Green Tomatoes

We've had quite a learning curve this year, gardening at a higher altitude. Moving up 1200 feet has a dramatic effect on the garden. We expected a shorter growing season. What we didn't expect is that we need more space...our beans and squash are not as productive at this altitude (3500') so that we need to plant twice or three times as many plants to harvest the amount of garden produce that we are used to. We are also moving to a four-season gardening plan. This is still extremely experimental, and I have already discovered that my cabbage is too loose, it won't store over the winter .My "heads" are open instead of forming a ball. I followed standard gardening protocol for cabbage...next year I will plant cabbage in August instead of late July.

This has been an unusual year for tomatoes all across the United States. The Eastern states have tomato blight, the western states have had cooler evening temperature and slow ripening tomatoes.
I've been grateful for the cool night temperatures as I've had better sleep this summer than in many years. As "off-grids" we eschew air conditioning; the temperature is what it is. However, my tomatoes are still mostly green.

I've read that green tomatoes can be harvested and layered in boxes with sheets of newspaper between them. Then, pull tomatoes out as the ripen, discarding any rotten tomatoes. I'm thinking that this will work better with some varieties than with others. I'm going to give it a try if my tomatoes haven't ripened by fall. In the meantime I'm mentally debating about purchasing canning tomatoes. I prefer my tomato sauce over anything store-bought.

I'm hoping that as I seed-save I will develop varieties of vegetables which are adapted to our altitude. Not that seed saving is easy; it means choosing one type of plant to plant, and keeping that variety far away from anything that it might cross breed with. I'm thinking that I might get that aspect down pat in another decade or so.

This is the "push" time for the fall planting season. The problem is space, as my tomatoes aren't finished yet. My beans are slowing down, though, so I do plan to yank them next week. I pulled out the summer broccoli yesterday and I'll probably use that space for garlic. Gardening at this altitude is definitely a new challenge.

Canned Chicken

2009-08-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have now successfully (well, we'll know for sure if I'm not dead from botulism this time next year) canned chicken. Now, the first comment running through your mind might well be..."Why would anyone want to do that?" The simple answer is, ninety-nine cents. That's the price per pound that chicken can be found for in the summer.

The complicated answer is that I've been watching the economic news carefully...it's a bizarre hobby of mine. I have to torture myself by understanding the latest economic news and the national and international currents that drive them. And, for those of you who are not masochistic enough to torture yourself over mass manipulations of our money supply, the simple news is that we are in deep sh*t.

This is not a recession, we are in year one of a depression. And thanks to the non-stop printing of money we will have the added bonus of a year of hyperinflation. Just to make it interesting. Naw, not really; just to monetize the debt and forever P.O . China. Our grandchildren may one day fight a war over this, China does not forget or forgive.

So why would a person want to go through the insanely laborious task of canning meat when it's readily available in the supermarket fresh? Or frozen? Or, duh, already canned? Because what is available today won't necessarily be available tomorrow, at least at this price. Because my freezer is full of frozen green beans. Because I don't like the texture or flavor of commercially canned chicken. They don't mix salsa in with it before they can. Or onion and bay leaves. Or garlic and green peppers.

I'm expecting grain prices to go through the roof. Drought conditions in much of the world have reduced the global grain supply. Many countries such as Great Britain
and Egypt, among others, are bracing themselves for shortages. Meat animals of every kind eat a lot of grain. So, prices are going to go up for both grains and meat. Not a problem here in the rich United States? Our wealth is a facade, the reality underneath is hollowed out and stagnant.

The U.S. Has No Remaining Grain Reserves
The nation has enough grain left to give each American half a loaf of bread in an emergency. As the old adage goes, half a loaf is better than one. But I prefer my bread with butter and Jam. So I'm more than a little nervous about the situation.

I grow a large garden, and I know many people with small gardens who are confident that they can grow enough to feed their families. I've done some research on that, and these people are dreaming. They are completely unrealistic about how much they eat. My active husband has very little body fat; DH Matt eats 3500 calories a day, compared to my 2400. Not that he counts his calories, but as a less active woman with a slow metabolism I am a habitual calorie counter. I'm also the person who watches others eat desserts and ice cream but doesn't participate. So, lets do the math on his 3500 calories. That would be 1,277,500 for the year. Combined with my 876,000...add in a skinny teenager with hollow legs and a bottomless appetite at another 3500 calories a day, that will be 3,431,000 calories a year. Three and a half million calories, just for our slender family of three people for one year. I'm canning more chicken.

Jewelweed for Poison Ivy

2009-08-10T11:41:00.001-07:00

Jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, is an annual plant used to treat skin rashes. Like Poison Oak or Ivy. I thought to myself, "Why not plant some in the garden?" These are orange flowers with dark red dots, also called "Spotted touch-Me-Nots". The seeds will 'pop' when touched , that is where the name Touch-Me-Nots came from. I love folklore plant names, don't you? The flowers bloom from May through October. Hmm, skin rash treatment, pretty plant, long bloom time...BONUS! I love dual natured garden plants, beautiful and edible or medicinal.

Here's a post from "Gardenweb" which describes how they use it;
"for the infused oil use a 1/3 c of dried plant material , put it in a mason jar or something like that. anyway, add enough good quality olive oil to fully cover the plant material. Then check the jar after several hours to see if the herb has absorbed all the oil. if all the oil has been absorbed add another inch or so. then cover the jar with an unbleached coffee filter and secure it with a rubberband. let the oil infuse in a window sill for 10 days. then strain the plant material and compost it."

Other sites say that some people have adverse reactions to jewelweed in oil. They recommend brewing the leaves and stems as a tea and putting it in bath water...do not drink the tea, this is an externally used herb.

I found my seeds at the same French site that I ordered from in the previous post, for the sake of convenience. I'm certain that these seeds could be found locally, although I did check three garden supply shops without finding it. I was impatient for impatiens so I shopped online. I do try to purchase locally when possible.

Perennial Broccoli

2009-08-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

I am truly excited, I have located a perennial broccoli from England. "Brassica oleracea Broccoli Nine Star Perennial" is a hardy over-wintering frost tolerant (to zone 0) creamy white broccoli which will produce for 2- years if you don't let it go to seed. Perfect for this Want-To-Be-Lazy-Gardener. Looks more like cauliflower, doesn't it? The heads bloom May through June. I found seeds at b-and-t-world-seeds, a French company.
I didn't find these seeds in the USA after a thorough search and although U.K. sites sold the seeds they were out of stock. My seeds are back-ordered for eight weeks. I also found sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) at their site and ordered them. This is ironic, because these are native to the North American continent but I hadn't been able to find them sold in the USA. I'm sure they're out there. Sunchokes taste delicious, but as they are a natural source of inulin (sugar similar to fructose) it takes a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to eat them. You could possibly power a car from the gas produced; my personal limit is one sunchoke.

Straw is the new gold

2009-08-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

DH Matt was working on the septic system today...which from my point of view always looks just like a bunch of trenches. I eyed the pile of rock sitting there. He wheeled his loader up...clouds of dust roiled the air, and I hastily made the universal sign for "Stop!". He said that he was extremely pleased with how fast things were going. At this rate he's be ready for straw on Monday. My ears pricked up. "Straw?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "Yes", DH Matt replied, it goes in the trenches over the rock." I thought about what he'd said...straw...not sand, not hay, but straw. "How much straw?", I asked, gazing casually up at the sky. He grinned, "Enough for some for you". "Goody!", I said, "How did you know?" He tapped the side of his head. "It must be the gray matter. You always want straw." I looked down at my desert military boots (a girl's gotta kick it when she gardens) and then at my straw covered slacks. I'd been mulching the garden. "Yes, I guess I do. It's because I spin straw into gold."

I'm a firm believer that time in the garden should be spent harvesting. Or, failing that, planting...or staring off into space listening to the birds and the wind. My mother despised gardening. She reluctantly grew a few tomato and cucumber plants because my father loved them. Marigolds because she liked to put them in vases on the dinner table. And she used child labor to weed. My early memories of gardening are less than pleasant, as my mother was really quite good at making it a despised chore.

I don't weed. Okay, I'll pull a sticker plant now and again, because they make great compost. But, for the most part instead of weeding I "compost in place". To the untrained eye, my garden looks like a field of clover growing some vegetables, or tomatoes poking through mounds of straw. The clover gets covered with straw, manure, and again straw in the fall. The tomatoes when finished are folded down into their bed of straw, manured, and then again straw. The end result is no weeds and beautiful rich soil...gardener's gold.

Mandatory Vaccinations

2009-08-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hmm. News today is full of helpful vaccination information regarding H1N1. Pity it's not as informative or helpful as it might be. A little digging online reveals that this vaccine is untested. And that liability has been waived for this vaccine by our government. And that Obama wishes this inoculation to be mandatory. Without religious or other exemptions. And that the vaccine contains dangerous agents such as mercury, squalene, and formaldehyde. And potentially live virus particles. And, finally, that this vaccine will probably be ineffective, as the virus will mutate. More info

We're Guinea Pigs? We will be given no choice and no constitutional rights in this matter? Gosh, I was still under the impression that I was a free American. I now know better. So which is the BS, the indoctrination I received in grade school or the stuff they're pumping out now? This somehow reminds me of the corporations breaking of the social contract in the 1980's. You know, the one where they told employees that the company was "family" and that the workers should show loyalty and devotion to the corporation in the form of excessive unpaid hours and time not spent with their flesh and blood. Only to hose and flush these same employees in the new era of "downsizing". These same companies now complain about employee lack of loyalty. I think the USA will also find that once the social contract is broken there is no going back. They will have clear eyed cynics constantly questioning Fascist policies and the days of "America Right or Wrong" will be considered laughable.

A program has begun in New Jersey State with mandatory inoculation of the babies through pre-school age children. This seems to me to be a test case. These are young parents who are already used to the concept that vaccination of their children equals good parenting. They need the day care/pre-school enrollment so that they can work to pay mortgages and bills. I'm pretty sure I read a couple of years ago that this area has the highest compliance rate nationwide on vaccination of pre-school children. I've also seen online that this vaccine doesn't have the same "adjuvants" as the mass vaccine will contain. I'm personally not certain, but isn't an "adjuvant" the squalene (used to sterilize farm animals), mercury, and formaldehyde? Cynically I wonder if this is supposed to prove that the vaccine is "safe". And to perhaps test the protest/resistance rate.

On to other breaking news; Greece has declared mandatory vaccinations for their population of 12 million with NO EXCEPTIONS. Here's the link:

this link is worth looking at because it gives us some insight as to how a country is implementing the vaccination program.

Okay, this is a country which has serious budget issues, as does any country which has to import both fuel and food. How are they paying for this? And why? They're on their 4th serious case, I don't think anyone has died.
How are they going to manage the tourists? The latest visa site, updated daily, has only recommendations for an influenza shot when traveling April-November. Huh? What am I missing? This is like Egypt killing pigs. Is it panic, or are they secretly guaranteed World Bank funding if they go with this program? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I much prefer the simplicity of greed and stupidity as root causes vs an actual nefarious plan such as we see in the movies. Is Greece in a blind pig panic?

I am frankly organizing my Mother's group to be proactive on this issue. We're working as a group to get medical waivers for our families. We're also preparing for quarantine if that is the only
way to sidestep this nightmare freight train. I'm open to other constructive suggestions regarding resisting vaccinations. Apparently, resisting may make us "felons".

Sunday Morning

2009-08-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

I pulled DS out of bed at 7am this Sunday morning, so that we could go harvest and fertilize at the garden, 30 minutes drive away. As we went into the fresh new day I was attempting to recall the last time he rose at 7am. I believe it was for a December vacation last year, when we had to catch a flight. This home schooled kid rises every day at the crack of 9am to begin his arduous day's labor. He is spending hours each day finishing up a college math course on his summer break, so I suppose it all evens out in the end.

We enjoyed the fresh new morning; it was cool enough that we saw people wearing light jackets. We made it in past the Lake before most of the Boat People crowded the narrow road. It can be harrowing getting past a boat trailer coming the other way, as the yellow line down the middle is taken as rather a mild suggestion by the boat drivers. I saw someone water skiing on the lake, and commented to DS , that this must be a chilly activity at this hour.

We spent a dirty few hours harvesting, weeding, and watering. I'm frowning at the garden. I have multitudes of green tomatoes but only a few ripening. The ripening tomatoes are all down at the bottom, close to the ground, which tells the story. I'm also still harvesting Broccoli in August, enough to make it the centerpiece of the evening's dinner. Lettuce also. These are cool weather crops which aren't usually producing now. The winter squash is being lackadaisical, loafing along eating up fertilizer (organic only) and not producing fruit. It's clear that the issue is night temperatures in the high 50's. The ground holds the days heat, which is considerable at 95 degrees. This is why the tomatoes at ground level can ripen.

I 'm not certain what to do about this situation. Our last garden was a thousand feet lower in elevation, and we were pulling so many tomatoes out by now that harvesting took hours. If we were already living on site (the house is on schedule and under budget, thanks for asking) then I would cover the vines with clear plastic at night and rush out in the morning to pull it off before I cooked the tomatoes. As it is, I know that when we hit the August doldrums then the tomatoes will ripen. This is a horrible annual event where no one sleeps for a week as the temperatures exceed 100 during the day and it doesn't cool at night. At least when it occurs this year I'll know that it serves my purpose.

DS cheerfully working in the garden. He had a great morning. We all went to see the latest Harry Potter movie when the weather warmed up at noon. DH Matt finished the plumbing and the water lines. He's ready for an inspection tomorow. All in all, a terrific Sunday.

Freezing Beans

2009-07-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm tired today. I worked for hours in the garden yesterday, and then was up to eleven at night freezing green beans. This might not sound like a monumental task...unless you recall the monumental size of my garden. It took an hour to pick the beans, and hour to wash the beans and cut the stems off, then another hour to freeze them.

Freezing green beans is dead easy. Drop them in boiling water for 3 minutes, then plunge them into an ice bath. Pat them dry and freeze. It was only the scale of the operation which made this process difficult. I definitely need more extremely large pots. But I did use an exciting new product last night.

Ziploc has a new vacuum bag and tool. I saw a promotional price at my local Safeway store and bought several packages. Now I'm going to run back and stock up while the promotion is still running. After I check for a coupon. This product is so cool. Designed to prevent freezer burn, it's a simple hand vacuum pump which fits over a special "airlock" type seal on the bag. A dozen easy pumps and the produce looks shrink wrapped. I had been considering purchasing a heat vacuum sealer, but I hadn't liked the product reviews. Or that I'd have one more appliance sitting on my counter. I am so happy to have found this product...no, I don't get any compensation for saying that.
They should send me a coupon, yes?

Hundred Dollar Jelly

2009-07-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd get all domestic and can something.I think you can already see where this is going. I was inspired by the blog Chicken Fried Life. The blog author , "Chicken Little", cans just about everything...and casually. She'll be like, "Got home from work today and canned 24 jars of pulled pork". I have no idea what that even is, and I've always been afraid to can meat...botulism.She had a recipe for lemon jelly, more of a marmalade, which didn't even require pectin. I've made jams before (as well as sauces like tomato sauce) So I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I changed a few things in the recipe, which is on her site, http://chickenfriedlife.blogspot.com/.
I'm allergic to sugar, so I used honey. And I wanted to can twelve jars, so I doubled the recipe. Not such great ideas...but wait, it gets worse. So I'm stirring well past the point where the jelly should, well, jell. And nothing is jelling. I realize that the sugar was what made it gel, like making hard candy and stopping before it hardens all of the way. It was late by then, so I turned off the burner and let it sit overnight, then ran to the store in the morning to get pectin. By the way, it smelled incredible.
Our region is cursed by swaths of wild blackberries. An enterprising soul set their beehives out when the blackberries were in bloom and made an amazing blackberry honey. The combination of that honey and the lemon could induce olfactory hallucinations, it's that good..

I made my jam and all was right with the world. The jam still didn't gel, but I figured that it was just that the honey was still warm. Then I went to wash out my pot, my favorite 8" copper pot which is tin lined. The bottom tin was scratched, just from the wooden spoon, and copper was showing through.
I immediately realized that I had let an acidic solution sit overnight on the tin plating. I am often more clever than this. I've checked on the Internet and it will cost over a hundred dollars to get my pot re tinned. And, the jam still hasn't jelled.

Foundations

2009-07-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

The guys are setting up the foundation for the house. I'd post a picture if my digital camera decided to work. [ Digital camera working 8-24-09] This of course has moved my thoughts into the direction of foundations in all parts of life. I was wondering, if we had a rotten childhood does that mean that the structure we build upon that will always be shaky? Or is it like the Victorian house we restored...the foundation had to be dug out and replaced with a perimeter foundation to get our loan approved. It was worth doing because the edifice had proved to have lasting value. The house structure was sound. The contractor for the foundation, a fellow who specialized in Victorian foundation restoration (sounds fancy, I know, but we have enough old houses up here to develop a specialty) said that it was the best Victorian foundation he'd ever seen. I felt that it was a shame that we had to re-do it, it had already lasted over a hundred years and although unconventional now was "how it's done" back then. They used huge boulders, strategically placed , to support the house.

So just maybe a rotten childhood can have enough points of strength and stability to support our lives, if we have enough boulders in the right place. Even if the foundation is shaky, if we've managed to erect an edifice of strength and enduring beauty then it will be worth going back to restructure the foundation. I think we've all known someone who caved in in life because their foundation was rotten. I believe that we also know beautiful people who erected their house on rocky ground and they are strong and will endure for a hundred years. Now you know what counselors think of when they're weeding the green beans. ;)

Must See: Buy-n-Hold Rhapsody

2009-07-18T13:47:00.001-07:00

Must See: Buy-n-Hold Rhapsody

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Green Shoots

2009-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am not seeing any economic green shoots. I suspect the "green" is people who are still investing in the stock market. We're stopped out of everything except a gold stock and a uranium stock, both very minor positions. The logic for staying with these? "Well, a girl can hope, anyway". So, no logic, just a smidgeon of optimism against a pessimistic background. Personally, I'm invested in real "green shoots" these days. My cole crops are finally germinating. Yes, there are indeed "green shoots" and they are...Broccoli.

Why they would germinate now, rather "out of season", when they didn't germinate in March is beyond me. I did change starter mix, that may have something to do with it. The previous starter mix didn't "feel" right anyway. I can't exactly describe it, but it felt kind of "dead", and heavy. It worked for my tomato starts, though, and the peppers.

So I'll be planting Broccoli and Chinese Cabbage, Cauliflower (must remember to ties it's leaves around itself for blanching...that's so weird), and Brussel Sprouts. I just hope the heat doesn't kill them. I've already started putting them outside for an hour each morning...hovering like an anxious parent on the first day of school.

So, the evidence is mounting that Goldman Sachs and other banking institutions are manipulating the stock market by pumping among themselves, then dumping the final product off onto individual investors. No surprises there, anyone who's been invested in the market these last few years has seen that amateurs are the meal of the day. There are so many jokes about it..."You too can have a million dollars by investing in the stock market. Simply invest two million". "The market was bad but I slept like a baby last night. I woke up every hour and cried". Yes, I know, not that funny. How about the definition of a market correction; the day after you buy stocks.

Thenk you, thenkyouverymuch, I will watch my green shoots grow in my garden. And if any stock analyst, broker, or banker puts a tippy toe in there...well, I did just buy a gun.

Here's an amusing youtube video, "Hitler Gets a Margin call"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVB-SSkkLnY

First Inspection Passed

2009-07-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

DH Matt is in a bouyant mood tonight, as his first inspection (trenches) passed with flying colors.
Personally, I'm happy to see him smiling. He thinks that we might actually make our budget and schedule for our house build.. Our AAC blocks came in at $17,766....about 20% less than we'd budgeted for. I know that our budget, $125K, looks amazingly small. We actually started this project last year, improving a mile of road for $25K. Without a decent road, nothing else would be happening.

We also put the wells (the first well came up dry, although it does produce about .5 gallons/minute) in last year, at about $12K.Plus, we had our plans designed and engineered, septic designed, land surveyed, and the perk and mantle test done, soil compaction test...approximately another $30K in all. So, if I said we were building a small house in the country for $200K, everyone would nod their heads...this is doable.

This project is simple, basically just a glorified barn. Building it in California is the only tough part. Between earthquake codes, energy codes,engineering codes and wildfire codes we've had a lot of expensive extras tacked onto our build. And, it's an unconventional building material.

Our building envelope, the aerated autoclaved concrete, is the result of five years of research on our part. We phoned many, many people, toured houses and building sites, attended home shows and surfed web sites. We examined every Rastra Block, Sip builder, and every brand of ICF on the market. I wanted a product that was 1:1 in price to conventional stick built construction, didn't require special expertise to build, was more insulated, was 4-hour fireproof and could be plastered/stuccoed on both sides without having to sheet rock or screen first. That whole ICF thing of building a great, terrific wall and then having to sheetrock the interior and finish the exterior struck me as stupid and wasteful. And expensive; typically those building products add at least 10% to a build project. DH Matt was a wee bit less picky, but he happily jumped in board when we found the AAC blocks. They are the same price as a stick built house. We can/will plaster directly to both sides, saving labor and cost. They have a 70 year track record in Europe and perform beautifully in fires and earthquakes. And they are simple. Also, our 8" thick walls are R16.

I Am So Wicked

2009-07-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

I just have to share this with you...I have been (again) a VBG (Very Bad Girl).

I was counseling one of my clients today, a very mature high school student of almost 17 years of age. One of his complaints was that his older sister had been terribly and unusually irritating this summer when she's home from college. Always correcting him, like a "Mom", and treating him like a much younger person. I was sympathetic, of course. "My, I said", "And when she's home for grad school just as you're going to the local Junior College it will be even worse. You'll have two years of that." It was his turn to be silent for a moment, and then he volunteered the information that his summer film school teacher had said that Cal State at Northridge had a very fine film department. I congratulated him on his find.

The back story on this is that he hadn't been doing well enough in high school to even consider applying to UCLA's film school, or any other prestigious school. And he hadn't been doing anything with his summers except playing video games. I had put his Mom up to volunteer him at a local nonprofit, a done deal and cancelled only if he was enrolled in a summer class. How perfect that a film class was available at just the same time his volunteer work would have started. And, I had covertly incited his older sister to treat him like a little kid so that he'd come up with a college plan. Because his current plan had been to swan along at JC and stay home for another couple of years. His sister and I had put our heads together about what exact behavior would irritate him the most. I am a firm believer that some people are motivated only by pain avoidance. And I am perfectly willing to apply pain.

So, there, a little Machiavellian but it worked. Now I need to come up with a covert plan so that his older sister will apply to Stanford for Grad school. She's perfectly eligible, but she has a crisis in confidence. He needs the stick, she's more of a carrot personality. I am asking around, to see if anyone I know has a cute son attending there.

Yes, I know, so controlling and manipulative. I've counseled these kids since grade school. I take their success in life very seriously. And, I have an edge, in that I'm not their parent .Most of all, my methods work. An unmotivated student took a college course in film during his summer break. He's doing quite well in this course. And he found an alternative to both University and Junior College. I believe that the most important factor here is that he supplied the answers. I simply applied a bit of motivation. Now I need to come up with a way to illustrate to him (without giving my hand away) that his primary motivation is pain avoidance. I'd like to bring his awareness to this so that he decides to add another string to his bow and self motivate because he wants success. That is always the most difficult challenge. And (rubbing her hands in wicked glee) I do so enjoy a challenge.

Our budget so far

2009-07-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

We were $5K over our budget because we decided to do our hydroelectric system at the same time as our building and solar power. Since then, we've had a few lucky breaks. My client who directed us to Sunelec.com for solar panels saved us several thousand dollars. We are purchasing a pallet even though we are only wanting a 4K (that's electricity, not money) system because we have two friends who are wanting to buy in with us. Our aerated autoclaved concrete blocks came in a few thousand less than we had budgeted, using Aeroblock AAC as our supplier. We locked in a fantastic price on wood just before it went up $4 a board foot. .(At this point I feel sorry for men, lacking that shopping gene...it's positively an aphrodisiac for a woman, saving that much money. Wait...maybe I should feel sorry for myself, since he's lacking the aphrodisiac!) Anyway, we are back on budget and I have a shopping high.

We're Baaaack in the budget again! Whoo hoo, we're baaack in the budet again. And only two weeks behind schedule. Thankfully, that time has also been used to trench the utilities up to the future pad/slab, whatever you call the foundation. We may pick up time later. Hopefully we will pick up some labor, also. People are scheduled to come in. Let them be poor, please God, let them be poor. Because if these guys have had a gold streak or a lucky run gambling (I did say they were miners, didn't I?) they won't want to be working in the hot summer sun. They'll want to be back at those air conditioned casino tables trying to double their stake, or at the river trying to dredge gold to get a grub stake. Abjectly pitiful, aint it? Yet, these are amazingly talented and hard working people...they don't do drugs and they even stay sober during the entire work week. I've seen many construction crews, and that's a thing for bragging rights. it's just...if the tables are running...if the river is running...they'd rather be there. And how many of you readers have scheduled a build around gold miners?

Building Permit and Meltdowns

2009-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

We finally have a building permit. Two weeks later than our direst projections...now the big question is; can we beat the snow date? DH Matt is having conniptions, both from exposure to a pessimistic friend (the effect is similar to toxic pesticides, the friend's nickname is "killjoy") he's hired for the project or from delays. Two days wait for an inspector for the trenches for supply lines (water, propane, perhaps more). One would think the world was ending. Wait, it might be ;).

I'm okay with the delays; we have had a serious water crisis from our barely-there well. I know that my small garden has production issues from lack of water. There simply isn't enough water and water pressure to meet water needs for everything in the garden . Our larger garden was greatly stunted because we were eking the water out to the plants. DH used the building delay and diverted water from a creek on the upper part of our property (half a mile of pipe and trenching) and now we finally have enough water for both the garden and the orchard. Ironically we are sitting right above a water reservoir...it does not work to pump water up a hill. If it were possible with our energy resources, we would still have to litigate water rights. Always a dicey thing in the West.

Water, water in the garden! Enough water that we can actually (carefully) water the driveway to cut down on six inches of dust rising with each step. Water, so that our drip water irrigation system can have enough pressure to work the way it's supposed to. We get about 47 inches of rain and snow in the winter, but it doesn't hang around in our dry summer weather.

People in the West are always and forever fighting over water. Our neighbors right above us have holding ponds for some of the water. I suspect that if this were examined it would be found to be illegal. But, people in glass houses don't throw rocks. We all exist in a precarious truce regarding land easements to pass through each other's property and the sharing of water. This works because our parcels are so large. If the neighbors right above us were to run cattle on their land, the water would be fouled and all bets would be off. I suspect, however, that cattle have been tried in the past and failed. This land is terrific for growing trees, such as Cedar and Sugar Pine, perhaps a bit of Douglas Fir. It's not good land for hay, or fields. Remove the trees and the rich soil slides down the foothills to rest in the lake. Plug too many wells into a limited aquifer and no one has water.

Local friends whom we've shown our land to marvel about how flat it is. I have to give an inner belly laugh over that one. By local standards our land is, indeed, flat. Over our total 160 acres we have only a 500' variation in elevation. And we miss the dreaded 4000' marker; our highest elevation is 3500'. That extra 500' to the 4000' mark would bring potentially 12' snow ...repeat, that is twelve feet, not inches. My gardens are, by our standards, flat. I think my large garden only dips 6' from one side to the other. Visitors who are used to living in a valley, however, marvel about the curving undulations of the land and the lack of long sight lines.

It's so beautiful out there...I try to drive out and garden every day. It's an hour round trip just for the driving, so this isn't always possible. The weather might be hot in town, but it's always cooler on our land. The air blows across the lake and cools before it reaches us. I love the sound of the wind sighing through the tops of the trees, it reminds me of the sound of ocean surf. We'll have some tough times living out there. The winter drive will be rough; we may have six feet of snow for half of the year. There won't be any impulse trips to the grocery store. I pick up a handful of the rich, loamy soil and let it slide through my fingers. I listen to the wind, and follow the fight of a soaring hawk. DH Matt and I have worked for years to own this land. This is worth any delay and any amount of work.

Seeds of Life

2009-07-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

With a strong sense of wicked glee I have been purchasing seeds. Seeds in July, seeds which I will not, can not plant this year. Seeds which I can joyously store and know that they will propagate for me next year, or the year after. I have flung myself into the seed catalogs of Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (http://groworganic.com). I have stalked obscure specimens through the Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org), and I have reveled in the .99 cent sale at http://www.valueseeds.com. I've also been a VBG (Very Bad Girl) at Abundant Life Seeds, Whatcom Seeds, and GourmetSeeds.com.

I confess that I am greedy for seeds. They are a miracle which symbolizes all of life for me. Seeds are pure potential, yet requiring a nurturing, guiding hand to realize that potential. The prospect of being able to store seeds in the freezer, using a desiccant, is an exciting "green light" which feeds my compulsion to collect seeds. I can purchase and plant Territorial Seed's Cobham Improved Marrow parsnip, for example, and if my attempts at seed saving are unsuccessful I have the original seed as a fallback. I don't have to rely upon Territorial Seed loving that particular parsnip strain as much as I do and maintaining it for the future. I no longer have to wonder if a favorite strain of lemon cucumber will only be available as a hybrid in years to come. I have "seed freedom", albeit of a limited sort, which allows me to blunder while I attempt seed saving or to experiment with a different strain the next year without "giving up" my original strain.

Whatcom Seed Company (http://seedrack.com) has delighted me with their packaging. Seed varieties arrive in tiny little zip lock bags, with a picture of the plant on the front. I can actually see the seeds inside, and to me this is far more exciting than a nunnish white, inviolate and opaque paper package. I can fondle and count my seed packages which will one day produce pistachio trees, tea plants (camellia sinensis), pawpaw trees, and rare white wisteria (Wisteria sinensis 'alba') among many others. I hold an entire future garden in my hands. Whatcom also includes a tear sheet on each plant which gives information on each plant's growing requirements. I'm feeling that this company is stingy on their seed count...but I love the variety. Where else could I find seeds for Poncirus trifoliata, a hardy orange which grows in zones 6-9, or akebia quinata, Chocolate Vine;a lovely vine with pink flowers that smell, yes, like chocolate. Over the next few years my greenhouse will be filled with life and my zone 7 garden will take on an exotic cast.

Abundant Life Seeds yielded up Red Kuri Squash seeds. Now I need to find the soup recipe which featured Red Kuri in our local newspaper. They also carried Black Hungarian Peppers, which are extremely mild but add a distinct savory depth to tomato dishes. GourmetSeeds had some cabbage strains which I had been searching for; Danish Ballhead and Derby. Derby is a fun little 60 day cabbage which can be grown spring or fall. Danish Ballhead is legendary for its' keeping prowess during the winter.

My best find at Value Seeds was a dwarf Nicotania, Nicotiana x sanderae, an annual, at .49 cents a package. This will add intoxicating night scent to my garden without inundating the roses. Territorial seed Company yielded up Elephant Garlic, Chinese Pink Garlic, Music Garlic and Susanville Garlic at great prices. Yes, I know, an altogether different kind of scent. I also found "the gardener's friend" there, yellow multiplier onion for less than $20 an order. This will be the last onion I ever need to plant, as it will multiply for me year after year. Just as it did for my grandmother. You'll notice I did say the only onion I'll ever "need" to plant. A gardener has a few needs and many whims.

P.S.- Speaking of whims, I have wanted to raise tea plants ever since DH and I visited a mountain tea growing plantation in China. I loved the way the guide and growers described the tea in terms of reverence. Camellia sinensis prefers a cooler, mountain environment and is the tea plant from which green tea, oolong tea, and a mild black tea are made. I would love to get my hands on a white tea plant, or silver plant, if anyone knows any sources.

Seeds and Such

2009-07-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

Today I finally cracked open my copy of Seed To Seed, by Suzanne Ashworth. Now I would have sworn that I had actually perused at least the first chapter of this book . But, since my copy was still wrapped in it's store shrink-wrap, this was obviously not the case. Before opening this book I was confident that I could save seeds. After all, hadn't I finally learned the trick of saving tomato seeds? (You have to ferment the outer gel coating off by soaking until they get icky, then pour the ick off and dry.) It seems that I was overconfident.

Apparently my craving for variety has done me in before I begin. According to Ms. Ashworth, seeds of several species cross and self hybridize, resulting in sterile or unpleasant seed . How utterly inconsiderate of them. Seed to Seed says that the secret to saving seeds is growing just one variety of each plant. Ah, well, considering my personality it is unlikely that this will ever happen. I live for variety. This does explain my grandmother's garden, though. I used to pity her as a child, since she only had one type of bean, tomato, and cucumber. Now I know why.

We are planning a third garden next year. Hopefully the distance separating them will be enough to avoid cross pollination. Hopefully. Ms. Ashworth did say in her book that onions can/will cross pollinate over a mile. A mile, imagine that. It seems too incredible to believe. We have a lot of land, but not that much. And as it's a timber farm, sunlit spaces for gardening are rare and prized. I'm thinking just shallots in the spring and multiplier onions in the fall.

Multiplier onions are very cool. You stick an onion in the ground, wait several months, and harvest
10-12 onions which store very well over the winter if they're kept cool, around 50 degrees. If that sounds easy, it's because it is easy. Not all gardening is sweat and labor. In fact, the hardest job in gardening to me is harvesting green beans. Because they hide. I think it's intentional on the plant's part...no matter how hard I try to pick them clean, I'll miss a few and get a few giants which I let go to seed. They are random, and it's the randomness which bothers me. I did grow yellow beans one year, and purple the next. They were so easy to harvest compared to the green beans because they showed right up. They weren't as tasty, though, so we're right back to the Random Green.

Parsnips are the other hard work in the garden. Planting parsnips will make any person' s back sore. They're light, little seeds and they want to be planted just 1 1/2 inches apart. this is many little holes with many little seeds. They also like to be constantly moist when they're germinating. This means three weeks of daily sprinkeling with a hose because the rest of the garden requires deep watering. Lastly, when they are dug up they must be carefully, surgically removed. No tough pulling, they must be excavated. They are worth the effort though, especially if they are planted in early July (yes, thank you, my back is recently sore) and harvested after the first frost. They are sweet and light; creamy and satisfying to the tongue in a way that makes potatoes seem grainy. I judge a seed company by whether they carry parsnips or not...the best do.

Seed to Seed had one factoid which fills me with hope. Apparently, properly dessicated seeds will hold in the freezer for up tp a dozen years. My alternative is the prospect of digging up winter cabbage, roots and all, and successfully storing it over the winter to replant in spring with the hope that it will seed. I quickly found dessicant on Amazon...the kind that changes color when it absorbs water and can be reused year after year by reheating in the oven. Then I ordered many cabbage and parsnip seeds...not an easy prospect in July. I was very happy to find http://www.gourmetseed.com. They had some great online sales, too. So now, hopefully, for the next several years I will simply pull my seed from the freezer and plant away. This will give me some time to experiment with seed saving. Our grandparents knew all of this information, it was common and every day stuff. My generation has to relearn all of this...and perhaps pass it on to our children.

Exertion

2009-07-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today I tilled the raised beds, after adding amendments. I raised a couple of blisters...spent about 7 hours out there. It didn't feel like work...work, to me, is listening to people's problems hour after hour and lots of mental exertion on my part. Gardening is simple physical labor, a complete respite from my busy mind. The zen of silence.

DH Matt said that on the scale of our garden, it's no longer gardening, but farming. "Hush", I said, "Farming is hard work. gardening is fun. Let's keep calling it hobby gardening no matter how large it becomes. Then, it's still play".

DH Matt thought about that for a minute. He made a comparison to "working out" at the gym or hiking for hours as being very comparable to our summer projects in energy expenditure. We just usually think of one type of exertion as "play" and the other as "work". He concluded, "It's all mental."

DH plays a video game hour after hour in the evenings, "Perfect World". It's a visually beautiful world, I constantly find myself drawn in by the graphics when I watch over his shoulder. He's invited me to play,and to join his "faction". No, no, no, not for me. As I see it, you talk to lots of people, solve puzzles and problems and slay monsters of some sort of another. That perfectly describes my day job as a counselor. What relaxes him would fatigue me.

DH Matt was until recently a successful property developer. He has a "nose" for purchasing property, splitting it, and selling it at a profit usually exceeding 100%. As you can imagine, he is not working on that these days. Like everyone else we lost money, at least half of our assets and probably much more. We don't sit and count it, what would be the point?

So, DH Matt is currently working on our own modest house. He's trenching for irrigation and power, putting in the septic field, and brushing for the 200' clearance required for local code. This is, as you might imagine, a lot of physical work and also solitary work. It is work for him, not play time. DH comes into the house late, around 7:30 in the evening, both dirty and thirsty for the solace of conversation. I have spent a long day both listening and talking to many, many people, attending to their needs. It's taken both attention and practice to put my own desire for solitude away for a period in the evening to respond to DH.

Reflecting upon all of this, I think that exertion is a refection of our value system. We do what we want to do, and we do what we need to do. We can all make that exertion difficult by thinking of it as hard work, but we spend the same amount of energy at activities that we consider "play". One person's work is often another person's play. In the end, it is all the same; it's all mental.

A Netbook Affair

2009-07-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Briefly, the other day, I owned a netbook. And I fell in love with it.

Like all love affairs, this wasn't intentional. I have a perfectly functional laptop computer. I have been wanting to take it into the shop and have more memory added (something I could do myself on a desktop computer, but I've never been able to get the back off this HP Pavilion.) As I said, perfectly functional. We've been together a long time now, for the life span of a laptop (which is like dog years times 3), and while I wouldn't say that the romance burns as bright as the early, beginning days, still, we're comfortable. All of my life is recorded on this laptop. Leaving it would be a wrenching, life altering move which would leave me at a loss, confused and certainly disorganized. So I wasn't looking. At all. But, that's the way all stories begin.
It happened by email, as so many of these affairs begin these days. A casual ad by Geeks.com, a little teaser that they frequently send and that i just as frequently ignore. This caught my eye because it featured the word "netbook". I had been curious about netbooks. To be more honest, I had fantasized about the small package and light weight. the ability to pick up and go on a moment's notice...it was the lure of adventure. With its' spicy Linux system, it was also the lure of the unknown.
The price also caught my eye. At $149, this was a cheap fling. Before I really knew what was happening, without any research or discussion with DH Matt, I succumbed. And, I have to say, it felt good. I felt like a new woman after giving in to that temptation.
The day of our first date had finally arrived, as the Asus Eee PC 900 Celeron arrived. Holding Asus in my hands for the first time, I had my doubts. New beginnings are usually so difficult. With trepidation I opened Asus up, and so we began our journey together. It was beautiful. I had never seen such simplicity. Asus surfed like a dream; the keyboard was tight, and the setup was simple and sweet. I loved.
Then DS saw my new little love. I made the fatal mistake of allowing DS to sample the netbook.
DS reminded me that his birthday was a few days away. This, now, was what he wanted more than anything. Without being able to stop the avalanche of events, I felt like a helpless bystander as my Asus netbbok was carried off in triumph.

Alas, my love, parting is such sorrow...the only sweet part about this is that I ordered a new one with more memory.I am now waiting for the Asus 900A Atom. And never shall we part.

I Bought a Gun

2009-06-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

The other day DH Matt and I went to buy my first gun ever. I was bouncing in my seat as we drove to Big 5 (my son wonders why it's called that...Yeah, why?) I felt just the way you do when you're strapping in for a roller coaster ride. My stomach was jumping in excitement. My husband, having bought his own shotgun weeks before, was playing it cool and was very amused at my excitement. Yeah, the week he bought his, and for the next three weeks after, I must have heard the word "shotgun" ten times every day.
We were looking for a "critter rifle", something light enough for a petite woman to handle yet that would let a bear know that I am not someone to mess with. Our property is on the "bear trail", a shortcut to a campground on our side of the lake where they can often raid the tents, garbage, and cars of naive campers. Once we have a house there, the bears will check to see how naive we are.
We were interested in a Mossberg .330 rifle, on sale for under $400. It's not one of the new pieces that are semi-automatic (I was disappointed...Charlie's angels had cool guns, I always kind of pictured my self as a potential 4th angel when I was growing up). I handled the rifle, and immediately had bluing all over myself even though DH and the gun salesman had been handling the same rifle for many minutes before me. This was a real confidence builder. It was the only gun that fit our profile on offer, so we said "yes". I was a bit, as I said before, let down that it wasn't something BAD , but none of my female friends have their own gun, so anything is cool. Yes, that does sound juvenile, but we are talking about guns here. This is not a Ghandi moment.
I had to fill out the forms, because DH had an old address on his driver's license and he'd had to jump through hoops when he bought his gun. I had a bad moment right at the start. It asked for my weight. I told DH that the forms were, indeed, his to fill out. He grinned, and told me to put down the same weight as my driver's license says it is. He knew that he was on firm ground there, as I have a coffee cup that says, "My dream is to actually be the weight that my driver's license says that it is". Okay, that crisis was over. Now the salesman wants to see and copy my drivers license. Understand, I never in all of my life had a driver's license which was less than flattering. I would have loved to have taken any one of those, blown it up, and put it on the wall. This drivers license, though, is as if all of my picture karma caught up with me in one fell picture. Wincing, I dug the loathsome thing out and handed it over. He did a double take, I swear. "It's not me, it's my evil twin", I assured him.
The forms I had to fill out were otherwise hysterically funny. The kind of forms that only a very earnest committee could create. I had to answer many questions "yes" or "no". Have I committed a crime? Do I use illegal drugs? Am I purchasing this gun for illicit reasons? No wonder the bears think we're naive. Then I had to answer four similar questions verbally. I guess that the intent behind these questions is that hardened criminals, faced with these tough questions, will immediately break down and confess to their illicit actions. I, being a soft, blond innocent type, kept my cool (thinking firmly of bears) and passed this verbal test with flying colors. It did help that the salesman looked bored. We paid, and now we wait two weeks.
Then, hoo-boy, I get to sight in my new weapon. Let's hope I look really cool...and the bluing stays where it belongs.

Madness and the Summer Equinox

2009-06-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

The summer equinox seems to bring it's own form of insanity to our town. I've nearly been hit 3 times in the last week as drivers run red lights and take their share of the road up the middle.The total prize goes to the driver of the red truck who made a right turn...from the left lane beside me. I have great reflexes or you wouldn't be reading this. That driver may claim his prize in person...I guarantee he'll find it interesting.
Everyone is seemingly going solar. One of my clients gave me an intriguing link to solar panels. I had been certain that he'd go for one of the over-priced packages from Real Goods, but he pleasantly surprised me with a link to the lowest solar prices that I've seen yet. Pardon me for a minute while I rummage among my bookmarks. Yes, here it is, http://sunelec.com/, with many panels for less than $3 a watt. Now, I know that the manufacturer's El Dorado is to achieve solar panels for $1 a watt. In the real world, however, that dollar is a slippery fellow who keeps changing value. Consumers at this point are extremely happy to see panels under $3/watt. That's our golden goal.
We have rich, loamy garden soil which turns to rich, reddish brown dust, inches of it, in the summer. DH Matt is busy trenching for water and for moving solar generated electricity around the property. I am busily watering and fertilizing my ginormous (I was furious when that word was added to Webster's, I use it as an act of defiance) garden. Which makes us both entirely dusty and muddy
and grime-covered, and disreputably dirty. I stopped for gas this evening on my way home from the property and an afternoon's adventure in gardening. It is amazing the reactions people give to a bit of dirt. Other gardeners smile and wave, recognizing a kindred soul. People without a tan, with manicured nails and clean clothes, are entirely condescending. When clean, I fall into the generic category of "cute"; also the first person people approach to beg money or favors from. I've actually ducked down into my car seat in a large parking lot as a panhandler scanned the lot for me, no doubt thinking, "Now where was that easy mark?" Apparently, dirty, I now resemble someone who ought to be washing their car windows for them. Now I ask you, would people behave that way in winter? Winter people are polite and reasonable. Spring people are optimistic and kind. Fall people are rushed and motivated (we won't dwell on the pre-Christmas grouchiness). But, Summer people are stark, raving, mad.

An Eggplant in June

2009-06-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

I was recently bemoaning the fact that my tomatoes and peppers and eggplants weren't growing due to our unusually cold June. This seems not to matter. We will harvest our first eggplant tomorrow, or the next day. In June. The hot-weather loving plants are unusually stunted this year, but already producing fruits. Perhaps they feel that their survival is threatened so they'd better make offspring while they can.

It's an axiom that everything grows larger here in the Sierra Foothills. Roses which are typically 4' tall for their type will reach for 6' here. Floribundas such as Queen Elizabeth or Tournament of Roses become majestic 12 foot wonders. Cherry tomatoes stretch themselves to 5 feet, regular tomatoes seem to feel that the sky is the limit. Even the children are taller; 14 year old DS looms over both of his short parents. He enjoys that. I swear, I think that he has practiced "looming" in the mirror, accompanied by a condescending little smile. He assures me that he wouldn't waste his time that way; that the condescension comes naturally to teenagers. I get even; the sign on his bedroom door today reads, "Future Waste Disposal site; Model Site Plan Within". Har, har. Suggestions for future signs regarding a messy room are welcome.

I am enjoying this summer. We're not traveling, we have too many projects and the garden constantly needs attention. This, by the way, is amusing. DH Matt's objection to livestock, even chickens, over the years is that they limit travel. And yet, this man has big plans next year to expand the garden. That would make the garden, um, 2.5 acres? Mostly vegetables, mind you, although I'm going to start sliding my roses in. They've been waiting patiently in pots for their new home. I wonder if roses like cabbages as planting companions?

The main reason I'm enjoying this summer is that there is no school. Home schooling a teenage boy through eighth grade and beyond is sheer hard work. As a comparison, try pulling a large fluffy bath towel through a wedding ring. Conceivably it can be done, but there is effort involved. I envy the parents of girls. The girls who are home schooled are organized (or at least can be organized). I have thrown more day planners to my son than I can describe...I've thrown even more at him. His concept of studying for a final exam is 30 minutes. We're working on that one.

I should mention here that California has no "official" home school program. All kids attend a school. It's just that some schools are more off campus. Anyone can file an R-4 as a small school, even with a student population of one. I use the public school system's home school programs for my son's education. Most of his work takes place at home, but he answers to a teacher for his grades. I used to grade him, and teach his English...his current teachers are a lot easier. I also have to say that he has perfect attendence, ;) .

This has worked well for us; our early mornings are all about feeding critters (really lazy cats and a small hyper dog) and watering plants. DS averages ten hours of sleep a night, which is crucial for a teenager. They really do need more sleep. The more he sleeps the more he grows. It's summer, so he's increased his sleep periods to 13 hours. I just bought thus 14 year old kid new shoes: size 12. Must be that Sierra soil. DS wrote a short story recently. In this story (which was awesome, BTW) his protagonist was a fussy person who rose at the unusually early hour of 9 a.m. (?!) This kid is in for some rude awakenings later in life, y'think?

I should mention that DS's life is not a bed of roses. His classes are college level, honors at the lowest; that's my standard. He also has his own web design business, and is taking classes even in the summer to improve his professional skill set. I think he's realized that web designers don't have to get up in the morning.

So, the June score so far is; short eggplants producing...tall DS producing. Mom taking a well earned rest from prodding both to produce. DS Matt...always productive.

Root Cellaring

2009-06-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend saw my garden today, for the first time. We gardened up here last year (now called the "small" garden) but also had a garden at our residence. Obviously one is not enough. DF was very kind about not commenting on the excessiveness of the garden. I walked her around the top part of the property (160 acres, it's a timber farm) and I think she sees that the garden is actually proportionate. Or she sees that we see big spaces so often that 40 tomato plants becomes quite normal.

We were discussing what we would/could do with all of our garden produce. She's mentioned to her husband a desire,a wish, a longing for a root cellar. Or perhaps something built of concrete blocks. Dug into the ground.
He wasn't cottoning much to the idea; it sounded like a lot of work and some expense. I grinned, as I'd already been there with DH Matt with similar results. I took her down a road to show her my "root cellar". She did complain mildly that I was being very mysterious about it. I explained that I simply couldn't tell; seeing was believing. I showed her; two large, slightly rusted metal cases, on wheels, about 8' wide by 8' tall...each weighing 500 pounds. "What are they?", she gasped. I replied, "I have no idea, maybe old transport cases for a meat packing plant, or perhaps they came from a ship or a railroad car. We found them in an old shed at the last property. They're insulated and we'll also stack hay bales around them." This had required a lot of negotiation with DH Matt. I can't imagine why he was reluctant to haul a thousand pounds of metal for a harvest five months away.

We discussed how she could use old refrigerators to do the same thing. Burying them in the ground with the door side up, then finishing with hay bales and a tarp. This had been my original concept with DH Matt. He wasn't enthused about running around the countryside pulling out old fridges, then digging large holes in the ground for them. I'm not certain why he didn't warm to the idea, but I have my cold storage now.

Neither of us have tried this before (root cellaring that is, we're old hands about negotiating with husbands). Independently of each other DF and I each purchased the book, "Root Cellaring: Natural cold storage of fruits and vegetables", by Mike and Nancy Bubel. I'm not certain why the title says "fruits" in the plural. We're not talking strawberries and mangoes here, this refers to apples. DF and I plan to "root cellar" carrots, turnips, parsnips, and cabbage. I have a few more dreams; celery, which hasn't sprouted for me in 3 tries. Cauliflower, which I sincerely dislike but figure it might taste better when homegrown. Also not sprouting. Perhaps my non-sprouting broccoli would root cellar well, if it ever germinates and produces. I have never had trouble starting plants from seed before, but the cole crops are frustrating. Advice and sympathy are welcome.

Food Safety

2009-06-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

We will get to the topic of food safety, please be patient.

I subscribe to (too) many financial newsletters. Partly because I'm compulsive about keeping my finger on the economic pulse, partly because I love the BS the marketing guys throw, and partly (mostly) because I love economist's humor."Rude Awakening" from Agora Financial is an example.
I want to stress that this article is from their public information and not subscription/subscriber based. I hope that if I plug them here they'll allow me to spread their wit and wisdom . That site would be http://www.agorafinancial.com . Check out this hilarious article:

__________________________________________________________________

Joel Bowman, reporting from Taipei, Taiwan...

“That’s what I love about Americans,” declared a Polish businessman, seated to our immediate left. “They have an amazing capacity for optimism, no matter how bad things get.”

In Poland, the young man informed us, people don’t celebrate good news until after the event has been and gone, lest it be snatched from them at the crucial moment.

“You see this all the time,” chorused the Frenchman, seated directly across from us. “Even now, when the U.S. economy is going up in flames, the Americans still believe they can turn it around.”

“Well,” countered the only American at the table, “Call it a ‘Santa Clause’ viewpoint if you like, but maybe that’s what we need right now; a renewal of faith in our market; a resurgence of confidence.”

“Faith in the economy only counts if the numbers back it up,” a Taiwanese businessman added, reading your Australian editor’s mind.

This amusing geopolitical microcosm played out during a schmooze and booze event here in Taipei earlier this week. The hopeful American...the cynical Frenchman...the cautious eastern European...the calculating Asian...it might have been a United Nations gathering, except that this event was about building businesses, not obstructing them, and, as far as we know, no attendee’s ticket price found its way onto a taxpayer tab.

Perhaps the views expressed were a little generalized but, nevertheless, this international bevy of opinion provided us some welcome relief after the previous week’s green-shoots overload. The background to this friendly kerfuffle, of course, was that most major indexes suffered a mini-selloff during the week. On Wall Street the Dow slipped almost 3%, with the S&P 500 not far behind. Both measures sit more or less breakeven for the year.

(For those keeping score at home, the performance of the native measures of our other debate participants, are as follows: France’s CAC is about where it started 2009, following a similar trajectory as their “overly optimistic” American brethren; Warsaw’s WIG index is the second best of the selected bunch, up about 10% YTD after hitting its low a few weeks before the Americans; Taiwan’s Taiex, despite suffering a horrendous month of June after an overbought rally following the Chinese/Taiwan trade agreement, is up over 25% YTD; and finally, the Aussie All Ordinaries is higher by a modest 7% for the year.)

After imbibing a few more glasses of wine and exchanging a few more business cards, members of the micro-UN group found themselves back in approximately the same seating arrangement as earlier in the evening. The debate quickly rekindled.

“So are you saying my opinion is stupid because I choose to believe a recovery is possible?” the American woman resumed, baiting the Taiwanese fellow into battle.

“He didn’t say stupid,” the Pole intervened, saving the blushing Asian man, “he said premature.”

“No he didn’t,” the Frenchman protested, “You said premature...he said factually baseless. I said it was stupid.”

“And what do you think,” asked one of the debaters, addressing the Australian seat.

Sensing that things were heading into emotional waters, we decided to change tack. “Economics is such a stuffy subject,” we suggested. “Who votes we discuss religion instead?”

___________________________________________________________________

Funny, huh? The point is, economists are always that funny, intentionally or not. Bernake cracks
me up, he doesn't even have to open his mouth. The minute he puts on that earnest, salesman's face I start giggling. Geithner, same thing. I think those guys have special training on saying absolute whoppers with a straight face. Or, perhaps that's their special talent, discovered early in life...the ability to deceive and have people swallow, even applaud the deception.
Here's another killer economist quote (I tell you, these guys are funny, almost as amusing as politicians..and when you mix the two it's a clown fest). This piece is also pulled from Agora Financial.

__________________________________________________________________

By Dan Denning, editor of the Australian Daily Reckoning

When a large holder of U.S. dollars declares that the dollar is in “great shape,” should we believe him? My answer is, “Probably not.”

Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists this week that the U.S. dollar is in “good shape.” He added that, “It’s too early to speak of an alternative [to the U.S. dollar].” These remarks came after Chinese and Russian officials have quite publicly suggested that the world’s financial system would benefit from using a currency that wasn’t being run by a bunch of inflationistas in America.

_________________________________________________________________

Isn't that great? Inflationista. This Kudrin is the same guy who recently, and pointedly, authorized the exchange of American treasury Bonds to the IMF in exchange for a basket of global currencies. You have to love the sheer nerve.

Speaking of sheer nerve, I'm starting to see a lot of "non-starter "products being sold to newbie gardeners. And there are a lot of newbie gardeners. I'll get to them in a minute. Kindly. Let's go right now to the Gardener's Supply Company, and their new product, "The Zone". That sound you hear would be me retching in the background. "The Zone" is a very ugly bag that they are selling to wrap around 3" plants to protect them in the winter and raise them up a growing zone. So far so good, although I do wonder how light will penetrate this bag. I muse that it wouldn't matter if the plant in question drops its' leaves for winter dormancy...but those kinds of plants often don't need much if any protecting. I find the product information sadly lacking as to vital information concerning light and water penetration. The part that gags me though, is the price tag...$34.95. Real gardeners are a frugal lot. We go with straw and burlap, thankyouverymuch, agribon frost blankets at $4.00 each if the plant needs light. And please let me know if there's something cheaper. Because the whole, basic idea of gardening is frugality. I've changed clothes and showered twice today...I was unbelievable filthy. From gardening. And a bit sunburned and tired. I strained a back muscle slightly while heaving many 25 lb. bags of gardenthisandthat and spent money at the professional quality garden supply, which is not a hardware store or chi chi online store. I expect to receive at a minimum a five-fold return on my investment in the form of garden produce. Produce which I will can, freeze, dry, or cold storage so that we are still enjoying the benefits of gardening in the winter.

Which finally brings us to our topic, "food safety". I saw an article in "The Washington Post",
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402741.html?hpid=topnew, which concerns the absolute tsunami of seed sales.
The article concludes that the public is buying extra seeds due to the economy and "food safety".
This kind of thing always sets my gears spinning. Ten years ago, did you ever hear this terminology, "food safety"? And what does that relatively new terminology mean to you, personally? The usage in the article seems to be that "food safety" is protection from recent infectious agents discovered in foods such as spinach. Okay, I'll buy that...people were plenty scared when that outbreak concerning spinach happened...and before that strawberries, and peanuts.

"Food safety" means something more to me though, and I think to a lot of the new gardeners out there. It's partly about E. coli outbreaks, partly about the FDA's jones to irradiate our food supply. But, referencing our previous topic of amusing international conversations, amusing politicians, amusing salespeople for investments....we, the people, are ultimately not that confident, and when it comes to our personal safety we are not that amused. "Food Safety" takes on a new meaning when we filter it through the political assurances that our money is good. If our money was good then they wouldn't need to tell us. If they spend a lot of time grinning and shucking on the national and international stage to tell us that our money is good...then it's not. And we'd better look to safety.

Unusually Cold June Weather

2009-06-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

My tomatoes are not growing. They have fruit, but day to day the fruit does not ripen. Peppers and eggplant; the same. I'll grant, this is my first experience trying to garden at a higher altitude, 3500' elevation. But it's now Mid-June and I'm still using the fireplace most evenings. The summer garden does not like the nightly chill. My vegetables are responding to the low average temperature.
.
I was speaking with an elderly local gardener yesterday. She's grown a garden on the same land every year for the last 50 years; her mother grew vegetable gardens on the same parcel for the 50 years previous. This gardener stated that she's seen the seasons shift dramatically in the last decade. "We used to have the last big rain storm in April...then it began coming in May. Now, this year it came in early June. I used to have my garden finish by early October. Now, I still harvest a bit at Thanksgiving."

The local gold "miners" are disgruntled. They are used to being able to dredge for gold in the Yuba River as the roaring river waters decline to a safe margin in June. This year the few who thought to try have lost expensive equipment as the river floods with rainstorms up in the high country. Historically, the Yuba River systems have been safe for recreational swimming after the 4th of July.
This year I can look up to the mountain tops and see the heads of rain-filled thunderclouds. This is not a year like other years.

The people in town are speaking of the weather daily. What used to be a trivial conversational topic is now as much a concern as the economic "weather". The general consensus is that this is uncomfortable, uneasy weather; cool and wet. "Foothill" gardeners, as we are known by, are used to odd weather events; hail storms in June, even a freak late snowstorm several years ago. We sometimes (rarely) receive rain in our dry summer season. When we do it is always a cause for rejoicing because it lessens the danger of fire season. This year feels different. We don't know what the weather will bring. We do have an uneasy sense that it's a bit different, that something is out of pattern. An essential weave that we have depended upon and taken for granted has shifted.

The Victorian Money Pit

2009-06-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed during the Great Sink Negotiation that DH Matt and I are temperamentally prepared to build a house without straining our marriage. This is because we have already been to Hades and back with our own Victorian Money Pit when we first married.

We had moved to the mountains to take care of his aging parents, who both lived here but not together (never divorced, but had been legally separated for over 30 years). They were both in their individual ways completely impossible for anyone to live with, so I could see their point. Our real estate agent was a great guy, but he hadn't a clue that we were completely eclectic people who wanted something different. He could have sold us a Dome home if he'd paid attention, or even a tree house if it was cunningly built. I'm certain, too, that we presented completely conflicting pictures to him. DH Matt would warm to anything 1970's, particularly if it came with hideous orange shag carpeting and flocked wallpaper.I was leaning towards a Victorian hung around with roses and a white picket fence.Poor, poor real estate agent. We ended up gifting him with a case of whiskey, because we found our house ourselves.

We'd been spinning around with the RE guy for 3 months. This woman was fed up...I made a list of our requirements. Something elegantly Victorian, something 70's. Some rug that most people would roll their eyes at but that we would think was cool. White picket fence and roses. On, for DH, at least an acre of land outside of town. And for me, as a bonus, a sauna and a jacuzzi tub (DH laughed). On a tiny little budget because even though we had more money DH wanted to conserve resources. We made our list and then we each signed it. Secretly, I had another line item. DH Matt had sold a business before we moved up here. He was "resting" now, which to me seemed to comprise of spending hours playing video games. So, to this wife, it was quite apparent that he needed a project. Yes, I can feel male readers wincing at those words.

One Sunday morning we were debating mildly once again over if spending yet another day with RE agent would be productive. We eventually scheduled with him for that afternoon. Later, I was idly leafing through the newspaper when an advertisement for an antique auction caught my eye. I knew that we absolutely had to be at that auction. Quickly, I called the RE agent and canceled...and whirled DH Matt out of the house we were renting, to catch the end of the auction. He was mildly protesting the necessity of looking at furniture when we didn't even have a house, but DH has always been a good sport.

The house where the auction was held was a Victorian, a gorgeous big old Estate House in an improbable country location, on 1.3 acres. It was in poor shape, with sagging porches and peeling paint. As I stepped through the back door to register us for the auction, I felt an electric tingle run down my spine. I called over my shoulder to DH, "Matt, we've found our house. This is it". DH Matt looked around at the state of disrepair and shuddered. Silently we explored the house, which would also be up for auction in another 3 weeks. The elegant triple parlors in front were carpeted in a large red and pink and black swirling cabbage rose print. I knew that this was a wildly expensive wool carpet. The back was a 70's add-on. The entire addition was carpeted in shag. The kitchen was a disaster, but large. DH Matt shook his head when he saw the sauna and hot tub in the addition's bathroom. We loved it.

We did buy that house. It needed everything; roofing, foundation, electrical, plumbing. It had never had central heating. We almost entirely remade the addition. We landscaped, built porches, made gardens. Everyone who saw it or who worked on it (DH did almost everything himself) commented to me that the house "had potential". What I didn't see was the shaking of their heads in wonder as they walked away (as in, "I wonder why these people are so crazy). I didn't know that "everyone" also commented to DH Matt, "It's quite a project you have here." We laughed when we eventually compared notes on people's comments. Friends of ours were taking bets over whether our marriage would make it through this house. Truth is, it really was a trial by fire. The house was a bit haunted. And Matt's parents were needing more time and energy in those days, too. But the house also had great energy. And when we were finished with it, it was drop-dead gorgeous. It also used great energy to heat through the winter, which is why we added solar panels. We eventually grew tired of drafty winters, and sold the house for a beautiful price. I still miss that house, in a way. It was so lovely...and it gave us the gift of a strong marriage, hardened in the furnace of bringing order to chaos. Hades indeed.

Revisiting The Sink

2009-06-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

You may recall the stainless steel kitchen sink saga. We are not into the purchasing phase yet of appliances and fixtures. We have remodeled so many houses that now we begin at the budget stage and make choices before they're needed. That way we can swoop in on any great deals and it mitigates the decision fatigue which enters any project like this. So, to recap, we are going to be over-budget on power...DH Matt decided to make cuts in an area less (to him) important; the kitchen. Which, conveniently enough, comes at the end of the project when the budget is always tight.

Once I had move past all of the stages of grief (whining, denial, anger, blame) and into calm acceptance, I sat down and said, "No, this cannot be !" So I sharpened my pencil and began making deals with DH Matt. I found the vent hood for $100 less...that didn't count though, because it was already a trade-off for a style DH and I both loathed. The fridge couldn't go any lower, ditto the range. The washer and dryer, though, I discovered did have a lower model with fewer cycles. Since we tend to use only 3 cycles of any washer, what would it matter if it had 10 cycles instead of 12? And I can live without the luscious red color in laundry appliances that I've been eying for years. I'm actually not certain that I'd still love red in the laundry room in several years. So, $350 saved there. I was on my way.

Next I focused on the sink itself...$40 less on a website which sells only stainless steel sinks. I had to stop and think about that as a business model. Personally I'd be selling at least matching faucets and accessories. That would allow greater customer capture...and I digress. I looked elsewhere for the faucet, and saved $100 there. I was in! Even DH Matt couldn't find a stainless kitchen sink for the remainder. He gracefully conceded the apron stainless steel sink. Yesss!!!

There is an area of the budget which is ominously blank. This is lighting. Frankly, neither DH Matt nor I are emotionally ready to venture into that territory. Because we love lights. We have boxes and boxes of wonderful old chandeliers that we've found over the years. I coo over darling pendant lights with hand blown glass shades the way some women coo in a baby shop over tiny little outfits. We have more unusual table lamps than tables; I'm surrounded by 5 of those lamps right now as I blog. We also live in California, with Title 24 requirements (it must be fluorescent pin, ugly, or not manufactured) regarding lights and lighting. We must do some things to pass code inspection. We cannot do others. This is not fun. We're not feeling the love here.

I suspect that we'll make a last minute run to the big box store, snatch up any fluorescent lighting that's cheap, hang it and smile for the building inspector. And save the receipts. Because, oddly enough, we are making our own power. All of our own power. Running electricity to the property is not an option now or in the future, as there are no power easements. And yet, there is no exception to Title 24 for people who are off-grid. Because some day, so goes the thinking, despite falling prices for off-grid systems and rising prices for power company installation of lines plus the sheer insanity of wishing to pay for power...someday we might be idiots enough to put in electric power connection to the grid. Should that day come, the building inspectors of California shall sleep snugly, secure in the knowledge that they required fluorescent pin fixtures when a CF light bulb would do the same job. Despite already knowing that incandescent light bulbs are being phased out and will some day in our near future be rarely manufactured. This is why California is a leader in this great Nation; as evidenced by its' brilliant business model and the excellent handling of the State budget.

Whoo Hoo! Child Labor

2009-06-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

I actually had child labor in the garden today. Which is completely different than laboring with child, I'll hasten to point out, and infinitely more pleasant. Three days, I tell my kid, three days and no painkiller [allergic] laboring to bring you into this world; ecetera. ecetera. (He always says; "Thanks, Mom)
Today I interrupted his challenging summer program (which, come to think of it looked far more like Xbox than foreign language study) to announce that at 2 pm I would pick him up and that he would travailler in the garden. I've always found that it helps to make firm announcements (as if this were scheduled for days; what, you didn't get the memo?) It also helps to throw in a few foreign words (especially if it was Xbox and not foreign language study.) I used to use fake Latin on him (not PIG Latin, I did study Latin in high school but forgot most of it) until he studied enough real Latin to catch me out on it. Non composis mentis.

And DS was actually quite helpful. And he said that he enjoyed it, which bodes well for the future. Not that people actually mean what they say all of the time. Today I learned that the all-purpose file which DS bought DH Matt last Father's Day was perhaps the all time blooper of presents. Which is puzzling, because the helpful man at the hardware store said that it was his best-selling item and also what HE would be thrilled to receive. DH Matt said that the hardware store man must have been yanking my chain. He did seem so sincere, but it was awfully strange to have a helpful hardware store clerk.

We're already projected to be over budget

2009-06-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

Scary news today. The power system is costing more than we had anticipated. Of course, like most people approaching a large project, our budget is very optimistic. This is why people always go over budget when they build. We haven't broken ground yet and already we see a $35K shortfall. This might be okay (god willing and the creek don't rise). We're carrying paper on the sale of a small parcel of land and their part of the deal is interest free if they pay it off in the first year. That will/would cover our shortfall. The buyer is motivated, can they cover it ? (ticking, chiming song from popular game show)

The news from DH Matt is that I probably won't have the stainless steel farmhouse sink that I crave. He also says that we're over budget on cabinets (?? at 5K for the entire kitchen??) I was obviously asleep at the wheel when this budget was being drawn up. I compromised on the range in the last house and was stuck cooking on a lousy piece of equipment for two long years. I'm a "from scratch" cook, so I spend more time at the stove than I do driving. (Wail) The kitchen is always the last item on a building list and the compromises and budget cuts always happen there. That's okay, really, I can honestly live with this (straightening shoulders). (Wobbly voice, determined chin) I just won't purchase a certain person's goodies like chips and ice cream until the budget shortfall is made up. That's good for $80 savings a month. I'm not heartless. I'll buy him popping corn, and he can use it on whatever range we have. That shredding sound is me tearing out my hair. No problem, really, I have lots of hair. I also have a headache.

Advice For the Four Season Garden

2009-06-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

I've been on the phone daily, calling everyone and anyone who gardens locally. No one I've talked to, including Master Gardeners, has had experience or success (beyond kale and chard ) at spring and fall gardening. I guess that makes sense with our local severe weather swings. We're happy usually to have a good tomato season, and fruit trees are unpredictable from year to year as the spring frosts may kill blooms and buds. It's actually getting kind of embarrassing to ask about a gardener's habits. I'm finding that it's a bit like prying into someone's financial habits. No one is as organized as they'd like you to believe. I'll quickly state here that my garden has a few weeds. I had planned to remedy that this summer, but DS has a summer volunteer project and craftily decided to study a new language in a nice cool house instead of actively pulling weeds.

I had to gently tell a friend that eggplant seeds tossed into the ground in June are a lost cause. I barely get eggplant when I start seeds inside in February. It's just as well, DS could live on eggplant fritters and I RUIN a nice top every time I fry on the stove top. Better to have a short and glorious eggplant season. Yes, I've heard of aprons...I'm a working Mom, everything in my life happens at full speed and on the fly.

My friends have had success with lettuce and peas, which if you've read the earlier posts you know that I have not. Blame the rabbits. And the rain. And that rascally Sun. This year I'm seeding the lettuce in my new greenhouse. I had done that at the last house and it was working beautifully at first. Then the cats discovered warm potting soil in a sunny window with tender greens to munch if they grew bored. I put sharp little bamboo stakes (feeling a little guilty) in the soil to discourage feline lounging and preserve the remaining greens. They considered this a challenge and artfully arranged themselves around the stakes. I added more stakes...now their feline honor and sunny window rights were on the line and the cats declared war. Over the next two weeks they sat, nibbled, trod, or sat upon every square inch of edible green. This year (Morgana's Revenge) they will find themselves on the exterior of the warm, sunny green-filled greenhouse. I will not hear their piteous cries for sunny warmth, will not listen their impassioned pleas as they twine around my legs, will not open the door for their little furry butts.

Exciting news on solar panels

2009-06-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

I had some exciting news today as I was pricing solar panels. We've had solar, mostly off-grid (2 different houses) since at least 2002,and it's always been frustrating that we don't receive the same tax breaks as grid-tied houses. We are, after all, part of a growing trend who save the State of California the cost of several new power plants. Anyway, the news is that even off-grid we can receive a federal solar tax credit of 30% with no cap. That "no cap" part is important. We have industrial batteries from our last set-up (the battery is everything when it involves solar power) so that our total outlay is less than it would be for an entire new solar system. The total cost is still up there, at about twenty thousand (that's crossing my fingers and hoping that DH takes advantage of the newer more powerful panels and over-sizing the system a bit), so a 30% tax credit is $6K. That is so much better than the $2K cap they had before.

I do hope that we have a bit more power. I was reading an article that said that average American power consumption was 1000KW/monthly. Could that figure be correct? It must have been a typo. Who are these people? I really want to meet them, because we've lived on 10KW/day consumption for quite a while. I think that they must have electric heat. Perhaps an electric water heater. We're renting a house right now; our previous house sold and we haven't built the new one yet. This house has an electric water heater and I flinch every time I receive the power bill. I think that I'd flinch anyway, no matter what, after years of not having a monthly electric bill. The other thing about this rental house is that it has can lights simply everywhere. When we moved in they were all incandescent lights. We changed that in a hurry, but we were very puzzled as to why a comparatively new house would use them.

We had CF light bulbs before most people knew they existed (and paid large money for them then, too). We use laptop computers exclusively because they use less power, and forget about a plasma TV, that won't happen off-grid. LCD TV's use a lot less power.The refrigerator is the heaviest draw, because it's 24/7. We looked at propane fridges, long ago, but they were so expensive that it cost less to purchase extra solar panels. We've used Bosch dishwashers for 3 houses now. The reason they're energy efficient is that they have an in-line heater for raising water temperature instead of heating the entire tank. They don't have a dry cycle, the hot dishes convect dry.You would think that hand washing would be the way to go, but it actually is less energy efficient. If you doubt that, come watch my 14 yr old DS leisurely wash pots and pans. Bosch D/W's have a timer so that we can set it to run at the peak energy production. My point to all of this is that although a family can live a life with modern conveniences with 10K per day of power, it is a challenge. Extra power would be the most luxurious addition I can imagine.

With this new house build we've decided to use a propane 40 gallon tank heater instead of the tankless on-demand heater. The issue is that the tankless heater delivers a hefty slug of cold water every time it's turned on. It takes a while to heat up, so water and propane are wasted while waiting for sink or shower water to heat. So although it sounds like a great idea you either need a hybrid system or to go with a tank.

My request for this house is that one of our two toilets is a toto washing toilet. DH Matt is agreed if it's the lower level toilet without the water warmer or nice shot of warm drying air, because they use electricity. he thinks I'm crazy to want it because any user is going to get an unpleasant shot of cold water, followed by a gust of cold air to sear the experience into memory. He may be correct, but he doesn't purchase TP, I do, and I can't think of a more constant waste of money.

Speaking of a waste of money, we are utilizing kill switches in this house to eliminate phantom loads. We'll have a power strip set into a shelf for all of the chargeable batteries and cell phones, etc. We've noticed a distinct tendency on everyone's part to leave the charger plugged in. We learned long ago that it was easier to adapt the physical plant to bad habits than to try to retrain everyone around those habits. The TV and music system will have a kill switch by the bedrooms...all those blinking lights mean that a system is running.

I always hang LED lights in DS's room, he has a tendency to partially wake in the night and trip over things on his way to the bathroom. the LED light strips look cool and use a minuscule amount of power. I'm hoping that in this next house he actually keeps his room clean. My room was neat as a pin when I was a child. DS and DH both scoff at the very notion of his having a clean or even only partially deconstructed environment. I can dream, right? In the mean while I've been stealthily taping signs to his bedroom door on a daily basis. yesterday's was "Warning, deconstruction area". Today's is "Stay Out. Birthing area for Alien Life Forms." I've also used the symbol for nuclear waste and the word below, "hazard". Suggestions for new signs are welcome. Do you think he knows it's me putting them up?

Why it is, Part II

2009-06-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

In our area of the Mountains (perhaps Mountain People everywhere?) people are here because they have issues. DH Matt, for example, is a graduate of Duke U, in only 3 years, who eschews his white-collar roots and prefers to work with his hands. In this area they call men like him Cousin Jacks. It's not a derogatory term. Men who chose to stay in the mountain are, by necessity, Jacks-of-All-Trades. They are uniformly , as I have met them, bright, versatile, and unconventional. It also implies a man who mines gold, which DH does if you call, as they do here, dredging for gold (in water with air lines and wet suits, brrrr) "mining". Most Cousin Jacks don't make good husbands; they drink or gamble or otherwise carry on as if it's still 1849. I'm very fortunate in my DH, he's terrific. Now, gold mining, as I have experienced it as the wife who stays home, involves a lot of hiking, manly stuff like camping, time in the water moving rocks, and only pays for beer and gas. Do you know, fellow female humans, that men DO talk about sex if they're away from civilization? I hear it stays really polite for at least a week (snort). DH has also renovated Victorians,poured concrete foundations, and very successfully bought and sold property. He's still weird, although in a buffed, cute, manly sort of way that's often covered with dirt.

I also have issues. Some people say that DH's main issue is that he's married to me. I'm not weird in an awful way..no drugs, I care for my family, I'm fiscally and socially responsible. But, I see things other people don't see. NO, I don't see dead people....well, only once and that was 30 of them and more like a party. Maybe I'll tell you the story one day. You can ask me about the dragon I met in China, too. Maybe (coy smile) I'll tell you about it. For the record, I've lived in 3 haunted houses (we live in the paranormal capital of the U.S., of course) and other people have seen the ghosts, not me.

No, I see other things, and in their own way they're pretty haunting. For instance, years ago before I met DH I had a sudden STRONG yen to buy renter's insurance...I'd rented for years and never had insurance. The day after the insurance kicked in my place caught fire while I was gone...a faulty antiquated floor heater. The insurance was just enough to see me through while repairs were made. Another funny thing, my insurance company couldn't find me a place to stay, all of their usual contract hotels were booked up. I walked, as if in a dream state, made one phone call, and had the best place they'd ever seen for their insurance rate for the entire 45 days I needed it. Another strange thing...I'd been accumulating cash...never had it before or after. It was just enough to pay the 45 days hotel rental until the insurance company could reimburse me.So, once doesn't make me too weird, just maybe lucky.

We're not survivalists... I don't know how to fire a gun, or even own one yet. All that noise and potential violence does not appeal. I do know that it would be good to learn how to use at least an air rifle; the bears and the mountain lions here can be something. I've already faced down a mountain lion, and I've seen what a bear can do to a place. We had one knock a huge cedar pole down to get into the garden last year because I had a smelly manure type fertilizer. I can't use bone meal or blood meal fertilizer for the same reason. We're considering a concrete bunker for our potential chickens because the bears like to rip out the wall and eat the chickens like popcorn. Yeah, gross blog, but if you minded gross you wouldn't still be reading. We have a campground right below us, and the bears saunter through on their way to raid the campground. Bears love smelly diapers, he/she was disappointed that it was dry manure. That's why we don't dare grow corn here. A bear will travel a hundred miles for corn. People here also don't put those darling lever style handles on their doors. The bears walk right in.

So, confession time. I grow terrific tomatoes. Prize winning roses. Okay for eggplant and peppers, and if you know me at all you'll find a bag of zucchini and green beans on your doorstep every week in summer. But, I have never successfully grown spring or fall/winter crops. Even my fava beans were only a partial success, and anyone can grow those. Lettuce? Has never happened. I slink into the grocery in summer and stealthily purchase lettuce, while everyone else I know grows it by the ton. Peas? Same story. Never, after (mumble, mumble) years of trying. So last night I placed my first order for winter seeds. Who knew that there was even a category for that?

I think that a little background info is necessary here, before I continue. My grandparents on both sides lived on farms. They were terrible farmers. This is understandable when you realize that they were trust fund studs and melting debutantes before the Great Depression. When the dust cleared they had a little land left and no skills. The next generation, my parents, dusted off the farm as soon as they could and found refuge in college. My mother reluctantly raised a few tomato plants in my childhood. I have a few books; Four Season Gardening, Root Cellaring, and Seed Savers. I have a few fuzzy memories of feeding chickens at my grandmother's house...being chased by roosters and geese...and shelling peas with grandma, which she then boiled to mush.

DH Matt and I are also not Back to Earthers. We know a bunch of them, children of the 60's and 70's who came up here to make communes and grow dope and kids. They are a hoot, but not great gardeners either. Some of them can make marijuana do things that my high school friends and I never dreamed of. Not that our little WASP petrie dish had big designs or dreams in any direction.
DH Matt and I eventually found ourselves in the crowded expensive Bay Area. Where we individually dreamed of Getting Out and eventually met each other. So, our collective goal is the pursuit of happiness through meaningful living. Which brings us to beets.

There are certain winter vegetables which I have tried on my family at dinner (purchased vegetables,of course). Certain vegetables, as a consequence, are grounds for divorce. For the record, I believe that beets and brussel sprouts are the only grounds for divorce that my DH has ever stated. Now, I love brussel sprouts. Other women sneak ice cream or chocolate. Me, brussel sprouts because DH and DS don't even want to smell them cooking. But, I Have never successfully grown them. Broccoli once, but then it brought every bad bug in from miles around, served up one little bunch and went to seed.

So, seed order is in. Lots of people giving me advice, and all of it different. Understand, I didn't undertake this venture only on my own; a dear friend and I vowed to do this at the same time, and even swapped seeds. I saw her garden today. I think I'm over-doing things; my garden is three times the size of hers. All those seeds we swapped, I planted and she didn't. I feel over-something,
over compensating for a faded debutante background perhaps? Over-committed? Over-whelmed? I should have known, actually. I've seen perennial gardening at her house in past years but not even a tomato. This year she had a least a dozen tomatoes (you do not want to know my tomato count. let's just say that I'll be freezing and canning still in October) which is a huge leap forward for her. I do feel somehow cheated, though. Dear friend has 3 kids and I expected her to lead (by example) through utilizing those kids as farm labor. Then I could send my own hothouse flower out to harvest beans with a cheerful conscience and countenance. My DS hothouse flower has deviously volunteered to learn Farsi this summer and to take 2 computer courses. Have I been outflanked?

Why It Is

2009-06-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm new at this blogging content. So, when I saw that my blog had been flagged for inappropriate content I thought, "I have less unsavory content in this blog so far than any TV show after 10PM and less than the late news program. Their AI must have the sensitivities of a prissy 9-year-old." No, actually. The AI thinks this is a spam blog because I can not interpret those wavy squiggly letters that they use to detect spam. I used to think that it was me, some defect in my vision or processing that rendered me unable to read those letters. So I asked for help, first from my husband (nope), then from 14 yr old computer savvy DS. Nope. Neither of those two characters could read the squiggles either. Oooh, it may not be me. Being the compulsive, extroverted questioner type, I took this show on the road and took an informal poll of friends and complete strangers. Not one of them regularly deciphered squiggles enough that the AI thought that they were real people. All of them were suspected spammers once or more a month. So if anyone reading this has a tendency to correctly interpret the wavy squiggles the first time they see them, please share your technique.

What it is

2009-06-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

6/7/2009
Project: a paid-for, small footprint sustainable lifestyle. We have the land (oh, and what it took to pay for that land. I have moved every 2 years of my marriage to capture capital gains.) Our goal is to build a small sustainable house and grow some of our own food while practising permaculture and living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle than the usual suburban model. Well, that's my goal. My husband's goal is similar but includes a large shop and several pickup trucks lying around the yard waiting to be projects.

We've already lived in a solar powered house (only solar power) and grown summer crops in an organic garden. Now (deep breath) on a new property we're aiming for a solar- powered house and growing organic food (because who knows where it's been before we saw it). Four season growing. I wince just writing about it because every single day we have no idea what we're doing. It's all a learning curve. A steep curve, the kind I'd loathe to be graded on. We've planted. Rabbits have feasted. Enough said.

This project has been a long time in the making. My husband, Matt, and I (friends call us M&M) have a goal to live a small carbon footprint lifestyle. We are joined in this venture with a somewhat willing (must I eat Beans? :0 ) fourteen year old son. He has a fall back position in his Dad, my ex, a "groovy" conga drum playing yoga instructor who eats (and more importantly to my son, cooks and serves) red meat. I have today suggested to my son-who-would-not-eat-his-dinner that he would be welcome to purchase, feed, and butcher (and store) his own meat; a nice cow (or whatever they call them when they're meat animals) or lamb, and that his father would probably participate in certain aspects (certainly the cooking and eating, although I fear he's on his own when it comes to manure).
He's thinking it over.

I must impress upon you that we are not righteous vegans or vegetarians. I have been both in my chequered past, and I had to be very righteous,and anemic, to stay that path. I may return to that path in the future; it is the most sustainable. So please, no indignant noises from almost fellow vegans/vegetarians...at this point in my life I crave, and carve, roast chicken once a week. People change. It's just that I have always been reluctant to kill what I eat. I can manage a chicken (well, a noisy rooster and a turkey that got into my garden and ate all of my salad greens...it's amazing how much garden produce one turkey can eat, and so quickly) and fish. I have killed a rabbit, and couldn't eat it afterwards. I don't listen to beans when I harvest them . Well, I do, but I always make a bargain to save some seed and give them immortaility in return for their young. A Faustian bargain, but luckily for me beans are not philosophers. My husband cheerfully goes along with this (note; he has never killed or plucked a chicken) as long as he can buy cheese and doesn't have to own or milk cows or goats. I would be up to owning and milking goats, maybe cows, if they just gave milk year-round. But, they have to have young ( and thery don't even do pathenogenesis, it somehow always involves a male goat or frozen bull sperm, at which point I check out). These young have to be managed (somehow?) and at that point for me the entire system breaks down and buying cheese looks like a bargain.

I crave chickens. To raise, for eggs, not to eat...though if you've ever lived with 2 roosters your ideas about eating chickens change. One rooster is charming. Two roosters are competing to see who can crow first, loudest, and most often. Hint; kill the one who spurs you. Now that we've settled that I really am bloodthirsty...chickens are feathered characters who don't mind (or for the most part notice) if you eat their unborn young. And, you can't/don't feel the least bit guilty about it because everything else in nature is also trying to eat the chickens or their unborn young. In fact, by the time you bring a few eggs out, or genteely sacrifice a non-laying chicken, you feel victorious because you GOT THERE FIRST. Before the weasels, mountain lions, bears, rats, and racoons who all had the same game plan. Did I mention we live in a very wild area? Suits us, but every meal is wrestled for with nature red of tooth and claw.

We have moved so often, working our own way up the food chain, that I have not had my chickens in seven years. DH and I were speaking on this subject. Me: I'm buying chicks this next March. They can live in the bathtub until you can build a chicken coop. (I know two women who finally got their chickens by raising them in the bathroom). DH: I see a problem- we don't have a bathtub in the next house. Me: Yes, I've sacrificed the bathtub for space and money (this is a big sacrifice for me, usually I insist that a jacuzzi tub is essential to my mental health and well-being). DH- Yes, so the chicks will be in the only bathroom. Me: Yes, we are agreed, the chicks will be in the only bathroom. DH: You know, this is not the most productive way of expressing your wish for chickens. It is detrimental to the relationship to assert that you will purchase them. Me: Yes, but I notice that when I've been mentioning for seven years that I wanted chickens you never heard me. Today, you heard me. So next March... DH: (sigh) let's see the plan for a chicken coop Me: I have it right here, but don't you think it should be twice as large? DH: (expletive deleted)

Today I wove chicken wire around the bottom of my deer-proofed shade garden. The rabbits ate everything I planted for spring, except leeks,mustard and radishes. They ate peas; many, many peas. They ate broccoli...even artichokes. Who knew rabbits would eat artichokes? DH had successfully fenced for deer, 8 feet high because we have seen them jump 6 feet fencing. I put rubber snakes down, and hung wind chimes. This worked until the next lettuce crop was ready. Then the wabbits struck again. Any of you who have ever done any fencing...any at all, even once in your life, know what fencing is like. Unmitigated HARD work. DH Matt tells me that there is such a thing as wife points (he knows ALL about husband points )and I am earning them now. As I work HARD at fencing the rabbits out of my lettuce, I meditate on wife points. How are they spent? What is the exchange rate? My credit card has World Points, every dollar I spend is worth a penny. This had better be a better exchange rate. I have brief visions of my husband swinging upon a trapeze while performing some athletic sexual feat which I will find utimately satisfying. This reward should be something like that; by the time I finish the fencing I smell so bad (sweat) that the dog refused to ride shotgun. First time he ever volunteered for the back seat. I smell decidedly unfeminine. In the interests of self-esteem I refuse to check out my interesting look in the rear-view mirror.

DH Matt is building our house. The house looks like a barn. Or, a shop. A large shop. DH has hopes that this house will someday be his, exclusively, large shop. My kitchen cabinets must be something that DH will like when one day that are part of his large shop. The cabinet maker, LLoyd, finds this amusing. I do not. DH hopes that when the economy is back we will build a larger house. (This is not a luxury item; we each have self-employment. Including my teenage son. Businesses are just like children and they each need a private room. We won't have that for this house, but picture a family of six in 1700 s.f. and you have a better idea of real spacial needs). :0

But, it will be paid for-no mortgage. Which is the whole point, because I get chills when polticians feel the need to tell us that our economic system is sound. And, we are soon to put a kid through college. This house is bare bones. Concrete floors. I'm asking for a farm house sink for my Christmas present, because there's no room in the budget. I have a greenhouse, DH built that first. ;)

Our house will be built in the mountains of Northern California. We have wildfires and temperature extremes, so we're building with areated autoclaved concrete (say that three times real fast) which means that we've been in the planning department for a long time and our engineering still needs tweaks. Think about it; people building in forests always build with wood. We have wood, 160 acres of TPZ, timber production zone (picture a farm which harvests it's crop once every 20 years). But, wood burns. So the ideal home would be concrete block. But, concrete block is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. And when you're off-grid there is NO slack for air conditioning. Aerated autoclaved concrete is concrete block made with aluminum. Somehow, when heated (that's the autoclave part) the aluminum makes air bubbles in the concrete. That makes the block self-insulating, about R-2 per inch. We're building with 8" block, so that's R-16, perfect for our zone 6-7 climate (not certain of the zone, we're at 3500' elevation, with about 4 feet of snow in winter).

So now you're asking...why is this blog fun? She's throwing numbers at us. It's a bare bones house, we don't even get to oooh and aww over coffered ceilings. Why read this?

Well, here's the thing...can we do this? Could you build a house in California for $125K? That includes power ( solar panels and converter). Septic ( as I said to my husband today as I drove 40 minutes round trip to the nearest bathroom; bears may [and do] s**t in the woods, but Morgana doesn't). Planning fees, school mitigation fees, and all materials. Lunches for DH. It does get hungry out in the woods. And the four season gardening. (Blush) we are newbies at that. Heck, WE don't know if we can do this on budget.