Let's hear it for the boys . . .

Heartfelt warm gratitude goes to spouse David for hauling tons and tons of sod (probably literally) and cousin Mark for tilling all 8 pasture beds tonight after dinner. Yesterday morning I was exhausted with a huge, 3-week job before me, tonight it's done and I'm preparing to plant tomorrow. Not a lot of work for me today, as several Tylenol only made slow movements feasible. Boo hoo, my husband says. But he'll be feeling it tomorrow since he hauled for 6 hours today. I'll show him tomorrow how nice he should have been to me today.



Yay!!

Let's hear it for my mom . . .

Let's give my mom a hand . . .

Am I really that old? You all probably have no reference for that. Sigh. Good old 80s

Anyway, short post today because my fingers are stiffening up. I dreamed all night about how I should be trying to take off the sod in the pasture, not digging holes and then shaking off the dirt. I did a 2ft x 40 ft swatch by hand this morning and had three new blisters and old-people hands. My mom insisted we rent something and offered to foot the bill.

I called Diamond rental and asked about a sod-cutter to take off the grass in the 4 ft "boxes"--then we could use my cousin's rear-tine tiller (big) to till them no problem--the grass is the problem for the tiller. The rental wasn't that much, just $20 an hour, and they only counted two hours even though we were bringing it back tomorrow morning.

Now, all the boxes are grass free (8 of them, ranging from 60 ft to 30 feet). However, though the machines may be faster, they are not easier. I felt like I was taming a 300 lb, very loud bronco all day, followed by a great deal of rolling the very heavy sod up and putting it in the aisles. We worked until there was just no more light, about 9 p.m.

I have never, ever done this much physical labor in one day. I literally can hardly walk.

Boo hoo, I know, It's my own fault. Still, I'm excited that we are so much closer to having it ready to plant than we were last night. Yay! Ow!!


PS: Hey Suz, I've done my share of lurking on sites and you're very welcome to hang out--glad you liked the vid--it's wacky and interesting and really makes you think about things. My grandma was also silent between her stroke and her death, and I really felt she was aware of things. The brain is a fascinating thing.

Is the veil in the Left Brain?

I read this interesting article today about a brain scientist who suffered a stroke and lived to tell about it. There is an 18-minute video of her presenting on her experience I found very fascinating. For a minute toward the end I thought it was getting a little froofy for my taste, but then I realized it wasn't really, and I should cut her some slack for being so, well, right-brained about it all. We live in a very left-brained world. I recommend you take a look.

I had some theological wonderings about the experience and wished I had the focus and time to write her a letter and talk about the idea of the doctrine of the restored gospel--that spiritual mastery over the physical self (and not just extinguishing or denying the physical self) is the most powerful form of existence. Rather than discounting the value of the left-brain, we can make that amazing analytical function serve the the creative, unifying focus of the right brain. So, I don't necessarily agree wholeheartedly with her conclusions, but found the whole discussion highly engaging.

And yes, I can very much see how silencing the left-brain "chatter" would bring nirvana. I find my brain-chatter highly annoying and counter productive.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/when-a-brain-scientist-suffers-a-stroke/

Well, I've been in the dirt a lot. My blisters pop and reblister.

I learned the difference between a weed and a tiny potato plant coming up--the hard way of course. There are minute tops of chard and carrots peeking out. I'm hand-shoveling about 1500 sq. feet of new garden in the pasture, because the tractor guy is too busy and I need to break up the sod before we can till (and I have many tall tomato seedlings ready to go in now). I have three weeks before all the planting needs to be done, and I'm on a tight schedule to get soil shoveled, tilled, raked and ammended and seeds/plants planted.

I think I have the wrong ratios in my compost tumbler, so I'm adding more dirt and grass (plenty getting shoveled up in the pasture!) It is theoretically supposed to be done, but really it is just icky. I also found out the grass a friend lent me that I put in there had been chemically treated. Yuck. That could affect the bacteria doing their composting work. I may just start over. Mom gave me the give of 5 big bags of compost, so that is a comfort.

Chickens are so fun! At night I just go into the yard and clap my hands while yelling--"Go to bed! Go to bed!" and they all run in the shed. They have been getting out and going all over the yard--every hour or two we have had to go put them back in. This is due in part to our temporary (shoddy) fencing in the transition space, which I finally fixed up yesterday. But still, chickens everywhere.

Then I realized in the past three days the little ones had learned to "fly" over the fence (the littler the chicken, the higher they can fly--a word used loosely for a chicken). So, Sophie said she saw it this morning and I quit cursing my poor fence mending and went in there with a pair of kitchen shears and cut off half the wing feathers on the right side of every hen (just as the books said to--doesn't hurt, just like clipping your nails--see pictures), and I'll be darned if I didn't have 100% reduction in loose birds today. Everyone happy and confined. Control is such a great thing (although in general, a sense of control over one's life is such a delusion).

The chickens are also getting super fat, fast, especially the fryers--we've only had them a week and it is very noticable. We had lots of rain and everything's green and pretty. We had a fun Memorial day with the Mocks, the Mosses, and maw/paw-in-law over for a BBQ.

I keep committing to updating daily, even if it is short. But I also commit to restarting the diet each morning. They are going equally well. I'm not good at keeping commitments to myself.

My Motivation

I began touting the virtues of Animal Vegetable Miracle over on Mamamelodrama some time ago, but I want to push it one more time. This book really had a huge impact on my life, the choices I make, and attitudes toward family rearing and family feeding. It also leaves the reader with a great deal of how-to information, even though you thought you were just reading an interesting narrative. I took prodigious notes and am still referring to them. Make it your next read for sure!

Here is a rather generous excerpt I'd like to encourage you to read on Mother Earth News. I also highly recommend subscribing to the Mother Earth updates--they do such a great job on the healthy, family-focused, self-sufficiency thing, and do better than me on the "That's not food" front, too.

Go to the library or Amazon and get it for yourself. I did the library thing and I'm really wishing I had my own copy to refer to, though. You can read the reviews here:

The first thing you are supposed to do before you start to garden a space (unless you're planting in dirt you bought) is to have your soil tested. Soil testing kits can be bought at garden centers. In my typical rush-rush attitude, I blew this off--I didn't have time, I was going to compost and mulch and green-manure, and real-manure anyway, so why?

But I kept reading about how every time you harvest vegetables from a soil, you are also harvesting much of the soil's vitamins, and with the short-sighted chemical fertilizer method that doesn't leave any slow-releasing organic matter in the soil, it just slowly gets worse and worse. In the west garden, that was their primary garden spot for the residents here for years, and although there was a good leaf mulch and some grass tilled in to some of it, the far end just seemed a little dead.

Lots of earthworms mean healthy soil, and there are a lot less worms in that half of the garden. So I tested over there with a $5 kit (it was $12 for a set of 5, should have done that). My soil is very alkaline and okay on potassium and phosphorus but LOW on the big, important nitrogen.

It's hard to act on this when the plants are already in, but I'm going to take measures tomorrow, first to get iron sulfate to bring the Ph lower, then some organic fertilizer, since my compost isn't done yet (although I started a new pen bin this week in addition to the tumbler David built).

If you don't compost, you should! Even if you just a have a little container garden--and if you don't, you should! There are some areas of Canada where 90% of the residents compost. It makes for wonderful gardens and keeps valuable nutrients out of the landfill:

Click here for a quick compost lesson.

Another thing I've learned is that any kind of bean--bush, pole, green, kidney, pinto, whatever--actually gives back more to the soil than it takes, and it gives A LOT of nitrogen. So, I interplanted LOTS of fast-growing green beans today between slow-growing squash hills and one bean plant replaced a dead tomato in the middle of the tomato plants.

The soil in the pasture, which I may or may not have tilled tomorrow, is really good, virgin soil, black with lots of worms, and has had horses pastured there for many years prior, so that's just fertilizing at it's best.

Chicken question time:

Yes, it's going fine, they don't stress me out, but my kids' handling them does.

No, the coop isn't done yet, it's been raining. They live in the shed and come out into the yard by the shed during the day. I got home after dark from the temple last night and David didn't get my message about putting them back in the shed. They weren't eaten by racoons or a skunk, but they'd all put themselves to bed back in the shed in a big, warm pile of chicken on the floor.

Wintering chickens: Chickens keep themselves warm by huddling together, and the coop should be not too big so the heat they give off (a surprising amount, they all feel fevered) can be held in a small space--you need 3-5 sq. ft per chicken in the house (and 18" of perch space per bird). But, in areas with cold winters (read: not LA, but here), we'll need to insulate the coop before first frost with styrofoam or commercial insulation covered in a plywood inside.

Right now the design just has the studs with plywood over the outside, so the insulation will go between the studs with plywood inside. So Jen, yes, in NH, you need to insulate :) In winter, they won't be having yard time (unless there is an unusually warm day and there's no snow on the ground), so they eat inside and just are all "cooped up" in there for 3-4 months. If you put a light on a timer to turn on early, the hens will keep laying strong (laying is governed by day length), otherwise, in the winter they lay a lot less.

A hen has to be 20 weeks old to lay, so we're only at week 6. The roasters, I think I've mentioned, shouldn't live a day over 12 weeks. A good laying hen will lay 230-260 eggs a year in her first season (pullet season doesn't count as the first). But that number goes down quite a bit each year after that, so that's why you keep adding pullets each year and culling the poor layers for stew (apparently you have to stew chickens that weren't killed young because they are tough).

So, there's some homesteading talk for the day. Have a good Memorial Day weekend!

More Planting, a New School and Chicken Day

West garden is done!!

I decided to quit holding out garden box space for subsequent plantings because I'm going to dig some new beds in the other garden with or without the tractor. So this morning I filled it up with winter squash, including pumpkins and acorns, and summer squash, including little round zucchinis and yellow squash, crook and straight neck.

With intensive gardening you can interplant long-maturing plants like squash (one gourd I planted today is 140 days) with quick-growing things, like beans, which are especially good because they add nitrogen to the soil. So I put in furrows inbetween the wide spaces you need for squash hills to put beans which will come out well before the squash takes over the space.

Ben did a test day at Capital Hill Academy downtown today and it went well, we are going to do a two-week test in the fall to see how it goes, but it looks good. Sophie will go there after she does 1st grade in grandma's class at Orchard Elementary. It is a non-profit school that was started by a teacher who taught at Challenger and still teaches Latin at Rowland Hall (swank SLC private schools). She also homeschooled her own children.

It began as her helping out some families who had kids either in public school and not doing well or the parents we're happy, or homeschooling with the same problem, and she just sat down with them and did the hard-core basics with a classical bent (e.g., after phonics, grade school kids start Latin). Its K-8. It's grown to three classrooms (K, 1-3, 4-8), and the director teaches the older kids.

It is small, and serves a very clear niche, but my cousin, who sends her three youngest daughters there (recovering homeschooler) is thrilled with the results, because basically it is set up just like we all intended to homeschool in the first place. It only goes from 8-12, there is no wind-up or wind-down for the day or for the school year. It is intense math, intense reading/phonics/spelling and writing. They do cover science, history and geography but the intent is that the parent will do read-aloud in the afternoon on these subjects as well. There is prayer and the pledge--no messing around, old school. They train the kids treat each other very well, which is very big for me.

I know not to get to excited about anything, but it looks like exactly what I was hoping for, and I have my cousin's testimonial, and we have much in common when it comes to strong educational opinions.

So, yes, the chickens came today. We're still working on the coop ("we" of course is David), so for a week or two they are behind the shed during the day, and in the shed during the night. I'll leave off talking and show you some of the pictures I've been promising, in a very random order.

Here are chickens behind a makeshift chicken wire fence--lilac tree in the background, Ben's chicken toy he built today on the left.

My sweet mom came over tonight, brought dinner, bathed kids, cleaned my kitchen and bathroom, then mopped the floor. It felt so good to be mothered! Love you, mom!

Here are some tomato plants my Aunt brought me and I had to get them in the ground before they withered. They look pathetic, and I hope this becomes a "before" picture. The strange wet marks are from a soaker hose system I'm trying out with stuff I've found around the property.

Chickens! The big ones are fryers, the little ones are layers. They are about 5 weeks old. Fryers are harvested between 8-12 weeks. Layers lay best in their first 3 years, and new pullets (<1yr> hens) should be added in each year and non-producing hens culled.

These birds have been living mainly in a garage for their whole lives, and never have been out of their little kiddie pool. They were in heaven, eating bugs, bugs, bugs as fast as they could get them down (with some greens, too, they eat greens!) They ignored the feed grain I gave them for quite some time to scratch in the dirt and peck at the tasty, gooey bugs.

Blurry closeup of little layers, fat fryer on right.

Better closeup, fat fryer below.

Ben's chicken play toy. Boys sure love some spare time with a hammer, nails and spare wood.

This is why we decided we'd rebuild the coop from scratch. When we took it down to the corner frame, it blew over. Sophie there also.


The dog we share with our neighbors so I can justify not getting one. Roxy. She will live right next to the hens, and will probably be sad (or get lucky and grab one).

Our new neighbors behind the hen house. Our landlords own this landlocked property, and our neighbors pasture the sheep there to keep the thistles down.

Cute Sophie and Lucy on the corral fence.

Loving life on the farm! I have SUCH a farmer tan.

blog or sleep

I'm choosing sleep, so this will be short (for me, anyway).

I had a nice visit with the Halls yesterday, it was so great to have them in town. Lots of good laughs, LOST talk, and catching up on the Pasadena crowd. Her site has all the details, plus a picture of me with no less than four chins, so I guess you can go over there for the far-to-up-close-and-personal details. Miss you guys!

The West garden is 100% done for now, I left a little space for doing subsequent plantings of corn and beans in 2-week intervals for longer harvest.

I'm going to know for sure about the tractor tomorrow. If that's a no-go, I'm going to plow with the tiller a 11 ft x 90 ft strip (2 beds) in the pasture to do some more tomatoes, corn and squash (pumpkins!). It's not the big plan I began with, but it's a good start.

The chickens come this week. I'm all read up. The chicken house is giving us some grief. By "us" I mean David.

We love the house, the kids are in heaven. We had my brothers (ex-step, but we consider them family) and their families over today and it was very nice. We have much to be grateful for.

That said, we are having some major, major stress. I'm going to keep shamelessly soliciting prayers even though I can't offer details. Here are some scriptures I found comforting today:

Alma 36: 3, 27

... for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day. . . And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me.

D&C 101: 16

... for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.

And, the ever-consoling favorite, Alma 37:37:

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Grumpy Farmers

After finally finishing the West garden beds Friday and Saturday, Saturday afternoon was potatoes, potatoes.

Most store potatoes are sprayed to not sprout, but your normal, non-agribusiness mutant potato, you just cut a piece off with 1-3 eyes in it, plant it 4" deep with the eye pointing up, tend, and voila! A potato plant with little clones of your seed potato underground.

Even though you should have a decent piece of potato to feed the eye, my book says many an impoverished farmer has pulled a potato crop from peelings alone. Now there is proof of a God.

We planted the first half too close together before I read further. Oh well, I anticipate a lot of learning the hard way this year. When they pop up, I'll see if I can carefully thin and transplant. Intensive gardening (rather than row gardening) is a little different on spacing.

Saturday found mom and I up late with a camping lamp putting in onions, bush beans and peas. In my typical obsessiveness, I was sure they would certainly die if they had to wait until Monday. Mm, probably not.

Sunday started off ok. I went to Sacrament meeting where David was sustained as a Gospel Doctrine teacher and I was put in as (as David calls it) "co-assistant to the primary pianist page turner," which really is a calling to be one of two pianists (too many people in this ward).

There were more of our weekly tears over how the church is less true here and how we totally love Utah six out of the seven days, but that is more for missing the enthusiasm, unity and love of East Pas more than any poor reflection on here. Well, I guess I don't really need to say that, since no one here reads my blog but Paw-in-law, and he's already told me to "get over it." :) I love my grumpy Paw-in-law, must be that same gene that makes me love my grumpy husband.

Anyway, things went downhill from there when I found out my mother's day present was a stomach flu and there was various unpleasant barf-related activities the remainder of the evening.

But really, my mother's day present was a fabulous, hand-made compost tumbler from my husband. He explained that I should see it as a symbol of our relationship--an unattractive thing filled with garbage and other things no one else would want ("Why would you want to keep that?" They would say). Yet, I am strangely compelled to love it and be excited about it. Oh, David, you don't stink that much.

Today I went to add more chicken litter to the bin (Elaine still has 'em, but is bringing me the poop), and it was actually hot and steamy! The little microscopic critters are doing their business and it should be ready to put on the gardens in two weeks.

Monday I was in bed all day, wrote half a book on the computer while lying down, then decided it was lame and dispensed with it. Baby didn't feel well either, she was whining or laying on me most of the day. This stomach bug has run through or is running through most people we know.

Much more stress was piled on both Monday and Tuesday relating to non-blog-appropriate concerns, which kept me up until 2:30 last night trying to find solutions. Calling all prayers!

Today I still felt queasy, but stumbled through the day, finishing the onions, putting in carrots, and preparing to do beets and chard (mainly for Aunt Anita and Uncle Bob, who bought the seeds) tomorrow. David is still working on the coop and almost finished framing today. Elaine also came over today and we talked logistics and commisserated on the joys and sorrows of living with the Saints in exile (no, this is not Zion, remember? We're in the wilderness here).

The West garden is almost full, but the pasture hasn't been plowed and we are having a hard time finding a tractor to do it. Since I'm sick, I'm not caring as much as I should. Things need planting in the next two weeks and that's the only place they can go, but I feel weird asking strangers in the ward for such a big favor, renting is just too expensive, and the tiller will take a full three, laborious days and risk of loss of toes (versus one hour with a tractor and fewer limbs lost).

I know I owe everyone pictures, David will be out of town this week so at least one night should be free to blow on my own pursuits. This is a very rambling post, but that's what you get for reading my boring journal. How about I end on a more elevating thought?

"We are instructed to 'come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny ourselves] of all ungodliness' (Moroni 10:32), to become 'new creature[s]' in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), to put off 'the natural man' (Mosiah 3:19), and to experience 'a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually' (Mosiah 5:2). Please note that the conversion described in these verses is mighty, not minor--a spiritual rebirth and fundamental change of what we feel and desire, what we think and do, and what we are.

Indeed, the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through our reliance upon 'the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah' (2 Nephi 2:8). As we choose to
follow the Master, we choose to be changed--to be spiritually reborn."

David A. Bednar, "Ye Must Be Born Again," Ensign, May 2007

Swinging heavy right this time

If you know me, you know I love to follow politics and economics. I believe both parties are false, and I believe in some fundamental principles on both sides, even far to the sides of both sides. I went all left on you about the war, and today I'm crazy right. The dollar continued it's slide against the Euro today, which got me to more reading on the dollar. Here's your thought for today:

“The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause, the banking system; a system which if it could do good in any form is yet so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the public safety and prosperity.” - Thomas Jefferson

“The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented.” - Major L.B.Angus

Congressman Patman: “Mr. Eccles, how did you get the money to buy those two billions of government securities?” Eccles: “We created it.” Patman: “Out of what?” Eccles: “Out of the right to issue credit money.” - Testimony of Marriner Eccles, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, before the House Banking and Currency Committee, 1941

“Every effort has been made by the Federal Reserve Board to conceal its powers, but the truth is that the Federal Reserve System has usurped the government. It controls everything in congress and it controls all our foreign relations. It makes and breaks governments at will.” - Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency

“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States.” - United States Senator Barry Goldwater

“Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are the United States government’s institutions. They are not government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign swindlers.” - Congressional Record 12595-12603 June 10, 1932

“This Federal Reserve Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President Wilson signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized. The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill.” - Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. , 1913

“The Federal Reserve is answerable to no one.” - Ronald Reagan

“You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out. If the American people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning.” - Andrew Jackson

“When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money.” - “Putting it Simply”, Boston Federal Reserve Bank

“We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. They are not government institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government, and it has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.” - Senator Louis T. McFadden, Chairman US Banking & Currency Commission

“The principle we must keep in mind is that two people cannot both be the exclusive owner of the same thing at the same time. Yet fractional reserve banking operates on the theory that bank account holder A and borrower B can both own the same money at the same time. This practice is just as fraudulent as selling two buyers the same vacation home and giving them both exclusive title to the home, hoping that they don’t both show up to use it the same weekend. With fractional reserve banking, titles to money (gold) are spuriously created, meaning there are more titles to property than there is actual property. In fact, no new money is created, but the number of titles to existing money is expanded. And it is in this manner that the value of the dollar is diminished. In the absence of a gold standard, the crime is exceeded today to the point of absurdity, as only titles themselves are traded with no tie to any real property whatsoever. We have been swindled.”

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power of money should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.” - Thomas Jefferson

And, my favorite:

“The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution. I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but coin. If the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” - Thomas Jefferson.

So, you know how I feel about that topic. Join me in the information fun at mainstream marketplace.org and the subversive, sometimes-true, sometimes-crazy, always-fun Infowars.

Later this week I'll tell you about the fun school I toured this morning. I also taught a new voice student today--I love teaching voice!!

There's your indoctrination for the day. Hope you'll still come back!!

Things I don't have to worry about anymore, or "hoeing"

1. Whether I'm exercising enough
2. Whether I can afford a gym membership
3. How I don't feel like exercising (because that doesn't matter, the ground needs hoein')
4. How many reps I have to do (I gotta go until it's done, although I do have to worry about whether I'm doing too much on one side--I'm always finding my hoe or rake on the same side no matter how much I consciously switch)
5. Whether my heart rate is getting up (now it's more like whether I'm going to have a stroke or not)
6. Whether I'm going to have time for strength training (I wake up every day like it's day two of just starting to work out, when I've been doing this for weeks--I'm going to have a Ms. Universe back)
7. The soul-dilemma of eschewing physical labor while paying money to go lift heavy things up and down repeatedly or run in place on a machine. (Today I really wished all those folks up at Golds would just head on down here and pay me $15 a month--let's use all that sweat for something useful.)
8. Whether my fake ADD will get me off-track of my exercise plan (now my fake ADD makes me want to half-plow 5 rows instead of completely finishing one).
9. Whether I'm modeling hard work for my children
10. Whether I'll sleep well tonight.

So, there are some worries I don't have anymore.

I could list the ones I do have, but that's a bit of a downer. Aside from feeling like (and being) a total poser trying to farm, it is lots of fun. It rained today, but not so hard I couldn't hoe. Bought seed potatoes and onions and late-planting peas to go in tomorrow and Friday.

Talked to some Utahns today, felt out of place and awkward. I happily socialize within my family and friend circles here as much as I ever socialized with folks before, but there is nothing that puts me back in my shell faster than hanging out with regular folks here. Totally nice people, but not my scene, really, and it's very hard to make conversation. Which, if you know me, is very weird.

Jen, the books I'm reading are Rodale's Guide to Organic Gardening (Encyclopedia style) and a 70s version of Rodale's Guide to Composting, which is extremely comprehensive yet somehow never gets to a concise point. I'll write concise directions for composting here one of these days, and I'll tell you, it doesn't take 350 pages.

To Diane, the house thankfully is about 75 yards from the chicken coop so if they turn out to be super stinky, I can deal. However, I'm using a composting-litter method that basically says to throw more organic (alive) material in the coop if you smell anything (grass clippings, wood shavings, leaves, etc.) You are sure to have a full report.

The book I like for all things country living--chickens, gardening, building, self-sufficiency all around--is this one.



Can't recommend it highly enough, and it's fun to have and read even if you live in a cement cage, and I know, because I've been reading it under such circumstances for years.

Vegas, Armchair Expertise and the Coop

We had a super-fun weekend with parties every day. My Ma-in-law graduated with her M.Ed on Friday and we went to commencement and had lunch before heading back to our place for an open house, which went well even though I put very little work into it. It was all upstairs, which is easy to clean, because we have no furniture to fill it (but plenty of folding chairs!).

We got up on Saturday and drove to Vegas, checked into the condo, swam, and went to buffet that night sans kids. On Sunday we went to the blessing then hung out for 7 hours at my bro/sis-in-law's house eating and playing Guitar Hero, DDR, and more eating. Monday everyone else swam again while I drove 25 minutes to go to Trader Joes, where I almost cried at the entrance with nostalgiac sorrow-glee before spending way too much on favorite snack foods for the drive home.

All through the drive and at every spare moment I was reading, reading. I finished a fat book on compost followed by a fat book on organic vegetable/fruit gardening. I drew out garden plans, read a chapter, erased and redrew per the information I learned, and continued this process repeatedly. I am officially an untested expert on organic gardening, as I have never really seriously gardenened on anything but a small scale. A quick synopsis: plant in boxes (not rows), mulch everything and compost for heaven's sake.

I have about 4-8 hours a day of work ahead of me for the next several months, with a slight lull perhaps in late June. After I finish more plant-specific study I will start into canning and preserving books.

But before that, the chickens. I've belabored the chickens for 24 hours now, trying to decide whether I should refurb the 70-year-old coop or rebuild. Then trying to figure out how to meld coop plans with the existing structure, and how to save $$$. My deadline was 5pm. today, when Elaine was coming to get me so we could buy all the stuff at Lowe's. I literally sat, pencil-chewing, reviewing plans, chicken books and writing notes all day and was ready on time.

The Lowe's trip took 2.5 hours (including our drop to Del Taco for Taco Tuesday dinner for the kids), meanwhile David was left home with our 9 children, who became hungry and quarrelsome just minutes after we left. He loved that. He was rewarded with a night out with Ned.

So, there's my catch-up. I'm back upstairs to get back to my gardening study.