Getting Mulch Ready to Absorb all that Winter Moisture

I have my swale in place and two huge mountains of mulch blocking my driveway.

Hubby getting a little tart about the fact that he can't drive in and out anymore. What to do? Get pathways that I was planning on mowing turned into sponges. Around the outside of the garden and inside the swale I have a wide path for bringing in wheelbarrows with straw or manure.

I had planned on just mowing it down but I see that due to the poor condition of the pasture (the reason we are turning it into pig pasture and then garden) I think that mulching is a better answer. I have very compacted soil there and I see that the first weed trying to poke through is canadian thistle. So what will mulch do for this space that mowing can't? First, it will push up against the swale and make it hard (not impossible) for weeds to get a start in spring. Second, it will absorb the weight of my steps instead of the ground itself so that the compaction will stop. Third, it will give a haven for insects, especially worms from the hot sun so that they can address compaction in the soil as well. Fourth, the mulch will absorb water during the water and to some degree share that moisture with the surrounding garden and swale rather than sucking water away from those areas.

I don't think it will look as nice or be as easy to navigate with a wheelbarrow as mowed, bare grass would be but in the past I have been happier with mulched pathways because the surrounding area seemed to come together as a whole habitat rather than having spotty and very different environments. As of yet I have not found a place that did not benefit from mulch, and in the spring with all of the snowmelt anywhere that I don't have mulch turns into a mud pit so for a garden I think it is really a great solution even if it began as a mandate from my husband!

Idaho Pastured Pigs: Is that a Breed?

So I was reading Hobby Farms magazine two days ago and came across an ad for 'Idaho Pastured Pigs'. At first I just assumed it was a farm saying that they had pastured pigs for sale. On calling the owner, Shelly, she advised me that it is an actual breed that they have developed over the years to be grazing pigs that do well in our climate. The breed is a mix of Duroc, Berkshire, and Kunekune. We are raising pigs with two other friends (GroverClanAcres on Youtube is one of them) but our pig choked on a rock and died after we had her for only 2 weeks.

Our first year raising pigs we lost a pig to choking on a peach pig or rock so this is the second time this has happened. Due to this series of unfortunate events we will now always put lots of 'play food' in with our pigs. Play food is anything that takes them a long time to eat and they can move it around a lot. Pumpkins, whole cabbages, old bread, hay, and squash.
We will be picking our new pig up in two weeks when it has had a chance to recover from being weaned as well as acclimating to the change in weather (it is now well below freezing most nights). With colder temperatures I haul hot food and boiling water three times a day so that their calories go to making them bigger rather than keeping them warm. At least once a week  I will ad a bale of straw to their calf hutch to burrow in at night and I will add as much variety to their diet as possible so that if they every feel snacky there is always some thing to entice them. Our local farmer has fields of pumpkins that he sells at $25 a pickup load once Halloween is over so we can get those for cheap, let them freeze solid, and then feed them to the pigs all winter.

Why do I like to raise winter pigs you might ask? Because in the winter I don't have as much time out of doors and it gives me an excuse to go play in the snow. Also, in winter pigs hunker down and don't try to get out of fences like they do in the spring and summer...it is just to cold. So all they do is eat and sleep during the winter so I just get to feed them and listen to their cute little noises while we wait for them to be big enough to go in the deep-freeze.

This batch we are hoping to have finished off by the end of December. If they don't quite make it we will see how much longer it takes and if I am willing to haul boiling water for 4 pigs in -25F weather. If you like the idea of keeping pigs, and particularly of keeping pastured pigs go look up Sugar Mountain Faarm. They have amazing information and only feed their pigs grazing in the spring and summer, and only feed them hay in the winter. Their pigs are amazing and continue to have litters of piglets all winter long in -45F temperatures without any problems because he deep-litter beds them. I love their site! http://sugarmtnfarm.com/

How to Develop a Barter System

Working on the Farm by Riana van Staden

So much of the time a farm is run by one person who wears many hats and is actually supported financially by another person that works in a 'real job'. This conundrum can be very frustrating and diminish the mental value that we put on farm work. To alleviate some of this fiscal inequality of labor what needs to be developed is a system of barter where trading is done with commodity goods rather than cash or credit. How to get that going? Make friends. Make friends and then be generous with the excess that you have on your farm. Now be cautious here, don't give anything away that cost you money or that your family currently needs. Only give from your excess.

When you have too much zucchini and you know a friend has rabbits ask if she could use it. If she asks what you want for it ask for rabbit manure. If your wood stack is higher than is safe but you have more to stack offer it to a neighbor who has little money but a wood stove. What can he give you for it? Go help us with collecting it next time to save your husband's back. Have too many herb seedlings in your trays and your garden is already full? Call a gardening friend who has a tree nursery and see if she needs more lavendar because you need peach trees.  The best part? They remember you and start to call you when they have things they don't need so that even if you don't have something to trade they will give it to you for cheaper to keep themselves on the happy 'you owe me' side of the deal.

1. Always have a gift in hand when you go to a friends' house or to introduce yourself to a new neighbor, it starts the ball rolling.

2. Listen to people with great skill sets and ask them to teach you what they do...you get great information but they will also bend over backwards to provide you with raw materials to do what they do because you were polite and took an interest.

3. Learn from older experts how to do what you are interested in. A lot of time you have to just shut up and play dumb, but do it and you will glean a lot of information that you couldn't fin anywhere else.

4. Take everything offered if you can. Most of what I barter I don't need at the time. The only reason I wouldn't take things would be if I couldn't imagine any way to use it myself or it ran counter to my values.

5. If you find someone that takes but never reciprocates ANYTHING then only give them what feels good to give in your heart. Refrain from giving them things that cost you a lot in time or effort. The way to tell that they don't care is if you see what you gave them being wasted consistently or they say they have something to trade but it doesn't surface over multiple situations. Stay friends but don't waste your time and work on someone who can't see the labor of love that it really represented.

My bartering system has developed to the point that I have to be careful quoting prices to friends from people in my bartering system who sell things. Usually my price is at least 1/4 less than what is offered to others because we already have a system built on always giving the other person whatever they need at the best price we can....because we value their product, not just because we have history. It takes a lot of time to develop but is so worth it in being able to pay the bills on your farm and also to make your farm job feel real, not like it is merely propped up by the one who goes to work in town every morning.

Pinterest Gives me Blogging Inspiration

Sometimes when I feel the writing 'duhs' it helps to go on pinterest and look at all of the pretties to remind me what I am interested in and want to try for the day. The first thing that comes to mind is sewing. There are boxes and boxes of old sheets and donated fabric in our house. Some in the basement, some in my bedroom, some in pretty baskets in the living room. So many fun projects: pajamas, duvet covers, curtains, slip-covers, the possibilities are endless! Unfortunately at this point I need to dream and keep my hands off of the sewing machine and scissors. Until I know we have enough hay, bedding, pumpkins, and potatoes my days are too full of dirty, messy stuff to be able to sit down and make a mess out of my kitchen table with fabric scraps.

Isn't it fun to be well rested enough and yet not bored that the changing of the seasons brings a whole new list of fun and important projects with it? I watched a video on drop-spindling yesterday and my hands started to twitch a little bit at the thought of spinning some of Jumper's wool. Once winter really gets here my general trend is to spend my morning doing yoga so that I feel like I had some good movement in my day. Then the rest of the day is free to spend spinning, sewing, and housework. Without the yoga I don't really notice when I am hunching over a sewing machine with bad posture or cramping my hands from knitting for too long. Those positions can take a toll on us and since I can't do exercise in any way that really burns calories (have to keep calories high for my brain to function) yoga really fits the bill for me.

We Are Visiting LDSPrepper Today!

A new walipini in the area! He contacted me a few days ago to see if I wanted to come see his take on the underground greenhouse! Can you see by all the exclamation points how excited I am?! I will be posting a video of what he has done and the interview he has said he would do for me. Wish me luck, I will be doing a longer post later after we have done the interview!

Mold in My Lungs is a Good Thing!

Yesterday after going into Ucon for straw bales I came home and found that my pallets were too full of moldy hay for me to be able to unload anything. So for the rest of the day I covered the swale with moldy straw and found that in the process all of the good 'being outdoors' feelings crept up and I found myself scouting out moldy straw and bark mulch so that I could finish the project. There were some bales that looked good and green but it feels wrong to me feeding animals anything that sends up a big cloud of black or white mold when you open it. So even those bales that weren't as bad I am putting on the swale.

Now what I want to point out is that moldy mulch is the BEST mulch. Why? The mold and bacteria fuse the bale together. That hay forms a weed free barrier similar to a piece of wood or cardboard, it is fused and ready to go. Along with that advantage though is my favorite part: it is partially digested already. It is like the yogurt of mulch. There are happy bacteria and other mold that will feel right at home in your soil and needs very little encouragement from you to start improving your soil. The moldy hay smells sweet and like food, even if it isn't good food for animals anything. I split it in the smallest intact sheets and place it over whatever is bare soil.

Why cover all bare soil? Not even so much to keep weeds out...it is to prevent wind and sun from SUCKING the water out of my swale. The sides that were covered just with evergreen boughs had moist soil under the branches. The sides with moldy straw have moisture visible creeping out into the bare sides, actually trying to share it's water with the bare spots! So I can't wait any longer to get those sides covered, even without the high heat of summer the drying effect of this Fall wind/breeze is raising it's ugly head. So I am out hunting up any moldy straw or hay on our property that has been overlooked. The other alternative that I am considering is taking more dirty bedding from the goats for the inner edge of the swale. Wasting all of that good nutrition on the outside swale wall makes no sense so I may have to pretend the moldy hay is like legos and shift things a big so that everything is covered with more nutritional mulch on the inside and the inert mulch on the outside.

Why not use wood mulch to insulate the  the outer wall of the swale? Those small pieces of wood do not SEAL the edge from the wind. It would shade from the sun but the wind will just pierce and run around inside those wood chips as long as they were at a depth that would just cover the edge and not spill over into the walkway. If I could stack it a foot deep it would be okay, but still not as sealing as a solid slab of moldy hay.

For anyone who has sensitive lungs or if you are working in enclose space it is important to evaluate the risk of making yourself sick with moldy material. I have to either wear a mask or wait to work with it until I have a breeze to move the mold away from me while applying the mulch. It isn't good for lungs, just your garden!

Staying Home from Church or School?

When it comes to the best places to pick up diseases I believe church is the MOST PERNICIOUS of them all! Think about it: shake hands; hugs and kisses; kids with drippy noses; sharing the Last Supper (bread and water or wine); sharing bathrooms; the guilt that pushes teachers to come even if they don't feel well. In grocery stores you only touch your food, your cart, and your money. At work you have your own workspace but nobody is going to be bringing really sick kids in to spread slime on all the surfaces.

The SECOND best place to claim disease as your own is a school (public or private). Day care fits in this category. When I worked in the elementary schools in my home town I couldn't stay well to save my life. Children are sent to school sick because Mom and Dad can't afford not to go to work and can't have the child home alone. So kids wipe their noses on their hands and then touch desks, pencils, paper, friends, doorknobs, etc. They can't help doing that because they are kids.  There are always going to be parents who don't have the option to keep their kids home from school. There are always going to be parents who don't care if their kids are contagious as long as they are not actually needing to lay down and will take them to school with sniffle or out shopping.

So whether the disease is Ebola, the flu, a cold, pink-eye or whatever; parents it is up to you to use good judgment about what social functions or establishments to participate in or visit when you are sicks! It is up to you to analyze and decide what situations you are comfortable with as far as exposure to any nasty bug! Don't wait for the CDC or some quack doctor to tell you what is safe and responsible. You are your own agent, act like it. Don't let guilt or social pressure swerve you away from your control over your own life and family.

To end, please don't be that parent to disregards other families and children by taking your own sick child (or yourself) out in public. Have enough groceries and other short or longterm goods stored in your home that if you have a cold or pinkeye you can be responsible and stay home!!!

Cutting Back and Letting Go

This month I am having to sell things to make room in our sheds. One of those things is an electric generator. We already have non-electric appliances for everything that is life supporting in our home so it just doesn't make sense to hold onto such a large and unnecessary tool. There is just something frustrating about looking around the property and seeing so many things that we have stored for years and never used.

 Maybe it has more to do with the mountain of laundry in my bedroom than anything. When something as basic as laundry takes over your life it make everything else feel unsustainable, right? With the kids changing their physical capacities to do things so quickly it seems to take all of my time to find new, better ways to channel their energy and keep them out of mischief. So what is on my list for better sanity? I am moving all of the children's books into the living room so that I don't find piles of books on my bedroom floor anymore. The laundry room is going to be revamped so that I can sort into baskets rather than trying to sort on my personal bed, where it unavoidably gets left and then dumped on the floor when it is time for bed. Also, I am reorganizing the basement guest/living room so that I have a floor again even if it mean that hobo spiders can get on the futon.

So mostly I am again trying to organize our house so that small children and tired adults can keep up with the business of living and not get Hepatitis C from our surroundings!!!

No Time But So Many Things to Do!

What is on my list you ask? Wellllll, you asked for it. Before winter freezes the ground I need to put up irrigation hoses; winterize water pump; fetch two tons of straw for mulch and animal bedding; butcher chickens and ducks; move friends pigs to my place; clean out sheds so vehicles will fit; switch clothes for colder weather; fetch two pickup trucks full of pumpkins and store; get goats bred; get another ton of hay; get more potatoes; and clean out the basement I want to turn into a walipini.

The walipini needs to be done before cold weather hits or I won't be able to get the dirt out of the hole with a shovel. It is the most important thing that I want to do right now--but I keep putting it off. Things I need to do: clear out rotting wood poles and put at base of trees (first pull nails); clear out garbage left from previous owner; clear out cobblestones and dirt that contractor dumped in basement when cleaning up property; stack straw as backing; pound posts as anchors; and buy and build plastic greenhouse wall. That doesn't seem like too much to do in four weeks does it? If only there weren't quite so many lists waiting for me just as long....

Give a Goat a Pumpkin

The last few weeks the goats have given right around a gallon while being milked only once a day. Now with them in the barn it has been a little sporadic since I believe they are getting bored with their feed. To fix this I have added pumpkins and a little bit of whole wheat to their trough in the morning. The pumpkin is good for them but also allows them something to chew on and keep them from being bored. Honestly when I look at the pictures of Sepp Holzer's property with all the space and lush vegetation it make me wonder if I will ever get there--that mythical place where the wildlife, domestic animals, bugs, and people are healthy. The more I learn about this stuff the more I wonder if it is really possible without lots of money, water, and slaves to boot. So much work! So much to learn!

I earned my degree in Environmental Science, why don't I go save the world by working in that field, maybe for the government? Because I have, I did, it won't work. All of that red tape, all of that money, all of those different chains of command to go through before you do anything. It would be like putting monkeys in a room with a sewing machine and asking for a wedding dress. All you get is a bunch of monkeys throwing poop at each other and a broken sewing machine. In my own little corner of the world I can try ANYTHING at any time and watch to see if it works. If it did work I mark it in my journal and go to the next experiment. It can be as cheap or expensive as I want and the sky is the limit. How much faster is that than what the Forest Service, and DOA, and the EPA are doing right now? I think this is how we will find solutions, not from the big guys.

Leaving the Farm and Poultry Thoughts

This morning we are taking a break from the farm to go babysit for my sister while she is at a wedding. Honestly it will be nice to have an excuse to get away even if it won't be quiet and relaxing. When all the cousins get together their favorite thing to do is tattle on each other. I think they will grow out of it in a few years but I don't remember ever fighting that much with my cousins.

In the last few days I have gone back and forth between how many poultry to keep and how many to butcher. Some of our meals have been from homegrown and some from the store and the huge difference in texture and flavor makes it hard for me to say we won't raise any for meat next year. However, I also see that when I don't have so many animals I am more patient and loving with my kids. When Mr. Dirt and his friend Mr. G have their deer for the season it will be time to butcher the last of the birds and I am really looking forward to the help from their family this time around. In return we will send them home with some pretty, delicious birds as well.