Author: Ryan Kraeger

"I only remember the very first part of the book where he described the man of steel and velvet and I remember the deep chord that phrase struck. I remember the image I had of a hand of living steel wearing a velvet glove, a hand that could crush or caress, strike a killing blow or wipe away tears, lift mountains or cradle an infant. The rest of the book was an afterthought." From an essay about Aubrey Andelin's "Man of Steel and Velvet".
Our Community, Our Pasture

Stretching the southeast fence

Ryan Kraeger

The final corner of the field is the southeast fence. OUr friend Nicholas came over yesterday and helped stretch this, and thanks to his help we were able to make some great progress. Unfortunately, we had some setbacks and some upset tummies, so we didn't get it quite finished. As always, the first step was… Continue reading Stretching the southeast fence

Our Garden, Our Worms

Worm castings, and soil temperature

Ryan Kraeger

Yesterday afternoon the soil temperature was about 60°. Then it rained all night long. Barely over 50. Nothing cools the soil down like 12 hours of cold rain. Nevertheless, still warm enough for some cool season crops like radishes, spinach, lettuce. We have some seeds in the ground so we decided to feed them some…… Continue reading Worm castings, and soil temperature

Our Pasture

Building Fence Anchors.

Ryan Kraeger

There are two things you must have in place before you can intensively rotate animals on pasture: Water Control With the plumbing finished, the yard hydrants connected and operating, and the trench filled in, the pasture set up moves into what we hope will be the final stage before we can put animals onto it:… Continue reading Building Fence Anchors.