They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
With the summer drought well under way, the grass has pretty much gone dormant for the season. But you know what hasn't? The weeds! (Although borage is a bit too useful and pretty of a plant to be called a weed in an unqualified sense). A quick trip into the food forest area to pull… Continue reading Thank God for Weeds?
The pasture looked like it was pretty much done for the summer. Then, out of nowhere, we got a rain storm on the 16th, and got a couple of tenths of an inch of rain. This may have given the pasture a new lease on life. We'll see if this bulks up the north pasture… Continue reading Separating the Young Stock
We are getting to the end of the spring flush. This means that the weather is getting hotter and drier, so the grass growth slows down. If we irrigated the pasture we could probably keep it growing longer, but irrigation of two acres of pasture would be very expensive, so we do not do that.… Continue reading Fixing Fence
We have been noticing a problem in the pasture with the onset of hot weather. It is the presence of flies. Deer flies, specifically, but there are many varieties of fly out there. They love poop, especially cow poop. They also like landing on warm, sweaty surfaces, and in the summer, there is no warmer… Continue reading Pasture Ducks
Last Saturday, Adam texted this picture during morning chores. (It was a clinic day, so I wasn't there for chores). No, that's not a picture of one of the older lambs. This is a new lamb! Matilda had a baby on April 20! No, no one was tracking she was pregnant at all, though I… Continue reading Well that was a surprise!
Saturday was one of the biggest days of work of the year. Thanks to an old friend coming to help, we finally stretched the center fence to divide the south pasture in half. It started about 5 in the morning, actually. All the fence anchors we have built on the farm, this is the very… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: Stretching the Fence
One of the most common suggestions we get from people who see our homestead is "You should rent a... [insert piece of heavy equipment here.]" Whether it is a backhoe, or a skid steer, or whatever, there is some truth in it. A lot of the projects we have done on the farm could have… Continue reading Because it is relaxing. Sometimes…
Meishans are a very interesting species of pig. We haven't completely figured out their behavior yet. Most of the time you can run them through the pasture and they may root a little here and there, but overall they will leave it alone. At most you'll have a spot or two where you have to… Continue reading Pasture Rehab
Lots of people (myself included) watch homesteaders on Youtube, and that show about early Victorian farms, and read John Seymour's "Self-Sufficient Life" and get all fired up about living the more simple life. Some even buy or rent or borrow some land and make a start at homesteading. But there is a dark side of… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: First two Fence Anchors
Here in the good ol' Pacific Northwest, getting ready for winter is more about getting things ready for rain than it is prepping for snow or ice. This means cleaning out the gutters (before and after the leaves fall). We had gutter guards, but found that we grew too much moss under them and the… Continue reading Winter is Coming
Little Farm in the Big City 