Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[milkmansdaughter]

Yum! I love fresh trout!

One of my favorite quiches is one I got from a friend I used to work with. It has zucchini in it. I'll post the recipe under real men eat veggies...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh yum - nothing better than fresh fish! Especially if you didn't have to pay for it - BONUS!

 

[Britesea]

Wow, I haven't written in my journal for quite a while!
I ended up buying 3 Americauna chicks during the Easter Sale at Coastal-- buy 2, get one free. They are now at that straggly-looking stage - not downy, but not fully feathered either. It's been too cold to put them out in Fort Clucksop ( the smaller of 2 coops- intended as a nursery for broodys) so I have them in a tub inside the bathtub. Thank goodness for the YMCA- we go there for Tai Chi 3 times a week, and we've been showering there so we don't have to disassemble everything every time we want a shower. Some of my seeds have sprouted beautifully and are going like gangbusters in the greenhouse, but the tomatoes have stubbornly refused to do anything at all. I'll probably have to buy some starts from someone. Bummer.

We had a sunny day today, so we went out and worked on the garden. I never finished cleaning up last fall, so we got that done today. Checked on the asparagus- it's all coming up nicely! This will be the first year we get a decent cutting from them so I'm eagerly awaiting that!

The chickens are giving us about a dozen eggs a day right now so I'm up to my armpits. I've started freezing them in ice cube trays and then popping them out and storing in zip locks in the freezer until I have enough to do a load in the freeze-dryer. I only have 2 trays, which hold about 18 eggs total, so it's gonna be a multi-day project. Still, I will be glad to have those powdered eggs this winter for baking, custards, quiches, etc when the chickens are grumbling in their coop.

We finally have enough money saved up to put a perimeter fence around the property, to replace the ancient field fencing. I decided to go with 6-foot chain-link, with a rolling gate at the driveway and 2 smaller "man-gates" opening to the 2 empty lots on either side of us. I wish we owned those lots, but one is owned by the power company, and the other has an absentee owner who is not interested in selling (yet- maybe someday). In the meantime, those gates will allow us to have quick access if we need it. We paid the down payment and now we are clearing brush away from the fence line; most of the back is overgrown with wild roses. We found a large roll of perfectly good field fence in the middle of it- score!

I've been training with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) the last month or so, it's kind of fun. At the end of this month they will hold a simulation disaster drill which should be interesting. No idea what type of disaster it will be yet- active shooter? multi-car crash? haz-mat spill? earthquake? And I don't know yet whether I will be one of the "victims" or one of the responders.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yay on getting three new chicks! Good score on finding a free roll of fencing. CERT training sounds interesting. Please let us know how the disaster drill goes.

 

[sumi]

X2!

 

[Mini Horses]

Free fence is ALWAYS a score -- spoken by one who hs a LOT of fence & animals to challenge it.

Hey, possibly you could "use" some of the lots adjacent. Ask & you may be surprised. While you may not want to plant fruit trees for them...... you might be allowed to garden some there. In my area the power companies often allow some use for grazing. Hey, less area for them to cut down. I've also seen some huge gardens, leaving the adjacent owners smaller yard in tact.

EGGS!! Yeah, I'm swimming in them. Boiled couple dozen to feed back today. I'm selling about 10 dz a week, pays for their feed. Family uses them & 5 hens brooding nests. Replacement hens (should start laying before winter, so eggs from them all winter) and some roos for freezer. Plan to can some for dog/cat food, also....broth & scraps from carcass....so should do "ok".
Have about 50+ eggs working under them.

Do you still have ducks? I remember son has issues with chicken or duck eggs, not sure which.

Good to hear from you. Don't stay away so long.

 

[Britesea]

Thanks all. @Mini Horses my son is allergic to duck eggs, so we got rid of the ducks; I miss their silliness though.

DH has thought about using those adjacent areas-- particularly if SHTF. That's one of the reasons for the man-gates. I've actually thought about seeing if I could lease the land from the power company and maybe putting some dwarf fruit trees or maybe some grape vines; I think I could continue to harvest from them even after the lease expired.

Feeling some pain tonight; I started doing some Aqua-Jogging along with the Tai Chi, and my body is complaining about the increased excercise. Of course, I also started working the garden since we finally have sunny weather. The daffodils are blooming all over the county and the tulips are budding out.

Tomorrow is another Cert Training day- I think this one will be mainly learning Medical Triage, which is a lot more heartbreaking during a large scale disaster as there is no time to do things like CPR... if you can't get them breathing in the first couple of moments, you have to just put a black ribbon on them and move on to the next person. I pray I never have to do that to a child.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I did lots of CERT training back in the day, and always enjoyed it. Your post has me thinking of doing it again. I know my 18 yo would LOVE it. Who are you going through for your training? Does the Red Cross or the Y offer those classes?

I was just in Oregon (and Washington) the last 10 days, but didn't get down your way. But yes, everything was starting to bloom. We spent a lot of time near Portland and along the coast. Then I drove along the Columbia River and the Dalles area on my way to Idaho following 84E. There was still a lot of evidence from last year's forest fires. That old historic trail to get to Multnomah Falls was still closed. Sad, sad, sad! A few years ago I drove through the state on 26 from Vale to Portland and then Portland to the coast. Lots of wildfires that year too. I sure hope you have fewer fires this year!

 

[Britesea]

I'm praying for fewer fires this year also. Tonight, as I was leaving the Lion's meeting, I saw lightning over the mountains to the north, but we don't have any rain here yet.

Our CERT training is through FEMA, although we have had at least one session working with the Red Cross. This Saturday, we are doing a disaster simulation, which sounds really fun.

I finally found all the parts for the automatic window louvers for the greenhouse. They got misplaced when winter overtook us and we had to stop working on the greenhouse. This and the floor vents are the only things left to complete. I spent some time putting the window assembly together and tomorrow we hope to get it installed.

I had hoped to be able to get my peas, favas, and cicerchias planted this weekend, but between the disaster drill on Saturday, and the concession stand at the gun show on Sunday, I think any weekend gardening is shot, *sigh*

 

[milkmansdaughter]

My son used to show up at local police/fire disaster training events as a teen and would volunteer to help. And we helped here recently after a local tornado. He's been through an Army basic lifesaver class and carries a very good first aid kit almost everywhere he goes. We get a lot of tornadoes here, floods and high winds. And hurricanes south of us. And 1/4" of snow here shuts everything down. The last cert drill I remember doing, I was a psychotic paranoid patient who wasn't responding well to the disaster. THAT was fun!
I'm hoping to get some gardening done here this weekend too. I'm hoping we're finally past the frosty nights. I was gone for two weeks. Lots of catching up to do.
It does sound like you will have a fun weekend. Maybe you can sheeze in a little gardening Friday night.