Lady Henevere: Year in review

[Lady Henevere]

DD graduated from middle school yesterday. Lots of teachers and the principal told me they were sad she is leaving. She won some academic awards and received honors at entrance to high school. I really lucked out with her - she is a great kid.

I tried a larger version of the olive oil lamp in a hanging candle holder thing that is basically a glass bucket with a handle. I used two pieces of rope from a mop head twisted together as the wick. It worked fine, but somehow the oil seeped out of the glass. I thought that was really bizarre -- who ever heard of leaking glass?!? Oh well. I can either put a jar inside that glass bucket, or use some other glass container. Now that I know how to do this, I have started seeing all kinds of things as potential lamps!

I've been taking liquid iron and a multivitamin, though not consistently (I keep forgetting), and the brain fuzz seems a little better. Thanks for that suggestion, Farmfresh and MTN.

As for the garden... Last fall I bought several bales of straw. After using them as decor/seating for a party, I built a compost pile out of them by setting them in the chicken run in a square, and dumping my compostables in the middle. The chickens hopped in there and ate what they wanted, dug around, and added nitrogen. I few months ago I broke up the bales and let the chickens dig through it, and now I have a bunch of straw/compost mix that I'm using to mulch the garden.

I want to do the same thing this year, but I want to add some more diversity so I don't end up with straw-heavy mulch again. (I don't mind the straw, but diversity is better with respect to nutrients, etc.) I think I will get a bunch of different bales -- different types of hay and some straw -- and put them in the chicken run. I know hay can have seeds, etc. and is therefore not so good for mulch, but my theory is that any seeds will sprout over winter/spring when it rains, the chickens will eat the sprouts, and then I can mulch the beds late next spring to suppress weeds and protect the soil from the brutally hot sun of summer. We'll see how it goes.

I planted a bunch of fruit trees recently, and this year it appears I have my first apple (just one from three little trees) and avocado (just one on one tree). No plums, pluots, pears, figs, or grapes. Speaking of grapes, though, I planted a grape vine next to a blood orange tree that is bare on the side that gets the most sun, leaving the bark vulnerable to sun scorch. I figured the grape leaves could cover the bare bark, and the orange tree could trellis the grapes. Both the tree and the vine require the same kind of soil. So far the two are getting along swimmingly, and the grape has gone from about 4 feet tall to about 10 feet very rapidly and the orange tree seems happy for the companionship. (Okay fine, so the orange tree hasn't actually said so, but you know how trees are -- so stoic.) I hope the pair continue to get along well.

Lots to do in the garden - including going out to see whether the skunk family is still hanging out in my rabbits' run. I'll save that story for another day....

P.S. My kombucha grew a scoby, but it never got beyond a clear, slime-looking thing. Not pancake-like. I'm going to dump it and maybe try again another time.

 

[framing fowl]

(Okay fine, so the orange tree hasn't actually said so, but you know how trees are -- so stoic.) I hope the pair continue to get along well.

I hope they do good together too. Sounds like a good plan anyway.

We planted our grapes 2 years ago and had a few grapes on them last year. This year they are LOADED. It takes time to let them mature so not as instantly gratifying as a garden but well worth it! Our apple trees from last year have 2 apples on them. That's okay. "They say" not to let them bear fruit for a couple of years anyway so the growth can go into the tree itself.

(I'm not sure who 'they say' are...) I guess in nature the tree would just do what it needed to so I've never thinned the early fruit.

 

[Marianne]

Love the hay/straw idea you have. I mulch heavily with straw, then let the birds in the garden after harvest. I do the chop and drop type of weeding unless they're just little weeds or grass. I just consider it green stuff. If I get around to raking grass, it goes in there too, along with kitchen scraps. I guess I always figured since the hens are in there doing their thing, all the plant debris and the other stuff I'm adding it seemed to be balanced...not that I ever had it tested. But everything grows pretty well and the soil gets better each year.

 

[Lady Henevere]

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."

That's the quote that popped into my head as I stood at the feed store counter figuring how much hay and straw I wanted for my chicken run/mulch project and discovered there is a pretty massive difference between the price of hay and the price of straw. In theory, I want lots of different hays in the chicken run. In practice, I want a little more of my hard-earned cash in my pocket.

I have a lot more straw than hay now, which was not really the plan, but there you have it. 2 bales of burmuda, 2 bales of...oat hay? (I forget which one I got.) And 4 bales of straw.

ff, I will be patient for the grapes. I just got the vines last year, and this year they are producing absolutely nothing. One of these years, I'm sure they will provide me with something to eat. If all else fails, I will learn to make stuffed grape leaves.

Marianne, I chop and drop too. Actually, I planted a chop-and-drop crop on purpose last fall (nitrogen-fixing pants for my nitrogen-poor soil), let it grow over the winter, then chopped and dropped it in the bed, and mulched it all over with the dirty straw from the chicken run. There are a ton of worms in there now, which seems like an improvement. I took some pics of the bed as I went; I will do a post on the process.

I planted buttercup squash and zucchini seedlings in that bed on Sunday, along with a couple of tomatoes. The tomatoes have a story, but since I should be working right now, I will tell it another day......

 

[Lady Henevere]

My first batch of homemade soap is done, and it's great! I took a shower with it yesterday, and today I'm going to try it in my hair (it's a soap/shampoo bar). I can't believe soap is so simple to make at home - oil, lye, water, a blender, and a milk carton as a mold. Super easy, with great results!

 

[moolie]

Congrats--it sure feels good to get good use out of something you've made yourself doesn't it!

 

[Lady Henevere]

Sure does, moolie!

 

[Lady Henevere]

I love being wrong sometimes. (Don't tell DH I said that.)

I started kombucha from a commercial bottle of raw kombucha about six weeks ago. It changed a little -- a little slimy thing floating around turned into a sort of slimy layer along the top of the jar. But then it didn't do anything else, it just sat there in my pantry, silent, sullen, smelling mildly fermenty, looking the same way for weeks. I finally gave up and wrote this a week ago:

My kombucha grew a scoby, but it never got beyond a clear, slime-looking thing. Not pancake-like. I'm going to dump it and maybe try again another time.

I'm not sure I actually looked at it before writing that. I may have just assumed it was the same, since it had been the same for so long. Kind of like how we pack the same old PB&J in our kids' lunches assuming they want it since they refused to eat anything else for the last three years, and then suddenly they come home and say accusingly, "Why do you always put PB&J in my lunch? I'm so tired of it." Well, yesterday I finally got around to throwing it out, and much to my surprise, this is what I found:

A real, live scoby!

I completely forget what I'm supposed to do with it next. (Well, aside from making a scoby purse....) I think I had an idea when I started this thing six weeks ago, but now I don't remember anymore. I'm off to find the kombucha thread....

 

[Lady Henevere]

Yesterday I raked all the old straw out of the chicken run and mulched the west-side beds with it. I moved eight bales of straw and hay down to the chicken run. Eight bales may have been too much - it seems awfully full in there. We'll see how it breaks down.

Gave the chicken coop a much-needed deep cleaning. I was hoping a clean coop and nest would break my broody. It seemed to have no effect on her. I keep putting her in time out (locking her out of the chicken run so she has no place to brood) but it's not working. She clucks her silly little broody cluck and stares longingly through the fence at the coop. I wish I knew the English to Chicken translation of, "It doesn't matter how long you sit on those eggs, sweetie. They are never going to hatch."

Today I am sore from all that hard labor. My back has put in a request for a wheelbarrow. Dragging hay around the yard with a shovel under the ties as a handle is not the easiest way to go about it. On the one hand, I need the physical challenge since I'm out of shape from sitting at a computer all day. On the other hand, I would like to move the next day without being in pain. The wheelbarrow is looking more and more attractive as time goes by.

I signed up for milk delivery a few weeks ago, and I keep forgetting that milk is being delivered Friday mornings. I have some excess milk and tonight I tried my hand at making cottage cheese. It is...interesting. It's edible, so I count that as a success. I'll try something different next time. I may need to order some vegetable rennet and go all out.

 

[framing fowl]

I'm hoping this weekend to grab some of my grape leaves and start fermenting them so I can do some stuffed grape leaves. I had some at a mediterranean restaurant this weekend and it's got me craving them.

As far as hauling bales, my DH uses a wheelchair so that makes things interesting as far as how he accommodates chores. The best thing he has found is a hand truck. Rather than having to lift the bale into the wheelbarrow, you just lay the hand truck on the ground, roll the bale onto it. Then he picks up the handle end and puts it on his knee and pushes it where he wants it. Much easier and more ergonomic than a wheel barrow. Of course wheel barrows have so many other uses for the garden it may make a better investment if you don't already have a hand truck.