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DAY 21

Just a quick, quick post……

Yesterday broody, mama hen, Chardonnay, let me check out her batch of eggs. Besides growling and raising her rear, she has been such a nice hen during this process. She has never tried biting or pecking at me when I approach her, and she lets me pet her after her initial growl. Maybe it is because I bring her goodies like worms, spinach, water and cracked corn for the frigid evenings? I have been pampering her a bit, but she totally deserves it. Imagine sitting on 14 eggs for 21 days…..that’s right today is day

Twenty-one days that Chardonnay has been on the nest…today may be the day she hatches one or some baby chicks!!!!! Okay so here is the real exciting part………..

I stuck my hand underneath Chardonnay yesterday, and just held it there for awhile…and then I felt it……..MOVEMENT!!!! No kidding, I know it wasn’t my imagination….there was like a quivering movement in at least two eggs that I had my hand on!!! So right now, I am confident that there is life in some of those eggs, and today, may be the day for little ones that look like these…

Merlot, Sangria, Riesling, Chardonnay, Champagne, and Gretchen

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, Chicken Eggs, Chickens, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Rhode Island Reds

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BRRRRROODY HEN

I’m a nervous chicken mama. The temp has been dropping steadily for days. Our efforts to protect the flock has been a learning experience, especially since one of our hens has decided that this would be a great time to sit on a nest. Chardonnay is broody, and extremely dedicated to her potential chicks. December 14th will mark 21 days on the nest…and maybe our first hatching!

This is our first experience with a broody hen, and I know this is the worst time of year for her to be wanting to hatch these eggs, but….we’ll provide whatever support these little chick-a-dees may need for warmth, etc., and hope that Chardonnay will take over some of that responsibility. She has been off the nest a couple of times wherein I think she has gotten confused which box she had been laying on. The eggs had cooled off some, but did not get “cold.” Well maybe a couple of them did. Each time I put her back on the correct nest, she has cuddled down and brought any eggs outside of her body into and under herself. At last count, she had 14 eggs!!! I don’t know if she is bringing more eggs into her nest, or if others are laying theirs where she is lying. This is a true learning experience, and if we come out with one or two chicks, I will be ecstatic!!

This all started two weeks ago today. Six of the 7 hens laid eggs in the same nesting box…Chardonnay decided to sit, and there she stayed. The 7th hen laid her egg in a different box, so since it was still warm, I put that one under her….one egg for each hen giving us a better chance of a pure Buff Orpington chick. Our boxes are a bit small for a broody hen, so Tony took out part of the lower wall under the nesting boxes (they are about 4 ft. off the ground) and made a nest/brooder area that expands into the “people” area. I lost some of my storage space, but Chardonnay is more comfortable, and the chicks won’t fall off the landing area in front of the nesting boxes.

I was afraid that moving Chardonnay and her eggs would result in her abandoning her nest, but she is so devoted, she just wiggled herself back into place, pulled two eggs under her that were sitting out, and snuggled in. She has been much more comfortable since the move, and is growling a lot less when I come near. I bring her treats, and little bowls of cracked corn and chicken feed at night…I thinks this is helping. Due to the cold, I haven’t candled any of the eggs to see what we’ve actually got going under there. I’m sure we won’t have 14 eggs hatch. It’s going to be fun to see what we actually get…I’m hoping for at least one Claudio (our Buff girl) look alike!

New nesting box.

Ideally, the hope is that the brooders can stay with the flock (in their own area within the chicken house) with mama leading the way, keeping them warm. Logic would say that their integration will be more natural this way, but there are dangers of attack by other flock members that we have to be really thinking about. Our logic doesn’t always coincide with God’s design in nature, so we’ll try our best to nurture through the cold of winter whatever may hatch. I just hope they’ve stayed warm enough through this bitter cold. Either way, I won’t let Chardonnay sit for much longer than a few days past the 21st day. She needs to nourish herself and get back to chicken business beyond nesting.

A question for my knowledgeable poultry friends out there….Will eggs that have been sat upon for many day still hatch if Mama Hen gets confused and sits on eggs laid that morning while her nest grows cold? Chardonnay did that today. In very chilly weather, the eggs were cold to the touch when I found them without her. She readily snuggled back down with them when I put her back on the nest, but my fear is that damage has been done.

Category:

Brooders, building a new home, Chicken Eggs, Chicken House, Chickens, Cold weather, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon

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OMGosh…It’s Cold out There!

Well…I’ve had to cut my posts from one loooonnnnnnggggg post to two shorter. Keep an eye out for my next post….!

I think that almost the entire country has been in consistently dropping temperatures.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ice-friday-america-is-insanely-cold-right-now-2013-12

At 7:00 this morning, our outside temp was 3 degrees…3 DEGREES!! The welfare of my chickens has been a huge concern. I’m just short of inviting the flock into the house…..well….maybe not that far, but the garage stays in the back of my mind. Though their house is really wonderful, it is not insulated, and the roofing is metal sheeting. Without help, their inside water would surely freeze…actually it did. This freaked me out!! I felt like such a hugely awful chicken mama, but it threw me into action. I started with rigging up one 250 watt heat lamp, and a heated water bowl…since there is no power to the house, I hooked up power with long, yellow, construction power cords. A week and a half ago, this worked fine…this past week it fell way short. Implementing a cord splitter, heat lamp #2 was employed. The temp dropped again…we moved the heated, outside water dish inside. This seemed to work well for the teen temperatures…but last night we were going to be dropping into the single digits. So, in the dark, in temps of about 13 degrees…Tony and I were out at the chicken house lowering the heat lamps to more directly provide heat to the chicken roosting / nesting areas instead of the general house. With this, and a generous supply of cracked corn, everybody survived the night. Give me a break now….I’m used to animals living INSIDE the house…these girls and guy are my first out-of-the-house experience, and with these kind of temperatures….let’s just say it was a glorious 6:30 a.m. moment when I heard Benedict crowing!!

It’s cold out there!

Heat lamps add warmth.

Heated water bowl was a necessary addition.

Coaxing them in with cracked corn so I can shut the chicken door.

Claudio the hogging the heat.

At least they look warm and toasty.

The cabana has been a really great addition, and the flock has spent a lot of time out there. Tony picked up a couple of straw bundles, and spread some of it on the floor of the cabana. That was a hugely great idea as the chickens are not liking foraging around the snow very much. They actively kick around the straw and look for the chicken scratch we’ve thrown out in it, and little bugs that may be hiding.

A big pile of straw to play in.

The more extreme cold is supposed to last a few more days, I think we’ve got it covered….maybe…wait until the next post, big news on the farm!!

Rooster tracks in the snow.

Category:

building a new home, Chicken Cabana, Chicken House, Chickens, Cold weather, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Snow

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RePlanting the Forest

One of the realities of our homestead is the fact that we are living in a forest. There are some cleared areas of rolling pasture land, but the majority of our 34 acres consists of Douglas Firs, deciduous Oaks, and Maples. Around 2004 – 2005, the previous owners logged the front 12 acres of the property, the back 22 were logged back in the 1980’s sometime. Thankfully, they chose not to clear-cut which left young, mature trees and an ecosystem that would more easily maintain, and regenerate itself. It did create a mess that nature could naturally take care of, or we could help with. Eight years later, the forest is thriving. The Douglas Firs are popping up above the Oak trees, which in turn will create a natural reforestation of conifers. As you walk the property, there are baby firs everywhere. It has taken a lot of sweat equity in cleaning up piles of logs, limbs, and branches, and years for the land to heal. This fall, actually, this weekend, marks our first attempt at phase two for our forest management plan…tree planting.

We planted a grove of 10 baby, Giant Sequoia trees that we can see from our main windows, as well as, a line of them down along the fence line toward the pond. If you know of our ties to the SF Bay Area, and northern California, you may be able to understand our camaraderie with these beautiful trees. Apparently, these young trees are like candy to deer so protecting them is crucial to their survival.

Tucker and Penni enjoying the new trees

Tony and his helpers!

Cutting the fencing…16 ft. for each tree

One of our cute, little, protected Sequoia trees.

What a nice little grove of GIANTS!

Beyond this, in terms of conifers…we will be planting much smaller Douglas Firs around many different areas.

We’ve also designated an open area as an orchard with the hopes of having a little “Fruit Stand” set up in the front pasture….that’s a different story!! However, being mindful of this, the trees waiting to be planted this week are Honey Crisp, Braeburn, Fuji, and Melrose Apple trees; Bartlett, and Comice Pear trees; Bing, Lepin, and Stella Cherry trees; and Chestnut trees. From the time we bought the property, Tony’s dad, Joe, wanted to plant Chestnut trees on the property…he never got a chance to do that…our Chestnut grove will be in his honor. BTW…he also wanted to put a couple of beef cows out there…..UHHH OHHHH!!!

HI COW!!

Category:

building a new home, Giant Sequoia Trees, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area

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Freezing Chicken Fix

By Friday the temp fell to 19 degrees…brrrrr

I think it is safe to say that the late, fall weather has arrived! I still find it fascinating when I leave for work and puddles are frozen…then when I return, those puddles are still frozen. Two days later, still frozen…obviously these puddles are shaded throughout most of the day, but I’m still amazed. In the Bay Area, it is a rare event when it gets cold enough to freeze a puddle, and even more rare for it to stay frozen the length of a day. I don’t think the beauty that the cold brings will ever get old for me. Since we now live at a higher elevation in the foothills surrounding our town, our temps can be 5 – 10 degrees different than what the phone weather apps, like the one above, display. Sometimes I will call down to my Mom who lives in town when it is snowing…we may be getting a bunch, while in town it is more of a slushy rain.

This puddle stayed frozen for 3 days.

Mostly or partially frozen for 3 days.

With the onset of the colder weather, my thoughts ran to the chickens. I know they wear their own down filled “jacket”, but I worried that their house wasn’t going to be warm enough through the night. We still had some issues with drafts, which, I have learned through my blogger friends of whom I hang on their experienced wisdom, is bad, bad, bad for chickens. That first cold/rainy/windy night about 3 weeks ago, I kept waking up thinking about my freezing birds. I apologized to them as they stepped out onto the wet ground of the morning, fluffing their feathers and cackling at me (do chickens swear, cause I’m sure they were…) Needless to say, when I got home from work, I hopped into action. I can’t have a bunch of angry hens and a rooster on my hands…not since they’re producing these….yes, that’s one day’s collection.

Seven chickens, seven eggs…life is good!

Everyday, we’re collecting 6 or 7 beautiful eggs…from 7 hens. It has definitely helped with my dog food bill. 🙂

I just really love our chickens, I don’t want to think that they are cold or can’t get out of the rain. #1 – I decided that they needed a cabana that would give them cover as they stepped out of their house. I took the paneled wire fencing from around the garden, and with the help of my son, set up a three sided frame, attaching it to the chicken house for stability.

They already like it!

Looks like a good space.

At this point, then, I was alone with the rest of the design and build of the cabana. We always seem to have a supply of plastic tarps, so I threw some of these over and attached them to the wood framing with a heavy duty staple hammer. This was the first level of protection against the winds that come over the mountains behind us and funnel through on their way into the valley.

First level of protection, insulating against the wind.

I then found a ground tarp that we used underneath our tent for camping. I hesitated on the thought of punching holes with the staples through this tarp, but I figured our flock was more important than a piece of plastic. This tarp was large enough to provide protection from the rain. It was a great fit, then I realized that I had to pitch the roof-line or rain would just accumulate on top and cause all sorts of problems. On my hunt for a solution, I found items like a stand alone wire shelving unit, boards, and boxes that as I lifted, shoved, and somehow moved around, creating a pitch…we had a pitched roof. I stretched the tarp tightly, and tacked it down to the wooden frame. I was stoked! It really came together! As I stood back to take pictures to send to hubby who was away on business, I realized that as I created the roof pitch, the tarp had shifted…leaving the wind/weather side of the cabana shorter than the other side. UUUUGGGGHHHHH!..it was that Charlie Brown moment….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ-t4DhAfrs

It ain’t purty, but it works!

I wasn’t about to go through and remove all the staples, so I used Shoe Goo on the seams of the white tarp, and it seems to work just fine. It’s quite cozy, and the chickens really seem to like it. With the addition of a heated water bowl to keep the water from freezing, I think they’re doing pretty well! I’m glad I liked to build forts as a kid…and with my kids when they were younger…I think that helped!

Cozy and dry

Cozy and dry…that’s their heated water bowl.

#2 – I needed to fix the drafts and provide some sort of “insulation” since their house had none. As you can see in the previous pictures, I tacked on some large, flattened, cardboard boxes to add a line of insulation on the outside areas corresponding to their indoor roosting branches. Then hunting around the shop, I found some cans of foam insulation….PERFECT!! Being afraid that the birds might be attracted to the yellow, hardened foam, I insulated from the outside. It’s not that pretty, but it completely cuts that draft from those areas I applied it. Basically, I just followed the gap lines between the boards, trying to keep a straight line..haha.

Can you see what’s roosting behind the windows?

By the time I finished, it was getting quite dark, but I couldn’t let them go one more night in the cold. The result is that the flock is happy, I’m happy, my dogs are happy because of all the eggs they get to eat…all is well, and I’m not waking up thinking about freezing chickens.

I feel good that our chickens have a dry place to go from the rain.

Category:

A Roof, Autumn, Chicken Cabana, Chicken Eggs, Chicken House, Chickens, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, San Francisco Bay Area

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Images of Fall Mushrooms

After a relatively dry October (with the exception to the first few days of the month,) November 2nd brought the rain to the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I say “relatively dry” October, well, because I guess it was, to the locals (of which I can not call myself yet as I am a short-timer here still.) Although I’m not sure if it hit the record books, the weather reports all talked about how dry the month was. This is not to say, however, that it wasn’t wet…at least to this Bay Area transplant. The morning dew of the fall seemed to be enough at our elevation to keep the ground moist. The dogs’ muddy paws while digging in whatever critter hole that got their attention can attest to that. Ever see a Great Dane dig a hole? It’s a thing of beauty…quite the ankle breaker! Our little Rat Terrie/Poodle mix gets in there and adds fineness to the freshly dug casm, while our old guy, German Wirehaired Pointer who’s back legs can’t support his front legs digging anymore, directs the entire excavation project…it’s really quite comical to watch. Everyone gets red, clay, mud stuck to their paws and nails…my light colored carpet is now more of a rust color.

To get back on track…November 2nd brought the rains. Basically, if it hasn’t been raining, its been drizzling. If it hasn’t been drizzling, the fog has moved over everything and engulfed our place in a cloud. In other words, it has been constantly wet, with periodic spurts of sunshine. It has been chilly, but it hasn’t necessarily been cold. Due to the nature of the weather, we have been indoors more lately than the past few months. One and a half year old Great Danes don’t really appreciate this…so, it is outside we go. We like to take hikes this time of year since the brush has started to die back. As we walked through the canopy of Douglas Firs, Maple, and indigenous Oak trees something became very apparent. The initial rains of October, then the mildness of the weather the rest of that month, followed by the constant moisture of November and the cloud cover keeping the temperatures chilly, but not cold resulted in a veritable cornucopia of visual stimuli. Mushrooms!! A varietal abundance of mushrooms. As we went along, Penny followed the scent tracks of whatever went before us, and I took pics with my phone. I realized how much I don’t know about wild fungi, so I treat all of it like it’s poisonous. I’m not touching any of it, but it sure is pretty!

Maybe these are what the ants used for lamps in It’s a Bug’s Life.

Big, gross, slimy, and ugly! Possibly a King Boulet??

More of the big, gross, slimy, and ugly King Boulet group.

Like a beautiful flower.

Oddly round.

Beautiful rotting log ensemble.

I thought this was some sort of wild animal poop…turned out to be a mushroom. Black Elfin Saddle? YUCK!

Like a delicate flower. Japanese Parasol?

Bell-Cap Panuelos?

Candy Caps??

A delicate cluster. Fairy Rings??

Beautiful yet….I don’t know if it’s poisonous.

Uhhhmmmm…..enough said!

And this weird thing…what the heck is this………..

Not even sure if this is a mushroom…it’s some kind of gelatinous blob! Gross.

It is really hard to try to identify these different types of mushrooms online. Good lesson as unless I am 100% sure what they are, I’m not going to touch them. Thankfully, my dogs don’t seem to want to either. They are pretty though. Since it is fall, I added a few pictures from our walk that aren’t mushroom related. I thought they were nice, although they don’t compare to actually being out there, exploring, and coming across these things that show it is indeed fall in Oregon.

That’s my foot on the right….one BIGGGG leaf.

The fog creeping down the hills behind us, eventually covering us in a cloud.

Penni and I found a friend.

Such a cuite!

Hello little California Newt.

A beautiful canopy.

This one lone Maple Tree, surrounded by young Douglas Firs, dropped all of these leaves.

The pond is freshly full again.

I hope you are enjoying the fall, it is a gorgeous time of year.

Category:

Autumn, California Newt, Fall Decorations, Great Dane, Hiking in Oregon, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Mushrooms, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

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My Neighbor has Goats

My neighbor has goats. Enough said…..until you add in the peacocks, guinea fowl, geese, numerous barn cats, horse, etc., etc., etc.!! I think the 6 acre farm of which these animals reside is large enough to contain them, but goats, cats, and feathered fowl have a way of breaching the boundaries.

Our friend

Quite the nice silhouette

This late spring brought new kids to the goat family. As the kids grew, and horns became noticeable and imposing, my job with these cute little critters began. The squares of our wire fence line are big enough for a goat to stick their head through to taste the delicacies of the other side of the fence…our side. This is totally fine with me for a few different reasons, not the least of which is the control of poison oak, and black berry vines along the fence line…a real plus. The difficulty comes in as the goats and their horns grow, they find that putting their head through the fence is easy…backing out is another story. Those horns hook the wire, and the poor little goat gets stuck. There is a certain sound a goat makes when they are stuck. I am quite attuned to that sound now.

When I first hear the call for help nowadays, I hope that its liberator is quickly on their way…in the form of my neighbors. When the whaling goes on for a couple of hours, I have pretty much learned that help won’t be coming anytime soon for the little guy…or gal. Feigning the thoughts of trekking through poison oak, I can’t leave a goat stuck when it is calling for help. The goats know me by now…they don’t even flinch when I approach. I maneuver their head, lining up their horns…a little lift here, a little turn there and wallah…they are free. At first it takes them a moment to realize their freedom, then, like a lightning bolt, they bound away…only a few hops, then they stop…look at me, and bounce off. It makes the threat of contracting poison oak all worth it!

The goats horns have grown too big now to maneuver out, so recently, I have had to cut the fence to get them free. There are also bigger now, and when I push, they push back…at that point, they are immoveable. I have grown quite fond of my neighbor’s goats, and hope that a smaller mesh fencing to go right alongside the larger squared fencing is in my neighbor’s plans…somehow, I don’t think so….and on it goes!!

Let’s call him Einstein!

Yup…your stuck!

The now empty square!

Mama goat saying, “Thank you.”

Einstein back with the family!

Category:

building a new home, Goats, Homesteading, Oregon, Peacocks

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Update on the Deer Kill

I thought I would update you on the recent deer kill (see previous post.)

Tony, my son, Will, and I gathered up whatever scattered, leftover pieces of deer we could find along the route to the site where parts of the kill had been covered by whatever killed it. As we approached the pile, it looked quite depleted. Tony laughed and teased me about the pile…there was really nothing there, and he hadn’t seen the original pile site. Even though the wildlife had a week to eat from it, I expected to find some bones, hooves, or something. Thankfully, Will, was there to back me up…Tony was having a good time laughing that he had just dug a hole with the backhoe and there was nothing to bury except the head that Penni and carried up the hill, the spine that we found along the way, and some tufts of fur mixed in with the leaves. To “save face,” I insisted that the leaves and fur were to be buried, as well.

I knew that the saga of this little deer was not over. Experience had already taught me that as time went on, we would be seeing deer parts showing up with one very happy Great Dane named, Penni. There’s not much you can do about that. The next day, however, changed this scenario. Penni had gone down the hill and was barking at something. One thing about Penni is that her bark means something, she is a quiet girl unless there is something to talk about…and there must have been something to really talk about. I jumped in the RTV and rushed down the hill…there she was, standing in front of something, jumping (she likes to pounce on things…it’s really cute) and barking. She backed-off as I approached. Lo and behold, it was the mysteriously, disappeared carcass. It was mostly just the hide…two legs (bones and hooves), however, were also attached!

This was awesome because whatever was left, if found, would be small and not too gross…the big parts were all found. I guess we’ll never really know what killed that deer, but I think, like some had suggested,it was probably a cougar. Everything that could be eaten was….nature can be really cool…and a bit frightening!

Category:

Cougar, Coyote, Deer, Deer hunting season, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane

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?????? About a Deer Kill

FYI……THERE IS A GROSS-OUT FACTOR TO THIS POST…. SOME PICTURES ARE NOT TOO PLEASANT AS THEY DEPICT A DEER THAT HAS MET HIS DEMISE BY ANOTHER ANIMAL, OR HUMAN. THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON THIS, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOVE YOUR INPUT IF YOU CAN TELL BY WHAT I DESCRIBE, WHAT MIGHT HAVE KILLED THIS LITTLE DEER. THANK YOU!!

It was Saturday morning, October 13, 2013, my three dogs and I were walking the fence line of our property looking for areas in need of repair. All was well that morning…there was a spot on which a giant limb from a very mature Douglas Fir had broken off leaving the wire fencing smashed down. Important find as it would make easy access for a dog chasing a squirrel or a deer to just keep on running, and find themselves on our neighbor’s property (of which I do not feel would be very welcomed.)

Tucker feeling better!!

Karli – Our fourteen year old sweetie.

Penni our Great Dane!

So, to get back to our walk….everything was going fine. We found the one flaw in the fence line..good find…then making our way to the plateau before the downhill slope to the creek, the dogs stopped, (except for Karli, our 14 yr. old rat terrier/poodle mix who has lost most of her sensibility and is not as sharp as she used to be.) Penni, our Great Dane, started barking, lurching forward, but not moving forward. I immediately went on the alert, hoping this band of merry hikers had not cornered a skunk, or worse yet a cougar. As I cautiously approached, yelling for Karli to stop moving forward (Tucker our old German WireHair Pointer guy had already lay down in the grass as his rear legs don’t like to just stand still) I could see the object of their roadblock.

It was a deer, a very well cleaned, fresh kill. By this I mean what was left on the bones (which wasn’t much) was still very pink and red….the bones, and joint areas were still very pearly in color. The stomach had been removed and pushed away from the body, and a large portion of the deer had been buried under leaves and dry grasses. Since we were walking, I quickly got the dogs under control and we left the area. No way did I want to be standing around a fresh kill with the possibility of a cougar or coyotes lurking in the area. Later in the afternoon, I went back down with the RTV (a quick get-away), a knife (for protection…this is where I know I need to take my gun handling to the next level…I didn’t feel comfortable handling the gun myself, since my husband was away), and my adult son, Will, came down with me to help….the dogs stayed home!! I wanted to check out this kill more closely.

Okay, so here is what is disturbing, or more correctly, something I’m a bit concerned about, something that just doesn’t make sense…to me…remember, I’m new to this game. Being from the city, I’ve seen wild animals hit by cars, fallen from trees, or maybe attacked by the neighborhood cat, but I’ve never seen the remains of a fresh human or predator hunted animal. At least two of the legs were dismembered and were part of the bury pile….what else was under there I am not sure, but I could see two legs/hooves sticking out. Lying on top of the bury pile (not buried) were the entire head, neck, spine and one leg still attached, although I don’t know how the one leg was staying attached as the hip area did not look like it was intact. Okay, here’s the weird part….the ribs were basically gone, except for a couple…there was absolutely no meat left on these exposed bones. The deer’s head was laying back, and the skin looked like it had been pealed back, rather than torn or chewed. Using a stick I moved the head for a better view, and the skull looked empty…the brain was gone. I had a co-worker tell me months ago that predators go for the brain…I guess it is very tasty to them. Again, the stomach had been removed and set aside (it was broken open); the intestines seemed intact and removed. It all just seemed so clean…was this an animal kill?? ***WARNING….THIS IS WHERE THE PICTURES GET GRAPHIC****

The deer’s stomach separated from the body.

This is how we found it…partially buried.

Close-up of exposed carcass.

Close up of neck, head area. See how skin is peeled back.

Another view of head / neck area.

So my questions are these… would a human hunter butcher a deer at the kill site? It is hunting season…I don’t want to think that someone hunted that animal on our property…but, I did hear very loud gunfire the night before around 12 or 1 in the morning…two shots. It was not that alarming because once in awhile a farmer will shoot at night to scare a coyote or something away from their farm. It is possible that it was shot on one side of the fence line and then the second shot killed it on our side. It is the coward’s way to hunt if that is what took place…they would have probably used the “Deer in the headlights” scenario with a very bright light shined in the deer’s face so it becomes almost paralyzed for the moment, long enough to get the shot….cowardly, and illegal!! Does it sound more like a predatory kill…and if so…what type…cougar or coyote? BTW, the deer seemed on the smaller side.

So today, we are going to dig a big hole and bury the remaining carcass. We have given the wildlife a week to get a good feed, now I need to get rid of it because Penni is more than enthralled with dragging leftovers up the hill and chomping on them….YUCK!!! She’s had her mouth washed out with soap a few times this week, as well as, the rest of her. I think her defining moment was bringing the skull up to the house and dropping it near the front door yesterday….ENOUGH IS ENOUGH…BLEH!!!! Here is a little clip from her deer adventures last year with a deer the sheriff shot on our property because it had been clipped by a car and was suffering in the cold….enjoy…she sure did!!!

She eventually did drop it!!!

Category:

Cougar, Coyote, Deer, Deer hunting season, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane

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End of Growing Season 2013

With the onset of overnight temperatures dropping into the 30’s, and four straight days of rain, our garden stated, “Can you hear her…the “fat lady has sung.” Leaves have curled and turned funny shades of green-black, ripening tomatoes have been damaged, and the only growth surviving the cold are the gourds.

This is what an early frost does to a garden.

Our large gourds still hanging in there.

I’ve had a lot of fun with this year’s garden, and found it curious that some items which produced well last year, were not happy campers this year…and vice versa. I changed up the location, and made modifications…some drastic, to the soil. The two year comparison has shown me that our red, rocky soil has some really great properties that a bagged mixed gardening soil doesn’t provide. The mental notes that I have taken over the past two years will serve my garden well next year…along with a trailer full of horse manure from the boarding arena down the hill…hahaha!

So in a nutshell, here is a synopsis of how our Garden of 2013 developed. Our tomatoes loved having their roots planted in a container filled with gardening soil, whereas, the onions rebelled, producing a very tall plant without a developed onion. Those planted in the red soil did fairly well…but not as well as last year (their sun exposure was limited by the outrageously huge potato plants.) How did the potatoes do you might ask…well…if you remember, I mixed the red soil with the ashes from a wood burned debris pile….they did GREAT!! In fact, some of the potatoes were HUGE and a couple..kind of gnarled!! Next year I will continue to build the soil up around the stem of the potato plant to get a more controlled growth, and a higher volume yield, rather than weight.

An example of our potato harvest.

The corn did well, although I didn’t take the time to thin out the stalks…they were too crowded, but what they did produce was delicious!! The corn seems to like our red soil just fine, but would probably LOVE it with a little added manure.

Our corn yield for the year, minus 2 ears which we previously harvested.

Our watermelon and cantaloupe were planted in containers filled with gardening soil. I won’t do that again as it didn’t seem to matter fruit-wise, container or directly into the red soil. The fruit was small, and a little sweeter than last year, but we were able to keep it on the vine longer since deer were not a threat due to better fencing. The fruit was harder to manage since the vine was up off the ground affecting a lot of the early fruit. Our last watermelon to harvest was a very emotional little fruit…hahaha

The Yin and Yang of this year’s produce…hahaha

I was happy with my bell pepper plants, as this was the first year I was EVER able to grow peppers. It sounds really odd as peppers are supposed to be easy to grow…right?? I have not been successful at all until this year!! They liked container living, and with a little more sun (they were hindered by the shade of the huge tomato plants) they would have been awesome…..well I thought they were pretty awesome anyway!!

Tiny pumpkins, pinto beans, tomatoes, and a yellow bell pepper!!

We grew a rainbow!!!!!

The pumpkins did great, the gourds went nuts, and the eggplant produced very nicely. I have to say though, the most fun thing in the garden were our pinto beans (gourds came in a very close second.) If you’ve never grown pinto beans…try it. It’s just plain fun to watch them grow, dry on the vine, then shuck the dried beans from the pods. My daughter and I had so much fun with these beans. In the end, we only came out with about 1 cup of dried beans…but watch out next year!!!

Pinto Beans were incredibly fun to grow.

The celery did really nicely just planted in the red soil. I have to admit, I grow this mainly for my Great Dane, Penni…she loves celery, and it is like the biggest treat ever when I pull one up for her.
The cucumbers, crook-neck squash, and surprisingly, zucchini (which has to be the easiest vegetable to grow) did terribly this year. There were all planted close to one another in a container…no more container growing for this group. I only got 4 pickling cucumbers (one of which was a mutant orange color…)

My mutant, orange, pickling cucumber!! Strange!

and about the same number of zucchini.
In all, I think it was a really productive growing year. I was able to make some really delicious meals with the produce, and canned some things (details on future post.) I learned ALOT about my soil, commercial soil, the need for manure, location – location – location, and that overwatering for many of these plants is NOT a good thing. This concept is really good news for us because we water from the same water source (our well) that we supply the household with…so any use savings there is a huge plus!!

One other benefit………homegrown seasonal decorative items, courtesy of our very own farm!! Oh…and the chickens love our leftovers!!!

Free and home grown!!

That red of the pumpkins are their true color!! Beautiful!

Category:

Eggplant, Fall Decorations, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, pumpkins, Vegetable Garden

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Discovering My Small Town

There have been some interesting times of adjustment throughout the last two years of living in our small town, but last night cemented my longing to be here…to be part of this farming / logging community. It all came in the form of the opening high school football game. This was our first game….this was our first experience of how an entire community…town…rallies around, and is united by their sports teams. As I looked around at the crowd and witnessed the long-standing friendships, the commitment to this high school football team, the Cheer Team, the families, the younger kids running around behind the back of the end-zone waiting for their chance to someday be on that field…in that uniform, the mere fact that 90% of everyone at the game was wearing a shirt showing their pride in this team; I realized something my experience thus far had lacked. There was richness here, in this small community in a different way than what I have known.

In the Bay Area, the illusion of financial richness for everyone is all around you, but the feeling of community within the city we lived suffered a great deal. There was division around financial status, the neighborhood you lived in, and whether they want to admit it or not…race. The difference came for us by being part of our Christian church family, and the small population within the Little League / Bobby Sox Softball organizations. This is where we found community among the diversity that the Bay Area holds.

Public high school football games, and other youth sporting events were something that happened in the community, but in most cases, didn’t draw the community’s attention. Participation was generally based on individuals having a variant that was directly related to that particular sport. In fact, anytime one of our district’s high schools petitioned to let students (Heaven forbid) park their cars on the streets surrounding the high school, install lights, or improve the fields, they were met with multiple city counsel meetings, and threats of lawsuits to hash out the opposition that the schools own direct neighborhood harbored. Not all, but many of these members of the community even though they had bought their homes next to the high schools, or community sports fields…felt inconvenienced and threatened at the thought that campus life even existed. “What…you mean there is going to be traffic, and people parking on the street outside of my home because there is some sort of school event going on? Come on, City Counsel…tell them that they can’t do this!!” Unfortunately, these circumstances were where you found most of the community’s involvement when it came to the local sports teams. In contrast, the community richness that I witnessed last night in my small town was amazing, and was greatly missing in the place I am from. After 22 years of living in the same city of California, I cannot say if there was anything that truly united that community.

So I have to ask myself…am I becoming small town, or in my heart have I always been?? Are the chickens, the wildlife, the frogs in the pond, the quaint downtown, the lack of well known restaurants, the 40 minute drive to the nearest Target Store, and the time I arrived late to an appointment because I got behind a 20 mph hay baler driving down the two-lane-no-passing road starting to replace the fast-paced, convenience of the city? My love for our property has been present from the first time I laid eyes on it. My love for our small town was imprinted on my heart and mind last night. I may be running on emotions right now, but I have to look and know that the game, the town’s rallying around the team, the complete silence during the band’s playing of the National Anthem…there is so much that my little slice of Oregon offers beyond what I have seen with my eyes. Perfect, no….incredibly ‘Bedford Falls” like…yes (well, and no – but that’s another story..hahaha!)

The noise was actually deafening!

Category:

building a new home, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

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Blackberries + Sugar = Jam!!!

I’m almost embarrassed to admit how excited I get over those little, basic, skills that people have been doing as part of normal, everyday life for countless centuries. Being a newbie at all things even remotely related to homesteading, (with the exception of growing small planter gardens) taking my blackberries and turning them into something I can spread on toast (preferably San Francisco Sourdough!!!) makes me so happy!! I feel like an out-of-the-ordinary homesteading geek…..meaning if other homesteaders (I totally do not even feel that I am qualified to fit into that category) read this blog, they would probably think I’m a geek-homesteading-wanna-be! This is all such a huge experiment for me…I feel like a kid in a candy shop!!

Last summer was the first time I attempted to make blackberry jam. Looking online, I found that you can make jam with our without pectin. Pectin?? What the heck is Pectin?? So I chose not to use that unfamiliar product, and go with what I knew….berries and sugar. I found a recipe at http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/08/how-to-make-blackberry-or-raspberry-jam/ that allowed me to do just that.

Basically, its 1 cup of sugar, to 1 cup of berries and 2 tbsp. lemon juice. That’s it! Simple and to the point. I like fruit products that are a little more tart than sweet, so I reduced the sugar amount to about 3/4 of a cup (or a little less, but more than a 1/2) for each cup of berries. I also prefer seedless jam, so I blended just the berries, then smashed the liquid through a strainer leaving the seeds behind. The result was a very smooth, tart, yet sweet, delicious blackberry jam. Without Pectin, it doesn’t last as long in the fridge…but in my home, it gets eaten up pretty quickly. So here is the process…(most of these pictures were taken from last year’s jam production.)

The stars of the show….Wild Blackberries!

The Ninja blended berries!

Blended blackberries getting ready to separate the fruit from the seed.

The pulp and seeds left from working the blackberry juices through the strainer.

Now combined, sugar and blackberry juices boil for 5 minutes.

The boiled jam now simmers for 15 more minutes.

[

Had a bit of a spill over here…sticky mess!

And all of a sudden…it’s blackberry jam time!!!

Uhhmmm…YUMMMM!!! Blackberry jam on sourdough toast!!!

Category:

Blackberries, building a new home, Great Dane, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Wild Blackberries

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The Gift of the Vine – Oregon’s Wild Jewels

Who’s picking those berries??

Ever wonder where that purple mustache came from on your German Wirehaired Pointer’s mouth? Every wonder why your Great Dane runs an 1/8th of a mile down your driveway and stands staring at the bush growing by the pond? Ever wonder why you buy this product in the store when home-grown is soooo much better?? Wonder what I’m talking about???

WILD BLACKBERRIES!!!!!!

The start of our Wild Blackberry season!!

While the neighboring honey bees were hard at work pollenating our wild blackberry bushes, my angst about very little bees in my garden grew. However, this year’s crop of blackberries is tremendous, even with the lack of water we’ve had this summer. No doubt their roots are tapping into the year round pond in our front pasture, and although the fruit is smaller, it is abundantly positioned on the vines and packed with berry yumminess!! We have so many yet to ripen….

Waiting on the precious jewels of Oregon.

Wild Blackberries still to ripen

This is why my dogs stare at the bush growing by the pond, and come back with purple moustaches…

The last couple of years, I’ve learned a few things about picking these gorgeous, yummy, jewels of Oregon. It is best to go berry picking in the evening as the sun is setting, or in the morning just as the sun is starting to rise. If you don’t, you’re going to be contending with honey bees, bumble bees, and wasps…none of which I want buzzing around my hands, arms, or face. Be prepared to pick more than you need, because half of what you pick won’t make it to the bucket…your mouth (or your dog’s) may exhibit a purple hew after picking. Wear long sleeves, as those thorns really do not want to give up the treasures within their vines. I’ve yet to find gloves that can really work for picking berries. Any suggestions?? Finally, make sure you remember what you were wearing when it comes time to do your laundry…you’ll want to pretreat those blackberry spots left on your clothes…or you can always tie dye if you forget. 🙂

Glad I was wearing long sleeves!

Who’s picking those berries??

Penni helping to pick…Tucker is back there too!

Not bad for 15 minutes worth of pain, scratches, and fun. This is true family bonding time… 🙂

The 15 minute bounty!!

Category:

Blackberries, building a new home, Great Dane, Harvesting, Homesteading, honey bees, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Wild Blackberries

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The Skies Have It

I’ve always been taken by the sky. If you think about it, there are no comparisons to any other type of canvas one can paint on. Within varying shades, the background remains virtually the same. The medium, however, varies not by content, but by texture, shading, brightness, and color. When the sky merges with, and becomes part of the skyline, the impact is even greater.

Growing up and living most of my adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had a merging sky – skyline referred to as the Bay Area’s natural air conditioner. This would occur as the coastal fog would come inland enough to hang, literally, on top of the bay area coastal mountains, creating the appearance of huge waves. This meant the jet stream was coming inland from the ocean, bringing with it that cool air and fog that creates those iconic pictures of the Golden Gate. It’s spectacular!

The Golden Gate Bridge in fog.

Arial view of SF Bay Area coastal fog by photographer Simon Christen

Unfortunately, in the absence of the fog, the skyline turns more of a brownish color rather than blue. Call it particles, or pollution…it totally detracts from the beauty of the canvas, however, creates some very wonderful sunrises and sunsets.

The skies of Oregon have been a welcomed surprise by the creative hand of the Master Artist. He paints a moveable, ever-changing display of undeniable beauty. In contrast to the Bay Area where so much of the majestic artistry compounds on the skyline, in Oregon, the sky gets most of His attention. It’s amazing, every time you walk outside, the canvas has been repainted.

These past two weeks or so, the sky has had some outrageously beautiful stories to tell, with the last couple of days expressing vivid beauty from pain. We’ve had the threat of thunder storms creating “ahhmaaazing” sunsets, culminating, yesterday, in Severe Thunder Storm Alerts on the radio and T.V.. all day warning of quarter sized hail, winds to 60 mph, 1/2″ to 1″ of rain, and ground to sky lightning. Imagine the attention those warnings got from someone, Me, who is used to seeing fog on the hills as a significant weather occurrence. (If you want to talk earthquakes, that’s another story.) Here are some photos of our incredible Oregon sky taken the past 2 – 3 weeks…and then a little video of a lightning storm (not mine, nor even from an Oregon storm…just a beautiful video.)

What a gorgeous sky!!

Awesome, yet, intimidating!

Twenty minutes of incredible beauty!

Category:

Bay Area Fog, building a new home, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

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Animal Antics

Nature, domestic and wild, is really a great form of entertainment. During the last couple of weeks, we have witnessed a myriad of heartwarming animal antics that brought with them tears, laughter, and contemplation. For true effect, I’m writing about them in time order….

The five “Fine Wines” were moved to the chicken house (actually this was more like 4 weeks ago) and merged with the four “Shakespearean Untouchables” with great excitement!! They loved their new house! Benedict, our young-but-oldest rooster, set down the law very quickly. He chased the smaller hens around a lot, and was especially attentive to, Merlot, our younger rooster. There was some mild pecking going on from the older group, but no blood was ever drawn, nor feathers plucked. The most heartwarming thing that occurred every night through their transition was that no matter the disdain from the older brood toward the younger, at night when seeking safety inside the house, everyone was accepted to roost. There was some cackling going on as they all found their spot, but the chasing and pecking was at a minimum. The inherent understanding of the dangers that could befall each other if left outside was incredible to witness. I am continually amazed and entertained by my feathered friends.

The Roosting Broods

Two young red-tailed hawks have left their nest and are looking for a feeding ground. The chickens have learned to listen to the birds in the trees, and run inside when they strike the alarm. Benedict’s eyes have learned to watch the skies for dangers and darkness. He leads the brood in and out of their house as safety permits, and has determined the level of darkness that he will allow them to stay outside…after that, he rounds up any hens that are outside, into the house…it is so cool to watch. Here is the call that brings the brood indoors….

http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/166694/play

Our Great Dane, Penni loves, loves, LOVES our neighbor’s dog, Daisy. Daisy is a true farm dog, of the Great Pyrenees variety, that protects their livestock. Daisy and Penni have a through-the-fence friendship. They actively run back and forth, stick their heads through the fence squares to say, “Hi,” and just lay down and spend time with each other. One day, Penni seemed confused by Daisy. Daisy was just laying there, Penni was trying to engage her, but it was a no-go. Penni looked back at me several times, so I thought I should check things out. As I approached Daisy, I saw something very strange…then it dawned on me…Daisy had a snout and mouth full of porcupine quills. PORCUPINE QUILLS??!!! I didn’t even know we had porcupines in our neck of the woods, but it makes perfect sense…we’re in the woods!! Long story short, Daisy’s human took her to the vet…wherein she was not only de-quilled…she gave birth to 6 puppies!!

This unfortunate guy made his way into the chicken’s yard area….

I didn’t see it, but he didn’t last very long. I found the brood close to it…the snake was already dead.

It seems that it is that time of year again….the Peacocks have arrived!!

This picture was taken last spring…they made a visit to the chicken yard this past week.

Beyond all of this…Tucker has gotten into burr bushes 5 times in the last 3 days,

Our poor Tucker doggy and those darn burrs.

the family of quail living under a wild blackberry bush have been exercising their bevy of tiny wonders, deer mommies are cautiously bringing out their spotted fawns from under cover, and the neighbor’s goats have been kidding and telling the world about it.

The highlight of all these animal antics, however, has to be the running of 1500 ducks down the main creek winding through town…..Enjoy!!

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, Chicken House, Chickens, Deer, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, Oregon, pumpkins, Rhode Island Reds

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Where Are the Bees??

It took three posts to do it, but I will be caught up-to-date with my garden’s growth chart at the end of this writing..hahahaha.

Water, water, everywhere water….and not a drop to spare. In a cruel twist of irony, this usually rain soaked portion of the Pacific Northwest becomes very, very dry in the two – three heated growing months. A common saying around here is, “Summer starts on July 5th.” From what I have seen, it also marks the end of any kind of rain (this year was about two weeks earlier) until fall. We’re on a well, and with the help of a water storage tank, it produces more than our daily needs. Water use and conservation here or in the Bay Area has always had to be in our thoughts, and habits…drought conditions are not uncommon in California. In par with that, watering the garden has to be adequate, but not over-abundant. To combat this, and maximize the watering, I try to build little mounds and tributaries around where I want the water to flow and stop. Nobody wants a stream running away from their plants. Sometimes I’ll give a shot of water…let it seep into the soil…then repeat several times for one plant just to maximize the concentration of water into one spot. It takes patience.

I’ve been noticing a real lack of honey bees visiting the flowers in waiting. My plants are really huge at this point, they have flowers, but barely a bee. I do have some beautiful gems that have started, and a few larger than that, but it is getting to the point that I might consider “artificial inpollination” (play on words here) to bring more for the harvest….Tony said all I would need is a cotton swab…I don’t know, it seems a little imposing hahaha. I hope they start showing up!!!

Whatever our difficulties, the earth is giving back!! Our plants are beautiful….take a look!! These pictures are the latest taken on July 20th…one month later from yesterday’s post.

Potatoes, Corn and Pumpkins in the background

Potatoes, Celery, and Corn… I did not expect the potatoes to get soooo big.

Tomatoes, with Peppers in front

One pot full of Watermelon, and Cantaloupe

Gourds in the foreground…Pinto Beans in the background.

Pumpkins!! I’ve never seen pumpkins start out yellow instead of green…

The strangest pumpkin I’ve ever seen

Taking my morning trek down to the front gate with Penni, I discovered where the current honey bee hangout has developed….they are all over our wild blackberry bushes!!! Blackberry jam is right around the corner…YAY!!!

Category:

building a new home, Eggplant, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, honey bees, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, pumpkins, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

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The Vegetable Garden That Almost Wasn’t

This year, winter turned to spring really quickly, and weirdly, unexpectedly in our minds. Even though it was late April, temperatures were still dropping really low at night…I think we even got a light frost in early May. Tony had to leave on business for a couple of weeks…we had just entered the month of May. All of a sudden the weather was warmer, and we had NOT set-up the garden at all. In my mind, we were way late…remember, we were used to getting our garden going by Mid-March at the latest in California. I was starting to panic, but I pulled it together…hahahaha…..got out a big shovel and turned the ground over…Tony would have used the tilling implement on the tractor, but it wasn’t attached when he left. At that point it was MUCH easier….more practical…NO WAY was I going to try and get that thing attached.

My second obstacle was the fencing…we have to have protective fencing or nothing will survive. We had 6 wire panels with 2×4 boarders that Tony and my son, Will, had already made that past summer. They would be perfect for a quick set-up…remember, I was in panic mode to get my seeds and tiny sprouts into the ground. The one drawback was that it would greatly reduce the space I would have available to plant….we have 34 acres….my garden would be reduced to a 16’x 8′ rectangle…oh well…at least I’d have great tomatoes!! My son and I attached the panels together, and then I addressed the other issues.

Veggie Garden 2013 – Young, Growing Seedlings

My cute little garden!

Just planted!

First of all, the soil….the soil!! We have red, very iron rich dirt…not rich in much else…great for Douglas Fir trees, vegetables, not so much. Last year’s garden was a total Test Garden. We did not improve the soil, at all, on purpose, and it did okay with some help from granulated fertilizer. The tomatoes were delicious, the strawberries did terribly!! This year we chose a different area within the ashes of a burn pile. Mixing all of that into the soil beneath it really broke up the packed, rocky soil and seemed perfect for the potatoes, onions, corn, and celery. We also added pots with traditional bagged soil because the burn pile was not big enough for everything I wanted to plant…… I think we need to call this Test Season #2.

Veggie Garden 2013 – One Month Later (June)…Oh How They’ve Grown

One Month Later…Potatoes, Celery, and Corn

Carrots

Gourds…what do you do with gourds??

Pinto Beans

Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Pumpkins

Tomatoes, Green and Yellow Bell Peppers

Category:

building a new home, Eggplant, Great Dane, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

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Remembering Our Garden Mistakes of 2012

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2: 15

I’m always amazed when I plant a vegetable garden, and it actually starts to grow. I’m even more amazed when I’m grabbing a basket and plucking the beautiful gifts that garden gives. Can you imagine the preprogramming that is in each and every tiny, tiny seed?? Not only is the Big Guy the Master Gardner, He is the original computer geek…LOL!

I started this post with the mindset that I could get everything caught up about the garden into this one writing. Uuhhmmmm….that is not working too well, so I’m breaking it up. Why I’m saying that and just not doing it…I have no idea!!

I have found that there is a certain timing to planting a vegetable garden up here in Oregon. This has been a learning curve for me. In the San Francisco Bay Area of California, you’re pretty safe getting things into the ground really anytime from late February to mid March. Oregon plays by a different set of rules, I mean, it can be April, and a light frost comes on for a couple of nights damaging your young, delicate crops. Timing is everything. Last year was our first attempt at growing veggies within these conditions….let’s just say I lost most of my garden due to frost, and had to replant. Those things that did fight their way back…like a really brave eggplant, never really produced much….except the potatoes, they did really well.

The Brave Little Eggplant…produced a mutant vegetable after coming back from the late frost of 2012

Our 2012 potato harvest…not bad for hard, rocky soil!!

Example of our 2012 garden

Our funny little 2012 carrots..hahaha

Although the 2012 watermelon had reached the full size they were going to grow to…they hadn’t ripened when we had to pick them to save what we could from the deer.

I think the short growing season has created, in me, a better appreciation and thankfulness for the produce that we receive from these plants. Truly, different from gardens past, wherein, the growing season and production times were much longer, I didn’t waste or let lay to waste any of it. I really saw for the first time, the value of what God had provided us from the tiny seeds we planted in the months prior to harvesting. It’s now mid July, 2013, and I’m just starting to see gems of goodness hanging from the vines and limbs (I can’t see what’s under, but I’m imagining with great hope)…looking forward to the coming weeks where I’ve gotten those precious “stones” out of the garden and onto our dinner plates. Now if I can just keep the deer from eating it first…..

The Bell Peppers struggled, and in the end were eaten by deer.

The tiny 2012 Bell Peppers struggled, and in the end were eaten by deer. As you can see, I gave up on trying to keep back the weeds..hahaha

This was the ripest of our 2012 watermelon…

The deer were hungry that night…pumpkin of 2012

This year’s garden, 2013, almost didn’t happen. The ground was not tilled, the protective fencing not up, and all of a sudden…winter turned to spring in late April, and we were unprepared. The, Have a Dane Hill Garden 2013, did get in the ground….that story is next…..

Category:

building a new home, Deer, Eggplant, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

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A Sad Reality

My next-day post turned into a week later…..the realities of life sometimes get in the way of those things, like writing, that I’d rather be doing.

There are other realities in life that we encounter less frequently (hopefully), but always, when they occur, too often. Before I get to that, I have some updating to attend to.

So obviously, the chickens have continued to grow. Since my last post, the “Fine Wines” have feathered out nicely and have been spending time in the small pen that Tony built for the “Shakespeareans”, aka…the “Untouchables.”

Watching over both broods, Penni is a very busy Mommy!

For three days, their outdoor run was not in the location you see above. We had them across the driveway, closer to their brooder inside the garage. They LOVED the great outdoors, and were very quick to get the idea that they could eat the grass, and bugs under their feet. Our first group didn’t seem to catch onto this concept quite as fast. Maybe it’s because they were raised by a Great Dane, and not a hen…hahahaha! This younger brood has taught us a lot about chicken behavior, and some of the dangers they face. They just, in all aspects, act more like the typical caricature model of those feathered fowl you see in cartoons. Younger than our first brood, these “Fine Wines” have scratched the dirt, found that grass is a great substitute to feed, chased bugs, and found a roosting place earlier and with more ease than the “Shakespeareans.”

The Fine Wines decided this was a good place to spend the night!

They don’t really want to be held (unlike Claudio), but have found that it is a necessary evil to getting outside. There is one exception to this, “not wanting to be held” tendency that I will detail in a bit.

The “Untouchable Shakespearean Four” have settled very nicely into the chicken house. We started out having to coral them at nighttime back to indoor safety around 8:30 to 9:00. The sun hasn’t been setting until about 9:30ish, and since, at this point, we manually close their access door we lose patience around 8:30. One night we waited, and it was so cool…it was about 9:15 p.m…our neighbor’s rooster called out…our little man and ladies lifted their heads and ran straight into their house! It was the most awesome sight!! Once the sun starts setting a little earlier, I’ll have patience to wait for this crew to begin doing that on their own…for right now, we do the nighttime coral dance. =o)

Well, now to get to the title of this post…during the week that we were introducing the “Fine Wines” to life outdoors, we had a real-life homesteading lesson. We left the brood out in their covered pen while we went to dinner. I wasn’t concerned as I had left the older group out many times with no problems…Tony, on the other hand, mentioned that we should bring them in…my thoughts won-over the moment, and we went to town…the 6 glasses of wine stayed out. As we were coming up the driveway back home, a hawk took off from a ground level position…near the outside brooder. I glanced at the six smaller chickens…they seemed ok. My concern was mostly on the older four, their outdoor pen is not top covered….they were not outside. Taking a peek into the chicken house, my fears were quelled…they were all there, but they didn’t come out to greet me. Something scary must have happened.

My attention then turned back to the “Fine Wines”…they were all grouped together in one corner of the pen, except one…it was laying, crumpled against the side of the pen…the opposite side of the pen. I thought, “Oh no!!” And within the few seconds it took for me to get to the brood, the additional thoughts that went through my head were…”Which one is it? I think it’s going to be the rooster…he’d try to protect the girls…he always does…Oh no is it Gretchen?” By the time I formed that last question, I realized that it WAS Gretchen….he was dead.

Little Getchen…..the rooster.

The little hen who would be a rooster!!

Our imagination tells us that Gretchen (the Rooster) must have run forward in front of the flock to protect them. Even though he was still so young, Gretchen always put himself in front of the girls when he sensed something. The hawk must have grabbed him through the wire mesh wall. It was very sad, and it was a very good lesson of true nature…it is all around us up here in Oregon. We have less of a threat of the artificial dangers such as animals being hit by cars, but a more prominent possibility of predators. This requires a different level of thinking and planning. We’re still figuring it out…like the fact that we now put a cat carrier into the outdoor pen so these little ladies and gentlemen have a place to run to for protection.

Do you remember me saying that the younger brood of 6 (now 5) do not like to be held….well, the night of the hawk made things a little different. Those little glasses of wine stood absolutely still while we picked them up to move them inside. They actually relaxed into the crevice of my arm and almost all of them closed their eyes as I walked them back to their home. They were scared, and exhausted. Huddling together, they ate, got a drink of water, then huddled together and took a good sleep. They were somewhat quiet for a little over a day, but something really cool started to emerge….we had a new little rooster. Up to that point I hadn’t noticed that we had two, except for a little “chest pounding” by Gretchen and this little one….welcome to the cockerel section, little Merlot!!