Sue’s Mowing Trails

…and it’s only Tuesday! We had a good weekend – tackling some projects in the morning, like mowing the front “lawn”. In the photo on the right, you can see how high the grasses were getting. The short parts are where Sue had passed before I got out there to take the “before” photo. To the left is the “after” photo. Everything is looking so golf course like. We even have rough areas. Come play the links! While Sue was mowing, I started mucking out the french drain for the gray water. The last hard rain we had really washed the dirt into it and I needed to clean it out and

“After”

reorganize the rocks, start a wall around it, etc. I had maybe half of it mucked out and got called in to work. When I got back and hour or so later, it was getting too hot for us to be working outside, so we took some time in the middle of the day to see Wonder Woman; that was pretty fun.

We take Sunday as a Sabbath day, so we had a nice pot roast dinner with Alexis, Dustin and Irie, shared the buttermilk biscuits and some brownies with our good friend Holly (she bought some eggs!) and pawned some veggies off on her, then went to Tractor Supply for feed and straw. All in all, a pretty low key day. Continue reading →

We’ve talked a bit about planting out trees, bushes, and up-potting the seedlings. This flurry of work has been going on because we’re right in the midst of monsoon season. Sue took this photo out at the Goat Boys’ last week, but you can see how we’re beginning to green up. around the house it looks like we have this wonderful lush lawn, especially right after Sue mows in the morning. Our pastures are full of green grass interspersed with what we believe to be, wild white alyssum. It is leggier than the sweet alyssum you see in most gardens and doesn’t grow quite as clumpy. There is one stalk and flowers bloom on the top third. I think it looks really pretty though.  Continue reading →

Yes! One year ago, Sue set out in her Beverly Hillbilly loaded truck with the dogs and cats, to get out here by the time the moving truck made it. What an interesting year it’s been. Since then, to our three dogs, two cats, and one hedgehog, we have added : over 50 chickens – some made it, some did not; a huge coop to keep them all; two chicken tractors; one chick-shaw; two goats; an untold number of yards of manure (of all different kinds); yards and yards of compost; many fruit trees; several bushes; two berm and swale areas; the inverted Hügelkultur semi-circle; a water tank; an amazing tractor; electricity to the Dinky House; water to the fields; and that’s only the beginning. We’ll see where the next year takes us, until then~ there’s always the next project!

Upside down and before the bottom is finished.

Speaking of that… This week Sue added to the one large Chicken Tractor, to make it more usable out in the fields. It was the one that we sat directly on the ground and would often use for day outings for the chicks as they got older. We also housed Lily’s chickens there during their quarantine time. However, during the monsoon season, we wouldn’t be able to do that because it would flood out and they’d be in the water and mud. So one day Sue and I flipped it over to make it easier for her to work on it during the week, in the mornings, before it got too terribly hot or started to rain. What Sue ended up doing was adding some cross pieces for stability, stapling on chicken wire, so they won’t fall through and so the larger critters

Still upside down, but with the bottom finished.

can’t get at them, and then putting on some legs to raise it off of the ground. What we’re hoping to be able to do is create a few semi-permanent chicken areas out on the pasture land and put them out there as weather permits, to eat the bugs and the grasses, till up the land a little bit and add their manure to help replenish things. We’ll still use the electric fencing to keep predators away, especially since they will be further away from the house. Soon we’ll try our first five, out by the Dinky House and near Dustin and Alexis. There are a lot of bugs our that way, so the chickens should have a good time with that!

This weekend we hope to accomplish several things, but it always depends on the weather. Belle needs to go to the shot clinic and get her rabies up to date. Sue is going to take Dustin to the Farmers’ Market in Bisbee so he can sell his jewelry (some of his pieces are simply amazing! Take a look.), we may be able to finish the circle garden – I’d still love to add some standing stones- and then plant, I also want to work on the flower bed at the end of the deck; I need to add some brickwork so that the dirt doesn’t continue to wash under the deck and pile up against the house.  Who knows what will actually happen, but whatever it is, we’ll certainly let you know about it right here! Until then, as always~ Thanks for reading!

Today’s Weather: rather cloudy with rain on and off this evening.  Last night we had a great steady rain for a long period of time. This are really beginning to green up here!

Egg Report: Yesterday we had another 11 egg day.  Today: 7.