Weather journal: December 8 and it is raining!

This has been one of those unusual weather years. Wet wet wet through the fall, and warm well into winter.  

Michael sunbathing with the chickens

"Warm" is a relative term. We haven't been running around in shorts, but the ground hasn't frozen and we still don't have a furnace in the new addition. Just as well since I've been MIA, stolen away frm normal existence to do battle with dragons (or their moral equivalent).

Michael has been diligently moving our belongings fr the garage into the new basement. A certain amount has been invaded by mice and squirrels.  This a blessing of nature in weeding out the unimportant by making those decisions suddenly quite easy!  

We have a Christmas tree up as of St. Nicholas Day (December 6th). Our girls sent gift boxes to mark the beginning of the season. (We sent them home grown potatoes, amongst other goodies). The tiny toys are the best. 

Among all the news of violence throughout the nation and the world, it is good to have a little silliness come settle on the doorstep (or the kitchen table). 

Harvest journal: dear deer

Saturday opened with gunshots echoing through the woods. We had no corn planted on our land this year. Standing water also changed the geography. This, in turn, altered deer migration patterns. Rather than moving in the morning, no deer showed until early afternoon. Then there were four less to wander the woods.  

Three of the four shot on Saturday. None on Sunday nor today.  

Persephone volunteered to learn how to butcher a deer. Michael is talking her through taking off the hide.  

Nice to have weather just above freezing.  

My job usually involves taking big meat and turning it into cookable portions.  

Separating lean from fat

We will probably have about 130 pounds of boneless venison by the time we are done....or at least that was what our 3 deer from last year rendered. We have a few pounds of venison burger left over, but 3 deer seem to be what 3 people can eat in a year. 

   Dear fat keeps us in soap. The rendered tallow deer needs to be mixed with olive oil so the soap is not too hard. Olive oil alone makes a bar that is too soft. Together, they are lovely.  

   The hides we donate to the Lions Club. They sponsor a summer camp with the proceeds. Some other year we will see if we can learn the fine art of tanning hides...but not this year. 

Our girls used to take these parts and make hoof prints in the snow.  

   The bones we burn on a pyre in the middle of our garden space. It adds calcium to the soil, destroys weed seed, and gives us a good excuse to have a bonfire.  

Timber harvest journal: The Deadly Umpas Tree dismembered

Michael, two chain saws, the tractor and a rope---an awesome combination. At first we thought the Umpas was a basswood, if only because all the smaller trees it had grown around and into were basswood. Then Michael began dissection.  

Lovely dry hardwood--perhaps a butternut

While Michael works on the Umpas, I work inside typing, and freezing.  The Umpas makes a lovely, long lasting, slow burning fire. There is heat in it, unlike the basswood, which burns quickly. Basswood is good I f you are just a little chilly.  Umpas scares away the deep cold. 

Michael tearing the Deadly Umpas limb from limb

Michael has the Umpas almost entirely dismembered, and it hasn't killed him...yet.  

A shadow of its former self  

Now to truck the large rounds to the vicinity of the woodshed, to be available for splitting later this winter.   We had more rain today, but it will start snowing soon. 

Timber harvest journal: the deadly Umpas tree has fallen

Now that we have wood sheds, Michael has been hunting standing deadwood to fell. He settled on an 80 foot tall basswood back about a month ago. It had grown into and around a neighboring live tree, but naturally leaned toward the field rather than downhill into the forest. The basswood gained its name of the Deadly Umpas Tree when it refused to fall. 

Standing Umpas

Michael would go out with his chain saw and I with my cell phone with 9-1-1 set to dial. I would stand on top of the tractor so I had a signal.  

Hard to figure where to cut next

We tried tying a rope on and tugging with the tractor, but the tractor just spun out and moved it not an inch. Every day for a month Michael would look out across the field and say "You may not believe this, but that Deadly Umpas Tree is still standing."  

And then came the storm. It rained. It blew. It lit up creation. Happy to have the hurricane clips on!  This morning, Michael looked out across the field and said, "You won't believe this, but the Deadly Umpas Tree is down!"  

Down but still deadly

The tree has fallen, but the limbs did not break. Sigh. So I will still be there with my cell phone set to call in an emergency as Michael goes about making the Umpas into firewood. We have about a week before it is due to snow. Wish us luck. 

Wildlife journal: a cautionary tail

One of the drawbacks of our current chicken and duck enclosure is that it is small compared to the number of birds present. They immediately ate all the grass. On the other hand, it is next to the hay field, and such lush riches tempt the chickens to fly over the fence. We would let them free forage if we thought they would survive such freedom. Enter the cautionary tail: 

Fresh blood

We think a fox may be hanging out in our woods. This is on the back side of the garage, which is adjacent to the tractor shed...and the bird run. We have crafted the coops to discourage digging animals at night, but this was a daytime hit a little too close to home. So we gather green stuff for our birds and shoo them back into their enclosure when we find them wandering afield.  We watched the escapees and found the path to freedom involved the gate. Michael added a wire to the top. We will see if this keeps the chickens penned but protected. 

Construction journal: the wind can't blow through the tractor shed any more

Michael dug the holes for the tractor shed posts in May. We are not entirely done putting up the metal, and the floor needs more dirt, but the snow can't blow into the shed anymore as of today.  

The tractor shed has metal; the attached chicken coop does not (yet) 

Yes, it looks unfinished, but that is because we put in clear plastic on the peaks to increase natural light inside.  

Let there be light! 

My job was to measure and cut. Michael got to climb the ladder and hang plastic. 

Putting in the final piece.  

We will put metal on the doors to protect them from the weather at some point. It's just good to know the tractor won't be sitting in the snow again this year. 

Harvest journal: last of the dried herbs

We harvested thyme and chives earlier, saving the parsley for last as it is frost tolerant. Despite the early snow, the weather has remained reasonably balmy, allowing us a November harvest.  

Bright green and fragrant! 

Michael found our dehydrator at a garage sale years ago. It is an home built item and works like a charm.  

Our venerable dehydrator.  

It is built from plywood, with shelves made from window scteen  material. The hole in the front and screened in area in the back create a chimney. A hot plate in the bottom provides an adjustable source of heat, with a small sheet of metal helping to diffuse the heat evenly. All in all, an elegant design. 

Garden journal: tucking in the garlic

Usually I plant my garlic in October. House building and rain delayed my planting schedule. Thankfully, today brought balmy southern winds, sunshine, and 67 degrees. I previously prepared the garden space, turning under the straw mulch from

last year's crop and adding sand left over from construction.  

Garlic tucked in for winter

Garlic likes being a couple of inches in the dirt. I've planted it pretty closely, to discourage weeds. I use the back of a rake to smooth over the cloves.  

Taking out the bumps

After the garlic is put to bed, I pull up a cover of straw. 

I planted five different types of garlic: Rocambole, River Giant, French Germinador, German Red, and Siberian White.  We have been planting these same strains for almost 15 years. I think I'm the garlic curator because I can keep track of what is planted where. For two years, when we were without garden space, my sister Mariluz and a friend kept our strains going for us.  

Rocambole-lovely large cloves

We hope to expand our garlic harvest next year, now that we have a dry space to store the braids!  

All Hallow's Eve Journal: low key celebrating

Five inches of rain in about as many days has dampened our productivity. Even so, we made an appointment to pick up a couple of bales of straw this morning. This is what a half ton of straw looks like: 

Bedding for the birds/mulch for the plants

Michael made cinnamon rolls to warm the house, and then allowed me to give them a Day of the Dead touch in case any survive until tomorrow.  

Spooky rolls  

The weather has been inauspicious for slaughtering birds, so we got to enjoy their company for yet another day.  

Putting the birds to bed

End of day blessed us with a ray or two of sunshine as we gathered firewood for the night.  

The woodyard  

Happy Halloween! 

Weather journal: first snow of the season

Harvest journal: getting into hot water

We probably should have done in the ducks months ago, but have always had better ways to spend our time. Freezing weather impends and so yesterday saw the demise of five Rouens and our one Cayuga.  

Michael with a Rouen.  

Hauling water to the lower pastures loses its attraction rapidly when freezing weather sets in. 

The Cayuga looking suspicious.  

We gathered them two at a time to exercise proper duck control. Even so, one of the last Rouens made an escape attempt...to no avail. Michael and I shooshed him into the new fowl pen (where the lucky ducks and chosen chickens live) and he joined his brethren on the chopping blocks.  

Rouen and Cayuga

We looked up how to humanely harvest chickens and ducks on line. The process starts with hanging them

by their feet. This calms chickens much more than ducks. The next is to wrap them in a gunny sack so they can't flap. Head on the block and one swift chop. Held neck down until the blood stops flowing. Then comes the hot water bath. We heated water to 145 degrees for the first two birds. The feathers resisted more than we thought proper, so upped the temperature to 160 for the rest. Hotter water worked better.  

Feet in place

We spent half a day processing 6 ducks. We got better toward the end. Today the rain falls steadily. One of the Rouens is crackling in the oven while I jar the dried thyme and prepare parsley for drying. We will have the last of the Swiss chard to accompany the roast duck.

We are slowly recovering from the amazing 3-day house raising extravaganza of last week. We did get a tarp on the roof before it started raining last week. So far, both the new addition as well as the basement have remained dry. We still have a lot of work to do to get ready for winter. Work is something that is never lacking here. Nice that it is good work to do. 

Construction journal: sheathing up!

Paul and Michael spent the day working together.  Paul built the valley and it looks wonderful. I have been worrying about this juncture for months.  

Yesterday  

The original house and the first addition had different peak heights. Paul joined them seamlessly!  

Today

I'll post a photo of Irene's new front door later. While the guys were working, I whiled away the day moving leftover cement block  I figure I lifted 7200 lbs before noon. Then I started clearing the garlic garden so it can be planted. We are late, but we've been busy.  

One last photo:  sunrise today

Construction journal: it has walls and most of a roof!

Day 2 of our time with a professional carpenter and all the trusses are placed!   

Paul with his saws all.  

First, the eaves of the original house and the first addition came off. 

The first roof truss.  

The first trusses were designed to sit on the wall of the first addition.  

Love the shadow pattern.  

Each truss weighed about 150-200 pounds.  

Matt peeking out of the hipped trusses.  

The hipping took more time than contemated all trusses were up by end of day, with fascia boards and sheathing more than half done. 

Looking fabulous! 

Another long, but good, day.  

The bonus photo:  the King Kong Carrot I gathered for our soup! 

Scary carrot (it was delicious). 

Ok. One more. Artemis was awesome tipping up the trusses.  

Construction journal: it has a wall...then two!

Today started early and ended late, but we made good progress. By about 3 pm, we had a wall standing.  

The northeastern wall is UP.  

By about 6 pm we had the second wall raised.  

The southwestern wall is UP. 

Then we ran out of boards (oops) and it got dark. Or it got dark and we ran out of boards. None of this would have happened without our amazing work crew. Paul Treml is the chief carpenter and the guy who tells us all what to do.  

Paul squaring the first wall.  

Our son in law Matt, his brother Austin, and our daughter Artemis added to the labor pool. Then there were the three guys who were visiting our neighbors, who weren't home, and so instead came over and helped lift that second wall off the floor. Thank you anonymous neighborhood angels of mercy!

Construction journal: buttoning up the basement

The basement guys came by and put in the finishing bits. The big rain came soon after, making the area immediately around the basement a sea of mud. We laid down boardwalks to do some cement finishing work, but we couldn't begin to work on closing off the final bits until a week ago. We thought "Ok, we'll get the windows in today and the top board tomorrow."  Ha. The first window used to fit before we glued the sill plate down...but not afterwards. This required cutting down the bottom face plate (thank the gods for vinyl) by 1/4" and finding a piece of green treated plywood to substitute for the 1x10 board we used for the other windows. Then the boards we used to frame the sides were a wee bit too wide, so we had to adjust one side on the table saw.  

Michael installing the framing for a basement window.  

One whole day devoted to one window. We would have gotten the second in as well, but it began to rain again.  

The second window went in much more quickly, with no fancy pants adjustments needed.  

Two down!   

That black strip above the windows is open air. We had a brown treated 2x6 we were going use (leftover from the sill plates boxing in the floor trusses) but it was too warped to give a good seal. Back to the lumber yard for straight sticks and some type of flashing to cover the top face plate of the window.

Another day gone.  

Today we put in the 2x6s. Again, there were a number of interesting obstacles that required precision adjustments. 

Tie bolt and the bottom trim of the house required a bit of sawing and chiseling.  

It took us two tries to get it right (and yes, we had put down glue the first time!), but we got both boards in. Viola!  No ladybugs will be sneaking in that side! 

All closed off. Yay! 

We celebrated by going out and trying to cut down an old dead basswood. The tree didn't fall. We didn't die. It was a good day.  

Construction journal: it has a subfloor!

This past Wednesday (two days ago!) we put down the last of the subflooring, which came to the edge of the sill plate without any trimming. We couldn't have planned it that well. Just in time, as Irene returned from her fabulous Bermuda vacation Tuesday night.  

Irene doing a happy dance on the new addition.  

Mother Nature blessed us on Thursday morning with 3/4" of rain. It really was a blessing because the guys we bought our roof trusses from later that day told us they got an inch and a half. Due to the sea of mud surrounding our house, we opted to cut some firewood...a constant recreational activity around here. 

Today I vacuumed up approximately 300 gallons of water out of our new basement and Michael toted those up the ladder 5 gallons at a time.  

An interesting beastie brought in with the rain.  

Golden leaves of the sun.  

We can tell we all lifted a bunch of weights today. A gallon weighs 8 lbs. A 5 gallon bucket weighs 40 lbs. The 8 gallon shop vac weighed 64 lbs. The ibuprofen is taking effect. Time to sleep.  

Livestock journal: our first chicken egg! (Plus a construction update)

I found this in one of the nesting boxes in the chicken hut this afternoon. It wasn't there this morning!  It is as large as the bigger duck eggs we've collected. The duck eggs have been amazingly buttery tasting. Can hardly wait to taste the chicken eggs.  

Hand framed floor joists

For the past several days we haven't cooked much, as we've been working on creating a floor. First we framed in floor joists above the landing area of the stairwell.  

The stairs will start at the top of this wall and descend into the basement.  

Then we built a wall to set the final trusses in the area the stairwell isn't.  

We started laying the floor sheathing yesterday. We finished a little more than half the floor today and then ran out of sheathing. So we spent the rest of the afternoon buying the last load of subflooring. We hope to get this done before it rains!   

Season journal: first fire of fall

Michael cleaned our chimney today. It needed it. Now we are enjoying our first fire of the season. We've put the plants inside and bought subflooring glue good to 22 degrees. Hope it doesn't get that cold, but if it does, we're prepared!   

Construction journal: our basement has a floor!

We awoke at 12:30 am to deliver Irene, Johnny and Lori to the airport for their fabulous trip to Bermuda. We returned home and Michael climbed tall ladders and tore down soffit. The guy designing our roof trusses arrived a little later to do his measuring magic.  Then the cement guys arrived and poured our basement floor. We puttered around making roosts and nesting boxes. Early to bed for us tonight.  

Door journal: getting closer to have winter quarters for the birds

As the designated door designer, creating a gate for our chicken run fell to me.   

Open

It took most of the day, but it works! 

Closed

Yesterday I made a duck ramp. The chickens will be able to hop through their fowl flow flap just fine, but ducks don't hop as well.  

Duck hiway

Michael finished fencing yesterday and restacked wood today. People have mentioned stacking wood as a mindless job. It's not. If not done correctly, the stacks fall over. Our stacks are particularly tricky because Michael cuts the log lengths to about a foot to 18 inches. We have two wood burning stoves (one in the pole barn) and one takes short sticks. First frost last night. We need to be ready for winter!