Livestock journal: getting ready for winter

We have had some overnight temperatures below 50°. It’s time to start preparing for winter. The first step this year was getting straw for winter bird bedding. No one had small bales locally, so we trekked to our favorite provider in Almena. We were floored by the destruction we saw on our way out.

Limbs down and trees uprooted.

Huge brush piles on the roadside.

Swathes of broken trees.

The roads were mostly open, but so many buildings had been damaged…including at the farm where we buy straw. But in that inimitable resilience of farmers, they were working to salvage what they could, conducting business as usual, and pleasantly helpful. We got our straw, paid a fair price, and came home to our own farmstead.

Checking our load on the way home at a convenient Lutheran Church parking lot. Every day I rejoice with in the beauty of Wisconsin.

Unloading at home.

We moved the chickens from their summer digs to the winter coop that same day. We only have three old hens to teach the new chickens the ways of being “upstairs.”

We have more roosters than hens this year. Luck of the draw!

We will let them out of the gated yard soon and see how the roosters treat the hens. We want one who will call the hens over when he finds something tasty, will protect them from the cat and other predators, and who will not beat up on them. Longfeather was such a good rooster. We still miss him. He is pushing up garlic. Fluffy, on the other hand, was a terrible rooster. He became sausage. We need a good rooster.

One who will know enough not to harm this chickadee. Longfeather was always such a gentleman with her!

Dog walk journal: Zeke!

By popular demand, I am putting the dog back into my walk.

Contemplating the new green in late May.

Inspecting the cabbage in early June.

Searching for mice in roadside clover.

Checking the river level.

Snuffling August wildflowers.

Pooping.

Eating poop.

Earning an ear rub. Chronologically out of order, but a good ending to any walk.

Garden journal: hot August nights doing their thing

We have been having temps in the mid-80s, which is better than the 90s we had in late July, and much better than the overnight temps in the 50s we had a few days ago. This is corn growing weather!

Our heirloom blue popcorn started to tassel and form cobs this past week.

The heirlooms grow so tall!

If you look closely you can see the wooden support grid Michael made for the popcorn. We have had some amazing storms blow through…which lodged the corn when it was about half as tall as it is now. Michael stood it back up and built the grid between stalks. It seems to give the stalks sufficient stability to withstand wind and rain.

This is Michael in the garden less than a month ago.

Some parts of the garden have been more successful than others. The onions will be huge.

It will be time to harvest them soon.

The garlic is small this year. Snow in May didn’t help.

The cucumbers are going into full production. We still have peas, which is unusual. They don’t normally like warm weather.

Michael made me a cardamom black currant coffee cake for my birthday. Yum! We will have elderberries and apples for jelly fodder this year, but the plums and apricots suffered from the late spring.

The milkweed is just a bonus. Michael tended this patch of black raspberries and we had several quarts over about a month. Never enough to make jelly, but plenty to eat with cereal or ice cream.

Michael has done most of the gardening this year, as I’ve been doing some work I may actually get paid for…eventually. I have to support our unsustainable farming practices somehow! It does mean the weeds have gotten a bit out of hand.

Quack grass. I hate quack grass. It will grow right through onions and potatoes. Grrr.

The pickles will be ready by tomorrow. Pickles. We love pickles.

There is always more to be done here than there is time to do it. In a way, this is a good thing. We are never bored! And we can go at our own sedate pace, knowing that things will all work out, one way or another. In the meantime, we really are having fun. Every. Single. Day.

Dog walk journal: birds and beasts

I walk the same two paths from my driveway almost every day, either west to the river or east toward the sun. Every day brings something new. I haven’t had time to update for a while, so I’m catching up on sharing the wonders of my morning walks.

The egg fell from the nest. So small! About the size of my thumbnail.

The vulture flashed by as I was admiring the light on the weeds.

The vultures migrate south in the winter, so seeing them means warm weather.

Everyone looks for nesting sites.

Ms. Snapper’s journey from the river to lay her eggs was successful. Late May/early June is time to play Scout and help the ladies cross the roads.

Having a Baldie swoop down is a bit unnerving.

The eagle had been lunching on a coyote that may have been hit by a car the prior winter and landed in the ditch.

I found these remains on the road after the eagle buzzed me.

This box turtle didn’t make the crossing. Zeke found her in the tall grass.

I’m continually amazed at how many creatures show up for our walks and are unfazed by Zeke.

This Sand Hill Crane danced across the road several times, serenading us all the way, before wandering off into the woods.

I’m just as happy I saw Mr. Bear before he saw us. I decided West was a better direction this particular day.

Even bright red, the deer next to the tree in the lower left quadrant is hard to spot. Zeke didn’t notice her until she bounded up the hill.

I’m in the midst of writing an appellate brief, which makes my dog walking time even more precious.

Sharing the walk is the best part.

Fishing journal: raising them right

Lilith loves fish. The natural thing was to take her fishing. We invited her parents, Auntie Sister and Nate too. We have gathered enough equipment over time to outfit everyone. We attached an extra seat in our canoe for Lilith. She got the life vest for her birthday

Caravan time!

She didn’t tip the canoe or fall out. Really good for a two year old.

She did wander around a bit.

I caught fish while Michael kept us in motion. Lilith wasn’t sure she liked being so close to the first fish when it splashed her. She became more comfortable once she got to pet the fish…and even gave one a kiss.

Dad helped her get fish up to the cars.

Not bad for a short outing. The sky opened just as we got home. Thank you Lilith for saving us from a soaking!

Grand Girl journal: Lilith is 2!

The GG and her chauffeurs arrived safely on June 21st. As a growing girl, Lilith headed straight to the refrigerator. 

She can name all the letters and colors. The numbers are coming along.  

I saved making her cake until the last moment. My excuse was that I needed help cleaning the beaters. 

Blowing out candles is a skill.  

She got to practice the Happy Birthday song as we celebrated all weekend long!  

She has made friends with Zeke and learned fairly rapidly that he might nibble a bit, but won’t really eat her.  

We took her out in the woods to find wild things. 

More strawberries!  More strawberries!

We’ve been doing the crosswords together. 

She has been helping finish the deck. 

She is very good at handing out screws when asked.  

Every evening she helps put the ducks to bed. 

Someone has to make sure there is feed in the buckets!

I didn’t even lose babysitting privileges when I shortened her bangs!   

She’s a keeper!

Construction journal: playing with a half a deck

Our latest project: a continuation of the East Side deck: 

A week with extra hands yields great results! 

Michael broke ground on the deck on May 31st. 

The new post hole diggers work well...as does Michael! 

My brother Daniel and his wife Jeni arrived on June 4th. Not all the post holes were in, which was fine as Daniel had some great ideas to modify our initial plan, making life easier.  

Posts set; Dan and Jeni attaching joist supports.  

Joists on joist supports!  

Starting to lay deck floor.  

We ran out of 2x4s before “we” got all the flooring laid yesterday. The deck was mostly built by Michael, Dan and Jeni. My role was to keep everyone fed: 

Duck legs (and wings) braised in red wine with wild rice pilaf and sautéed wild nettles. 

Seared duck breast with salad and Michael’s whole wheat cheese biscuits.  

Grilled teriyaki fish and zucchini planks with salad and mung bean noodles. 

We did eat some other lovely things, including our home made sausages, but we had all been working so much we didn’t pause to take photos: 

Was this the sausages or the roast pork?!? The pay is lousy around here, but the food is good. 

We will finish the deck over the rest of this summer, as we also work on finishing the wallboard and flooring in the addition. The deck will help with next year’s project of replacing windows. Dan and Jeni return to their home today, Wednesday. Michael is due to go and help our daughter and son in law move into their new home starting on Sunday.  

The Grand Girl settling into her new space.  

Then we get to see that GG and her folks for her birthday on the 21st. I hope to have adequately cared for garden and house so everyone has a place to land.  

Harvest journal: old chickens; new sausages

Our hens have been dying out from under us, which we haven’t grieved over, as we have been getting 1-2 eggs a day from 18 hens. Our lone rooster wasn’t fertilizing the eggs we did get. We inherited a couple of old roosters several years ago, who didn’t mesh well with our flock. We cooked them for a full day: still inedible. What to do? What to do? 

The rooster, a giant Cochin, still had his spurs, but lost his toenails. One of the black hens also had a spur. Usually hens only have vestigial bumps.  

We bought a sausage stuffer and casings. We already had a meat grinder, for making venison burger. 

We froze the boned chicken in strips, bought pork fat from our local butcher, and had my sister send us fresh sage. 

While the boys were grinding, I was rinsing pork casings.  

Of the 8 chickens we harvested yesterday, two had health problems that rendered them inedible. The other 6 chickens gave us 12 pounds of meat. We added about 3 pounds of pork fat to the boned chicken. 

We tried a dried apple/onion/sage mix first.  

I twisted off the sausages as Michael turned the crank.  

And there they are!  Sausages. The tomato/garlic/wild rice/pepper flake combo look meatier than the apple/onion version. 

As beginners, the entire process, from harvesting the chickens to having links in the fridge, took two days of pretty intense work. We were required to sample them as we went along. They are some of the best sausages I’ve eaten...and we live in sausage country!  Michael and I are so excited by having options for recycling old hens and the occasional tough bucks that come our way. 

Poetry journal: to the sea, to the sea, to the beautiful sea

Springtime comes and all daylight hours cry for attention to all that could not be done in the cold. Soon I will post progress of gardens and other projects. Today, as I travel to pick up one brother from the airport (free help with construction projects!), I post a poem sent to me by another brother:

Finding one’s way

Incalculable machinations

below the surface of the sea

another world not betrayed by the churning above

And in the odd, off-handed, unguarded moments

a turn

letting go-

leading to that true path

Intentionality overrated

When all the while

a wonderous, hidden ocean of wisdom

alive with countless creatures

knew what to do

Courage unscathed by hominid humming

Divinity at work in the simple will to live, to flourish

to breathe the air bound in the currents

Death only affirming continuity

That pearl of great price

floats like a beautiful dream

in the black abyss

-Crick

I hope to lure The Fab Five out next summer so they can all play with us on our farm.  I am rich in brothers!!!!   

Sisters too, as my baby sis sent me bountiful sage for our planned foray into sausage making. 

Desert sage: naturally dry enough to survive mailing without moldering.  

I have a roast in the fridge, basking in a dry marinade made with bay laurel sent by my older sister.

The pay is meager, but the food is good. 

Rolled omelet with wild oyster mushrooms, asparagus from the garden, cheese (we DO live in Wisconsin...) and whole wheat biscuits, made with...cheese!!! 

Energy journal: perspectives on work and beauty

Springtime means we have eggs again.  

We can get up to 18 eggs a day from our 21 duck hens. The chickens are down to 2-3 eggs per 19 hens. Time to make chicken sausage. 

We tried saving duck eggs in the basement without refrigeration, but had an unacceptable spoilage rate. Ducks are messy creatures; unclean eggs don’t save well. Refrigeration helps to preserve eggs by slowing bacterial growth. It also requires electricity. Melissa, a friend of ours, sent us a link on how to preserve eggs without electricity, a method called “water glassing.”

One ounce of slaked lime to one quart of water. Use only clean, unwashed eggs.  

We are trying it with the 5-6 clean duck eggs we get every day and will see how they are in November, when our egg production slows down. Michael noted that we are substituting one form of energy (electricity for refrigeration) for another (the energy it takes to heat oyster shell, bone, or limestone and then rehydrate the ashes to make slaked lime), in order to take energy away from bacteria, thereby preserving it for our own consumption. I haven’t done an efficiency rating, so it’s difficult to say which method is “better.”

Every day Michael and I engage in some form of exercise, be it strength training or walking Zeke. We also work physically hard at gardening, bird care, construction, and all the other daily living that goes on around here. The idea is that if you expend the energy in exercising, you train muscles to work more efficiently when you need them for farm work and keep yourself from getting hurt. This is true, up to a point.  

After helping move about 6 broken RR ties out of the way and loading 3 more into the trailer by hand, I started seeing stars and we had to call in the guy with the forklift!

I have a certain appreciation for the amount of energy machinery substitutes for hand labor. Michael was able to unload and place all the RR ties using the tractor and a logging chain.  

1949 Ford. It takes a lot of care, but is better at moving heavy things than I am!  

The outline of future raised garden beds. 

The new garden beds is another effort to substitute one form of energy (our digging up and beating back the quack grass and Creeping Charlie every year) for another (having a physical barrier between the quack grass and our garden). We will lay down black plastic to kill the grass that is there before finally placing the ties. We may plant rhubarb around the raised beds as another barrier. We will see how it works. We are expending a huge amount of energy to deprive weeds of nutrients we put into the garden (we hauled about 8 trailer loads of compost this spring) so we can grow vegetables instead. 

We constantly use energy to alter our environment to suit our needs and desires. The energy it takes to post this blog, making information available to you, dear readers, is mind boggling. Here is to appreciating how we spend energy every day, and paying attention to how to do so elegantly, which is to say both effectively and efficiently. Michael reminds me this is Socrates’ definition of “beauty.”  In that sense, may we all have a beautiful day. 

Weather journal: May 19th snow

Oi.  

Let’s hope the kale/beets/lettuce/radish/spinach seedlings that just popped up two days ago really are frost hardy!  

No apricots this year.  

Fishing journal: May 15 cold water, turtles, and fish

Our first time putting the canoe on the Yaris.  

Michael promised me we would go fishing this year. After a few warm days, we decided it was time. 

Places usually paved in water lilies were barren. 

Ice out occurred about a month back, but the water remains cold. We did have snow 6 days ago. 

Turtles on every high point.  

We toured every place we usually catch fish. 

Michael paddled me around until we found where the fish were. 

This day, they were in places we usually can’t fish due to the lily pads. 

6 sunnies, 5 crappies and 1 keeper bass

Irene had fish for dinner. Her favorite. 

We can hardly wait until we can take the Grand Girl fishing with us. 

Wash day journal: the orioles are back!

Clyde and Irene installed a small platform on the clothes line poles so they could put out plates of grape jelly for the orioles. We continue the tradition. Today, while hanging laundry, this cheeky fellow chivvied me to get out of the way of his jelly.  By the time I was done with the wash, three more had joined the chorus. Songbirds they’re not. 

Springtime journal: May 9th—snow, baby birds, flowers, and gardens

This morning’s snow melted by noon.  

Spring comes slowly but inexorably to the Big Woods.   On April 30th, the 15 Cornish Cross chicks and 10 Peking ducklings we ordered arrived at the feed mill. 

These chicks are already about 3 times larger. By the time they are 7 weeks old, they will weigh 5-6 pounds each. 

Peking ducklings: large and hardy!   

On May 5th our “Easter Eggs” began to hatch. We gathered eggs over 3 days and the hatch lasted 3 days. 

At the top you can see an egg with a small hole, called a “pip.”  It takes about 24 hours from pipping for a duckling to make it all the way out of its shell.  

We left the ducklings in the incubator until fluffy, then transferred them to a heated bin.  

We transferred the hatchlings to a larger space in the winter duck coop, which is where the April 30th baby birds have their heated cubby holes. 

The cubbies are temporary and built on the idea of removable lambing pens.  

Out of the 22 eggs we started, 21 were fertile. Out of those 21, 19 ducklings made it out of their shells. Two died before pipping, both black runner ducks. Tuesday morning (5/7), I found one of the tiny blacks trampled to death. We moved the babies to their larger outside cubby that same morning.  

A variety pack of 16 chicks arrived from McMurray’s in Iowa on May 8th.  

Our hens are all 2-5 years old. We get 1-2 eggs a day from 19 hens. We needed new layers, but our rooster died this past January.  Old chickens are VERY tough, so we are investigating how to make chicken sausage. Amazingly, our elderly ducks still lay reasonably well.  

The bloodroot bloomed during the time we have been increasing our flocks.  

We have been doing a lot of digging, and a little planting, between bird care and storms. 

The straw corner we planted in garlic last fall. The plot between the garlic and the rhubarb is filled with 800 onions. There is a strip of potatoes running along the edge of the garlic/onion plots. We have been enriching the rest of the garden with compost, waiting for the soil temperature to rise. 

We now have about 15 hours of daylight. We need to use as much of that time as we can. No wonder we sleep well, if not long. We have to have fresh vegetables to feed the Grand Girl when she comes to visit!   

Dog walk journal: my road is paved with agates!

While visiting with my mom and sisters, my older sister found some lovely stones and asked me if I knew what they were. Semi-translucent with coarse crystal equaled quartz in my opinion. Not agate?  Nope. 

Upon returning home, I started looking for examples of agates for her. While walking Zeke, this is what I found: 

Agates are formed in layers, usually by minerals seeping in and filling holes (or vugs) in volcanic rock. 

The composition of the mineral mix in the water that seeped into the vugs determines color.  

Agates are a type of quartz, but with a microcrystalline structure. 

The difference in crystal structure makes agates look glassy (left), while quartz looks duller and lumpier (right).

All the rocks I found were part of the gravel made to pave my road. Other local sources of paving media includes crushed basalt and limestone. 

Basalt is a lava that cools quickly and has fine grains, making it pretty uniform. It doesn’t cool as quickly as obsidian, or volcanic glass. Around here, we can have layer upon layer of basalt flows, up to 20,000 feet thick. We live on what used to be a mid-ocean rift!  

Our driveway was paved with limestone gravel. Limestone is all the shells from sea creatures that sink to the bottom and get squished into stone. (No extra charge for the wild duck in this photo.)

It seems that the faster melted rock cools, crystals don’t have as much time to form and so are smaller. 

The agates in the pavement come from local gravel deposits, delivered thousands of years ago by glaciers that scooped them up from around where Lake Superior is now and dumped them as they melted. The St. Croix River used to drain Lake Superior, back when the Niagra Falls were blocked by other glaciers.

We have had several different glaciers run over this area, and they brought their own assortment of rocks. That is why, according to Michael, we have such beautiful and interesting pavement. Walking Zeke every day over one of the two mile treks might get boring. Now that I am learning about rocks, just looking under my feet keeps it new every day. 

Walking west down to the river. The valley is so wide due to having glaciers fill up the river valley cut by prior mass drainage events, and having the river re-cut through the softer glacial till, as well as having the land rebound and then the river cut through the uplift. A mile of ice weighs a lot! 

Walking east, where it is flat enough to farm all that good dirt delivered by those glaciers. 

There is something comforting knowing that the earth that supports me has gone through cataclysmic changes, but is still here.  

It will be here for the Grand Girl, even if it looks nothing like it does today.  

Season journal: Easter eggs and the last of the snow

Michael dusted off the incubator and we started eggs a week ago. 

A fertile duck egg.  

An infertile duck egg. 

Only one of the twenty two duck eggs we started was not showing any signs of growth. None of our chicken eggs were fertile. We lost our alpha rooster in January to old age, and our beta rooster isn’t long for this world. They are no longer “spring chickens.”

And spring it is!  The last of our snow has succumbed to today’s inch and a half of rain.  

Yesterday the grass considered the concept of green. 

Today it decided on green as its new theme.  

A week ago, white covered the earth. 

A half inch of hail and three inches of snow on April 10th...so much better than the 2 feet the weather man forecast. 

Just ahead of today’s rain, the road crew cleared our culvert. 

Full. 

Empty. 

The grouse have been thrumming their subsonic thumping that starts slow and speeds up until your heart starts racing too. The blue herons fly overhead trailing nesting material. The vultures wheel about in what warmth they can find. The Sandhills sing their warbling love songs and the blackbirds trill in the willows. We planted our indoor seeds today. Spring is late this year, but ever so welcome. 

Vacation journal: Colorado and New Mexico in March

Farm girls get to go on vacation now and then, and my vacations are built around my favorite thing: family! My first stop was to see the Grand Girl and her parents. We did what we usually do:  

Made funny faces.  

Went out and played. 

Made and ate good food (our first hot water crust meat and veg pie...yum!)

Then off to see my sisters and mom in New Mexico, where we: 

Made happy faces. 

Went out and played.  

Made and ate good food (pan seared duck breast, pan fried Brussels sprouts, roasted root vegetables and salad...yum).

The flowers were just beginning to bloom in New Mexico when I left. I arrived back to snow on the ground. Good weather for working on an appeal, so that we eventually will have more funds to keep building!  

One more photo of that Grand Girl:

Credit to Uncle Austin for the whale coat! 

Season journal: the waters of March

Zeke enjoying a St. Paddy’s day outing.  

When Lake Superior freezes over, spring comes late. One week ago (3/10), it snowed 7 inches.  

It then rained for the next two

days.  

The chickens haven’t ventured this far since January.  

Michael and I had cleared the garage roof and shoveled snow away from the edge to minimize flooding in our “guest cabin.”  

Only a small river runs through it.  

Michael also shoveled the snow out of the ditch Clyde and Irene excavated to make a walk-out basement, in order to avoid having the basement flood.  

It worked!  Dry basement.  

The pond is full again, and the snow hasn’t all melted yet. 

We won’t be planting the garden anytime soon.  

There are signs of spring around, nevertheless. 

The oaks don’t shed their leaves until spring comes.  

It snowed again today.  

It might keep snowing until mid May.  I hope not. Our baby chicks and ducks should all arrive around May Day. We hope to have the birds on pasture by then so the babies can stay in the coops instead of the guest cabin. We have to keep those babies warm! 

Weather journal: snowiest February in quite some time and thank goodness for child labor

We celebrated having both girls and the Grand Girl here for two days in late February by having an 6” snow fall. It took no time at all to clear the driveway!   

This snow came after we had already cleared off the 11” we had gotten a few days before the girls arrived.  

Fluffy, not heavy, but still amazing to move. 

We haven’t had time to do any formal weight lifting, but I do believe I’m developing some new muscles!  Of course, they are a bit lopsided, due to favoring throwing the snow right-handed. Even the US Postal Service shut down for a day due to this snow fall.  

The amount of snow by the roadside isn’t spectacular until you realize there’s usually a ditch there.  

We hadn’t moved the Subaru for a couple of weeks. 

Michael bought a roof rake. We hope to prevent our garages from flooding when melt time comes. The ground will be frozen when the melt begins.

The snow from the roof was compacted. Made me feel like I was in a Star Trek episode! 

Now it is sunny and cold. 22 below and the sky becomes a deep blue.  

Sparkle! 

Harvest journal: volunteerism at its best

Stuck.  

We found a rabbit stuck in our fence once before, but he had expired. This one was still alive when Michael went to water the ducks this morning. Michael tried to free him, but he had injured himself so badly he would not survive once disentangled.

That left the issue of what to do with him. Michael put him out of his misery and I undressed him. 

Clean! 

Previously, I have dredged the pieces in seasoned flour and made a stew. This time I marinaded the bits in a dry vermouth/Dijon mustard/shallot/rosemary mix for about 4 hours. Then browned the bits in olive oil. Put the marinade in the searing pan (after removing the bits) and added chicken broth. Bits back in sauce and simmered for an hour or so. Once tender, I fished the bits out and put the sauce onto a brisk simmer, until reduced to about a quarter of its original volume. While this was happening, I boiled our favorite noodle and wilted spinach in some more olive oil. When the sauce was sufficiently reduced, I added a splash of cream and put the bits (now boned) back in the sauce. Layered, it was quite fine. 

I forgot the food porn part until half way through dinner.  

Persephone and Irene shared in our bounty. It all served as a lovely reminder of the luck that has followed us through 32 years of marriage (as of today) and all the blessings rained upon us, as well as the generosity of others. We thank you Mr. Bunny. We thank you all.  

We look forward to feeding this one and her mommy.  We’ll have to wait to sustain her dad until summer comes.