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Post by steev on Nov 3, 2018 11:39:27 GMT -5
Fibrous.
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Post by steev on Nov 12, 2018 22:03:15 GMT -5
Air was clearer on the farm than in the Bay Area or Central Valley; there was smoke. but ~4000' up; still smokey ~Sacramento south.
It's raptor migration season; there was an adolescent Golden Eagle on the verge of my lane going home, so I slowed and moved left; it felt no need to move; temps are cooling, which is a relief; toms are nuked; Alliums are sprouting; something ate 2/3 of the bok choy, but wasn't as attracted by the kale or cabbage (I'd de-cloched them all); rainy season is getting late, troubling because I really want to get trenching done for sewer and water before they want to install the house, as well as tilling to seed peas, tips being so nice in salad.
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Post by steev on Nov 16, 2018 20:38:36 GMT -5
The Holiday Season is officially upon us; my local discount store chain has its stock of Xmas little Italian Stone pines, so I'll pop for some to plant out once the ground is damp enough for that and pounding in T-posts to fence them from the deer and elk.
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Post by steev on Nov 19, 2018 23:35:30 GMT -5
Foo! I'm told the elk have been driven out of the area; while they're a PITA, I do enjoy the sight of those enormous primordial beasts looming out of the infrequent fog; they are magnificent; mule deer are nowhere close to as impressive.
Spent much of today running around to county offices getting permits certified and counter-signed; more of that to be done next week.
The neighbor who pastures horses on my land says she's just waiting for rain to make it safe to upgrade the electric fence so she can graze the long-unused acres; I suspect she'll want to run goats before horses, there being lots of star thistle.
S'posed to be rain coming this week; sure hope so; the soil needs some hydro-therapy badly.
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Post by philagardener on Nov 20, 2018 6:24:58 GMT -5
The elk will return with the forage. Some rain good but too much and the soils might start moving in the burn areas. Good luck with all the paperwork!
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Post by steev on Nov 22, 2018 22:15:47 GMT -5
Currently falling rain is very encouraging; I'll pop for a dozen (or two!) Stone Pines to plant out from the discount store, to continue trying to get some shade on the back acres to reduce the insolation of the soil; I hate to think of spending the money when I know the bill is coming due for the house, but I think I can blow them off more easily than the season and climate; think I've got enough T-posts and fence-mesh to keep the critters off them; I've certainly got enough horse-resistant mulch and MAP to kick-start them, so busy days ahead; some may find Winter to be downtime, but it really isn't for me; in some ways, it's the busiest season, although not the most immediately productive, laying the groundwork for planting that will come productive late Spring; tilling, fertilizing, and sowing; all with weather that may not permit these activities at my convenience. Oh, well, if I couldn't have put up with this inconvenience, I'd have stayed a bench-chemist (and prolly have gotten cancer). Life is good!
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Post by steev on Nov 27, 2018 19:58:41 GMT -5
Been rain off-and-on all day, mostly light; very good to have a gentle soaking to start the season; three days of light rain predicted for the farm, next mid-week. Bodes well for tilling and planting a good patch of field peas this coming weekend; some critter has polished off the bok choy and 5/6ths of the kale and cabbage.
Craigslist offered a free 6-month-old professionally-trained Husky bitch, in need of more space than her owners have; sure wish I could have gotten her (not to mention the sloth and hedge-hog I've seen there; not so much the alligators; I may have mentioned being a zoologist; I do enjoy critters), my landlady won't tolerate pets; things will be different when I'm in charge; I SHALL have cats!
Cardiologist tells me my ticker is pumping up to par, so she's reducing my meds; now to see about gaining back some muscle and getting back in shape; I had a bit of a fright getting back Monday and finding that I was very weak; nearly went to the hospital, but decided to check my meds; turned out that when I'd finished a vial of one pressure regulator, I'd replaced it with a diuretic (well, I'd not had my glasses on and it was the same color and model of vial, as well as color and ~size of pill; doh!). Pissed away four pounds, but I'd have lost more than that if I'd not run that check. So glad I'm no hypochondriac.
Sunday night the temp was 26F, coldest this year on the farm, or for the past several years; this may portend even lower temps in Winter; which won't displease me, though I don't much want to see a return to previous high temps, which negatively impacted crops, like toms would just shut down for July, limiting their use to fried green tomatoes and pickalilly.
One of my clients found that all their Fuyu persimmon tree's fruit had disappeared one week; they were creeped out until I diagnosed that a tribe of raccoons were the culprits; I've always wanted a pet raccoon.
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Post by walt on Nov 28, 2018 12:51:49 GMT -5
A couple of my older brothers had pet raccoons. They were leash trained, and mostly yard trained. When you have a 300 acre farm, you can let pets be semi-wild. For our family, under our situation, raccoons were good pets. Most families have neither the space nor the temperment for raccoons. Possums are a whole different story. A pet rock is as exciting.
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Post by steev on Nov 29, 2018 1:49:02 GMT -5
Well, I like possums because they're so geeky, but they are pretty much hairy reptiles.
Years ago, when I lived in north Berkeley, I would sometimes see a woman walking, her shepherd mutt ten feet ahead and her raccoon ten feet behind, all off leash. To put up with raccoons, I think you have to either keep them outdoors or tolerate critters that are mostly nocturnal and capable of getting into everything, having such supple little "hands".
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Post by steev on Dec 3, 2018 23:47:42 GMT -5
Forgetting to buy stone pines in Oakland, I bought 15 in Concord, where they were 2/3rds the price; score!, except that the weather report has backed off on the predicted mid-week rain, so they may not survive until next week for planting, being sitting out in the open OTF.
Had 2" rain OTF, so I roused Sukey to till a large patch and seeded peas, the tender tips of which I enjoy in salad, soups, and stir-fries; unloaded the scrounged stone cut-outs; added tarps to cover the sun-ravaged ones on my stuff; got the last signature for my building permit application and took it to the county office to pay big money and get a building permit. The local fire-marshall, like myself a heathen/pagan, suggested that since I'll not enter the local community via a church, suggested I join the volunteer fire department; makes sense to me. S'pose I'll do that.
Snow is on the western peaks, as well as the Sierra Nevada, east of the Central Valley, gloriously visible thanks to rain having cleared the air of smoke; ice in the cat's water bowl OTF; the oaks have turned ocher before shedding their leaves; there is a green patina coming on the sere hills; I love the turning of the seasons, so majestic!
Driving back south through Bear Valley, I was struck by how it didn't seem to have gotten that rain, which I'd have thought came through there to my Indian Valley.
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Post by steev on Dec 10, 2018 22:25:25 GMT -5
Scored a big load of granite and syntho-stone sink cut-outs; I'm getting stoked about using them for paving, set on sand; so much nicer than concrete; I'm such a slut for pretty. I'd go back this weekend, but I have helpers coming and a particular project to get done; the granitry isn't going away.
I've been seeing the trenching guy and associates hauling out loads of salvage logs from the burned area; hope he can get to the trenching.
Planted 12 Stone Pines, caged; I'd forgotten how hard the soil is OTF where it's not been dug before and amended; it's utterly mineralized, no organic matter; watered the other three and put them in a shady spot, so they should be good for the week; think I'll get more next weekend.
Visited neighbors whose son seems eager for occasional work; sounds good to me.
Foraged the first meadow mushrooms (Agaricus) of the season; been picking those since I was ~6, with my Grandad.
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Post by Earl on Dec 16, 2018 7:43:34 GMT -5
we had one nice snow followed by fluff all November, no snow accumulation in December, lake ice is iffy, it was 40 and sunny yesterday
I'm in Northern Michigan
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Post by steev on Dec 17, 2018 22:23:10 GMT -5
The contractor said they'd get the graveled pad done this week, unless it rained the four inches he expected, making things too slushy for the gravel truck, but it only came to 0.85"; he also said it looks like the house can't go in before mid-January, which is fine since the ground might be frozen by then, avoiding the need to gravel the drive so the big transport can come in. I really don't need additional costs piling up. He's going to hook me up with the valley's bee guy, who will give me cases of local honey to put hives on the farm; score! I don't eat much honey, but my sweetheart likes it in her tea; when I was in Guatemala, I visited some Peace Corps folks who always had a pot of porridge on the wood stove for whoever came by; it was corn, rice, and wheat, one-third of each, ground and long-cooked; a bowl of that with a spoon of honey stirred in was pretty fine chow on a cold day.
The helpers didn't show, so I got a load of cut-outs, which I had the good sense to unload Saturday before the rain arrived.
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Post by steev on Dec 21, 2018 23:26:19 GMT -5
Winter Solstice! The dance of our Great Mother Earth and our Great Father Sun has brought us again to the death of the old year and birth of the new; we in NorHem are blessed with beginnings; those in SoHem: may your harvests be prolific and productive beyond your expectations!
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Post by walt on Dec 22, 2018 12:12:35 GMT -5
I lived for 10 wonderful years with only 2 solar panels for electricity. They gave about 100 watts in full sun. The winter solstice means much more to me since then.
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