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Post by steev on Jan 26, 2018 20:01:23 GMT -5
richardw: Trusting in your creativity, I have shipped you some gophers, so you can experiment, electric-fence-wise. Just let them loose in your field; they'll soon make themselves at home. Enjoy!
Don't let anyone know you were harboring the little bastards, in case they escape; I will deny having had anything to do with that, of course. Fake news!
Potted up some grape cuttings, my intent being to increase my plantings beyond bird predation; just Cabernais
Sauvignon and Black Monukka (for "currants"); got to prune the Flame Tokay on the grape arbor toot sweet, for cuttings and to ensure hammock-shade in the coming Summer.
Talking to the guy who'll draw my plans, he wanted to know whether I'll be wanting a covered porch; oh, hell, no; I'll put grape arbors on both the East and West sides of the house for Summer shade and hammocks, and Winter sun
access; on the South side, I'll build the required two-car covered parking structure, which will support the house's solar array (no way I'll ever hook up to PG&E, although their power-poles are on my land, along the county road; every Winter I can hear all the valley's generators cranking up when the power fails, we being at the end of the circuit). I think I'll be happier, even if not more competent (a pretty low bar, there), off-grid.
Not now so much, our NorHem season picking up, but in our off-season we need more input from SoHem, just to keep us feeling that life goes on, and will return to us. I realize that you're going into your Fall, and I wish you productive harvests, but the more we hear from you, the better. The few SoHem posters we hear from are a treasure and a valuable resource.
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Post by steev on Jan 31, 2018 1:45:47 GMT -5
We seem to have entered our "normal" 4-6 week dry-spell before our second rainy hump; T-shirt weather and blue skies; "normally" rain would then return every three days (not heavy) through April, but historical patterns have gone out the window, of late.
Up-caging trees last weekend took 10-21 whacks per T-post; there having been no rain, I doubt it will be less rigorous, but there are only three trees to go.
Noticed some of the salvaged spuds starting to sprout; game on!
I'm mulling some sort of frame-wire thing for peas, stackable when not in use; not sure I don't just need bio-control, rather than hardware; can't employ cats for a couple years; damn; maybe I should blow off peas, for a while. This gardening in the boonies thing is complex.
Need to pot up a bunch of Eruca sylvatica plants (wild arugula) I took out of an area I want to till, for planting elsewhere, so as not to lose year-old plants; I enjoy a bit of it in salads and the bees love the flowers.
Also need to pot-up a bag of Flame Tokay cuttings; I should get some Black Prince and Ribier plants going; those are what my folks grew, back in the day, when people ate table grapes that had seeds and Thompson Seedless were grown for raisins, being less than half-an-inch in diameter (and grapes were sold labeled by variety, rather than color; I've bitched about that before, but it seems so cheesy and low-bar).
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Post by steev on Feb 4, 2018 22:29:10 GMT -5
Got some re-tilling done, but Sukie seems a tad puny; gave her fresh gas and checked her oil; knocked the dust out of her air filter; didn't seem to improve much; the soil is already drying; nevertheless, the stock-pond is ~3X the area it was, last I checked.
Did some triage pruning on some fruit trees (broken branches, etc).
Planted out the arugula I lifted last week.
Salvaged what was useful from the chard and THE carrot (this year's crop), so I could till that bed.
Stripped the drip-tubes out of some beds, so they can be mowed/tilled.
Spread some conifer-mulch around out-lying trees.
Favas are sprouting; not much else, other than weeds.
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Post by steev on Feb 9, 2018 21:18:42 GMT -5
The helper (nearly as useful as tits on a boar) was 15 minutes late Tuesday and an hour late Wednesday, so I read him the riot act: that work starts at 9AM; that I have enough shit on my plate so I don't need to start my day 2-3 times weekly with a little turd from him; that he's not just losing the pay he'd have gotten, but is costing me paid working time; that he may make me look unreliable to prospective clients with whom I have appointments. So "clearly" he got the message; Thursday, at 9:15, I left, sans him; at 9:23, he calls to say "I'm here"; I replied "I'm in El Cerrito; see you tomorrow", not wanting to piss away an hour fetching him to the work-site, with him on the clock. He was here at 9 on Friday (payday).
He'd asked Monday off, needing to care for his daughter; fine; later that day, I got a call from an excellent worker, who'd worked for me ~7 years, seeking Saturday work: great!; so we'll work Saturday and I'll still get two days on the farm; Boar-tits doesn't know about this; I'll see whether this other guy wants regular Saturday work; if so, Boar-tits will have a four-day work-week before he knows what hit him, until I can replace him, or he pulls his head out of his ass, whichever comes first; I don't expect to hear that "POP".
I want to hang on to the excellent worker, not just for work in town, but because I know he'd be a great help building the farm-house, being a quick study, if it can be squeezed into his family/other work schedule.
Got a truck-load of redwood duff to haul to the farm, mulch for the out-lying trees, that being the sort of stuff the neighbor's horses won't eat, de-mulching the trees, so no room for bunny-bedding.
Sure is looking like another year of drought, that's why I'm not buying a lot of fresh seed, just drawing down my backlog; sure hope this "phony Chinese hoax" doesn't last 100 years, as it occasionally has in Cali in the past. Hellooo, Anasazi!
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Post by steev on Feb 13, 2018 1:02:22 GMT -5
Up-caged one tree; some T-posts needed 30+ whacks, too aerobic for my taste. Ferted and mulched the trees, using that truckload of duff.
My inorganic silt sets up like concrete when it dries; one Summer, we needed to run fence, so we did it with a portable generator, a jackhammer, and a breaking point to make pilot holes for the T-posts.
My favas are well-sprouted, but not much else seems able to crack the crust.
The first asparagus stalk is up; cut lots of narcissus; the bees are thrilled with the bloom on the "early" Elephant Heart plum; I hope that's good; got diddley from it last year.
That good worker was concerned about filing taxes, having been working under the table for a house-flipping contractor lately; I can teach him to file as an independent contractor, which is what he'd have to do if he bought my business; I think this is a good idea, as he's familiar with my clients already. Seems like I'm on the up-side of my manic-depressive cycle again.
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Post by prairiegardens on Feb 13, 2018 11:02:43 GMT -5
Something came to my attention lately, no idea if it applies in the US as well as Canada though. Here, how much pension people get apparently is linked to the taxes they paid over the years ( beyond the absolute basics at least) so people who spend a lifetime working under the table better put a chunk of that money into retirement plans or things can get pretty thin in later years.
Good luck with this one, hope it finally works out for you.
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Post by philagardener on Feb 13, 2018 19:38:54 GMT -5
True for Social Security in the US. Of course, financial projections suggest that might still get pretty thin in later years . . .
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Post by richardw on Feb 14, 2018 3:37:20 GMT -5
Pretty tough for workers who have been paid bugger all all there working lifes, here in NZ the retirement pension payment is the same for everyone, unless you are a politician.
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Post by steev on Feb 14, 2018 10:52:21 GMT -5
In the USA, it's not uncommon for undocumenteds to work with false Social Security numbers, pay their taxes for years, and retire with no benefit, not having had a valid account; note that this puffs up the SS account for everybody else here (although the current administration wants to get rid of these people; oh, well, it also wants to get rid of Social Security).
In the USA, our Social Security benefit is based on our best thirty years SS taxes paid.
Note that the current government wants to reduce Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, due to (recently) the reduced tax income from the rich and the increased funding "needed" by the Pentagon; guess there's just not enough money for the "takers".
As an avid student of history, I find current trends in the USA remarkably similar to those in the fall of the Roman empire. Sic transit gloria, mothufucka.
Landrace your crops; save your seeds; there may not be hardware-store racks from which to buy seeds much longer.
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Post by steev on Feb 22, 2018 20:15:47 GMT -5
Wow! I just heard about the marketing of an apparatus(h?, butt I digress) for self-administering coffee enemas; how could one "introduce" that before one's coffee had already cleared one's "mind"?
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Post by steev on Feb 24, 2018 0:26:32 GMT -5
Today my biggest client backed into my truck, dinging a front panel; he was all concerned and wanted to give me some money (they don't body-work these dings; they replace the panel); I looked at it; just cosmetic, so no big thing; I'll drive that truck until it dies, so I don't care about resale value. My landlady had also done that; same deal. I'm not prissy about my truck (my helpers always scratch it up, getting tools in and out); I just want it to drive. I figure he feels he owes me; looks like job security to me; maybe they'll up my Xmas gratuity.
The way I see it, when my truck gets really gnarly looking, people give me a wide berth because they know I'll hit 'em and not give a damn.
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Post by walt on Feb 24, 2018 12:55:55 GMT -5
Steev. That reminds me of about 20 years ago I had a summer job driving a roller for a road repair crew. 8 tons of steel and an engine.
One day a guy in a fancy car was in a hurry and drove past the flagman and onto the repair section. He wasn't on the lane I was pressing, but I eased over onto the lane he was on and didn't have my foot anywhere near the brake. In a construction zone, the construction crew has the right of way, no exceptions. At the last second he put his car into reverse and backed 1/4 mile out of the construction zone.
He must have complained to the boss, because later in the day the boss gave me a big grin but didn't say anything.
When it is 115F and a road crew is putting in 15 hour days, don't mess with them.
OK. This was a little off topic. Sorry. But it brightened my day then, and thinking about it brightened my day today.
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Post by steev on Feb 24, 2018 22:11:02 GMT -5
Went by the barbershop today (just a social venue for me) and picked up at least four days' odd-job work; Spring has sprung and here comes the quick-and-dirty-money season. Just in time, as we're getting caught up on regular maintenance and the specter of short weeks was looming.
Walt: there is much to be said for having a righteous upper hand when some self-centered sphincter exceeds his rights (oops, that actually wasn't directed at the Pres, but it does seem apropos).
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Post by steev on Feb 26, 2018 23:04:40 GMT -5
Started pruning the grape arbor (better late than never), got about half done; unloaded the truck-load of pots and such my landlady wanted out of her yard (have I mentioned I'm a pack-rat?); continued harvesting Narcissus, which should last 2-3 more weeks, before petering out.
Today was sporadic rain and/or hail, so not much work got done, but water, in any form, is welcome; days like this, I sit in the truck and read; with luck, there'll be enough rain to soften the ground so that I can finish up-caging the last two out-lying trees before the elk start coming around. With any luck, this rain will allow much of what I've planted to sprout through the silt-crust.
The same four paper-wasp queens have been hanging inside on the tool-shed door for months, waiting for warmer weather, to go forth and found new nests; I do love our distant cousins; couple weeks ago, I lifted the seat of the compooster, to find a different queen, redder than the paper wasps, under it; not something I wanted hanging out under the toilet seat, despite her being rather pretty; I just thought I'd be a tad "vulnerable", if she got aggressive.
Despite the weekly night-time lows getting the coldest of the Winter (fried all the lettuce I'd planted out), the soil is warming up enough that the lizards are digging out, very hungry. I wonder how many snakes are hanging out in my pile of bunny-bedding bags; prolly nicely warm, in there.
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Post by steev on Mar 1, 2018 2:09:42 GMT -5
Got to get some trees and overgrowth out of the back of my landlady's yard; refurbish the squirrel/rat cage; get ready to sprout transplants: corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, cukes, melons, and tomatilloes.
Must prune last year's asparagus fronds out, on the farm; the new is coming in; mowing weeds and tilling remains a priority.
Given that I don't get herbicide-contaminated compost this year, I hope to re-expand my plantings; I think the groundwater is currently decent, last year having been a decent rain year; but there are, of course, no guarantees, so I won't put the riega on auto, as that could cost me a $4000 pump, if the well gets overdrawn.
All this will be so much easier when I'm on the farm more, working for other people less and for myself more.
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