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Post by richardw on Mar 1, 2018 14:13:21 GMT -5
How deep is your ground water
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Post by steev on Mar 2, 2018 0:35:29 GMT -5
I have three wells drilled, only one operational at 100' (10gpm with a 6gpm pump) on the North; at the South is one 160' (6gpm, not plumbed, for eventual topping up of a projected pond, for fish, waterfowl, and crawdads); and a central 140' (24gpm. not plumbed); if I ever want to drop $16-$20k, I could get one at 400' that would give me more water than I'd know what to do with; I doubt I'll ever do that, but my heirs might.
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Post by richardw on Mar 2, 2018 22:38:55 GMT -5
Some of the dairy farmers around here have wells of around 130m which produces some of the best water you can get, those deep aquifers have very good recharge from the mountains so we full 20 liter containers from those wells for our drinking because be fucked if i'm drinking the shit thats pipped to our watertank supplied by our council, some of the pipes are clay and were layed in the 1940's so they add chlorine to it.
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Post by steev on Mar 5, 2018 22:52:41 GMT -5
There'd been ~1" of rain on the farm, judging from a bucket; can't say for sure, as it had clearly been very blustery, breaking my rain gauge and doing some fence-damage; think lots of the early bloom looks fried.
Lizards and ground-squirrels are appearing.
Rain/hail off and on last week in the East Bay, but we're still half of normal TD and a third of last year TD.
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Post by steev on Mar 12, 2018 22:48:51 GMT -5
Replaced the broken rain-gauge with a larger, plastic one; doubt it'll last much more than a year, the UV being so unimpeded by dirty air, on the farm; oh, well; plenty of time to look for a good one. Can't bitch too much about the UV, it sure cranks up my "farmer's tan" toute suite.
Waltzed Sukie about a bit; hasn't been wet enough to rot much of the weeds previously tilled in; some of the soil is remarkably dry, given the month; normally, things should be sopping; oh, well, it is what it is.
Got the last out-lying trees up-caged; I begin to suspect I'm half as strong as I was when half my age; didn't see that coming, back then. Didn't look ahead much at all, truth be told.
Driving back the "back" way, passed three bull elk with ~8" antlers; glad I got my trees up-caged before those buggers want to strop off their velvet; sure would like to harvest one, but it's totally verboten; haven't eaten elk since I was a teenager. My high-school girlfriend's dad was a hunting nut, so their freezer was stocked with game; her mother was a fine cook; being a hungry teenager, I always liked being there at suppertime; the only thing I liked eating more than her mom's cooking was her daughter.
Another thing that struck me is that while I've seen cattle loose on the road from the fenced areas, I've never seen cattle on the road in the free-range area, but today there were many such; I've no idea what that means.
I think the Narcissus harvest is drawing down; I do enjoy them, if only because the critters don't eat them; oddly enough, I planted some tulips which also survive, despite their being perfectly edible.
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Post by steev on Mar 20, 2018 3:49:34 GMT -5
Continued waltzing Sukie about; think I've got some lanes de-weeded and worked up enough for corn; Joseph's Cherry Sweet (yellow-blue selection) is of particular interest to me; not sure when I can plant corn out, temps still dropping below 32F, but I think it's time to start transplants in TP rolls, here in Oakland; feels like an uncommonly early planting season; no guarantee there wont be hard frost through May, but I'm not in charge here.
Spuds are starting to sprout in the pump-house; I think Spring is starting to sproing.
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Post by steev on Mar 21, 2018 21:39:08 GMT -5
There'd only been 0.3" rain on the farm last week, but we're getting some Pineapple Express, so I'm hoping for good rain this week.
The guy drawing plans for a farmhouse (a semi-retired general contractor) and I are now in process of working up something that will get permitted; he'll set me up with his East Bay materials wholesalers; he knows a local guy who's good with framing for reasonable wages; things seem to be falling into place. I hope to meet him this weekend for some show-and-tell; he'll be hoping for me to cross his palm with some gummint paper; I think we'll both be gratified.
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Post by steev on Mar 26, 2018 22:55:41 GMT -5
The buckets showed 1.5" of rain; that rain-gauge showed almost nothing; clearly a POS.
Mowed and tilled more planting lanes; think I'm on schedule to be ready for planting out; still getting frost.
Had show-and-tell with the contractor to firm up understanding of my wants and the county's regulations; we're in agreement: tell them nothing we don't have to; make upgrades after the assessor has gone. He knows the local skilled tradesmen, so I'll have access to help who are more experienced than I, at prices in my range. I'm thinking I'll be at "MIWITZ END" this year on PlanT Farm (way past PlanB).
He also thinks he may need some landscaping help around his house. I think this construction is really gonna integrate me into the community much more than I have been, not being social or church-going and all; he gets that I'm not a lot concerned about resale value, putting the farm into a family trust; like my last two trucks, I'll drive my current truck until one of us dies (I'm betting on the truck pooping out first; only the good die young). He gets my "Freeconomics/Freakonomics" view of things, so we're on the same page about recycling materials. I'm really stoked (chuffed, eh?) about all this. In for a penny; in for my whole damned stash. Here we go down the rapids, yippee-ky-yay!
Garlic, onions, favas, cardoons, and Patience dock are all coming along; spuds are chitting in the pump-house; I still don't have a reliable helper, but I'm optimistic; I'm still waking up on the green side of the grass.
There used to be a metals re-cyclery at Mare Island that carried commercial-grade galvanized roofing (what's on the pump-house) but he says it's gone, although he has a contact that installs anti-rust-painted galvanized roofing from which we can get "scrap" lengths cheap; downside being it that won't all be the same color; he hasn't seen my stacks of discontinued tile that's going to spiff up the house's concrete-slab floor. All roofs, floors, and cats are gray in the dark; if I cared about looking "au courant" I'd have had a haircut since May 31, 1975; it's getting shorter, anyway; that gray hair is more brittle. I'm flashing on how antlered males start growing less-impressive racks as they pass their peak. Damn! I've become a fewer-points buck. Ladies! I'm more sensitive and caring!
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Post by steev on Mar 29, 2018 21:34:21 GMT -5
So I'm trying to put the farm into a family trust so it can't be sold before I'm cold (not that it would sell rapidly; there's ten acres across the road that's been on the market >7 years; it's just not a valley that's going to develop, being "remote" and water-poor; lovely, IMHO). My daughter will have no children, so it will eventually go to my brother's sons, who have kids. I don't know what is the problem, but I can't get him to send me the legal names, birth-dates, addresses, and phone numbers of the relevant people; he seems to have issues with lawyers, but he's not screwing my lawyer, he's screwing me; perhaps he thinks I'm putting an obligation on him, but he can't have any active role until I'm dead or incompetent (I expect to out-live him, being fitter, though older, and having an active life-style; he golfs once a week, less than the SOS POTUS). His inadequate responses to my requests for data, so these papers can be filed, are really monkey-wrenching. I'm going to try to go around him, which he may resent, but he's blocking my efforts to give HIS progeny, not an obligation, but an opportunity (he does have issues with his sons, but I think it's letting him drive them into issues with me. I own more level, cleared California land than our family has owned since 1880; I think that's a valuable asset; they aren't making much more of that and if the sea rises, there will be less).
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Post by richardw on Mar 30, 2018 1:20:20 GMT -5
Your thinking is very much inline with how i view our block, a family trust will in time need to be set up as i dont want it to also to be sold when i finally get to the old coot stage of life
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Post by steev on Apr 2, 2018 22:08:53 GMT -5
I spoke to my brother's wife, and he seems to have gotten the needed info to my lawyer (because I was going around him?); in any event, the deal seems to be going through. He may have issues with my being concerned about end-of-life, but the way people drive, I could die in a car-be-que any weekend, driving to or from the farm; I don't expect to, but that sort of thing happens even when you don't expect it. I don't think "I didn't expect this!" stops shit from happening.
In other news, I tilled some more; it's remarkable how dry the soil is; clearly too dry to germinate seeds (I'm talking blowing silt-snot. here); I'm not too optimistic about this year's crops. Planted out a bunch of leeks a client was unhappy with; if all they do is produce seed this year, I'll be fine.
The south stock-pond is maybe 30% larger, but that's still much lower than normal.
The neighbors across the road, being somewhat strapped for pasture, stuff not growing all that lushly, will be up-grading the electric fencing on my un-used front six acres to run their goats (I'll be happy to pop for the materials); I'm not using those acres, so I'm glad to let them; it's about community; down the road, maybe I'll get some cabrito, eh? At least, I'll be rid of a lot of star-thistle and other weeds; a good deal all around, IMHO, and no gummint paper changing hands.
Finally got around to gathering some Eastern Redbud pods (more small trees than our shrubby Western Redbuds); must get Mountain Ash and Peruvian Pepper berries soon, to vernalize these for eventual forestation of the farm, as well as Toyon, Manzanita, and Ceanothus; I think all these will do fine there, providing beauty (which I'm a slut for), shade, and wind-break. Italian Stone Pines have certainly made the cut. In any normal rain year, judicious planting-timing and mulching should establish these without irrigation. I'll have to cage all these to prevent deer/elk damage, unless I fence the whole farm, which I'm inclined to favor, to keep the coyotes off my cats and poultry and the pigs off my veggies. It'll be a big, spendy job, but so much less subsequent work than piecemeal efforts.
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Post by steev on Apr 9, 2018 20:51:26 GMT -5
Things are starting to grow like crazy, especially weeds; asparagus is coming in; favas are blooming, though none are over 12" tall; narcissus is finished, but tulips are blooming (they're not fenced, so it always surprises me that the deer don't eat them); bearded iris is budding; bumble-bees and other native bees are working the flowering weeds, while honeybees are concentrating on blooming fruit trees; the over-wintered wasp queens have built their nursery-nests and laid eggs for their early workforce; grapes are leafing out.
First mosquito of the season: she won't be having any offspring, but she'd sure sucked plenty of blood out of me, before I smashed her; last year, despite ample+ rain, there were blessedly few, but they may have re-built their population, after years of drought.
I need to start corn in TP rolls, for planting out in May, but I forgot to bring seed of the blue/yellow from Joseph's Cherry Sweet back from the farm; that's the one I'm most curious about, hoping to get more of its red/dark red variant.
I expect to hear from the contractor in a week or so, so we can start hashing out the details of my granny-flat-to-be; he had a shoulder-replacement last week; he was in Danville for years, so I must remember to ask whether he has a contractor's card with Devil Mountain wholesale nursery, a very valuable resource, which I don't currently have access to.
Thursday I go see the lawyer to finalize the trust arrangements.
"The cheese is binding!", as they say.
Down the back way, Bear Valley is awash in great swathes of yellow, orange, blue, or lavender low-growing wildflowers in the pasturage; beats the hell out of driving on the freeway.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 9, 2018 23:43:28 GMT -5
Hey steev: Nice to see that you are still posting, and didn't get washed out to sea in that storm! |
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Post by steev on Apr 13, 2018 0:58:50 GMT -5
Got the trust firmed up; talked to my brother; he's SO paranoid about lawyers; got some interesting info about Pop's will (thought there wasn't one; going to have to work that out with my bro, who may have misinformed me, since I was never informed that there was one, nor that I was left $1 {to prevent any further claim}; family is SUCH a comfort, especially when there's money involved); never got the $1, which could have tipped the fiddle. I'm not really concerned, having made my own way since my 20's, on my own, but it rankles a tad relating to my daughter, who has an inheritance coming (owed)?
Nevertheless, I forge on to leave my land to family, thinking that the best thing to do, having lost our land years ago, I have a shot at fixing that; if it doesn't work, I'll be dead and not give a husky fuck.
BTW, Joseph, we're only ~2/3 NTD and 1/2 last year TD.
Not to worry, I'll not be washed out to sea; here in Cali, we have strict regulations about pollution (just one reason why the current administration hates us).
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Post by steev on Apr 13, 2018 19:38:25 GMT -5
Went to my last client du jour; they've been after me to cut down a tree they fear will fall; yep, fallen tree, but not the one they worried about; guess that's my work tomorrow.
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