Getting stuff done: Hugelkultur beds and greenhouse bed

With questions about my residency I'd put a few projects on hold but now that it's all cleared up I've gotten back to work.

I doubt it is possible to mouse-proof a greenhouse but I did my best. Last year they ate up my greens, this year hopefully it won't be so easy for them. I put some semi-composted chicken bedding into the soil and got some kale, lettuce, spinach and chard planted. We'll see what happens. I've also stapled up the remaining bubble wrap on the inside ceiling for an added layer of insulation. Last, I've got the north side wall that is shared with the chicken coop stacked up with an internal straw bale wall. I'll also put bales on the east side. I noticed last year that while the water filled black barrels never froze up they also never gained any noticeable heat. Yeah, they were thermal mass but not warm. What I did notice though was that the straw bales that were in there warmed up really well. I figure it can't hurt and will likely help a great deal. I'll share data as the winter progresses. I'll keep one barrel inside filled for watering the plants.

Next on the list, start the Hugelkultur beds in the little keyhole beds outside my cabin. For those that don't know, Hugelkultur is a form of raised garden bed using wood. This is especially important for me because the soil in this garden is contaminated with lead. Years ago this area was heavily mined and in fact the whole area is called the lead belt. The history of these towns is all based on the mining. Years later folk that probably shoud have known better but apparently didn't started using the tailings piles for roads, driveways and anywhere gravel, rock, or sand might be used. They used it around the lake on the roads and back in the 1970s and 80s they used it all around this place for the camp sites. Not smart. I could have them come in and take out the soil but frankly it is a huge mess and I don't necessarily trust the "soil" they bring in to replace the bad stuff. There's certainly nothing fertile about it as it is the brightest red clay you'll ever see. So, my intent is to build keep these beds raised high above the ground level, contaminated soil. I'll just rebuild them every couple of years until I've gotten several feet up.

Hugelkulter is not hard to explain but I found this excellent post that does the job well:

Hugelkultur: Using Woody Waste in Composting:

Hugelkultur is an ancient form of sheet composting developed in Eastern Europe. It uses woody wastes such as fallen logs and pruned branches in order to build soil fertility and improve drainage and moisture retention.

If you walk through a natural woodland, you will see many fallen logs and branches on the ground. The older these logs are, the more life they sustain. A log that has rested on the forest floor for five or ten years will be covered in moss, mushrooms, wildflowers and even young trees. Poke at it a little and you will notice that the decaying wood is damp in all but the most vicious of droughts.

Hugelkultur is designed to take advantage of the natural fertility and moisture-conserving qualities of rotting wood, while speeding the process of decomposition up. The heat produced by decomposition also helps protect cold-sensitive plants.

In the photos above you can see I've got the semi-rotted wood hauled in and ready to be covered with straw, chicken manure, the last several scoops of wood chips we have. That wood is stacked up about 20 inches.  I've got some good soil from our old wood pile (where this wood came from) and will just wheel barrel it down and add for the top layer. It's great stuff full of the rotted bark of lots of logs and is not contaminated. The final beds should be 24 inches above ground level.  I'll post photos of the beds when they are completed. These will absorb water all winter and in early spring will be like water filled sponges. The decaying wood will rob the soil of nitrogen so I'll have to fertilize these beds heavily with chicken manure but I think it will be good and is certainly better than digging and growing in contaminated soil.

Land Update

It's been a crazy roller coaster this past two weeks. Since my last update we went back and forth several times first thinking we had it worked out to then not and back and forth again. I didn't want to post until things seemed to settle into something solid enough to report. While there is no final resolution I feel pretty good at where we are at with things. Basically we are back to square one with much better communication and understanding. The land has been taken off the market and if it goes back on it will be up to each of the three siblings to keep or sell their own third and when it happens it will be offered to siblings/family first. If this pans out as it looks my dads share is safely within the family for many years so our work is now, in theory, protected. I don't want to say much at the moment but yeah, we're good. I have a feeling I'll be here for a long time to come. The side benefit is that after the past two weeks of thinking I was going to lose the place I now have a new appreciation for what I had come to take for granted.

Thanks to you all for following along and for your thoughtful, kind comments in the last post. Your words offered a great deal of comfort and encouragement and I greatly appreciate it.

Sad, Sad, Sad

Well, I've got some sad news to report. For me personally, actually, it is far beyond sad. Though it is not decided yet it is looking like our land is to be sold off which will mean the end of my little homestead project. My dad will be meeting with my uncle and aunt on Saturday. Of the three my uncle has no interest in keeping the place and is ready to sell immediately. My aunt, I think, does not really know. My dad wants to keep it since I live here and his children and grandchildren spend alot of time here. I really don't know which way it will go but fear the worst.  I don't have a clue as to what I'll do if it sells. I know that for certain I would leave immediately because I have no interest in staying any longer than I have to if it is to be sold. In my heart, if that is the case, I won't be able to bear looking at the trees, bushes, lake or anything else that is here. I knew one day the issue of ownership would need to be resolved but never thought it would come so soon or that there was such a strong tendency towards selling it rather than keeping it.

If it sells I'll have a share of the money but it goes without saying that it is nothing compared to the land and the lake and is certainly not enough to buy anything close to resembling the place. My siblings will be here later today and we'll be talking about the future. Not sure if they will want to pool resources to find another, much smaller bit of land or if I'll be on my own. I think if I'm on my own I'll be looking to find an established eco-village to live. I hate to leave the area and this little town that I've grown so fond of but I don't see myself renting a place in town, don't know that I'd want to buy a place in town either. Feeling kind of lost at the moment.

A Little Village

Yet another building is almost finished. Our well house, shower, guest cabin in process. We began by "harvesting" a couple of trailer loads of 2x4, 2x6, and plywood lumber from an old shack behind the dam. We've now salvaged enough from that old structure to build three buildings and have exhausted all the material that was useable. The idea was to rebuild our well house which was very small and not at all easy to do maintenance work in. It needed some work anyway. Rather than just repair it we decided to build something a bit bigger in which we could also put a shower and have some room for storing paint and other items that need to stay warm in the winter. I don't have much room in my cabin to store that stuff and last year kept in a sectioned off part of the chicken coop which is not an ideal place for it. Once we started building it we got to thinking that we had enough salvaged lumber to add on a short second story for extra sleeping space. The only added cost would be the plywood for the loft floor and the exterior siding. We had the old kids' playhouse which was originally built from shipping crates and pallets so that wood has now been repurposed twice! We cut them down to size and put them up. The top floor is now mostly enclosed with roof on, will sleep 3-4 folks though at 5.5 feet it is not a standard height and requires a bit of stooping. With my nephew at 14 he may be wanting to bring down friends then there is my brother and his hunting buddies and I get the occasional visitor so having some extra sleeping space would be good. We purchased the siding and metal roof, all other lumber was salvaged as was the insulation. And yes, my brother in law Greg did come down off the roof eventually. I love the crazy shape of this thing... kinda feels like a tree house or a watch tower. We'll probably be putting a deck/walkway on the west and south facing sides. The view from this top floor is really nice. Not only the lake but the garden and other structures we've put up. It is really starting to feel like a little village.

Conservation and Land Ethic

A great article on the Sand Prairie Conservation Area in Missouri, The Vasculum: Strolling the Remnants: Sand Prairie Conservation Area included this quote from Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac in one of the comments. It's been awhile since I read it but I will again very soon:

‘All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for). The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these ‘resources,’ but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state. In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.’

Thanks to Bill for the link.

Early Fall

I've really been enjoying the sustained cool weather of late summer. I'm trying to get caught up on my winter firewood. I should get it chopped in spring and early summer so it dry out all summer but coming off of winter I'm usually chopping wood daily for the next day and getting the spring garden going so I once the weather warms I've had my fill of chopping and put it off. Right now it's not a big problem as much of the wood I have has been down for a few years and seems to dry pretty darn fast once I've chopped it up and gotten it covered. In the next couple days I should be able to get enough wood done to last me through December. If the weather is good over the next week or two I should be able to get enough done to get me through January or February. I actually don't mind chopping in the winter as it is the only exercise I get and it warms me up on a cold day... as the saying goes, wood warms you up twice.

Aside from the wood I'm slowly working through the jungle of weeds that the summer garden became when I gave up on it. Putting them as a big layer of mulch out around the blueberries so they'll compost into the soil. There is no doubt the soil around here has been greatly improved over the past two years. So much looser and full of earthworms and nutrients... yes, I'm very happy with the soil!  Really, that's what I love the most is the soil. I enjoy gardening but I love enriching the soil and digging my hands into it. I'll probably cover the garden this fall with lots of cardboard and straw which I did not do last fall or spring, hence all the weeds. As I said recently I don't plan to plant the garden next year. I'll just let it sit and rest. The real problem is it is way too big for one person.

Next big outside project is to get any rotten wood hauled up into the small garden to start the Huegelkultur process. Next year I'll focus on a smaller area and see what I can produce. I think I'll be alot happier. Other than that we've got to get the new well house built and I've got to get my new waterline winterized. Oh, yeah, I've got water straight from the well now! I don't think I mentioned that before. So nice to turn on the faucet and have cold, drinkable water! That luxury will make living here in the winter so much easier!

Bees and chickens, chickens and bees. I don't know if I want to keep the bees. I hate to give up on a project but I just don't know that I want to keep them and am leaning towards selling them. I spent a good bit of time this past fall and spring keeping them well fed with sugar water. I did everything (almost) by the book and had such an amazing healthy hive back in March only to have it split twice and end up with a fairly small hive that hasn't produced much in the way of honey. We got one good, full frame which gave us two pints of beautiful, sweet honey. The remaining frames are only partially pulled out and capped. Not counting the equipment investment,  I probably spent $15 in sugar... those are two very expensive pints of honey! You could argue that the cost of the boxes, if spread out over 10 years is a good investment but the sugar water is something that has to be fed ongoing. On the one hand I do love certain aspects of bee keeping but I'm not sure it is enough to keep them. It's a project that only gets bigger and more time consuming as the hives grow and split and grow and split.

The chickens have been another frustration this summer. The egg harvest went way, way down and really I was/am confused about what the exact cause was. Part of the problem was my own doing I think. Somehow I missed the lesson about the importance of calcium in their diet. I knew they needed it and had been feeding them their ground up egg shells. I did not realize just how important it was though and didn't know that I should probably also be feeding them oyster shells. I did notice their shells were not real strong and then a funny thing started happening. Egg production started to decline back in June and I also started noticing eggs with just a membrane or in some cases no shell at all. They would just sort of lay a blob of egg. This was happening at the same time that black snakes moved in and started stealing eggs. I think I captured at least 8 in July and August. But because of the snakes I didn't realize that they were starting to lay fewer eggs.  Add to this mix the fact that I caught the hens themselves eating a few eggs and I've got at least three or four variables/explanations. As of the past two or three weeks I've been lucky to get 2-3 eggs a day from 11 hens.

While I do adore my girls I don't keep them as pets and I want to be able to sell enough eggs that they at least pay for their feed.  I've been feeding them oyster shells for a month and am hoping that helps with the soft shell and reduced egg laying. In a way it may be a  good thing that they are taking a break from laying because I'm seeing that they are getting their feathers back. Now that I've got their diet fully rounded with the calcium source I'm hoping that perhaps we'll go into the fall with fully feathered, rested hens that have a more balanced diet. I feel terrible that my ignorance contributed to them not being as healthy as they should be.

All in all it was a difficult summer but we've made real progress. A covered porch, running water, renovated interior in the red cabin, lots of new perennial garden beds and no major losses. Kerry and Greg and the kids will be able to spend alot more time down here thanks to the red cabin remodel so that is good news. In theory the work done this summer should make for more frequent and more comfortable visits for my folks as well since they stay in the red cabin too. The next big project is a porch for the red cabin which we should be able to knock out in a couple weekends next spring. There's a good bit of perennial landscaping I'd like to do around the cabins next spring but nothing too crazy. Next year should provide lots more time for enjoyment and less time with construction.

 

The Gulland Forge Broadfork!

The UPS guy showed up a little bit ago to deliver my new, hand-made broadfork gifted to me by Larry Cooper. He makes them by hand and let me tell you, what an awesome tool. The ash handles had a really nice smell thanks to the linseed oil/turpentine finish and I pushed them into the metal fork assembly. It was then that I noticed the engraving "Our Tomorrow" which, honestly, brought a tear to my eye. Just when I thought such a gift could not possibly get any better there is that thoughtful detail. Larry: THANK YOU.

I've not had a chance to use it much yet as I was eager to post this. But I DID use it a bit and wowza, this is one fantastic tool. It just works, like an extension of the body. I stepped on to the center of it and my weight pushed it into the earth and then I just gave it a gentle rock back to loosen the soil. I can't wait to work some beds with this! Everything about it from the handles to the tines just feels so solid. America needs to return to this kind of hand-made quality.

Will post more when I've had a real chance to give the broadfork a real workout!