My only complaint is that this didn't happen when I was a boy. I always wanted an absolute buttload of snow like this. I guess it just came a little late. Also, I'm not sure what the status on my hoophouse is. I'm pretty sure it's completely submerged. I guess I'll find out in a few days.
Look how close the snow level is to the doorknob, and how much snow is hanging off the roof.
We had cars yesterday!
Not the first, nor the last time the composters have been or will be buried.
Kitchen window, second floor.
Double overalls: Ready to go outside!
Oh boy.
Chickens in the snow. Some snow drifted in through the ventilation.
The chickens were super thirsty this morning from hanging out in the coop all day and all night.
This week was pretty lousy. One of the chickens known as The Grump (there are two) started looking really haggard at the beginning of the week- red, irritated-looking vent, generally grumpiness (even worse!) nasty shits, and a drippy backside. It kept getting worse, and I planned to bathe the offensive-smelling nastybutt chicken on Friday afternoon after work. The bird barely protested the warm sudsy water, but upon cleaning the chicken, it was apparent to me that something was seriously wrong. The vent looked prolapsed. I knew this was bad.
I put the bird in quarantine until I could figure out what the problem was. I realized that it was Vent Gleet, the chicken version of a yeast infection YUCK!! We weren't about to put her back in with the flock in that condition. Quarantine consisted of a rubber bin with shavings and some wire clamped over the top in the basement next to the furnace where it's nice and warm.
Flash-forward to this morning when we were planning to "do the deed" as we were referring to it- kill the chicken and put her out of her misery. The question was what to do with the bird afterward. We have always planned to eat these chickens as well as their eggs, but who wants to eat a sick chicken? Is it even safe? I tried to contact the Ag Extension program, but it was Friday afternoon and they were closing in 20 minutes. The best thing to do was to go through with the slaughter, and put the carcass in the freezer until Monday, when I can contact somebody at the Ag station.
So, that's what we did. The chicken formerly known as The Grump is in a pot in the refrigerator. I hope that it will be safe to eat, but if not, I still know we did the right thing. I asked at the feed store yesterday about when they'll be taking orders for chicks and they said in a few weeks. I think there might be some more butchering in our near future, too.
The Grump was a good chicken. She may have been the first to lay an egg just a few weeks ago. I feel terrible that she had to suffer for a few short days with a drippy gross butt, but it's done now.
It just so happened that we needed bread, I was off from work today, and I've been wanting to make a Ciabatta. I've never made one before, but we do eat an awful lot of them. I figured it couldn't be too hard, but I knew that they require a really high hydration dough, which can be tough to work with. Despite telling myself last night that I needed to figure out which recipe I'd use while I still had time, predictably, I didn't do it. Thus I found myself this morning looking for an "easy" recipe. I don't like no-knead bread recipes, or any other type of lazy-way-out. I found a "quick" ciabatta recipe from a trusted source, the pictures looked good, and the comments were almost unanimously in favor of the method described in the recipe. So I got to work.
I was initially a little worried about the temperature of our apartment (a hair above freezing-ass-cold) because the recipe said that the dough should TRIPLE! GAHHH! Anyway, I mixed the dough and flopped it into the KitchenAid mixer bowl (been dying for an excuse to use it). After just a few minutes, the mixer was walking across the kitchen floor and the dough was flapping comically against the sides of the bowl.
Fast forward to the agonizing rise. After four hours (the recipe said usually within 2.5) I wasn't sure if the dough had tripled, so I put it directly in front of a space heater. That lasted about 5 minutes before I was ready to just go for it. Luckily, it turned out great!! I'm really happy with these loaves. I could have shaped them a little better (the dough was reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally soft) but I got really nice blisters in the crust, and the best crumb of any bread I've baked yet.
Finally, here are the pictures!!!
I also managed to build myself some sweet plywood shelves for my records/ stereo to go along with Naomi's decluttering project.
We wish to set up a semi- self- contained household unit, based largely on a use economy, and, as far as possible, independent of the price-profit economy which surrounds us. The Good Life- Scott and Helen Nearing
As much as Naomi and I have spent time doing physical work associated with living a more self- sufficient life, we've spent time finding ways to hone our skills as well. Below is a partial list of some of the books I've read in the past year that have either directly or indirectly aided me with skills, ideas, suggestions, or other information in this ongoing quest. They're listed in no particular order other than the one in which I happen to recall them Naomi has arranged them. Five Acres and Independence by M.G.
Kains(1935) Dover Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's
Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and A Better World by Joel
Salatin(2011) Center Street Press Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save
Mankind by Gene Logsdon(2010) Mini Farming: Self- Sufficiency on 1/4
Acre by Brett L. Markham(2010) Skyhorse Publishing Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can
Help Save the World by Paul Stamets(2005) Ten Speed Press Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage
of Fruits & Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel(1991) Storey Publishing Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth(2002)
Seed Savers Exchange, Inc. Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A
Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening by Sepp
Holzer(2004) Chelsea Green Publishing Company Small Scale Grain Raising by Gene
Logsdon(1977) Rodale Press, Inc Teaming with Microbes: The Organic
Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels(2010) Timber Press Weeds: Guardians of the Soil by Joseph
A Cocannouer(1950) The Devin-Adair Company
I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that really stuck out in my mind. My To-Read list is twice as long, and I hope I can get through more of them in enough time to make a meaningful impact in the coming season!
Yesterday morning I let the chickens out, and discovered 2 small brown eggs in the corner of the coop closest to the nest boxes (so close!) I ecstatically ran into the house shouting for Naomi to bring the camera. I was suspect that they were both from that morning, so I decided to get the fork and sift through the bedding. I found a third egg. That evening when I went to close the coop, I found a fourth. It was only about 4 PM today that I found a fifth. I believe it's The Grump that's laying them. I need to get her to start laying in the nest box, but that's a project for later on in the week. I'll try making a step/perch to transition into the boxes, and moving eggs when I find them. I hope the others aren't far behind! The large egg in the picture was a double-yolker too!
I brought some pizza boxes and shredded paper down to the garden today. We've eaten a lot of pizza in the last week. I finally got a chance to bring the camera down to the garden as well, although we are getting close to looking for a new camera.
Pizza boxes featured just right of center.
Some Red Russian Kale seedlings, growing slowly but surely.
Through the entire twelve month cycle, we ate a great variety of fresh food. It was garden fresh from the first thaw in February-March to the heavy snows of December. The balance of time it came from an outside vegetable cellar. By following the seasons, we got a succession of foods- each at its peak. We enjoyed each in turn. We tired of none, but always looked forward to its coming in the new growing season. The Good Life- Scott and Helen Nearing
Well, here we are. The day's almost done, and my ass is still intact. The world may not have ended, but Winter sure came in with a roar.
I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops splattering on glass and wind roaring through the attic. We've gotten almost 3 inches of rain in the last week, too. But it's all uphill from here. The days will start getting a little noticeably longer from here on out, albeit a little colder.
I think the chickens are getting a little closer to laying. The Grump has been doing some submissive squatting whenever we approach her, and Naomi said the Grump's been cuddling into a little nest directly in the center of the coop. She'll figure out what the nest box is for when the time comes.
I still haven't gotten down to the garden to take pictures of the hoophouse setup, nor the kale slowly creeping along inside it, but I did manage to get some batteries for the camera. That's at least a step in the right direction. My beet sprouting project (pictured above) is still working out well. We've been enjoying fresh beet greens every week or so. The tops aren't growing at record rates, but it's nice to see a little color. I've got some basil growing in a pot that's slowly making some progress, too. This time last year, I was thinking about starting a few flats of onion seeds. I think this year I'll wait a little longer until I start them, as they seemed to be imprisoned indoors last year for far too long and got overcrowded in their little flats.
So far, I've managed to keep this blogging project going for almost a full year. Aside from occasionally keeping up with this blog, I've got copious notes, diagrams, lists, spreadsheets, and other documentation of our garden progress. Seed catalogs for 2013 have started rolling in. I eagerly look forward to the arrival of some of my favorites, with anticipation of discovering varieties I've overlooked in past seasons, helpful tidbits of information, and of course, gorgeous pictures that uplift my winter soul.
Finally, some things worth sharing today are featured below. The first is the trailer to a beautiful documentary that we watched earlier this evening entitled Journey of the Universe, and it came out of Yale University. Its message of the absolute beauty and power of life on Earth is very inspiring to me.
And finally, as I do every year on this day, I listened to the song below. Although I don't willingly seek such a bleak message these days as I once did, it's still fitting as a welcome to a time of the slowing of otherwise prolific life. The last line seems particularly familiar, as I look to the year's bounty to keep us going through the season. The winter tears the earth apart, lets hope we see it through.
This post was originally drafted on December 1, 2012 with the intention of adding a few pictures and posting it.
A few weeks ago, I started a flat of kale seeds, some Red Russian Kale, and I actually forgot what the other one was, maybe Lacinato. They slowly got to the point where all the seedlings in the tray had their first pair of true leaves, so I planted them in the ground inside the hoophouse today. I checked the water buckets by the well, and they each had a plate of ice floating in them about an inch thick. Inside the hoophouse, I have a dark purple rubber container with about 15 gallons of water in it. I checked that, and it was ice-free- a good sign.
Aside from the 15 gallons of water in a dark container, I've got a row of cinderblocks along the northern side. The big thermometer on the Ash tree at the bottom of the hill said it was 32 degrees, and the little thermometer inside the hoophouse said it was just above 40- another good sign considering today is overcast.
I'm curious to see what happens, because I don't really know anything about using a hoophouse. I'm hoping to get a lot of experience with it over the winter and into the spring.
