What Would You Do If This Were You?

My wonderful second child Annie helping me remove this cranky old oak after a storm left it on a perimeter fence line.

Homesteaders of the "new age".  The original homesteaders came often from far away and I often wonder what would they think of this modern day group? Homesteading wasn't a choice for them it was a necessity. And the levels of "homesteading" including the reasons they are chosen are sometimes light years from we modern day homesteaders. We run the gambit of urban even apartment living homesteading to the Kilcher Family Homestead.  And wait despite the "reality" show twist this was an amazing family venture from the 1940's. And all fashions and locations in between the two examples. But I think homesteaders have a few traits in common. Do it the best we can, with the least waste and in the appropriate amount of time. Also we all seem to be looking for a way to make it better more suited to the purpose and most beneficial to the cause as a whole. 

After this introduction here is my dilemma . I am , as so many of us are, living in the present but our minds are a season or two ahead. Because our lifestyle often requires thinking ahead as things aren't as simple as a drive to the big box store down the mountain.

I planted my first solo garden here at the new farm. I had a bit of small raised bed experience and growing in pots through the years. But the garden the real deal for many years was the responsibility of my late husband. I was the cook, canner and animal care. The three C's.  

Existing Site A

This was fenced for the dogs and not a garden. However it makes a perfect area  for a garden except it only gets full sun about 5 hour to 6 hours a day. However I do have a water source at hand and the area is completely fenced in.

If I were to keep this area the plan would be as follows. I would remove the raised beds and stock tanks. I would fence the inner area going from the corner of the dog kennel closest to the front giving a 20 ft width. I would extend the fencing back (to the right side) to the perimeter fencing. With that done I would have a 20’x40’ area. I would then run my rows length wise given me up to 8 rows 2.5 ft wide. Or less if desired. They would be raised up 12-18 inches with 2 ft wide hardware cloth on the ground as we have horrible gophers. The inside fencing would be 48” high and a gate for access. The pups would still maintain the 20x10 kennel area and a yard section to the front of the fence that would be about 15’ wide and 40’ long. Which they can occupy when I am gone from home. Leaving the pups still in the area as predator control. 

Potential Site B

Squint hard and look past the perimeter back fence toward the livestock trailer. The same sized or larger space could be put in as above and fenced as above. The garden would then enjoy more hours of direct sunlight. However doing this would require more fencing since the fencing to the left by the large eucalyptus tree is field fencing with squares large enough to accommodate an elephant.  OK I exaggerate a bit lol.

Plus there is currently no working water source in the area but one could be put in. Remember I live in an area where hoses are our best friends. Also there are no dogs any where near that area and I know from this year having the pups in the area does deter the ground squirrels.

So with all that said is it site A or site B the only advantage is more full sun through the day? I feel confident rearranging the A site I will be able to have enough plants of multiple varieties I can fill my pantry. However that will be true with site B but with more work and more initial cash outlay. Please give reasons and any suggestions in your reply.

 

Everything Old Is New Again

Chloe on her morning stroll 

Inherited with cabin purchase what is this beauty?

Owner said Calla lily not so sure. 

Harvested two varieties of basil this morning. This is Lavender Basil. I love it!

Hanging to dry with Sweet Italian 🌿 Reminds me of many years ago when this was a weekly chore. 

Too Much Time Spent At The Warping Board How About A Photo Tour

What is cuter than baby cucumbers?

                      Perhaps baby beans?

Itsy Bitsy Tweeny Weeny Honeydew?

Little Tomatoes ?

             

         Juvenile pepper plant from seed! 

            

Tiny radishes 

         The big sibling of the Honeydew family

Almost a zucchini? 

       One of three baby pumpkins hope they make it!

Weft Warp What ?!

Some people call it hoarding I call it controlled chaos. And one that has laid untouched for over two years. And this is only the tip of the iceberg . Included in the inventory are two more of those handy dandy storage boxes full of weaving cones and implements.   And that doesn't count an eight shaft floor loom with a  48 inch weaving width and not one but two four shaft table looms both with a 24 inch weaving width. 

And wait if you call before midnight PDT there are two spinning wheels and numerous amounts of ready to spin fiber. All of course purchased with the best of intentions. And then there is the knitting collection well maybe we will just pass that one over. An addiction? Maybe. An expression of a craft? Perhaps. Lets be honest the road to Hell is paved with fiber  good intentions.

Exhibit A .  Recently purchased as my reentry weaving project . But it is for someone (name unmentioned to protect the innocent) as a gift. I have this good intention  bad habit of seeing something someone family, friends, next door neighbor would like and then swooping down on it . Any reason excuse will do. But this one will be done but then it dawned on me I am a bit weaving rusty and perhaps I should begin my weaving journey with something a bit less involved?  So this lovely will be tackled after I test the waters with the project below. 

This little gem has advantages. One I wove it before my weaving hiatus about four years ago. The colors were as pictured in the photo on the info card.  I loved it easy peasy so I think it will be a no brainer for reentry to weaving and using a new to me via my good friend Janet (of Holiday ranch in Shasta) my neighbor back then. Just before she moved to the outback of Nevada I bought to lighten her load. See? I am always ready to help a friend when needed. I will use the new colors to help whittle down my stash. 

 Boy was this ever delish! I BBQed a small lamb sirloin roast and the last of my California 

State University, Fresno  farm stand white corn. BBQ is a new venture for me as Geoffrey was the grill person at our place. I missed it and wanted to cook outside on warmer days. This is my second attempt the first being chicken and the lamb is local from our Farmers Market

                                                                                              

                                                                                

The cucumber salad is the first of the season of my Persian crop marinated in a nice red wine vinegar dressing

For the last of the Monday report how about a few photos of Mama Hen and her sweet Nuggets? I gave them a third of my lunch a small watermelon. The older birds got the larger two thirds of course I enjoyed most of it before they got to it. I was most impressed at this good Mama when she called her trio over and proceeded to pull small pieces of melon out of the rind and tossed each chick a piece all the while clucking instructions to them as to proper table etiquette.

 

Another Toasty Day In Paradise

Hail the ever blooming and almost prehistoric in size zucchini. But just now in mid July establishing edible squashes (is that the term?) yet to come to ripeness. I am hoping since this round three or is it four comes to a positive conclusion. Perhaps zucchini bread, zucchini latkes , salad fixings and all those things one does with zucchini. I have a vision of public acclaim and perhaps my own website bearing the awesome title California Woman Who Can't Grow Zucchini. All when for years I have thought that zucchini could take over the world simply by tossing the last of the crop into a unsuspecting compost pile. 

Then there are two of the largest of all the potential Rocky Persian cucumbers. I love these little guys . I originally purchased Persian cucumbers at Trader Joes many years back. These are gentle on my tummy and apparently a good variety for pickling, 

A good number on the plant at various stages of maturity. Getting anxious!

 

Another Patio Eggplant coming on. This little gem of a plant produces a mini eggplant that is 2-3 inches long when harvested and has a very tender edible skin. I enjoy them cut in about 1/8 inch slice and sautéed in olive oil with whatever other veggies cross my mind. I have harvested for almost a month at this date and enjoyed a couple of times a week. Even sent home some for my sister to try out. This great little plant will be in my garden next year!

  

Another little bell ringer is the Indigo Rose Tomato. The VW Bug of the tomato family. Compact and more like a bush the tomato's are about the size of a small apricot when ripe for eating and very mild . 

It is very prolific or just likes it here.

 

 

The standby Sun Golds. Prolific and very nice balance between sweet and acid. Sorry the fruit in the photo is not that lovely gold hue but at my garden those don't linger on the vine for very long. 😊

Itsy bitsy radishes coming up . 

I have several itsy Honey Dews growing. It will be interesting as they grow to see what kind of support system I come up with . I am hoping for those large spectacular  melons I get at the summer farmers market. Perhaps I shall give Miss. Dolly Parton a holler to see if she can send me any of her unmentionables to support my melons.

East side of front porch latticework done by my handy man on Friday.

Since we worked with as much of  product I had on hand a bit of creative thinking came into play.

The large rocks in front aren't holding up the add on . But at photo time hadn't been removed.

The far side of steps on back porch. the fronts of the top two are purchased redwood and the lower face was a redwood board in my shop stash left by the previous owner. The paving steps were there already just rearranged. The last one was installed this morning after photos yesterday. 

 

Same porch only SE view. The blueberries live in the pots . I got a nice little first year crop. The berry plants will get larger pots this summer to give room to go. Due to the gopher issue here I will continue to grow my blueberries in pots as I did in Shasta county. Only up in Shasta the goal of the pots was to be able to grow on my deck with more traffic so the birds became shy about cleaning them off lol.

The other project this weekend was my handyman's uncle hauling over his large wood splitter and making short work of the seven trees that PGE took down at their cost in October. The arbor company that did the harvesting kindly left them cut in 24 inch long logs and stacked them for curing. The trees are white oak and the curing is more rapid than the live oak we had in Shasta. Now that they are split in August and September we will be moving them to the new log area into a temporary storage situation. Unless I somehow manage to get the wood shed put up before then. 

It is toasty today but I have managed to limit the use of the air conditioner by closing up all windows and blinds angled to provide light but discourage blazing sunlight. On the back of the cabin I have the same lovely shades we had in Shasta. They deter 96% of the UV rays and drop the house temperature by six degrees or more. Right now it is 102 outside with 17 % humidity and 6mph SW winds. Inside it is 83 with 30% humidity with my three ceiling fans one in the kitchen dinning area, living room and top of the stairwell which influences the rooms upstairs. So far I have only run the AC mid June three very  humid (for us) and hot days. And  only a few hours setting it to go on only after it hit 80 degrees and then maintain that temperature. I try to keep all my windows open at night and until about 8 AM to 10 AM in the morning. 

So much for this and that. Have a great weekend and make time for a day of rest.

Blogging Is Becoming A Challenge

This is a fairly old photo of Helen about two to three years back. The bottom of the laundry basket was always Helen's go to place when she wasn't feeling well or when she was just done. I am beginning to think about looking on Amazon to see if they have laundry baskets in my size. I am about done with a laundry list of things but life was easier when producing a blog was more comfortable.

Mt. Lassen from my deck on Ash Creek. Yesterday my sister and I had lunch at a sweet little restaurant up the mountain a bit in a small town that is shrinking as years go by but seems to keep reinventing itself. We then took almost the rest of the drive to the entrance of Yosemite turning back a bit before the entrance as we knew we couldn't get into the park without a reservation per the new restrictions. But a nice day none the less when on the way back my sister asked the $50 question.

 Did I miss my life in Shasta? I think some what to her surprised I answered yes. I miss the topography. I miss my land and my fiber friends. I assured that her that I really do value and enjoy my new land and home . But there are some things that just can't be replaced. Such as living on a large acreage in the middle of free range cattle land. Or barely getting started on a journey that was in in the future for so long and suddenly wasn't in the cards anymore.  I shared with  Emily the second oldest Grandgirl after she asked "why didn't you stay there and were you scared?" I didn't stay because it wasn't practical and it wasn't fair to my family to be so far away. That sometimes you have to just , as Susan says, pull up those PGP and press on. You have to do what is best for herd and not what you want . And you get past the scared part when you get to the other side of the journey when you realize you can do it and you survived. And while  thinking about all this I think I tripped right over why , at least in part, blogging has become hard to do. 

I am finding my way in this new journey and just like the fourteen year old  who is still growing into their new size 10 boots life sometimes just gets uncomfortable. Getting used to the new protocol of blogging isn't helping my cause. Pictures won't load to my account and all the new icons feel weird. Like anything else a tincture of time will cure all the ills real or imagined and things will flow again. 

Just a shot in the dark when it is "normal" feet will fit into those boots that seemed so big and a rhythm will take place. 

 

Chicken Nuggets Arrived!

Two Buff Orpingtons

One Plymouth Barred Rock