There's a Party in my Compost and Everyone's Invited!

As anyone who knows me knows, I get really excited about compost. It's just heaps of fun. So, with a new homestead to set up, I enjoyed spending some quality time with my honey this past weekend working outside and getting the pallet compost bins built to hold the beginnings of an amazing compost pile. We rounded up all the weeds and trimmings from clearing the garden and berry bushes, and layered that with lovely wood ashes, chopped up blackberry canes, decomposing leaves, various gnawed bones left by the past occupant's dog, coffee grounds and old compost from a bin by the barn. As soon as I get the chicken coop cleaned this week I'll add a little manure and some more leaves, bring some cocoa bean husk home from work, sprinkle it with a little water here and there, and voila! We will have compost.

It's a seriously magical process, folks.

I found this leftover sign from the housewarming when I was cardboard sheet mulching, and decided to hang it up to let all those microorganisms and decomposers know that there was a party going on in our compost pile to which they were all invited. With my birthday right around the corner, it seemed right to just keep the good times rolling and make it known that there's a party in the compost bin and we're serving up some delicious decomposition cake! 

What's Happening on the Homestead

Moving to a new homestead in the Spring can make for some busy times, and many rewarding results. The past few weekends have been spent with tools and wheelbarrows in hand, putting our efforts into settling in and getting set up for the oncoming growing season. Blackberries have been pruned to free up grapes, weeds have been pulled, potatoes and onions have been planted, and this weekend the garden was tilled. Somewhere in all these long days, we've managed to sleep, cook good meals, go to work during the week and have a couple of adventures and a live banjo show thrown in the mix. Life is nothing short of rich and full these days.

We borrowed Helen the rototiller from our friends this past weekend, and in very short time, the fallow garden that was growing weeds became a fluffy, rich brown expanse of soil. Corey went over it three times, raked out grass clumps, and we had a beautiful garden to work with.

Being the hard working team we are, it didn't take much time to hoe up rows and mulch a path down the center. It was amazing to stand back and see what had been a weed patch in the morning transformed into a respectable garden. It was lovely working with a garden patch that had obviously been well established and well used, and made for one of the few times things went faster than I expected with farm work.

 We got the potatoes and onions planted the other week, and now only had to fill in some seed onions where the sets didn't take, and put the few starts I got going at the farm in the raised bed. This year I did cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, basil and tomatilloes and plan to do all the rest from direct seeding.

My very favorite thing that went in the raised bed was this great find from my trip to Territorial Seed Company in April. I can't wait to have someone over to dinner and tell them the name of their salad.

I think my very favorite part was getting the compost bins built out of pallets and starting the compost pile. With so many great materials like yard debris, leaves, wood ash, old compost and grass clippings to layer, I am quite proud of my creation. I threw up a sign leftover from the housewarming to invite all the decomposers over to have a compost party. Expect more on that later.

The kids spent some time on their annual resurrection of "Dude" the scarecrow. It's a laborious task, that requires many breaks and headstands, but the finished result is always a lot of fun.

 

We got the marionberries weeded and removed all the old canes, and weeded and mulched the beautiful blueberry bushes.

As you can see, we are expecting a good yield of blueberries this year.

The raspberry patch was in a sad state of affairs, but with some weeding and transplanting of starts along the row, we're hoping to have a healthy patch established by the end of the summer. And lots of juicy berries to graze on (I'm a shameless raspberry grazer.)

In other parts of the garden, we got the ivy pulled that had taken over the retaining wall outside the living room windows that was beginning to encroach on the siding of the house. I decided this was a perfect location for a fairy village, and set up our three fairy houses with little mosses, ferns and flowers right at eye level outside the windows.

I'm enjoying looking out at it in the morning to see what tiny flowers have opened up for the day.

My son even built us a fairy chicken garden in the flower pot on the front steps. I'm really liking these fairy gardens in flower pots, which seem to have been left in abundance here, so expect more to come.

The last rhododendron finally opened up and bloomed by the back door, and I'm enjoying the peach hues.

One of the most rewarding things about all this work is the views we get to look out at and enjoy. With the grapes rescued from the blackberry brambles, we get to look out at our fence line hanging with grape branches and developing clusters of fruit.

 The view of the woods behind the house is constantly changing with new things leafing out and growing almost every day. I'm looking forward to spending some time exploring around up there this summer in the cool, green shade.

The view of the mountains is something I appreciate every single day, when I'm working out in the yard or looking out the dining room window. It's one of those things I grew up with and always wanted to have again, so I am just immensely happy to gaze away at those ridge lines and let my mind wander like a cloud.

The view of this entire homestead is shaping up to look like all our dreams come true, and it will be a wonderful thing to see the changes from day to day, week to week, and year to year. 

We're really digging in, and it's a beautiful sight indeed.

Homestead Security

While pruning blackberries and freeing up rosebushes last weekend, we came across this sign by the driveway. "This Property Protected by an Oregon Farmer." No mention of dogs or guns, it's just that farmer you want to watch out for if you decided to go traipsing across the property. I'm sure it has deterred many a wandering troublemaker in days gone by.

Apparently, out here in Oregon, you don't want to mess with the farmers. They're serious.

May Snow!

With the potatoes and onions finally planted and the raised bed moved and ready for the few starts I got going back at the old place, I was feeling very ready for gardening season to get rolling. The days have been hot and sunny with temperatures up in the 70's, and Summer has been on my mind. I even started getting a few comments out and about on the great farmer's tan I've got going on. So, it was a great surprise to me to wake up to SNOW this morning! Huge white flakes were flurrying down from the sky, and before long the potato beds were covered in a thin white blanket. There's a different sort of mulch for you.

It was quite a striking sight to see all the rhododendron flowers popping out against the white background. 

Life on a new homestead is always bound to be full of surprises, and between bears and late snow, it's proving to be an exciting place. As I settle in and put down roots, I'm looking forward to going around the wheel of the year and learning all the things there are to know about this piece of land I call home.

The Bears and the Bees

I am happy to say that I will never need to worry again about having enough wildlife in my wild life. We discovered a whole colony of wild honeybees inhabiting the wall of our shed, merrily pollinating the hazelnut orchards with a flight path aiming right out over the tops of the trees. Since  I have been an aspiring bee keeper for some time, and still working through my discomfort with being stung, this seems to be the perfect arrangement for now. The bees have a home to make their honey and do their thing, I get to observe them and contribute to providing refuge for pollinators, and should I ever decide to set up my top bar hive beside the shed, it might just become inhabited. I couldn't be more pleased by this turn of events.

I am also happy to say that I now live somewhere wild enough where there are bears. I buried some roast chicken drippings in the compost the other night, and ended up inadvertently having one of my furry neighbors over for dinner. I knew right away when I saw the compost pile all torn up and the fence bent down that the bears had been up to their shenanigans in my very own yard. I'm sure there will be some considerations I'll need to figure out with garbage, compost and chicken safety, but I'm feeling very certain I've arrived in exactly the right place for me to live. My partner and I also sighted the local elk herd grazing in the neighbor's pasture above our woods the first night we stayed in the house, so between them and the bears, I'm feeling thoroughly welcomed.

It's good to be home.

Pickett Butte Lookout Adventures

Sometimes, I find that when we make a plan (or a fire lookout tower reservation) in life, we never quite know what will be going on at that point but just that we will want an adventure or getaway as much then as we do the day we plan it. I made my Pickett Butte Lookout Tower reservation nearly a year ago, after several unsuccessful attempts over five years, and even had to change the reservation last November when I ended up going to see family for Thanksgiving. Little did I know when I reserved that lookout that I would be taking my amazing adventure partner along with me and be right in the middle of moving onto our own homestead. Life is full of wonderful surprises. 

My partner and I, along with his parents who were visiting from Illinois, took a break from unpacking at the new place to head up the Umpqua River for a Saturday at at lookout tower. Since the accommodations were really meant for two persons on the one bed, we got Corey's parents checked in to a hotel room down in Canyonville, and headed up so they could spend the afternoon up there with us. Since Illinois apparently doesn't have fire lookout towers all over the place, we were happy to share this new experience with them.

Pickett Butte is quite a bit taller than some of the other towers I've frequented, sitting 40 feet above the ground with steep stairs climbing up to the top. I had thought it was much higher, but the website set me straight: http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/Pickett_Butte_Lookout/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=74178

 They were almost a bit daunting, even for me, on the way down.

We spent the afternoon taking it easy, reading and enjoying the views. This was much needed in the middle of the hustle and bustle of moving and unpacking.

One unique thing I enjoyed about this lookout was the high mountain meadow spread out below. I imagine many an elk, deer and bear have been observed at dawn and dusk from the catwalk.

 I enjoyed sitting down there and examining all the various species of wildflowers.

This fuzzy little Cat's Ear flower was a delightful find among the meadow grasses.

Most of all, I enjoyed looking out over the mountains rolling into mountains as far as I could see. There are few other views I enjoy quite as much as those from the windows of a fire lookout.

My absolute favorite part of the whole experience was sharing it with my partner. We never quite know where life will carry us when we step out of our door each day, but it always seems to put us in astounding new places we could never imagine. I can't wait to see what's going on around me in life during the next fire lookout trip.

Going for Water

When we were reading the mountains of paperwork involved in buying our new place, we discovered we had a spring with holding tanks and grandfathered-in water rights on adjacent BLM land up the hill. The fellow who lived in the house told us that about once a year, we would need to go up and clear out the pools of leaves and debris, and check the pipes in case an elk kicked them loose, to get the two 1550 gallon holding tanks filling to feed the water faucets in the yard. Excited for the adventure of cleaning out our own spring, my partner, son and I headed up with shovels and rakes on weekend morning to see what we would find. 

The description of how to find the spring was right on, and after following the path up through our woods and an old road through the BLM forest, we found a green, leafy oasis with two large holding tanks in the middle and the sound of gurgling water all around. 

The two pools didn't take long to find by following the piping, and we shoveled each one out to clear the screen covered intakes and get water gurgling through. My son suddenly exclaimed from up on top of the first tank that he heard water rushing in. It took a little maneuvering to adjust the intake pipes, but soon water was coming in steady and strong. 

It was music to our ears to hear the water rushing through the pipes and the tank filling up steadily. 

We came back to check later in the day, and that first 1550 gallon tank was full!

Now our only issue was the mainline, which was indeed kicked by an elk and broken, so we did a little digging in the mud and diagnosis, determining that we will be working that out with a little help from our friends, and should have water in the garden very soon. This also means more trips to the spring, which I look forward to immensely.

The whole experience reminded me of one of my favorite Robert Frost poems, "Going for Water." My daughter had it as her third grade Birthday verse at our Waldorf School, so it has been a longtime household favorite around here.

Going For Water

The well was dry beside the door,  
  And so we went with pail and can  
Across the fields behind the house  
  To seek the brook if still it ran;  
  
Not loth to have excuse to go,
  Because the autumn eve was fair  
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,  
  And by the brook our woods were there.  
  
We ran as if to meet the moon  
  That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,  
  Without the birds, without the breeze.  
  
But once within the wood, we paused  
  Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,  
Ready to run to hiding new
  With laughter when she found us soon.  
  
Each laid on other a staying hand  
  To listen ere we dared to look,  
And in the hush we joined to make  
  We heard, we knew we heard the brook. 
  
A note as from a single place,  
  A slender tinkling fall that made  
Now drops that floated on the pool  
  Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

~Robert Frost