Shedding some weight; throwing seed and straw all over the place

This morning I got up early and precariously wrapped the chains around Big Red's bucket and the remains of the Toyota truck bed to place it on the back of my truck.

I attached a strap and hoped for the best on the way to the scrap yard.  After driving around the fields a couple times I was confident it would make it.  Thirty bucks later, lunch and then some was paid for.

A longer range picture of where the tree line and dirt mound used to be.

Underneath the straw is an inoculated blend of clover, vetch, daikon radish, and K31.

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green trees and getting lit up

I woke up this morning needing to plant some things and make a place to park the farm truck.  Four Emerald Green Cedar trees and a rose bush later things were looking lovely.

One Tree

 Two Tree

 Three Tree

Four

Here is a rose bush.

Another view with rabbit houses as backdrop

I went into the bee hives overconfidently today.  I didn't put on the suit or smoke it before I went in.  As I started to pull a frame the first one came at me.  I knew I was done.  At least six bees lit me up as I was running away.  I was all focus up until that point.  I broke concentration for a second and they attacked my right ear, neck, and shoulder.  It hurt for a second, but I guess I deserved it.

A week at the Spa

I just returned from a week in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey studying the sweat lodge with WildernessFusion and Tom Frank.

When I mentioned to people that I wanted to attend another sweat lodge class, several people said, "Don't you have a sauna at you house."  They are worlds and worlds apart, and I will leave it at that for now.  If you would like to gain firm understanding on the ceremony and tradition, Wilderness Fusion and Tom Frank get my resounding endorsement.

It is on my high priority list to build a lodge.  Now that I have a better understanding of a foundation and construction of a lodge.  It is a necessity.

I need to learn a plant that works like baby powder.  In a survival situation chaffing could be deadly.  I remember in a past adventure one of the team was sent to the hospital and ultimately home because of terrible rashes from sand and moisture.

Today was the first day back on the farm.  I was nervous leaving the bull dozer man to his own devices while I was at the class, but I am so thankful I did.  When I came back I was so pleased with the touch up work.  As a rule of thumb I will say, never leave an equipment operator unattended.  I was extremely lucky finding this operator however.  After I explained what I wanted he clearly restated it, and I felt confident.  I will refer Butch to anyone who needs anything done.

This afternoon I received an exfoliating body treatment in the spa.

Truthfully I was clearing out a spring.  Each hand I stuck between the rocks and mud seemed to unclog a drain of really nice clear water.  Sometimes the water would stop only to come back several seconds later from deeper inside the bank.  I took some sticks and pressed them into the ground.  Stones and mud from the already wet whole came out easily and were placed against the sticks.  I made a dam.  About an hour and a half later, I was still sitting in the water, it had started to fill, and I found a crayfish.

A trickle from the rocks.

A little mud and river rocks go a long way.  My tracks are cool.

Sexy butt tracks.

While I was gone.  The chickens began to lay.  I went to pick up one and the rooster attacked me from behind.  I stuck my foot out and he ran into it several times in a furry.  "What are you doing?" I said.  He didn't come at me again.  It will not be too much longer before I have 100ish layers and a pretty substantial pasture raised bird operation....Very exciting.  I would say eat more local chicken, but someone would probably sue me.

Just Settling In

June 2011 - Aug 25, 2013;

I have spent almost three years here an I feel like I am just settling in.  I purchased this close to 150 acre farm located in southwest Virginia, east of the Blue Ridge with the intent of creating a sustainable homestead and ultimately an educational facility around it.

A small steady flowing creek marks the rear boundary.  Butterflies and milkweed call these fields home.  A small pond is hidden in between the rolling ridges.  The land is a mixture of fenced and open pasture, old oak and poplar trees with an occasional cedar.  Twenty-five acres are planted in 8/10 year old loblolly pine trees.

Animals have slowly entered the homestead.  The first group was Buppert and the girls.  A very regal Boer goat, Buppert is definitely a character.  When I was small my family got a soft coated wheaten terrier.  I wanted to name him Hobart after some comics that I had been checking out from the public library at the time.  The name was to close for my dad's comfort as his boss's name was of extreme similarity.  He didn't think it was the best judgement to be naming his new dog after his boss.  I settled for Brady after the Orioles' first basemen Brady Anderson.  So when I purchased my own farm and got to pick the names of the animals.  The regal stud got my dad's boss's last name.  He and his girls call a five acre fenced pasture home.  A small building keeps them dry.

The first group of chickens started living in the basement.  As they grew, their pen got slowly larger and larger.  Eventually they moved into an old tobacco barn.  Chicken wire was rapped around some of the holes, but it was far from air tight.  Eggs were plentiful, for awhile.  Then I noticed the numbers dwindling.  One day my eyes caught the wall moving.  It was a large black snake with two eggs inside.  My great grandfather past away in 1954.  He owned a farm north of Danville, VA not to far from the current homestead.  His single shot 12ga is now mine.  I went inside to grab this specifically and came back outside.  There is no telling how many snakes this shotgun had put down.  I can attest to at least one.

Now the chickens live in a very happy space.  It is my hope to have approximately 100 layers.  Every 21 days 300 eggs can be incubated and lead to baby chicks.  These birds will be raised in small chicken tractors for pasture raised meat production.  Some birds mature in 8 weeks.

One of the fields is slated for a permaculture food forest.  The groundwork has been laid.  A really nice blend of radishes, clover, chicory, and vetch was planted.  I made a mistake and plowed this back under when I should have let the radishes rot.  Over top of that I planted a winter wheat and winter pea.  This was chopped and dropped to provide ground cover and start a mulch layer.  I then came back and made up for the initial mistake in plowing and planted another round of radishes for tillage.  It was really important for me to see what they can do to clay soils.

Starts, to populate the five acre food forest as well as the several acre intensive vegetable patches, begin their lives in the newly constructed greenhouse.  Misting systems, vents, and a shade cloth keep the temperature regulated and propane keeps the heat up in the winter time.

I am sorry that I can't begin to tell you all that I have missed.  It will come as more time passes.  I will continue to update this blog.  Check back frequently.  For videos check out my youtube page at The Sustainable Homestead Institute.