11/26

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Today was a long hard day of putting in low tunnels. Rachel and I got most of them in. There are a couple of stretches of Brassicas that still need covered, and some of the tunnels still need end flaps, but we're close to finished.

Yesterday a large bobcat was terrorizing the birds up at the run. We had let them out earlier to free-range and fraternize with the wild guineas. But one of our guineas launched into the air behind the run, and we spotted a bobcat trotting off into the woods. I caught and carried Rosy and Claudia up to the coop, and we herded our guineas in. Once we had them all penned up, I saw the bobcat running and lunging at them at the front of the run, and went up and ran him off. This cat is much larger than the last one.

I set up the trap last night beside the run with some chicken for bait, and a bed of leaves to conceal the cage floor and trip plate. This morning I walked up to check the trap, didn't see a bobcat in it, but the trap was shut and some of the chicken had been eaten. I assumed the bobcat hadn't gotten in to feed, set off the trap, but was so big it shut on his back and he was able to get out.

So I opened the trap door and was about to reach in to fix the leaves inside. Suddenly I saw an opossum, right in front of me at the edge of the door, and quickly shut the door back up. It was a small opossum, and he just sat there and stared at me. There's always the possibility an opossum has been getting the eggs, and since I already needed to go out to Jamestown for supplies for the low tunnels, I thought I'd go ahead and relocate him.

On the way out to Jamestown the road passes through Big South Fork Area. I pulled in at a picnic site off a large creek to release him. After I opened the door the opossum still just sat there, so I had to tip up the trap higher and higher to get him to slide out. He kept hanging on to the cage floor to keep from falling out, but finally he did slide out and waddled off into the woods. Very cute . . . with a tiny little rat tail.

For the tunnels we're using 4 mil plastic [though I did get some 2.7 I found at Walmart cheap in case we ran short], schedule 40 1/2" plastic electrical conduit for the hoops, and 1/2" rebar to cut into stakes to slip the ends of the hoops down over. I cut 20" stakes and leave about 9 to 10" exposed to anchor the hoops down on. The beds are up to 5' wide and irregular, so each hoop has to be a custom length.

I burned through metal blades for the reciprocating saw in no time cutting the 1/2" rebar. I ended up going to the circular saw with a diamond tip blade with sparks flying everywhere. It nearly melts the ends and i have to pound them smooth so the conduit still fits snugly over it.

I drive in the rebar stakes from 4 to 5' apart at the edges of the beds, slip a keychain over each stake [or modify some other kind of metal loop once we run out of keychains], then put in the 10' lengths of conduit down over the stakes. The height of the hoop at the center we're shooting for is 30", so I just measure the difference, and cut off double the amount from each piece of conduit so it's the right size [think of it this way - taking off 1" from each end of the conduit will cause the top of the hoop to lower 1" - so 2" must be cut off to drop it 1"].

Once all the conduit's in we get out the right size sheet of plastic - 10' wide, and a couple of feet longer than the end hoops of the actual tunnel for overlap. I make a secure connection at the central ends of the plastic so it can be tied down tightly at either end of the tunnel. I find the center end, and roll in a small flat piece of wood and attach it with U nails [I cover the plastic with duct tape on both sides wherever I penetrate it with a fastener]. Once the piece of wood is rolled in snug I drill through the center of it. I knot off a piece of masonry line and feed it through the hole - this is then tied down to a cutoff piece of conduit driven in at a 45 degree angle at either end of the tunnel.

A small sheet of plastic is tucked around the end hoops to serve as an endflap. When it's warm the flap is rolled up and pinned up with clothespins. If weights are necessary to hold down plastic at the tunnel ends or between the hoops to keep it flush with the ground, we use old milk or water jugs with the top cut off full of gravel or rocks pulled from the garden beds. The jugs can be cut so the handle remains and are easily transportable. It's a convenient free alternative to buying sandbags which are a pain to lug around.

We use the chenille method as a way of fully securing the plastic down over the hoops. Twine is threaded through the keychains at the bottom ends of the hoops and run diagonally over the tunnel from hoop base to hoop base. This is far preferable to burying the ends with dirt or laying down sandbags. If the twine is in contact with dirt at the base of the hoops, it's good to go with something synthetic like masonry line rather than jute or cotton so it lasts. We started out using a pack of keychains we picked up at Walmart, but Rachel found tying a keychain clip with masonry line to the stakes right beneath the ends of the hoops works better and it's easier to run the twine through. Just about anything will work.

The chenille is great because it not only secures the plastic nicely down over the hoops, it allows easy access at any time the garden bed by just tugging up the sides - the tension from the twine holds it in place. Though we ventilate this late in the year only at the end flaps, if it were warmer hold sides could be tugged up to keep the bed from overheating.

Wonderful warm weather today, but ahead is 3 days of rain, cold, possible snow showers, and once the rain is over, a week of winter temperatures, every night below freezing. That's why we're in such a rush to get these tunnels in. They should have gone in a month ago, but we've had so much going on.

Today was our second failed attempt at herding the wild guineas into the coop. We can corner them very close to the door, but getting them to wander in is very difficult as they just mill in a panic along the run. Eventually they fly straight into the air to escape. We'll keep trying. Our birds have to stay strictly penned up till we catch the bobcat.

Using only rainwater now for everything - drinking, dishes, laundry. We'd harvested 330 gallons last rainfall. We've only gone through half of it, and rain is coming, so all the barrels will be filled again.

Eating Thanksgiving leftovers the last two days. Probably another week's worth.
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