11/28

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Very heavy rain the last two days. Schools closed at noon due to flooding, and buses are running tomorrow on a 2 hour delay. Light snowfall is expected tomorrow.

We'll have to finish the low tunnels in the snow tomorrow. And once the weather breaks, we have a lot of wood to cut and split as we're almost out.

Rachel and I drove out to Knoxville today to close on the Sunbright property. After a year-long struggle, we now own it. We celebrated by buying an Ebbing's silverberry, the same shrub all over Atlanta covered in tasty red speckled berries. It's a great permaculture plant and forms a dense hedge. We'll probably plant it on the west/windward side of the garden.

We also bought a car-full of insulation, layer pellets, a squirrel trap, bird netting for the blueberries, and returned the mop bucket.

Over the weekend while walking up to the coop I saw a squirrel running from the chicken run with something white and round tucked up under his chin. I chased him into the woods but he never dropped it and eventually I lost him in the woods. Since none of our chickens lay white eggs, I assumed it must be one of the wooden eggs. But all were accounted for in the coop. So the only conclusion is that the ducks are now laying and he'd stolen a duck egg. I'd have never have believed it without seeing it with my own eyes, but he carried that egg tucked between his chin and chest while bounding across the grass and through the trees. I'll set out the trap tomorrow.

We'll have to use the cellphone temporarily for future photos as the picture-taking button on the camera's broken. Rachel had handed the camera up to me on the top of the ladder, it got caught on her pinkie and went crashing down to the floor. Outside of the picture-button, the camera seems fine. Maybe we can get it repaired.
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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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The Stock Tank

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We got a 110 gallon stock tank from Tractor Supply yesterday. By heating water in stock pots on the stove, plus the hot water in the stove's reservoir, we had a nice long hot bath. And inside . . . we haven't had the luxury of a hot bath inside since February in Atlanta. The tank is made of an insulated material so the water stays warm for a long time - it was still relatively warm in the morning, and it had been a cold night.

It didn't take long to bucket the water out - since it has some soap I distributed it across the front yard.

Thanksgiving was a very busy day for us. I mowed some, mulched bed 9 that has a low tunnel over it which is almost finished - washed 3 loads of laundry - the commerical mop bucket and wringer wasn't any better at wringing out the clothes than the bucket press method we've already been doing - so the mop bucket will have to be returned. I also did the usual chores for the animals and cleaned the bedroom top to bottom.

Rachel worked all day in the kitchen cooking food on the stove. Everything came out great - Rachel thinks food cooked on a stove comes out better than a conventional appliance - the oven retains more moisture, and everything seems more flavorful. We had cranberry sauce, roasted butternut squash, pumpkin, apple, and sweet potato pie, turkey, mashed potatoes and turnips, bread with acorns, rolls, turnip greens, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and Vic and Jo came by for our Thanksgiving dinner and brought corn salad, wine, stuffing, and a pineapple cheese dish. It was a great meal, and the stove performed wonderfully.

I let the birds out today as the wild guineas were up at the run hanging out with our guineas. It took a while for all the birds to make it outside after I'd opened the coop door [especially the ducks - they didn't figure out how to get out till an hour before dark, though they've used the same run door over a 100 times]. The guineas all seemed to get along well and spent more time together.

Had an egg from Claudia today - cream-colored with dark speckles. Both Rosy and Claudia laid yesterday.

One of the female rouens was walking across the back of another female rouen in the pool today, once I put fresh water in. Either they're confused . . . or it's their way of bullying one another out of the small pool.

We have a tremendous amount of leftovers and don't need to cook for a week.

Heavy fog this morning, but warm and sunny all afternoon.
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11/23

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Rain all day yesterday.

Put up more caution tape around the property boundary. I caulked and insulated the windows of the lower story. I started working on shielding the small upper blueberries on the berms. I'm pounding 6" sections of PVC into the ground around each bush, at all four corners, then cutting long saplings to arch over the plant and anchored in the PVC [as I pound it in I take it out and poke out the dirt so there's a good cavity to lodge the ends of the saplings in]. Where the saplings cross above the plant I'll tie them together so there's an even dome over it, then place a piece of bird netting over it and tie it down at the 4 bases of the saplings. The domes are made big enough for next year's growth. It's a long process, with 25 plants to do, but cheap, effective, and practical.

The wild guineas spent most of the afternoon up at the run congregating with our guineas, so we decided to let all our birds out and see how everyone got along now that Bergack has simmered down since his mate Chi Chi's gone. There were lots of fluffed up feathers and bluff charges and angry guinea fighting merry-go-rounds, but once everybody's place on the pecking order was established they all got along quite well. If we could only lure the wild guineas into the coop and shut the door we'd have more guineas and guaranteed good breeding stock. But they're wary about going in the coop, and getting the door shut in time would be difficult considering how skittish they are.

Today we'll get the supplies for the low tunnels and put them in. Rachel's got bread and rolls and 3 pies to bake in the cook stove for Thanksgiving. Last night she was up late shelling acorns to put in the bread.

Watched a great film the other night, Aaron Russo's AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM. Been reading lots of Dave MacGowan's articles also at Center for an Informed America.
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11/21

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Heavy rain all day today. We had to run out to Oak Ridge for a dental appointment and to get some things from Home Depot - bird netting for the blueberries, insulation, more caution tape, an industrial mop bucket with wringer, caulk, carbon monoxide tester, etc.

After reading several negative reviews about the expensive hand wringers available, we've decided to try the less expensive route of a commercial mop wringer [$35] for wringing out clothes. Some of the hand wringers out there cost up to $200, and according to many people are either incredibly inefficient at wringing out the water, or tear up the clothes.

The last 2 days have spent running caution tape along the property boundary. Originally we were going to just run it around the 4 acre clearing, but following the property line will keep the tape away in the woods and less visible, and help us with ultimately siting a fence line down the boundary. The property was surveyed in 1999, and the corner posts and tree blazes are still present and clearly visible. One upshot to this work, whether it keeps out deer or not, is that we've discovered I was mistaken about the western boundary line of the property. It's much, much further back - we've realized we actually have nearly a third more land than we thought, encompassing the entire ravine area to the west. This will be a good area for goats to clear, and of course another resource for firewood as well as nice buffer to neighbors.

The caution tape so far is strung at 2.5' and 5'. Haven't heard or seen deer in a while. The long stretches of tape bounce constantly in the wind and may wind up an effective deterrent, though of course it's not the most cosmetic approach. Eventually the property line will be strung with 3 runs of unbarbed wire, and I'll weave cut brush and saplings through it to make a sort of wattle fence.

All of the birds spent the night in the coop last night, but tonight the ducks are staying out in the run. Getting an egg every day or two from Rosy still. We actually had to buy eggs today for Thanksgiving - something we haven't done the entire time up here. Next week we'll try a hatchery for increasing the flock.

Tomorrow we'll get rebar and plastic conduit for the low tunnels for the garden, as temperatures will soon be drastically cooling off.
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11/20

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Nearly 60 degrees this morning. The forecast is for 3 days of thunderstorms with temperatures up into the 70's - barely below 60 at night. Then a long spell of cold. The last couple days have been moderately warm but very windy. Today the air is still.

We worked on fencing and mulching more perennials yesterday. The jujubes, persimmons, bush cherries, and goumis are now done. The little mulberry up by the coop got a tomato cage surrounded in chicken wire. So did the sassafras I'm trying to let grow off the path to the coop [beautiful understory trees with edible leaves]. I've got maybe half the property mowed so far.

The large mulberry and cornelian cherries will become part of the fenced-in cow pasture downhill from the barn - so they don't need protected immediately. All the small perennials down from the barn along the berm made from soil dug up behind the barn - hawthorns, juneberries, currents, a medlar - they didn't do very well last year and will all be transplanted. Either they didn't get enough sun, were too wet, or constantly fighting the tide of blackberry rising behind them . . . they will all be transplanted to what will become the fence line for the pasture from the barn to the oak by the fireplace to the stump by the blueberries. We'll wait till they're all completely dormant to transplant.

All of the blueberries still need protected from deer - fencing would be too expensive. There are about 40 blueberry shrubs. We're going to try throwing bird netting over them. If branches poke through everywhere, or the netting doesn't stay in place, we'll find a way to cage it or stake it down.

We cut and split another round of firewood today up past the upper blueberries. I also cleared some of the saplings and brush in the area where we were working because it was choked with growth. There was a large dead tree fallen a couple of feet off the ground - one end up on a log, the other wedged between a couple of trees. It looked like good wood so I had to figure out a way to bring it down and start cutting it up.

They call it bucking with the chainsaw when you're cutting logs laying horizontally - underbucking is where you cut from below. I made an underbuck cut about 1/4 of the way in, heard the tension break, then from above cut a large wedge with the saw so when the log caved the saw didn't get pinched.

It worked well - just like in framing, where a rafter or joist is in tension on the bottom, and compression along the top, once the area in tension is cut along the bottom of the log, like snipping a cord, it's just a matter of cutting out an area on the upper surface so either ends of the log can fall to the ground. A wedge cut keeps the logs from pinching the saw as they go down.

The garden has had a lot of frost damage from that 20 degree night. But it's still going. Hopefully once the low tunnels are in many plants will recover. I'm going to try bending 1/2" metal conduit for the hoops - I'll use plastic conduit over the bed to get the right size hoop, trace a template of it on OSB, cut this out and lay it on the ground, driving 3/8" rebar stakes every 18" along the arch. The first 2 stakes will have matching stakes 1/2" away from them, so I have a place for the metal conduit to get lodged as I slowly bend it around the rest of the stakes and arch. Though I'd prefer to use 1/2 rebar for the stakes, I don't think it will fit inside the tube of 1/2" conduit.

After a good bit of research on using caution tape to keep out deer, we're going to start with 2 runs of it at 2.5' and 5'. If it appears deer are leaping it, we'll do another run at 7.5'. It's more of a psychological barrier as the tape hums and whips and snaps, than an actual physical barrier. We've got 3,000 feet of tape, we'll see how far that goes.
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21 degrees

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21 degrees this morning. The forecast was for 28.
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