The BIG project

We have been soooooo busy working on the yard updates.  Way back at the end of August/beginning of September in 2013 I removed the first deck board.  From then on it has been slow, but steady progress.  Here is the before (the way before):

Long time ago before--closer to when we bought the house.

Here is a more recent before

Before of the front deck

Before of the side deck and kitchen door

 Then the work began.  First order of business was removing the existing decking.  A local high school wanted the wood to burn for the homecoming bonfire.  It was me, a crowbar and my tractor.

The main deck

More of the main deck.  The structure underneath was terribly rotted.

Once the deck was removed there was an incredible amount of dirt that needed to be moved.

 We had to leave the deck by the kitchen door until right before the concrete guys came (so that we could keep using that door).

Remaining deck by kitchen door.

Similarly, we had to keep the front deck . . .but I did not get a picture of that.  The front deck stayed until well into the construction project.  It was only removed once the new pathways went in up front.

Right before Thanksgiving they came to do the concrete.

Upper patio and retaining walls were framed and poured first

Lower patio

What started as a sidewalk behind the volleyball court soon grew to a small patio

First concrete truck, to do footings and walls

Once the concrete was in, it had to cure under plastic for about a week before they sealed it.

Next up, construction and progress on the landscaping.

Rich with blueberries

It seems like not long ago when I tracked down my first set of mature blueberry bushes and planted them.  I happily dragged home five of them from a craigslist listing for a blueberry farm that was being cleared.  It's been several years, and I never got a decent crop. Not even close.  Last winter I had the opportunity to attend a blueberry pruning and care class.  I bundled up early one rainy and cold Saturday morning and headed out to a nearby farm co-op.  I put my new found knowledge to use and pruned and fertilized mid-winter.  When the annual rotary tree sale came around I bargained for loads of sawdust and layered it up on my blueberry patch.  Meanwhile, I had planted many more bushes knowing that they take years to mature.  Instead of just the eight, I upped patch to 40 bushes.  Yes, four-oh.

Well, I have been rewarded for my efforts.  This year we had lots and lots of blueberries.  From eight bushes.  Just eight gave us more than we could use and freeze.  The other baby bushes didn't produce anything at all, as expected.

Now what?  What in the world will I do with berries from 40 bushes?  I'm sure we will come up with something.  And in the meantime, we're pondering planting grapes.  I'm pretty sure the grapes will go the way of the blueberries.  We will over-plant and then we'll be faced with what to do with all the fruit once it starts producing three years down the road.  Sometimes I think I just plant guilt.  Because I feel so guilty any time I produce food that goes to waste.  But I also feel guilty if such great soil goes unplanted.  What to do?

We will figure something out, I am sure.  And I love the look of the blueberry patch.  Just as I imagine we will enjoy the look of the grapes vines.  And the cherry orchard. And the apple trees in that same orchard. It's finally starting to look like a real farm around here.

New Kids

Our herd is growing!  It more than doubled yesterday, with the addition of these three:

 This is Leroy. He's a character and his name suits him. He is 3 years old, and full grown. He's a dwarf Nigerian.

 This is Sparky, but he needs a new name.  He is Boer and still a baby.  He has a lot of growing to do and will end up the same size as the two goats we already had (Elvis and Missy)

This is Blizzard. He also needs a new name.  He is a baby dwarf Nigerian and is just adorable and super tiny.  I need to get him on film soon, before his voice changes.

Everyone seems to be getting along well so far.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that it continues.

Spring chores

Spring is teasing us a bit, but I do believe it will eventually arrive.  We have baby chicks moved into the brooder in the barn (almost ready to head into the coop with the big girls).  Lots and lots of projects around here.  A few of my favorites:








Getting garden beds ready and then planting.  Last weekend I amended with the big bags of organic stuff I fetched from southeast Portland.  Here is what one of the beds looks like today.

I plan to amend with compost soon.  You see, I made compost.  I did.  I really did.  Finally.  I think it took three years.  My determination is bolstered by the fact that I did actually create some.  Now I just have to figure out how to do it faster.  In any case, isn't it pretty?



And then there's this.  I have this big pile of bricks (the remnants of the mailbox monument we knocked down last year).  I've decided that I need to build a quirky path up to my greenhouse with them.  It's much cuter in my mind than it looks now . . .but I still have work to do. 

 This is just the rough layout.  The fitting in and sanding it all will take some time, but not nearly as much work as fetching those bricks from the goat pen (you know how goat helpers are).

And, finally, it wouldn't be Spring without the crazy chicken doing her thing.  So far this week I have fetched 3 eggs out of garage, from behind a case of chili.  I found one in the barn, on the workbench today.  And then there was this pile that was discovered in the compost bin.  This chicken definitely takes her breed to heart (she's an Aracauna which are the "easter eggers").  I think she just misunderstood . . .that was for the coloring, not for the hiding.

If I had only known what was coming . . . .

I thought the wildlife was bad . . .and then we got this kind of wild life!  A drunk driver missed a turn, trashed our fence, took out a utility pole and landed in our pasture, spreading glass everywhere, and necessitating a lifeflight helicopter landing in our pasture.  I've spent far too much time in the past two weeks dealing with insurance adjustors, estimators of all sorts, and the district attorney.  I no longer ask, "What next?!"  Because, frankly, I don't want to know!

In the meantime, I did manage to squeeze some productivity and fun into this unseasonably warm weather.

. . . like planting an additional 12 blueberry plants, bringing the grand total to 40.  We'll see what this year's harvest brings . . .

 . . . tried my hand at (sort of) sourdough bread . . .

. . . let the hens out in the garden . . .

 . . . more pics with the new camera (this one of the tree out front on a sunny day) . . .

 . . . lots of soccer this weekend (7 soccer games and 1 basketball game for the family this weekend) . . .

 . . . watched my silly boys just being silly . . . .

 . . . kept a safe distance from the slice-and-dice kitty that looks so peaceful and cute while she is sleeping . . .

 . . . and, finally, visited the cute litte piggies that moved in next door yesterday. 

I love where I live!!

One wild week

Would someone please tell the wildlife that there is no faith healer here?  We have no miracles to offer.  We have no magical touch that will restore the ability to walk.  Please stop coming!

Twice last week I killed birds that flew into my windshield.  Then we ended up with two wild animals with spinal injuries.  Must these animals linger?  Whatever happened to wild animals being fragile and dying of shock?  First it was a squirrel.  Three days later I nearly stepped on a raccoon curled up at the base of our stairs.  I now know where the audobon society is.  And I'm so very thankful for the service they provide.  But I don't want to visit them again any time soon. 

I'm ready to move past the randomly injured animals and get onto the business of Spring.  I definitely have the fever, and I'll be visiting nurseries this weekend to load up on trees and plants.  So, bring on Spring!

And .. . on to bread.

After my successful foray into barley soup, I decided to tackle sandwich rolls.  My oldest son wanted a sandwich from a particular, locally owned (oh, I've trained him well!) sandwich shop this past weekend. Unfortunately, said shop is closed on Sundays.  This of course spawned my newest quest, which was to create a sandwich roll just like theirs.  And .. . . I think I did it!

Above is the picture of the first batch.  It was universally declared "good" by the family.  But they weren't quite right . . .not exactly what I was after.  So, I tried again. 

This time I kneaded the dough a lot longer.  I also placed them closer together on the cookie sheet (so the sides are softer where you tear them apart.  And I didn't cook them quite as long.  Soooooo good!  Next time I think I'll do as I did this second batch, though I'll cook them a smidge longer.  The recipe was one I adapted from allrecipes.com (it was originally for a bread machine).

Honey Wheat Sub Sandwich Rolls

1 1/4 cup warm milk

1/4 cup honey

2 1/4 tsp (one packet) yeast

2 T melted butter

1 egg, beaten

3/4 tsp salt

2 -3 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Mix together milk, honey and yeast in large bowl, and let proof for approximately 10 minutes (should be a little bubbly).  Add butter, egg, salt and 2 3/4 cup bread flour, and all of wheat flour.  Mix together into a shaggy dough.

Remove dough from bowl and knead.  Add bread flour as needed to keep dough from being too sticky.  When dough can pass the windowpane test, put in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (approx. 1 hour). 

Remove dough from bowl, punch down and shape into rolls.  I roll them into log shaped dough and then tuck the ends under, so the ends are square.  Place a few inches apart on a greased cookie sheet.  Let rise for approx. 30 min.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake rolls for approximately 10 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet to cool (otherwise bottoms will become gummy).