Website still coming soon

I know I said by the end of the week, but I was overestimating my abilities a bit, hehe.  I purchased a template, and I'm making it look good, I only just need about 10 really good photos for the front page.  I can't really use my iPhone photos, they aren't large enough for most of them, and the coloration isn't quite right.  My wife has a good camera that I'm going to abscond with this afternoon, and take some shots.

I've had a long week off, and work starts again today, but I do feel like I've accomplished quite a bit.  My best work was moving the solar panels to a more permanent position, and cleaning them off.  It's a bright sunny day, and each of the 11 working panels is producing about 90% of maximum power, maybe a bit less.  I'm getting 900 watts at peak times, which is the most I've ever had.  I have one panel that was shattered, so it's not putting out much, and one more wasn't working at all, so really there are 10 good panels running.

It would be nice to start some more projects, but I don't have much more time.  I am certainly ahead of where I was last year though, and it will be nice to have a warmer house once I insulate the crawlspace a bit more, and seal up the holes in the fabric.  I am really, really looking forward to the day when my home has more than 4 inches of insulation...hopefully next summer, if all goes well!

Website coming soon!

So, I reported last week that I finally obtained www.sunset-meadows.com as the primary site for our farm.  I did a little work on it last night, made some email address and mucked around with some settings.  I will be creating a welcome page with MS Frontpage, probably tonite, and I will upload it so that there will actually be a placeholder.  I will be adding "Contact" "About" and hopefully soon "Podcast" links on the front page.  You can expect the look of the site to change over time, especially after I hire out some graphic design and PHP programming.  Once upon a time, I knew a little bit of HTML programming, but it would be like hiring a baby to paint your living room.  He's not very good, and he can only reach about three feet up!  Nonetheless, there will be a site by weeks end.  With pictures.

CAMPING!

I've been camping twice this summer, and both times were excellent.  The first time was waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere, a beautiful location in the cold, cold foothills of Alberta.  Yesterday, we got back from another great location, but this time it was HOT!  Despite having to replace the alternator in my wife's SUV (in the parking lot of Canadian Tire), we made it just a few hours later than planned, and enjoyed one of the hottest weekends this summer.  We got back yesterday, sweating in the vehicle which unfortunately has no functioning AC (booooo).  It was busy in town, mostly out of towners going home from camping.  

GARDEN

I'm pretty much calling it quits on the bigger garden, there are some things that will be harvestable, mainly carrots, but I made a fatal error when I failed to add enough manure and mulch.  The soil fertility is too low to produce much, but if I add mulch and manure right now, it will be ready for next year, or the year after if the house building project overtakes my time, which I suspect it will.  I has selected a place for my new-and-improved greenhouse, which will be constructed from the timbers of the old one.  This one will have double wall of plastic, and a plywood back wall, and will be attached to posts that will be buried in cement.  I may be a slow learner, but I eventually get there.

LIVESTOCK

The chickens managed nicely without me here for 24 hours, and they are getting bigger.  I can now tell which are hens, and which are roosters.  It's about 50/50, which means I'll have plenty of hens to pick from when I select some layers too keep over the winter!  There might be 1 rooster, only to try and build a small flock of babies in the springtime.  I've also decided to really expand the flock next year.  I'll need a better feeding and watering system, but that's not too challenging.  I will be building a pole barn soon, and other than a few calf stalls, the main bulk will be devoted to raising chickens and turkeys.  I plan to have a full 2000 birds next year, and I'm going to try and mix my own feed.  That way, I will be able to assure that there are no GMO's or other unwanted things, and hopefully save some money.  Feed is cheap, but I'll need about 18,000 pounds of it, so even a few cents per pound savings will magnify to thousands of dollars.  I will be adding some calves next year, maybe six or seven, and I will be running the birds on the same pasture as the cattle.  I have also toyed with the idea of adding goats, since they will enjoy eating the thistle and foxtail which have regrettably become entrenched in the pasture in some locations.  Instead of portable fencing, I will be using mainly permanent fencing, at least for now.  It will be over 6 feet high, with the bottom being strung with chicken wire, or plastic netting to keep the birds inside when they're smaller.  If I can keep a steady supply of water, and feed available, the birds will pretty much manage themselves!  They will have a vast area to forage in, and I will be able to concentrate on getting a house built.  If I need to separate any animals, putting temporary fencing inside the main fenceline is quite simple.  This is actually what I had planned from the beginning, pretty much.

Whilst camping in the foothills, it hailed.  We had just set up our tents and trailers in a new location.  The kids loved the hail, while the adults weren't quite so enthusiastic.

The chickens running out to pasture after sleeping in the shed overnight.  This is so entertaining, that I will have to make a video and upload to youtube.

Monkey boy on his monkey throne.  My son's first camping trip, and he enjoyed it!  He patiently sat in his seat, or would climb around on the blanket.  Both kids were well behaved and put up with the cool morning admirably, especially my daughter.  I'd like to take her hunting in a few years, when she's ready.  We'll be bringing a trailer, mainly for my comfort.

It can't be almost over!!!

    It's August 18th, and most of the fun summer stuff has come and gone.  My birthday, my 10th Anniversary, my first camping trip, and we just have one more camping trip left.  Here are some updates...

GARDEN

Not much to report, except that the garden took a back seat this year to the chickens.  We got a good bit of peas, and I expect some carrots, but not enough to store for us, never mind sell at market...  I have a pretty good idea why the garden didn't do much.  I tilled up some virgin prairie soil, but I never added much for manure or organic material.  This fall I will be piling up some manure from my neighbor on the rows, and then mulching over that with some old hay that I bought earlier for some reason.  There were some areas that were noticably more productive, and all of these areas had manure on them last year.  I guess I could have added some amendments, but I only had so much time!  Gardening is difficult in this area, even with very fertile soil.
I will be rebuilding my greenhouse, and also making another one, I've just been scouting out a good spot to put them both.  I need to continue building my wind fence, winter is coming, and I don't need a repeat of last years snow drifting and wind beating on the house!

CHICKENS

The chickens have thus far been my most successful project of all time!  Since I last posted, we lost two more birds to a couple of storms, which blew the door shut on the coop.  No other casualties, and we have lost 24 birds to date.  The chickens are over six weeks old at this point, about halfway to maturity.  They are foraging extensively, sometimes going up to 120 feet from the shed that they still sleep in overnight.  I don't see any real reason that they couldn't stay in the shed for the rest of their lives, since we let them out every day anyhow.  It's tremendously amusing to watch the mass exodus of chickens in the morning when we open the door.  They do have continuous access to a smallish patch of grassy pasture, but they much prefer to range wherever they want!  They are eating a large amount of feed, but I am pretty certain that they eat a great deal of live plants as well.  They are constantly picking at anything and everything, wandering through the tall grass and weeds.

FUTURE PLANS

I've already starting making plans for livestock next year.  I will be keeping several hens over the winter, hopefully in a larger barn that I plan to build, and I've been scouting a location for that as well.  We also need to fix our house up so we can sell it, and decide what we're doing for a new home.  I have a plan that I proposed to my wife, building a smaller 1.5 story home with a cement pad floor that we could at some point add to and then convert into a garage.  It could be quite quick to build, and wouldn't cost very much.  The house would have a small main floor, and a loft which could have another bedroom.  I'm negotiating this idea with the co-emperor, my lovely wife.
As for the barn that I mentioned, I can build it in three days with cement posts and a dirt floor, just like my smaller shed.  This one will be somewhat taller, and a lot wider/longer, but use much the same engineering.  Three rows of posts, cemented into the ground, connected at the top, middle and bottom with some dimensional lumber.  A simple set of rafters, made from 2x6 boards, topped with plywood or OSB.  The framing would be cheap, but I would like to put some siding on it, and a tin roof would make it look nice.  I would add stalls for some bottle calves that I'm planning to add next year, and there would be room for many more chickens.  I would like to have up to 1500 birds next year, and maybe an additional 200 turkeys.  I can have up to 2000 chickens and 300 turkeys without having to get "licensed" by our communist overlords.  Add some cattle, berries, fruit trees and whatnot, and you've got the potential for some decent profit, enough to replace my current income!

FAMILY

My son is walking now!  He just started on August 17th, and I was the first one to see it : )  I always knew that he could walk, but the mental barrier was there, and he kept getting back down to crawl.  Now that he's up and walking, he's going to be practicing all the time!
My daughter is waiting for me to come play some Lego with her, so I'll end with that.  As you can probably tell, I have so many things I still want to do this year!

What we have here is a failure to communicate!

Now Hiring:  Pied Piper for chickens.
Must be able to hypnotize and herd poultry with magic flute.

Any takers?

Well, I guess another solution is in order then.  Tonite was supposed to be the night I moved the chickens from their comfortable shed, out into the wild free range pasture I had prepared for them.  I completed a reasonable and portable shelter, moved the food and water, surrounded a large area with electronet, and opened the shed door.  Result?  At this second, every chicken is still inside the shed, and it's closed away.  It turns out, you can't just move their food and water, and expect them to find it and move in.  They kind of liked where they were living, and aren't quite ready to leave!

I suspect the solution to this is quite simple:  Build a tunnel between the shed, and the new home, and allow them to range between the two.  I might be able to get them all out of the shed, then quickly close up the opening, and kind of shuffle them into the ranging area.  I will do that at the crack of dawn tommorow.  I'll let you know how that works out...

GARDEN

Well, my garden is terribly neglected, yet is still doing decently well in some areas, not so well in others.  The whole plan to seed alfalfa, quinoa, amaranth, and clover failed to take root.  Literally.  None of the seeds survived, probably pecked away by birds or something else.  As usual, I'm pretty sure I know what I can do to fix that.  Seedballs!  Throw equal parts compost, and dry powdered clay into a mixer, in this case, my cement mixer, put my seed mix in there, and add water.  The mixture will form small clumps, the size of which will vary by how much clay vs water there is, how long it turns etc.  These seedballs can be tossed on the ground, and birds are much less likely to eat them, and they are much more like to to form a viable seedling!  Some people like to form these by hand, but I have a cement mixer and 160 acres, so "by hand" isn't gonna happen!

Time to move!

Today,. my chickens are 1 month old, and weigh more than a pound by my estimation.  They've been enjoying the protection of the shed for that long, and have been allowed outside for almost two weeks, but on the same patch of ground, which they have quickly purged of pretty much all the stuff they like to eat.  There is a bit of grass left, but they don't seem to interested in that.

I have been collecting a lot of extra weeds from my garden, some of them quite bit although I don't know what kind of weeds they are.  My daughter and I have been tossing these over the electric fence for a few days now, and the chickens DEVOUR these!  I've made a few notes about what they like to eat for plants.

 - They love broadleaf plants like dandelion.  I've got plenty of that to go around!
 - They will only eat what they can reach
 - They don't eat the stems and roots
 - They will eat thistle, if it's lying on the ground!  They picked clean about 5 large Canada Thistles yesterday, cautiously but they did eat it.
 - Grass that has a seed head does not seem to be that interesting.  I wonder if they would eat the seed head if they could reach it (ie, cut down)
I will be moving them to a new spot close by, with a huge number of broadleaf weeds and plants.  I have a second fence that I will be joining to the first, to give them more room.

A couple days ago, my wife called me, worriedly telling me that a whole bunch of them had gotten out of the shed when the door was accidently open.  I came home and found about 50 of them ranging all over the yard!  I kept an eye on it, and we kept the cats inside, just in case, but by nightfall, all of them were back inside the shed on their own.  Unfortunately, some of them are still able to slip through the fence netting, but they always go back.
There have been no deaths (that I know about) in 2 weeks.  If one or two have been grabbed by a hawk or something, I won't know until I take them to market, there isn't any effective way to count them all.  If some are gone, there's not much I can do, but I very much doubt that more than one or two will be eaten by flying predators.  There are a few hawks and owls in the area, but they stay well away from houses, and there is plenty of easier prey, like mice and gophers to eat.  I've also seen a few rabbits in the area, but nothing near us.

You can see how bit they are getting, the one at the bottom of this picture is a particularly big guy.

Here is a picture of the chickens eating the weeds, and you can see that they love the fresh green leaves.  I don't know how many calories or protein is in these plants, but there are plenty of minerals and other goodies, so my birds should be quite healthy!  They are eating quite a bit of regular feed, so I know that they aren't foraging for everything, but every little bit helps.

No more Census

I know it's rare to see a couple of posts so close together, but I have thought I would like to post more often, maybe twice per week.

I turned in my stuff from the part-time job I had since April, counting people in the census.  If that sounds like a simple job, let me assure you that there is no such thing as a "simple task" when the government gets involved.  I had to draw maps, navigate roads with my GPS, and try to get people to do something that has no direct benefit to them.  In the end, it was a job, I worked as hard and efficiently as I could, and it's over.  The money certainly was well spent, and should pay off quite nicely when I harvest my garden and chickens!

Speaking of chickens, I haven't had any "casualties" for about 1 week now, and this is day #2 outside.  Verdict is = they love being outside!  They have been wandering quite a bit further than yesterday, and then back inside to eat, back outside and so forth.  I've been watching, and they are eating some plants, but not much grass.  They seem to like broadleaf plants like dandelion, and they were clustered around a depression in the ground quite a bit.  Maybe there were bugs down there, couldn't tell.  They seem quite a bit tougher, even ranging outside on a chilly day like today.  I may stop running heat at night, after tonite.  It seems useless if they don't need it.

GOOD BOOKS

I've been reading a lot lately, and listening to books on tape/CD/MP3.  I started listening to Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, and I highly recommend it.  If you can read that book, and feel like throwing yourself at the feet of the cross for mercy, you probably aren't a believer.  If you're not a believer in Christ, you should be.  I know that's blunt and not very tolerant, but it's the truth.  The Messiah came to call all men to Himself, and that means you.  Without him, Plan B is you face complete destruction...

Have a great week, enjoy the summer heat!

Summer rains

It's almost the end of July...and already my thoughts turn to winter.  I can't help it, it's in my nature to think about things to come, almost to the point that I can't really enjoy what I'm doing!  I have a LOT to do before winter, but I've gotten a lot done so far.

CHICKEN UPDATE

My little drumsticks turned three weeks old yesterday!  We had a party, with balloons and a clown.  Well, actually, I just let them outside for the first time, into the pen I put up with electric netting.  I then cut a hole into the side of the shed, almost big enough to crawl out of.  It took about an hour, but eventually about half of them went outside, and started eating!  I don't think there were too many bugs to eat, but they were eating grass and dandelions and picking and scratching away.  Once in a while, one of them would poke through the fence, and get a painful shock, which was somewhat entertaining.  Irritatingly, many of the birds are small enough to actually slip through the fence at the bottom!  They usually come back through right away though, and by nightfall, all of the birds were curled up inside the shed.

My next project will be to create a movable shelter that will be situated inside the penned area.  The chickens will sleep inside that, but it will only have three closed in sides, to deflect the wind and most of the rain.  I'm counting on the fence to keep any predators out!  I saw a pretty neat little design using cattle panels arched over a frame, and covered in a tarp.  It would take about an hour or two to whip up, and cost very little.  It will also be lightweight, which is great, since I have to drag it about on my own!

Here are some pics of the three week old birds.  Note that they are almost completely feathered out.

This one has got color on his comb, which really make him look "chickeny".

This is the penned in area.  I have a couple of solar panels (yes, that one in the photo is actually cracked) and the birds were sheltering under it during the hot part of the day yesterday.  Then, when it cooled down, they resumed their hunting for stuff to eat.

This is the somewhat messy setup for the fence.  Obviously that's a car battery on the bottom, connected to a trickle charger, and also hooked to the energizer on the bottom rung of the ladder.  Since it's raining right now, I stacked everything on the battery, and put a rubbermaid tub upside-down over it to keep the rain off.  My eventual plan is to take a small solar panel that I just happen to have lying around, and connect that to the battery instead of a charger.  The fence does not require much power, and most people use much smaller batteries with no trouble.  This one was free, and free is always good!

GARDEN UPDATE

With all the talk about chickens, it's easy to forget that I also have a massive garden growing as well.  Some of the plants could use a nitrogen feeding, maybe some compost tea or manure tea, but the peas are doing fantastic!  I've picked about two buckets worth of peas since the 19th of July, and I know that they will keep producing till the middle of August.  What I'm not sure about, is if there will enough available at one time to sell...the beans are not doing much (they need some feeding) and the carrots aren't ready yet.  I will be planting a second crop of peas, which will hopefully produce during September, which is about the time that I plan to start harvesting chickens.  With chickens, carrots, peas, and maybe beans, I will have something to actually sell at market!

MILESTONES

I will be thirty years old in 9 days, and my tenth wedding anniversary is six days after that!  Yes, that means I had just turned twenty when I got married.  I was ready, and I have never, ever regretted that decision.  Now, with two kids I finally realize that despite all of the hard work on the farm, the good job, and the relative success, I will have utterly failed if I cannot pass my knowledge down to the next generation.  To train them, and love them, is enough to fill a lifetime if I never did anything else.  I constantly tell them how important it is for them to learn from me, and never a day goes by where I don't spend some time playing or reading, or doing something that they enjoy.  Even my son gets grumpy if he doesn't get some Daddy time!

I hope all of you will recognize the same God-given task.  Nothing you do will matter, if you do not properly train your children!  

First peas!

It's been an interesting week!
Stampede is over (THANK GOD), it's HOT outside, and things are going very, very well here on the homestead!

CHICKENS
I'm happy to report that no more chickens have died!  They are getting pretty big too, and starting to really feather out.  They're also eating more than ever too, I'm going through about 30 pounds a day, easy!  I'm planning to cut a door in the side of the shed, so I can let them out during the day into a fenced area.  I've already got the fence energizer, so I'm ready to roll!

I also picked the first few pea pods today, although they were a bit underripe yet.  Still tasty though!
I should have some pics of the chickens on my next update.

Chicken update

It has been about 5 days since we got 400 chicks delivered to us, and I figured enough has happened for an update.

First, the expected points:  Three more birds died last night, probably smothered by the others in a quest to keep warm.  I do have a fairly powerful heater running, but for some reason, a good bunch of the birds like to pile up in one corner, quite far away from the heater.  That's where I found the bodies.  They are piled again like that tonite, even though I chased them away, they just went back so we might have some more bodies again tomo.  Not much I can do, I will be picking up a second heater in the next few days, to run overnight.
Now, the unexpected:  During the day, the birds don't seem to be as sensitive to cold as I had thought.  The tempurature is nowhere near the "37 C" that pretty much everyone agrees it should be, but the chicks aren't piling up against each other, except at night, and they run around and seem quite active.  I suppose the sunlight helps, but most of them are not in the direct sun, and it was also quite windy yesterday, so I guess maybe they're a bit hardier than most people think?
I thought a lot about the upcoming website, the webstore, and how I'd like to conduct business.  I will of course be selling at the farmer's market, along with whatever veggies I have left at that time, but I think having a preorder option on the webstore would be great as well.  I'll just come into town on a predesignated day, and you the customer will simply come and pick your product up!  I might even deliver for larger orders, maybe 5 birds or more.
I can hardly wait to taste the difference in these birds, for all my life I've been eating garbage chicken raised on garbage feed.  No more!

OTHER

Have you ever had a day that you just couldn't find motivation to do ANYTHING, even though you have a zillion things you could do?  Well I have, but today was not one of those.  I replaced the outlet for the garden hose, cleaned up the yard, took the garbage to the dump, got a tank of house-water, and replenished the water in my batteries (waaaay overdue).  And now I'm blogging.
I will almost certainly have another post within the week, I do have a LOT of weeding to do in the garden, but the chicks have become almost an invisible routine.  I'm thinking now that I will probably next year buy some bucket calves, and put them up too.  I need some cattle, but they are quite costly.  Not like chicks that cost $1.50, even weaned calves are around $500 each, and it takes a year to get them to market weight.  It is worth it though, grass fed beef is worth it's weight in silver!

Sunset Meadows buys it's first livestock!

It's officially summer, and it's been about 21 days since my last post...to say that things have changed and I've been a bit busy would be like saying "it's been a little warm".  It's 30 C today, and not a cloud in sight!  I have been talking for months about all the things I want to do this year, and now I can tell you, we ARE doing them!

CHICKENS

My most exiting project to date, we just came into possession of 400 baby chicks!  As you can see in the remaining two pictures, they are living in a large-ish sized shed that I just finished building the day before they arrived.  I have two breeds, Red Sussex Cox, and I can't remember the full name of the other.  They're crosses, but they're dual purpose breeds, good for eggs and meat, and they are they type that will forage some of their own food.  That was VERY important for me.

The chicks arrived yesterday just as I got home from working the night shift.  I zipped back into town, expected several enormous boxes which I would need my wife's SUV to carry.  Imagine my surprise when I was given 4 boxes, each about the size of a very large tray of summer fruit, about 1.5 feet x 2.5 feet.  I could have carried them in my car easily.

I brought them home, and frantically tried to finish setting up the brooder heater.  The heater did not come with the proper fittings to connect to a propane tank, and I've been trying to figure out the best way to do it. Of course, the heater did not work properly, there was a leak in one of the fittings.  I abandoned it, and got the chickens out of the box.  They were packed in pretty tight, but they were so very tiny and light, I was able to scoop out 5 or 6 at a time.  I realized that they might be able to slip under the door, so I had to create a barrier that they couldn't jump over.

After a few hours, I noticed that the chicks were trying to cram together in the few little beams of sunlight streaming into the shed, and I realized that they were cold.  I ran to town, and bought the heater you see on the top of the propane tank in the picture below.  I had it tilted as you see, facing down to the dirt of the shed, a mistake which cost me 3 crushed chicks overnight...

Of course, I have secured it now.  The three dead birds joined one more that was crushed by accident earlier to make 4 casualties, which out of 400 birds isn't too terrible!  I am expecting more deaths, but it would be super amazing if all the birds survived!

My daughter, who initially did not seem to interested in the idea of chickens, has de facto been made the guardian of these tiny birds.  She spent about 4 hours in the shed yesterday, and has given them water, food, and entertainment.  She got up at six to check on them, since I was at work overnight.

The chicks will spend about a month in the shed, give or take, and then will graduate to the great outdoors, where they will have all of nature to eat, chase and peck at!  My hope is that 50% or better of their diet will come from natural sources, giving them a tremendous nutrient and taste advantage over the "normal" grocery store chicken.

The shed with the non-functioning heater.

Black and yellow!  So many chicks....

My baby boy's first exposure to farm animals.  He got a bit panicky, but calmed down quickly.  The birds hopped on his legs, and he laughed!

GARDEN

Since it is so very, very hot outside, the garden has stalled a bit, but all of my plants have germinated and look pretty healthy!  I haven't had a lot of time to weed, and I have neglected watering terribly, but they have held up quite nicely even so.  I am working nights right now, which means sleeping all morning, and very little time to do much else except eat.  I have an hour until I have to leave, which means I will be watering as soon as I finish this blog post!

OTHER STUFF

My brother and his wife are moving to another town (boooooooo), so unfortunately we won't see as much of them as I'd like.  They've been some of the most supportive people in our lives, and I wish them the best in whatever they end up doing!

My employment with the Census has been extended, surprisingly, and I will now be looking for a different survey from people in my area.  Since I have 7 days off coming up, that will fill part of my time, and earn a bit of extra cash to pay for these chicks, and a root canal I unfortunately had to get the other day...

If you like this blog, let me know by commenting. I will try and respond to all comments, good or bad.  My general idea is to have you journey with me, experiencing the good, and the bad of what we are trying to do out here!  

Oh, and belated happy 4th of July...

Cautiously optimistic

This is my second favorite time of year, my all-time favorite being May, mainly because the mosquitoes haven't really taken over yet.  They sure have now though!

CHICKENS
I've got all of the stuff I need for the chickens, and all that's left is...the chicks.  I order them tomorrow, which means I MUST have the heater and the greenhouse ready to receive chickens by the next day.  If I don't think I can get it done in time, I can delay ordering the chicks for about 5 days.  I will have to get some unmedicated chick starter, but that should be easy to get.

GARDEN
A couple of days ago, we had one of the most intense rain/hail storms I've ever seen.  I think it rained about 2-3 inches in a couple of hours, and everything just got waterlogged.  The water soaked into the greenhouse, which I guess means I don't need to water for a few days, hehe.  Despite the heavy rain, the plants should recover.  Hopefully there won't be any more hail though, the plants will need all the help they can get in my climate!

GREENHOUSE
The greenhouse isn't properly sealed, and it doesn't have a door.  Yet, every plant inside is growing faster, and I have corn, yes corn germinating!  I bought some fast germinating sweet corn, and it just popped up right away.  The cucumbers are growing quickly, and the tomatoes have ended transplant shock, and are growing. The strawberries that are inside are enormous, and are spreading with runners
Long story made short = I need more greenhouses!  If I were to use plastic only on the south side, and plywood for the back, I could build quite a few more of them, or some larger ones.  I could also double insulate the sun-facing side, and maybe get a longer season too.  There's no question, it's a solid plan, and not expensive either.  I have the plastic already.

Cranium Imploded Inward Bison Ungulate Leaping Region

That title is a fancy way of saying "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump", which is where we visited today.
My wife suggested that we go to a museum, so I figured I haven't been to this place in 22 years, why not?  It was neat, and we went at a very good time too.

THE CREATION
The Bible says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, including man and his wife.  This is God's own testimony, and I heard a VERY interesting bit of "Indian Legend" today that made me elbow my wife and say "Hey, did you hear what he just said???"
An old Native fellow was leading a group of young native kids around the museum, telling them about the exhibits, and expanding on them in a way that no one else probably could have.  I liked this guy from the start, he was smart and engaging, trying to get the interest of the kids who looked like they were about Junior High-ish.
The old man started describing the origins of the buffalo, and how the buffalo was created for the native people by "Napi", the legendary name for their creator god.  Then, he went on to describe how Napi had created man, and then took a rib from the man and created "rib-woman".  I'm not making this up.
The old man probably believed the old story was a legend.  The truth is, many old legend begin from a true story, and are passed down through generations in oral stories, in this case, at least 6,000 years worth of generations.  The story in Genesis 1, and the legend of "Napi" are the same story.  Many cultures have this same story, and also the legend of the Great Flood.  Most modern anthropologists believe that both the Scriptures, and these cultures obtained these legends and stories from a common source, or that the Scriptures borrowed the "creation legend", and claimed it was original.  There is very little evidence for this point of view, other than the fact that the legends do exist, and they mirror the Scriptures accounts of history.

THE TRUTH
The North American Natives carried with them the legend of Napi, whose name means "trickster".  I suspect that Napi is actually Satan the devil, who has perverted the nature of the true God among these old peoples.  I noticed that there is a lot of idolatry, the totems, the shamans, the rituals and luck charms.  Many of the other legends of Napi show him to be temperamental, and deceitful.  Who does that remind you of?  Not the True Creator of the Scriptures.

I suppose that God has a plan for the natives.  I can see that they are sliding into an abyss, no thanks to our government giving them $10 billion every year.  I can also see that this legend of Napi would be a great way to introduce the True God to these people, and reverse this decline.  I pray that the right person comes around to make this happen.

Perhaps some of you were expecting a garden blog, and you're a bit bewildered by my religious ravings.  If it's not your thing, just ignore it, but this blog is my life and my thoughts, and I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things!

PS
I'm very close to launching the Sunset-Meadows podcast, with the purchase of my itty-bitty microphone meant for the iPhone headphone socket.  Hopefully the sound quality will be good, I will do my best to filter with software.
The Sunset-Meadows podcast will be a lot like the blog, but more instructive.  Once the farm actually has some product to sell, I will be promoting the product through the podcast, at least a little bit anyway.  If you don't want to buy the products, the podcast will be free regardless.  I can promise that it will be informative, humorous, helpful, and very, very controversial.
See ya!

Questions? Answers!

I had some excellent questions from an anonymous reader, and I would like to answer those.

NO TILL
I had previously mentioned about using newspaper and no till for a portion of the garden.  It turns out that it's a small portion, newspaper laid on the ground, seed potatoes planted directly on top, and covered with straw.  I haven't seen anything poking out yet, but I'll report when I do.  I did not use newspaper in any other areas, although I would have liked to.  It would have taken a very, very long time to lay the paper, and I was a bit pressed.

BUCKWHEAT IS A WEED?
Anonymous expressed concern about using buckwheat in such a liberal fashion as I have been, strewing it everywhere.  Buckwheat is a strong plant, and tends to take over where it establishes.  It's roots give off a chemical that suppress other plants, and the tall canopy shades out the competition.  However, unlike mints, grasses, and thistles, buckwheat cannot spread through root rizhomes, it can only establish through seed.  If the plant does not go to seed, or the seed is collected, the buckwheat does not come back, it is not a perennial.  In Canada, buckwheat is planted as a crop in limited quantities, and is easy to grow.  The seeds are good food for animals, and the hulls are quite useful as well.  Buckwheat is probably one of the most common soil-building cover crops in use around the world today.  Oh, and bees love it!
My land is quite large, and my neighbors are far away, and buckwheat seeds are heavy, and can't be blown far.  My neighbors won't get any stray seeds growing on their property, but if they did, I'm sure they would spray just as for any other broadleaf plant.

WHAT IS A WEED ANYWAY?
Why do gardeners hate weeds so much?  Is it our love of order?  The desire for neat, straight rows of plants, growing with no competition?  Or is there some science?  Conventional wisdom tells us that "weeds" consume precious water and nutrients.  What then happens?  Do those nutrients vanish?  They are stored in the leaves. If we leave our garden to bare soil, we will find ourselves with crusty dry dirt in no time flat!  Many types of weeds spread across, keeping moisture in the soil.
Dandelions and other tap rooted plants penetrate the subsoil, creating carbon pathways, and nutrient channels that can be used by other plants.  If you cut them, and drop them, the leaves are excellent mulch, and contain a large amount of needed minerals.  Clover is a legume, and is also a wonderful mulch.  Grass can be suppressed with mulch, or pulled.  I already have plenty of dandelions growing in the garden, and I will control them, only to make sure that my garden plants can get through.  It's a lot faster to just cut them back than to pull them out.
Many so called "weeds" are found mainly in poor soil, and were designed by God to rebuild the soil structure.

CHICKEN
There are as many ways to raise chicken as there are moons circling Jupiter.  I choose to raise them in a way that reflects their natural habitat, the jungle.  Yes, chickens come from the jungle!  They do very well outside, all year round, and will roost in bushes, and trees if they are available.  Since I have no trees, I will have to put roosts out.
Pastured chicken has a very different taste from what you find in the grocery store, and a firmer texture.  It is not necessarily organic, but it can be.  Organic chicken can also be raised in little tiny cages, and many are.  Organic only refers to what the animal eats, not the conditions it is raised in.  My chicken will be many steps beyond organic, and I intend to market it like that!  Pastured meat is a fast-growing market segment, and there is plenty of consumer demand, especially from those who are concerned about the cruelty of raising a bird in a cage that is so small, it can't even turn around...

Ready to roll!

Well it's official, my entire family has now reached adulthood.  My youngest sister just turned 18!  Time flies when you're doing stuff.  I was thinking about that, and then I realized today that my daughter will be 12 years old in 4 years from now.  She's 2/3 of the way to puberty!!!  At least I've got my anti-boyfriend shotgun secured already.  I need a few years to practice my 'threatening brandish at the door' routine.  I've already taught her most of the sensitive attack points on a male body.

GARDEN
Everything is planted!  Well, almost.  I want to put in some radishes yet.  We just came out of about 1.5 weeks of steady rain, and the warm sun is going to be out for this next week.  The peas I planted about 2 weeks ago have sprouted, and are about 2 inches tall.  I haven't seen any of my beans, potatoes, carrots, or sunflowers yet. I went out into some pasture and tossed a whole bag of buckwheat, quinoa, clover, amaranth, and some barley. I found a few birds munching on my seeds, so I shot one with my shotgun and I haven't seen them since.  I can see the seeds all over the place when I walk about, so I'm sure that most of them will be around to hopefully germinate.
The greenhouse is holding up well, even without a door (hey, I'm a busy guy).  I've got 4 Roma tomato plants that I bought the other day, and a bunch of cucumbers that I started myself.  This morning, I found a fairly thick layer of ice on some water in a wheelbarrow, but the tomatoes were completely unfrosted inside the greenhouse, despite the zillions of gaps all over the dam thing!  I wouldn't want to trust that protection too far, so I put some plastic over them tonite, it could be cold again.

CHICKENS
I've ordered the brood heater, which is on it's way from the US, along with the electronet fencing.  I just need to fashion some sort of hawk protection for the chickens, and some roosts, and we'll be sailing up the Bayou with both guns blazing.  That is, I can order the chicks from the hatchery.  My plan is to mix and grind my own feed, unmedicated of course.  I've cleared a bunch of room in the greenhouse.  I will start with 250 chicks, and once they've cleared the brooder, I'll order another 150~ and another electronet fence.  It takes about 18 weeks for the chickens to reach market weight, so that will bring me to the end of September.  By then, I should have lined up some customers, and set up a website.
Keep your mouse peeled for www.sunset-meadows.com/chicken for ordering details!

OTHER RANDOM STUFF
My work with the census is going well, I've only got about 55 forms to collect yet.  I'll be heading out on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to hassle, I mean, ask people for their forms.  I've yet to find anyone who hasn't been totally cooperative, so I'm enjoying the work pretty well!

My wife, Heather is starting a business promoting cool products, and she earns commissions off what people buy under her name.  Please visit www.fhtmca.com/heatherschneider and buy lots of stuff.  You know you wanna!  Seriously, there's a LOT of things, computers, clothing etc.  Check it out.

Building a greenhouse

I almost should have titled this "Building a greenhouse during a hurricane"  but that was a bit long.

The completed frame of the greenhouse.  2x4x10', cut at the top to form a peak, with a small triangle of plywood at the top, and a bracer about 1.5 feet down.  The entire frame is attached with rope at the top.  I wouldn't recommend this, if you can put wood straight across the very top to protect the plastic. 

Inside the mostly completed plastic cover.

The most up-to-date picture.  The plastic is tight, and the door is framed and cut.  The other end is capped with plywood.  Inside there is no wind, and I will be placing my soil blocks in here, as well as making more blocks.

Close up of the door.  That little flap of plastic will be cut away once I've built a door.

All in all, I wish I had built this greenhouse from PVC conduit pipe, which would have been much, much faster.  The plastic would last longer too.  I also would buy a product called "wiggle wire" which attaches to the bottom frame of the greenhouse, and holds the plastic without puncturing it.  It isn't expensive, and allows you to tighten the plastic from time to time.  

When the plastic on this this finally gives out, I will cover the north end with plywood, and paint it white.  Then, I will put polycarbonate panels on the south side, which will make it much stronger, and it will last many years.

A few days ago I had a few good friends here, and we got a lot done.  The plastic, of course, but we also planted about 160 bareroot strawberries, and collected a bunch of llama manure from my neighbor.  I planted a couple more packages of sunflowers, a bag of potatoes, and found that my neighbor has my favorite chicken, the Buff Orpington!  She also has a turkey, guinea fowl, and a bunch of sheep.

I should mention that the wind has been blowing about 27 kph, but from the east...normally it's north or west. I have no fencing to the east, so it's really irritating!  I have quite a bit more work to get done, but that greenhouse was the major project I wanted, and it's finished!  Sort of!  Needs a door!

Next project, get a brooder heater, and buy 400 chicks from a local nursery.  That's next wednesday.  Then, purchase electronet fencing, and some chick feeders and waterers.  And, a pump action 20 gauge shotgun.  Hey, a man's gotta have a shotgun!

I bet no-one in the world is talking about this right now!

I just got off my Facebook, where just about every single person in my friends list is rejoicing about the apparent death of Osama Bin Laden.  I though I would sound off about that too, although you might not like my opinion once you read it.  You've been warned.

WAR.  WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR.
Absolutely nothing.  Except stimulating the economy.  And keeping peoples attention focused from other, possibly more sinister events.
In 2001, 19 men flew some Jumbo Jets into a couple of massive buildings, and killed a lot of innocent people.  As we find out, the mastermind of this attack was an old man name Bin Laden.  He was not unknown to the world, or the US, nor did he act alone, and neither were his attacks "random" or "unprovoked".  The attacks themselves were horrible, and yet mysterious, and there are more questions than there are answers.  See "Loose Change" for more information about the collapsing of World Trade Centre 1 and 2, which were specifically designed to withstand the impact of an airplane in the 20's.

Ok, enough conspiracy.  Bin Laden fought for the CIA, who trained him to fight the Ruskies in Asscrackistan in the 80's.  He was an ally.  Then he wasn't.
After the 9/11 attacks, the US, and specifically Dick Cheney, and George "Dubya" Bush, went to war with Afghanistan, on the pretext that OBL was hiding there, which was NOT confirmed.

Based on that, the US bombed Afghanistan, and from 2001-present has killed EACH YEAR, the same number of INNOCENT CIVILIANS as the Americans killed in 9/11, about 3,000 a year.  Thousands more die of causes related to the war.  No one weeps for these people, except Afghanistan.
Iraq has been worse.  Millions are dead.  No one can remember why we are at war with Iraq without referring to the admitted lie of "weapons of mass destruction".

This is terror.  It is being waged against these countries by ourselves!  But, the soldiers who fight are not to blame.  They are fighting a politician's war.  Most of them are weary, they want the war to end, but the roadside bombs, shootings, and car bombs continue, and no one knows what to do next!

OBL is dead.  Nothing will change.  The war cannot be won, there is no objective to be taken, no people to be freed.  The people themselves produce "insurgents" who fight our men.  This bothers me, a lot.  A friend of mine just got back from A-stan, and he had no good words or news.  It is a dangerous place, and we should not be there!

VOTING
I don't often have two rants on one blog post, but tomorrow is election day, and I can't help myself.  Come with me down the rabbit hole, if you dare!
Voting for leaders is nothing new.  The Greeks did so, as did many ancient kingdoms, and hundred of countries today hold "elections", most of which are so clearly rigged, that we wonder why those people even bother to try!
In 1767, the original 13 American colonies revolted against King George because he dared to impose tariffs (taxes) on them.  Today, my government takes over 50% of my earnings to pay people to play solitare on thousands of computers, in hundreds of offices across Canada.  $10,000,000,000 goes to the smallest population group in Canada, who themselves pay no income taxes of any kind.  The leaders in these groups earn $300,000 for leading 1,200 people.  That money came from me, and you.
Tomorrow, millions of people will "cast a vote", and try to "make a difference".  None of them will, especially here in Alberta.  Millions of people will decide who will "lead our country".

The real question is this (for me):  Why can't I make my own decisions?  Why must I pick some one to lead me?

Not a single member of any political group in this country knows me.  Yet, they presume to take 1,000 hours of my time, every year, and commit my time to causes that they deem "worthy", but produce nothing.  They tell me that I cannot raise more than 2,000 chickens without buying "quota".  They forbid me to purchase raw milk, which I would like to drink.  They print, borrow, and spend money that no one has earned yet.  They have racked up $500,000,000,000 of debt, in my name and yours.  They have voted themselves pay raises, lavish and extravagant pensions, tax free allowances, and perks of all kinds.  I suppose I should be glad that they don't actually work very often, sometimes less than 100 days per year.  Every day that Parliament is in session, is a day that I should be guarding my pocketbook.

"If I don't vote, then I cannot complain".  It wouldn't matter if I did complain!  Who's listening?  I would rather vote in ways that actually matter.  I buy organic food, voting with my dollars for healthier apples.  I purchase beef from a trusted family source.  Because of the money I spend, people are moved to produce what I want!  I can actually wield that power for my own benefit.

I support the people, their rights, and obligations as God told us in Exodus 20 when he gave us the 10 commandments.  He has never amended His Law, and never will.  His Law can protect you, if you follow it!

If you vote tomorrow, please drive safe.  Traffic accidents always go up on voting day.  I'll be doing something productive.

By for now!

Greenhouse pics!

It's been a busy and productive week!  I've been hammering away at the garden, I built the framework for, and put together my new greenhouse, and I've started training for my part time job counting people.

The frame sections.  2x4x10', cut to an angle at the top, and joined with a triangle of plywood.  Braced with a 2x6, the bottom of the "legs" are cut flat.

The end cap being braced.  I ended up bracing with rope, as you can see in the bottom photo.  It works excellent! 

Just needs plastic, some end plywood, and a door.  I will be putting some padding at the top of each frame section to avoid cutting the plastic on the screws holding the rope on.  I will paint the whole thing white to protect the plastic and reflect light.  

I've already sectioned off the garden with old tires (I'm not using them for planting this year), I've got about 1/3 acre or so this year, including the greenhouse.  Over the next few days I need to build a table, get some planting trays, make some soil cubes, and start some peas in the ground.  The greenhouse plastic will have to wait until I can get some assistance in May.  I will make a temporary shelter for the soil cubes, which are pretty small.  I have a frost blanket too, in case it gets really cold, but it's been pretty decent, no freezing overnite for the last 1.5 weeks.
Well, it's off to work again!

Screw it, I'm starting anyway!

We're past the middle of April...by now I should have been industriously digging, putting down compost and manure, and perhaps planting peas, brocolli, cabbage or spinach.  Instead, there is still 2 inches of snow on the ground, and this early in the morning, the ground is still frozen from last night.  And I am quickly running out of days off to do all of the things I had planned!
So, I'm starting a bunch of stuff anyway.  I'm going to layout the boards for my hoophouse, and maybe build the end pieces from OSB and plywood.  I might try and find some cross bars to start the framework.  The greenhouse plastic is waiting for me in Calgary, I'll be picking that up tomorrow.  I still need a new axle for my trailer, which will cost $188 (not too bad, considering the trailer is $1000), and I will pay for and pick up my garden tractor.  I also have the back of my truck filled with gravel, which I've been using to fill in my driveway, and I'll be making some garden pathways with gravel and some extra soil.


GARDEN
I keep changing my mind, but after doing some research that I have actually done before (I'm a little dense, ok?) I've decided NOT to rototill anything!  Instead, I'm going to lay a couple sheets of newspaper directly on the ground, and pile hay, straw and manure in rows, leaving a tiny gap to plant into down the centre.  I will buy several bags of peat, mix it with manure, and that will be my "soil" for planting.  I might shove a digging fork into the planting row, and wiggle it to try and loosen the clay down below.  I've also got about 200 strawberry plants, and 30 asperagus crowns to dig in, but that can wait for some better weather.

ENERGY
I finally got almost all of my solar panels mounted on some homemade racks, and collecting sunlight.  I had 12 panels total, for some reason one of them doesn't work.  I don't know how I can fix it, and sending it back for a warranty repair would cost as much as the panel is worth...I guess I'll be running with 11 panels then.  I also took down my wind turbine to see if I could fix it.  It looks like I'm going to have to tear it right apart, it might be the bearings that are shot...but the sun should fill in quite nicely for power!
I was surprised at two things over the last two weeks;  the solar panels don't produce as much power as I thought they would, and number two, we don't use nearly as much power as I thought we did!  We're using an average of 3-4 kwhrs per day, which is about half what I expected.  I found this out because the solar charge controller tells me how much power the panels made over that day, and we haven't run the generator for a while, so we're using less than we're making.  In fact, yesterday, the batteries were full at 2 pm, and for the rest of the day were equalizing!  It's too bad our batteries are crap, or we would have several days worth of power.  They barely last overnight now...

MISC
I have a part time job!  I may have mentioned this, but I've got all the details now, and it is a sweet, sweet gig.  I have to deliver census forms to a certain area, which just happens to be on my way to work.  I also get paid mileage for driving there, and also a per/hour rate, only $15, but it's better than minimum wage.  So, essentially, I can drive to my zone a couple hours before I start work, work a few hours, go to work, drive back, and be paid for it!  Well, at least the part from my house to my zone.  The mileage rate is decent too, it more than covers gas in my very efficient Corolla.  The one little difficulty:  The job starts right at the beginning of May, which would be prime gardening time.  Hence, I'm trying to get everything done now...

BUSINESS
I need a website, but I don't have a lot of time right now to set one up.  Watch for it though, at www.sunset-meadows.com in the coming months.  It will be, of course, a work in progress, and the first posts will be my podcast, which will be a once/week thing, eventually going to 2-3 per week.  Eventually, this blog will appear there, and not here.  In time, we will have an online store, zillions of pictures, and articles about all sorts of nutty and cool stuff.
Bookmark it now!  www.sunset-meadows.com

Mud, and "There is nothing new under the sun"

Happy April!  I think some of you lucky blighters are starting your gardens...I must confess jealousy, but on the other hand, I do have a lot of non-gardenish work that is also exciting.  My truck is stuck in the mud, again (yearly tradition) but I have an elaborate plan involving large chunks of wood and jacks that should free it tomorrow.

FAMILY

I must begin with the best...my son turns 1 in a few days!  He's become even more adorable, and is still not walking or crawling (not that I'm complaining) but seems to always find some wood chips to eat off the floor that the broom missed.  He already doesn't like brocolli, but he'll eat wood chips and puzzle pieces...

My daughter is continuing her homeschooling, and I have to admit, it's difficult to stay on track and actually get down to it, but once we get the books out, and start working, it's fun, most of the time.  You MUST have the patience of a rock with a child, but still not let them get away with goofing around too much.  I have learned one thing: 

Learning must be enjoyed, and when it stops being enjoyed, it stops being learned!

So, at various points during our lessons, I let my kid just write some silly word, or draw a picture of a fork, because she enjoys it.  Then, I gently bring her back on focus.

ELECTRICITY
This could be a blog post of it's own, and it's the big non-gardenish project that I am undertaking.
*drum roll*
My solar panels are not just in my possession, they are also (mostly) installed, and producing power!!!
I purchased 12 in total, and I have managed to get 7 up and running.  They are freakin enormous, not to put too fine a point on that, but I can manage them myself if I'm careful. 

Not a moment too soon for the solar panels either.  I'm running out of generators to destroy!  We've got our Honda-engined one that sometimes produces power, and sometimes doesn't.  Mostly doesn't.  The dumbarses who run the parts dept at Champion power equipment Canada, sent me two wrong parts, and not enough of the proper parts to fix my almost new generator that has less than 350 hrs on it.  To say I was angry would not fully account for what happened then...

In better news, I pulled out an older generator that I had tried to start, and failed...and got that running!  I need a different plug socket for that one.  I also discovered that the stripped spark plug socket on my propane generator is repairable with a kit that I purchased off Ebay just now.

So, hopefully in a few weeks I will have 4 functioning generators that I don't need, rather than needing one that I don't have!

Oh yes, my wind turbine is still not producing power, I think there is a major shortout somewhere inside the turbine itself, which will require a takedown and overhaul...booooooo.  It was windy today too, and not very sunny.  It always irritates me when energy gets wasted because of some technical problem.

Stay tuned for pics of the solar installation as it comes along!

One last observation about electricity.  I found out that our fridge was on the "auto-defrost" setting since we moved in...whoops.  It was also set too high, so it was turning on what seemed like every 10 minutes.  I think that fridge has literally wasted 1000 kwhrs because of those two things, because the batteries can last quite a bit longer these last few days.  We just need 1 more laptop and we should be in happy-fun-times-awesomeness-town.

GARDEN/BUSINESS

Well, there's mud and lots of it!  A record snowfall is now melting and there is standing water everywhere!  It should dry up a bit this week, and then it's go go go time!  Deploy rototiller!
I have a couple of experiments I'd like to try.  I'm going to try a few different methods and see what works the best.  I will rototill a section of my garden, incorporating a ton of manure and compost, leaves and wood chips, and maybe some cattle bedding from my neighbor.  That will be the first and only rototilling done there.
On a different section, I will flame off the grass, and pile the mulch directly on the dirt, and plant into that.
Then, I'd like to shred a bunch of wood from the dump, and make some hugelkultur beds (wood covered in dirt) along with some hay for a bit of nitrogen, and plant into that.  I will keep the winners and shoot the losers.
I've also been very seriously examining the idea of raising about 200 chickens in a paddock type arrangement with electronet fencing.  I would sell a bunch, and keep the rest to eat.  If this works, I could increase next year to 400 or so, and use whatever profits to buy calves to raise. If I can, I will do more than 200 this year, but that's my minimum.
There's also my idea to grow buckwheat, hull it and feed it to chickens, then use the hulls to make pillows which I could sell online.
Then, there's all of the neat ideas my wife has been coming up with, namely, making soaps, perfumes, and lotions from herbs and flowers.
We just need to make some solid plans, and follow them through!
It's time to crash, I was up at 3 am to work overtime...it never ends.

Sun power!

This year will not be like the last: I filed my taxes electronically, and I got my refund already! So, what does a homesteader do with his tax return? Solar panels!!

http://www.sunelec.com/ has some of the best prices on solar that I've seen yet, the panels that I ordered were $1.19/watt USD. Never in history have solar panels been that cheap! In Canada, the cheapest panels I've seen are about $3/watt, although there wouldn't be any shipping.

Even with shipping at $700, I'm still getting 1280 watts of solar lovin', along with a top quality charge controller (Outback, of course) and a combiner box. The charge controller will take the very high voltage from the panels, topping at 71 volts, and step it down to 24. I can still add another 400-500 watts to the system in the future without adding more charge controllers.

I've decided to put the panels on the ground level, on a movable, tiltable platform since I may need to move them in the future. Not to mention, the ground is still frozen solid, so digging posts isn't an option...

Which brings me to my next question;

Where the H-E double hockey sticks is spring?? We're still getting temps overnight around -25C, and daytime is running about -10C or less! I guess no spring for us this year. We should be getting above freezing temps in the daytime by this point. It's supposed to warm up in a few days. We'll see if that actually happens. As I recall, by this time last year, we had no snow, and I could already feel the soil warming up. I haven't actually seen soil yet, so we're a bit behind...

Which is why I need a greenhouse!! Lucky for me, I already dug the pit last fall, so I just need a bit of plastic, some framing, and a couple of warm weeks so I can shape the soil a bit. I've started window shopping for garden goodies, and I might have a bead on a garden tractor for $300! Propane powered, not that I care. It could be powered by unicorn feathers, and I would find a way to run it.

I haven't had a lot of pics, because of the difficulty of uploading from the iPhone (might want to work on that a bit, APPLE!) but here's a few.

This is one of the many bizzare snowdrifts that we've accumulated this year. Definitely a smaller one, some of the big ones are 5 feet tall, and unfortunately, just outside the door!

This was once a wind turbine rectifier, now a smoking melted heap of Chinese crapola. I'm making a new one from better parts. I might salvage the heating coils from this, I do need a diversion load. The wind was 80 kph, I honestly thought the turbine was going to explode, but I shorted the wires, as you can see at the bottom, and she stopped.

I guess it's bed time, I'll have another post when the solar panels arrive!

Electricity on the farm

It's almost March! For some people in North America, spring has already begun, and they are hard at work preparing garden beds. It's -25 C here, and there is no garden work to be done.
I am instead working on keeping our pipes unfrozen, and our electricity on.
A few days ago, my awesome Wacker-Neuson generator had some major problems, making it necessary to buy a second generator, just a cheap Champion 3500 watt used one. My Wacker (what a name...) genny is actually running now, and I suspect that the cold weather is keeping it going. Some electrical part kept cutting out when it was warm last week, so I will certainly need to find that and fix it. Now, the new generator was running poorly last night, and I found the problem...a giant chunk of ice in the intake. There is still a bunch of ice in the air intake, so I will need some cleaning on that one.
For those of you who may be considering an off-grid system, and maybe like me you rely on a generator until you can afford solar panels, here is some advice. Two working generators at all times. Having your only generator cut out is NOT acceptable, a backup is a MUST! Even a cheap one bought used is fine, as long as you don't store it with gas in the tank, and run it for an hour every two months.
I had some other electricity related thoughts: I found something on the internet at this site
www.greensteamengine.com and I was astounded at the potential. These boys have invented a steam engine that can run off a pressure canner, is about the same size as a regular generator, probably 1/3 the weight, and produces no exhaust gas (the steam can be recondensed and used again). It can operate off of pressures up to 50 psi, or as low as 10. You can attach a small generator directly to the driveshaft, and tie it into your batteries.
For me, I picture using this in the winter, putting the pressure boiler directly on top of my wood stove! Even if it only produces 2000 watts, on dark cloudy days, it would easily produce all our electricity with ease in just a few hours. It would not be needed in summer, when the days are much longer, and the solar panels could take up the slack.
I tried to contact the website about prices, still haven't got a reply.
I will post any replies I get, in case anyone else finds this kind of interesting.
Adios for now!

Blizzard!!!

Every year, we get a couple of slammin' blizzards, usually lasting a couple of days or more. Last year, it was December, this year, it's right now! Blowing snow, drifting, getting stuck, and snow, snow, snow everywhere.
Since we now have three vehicles, I figured at least one would start. I knew that there would be snow packed into the engine block by the wind, which there was, but I managed to get my truck started, and put the belt back one after it slipped off (happened last year too). Then, I made the driveway run. And, I got stuck. So, about 20 minutes of shoveling later, I'm out! It's obvious though, that there won't be any car getting out of that. The snow is still falling, and blowing. Any tracks I make today will be filled in tomorrow.
We haven't had to run the generator for a day and a half, which is good because it was buried under 4 feet of packed snow. The wind has been driving the wind turbine hard, and we have more than ample power.
I took a couple "snowcation" days, but I'm back to work tomorrow. Bye!

Deep winter report

It's almost hard to believe, it's already January 7th! All the fun bits of winter are over, and now the waiting for spring sets in. Worse yet, we've had snow on the ground for 2 months, and I haven't been skiing once!

HOUSE
My wife and I have been spending a lot of time looking at houseplans, and discussing what we want to build. I've been investigating using a kit, which means that the house wouldn't be a strawbale building, but a kit would be much faster, has a set price, and comes with all the relevant documents. All of that would allow us to get a home up faster than we would otherwise, which is kind of important. If I hire out the basement pouring, and use a kit, we could have a house up in a few short months, rather than a year or longer. It will cost more to hire it out, but we will also save money by not having to rent in another town!
Am I compromising my dream of having a super insulated house? No, because I have a few tricks that I intend to employ when building that will help. Reflective foil on the inner, and outer walls should add some heat retention. The basement will also be heavily insulated. Having an ultra-insulated house isn't really that huge of a benefit, when you don't pay for heat already...

AGRICULTURE
It seems every time I post, my garden plan has changed. Well, this is no exception, but it's only one small (large) change. I still plan to have a large garden with a few main crops that I will sell, but I've added one thing. A greenhouse. I can buy the 6mil greenhouse poly for about $250, which gives me 2000 square feet of plastic. That would be enough to build 2 50 foot hoophouses, for a total growing area of 1000 sq ft! I'll need a pile of either rebar, or electrical conduit, whichever is cheaper. Bend those in an arc, stick into the ground, add a straight piece on the top, tie together, and done! Well, almost. The poly will have to be attached, which probably takes about 4 people to do well.
Hopefully this will give me a 4 week headstart on growing, and I can totally control all moisture, exclude pests, and work in the garden even when the weather is poor.

I have also decide to tone down my cattle plans, mainly because of lack of money. To really get some cattle going would take a lot of money, which would be tied up for 18 months while the cattle grow. We need that money available to do other things, like put up solar panels!

DARK TIMES AHEAD

I've been reading, listening to podcasts, and trying to look into the murky future. It doesn't look good, at least for America. I would not be surprised to see a major bond default by the US within the next 24 months, maybe longer. American is living on borrowed time (as are we all), and she can't continue to run 1.2 trillion dollar deficits without breaking the bank. Literally.
I am expecting the following to occur here:

1. Oil prices hit the stratosphere - Solution - As much solar, wind, and gasoline storage as I can manage. I'd like to have 6-8 months of gas in 200 gal tanks. That will give me time to come up with some kind of alternative transportation, probably something with woodgas. I'd also like to have 2 years worth of firewood put aside.

2. Food prices follow oil - This will benefit us, and might be the catalyst for my eventual departure from working for the Man.

3. Interest rates rise...a lot - 15 %? 21%? It's happened before! I know that I need to lock in at my lower rate for 5 years, and get rid of any unsecured debt with variable rate. Then, when rates rise, we need to have a plan to be out of debt by the end of the term.

4. Pay rate freezes, or even salary rollbacks - I don't expect to lose my job, but I do expect a reduction in pay. We already live beneath our means, and by the time this hits, I'm hoping to be at a monthly surplus of $1000 - $1200.

5. War? - You have to admit, there is a lot of chest puffing, and bluster from around the world, particularly from some shorty Asian dictators, and bearded Muslim guys. Historically, major economic crisis is usually followed by a war or three. This one ought to be a jim-dandy, what with everyone possessing nukes and all.

Should we all worry? I can't change anything by worrying. We'll try to be as ready as possible when stuff happens. I have to trust in God, because my neighbors certainly aren't ready!