The Carnage Continues

Day 4 of logging has completed. Everyone is sore and exhausted but otherwise unharmed. We have one more full day tomorrow where we clean up the corner around the barn and take out a few trees shading the garden.

In five full twelve-hour days, this team of four will not even come close to completing the 1 acre clearing. There are still about 30 trees to go in the two far corners. However, I am very pleased. Wherever you see brown dirt in the picture, imagine tall green grass. That is how it will look in a year.

My Husq chainsaw has been a complete workhorse, chewing up everything I threw at it. It has not quit a single time on me, unlike the Poulin's constant quitting every minute or so. I love my chainsaw, but at the end if this week, I hope to not see it for awhile.

Saturday we will rake and continue cleaning up so it will be safe for horses. Then the fence will go back up in some form, and the horses can get out of their sacrifice paddocks for a week or so. There's some talk of coming back in a month and finishing the back. I am not sure yet how it will go.

After my twelve hour logging shift, I have also been tending the garden. The potatoes got hilled and mulched, the beans and corn are up, and some things got weeded.

Now I am off to take Brego for a quiet walk through the woods to ease his boredom and stretch his legs.

The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall

I am at the tail end of Day 2 of Logginpalooza 2009. The first day involved a lot of training and building of a road for the machinery to move the logs out. Today we were missing one key player, my uphill neighbor. He shall be back tomorrow. Still, the downhill neighbor and we managed to drop quite a few trees.

The clearing is opening up nicely and already the place looks so much better. We have three enormous brush piles that we are going to get a permit to light tonight. In general, the procedure has been to drop the tree, limb in place, drag the trunks out to a clearing for the neighbors to deal with later (they are keeping the wood in exchange for their free labor and expertise), build the brush pile, repeat.

My new saw is a beast and I love it. It's already outperformed my old Poulin by 10000% (approximately). It's a got a 20 in bar on it so it's a bit heavy for my girly, computer nerd arms, but I am able to wield it as needed. Everyone has been very safe and I still have all my limbs.

The plan is to continue logging through Friday or Saturday. Then we will rebuild the fence and let the horses back out, if we can clean it up enough to be safe. The property will be destumped and graded in the next few months, once I can save up enough money.

Cuty cuty

Timberrrrrrrr

Limby Limby

Before the Carnage

My neighbors and I will begin logging the back three acres on Monday. I have taken vacation from work to assist them. Yesterday, I loaded up on a new chainsaw, 2 gallons of bar oil, tons of two stroke oil, 15 gallons of diesel fuel (for the tractors/excavators) and 5 gallons of mixed fuel for the power saws.

Here it is today, before we start.

The property is going to look at a lot worse before it looks better. We will log the trees, then hire a professional to destump and grade, then rake and clean up, then seed. By next summer, the horses will have a pasture of green grass. This summer and fall, until the snow falls, the horses will likely live in their sacrifice paddocks. It is a sacrifice, alright, but one for the greater good.

Milestone

Last weekend, I got the last of the outdoor garden planted.  We have four rows of peas (two varieties), two rows of beans, four rows of corn, five varieties of squash, zucchini, melon, and four more rows of potatoes.

The greenhouse tomators, peppers, and tomatillos are doing very well, as are the next round of salads.  I finally harvested all the spinach after it bolted due to a greenhouse accident.  The fan was unplugged for a day and the spinach decided NOW was the time.  The cabbage is still going strong, growing visibly each day.

Next week, we will start logging the back three acres.  I also have flagged a few trees around the outside garden to allow more precious sunlight.  

I am very busy, but very pleased so far.  It's an enormous relief to be done with planting.  Now I just need to weed and fertilize and watch it all grow.

Friday

More pictures of the farm today. I believe that we are heading fast and furious into summer. Today was the second day up into the 80s F (mid 20s C) and all the animals were feeling the heat. The natural spring which has fed the water trough through the depths of winter is little more than a steady drip. I can't believe I am saying this considering soggy last week, but I am hoping for rain tomorrow. I've watered the greenhouse twice today and outdoors garden has a sprinkler on it now.

Enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend, everyone.

Summer chicken coop

Coop and horses hiding in the shade

The wee chicklins enjoying their new outdoor home

It's a hard life. Notice the snoozer in the middle.

Sleepy chicklin.

Greenhouse in full sun, thankfully.

The East lawn.

The back porch, where I will be enjoying cerveza this weekend.

Critters abound on the farm, witness Busy Bee and Mr. Toad.

Champ's Cherry is growing like gangbusters

The previous occupants were fans of hostas and this pretty groundcover

Chickenistas enjoy the sun during their daily sunbath.

South lawn looking towards the barn.

The barn is small, but I love it. The rock wall with ferns makes the look.

Next month's salad.

First Harvest

It finally happened. I made food!

Today we harvested Kale from the greenhouse. We carefully cut away the outside leaves of the plant and leaving the rest to grow more. In total, we collected 3/4 lb (340 grams, 12 oz) of Kale. That's a lot of Kale!!

The Kale was tender and delicious raw, and tasted like most brassicas. I can't wait to savor it cooked. The celebratory dish is a soup made from homemade lamb stock, chorizo, corn, onion and, of course, Kale. The chorizo was purchased locally at a farmer's market.

The spinach in the greenhouse is also looking about right, so I am looking forward to some fresh spinach later in the week. I've also started my rotation of lettuces. It should be 30 days to baby greens so I have a rotation of romaine, mesclune, flame lettuce, spinach, and other greens going in the green house. We should be in fresh salads nearly everyday later in the summer.

To help things along in the outdoor garden, my neighbor came over and taught me how to fell a large maple that was eclipsing the morning sun. He also sharpened my saw with a nifty power tool. I learned a lot, namely that felling trees is crazy dangerous work, but we will begin reaping the benefits on the garden tomorrow morning.

Like all endeavors worth doing, there's so much to do. But tonight I will finally begin to savor the fruits of my labor. Bon Appétit!

Kicking the Kids Out

My Speckled Sussex chicks are six weeks old and it's time for them to go to college. That is, get those stinky dinosaurs out of my basement!

We constructed a temporary chicken pen out of horse stock panels that will be their home away from home until they are big enough to be integrated with the existing adult flock, about four months. The pen has shelter, roosts, a heat lamp, and is surrounded by hot electric tape.

My Wyandottes and Cuckoo Marans are four weeks old and will be joining the Speckled Sussex sometime this week. I am hoping I can integrate the two young flocks successfully so they can band up before I let them out with the adults. In the meantime, they get acclimated to a New England spring and summer, get to scratch around on the ground, and generally start their lives as real outdoor chickens.

Speckled Sussex pullet.

Four week olds in their brooder.

Parrot and Oreo hanging out on the edge of the brooder.

The edge of the brooder is a popular resting spot. They never leave it, just turn around and jump back in.

Darth Maul on my shoulder. This chick will fly out of the brooder to land on you and go to sleep. This one is a keeper, regardless of sex (but I think it's a she!)