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Gardening * Harvesting Wild Edibles * Raising Livestock * Building by Hand * Butchering * Cheesemaking * Off Grid Living * And Other Grassroots Stuff

Friday
Nov192010

Almost there

We made it through the wind and cold, for this time around anyway.  This morning it's a balmy 18 degrees and flat calm.  I did chores in a sweatshirt and with no gloves.  Love it.

I'm still in disbelief how well my laying hens tolerated having almost 50 extra birds thrown into the coop with them.  They just keep laying in ever increasing numbers... lots of pullets coming online, but also plenty of big eggs.  Excellent.

And the goats seem well settled in.  Production is just about 50% of peak right now.  Slim.  But there are several slated to kid in the next 8 weeks, and all the rest are 5-18 months into their lactation.  So it goes with the territory.  I'm planning on bringing in a buck to breed another 5, and then I'll wait a few months and breed another bunch.

The sun is getting lower and lower.  Already, it ducks behind the mountains for the middle part of the day.  That period of time will get longer and longer until it rises no more until next year.  The immense changes that our seasons bring are like meditation to me.  Go with the flow, baby...  Home sweet home.

Tuesday
Nov162010

Tucked in

The first big cold snap is here.  We've had freezing weather since September 24th, and plenty of snow since the last week of October.  Now that mid November is here, a couple of big high pressure systems have sent frigid temps and lots of wind our way.

Yesterday I caught all the remaining meatbirds and shut them into the henhouse with all the girls.  It's crowded in there, or at least it feels that way with the additional 38 bodies, but they seem happy.  I'm relieved to have all the birds in one place and that they're out of the weather.

It sounds like a freight train outside.  Ben drove over the pass yesterday to come home for the duration of this windstorm.  His airplane is parked in a safe place in Valdez, and he's here to help and share with us again.  It's great to have him back, to say the very least.  Sigh.

 

Sunday
Nov072010

Again, on bird feed

Mixing things up, just to keep it all exciting.

This recipe is mostly dry, to allow the feed to flow through feeders, and avoid freezing problems.

I put 2 pounds of alfalfa pellets in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and top the pellets with hot water.

Add 2 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and 3.75 pounds of whole oats.

Crush 11.25 pounds of whole barley and add to the mix.

Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and 1 tsp poultry vitamin/mineral/probiotic.

Add 1/8 pound salt, 1/4 cup kelp and 1/4 cup brewer's yeast.

Top with 2.75 pounds of salmon meal.

Mix, mix, mix, pour off into another 5 gallon bucket, mix and feed.  Makes 25 pounds.

 

Sunday
Nov072010

Settling in

I'm fairly fascinated with how quickly and easily this winter came upon us.  What an excellent, seamless transition from the warm season to the cold season.  Love it.  It makes mountain life so much easier to avoid the inbetween season.

My snowmachine trail is well set... it's pretty rare to see it in such good shape this early in the winter.  I can haul 75 gallons of water at a time now, and what that means is that I can catch up- freeing my time to do other things that need to be done.

Meatbirds are doing well- there are still 65ish in the yard, hopefully 57ish after today.  All the hens are locked up due to recent aerial predator attacks.  They're withholding their eggs in protest, but this too shall pass.  A cursory count gave me 105 or so hens, a couple of roosters, and 40-50 little pullets.

I sold my last two bucklings this week.  A guy named Leo met me at the Cash America pawn shop in Muldoon with a wad of $20s and I waved goodbye to my sweet gorgeous boys.  That leaves two wethers in the yard and 22 does.

Now that it's winter, I'm only delivering to Anchorage every other week... which  translates into free time to catch up on projects, like hauling feed and water and minor home/farm improvements.

Our hunts are finished for 2010 in another week, weather permitting- so Ben will be making his way home over the mountaintops after he gets camps closed down.  Hooray! I'm looking forward to having our family together again, and a little help on the farm.

So that's the news.  Nothing earth shattering, just steady progress.  Better forward than backward.

Monday
Nov012010

Slowing down

I think the earth must turn faster in the summertime.  Now that the days are shorter, I seem to have a little more time on my hands.  All my equipment is working again, and that means I don't have to work so hard.  

I'm starting to catch up on my water stash.  The snowmachine is running well, the trail is good, and I can haul 65 gallons in a load.  That's not bad, not bad at all.  Two of those loads a day and I can make decent progress getting everything topped off.  I want to see that 500 gallon stocktank full again.

After a few days in the 10-20 degree range, it's warmed up to 30 degrees today and it's blowing.  There's a huge storm in the Gulf of Alaska that will take a few days to blow through.  Will we get rain?  Snow?  I guess we'll get what we get.

Ben has had his share of weather delays down on the coast.  It goes with the territory.  This season we rented a B&B for a month to take the edge off of being stressed out by being stuck in town.  It's made a dent in attitude.  Yesterday he was able to catch up on flights, and get groceries into the guys in camp, and fly the next set of hunters into the bush.

Relief.  It feels like the animals are settling into winter and getting happier again.  I saw the goats acting all spunky yesterday and the hens, with their water heater freshly installed are full of chatter.  Still 70-80 meatbirds in the yard and they're doing okay.  I'm hoping to harvest a bunch of them today and tomorrow.

Well, that's the news.  It's dark, warmish, snowpacked and things are moving slowly along.  Cheers!

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