Author Archives: Quail Run

Those Darn Rabbits (or are they Hares)

The purpose of this post is not to discuss the difference between rabbits and hares, but to discuss a way to keep them from killing the trees in your orchard.

We noticed that one of our apple trees had some bark damage several inches above the snow line.

Rabbit/Hare marksWe don’t know for sure if it was the Cottontails (rabbit) or Jack Rabbits (hares) that are doing the nibbling.  But for sure the tracks say it was either a rabbit or a hare that was making a treat of our apple tree.  So we needed to solve the problem.  The thing you want to do is to make it so that the rabbit either can’t eat the bark, or is unable to lift itself up comfortably to eat the bark.

To solve this problem, we used some old hardware cloth.

IMG_5658I cut the hardware cloth into squares, and then created a circle around the base of the tree.  I also made sure that I put the cut ends up.  This would make it so that if the rabbit/hare tried to rest on it to get above it, the sharp ends of the wire would keep them from resting their paws on them.

IMG_5659I did this around all of the trees in the orchard.  I would like to note, that we do have black flex drain pipe around the bottom of the trees to protect, but with the recent snow and drifting, the snow is now above the drain pipe.

IMG_5660Maybe not the most elegant solution, but time will tell if it is a productive solution.  Hopefully this cheap fix will keep the rabbits/hares are bay and help us be able to survive the winter and bring us fruit in the next few years.

[amazonjs asin=”B000BWY7UQ” locale=”US” tmpl=”Small” title=”1/4 Inch Mesh 24 Inch Tall x 5 Feet Long Hardware Cloth”]

[amazonjs asin=”B000GI840E” locale=”US” tmpl=”Small” title=”Flex-Drain 51110 Flexible/Expandable Landscaping Drain Pipe, Solid, 4-Inch by 25-Feet”]

Wild Snow Angel

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Beautiful little toes in the snow

Our seventh child is a wild girl.  She has a spirit so free and uninhibited it is amazing this world is able to contain her.  She laughs loud and cries hard.  She loves big and hates with passion. She can be naughty, funny, mean and loving all within the same breath. She is so easy to love.

The other day I (thought) snuck out to put a package in the mail.  It was cold, with about an inch of new snow on the already ice covered drive. I enjoyed the stillness, a moment of quiet that seems to be so rare here on the farm.  I put my package in our over sized mail box, looked around taking a deep breath and turned around to find my wild girl running up the drive way, no coat, NO SHOES. I called out her name in surprise and she quickly turned around, expecting to be scolded.  “Baby, come here, your feet must be so cold!”

“Yes Mama!” and she held her chubby thee year old arms out to me.  I scooped her up, cold arms around my neck, cold cheek against mine and frozen little toes dangling as we hurried into the warm house.

I wrapped her in her little pink blanket and propping her cold toes on the warm bricks of the hearth saying “you silly little girl, out in the snow without shoes!”

She looked at me, her round face flushed pink from the frosty air and just grinned.  This won’t be the last time for my wild child.

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Her little footprints all the way up the drive to the road where I was.

 

 

 

 

 

What is in a Name

IMG_5638A little while ago we were asked how we came up with the name “Quail Run”.  It’s a simple little story, not at all remarkable, but something I figure should be told, for posterity.

We had been at the farm for about a week, it was in the dead of winter, there seemed to be nothing around except snowy mounds of sage brush and a few cold lonely trees. I was in the master bedroom, unpacking, I’m sure, and I looked out the window.  A little ways away was a pile of old dead sage brush, we figured it had been piled there when the land was cleared to build the house.  It had been there a long time, the old sage brush was very dry and sad looking, it was on the top of our list of things to take care of once the weather warmed up.  Well, that day as I gazed out the window I noticed movement in the pile of sage brush, a lot of movement, so much that the brush looked alive. I squinted and looked closer, there were little gray-brown animals moving in and out of the pile, all over, as if the spirits of the dead sage brush were rising and taunting me, begging me to figure them out.  I called Dadzoo and we both looked for a bit, then he decided he was going to get a closer look to see what in the world was making its home in that pile.  I stayed at the window while he put on his boots, hat and warm winter coat and strode towards the mystery animals.  Suddenly birds darted in waves out of the pile, as if in a panic for their lives and disappeared in their little coveys among the bushes and trees.  There were at least a hundred birds, if not more, darting out in all directions.  There were  hundreds of California Quail, the males with their proud fancy plumage and top-knot feather bobbing around and the females with the young birds soft and grey easily hidden in the dusty green bushes. Hence the name of our little farm, Quail Run, I think she named herself on that day when she showed us her little birds.

The Hearth

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A little over three years ago we moved to Quail Run.  We were total novices in many things, one of them being the logistics of heating our home.  At the time we moved in we had two options for heating that ended up not being options at all, we had a propane furnace and an open fireplace. The propane in our tank was completely empty upon or arrival on that cold January day, the temperatures reached the high teens that day.  Our other option was an old fireplace insert, that had had coal burned in it, which in turn cracked all the fire bricks making the fireplace unsafe to use.  We were able to borrow a few space heaters to tide us over until we could get a delivery of propane, but until then the house was cold, bitterly cold.  After that weekend, when we were able to get the furnace fired up and the house nice and warm we realized how expensive propane could be and that because of the manner in which our house was built that we would need a lot of propane every winter and that this was going to break us financially.  Like I said we were such novices.  We decided that we really needed a second source of heat, to supplement our propane  and to be more self sufficient.  We took that old insert out and installed a wood stove.  This is our second winter with a wood stove and it has become our primary source of heat, propane and electric space heaters supplement when needed. I have learned some interesting things using a wood stove, mostly in the management of wood heat, how to heat the house using the least wood I can and how to keep the house warm at night, very practical things. I have also learned other things.  I know the temperatures outside by how the house feels in the morning.  I can tell if the sun has gone behind clouds in a dark room.  I know if the temperatures outside have suddenly dropped or gotten warmer, even if it is just by five degrees.  It has made me more aware and sensitive to the changes, the flows, the rhythms around me.  I’m not living in a house that is heated to a consistent seventy degrees day and night, I live in a home that is in flux, that requires my attention, that lives and breaths with the seasons and it takes me along for the journey.  I love being closer to the cycles of life and of the seasons, even if it makes me a bit uncomfortable at times, it also fills me, creating a connection to the divine I haven’t had the chance to experience before.

Synergy

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Calendula infusing in olive oil in the window

The more I study plants and herbs and flowers the more I am amazed by the bounty around us, how even the ugliest weed can hold treasures.  In this society where plants are categorized: ornamental, grass, vegetable, fruit, weed, we miss out on the diversity of each individual plant.  Most plants have several uses, if we can only look deeper than its category.  For example, Comfrey, one of my favorites, is considered a medicinal herb, which it is, however it is also a bio-accumulator, its roots break up heavy clay soils, it pulls minerals from deep down and deposits them on the surface where other plants can use them, and it is great animal forage. A common weed, plantain, is more than a nuisance, it is also very medicinal, it grows in poor soils, cleaning up contaminates and deposits its nutrient rich leaves on the soil when it dies back for the winter.  In a permaculture landscape/garden every plant is evaluated not only for its use in one category, but for many uses.  Here on Quail Run Farm, each planting, be it tree, bush, flower, herb or vegetable has many uses (4-6 at least).  In this manner we are not only producing, but we are putting back into the land, nourishing it, being a steward over it, building it up. For example an apple tree does much more than grow apples for us, it creates shade for shade loving herbs that grow among its roots, its leaves create a rich mulch where beneficial microorganisms can thrive, the branches attract birds who in turn eat nuisance insects and leave their droppings, and the prunings are fed to the rabbits or used in hugelkulturs. So many uses for a simple apple tree, it creates synergy, fertility and life working together to build and maintain healthy land.

Rings of Fertility

rings_of_fertilityIn our orchard we are using a permaculture method called “guilding”. Around each tree we plant beneficial herbs and plants, that have several uses.  Our goal is to have 5-10 uses for everything we plant here on the farm.

Around each tree we have what we jokingly call “rings of fertility” but in reality that is exactly what they are. Using a sheet mulching method we are creating fertility, in essence building our own top soil.  Each ring extends just beyond the tree’s individual drip line, that is the area where the tree absorbs the most water and nutrients, right at the drip line. imageIn each ring of fertility we plant our beneficial plants and herbs that have several functions.  Right now we have clovers, chamomile, yarrow, plantain and comfrey planted around each tree. They will pull nutrients from deep down and deposit them up top in the form of mulch.  They are also all medicinal herbs that we use.
image At the beginning and end of each season we will extend the ring, adding more plantings as we go increasing the soil fertility and variety of plants growing in the orchard. image Eventually the rings of fertility will touch each other and we will have slowly created a biodiverse, fertile orchard that provides us with food, shade, medicinal, and culinary herbs along with beauty.

Grey Water – Part 1

At Quail Run, we are on a septic tank.  One of the things we try to do is re-use and re-purpose what we can.  And that includes water.  The water that is generated from tasks like washing clothes, taking showers, bathing, etc. is called Greywater.  Basically greywater is water that is generated as wastewater from  households and businesses that does not contain fecal contamination.  Because we are on a septic tank, the water is put down the drain, goes into the septic tank, and then eventually ends up back into the water table.  We have decided that we are going to try to re-use that water one more time before it is absorbed back into the ground and added again to the water table.

The first step in our greywater system is to take the wastewater from our back porch washing machine, and then recycle it.  Plans in the future are to add the in-door washing machine, as well as the tub, and shower from the upstairs bathrooms to the system as well.  The in-house washing machine will be added in the spring, and when we remodel the other bathrooms in the next few years, we will also add them to the system.

With a greywater system, you need to have a place for the water to be dumped, then filtered some, and then allow it to move to where it can be used.  To do this, I used a bunch of bricks we have left over from the fireplace build out we did a couple years back as the containment point.  I also used a bunch of wood and mulch we have on the property as well. (Side note:  The mulch we generated when from the Christmas trees from Eagle mountain.  Each year the city collects all the discarded Christmas trees, and then takes them to a green waste facility in a neighboring town.  Last year we had them bring all of them to our property, where we harvested the trunks and turned the branches into mulch.)

I first leveled the area where I was going to put the system.  I made sure that it had a slight grade so that the water would flow through the filtering material, and then exit in the direction I wanted it to exit in.

Greywater system, step one - level the ground.

Once the ground was leveled I started to build up a brick box.  The purpose of the box is to just slow down any fast running water, and to give the water a little time to actually filter through the mulch and wood.

Greywater - Brick containment pond

I used re-purposed rebar to hold the bricks in place.  I am not using any mortar between the bricks.  (I may do it later depending on how it works and holds up over the winter.)

After I built the brick box, I then added some discarded pieces of wood that we have on the property.

Greywater - wood used as filter.

I then added the Christmas tree mulch to the top to finish filling up the brick box.

greywater - Mulch used as filter.

Now that we have a place for the water to go, we need to make a way for the water to get there.  I ran PVC pipe from the washing machine drain, along the deck, and then along the side of the house to the newly created brick and mulch filter.  I did not glue or seal the joints.  I don’t think the pressure from the washing machine will be great enough to break the joints, and I wanted to be able to change and adjust it easily as we add new sources of greywater to the system.

Greywater - Drain from washing machine to filter box.

I also changed our rainwater collection barrel so that the overflow would also run into the greywater system.

Here you can see the washing machine draining into the filter box and then the water running from the filter box.

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We still have some work to do.  We need to create some hugelkultur beds and other water containment areas.  The end goal is to have a place that is usually wet, that will allow us to plant bamboo.  We have selected the types of bamboo, and will be working on getting an area ready to plant them this spring.

Let us know what you think, and if you have a greywater systems.  We are new to this, and would love to hear do and don’ts from those who have some experience.

The Sting of BEES.

IMG_40231I don’t have any pictures for this post.  Sadly Dadzoo didn’t want me to take any pictures, I don’t really understand why, they would have been awesome. Let me tell you why….

You know how sometimes it can be really easy to get so comfortable doing something that you don’t take the necessary precautions? For example, let’s say you keep bees. Let’s say for the past two summers you’ve kept those bees you’ve never been stung, and slowly you stop wearing your protective gear, and even then the bees don’t sting you. Let’s say that one evening you need to put a new box on the hive, a quick job, takes less than ten minutes. Because it is such a quick job and because you’ve never been stung, once again the protective clothing stays in it’s box and for the first time you don’t get the smoker going and you don’t smoke the bees to make them docile. Because, well, you’ve never been stung before and this is a quick job, surely you won’t need the smoke or your hat and drape, surely.

I’m  betting you can guess where this is going….

Despite all your (ahem) preparation you do end up with a sting squarely above your eye brow. But no biggy, sure it hurt, but you’ve never had a reaction to a bee sting before.

And everything looks good….until about 24 hours later, your fore head feels funny, right about the spot the bee got you, and you look in the mirror and it’s starting to swell ever so slightly. No biggy, bee sting will do that, right? Well, then through the evening it swells even more and more, you take Benadryl, still swells, you go to bed, certine it will be fine in the morning.

At five am the alarm goes off, you open your eyes…wait…..your eyes won’t open, well if you try hard enough, just maybe a crack……  You wake up your wife, she laughs, one eye is swollen shut the other about half way. After a call into work, you arrange a work from home day while your lovely, smart, talented wife spends the day applying ice, herbal salves, oils, zone therapy and infusions, by night you can open both eyes, but the swelling is still very much there.  How will things be the next day you wonder? And where did I put my veil and smoker for next time.

Those Little Turkeys!

turkeysWe have had a lot of fun raising different types of fowl on the farm, they all come with unique traits and challenges. Recently we added turkeys to the flock, they are funny little things and they can be pretty absent minded at times. About two weeks ago the graduated from the brooder to their new digs in a newly remodeled shed.  After about a week of being cooped up we allowed them to free range, figuring they had homed to the shed.

I need to stop doing that, figuring on birds and their tiny brains.

Those turkeys love to range, they go all over and forage like champs, I love watching them.  But something happens at dusk, those turkeys forget where “home” is and bed down wherever they feel like it, the potato patch is a favorite, a cozy corner by some fences, under an old sage brush. So about dusk Dadzoo and I take a stroll down to the turkey shed and look for our lost birdies.  Dadzoo has become quite the expert at herding turkey with two long bamboo poles, I think it comes from his years if experience being a dad to a whole bunch of kids.  Have you ever herded 7 children down a crowded church hall after services? Dadzoo has! Dadzoo, he’s a man of many trades, and turkey herder has been added to the list.

imageFun fact: did you know that turkeys make the sweetest chirping sound and they will call until every last bird from the flock is safely together.

Drying Onions

We had an awesome onion harvest this year, more than enough for our needs. The big onions are being stored fresh in the basement (I had intended to braid them up all cute like, but it just didn’t happen), for the little onions I decided to try something different.

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I had about a half bushel of smaller onions, they had a really good flavor, but I just didn’t want to mess with little onions, to me they aren’t worth the effort to cook with them. BUT, they are still good food and it would wrong to just discard them.

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So I decided to was going to dry them. I used dehydrated onions a lot in my cooking. I tend to get a little lazy at times and instead of chopping an onion I will throw a handful of dehydrated onions in soups or ground beef.

IMG_5064I was very simple, I just sliced them about a half inch and threw them in my dehydrator.

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I set the dehydrator outside, I didn’t want the smell of onions to fill the house, and boy they were strong smelling too.

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It took about twenty four hours and they had dried crisp and beautiful, perfect for throwing into a pot of soup.

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They are stored in a gallon size glass jar in my pantry, a simple, easy way of storing and preserving onions.
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