last month, my dad and I collaborated on the construction of a chicken tractor. a chicken tractor is a small, mobile chicken coop, that you can move around on pasture so the birds are contained & protected from predation, but always on fresh ground. we used the design that Herrick Kimball outlines in his blog. Read more... )

with flowers. this lovely mallow, in particular.

( Read more... )

Summer is my favorite time of year, hands down. including the heat. i love it. i am ready for it to arrive, though today it is windy and cloudy again.

( the other day, while it was warm and sunny out, i got some more flower photos from around the property. )

We've had zombie elms for quite a while (they come back from the dead, you know), but this is our first vampire elm.


( Read more... )

other things are going really well. we've been blessed with fantastic help so far this year. the garden is doing well, baby chickens & turkeys prospering, progress on other projects proceeding apace.

( here's spring: )

( so we are moving much slower on the wall these days, having learned the cost of moving too fast. )

One of the most amazing things about working with interns is the relationships we develop. Our first intern of the spring, Yulia was here for about four weeks, and left last night on a bus to Denver, to follow her continuing adventures.

I came in this morning to find this on the table:

( Read more... )

Interested in installing an automated drip system, but not sure where to start? Jenny at Sunflower River is offering this course to help you learn everything you need to know to install your own drip irrigation system ( Read more... )

spring is springing. it has stepped in by degrees this year, starting the week after the alarmingly northern freeze. a bit early, and quite a lot dry, but spring nevertheless. the quince behind my office are starting to bloom (photos when they hit full bloom in a couple days) and the forsythia out front are a cascade of living gold. i swear ( Read more... )

couldn't start the truck this morning. this had, no doubt, to do with last night's record low of -14 (not counting a substantial windchill) plus the truck spending two days sitting in the shade covered in snow. Argh. very frustrating. i needed to drive, rather than bus, because i'm taking this thursday evening class, which gets out after the ( Read more... )