Garden fencing and spring planting

With the warming weather we are finally able to get back outside and start doing some work. Of course one of our big tasks is to get the garden started. For the last few years we have struggled with a way to fence off the garden to keep the chickens and other critters out. We may have finally figured out a way with the use of pallets.

A few months ago I finally found somewhere that we could get a lot of pallets. At first we were going to use them to build a goat pen but we decided to use them to build a fence for the garden instead. They don't look the greatest but they are functional and that's the most important thing.

This is the view from the inside of the garden. As you can see, it needs a lot of work and the pallets aren't that pretty but we think they will work well to keep the birds out. We are using T posts to secure the pallets. Hubby is screwing the pallets together and then adding a T post that is screwed into place for added stability. Oklahoma wind can be brutal so anything we can do to make it stronger is a good idea. We are also doubling the garden area this year so the entire thing will be enclosed with this fence.

You may also be wondering why we are turning the pallets so that the "good" side is on the inside of the garden instead of the outside. Well, when we decided to use the pallets for a fence an idea I saw on Pinterest popped into my head. I have seen pictures of people using pallets as planters by standing them upright and filling the slats on the bottom the pallet with dirt and planting in them. I know it will be a matter of time before the chickens figure out that they can fly up and roost on the edge of the fence and then hop over into the garden. My hope, is that if I plant the outside of the fence with things they can eat, they won't be so tempted to try and break into the garden.

This is the outside of the fence and as you can see, the open slats will make for some great planting spaces. Hopefully they won't eat everything on the outside of the fence and there will be some left over for us.

We have not gotten all of our sand plums planted but the ones that we have gotten in are already beginning to leaf out. We are so excited and we are hoping to be harvesting plums from these trees in a few years. They are native to Oklahoma and tend to form thickets so in some areas we will be using them to help create a living fence.

Sand Plum

We also planted a pear tree this year and it is finally beginning to bud out. It is a Kieffer pear and can reach heights of 15 to 30 feet with a 20 foot spread. This is, of course, a young tree but hopefully we will begin to see some fruit production in a few more years. It is also supposed to be a fast grower and may grow up to 25 inches per year.

We planted this tree downhill from the garden. We are thinking about turning this area into a small food forest area until we can do more planting further back on the property. I plan on heavily mulching this area and taking some steps to build up the soil fertility here. As we add plantings I will keep you guys posted.

As you can see in the pictures, things are slowly beginning to come to life. There is still a lot of work to do and hopefully this will be the start of many new developments.

Building an A Frame Level

Ever since we moved here I have wanted to make an A frame level. I learned about this when I took a Permaculture Design Course and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Ok, so maybe not the coolest thing but it is pretty neat. So what do you need an A frame level for? If you want hold water for as long as possible on your property and you want to direct the flow of water, you may consider building a swale. A swale is, at its simplest, a ditch. One big difference between what we think of as a ditch and a swale is that a swale is built on contour. This means that you are following the natural curves of the landscape because this forms the path of least resistance for water. The A frame level lets you find the level places along the area where you want to build a swale so that you are building on contour.

The level is actually pretty easy to make and can cost you nothing if you have some spare building materials lying around. I used two pieces of 1x2x6' pine to make the legs of the frame. You can tie or nail the pieces together but we opted to use screws and wing nuts so we can take it apart for storage.

So here is a pic showing the frame before we put on the crosspiece.

Next we added the cross piece and again used screws and wing nuts. Hubby was checking to make sure everything was level.

Before we added the plumb bob, which you can buy at your local home improvement store, hubby marked the center of the cross piece. When trying to find your center mark you should place your level somewhere that is as level as possible. Mark where the feet of your level are on the ground and then mark where the string is against the wood. Now flip the frame so the feet are in each others footprints. Mark where the string is again if it is in a different place. The center of these two marks are your level.

We were lucky and the string was in the same place both times. Here is a picture of the plum bob hanging in place.

Next we had to test it of course. It can be a little tedious but you can see in this picture how the line begins to curve. If we were preparing to dig a swale, we would continue to measure the length of the swale and then dig along the line we have marked. You want a swale to be slightly uphill from where you want to hold the water. The bottom of the swale should be level so the water will stay for as long as possible. When you dig, the dirt should be placed on the downhill side of the swale to form a berm to help with water retention.

Not many of us will ever need an A frame level but for anyone who has ever wondered how to make one, there it is! Now I just need some heavy earth moving equipment.

Batten down the hatches!

Most people, when they hear the words "Winter Storm", prepare by going to the store to buy some bread, milk, and perhaps some batteries for that long neglected flashlight lying in a drawer. They pick up some cat liter to keep in the car for emergency traction and maybe a blanket but that's about it. Well, when you live in the country you have to take winter preparedness a little more seriously especially when you are homesteading.

For the last week our weather men have been trying to nail down the forecast for the winter storm that was headed our way. We knew it was coming so we started getting ready for it last weekend. My husband chopped wood and stacked it by the house in preparation for the cold weather that was headed our way the weekend before. Since the goats are in a pen that is moved almost daily, they were moved closer to the house so we could keep an eye on them.

Since we don't have running water I brought home an extra 20 gallons of water in case we couldn't, or didn't want to, get out. I did our grocery shopping before the storm hit so we wouldn't have to do it this weekend. I also got a charger, a deep cycle marine battery, and an inverter just in case it got really bad and we lost power. With the battery and the inverter we could at least charge the cell phone, tablets, run a lamp or the wi-fi so at least the kids wouldn't be completely bored. Plus having access to the internet would let us keep up on the news and storm conditions.

I didn't get a chance to pick up some hay for the goats before the storm so we headed over to our neighbors yesterday and picked up a bale which the goats were very pleased with. I also got over to the tractor supply store and picked up a Flock Block for the chickens. Most of them have refused to leave their coop with all of this snow on the ground. The block will give them something to peck at and provide grit for them. The geese don't seem to be bothered at all by the snow.

We ended up with about 3 1/2 inches of snow and no power outages. Our little wood heater has been keeping us quite warm and we added the cast iron tea kettle to add some humidity to the air. I have said before that homesteading leads to preparedness and preparedness leads to homesteading. If you choose the homesteading country lifestyle you need to be prepared to take care of most of your needs, at least for a short time, during these severe weather events.

The nice thing about winter storms is they do add a that little something that makes our everyday world seem a little more special.

Heating the Homestead

Do you ever get tired of being cold in the winter? Don't you just love walking into a warm cozy house when it's freezing outside? One of our main goals since we moved here was to have a renewable heat source. We have used electric heaters for the most part and they worked ok but we really wanted wood heat. Last weekend we finally got a wood heater installed.

A month or so ago I bought a military tent stove called the M-1941. This stove is a Type I and II stove which means it can use liquid, coal or wood fuel. Ours only came with the parts to use liquid fuel so if we wanted to use it for wood we had to improvise. The stove came with chimney pipe but it is 4 inches in diameter. We wanted to put it through the wall and it was next to impossible to find 4 inch elbows that didn't cost a fortune. So, we got an increaser so we could go from 4 inch to 6 inch pipe. This actually worked very well and makes it a lot easier to get the pipe now that we are using a standard size.

If it had come with the parts for burning wood or coal, there would have been a ring that sits inside the heater to hold the wood. Since we did not have that piece we bought a grill that holds the charcoal in a Weber grill. This grill was thicker and sturdier than the one for holding the food. We placed a few bricks in the bottom of the heater with the grill and this worked out well for holding the wood.

It's not going to win any beauty contests but it works great! My husband splits the logs into 4 pieces so they are easier to handle in the heater. We only use two at a time and it puts off more than enough heat for this tiny place! We feel a lot better having this in place now. Not only is it more economical than using the electric heaters but if the power were to go down we would still be nice and warm.

You can see in the picture that it has a little rust on it from being stored outside for a short time. We may paint it later with some heat resistant paint just to make it look a little better. You can also see the increaser that we ordered so that we could use the 6 inch pipe which we vented through the wall.

One day when we get the house built, we will probably leave this heater in the shed. Like I said, it's functional but not very pretty and we will probably end up using the shed as a workshop, guesthouse, or whatever seems appropriate at the time. I am actually thinking of putting in rocket mass heaters to heat the house. They are very energy efficient and use very little wood to produce a lot of heat.

When you live in the country it is important that you be able to take care of yourself. This is just another step on our path to becoming more self sufficient.

The More Things Change

I watched the movie Lincoln tonight. The movie is about Lincoln's struggle to get the 13th Amendment passed. This was a time of great struggle for our country. The Civil War had torn the country apart and he was given the seemingly insurmountable task of bringing the country back together, much less setting an entire people free. There were men in Washington who truly were trying to do the right thing. Despite what we see today, it wasn't always full of deceit and treachery.

Today, we understand how important it was to abolish slavery. But then as now, it was a struggle to get anything accomplished. Most Democrats were against it. Most Republicans were for it. They yelled at and insulted each other but without the benefit of cameras everywhere and Twitter feeds. At the beginning of the movie Secretary of State Seward says to Lincoln about the House, "It is the same nest of talentless hicks and hacks". I think he was right then and it certainly applies now.

I am proud to be an American. I am proud of what our country has accomplished but I am not proud of what our country has become. Our leaders think we are here to serve them and not the other way around. They tell us what we want to hear to get elected and then carry out their own agendas and only accomplish a few of the things they promised to placate their constituency. We as a people no longer think for ourselves. To many people have developed the mind set that they are "owed" something. To many Americans don't want to work for anything. We want it now and we want it subsidized. That has become the American Way.

We are no longer a country of hard working, independent thinking people. We have become a country that expects to be taken care of. We don't know where our food comes from, nor do we care. All we care about it getting the latest and greatest phone or tablet. Freedom of speech? Who cares about that so long as I can tweet what I had for lunch. Which, by the way, was bought with food stamps.

Our liberties are being chipped away little by little. The people that we have elected to be in power are not there to serve us. They are there to put their collective boot on the throats of Americans and so many of us applaud them when they do not realizing that if we weren't the intended target today, we will be tomorrow. The current administration is doing everything possible to make us miserable. So why do we put up with it? Because we have been conditioned to think that we can no longer take care of ourselves. You don't know how to manage your own healthcare. Let us do that for you. You don't know how to teach your children. Let us do that for you. You don't have to work. There are plenty of people out there to that for you.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against people getting assistance that need it but I have seen way to many people work the system instead of getting off their duff and learning how to actually take care of themselves. Our government is broken and in serious need of repair. We cannot expect those that are in Washington to fix anything. They are part of the problem. We have to be the ones to fix it. Our politicians are not what make this country great, we are.

If we get through this latest manufactured crisis in Washington, don't think it is the last. If our economy doesn't fail now, one day it will. The Patriots of this country, the people who truly care about what we become, must be ready to pick up the pieces. We can be a great country again but not without work, community, and determination.

Forgive me for rambling and no, I'm not crazy. I'm angry. I'm concerned. And most of all, I want a better world for my family. I'm willing to work for it. Are you?