In Like a Lamb...

 ...Out Like a Lion

At least that is the way it seemed.  March just kind of eased in on us in such a gentle way that we were already putting plants in the ground outside.  Then came the last week of the month where we had one weather warning after another - Severe Thunderstorm, Flash Flood, and most dreaded of all Tornado.

Tonight and the next two nights come with frost/freeze warnings. We are hoping for the best for all those little plants Carolyn has already put out. Most are cold hardy so we are not too worried.

Carolyn has already started some of the summer crop seeds - tomato, pepper, etc. Once they are an inch or so tall, she transfers them to larger pots then eventually into the garden. In the larger pots, she plants them fairly shallow so she can add soil as they grow to prevent them from becoming too "leggy". When she transplants them into the garden, I make a cover out of tulle to keep some of the insects off them until they are larger. Using row covers is something new for us. Honestly, they are not protecting the plants all that well. Next year we may wait to transplant until the plants are larger and can withstand a bite or two. 

This month was significant for us in that we were both able to get our COVID-19 vaccine. Both rounds of the Pfizer. While we do not feel this makes us invincible, it does give us a little more confidence we won't be killed by this virus. If only everyone would do what they could to fight this, we could avoid further suffering.

I started digging new hugels last month and continued into March. We now have three new ones and I plan to add one more in the next week - if the rain will ever slack up.  The basic drill is to dig a deep trench, fill it with a layer of dead wood, add a layer of clay soil, another layer of dead wood, another layer of clay soil, top with a layer of good garden soil, and finally top with several inches of wood chips to hold moisture and block weeds.

In addition to the hugels, I made a proper drain field for the kitchen drain. It had been simply pouring out onto the surface of the ground. I diverted the pipe toward the new garden area and added a clean-out port. Now the kitchen sink water drains into a deep pit filled with wood chips. Hopefully this will benefit some of the plants inside the deer fence.

When she is not helping me unload a trailer full of something, or tending her seedlings, or preparing something delicious to eat, Carolyn can be found tending one of her flower beds. 

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for exciting bathroom developments. Until then, peace be with you.

New Year - New hope

We are all hoping for a better new year. Even if you do not believe in a better political climate, you can hope for a better economic climate and a better health climate. Getting to see our friends and visit with our kids and grandkids again will be wonderful.

We've gotten several little dustings of snow up here on the mountain in the past month. And it's been cold enough to frost our collards several times. But occasionally, even when it's cold, the sun does come out and makes you feel better. On those rare events we will try to get out and do something in preparation for the coming growing season.

For example, we've begun building our mountain of wood chips. We make the wood chips from downed limbs and dead trees mostly found along the side of our drive. This also helps keep that area clear for the Bush Hog. We use these woodchips extensively in the garden. They are good for retaining moisture and blocking weeds. We've also begun expanding our garden to be about three times larger than last year's. Check this page for a description of our hugelkultur method.

Also, we have pruned back the muscadine vines and transplanted a row of wild blueberry bushes.

Additionally we have started several trays of seeds indoors and we have already transferred some of them to their permanent location in our original garden. It is still quite early so for the cold sensitive plants I quickly constructed a small row cover from some old tarp material. On sunny days we have to pull this tarp back to keep the plants from getting too warm but it does protect them on those frosty nights and from the torrential downpours.

So far we have started turnips, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, several varieties of lettuce, mizuna, tatsoi, arugula, several varieties of kale, and beets.

I completed a little project I started at the end of last year to rebuild my Bush Hog. This involved replacing the lower oil seal in the gearbox and the blades. As you can see from this picture the old blades were pretty used up. Right now TRAKKER is in the shop getting work done on his clutch and brake shoes. Also I replaced the battery in the wood chipper and put new tires on its wheels.

That's it for now. Get vaccinated and stay safe. 

The last of the year we might like to forget...

Well it looks like I've broken my promise. My last New Year's resolution was to publish an update to the blog every month and I failed. You would think in this time of COVID crisis and isolation (not to mention full retirement) that I would have nothing better to do with time on my hands than update this blog.

Anyway this page will just bring you up to date on what was going on at Richmond Woods in the last part of 2020.

The Autumn brought harvest and food preservation. A visit to my friends Philip and Susan blessed me with a great bunch of muscadines. I ate fresh ones until they were coming out my ears. I decided I needed to preserve the remaining ones. I could think of no better way than muscadine jam. It goes really good on my homemade sourdough.

Our garden yielded many tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. We preserved jars of tomato sauce. We roasted and froze bags of peppers. We pickled many jars of cucumbers, carrots, and peppers. And we dried many hot peppers that we are using to season our homemade sauerkraut and dishes like curry.

I made several improvements to my water system. I added a bubble pump to each barrel. This made ozonation of the water much more efficient. A bubble pump basically is just a submerged tube with holes at each end. An air stone is lowered to just above the lower holes and the bubbles, ozone in this case, carry water up the tube and exit through the upper holes. This creates a good circulation within the barrel and promotes better absorption of the ozone. Additionally I added new ozone generator system and I brought AC power from the shop up to the waterhouse to power lights and the new more powerful ozone generating equipment.

I made improvements to my composting toilet that I hoped would eliminate the fungus gnat problem. Unfortunately, these improvements did not help. I am currently exploring the construction of a vermi-composting toilet system that would use a standard flush toilet. I'm sure this would come as a great relief to those few people who occasionally come to visit. 😉  If you are curious, visit vermicompostingtoilets.net.

A couple of other smaller projects included building a mezzanine in one section of the shop attic space in which I could store some of my mountain of junk. And the installation of a new wood-burning stove in the cabin. I plan to overhaul the old stove and use it in the shop. Also, I installed a TV antenna - remember those? Now I can pick up several stations out of Huntsville to get local news and weather.

That pretty much covers all of the visible improvements I've made around here in the last half of 2020. Of course there are all those things you don't see like cutting mountains of firewood, pumping water, and taking care of the solar panels and battery. And, because I was robbed in November by someone that I believe to be a neighbor, I have spent considerable time installing security cameras and lights.

That's it for now. I hope you all are staying safe and taking the precautions you need to. I'm already working on updates to the blog for the first couple of months of 2021. Please standby.