The Wind Break Progress Continues

Thanks to help from friend Mike and son Aaron, the drift fencing portion of the windbreaks are in place.  There is one stretch of solid fence that still needs to be built but this will get us set for planting…..   of course, the weather still needs to cooperate.  It is still getting down into the 40’s at night.  It looks like Sunday will finally get the evening temps up to where the plants can go out and harden off.

If we can dodge this next round of rain (notice the skies in the pictures below), then tilling can get underway tomorrow.  Aaron got out and plowed up the corn and sunflower patch, so slowly but surely we are progressing along.  The kid applied to the local grain elevator to help unload haulers and load train cars during the wheat harvest.   Very cool if he gets it.  Whoda thunk my kid’s first real non-volunteer summer job would end up being in Ag!  Long hours, lots of dust, heat and gruff hard core laborers.  Perfect!

Looking forward to the grandma visit on Monday!

Windbreak 1

windbreak 2

Windbreak 3

It Seems This Is Why The Vegetables Can’t Go Outside Yet

The Jet Stream is broken.  When one adds heat to our atmosphere it can hold more moisture.  Because of that, it gets heavier and slower and meanders higher and lower than it used to.  The polar vortex in the mid-west and east and the horrific winds here in the west, and the drought in the southwest seem to all have been influenced by this.  We are getting the strangest weather as we have had the prevailing winds coming almost directly out of the north, bringing cooler air.  This past weekend the mountains got to close to 3 feet of snow. Yesterday, because of winter driving conditions, Vail pass was closed and as I write it is smack dab the middle of May!  The days are not getting warm enough and the evenings as a result are not STAYING warm enough to put out the fruiting plants to harden off (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, etc.)  Because we have been getting above normal precipitation in the form of sleet and freezing rain (two days ago there was 8 inches of snow at the farm), we have not been able to do any bed preparations.  This is farming and gardening in the new normal.

Here is a chart that illustrates the issue.  I am afraid there is going to have to be alot of new adaptation in order to allow food production to continue.  On a happy note, the wheat crop seems to be loving all of this.  Here is hoping that in the next week or two things warm up some.  I don’t mind the moisture – here it is a blessing – but it really needs to warm up.  Ah the life of the farmer – always at the mercy of the elements.

http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/JetStream.aspx

There Will Always Be New Projects

Zina and I were mulling over the past year or so of the JAZ Farm last night.  We are tired yet so proud of all of our accomplishments and this place is really starting to look like a farm.  JAZ Farm has laying hens, is capable of hatching its own chicken replacements, has meat birds in the brooder, and is going to be able to grow a great deal of the food the birds need throughout the year.  We have wheat coming up and are mere days away from hardening off hundreds and hundreds of plants for the organically grown vegetable garden (Cudo’s to friend Mike for coming down and helping to put up the remaining wind break fences…. you saved my lower back some agony!).  On top of it all we are going to be sowing Millet and Amaranth on the front 15 acres to help heal and build the soil.

While enjoying a Mother’s Day dinner out while Aaron stayed at the farm and babysat the dog, we talked about the future livestock that may visit the farm.  To me horses are nothing but toys.  Cows are huge and we don’t really eat much red meat.  If you want animals like goats, sheep, or Llamas one needs a barn to house them; especially during the really cold months of winter.  What we came up with is pigs:  Feeder pigs.  Feeder pigs grow to around 250 lbs in about 6 months.  If purchased in April, they are ready for the processor in October.  They require a pen, a hut, water and food.  I have already designed the hut in my head and the pen, after all of this fence building is a no-brainer!  So throughout the summer I will be building a pig pen and getting it outfitted for spring 2015.

We figured that with the wheat, the organic garden, the eggs and broilers and pigs, we will likely have all of the meat and vegetables we could ever need.  As the pigs are quite big, and they need to be raised in a group of 2-3, we will likely invite friends, neighbors or clients to go in on the cost.

JAZ Farm…. a real…. working…. homestead.

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/2012/03/simple-pig-pen-design/

 

Pre-Lunch and Pre-Dinner Have Arrived

Wouldn’t you know it – Mother’s Day weekend – which is supposed to be our “average” last frost date, was met with a spring blizzard.  The mountains got up to 3 feet of snow and the lower elevations around 5000- 6500 feet got around 5 inches to a foot!  At the same time, I received a text message from our hatchery that our roasting chicks had shipped!  Great.  Anticipating warmer weather (because it was in the 80’s the previous week) we set the brooder up in the barn.  Now… in the sloppy wet rain and snow it had to be taken down and the 300 gallon watering trough we use as the brooder had to be rolled around to the back of the house and into the basement.  It froze my fingers as the tank is made out of steel.  Now the brooder is set up in our exercise room.  Oh goodie!

I got a call from the post office at 8 am today (Monday) saying the chicks had arrived.  I got up there and got the cheeping box of fuzz balls in the rain and sleet.  I gave a little boy a thrill though.  He was about 3 years old and I let him look into the box before I left.  “Look Mommy!  CHEEKINZ!”  Everyone in line at the post office had a chuckle.

The little puff balls made it to the farm with no trouble and they are now happily eating, drinking, pooping and sleeping in their new 3 – 4 week condo stay.   After that they go out into the big coop for 4 – 5 more weeks.  It looks like mid-July will be chicken harvesting week. (It came in handy that the truck has heated seats.  I had them on the passenger seat and it kept them nice and toasty).

I read a quote once that said, “If you have an animal and it has a name, its a pet.  If you have animals and they have no names, they are food.”  These ones have no names; except for humorously saying that half are named lunch and the other half, dinner.  Aaron said we should name all of them Nuggets.

Now, between the layers in the big coop and the broiler chicks in the brooder we have over 60 birds.  Taking care of them will give us something to do until the garden dries out and we can get out to till and plant.

 

Dinner

Lunch

Why We NEED To Get Past Our Last Frost Date!

This is why we need to get the plants outside.  They are taking over the house!  Anyone who doesn’t believe that plants don’t help to regulate moisture need only come visit the grow room in my basement.  When I arrived today after the house being closed for two days, every window in the place was dripping condensation.  The basement could be a sauna with all of the moisture the plants are wicking into the air!  It was so moist that the stack of envelopes I keep down there for work had all sealed themselves!  It is a pleasant environment but we are once again to the stage in the gardening where the plants now need to go live in the real world!  Hopefully mid-week next week I can get the tasks done to make that happen and MAYBE the weather will cooperate!

 

Jalapenos

Basil, Serrano Peppers, Jalapeño Peppers, Acorn and Butternut Squash 

Maters

Cherry Tomatoes, Amish Paste, German Giant Tomatoes, Tomatillos and Eggplant

Onions

3 kinds of onions, celery, Marjoram

Peppers

Purple and Red Peppers.

In boxes and envelopes:  3 kinds of potatoes, Strawberries, Asparagus Crowns, Sweet Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Black and Kidney beans, Green feed corn, Green beans,  Carrots, Melons, Beets, Kale, Herbs, Amaranth, Millet, Sunflowers….. At the city garden:  Kale, Spinach, Peas, Garlic, Green Onions, Roma Tomatoes, Green Beans, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and grape vines.   AND…. THIRTY CHICKS ARRIVE NEXT WEDNESDAY!!

It is time for this polar vortex idiocy to move on to someone else’s house!

Weather Craziness…. Uncle!

Last week the weather was in the 80’s.  We got the windbreak done, the chicken chores accomplished and all sorts of other things in anticipation of getting the raised beds tilled and drip tape installed this week, along with the arrival of our broiler chicks next week.  Not so said mother nature!  We had hail and rain yesterday and into the night.  We are expecting more rain today, and this coming Monday we are expecting SNOW and an evening low of 26!!  Farmers are at the mercy of the weather.

I can’t till because of the mud.  I can’t install the drip tapes because I can’t first till.  The plants need to go outside to harden off before planting and that can’t happen because it is too cold!  Planting is going to be late in starting this year.  Oh well, given the adventures our family is going through right now, perhaps that is a good thing.  It will certainly all get done, but we folks who like to think we are in control, often find out that, in fact, we are not.

I recently read a trilogy of books by an author calling himself, Jed McKenna.  It has been an affirmation the likes of which I can’t even begin to describe.  If you want to read an account of what it means to “wake up” and not be a sheep, these books are for you…. only if you are open and ready.   To reverse an often overused quote that says, “when the student is ready the teacher appears”….. I think more accurately should be quoted as:  “When the teacher arrives, the student is ready.”  I was ready.

Letting go of the tiller on the boat is the epitome of farming I am finding out.  Certainly planting season is a busy time, especially when your primary occupation takes full precedence over your homestead; but thinking that you are in control of anything is such a myth and a fallacy.  Let go of the tiller, let the current take you.  When you feel yourself grabbing on tight and wanting to control things, it is at that instance that you need to know its time to let go.  Everything works out for the best.  Indeed, it is impossible for anything to be wrong… even when your ego is screaming at you that it is.

As we work through the final pre-planting tasks and then wait for the weather to allow the crops to go in and it all being delayed according to our schedule, the question isn’t “why?”  Its, “what does this mean and where is it leading?”  I suspect that this time it means that we all need to slow down.  We all need to simply live.  We need to quit thinking we are in some race to some undefined place.  That place, ultimately, is us becoming compost.  To not live currently, trying to build equity for a future that may never come, is ego playing its game.  It is Maya keeping us in prison.  Indeed, it is to rob us of our very lives.  After all, the end result for all of us is death.  Let go of the tiller.  Flow effortlessly down stream.  There is nothing to accomlish, nothing to achieve.  None of it matters.  Let go of the idea that we are “going” somewhere.  Nature will let us plant, our children will find their way, our lives will pass whether we are present with them or simply spending them in exchange for some elusive goal we always call…. the future.

Live now.

Windbreaks Completed

The windbreak fences were put up during some of the most intense winds I have experienced.  Because of the broken Jet Stream the air currents were coming straight out of the north and didn’t subside for 5 days.  We had sustained 30+ mph winds with gusts over 70.  I’ve heard this now referred to as Climate 2.0.  It is getting kind of crazy.  Anyway, because these are windbreaks designed to help keep the gales off of the plants I got to see the weak links immediately.  One post, because the concrete didn’t set right, got pushed.  Not pushed over, but enough to let me know where things needed to be reinforced.

I dug 15, 15 inch deep holes across from the posts, installed steel anchors into concrete and strung 2×4’s at roughly 45 degrees to each post.  This has made the wall very rigid and I doubt now that it will meet with any problems (unless of course it is a tornado – eek.)  It was a full day today but the south side windbreak is completed.  There is still a pretty big one to make on the north but that is going to have to wait.

Next week the beds get tilled and the weeds burned off and the drip tapes get installed.  The following week is planting season!  YAY!!  Right on schedule!  I was beginning to think we’d never get to this point.

Stay tuned!  The plants all have to grow yet too!  What an interesting adventure this has been.

May 12th we also get our first batch of broiler chicks.  JAZ Farm is on a roll!

Windbreak 1 Windbreak 2 Windbreak 3

My Amazing Friend

She is now just a year and a half old.  Amazing.  How an animal, who only wants to be with her “pack” can be such an incredible friend.  She was so easy to train.  She only wants to make you happy.  She can infuriate you and make you melt…. all in about the span of an hour.  Basil is family.  She is one of the tribe.  She was THE RIGHT ANSWER for a guy who spends an awful lot of time alone dealing with stress.  She never lets you be alone and when you are feeling particularly grumpy about all of the nonsense of the real world…. she brings you a toy and wags her tail.  Dogs ARE Buddha nature.

IMG_3252 IMG_3251

Wind Break Progress

The fence is up and the JAZ Farm has a windbreak on the south side!  I put up 400 pickets yesterday and in the past two days have screwed in 2000 screws.  Even with a screw driver attached to a drill my shoulder is aching pretty good.

The next step is to put braces along the back.  We get a good wind and that fence will be laying on the ground.  The braces are pretty simple;  Just 2×4’s attached to the frame and a small sono-tube footer for it to cement into.  We had some 30 mph winds while I was putting up the pickets and you could tell that the garden was being sheltered from it.  Good thing to.  9o feet long plus a second section 35 feet long.  It is high time these construction projects were done so we can get to planting!

We have decided that above all else…. We love our JAZ Farm!!

fence 1 fence 2