Kepler's Uncles - Farm Journal

Sprayed peach tree

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:18:02 -0800

Sprayed the peach tree today with copper, and did some pruning. I should have prepared a half gallon, rather than a gallon.

Grapes ripening

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 23:15:01 -0700

Our grapes are abundant, and we ate the first few bunches yesterday and today. Delightful!

New Chicks

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:02:12 -0700

On April 26, we bought three chicks: a "black sex link":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sex_Link, a gold sex link, and a "buff orpington":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpington_(chicken).

We incubated them in the living room and the mud room. Once we put them out, they got along fine with the single remaining Araucana hen. The Araucana has begun to crow, now that the rooster is gone.

Horse Worming Schedule

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:14:17 -0800

Jan/Feb	fenbendazole or oxibendazole
Mar/Apr	ivermectin, moxidectin, or prazquantel
May/Jun	pyrantel pamoate
Jul/Aug	fenbendazole or oxibendazole
Sep/Oct	ivermectin, moxidectin, or prazquantel
Nov/Dec	pyrantel pamoate

Moved the barns!

Sun, 9 Oct 2005 19:12:59 -0700

Today we finally moved the small barns all together. Yesterday Jessie helped us move everything out of the tool barn and the grass hay barn. Today our next door neighbor Tom came over with his big hay squeeze (it can lift 8500 pounds). He picked up each of the barns and moved it aside, then we relocated the eight pier blocks and approximately leveled them. Then Tom dropped the barn back down onto the blocks. The barns are quite a bit higher off the ground now than they were (a good thing, since they will rot more slowly). Tom moved the stack of grass hay in front of the barn door for us, and Jessie loaded the hay back into the barn.

Horse worming advice from BLM

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:09:52 -0800

Month	Wormer
Jan-Feb-Mar	Benzimidazole
Apr-May-June	Benzimidazole
July-Aug-Sept	Pyrantel
Oct-Nov-Dec	Avermectin

Avermectins: Eqvalan, Zimecterin, Equimectrim, Quest

Benzimidazoles: Panacur, Safe-guard, Anthelcide

Pyrantel: Strongid-P, Strongid-T, Strongid-C, Rotectin-2

Local Nurseries & Suppliers

Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:16:23 -0800

Harmony Farms
Emerisa Nursery (open March through October: Tu-Sa, 9-5, Sun, 10-4)
CalFlora (open Monday - Friday 10 - 4)
Home Depot
Wheeler Zamaroni (open M-F 7:30-3:30, Sat 8-12)
Western Hills 16250 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental. (707) 874-3731. Maggie is the owner. Open: Thursday-Sunday 10am-4pm. Call for winter hours and appointments.

Planting Time - Grapes, Kiwi, Blueberry

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:41:26 -0800

Last Sunday we planted table grapes, kiwi, a blueberry (to replace one that had died), artichokes, collards, and leeks. We planted these in our cottage garden (between our office and our well house), which we had covered with cardboard and composted horse manure in the fall. The soil is now delightful to work with. Simply stick the garden fork right through the wet cardboard and turn over beautiful soil.

Today we bought lots of seeds to plant perennials and self-seeding annuals in the cottage garden. We'll start the seeds indoors and put them out in 6 weeks or so. We're also looking forward

Bye Bye Pigs

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:28:34 -0800

On January 12, we said goodbye to this year's pigs. We'll get four big boxes of pork and so will Jessie. We let the pigs get much bigger this year than last time. They were over 200 pounds each.

Because it is rainy season, we had to have the slaughter in the front yard. The ground is too wet to drive a truck into the back. Martin did the butchering again, then took them over to Bud's Meats for cutting, smoking and wrapping.

We got the pink pig on August 29 or thereabouts. We got the black pig a few weeks later. Then Jessie brought over some other pigs, but he sold or traded these within a few weeks. My best guess is that our pigs were about 6 months old when we had them slaughtered.

Our Backyard

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 15:03:38 -0800

We love our backyard. Some people wouldn’t like having a large portion of their property under water all winter, but we like it. Scout likes it, too. Look at her run.

BBQ Whole Pigs

Sun, 2 Jan 2005 18:49:22 -0800

Detailed directions for several methods of whole hog BBQ.

Butchering Info - Not for Wimps

Sun, 2 Jan 2005 17:28:12 -0800

Great information about slaughtering, butchering and smoking.

Hay topped up

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 11:41:14 -0800

We topped up the hay barns on November 15, 40 bales in each. There are three horses eating it. The rains came in force on 12/26, no more vehicles in the back yard until end of rainy season! Last year, I recall that we were able to drive on 12/15.

Olive Curing

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 20:38:05 -0800

We got about 2.5 cups of olives from our tree.

After reading, I decided to water-cure the green olives (submerge them in clean water; change several times per day for 14 days or more until bitterness adequately reduced), and to brine-cure the ripe ones (submerge in brine made of 1 T sea salt per cup; stir once per week; ready in three months).

Getting Manure In

Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:18:50 -0800

With Jessie's help, we brought in two cubic yards of rotted horse manure and shavings today. The manure was gladly donated by Leslie, who has three horses on property a bit similar to ours near Bellevue High School. (Similar in that it's flat, high water, adobe.) Leslie has about 30 yards of barn waste to get rid of, and her neighbor Vern has an exquisite tiny front loader that can put 1/4 yard of manure into our pickup at a time.

Jessie also brought us one yard of cardboard from La Tortilla Factory. Starting by the well house, we placed plenty of cardboard down right over the nasty weeds growing there (including bermuda and kikuyu grass), then shoveled plenty of the manure on top. We plan to leave this lasagne mixture like that until the spring, when we should be able to plant perennials through it.