Pocket Pause

March 2, 2013

Homestead Update: Chicken Run Update and Home Progress Report

Chicken run is done! It seems to be sturdy and relatively attractive, enjoyed by the chickens and is serving its purpose until we build our tractors for pasturing.

And as promised, here is the progress report for tasks completed in February along with my “first of the month” homestead photo:

We got a new woodstove!
Installed new windows (majorly awesome, including a $1300 rebate from our utility company)!
Cut down two massive trees – still working on moving all that wood, though
Built in a rabbitry and chicken coop
Got chickens and have rabbits coming soon
Began the lifelong task of pulling Scotch Broom
Planted the first plant and began planting a hedgerow
Put up my new pot rack
Discovered and quasi resolved some lovely septic issues

February photos:

February 1st

And March 1st – so much progress already!:

March 1st

Among other things! The pasture is greening up and the farm is really coming to life….. my friends think i’d better get goats and sheep soon to help me tame all the greenery that’s about to come to life… but i’m trying REALLY hard to focus on the plan: get our bearings with poultry and rabbits this year, goats and sheep wait until next year along with my amazingly huge garden that is to be one day. For now – i gotta keep my head a little bit focused! Off to finish my hedgerow!

What have you been up to this month?

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Filed under The Homestead

Tagged as chicken run, homestead update, progress report

March 1, 2013

On Sheet Mulching and The Very First Plant

Dirty hands are good for the soul. No really, it’s true. I heard on Radiolab or some other source that the good bacteria and other life found in soil can work in tandem with your body to elevate mood and make you a calmer more pleased with yourself person. It is so true! I’m never happier than when i’m covered in mud, planting something. So, yesterday i was at my happiest thanks to a literally groundbreaking and milestone setting event: i planted my first plant!

I used a sheet mulching method to plant this little shrub. The idea is to remove as much competition from the surrounding grass as possible, without having to till up a hundred feet of hedgerow.

Scalp the grass. Using a hoe or shovel dig/scrape the top layer of grass including it’s roots in a 3 footish wide circle around where you’re planting
Dig a hole and amend it. I used some well composted manure from our barn. Dig the hole about twice as wide and deep as the pot you’re planting then work the amendment in with some fluffy soil at the bottom. Be sure and open up the roots in the pot so that they don’t stay root bound. Prune roots if necessary.
Place the shrub/tree in the hole and flare out the roots in all directions. Scoop in loose soil around the sides and on top. Lift plant up slightly by the trunk (CAREFULLY!) and tamp the soil in around the sides lightly.
Place cardboard or newspaper in a layer around the tree, being careful to leave at least 6 inches clear from the trunk to the mulch layer to prevent rodents from chewing on the trunk.
Cover paper with compost and then some hay. Voila!

1 Coyote Brush, a native shrub marks the first plant in the ground on the Rommel homestead. The first in a perennial hedgerow along our road and the first of a native beneficial insect habitat planted by little ole me. Good bye, Scotch Broom and hello Coyote Brush, Douglas Spirea, Tall Oregon Grape and Red Flowering Current! I also sheet mulched the corner of our drive in prep for fall planting of wild flowers and heather. I’m a wild flower fiend and can’t wait to cover my new home with native flowers and herbs plus shrubbier heathers, sages, lavenders and rosemaries. And maybe some bulbs for good measure. 😉

It’s happening!

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Filed under Farming, Gardening, Mulch, The Homestead

Tagged as dirt makes you happy, hedgerow, plants, sheet mulching

February 28, 2013

The Broom That Does Not Sweep

I may have Scottish heritage, but i have no love for the most prevalent species on my farm: Scotch Broom.

This is a view out the upstairs window last Summer when we first looked at the place. Scotch Broom is actually a lovely plant, but is super duper invasive. Scotch broom generally takes over clear-cuts and other areas of mismanagement (case in point over grazed pasture). The seed bank (length of time seeds remain viable) for Scotch Broom is over 50 years. FIFTY years. So, you’re looking at my life-long project: sweeping out the broom!

Luckily, i have a super cool tool on my side: the weed wrench. Provided at no charge on a loan basis from the Soil and Water Conservation District of Benton County, this snazzy tool allows little ole me to pull huge plants right out of the ground by their roots. It’s fascinating, amazing, fun, a little backbreaking and rather tedious. Some may say “oh, my – you poor thing” at the amount of work i got done in 2 hours, but i think this is really quite a dent! (Paying no attention to the fact that i also ‘planted’ a zillion seeds by disturbing the wet soil when dragging the plants off the fence line.)

My short-term plan is to pull all the broom off the fence lines we plan on re-building as yard/Pocket/chicken/goose fence around the house. Secondary plan is to pull more plants off the pasture to open it up for more grazing and better access to blackberries and edible thickets for goats. Third plan is to mow the bejeebers out of the rest of the plants and continue to mow/pull seedlings for the rest of my life. Yeah!

And to think, my Ma actually PLANTS this stuff in her yard! Crazy! Always check your local ‘invasive species’ list before you go planting anything non-native. She can get away with it because it’s crazy dry where she lives. In other planting news – i’m starting a lovely hedgerow of native plants along our roadside stretch of lawn AND my husband fixed our wheelbarrow! Check that out – i can move poo and hay and soil and plants (and corgis) with efficiency, yipee!!!