tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51720182711371705022024-03-13T19:09:42.594-05:00Adventures in Urban HomesteadingAdventures in urban homesteadingAimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.comBlogger429125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-64866421624248305502017-01-01T20:50:00.000-06:002017-01-01T20:50:48.134-06:00About that farm...So much for posting updates about that farm! But, as I warned back in February last year, pretty much everything revolves around the new farm. That ended up being a bit of a prophetic statement.<br />
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We did end up buying that farm we were looking at and Jeremy did move to the farm, but "the plan" pretty much fell apart after that.<br />
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In March, just as we were getting ready to move to the farm, we got 30 some baby ducks. They were adorable, but wow - super messy! They love water and made huge messes. I could not wait to get them out of the basement brooder.<br />
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We finally moved them to the farm but it was awhile before they were big enough to move outside. For some reason the ducks always traveled together in a big herd. No duck ever went anywhere on its own. Is that normal duck behavior? I have no idea.<br />
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We had been warned at the beginning that 'ducks like to die,' and that certainly turned out to be the case for us. Ever so slowly, for the first few months after we moved them out to pasture, one would disappear maybe every week or two. We had them surrounded by electric net fence so we aren't sure what was getting them. A fox leaping over the 4-foot high fence? An owl or hawk? Mink or weasel or something similar? It could have been any or all. Part way through the summer the ducks decided to take things in their own webbed feet and they escaped their enclosure. They took to roaming the farm and going where they please, returning to their shelter at night. This turn of events sped up our duck loss and by the fall there were maybe a half dozen left. (Oh, one or two visits by a neighbor's dog also caused the loss of a few ducks.) By the fall though, the remaining ducks had moved into the dairy barn with all the chickens. Today, there are two ducks left and they go everywhere together. They are a pair, male and female.<br />
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A couple weeks ago one of the ducks came to the front door of the house and was quacking away like a maniac. Sarah, Jeremy's employee, was at the house and she went out to see what was up with the duck. In the distance she heard the other duck quacking, it's quack reverberating throughout the grain silo. She went to investigate and discovered the other duck had fallen into the silo and was trapped. Its mate had come to the house quacking for help! I think we should now name them Lassie and Timmy. (The duck was rescued of course.)<br />
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Return with me to the spring again. A month or so after getting the ducks, Jeremy picked up 15 or so baby pigs - Berkshire and Red Wattle/Berkshire cross. Another month or so later he picked up more piglets for a total of about 28 pigs.<br />
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Yes, this is as crazy as it sounds. Now, I begged and pleaded and warned Jeremy about this whole pig business because I thought it was a bit soon to be getting into such a big new thing, but Jeremy had his reasons so we went for it. I kind of feel like if I could do one thing over from the last year (from the last 10 years even!) it would be to not get those pigs.<br />
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They were of course ADORABLE when they were little. I wish I could snuggle them right now!<br />
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But they were an incredible amount of work. Jeremy chose to keep them in with movable electric fencing and do rotational grazing - which meant moving them, their food, water and fencing, every couple weeks. He, and employees, had to keep a strict eye on the electric fence. Pigs are smart and they test the fencing - kind of like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. =) In July or August they got out several times. One time they destroyed the gardens of several neighbors and we had to make reparations. By that time they were getting close to a couple hundred pounds a piece and you just can't make a 200-pound pig do anything it doesn't want to do!<br />
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I don't know how much personality they had, but there was one pig in particular who loved Jeremy. Whenever Jeremy came to visit the pigs and check on their food and water, this one pig would come running across the field, it's little tail wagging and twirling, to greet Jeremy. It was pretty adorable.<br />
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Jeremy had planned to keep a couple pigs through the winter and breed them, but, for many reasons, we ended up processing all of them. So now we have something like 1700 pounds of bacon, sausage, pork chops, brats, roasts, etc in our walk-in freezer! Want some pork? =)<br />
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The first four months (in addition to ducks and pigs) was also taken up with moving all the logs (several thousand) from the old farm. We had several work days with anywhere from 4-5 people to 10 people. We'd spend hours loading up one moving truck, then one and a half to two hours driving to the new farm, then hours unloading the truck. It got to be an ongoing joke about our "FarmFit" exercise program. Why pay for a gym membership when you could get a full body workout for free helping us move logs!?!<br />
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The move took much longer than we had hoped and there was still some inoculating to do so the whole schedule for the year was a bit messed up. Since the shade structure and fruiting house had yet to be constructed, Jeremy decided to do things the old way, in the woods.<br />
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But finally this fall we got the shade structure done and the hoop house up so that will be a big help for the upcoming season.<br />
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Of course, in addition to keeping up with ducks, watching after the pigs, moving the farm, doing maintenance on some of the buildings, inoculating new logs and picking tons of mushrooms, Jeremy was also keeping up with two Farmers Markets, delivering mushrooms weekly for three different CSA operations, and delivering mushrooms to co-ops, restaurants, and a distributor selling his mushrooms throughout the Midwest. Oh, and drying mushrooms, smoking mushrooms, and making mushroom butter and mushroom spread.<br />
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Our original plan of Jeremy being at the farm part-time was one of the first parts of the "plan" to change. Jeremy is pretty much at the farm all the time! Not only does he enjoy the quiet out here and the pace of life, he kind of has to be out here because there is so much set up still to do. Our hope had been a full-time employee would live out here and could help be responsible for things when Jeremy was in Minneapolis...but that hasn't exactly worked out. For one thing, we are now on our fourth consecutive employee of the year. Things keep not working out for one reason or another and folks move on. It's been similar with WWOOFers, interns, and volunteers. They say they want to spend a couple weeks or months here, and sometimes they leave within a few days. We've just had some really bad luck in the personnel department. It's hard not to think it's our fault, we've done something wrong. It's been helpful to talk with other farmers in the area who have had similar problems. Jeremy can get together with them and swap stories about some of the wackier volunteer personalities and people who up and leave in the middle of the night with no notice or warning.<br />
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As you can tell, it has been quite a year. There is quite a lot I had to leave out, but I have to leave some surprises in case I write a book someday, right?<br />
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I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures of the farm. I've been able to get out to the farm 6-8 times this year and I just love this place. The plan is no longer that I will live in the city and Jeremy will split his time between the two. We are now working on a new plan for me to be able to move out to the farm full time. Hopefully this new plan will succeed!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A swampy area near the lake, in the spring</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of wildflowers in the spring, and summer and fall!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swamp Milkweed, lots of it near the lake</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful flower growing on the edge of the lake.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These flowers grow all over the farm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our great- great-grandfather apple tree, before we rescued it by cutting back a ton of the buckthorn surrounding it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apples! And they were good!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a very large apple tree.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking around in the woods.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of frogs on the farm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">S'mores at our November open house party.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bunny tracks in the snow.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birch bark in the snow.</td></tr>
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Happy New Year everyone!<br />
<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-64243034827242785392016-02-23T21:21:00.001-06:002016-02-23T21:21:58.230-06:00Big changes coming!Ooh, bet you've all been wondering what the heck happened to us? Not too much different since we got the chickens last May.<br />
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The chickens are all grown up and putting up with winter right now. We had about 7 roosters which met their end in September. Of course we finished strengthening the chicken run and putting up fences in the side yard to fend off future dog attacks.<br />
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House projects: I painted the bathroom.<br />
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Sigh. Back in the heady early days of buying this house, when we worked from morning to night without stopping and worked harder then I can ever remember working before - we were warned about this. The time when you get really excited because you put a mailbox up, or hung a picture...or did something as mundane as painting the bathroom.<br />
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Mind you, the ceiling is still bare drywall, there is a hole in floor, the heating vents are out in the open, there is a hole in the wall under the light switch, there are holes in the wall by the shower that are "patched" with duct tape, and a host of other things. But isn't the paint job beautiful!?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6K_AVKFYQN8/Vs0eHDtPKXI/AAAAAAAAKdA/RFqpTg9aPHE/s1600/bath5.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6K_AVKFYQN8/Vs0eHDtPKXI/AAAAAAAAKdA/RFqpTg9aPHE/s400/bath5.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
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Yard projects: I fell for one of those DIY posts on Facebook. You know, the one with the teaser that says something like, "This woman cut up two tires and what happened next will SHOCK you..." Oh please. She made a little pond with tires and I couldn't stop myself from giving this a try too. I had several tires available from a failed potato tower experiment.<br />
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I dug those out (finding a couple tiny potatoes), dug most of the plants out of the backyard rain garden, and then built my little ponds. This was in about October, so I only had a couple weeks to enjoy them before I had to cover it all up for winter. This was also an excuse to split off my Siberian Iris which had gotten so overgrown and compacted, it was starting to die. I can't wait to see what this all looks like as all the plants grow this spring.<br />
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I keep sewing and sewing (and not blogging about it really), and I took a three-week trip to Peru which was amazing, of course (and I did blog about that, <a href="http://www.vicarioustravelblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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So, now, the "big changes." <br />
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We are very likely going to be buying a farm! We've been day dreaming about this on and off for many years and it never seemed practical or feasible. But with Jeremy's mushroom farm it has now become pretty much a necessity.<br />
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We have been looking at one particular property in western Wisconsin (about 70 miles from here). Everything is pretty much lined up. We are waiting on an appraisal and the official purchase agreement. It could be ours in a few weeks give or take.<br />
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Big news! Big changes! <br />
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I will <b>not </b>be changing the name of my blog to "Adventures in Rural Homesteading" or "Adventures in Mushroom Farming" or anything like that, because I will not be moving to the farm. Jeremy has a farm manager employee who will live out there and Jeremy will be there part-time, here part-time. But, if things go well, maybe we will both move out there full time some day in the future.<br />
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In the meantime, I'll post updates when it all becomes official, and try to let you know the interesting things going on with the farm. Because around here, pretty much <b>everything </b>revolves around the new farm now!!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-31327619846232601032015-05-31T10:27:00.000-05:002015-05-31T10:27:00.463-05:00Baby chicks...againIntroducing: our fourth batch of baby chicks! I realized we are so much more relaxed about this venture compared to the first time we got chicks back in 2009.<br />
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The chicks were <i>supposed</i> to arrive yesterday, Saturday morning. We had gotten the brooder moved into place, but that's pretty much it. I'm not sure when we were planning to figure everything else out - Friday night I guess. But at 5:45 Friday morning Jeremy got a phone call that bolted us both out of bed. The chicks were at the post office ready to be picked up!<br />
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While Jeremy went off to the P.O. I cleaned out the brooder, found a towel to put down, and turned on the heat lamp. Our brooder can be made three different sizes by sliding a piece of wood into slots in the sides. Where that piece of wood went - who knows! I found a thick piece of cardboard and cut it down to shape. I dug out the food and water things...then realized we hadn't bought any chick food yet! Geez.<br />
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Then the front door opened and I heard the mad sound of 25 peeping chicks moving through the house. Jeremy brought them down the stairs to the brooder and we moved them in. It probably wasn't warm enough for them yet but there wasn't much we could do. Jeremy mixed up a little sugar water for them - I guess that's a helpful thing to do, though I don't remember us doing it last time. They had to wait a few hours for the stores to open for chick feed!<br />
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Around 3am Saturday morning Jeremy woke up thinking about the chicks, wondering if they'd gone through their water. He went down to check on them and discovered the heat lamp bulb had burned out! The chicks were all huddled in a corner trying to stay warm. Poor baby chicks! If there is one thing we know, it's that being too cold can be the death of a baby chick. Jeremy dug out our <a href="http://sweeterheater.com/" target="_blank">sweeter heater</a>. With a little pushing he managed to wedge this into the brooder in place of the cardboard for the fourth wall. Perfect! The chicks snuggled up to it to get warm again.<br />
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We're still trying to manage the heat. Chicks need to be at about 95 degrees the first week, then 90 degrees, and going slowly down as they get bigger and grow in their adult feathers. After we put in a new heat lamp bulb and the sweeter heater, the temperature was around 100 degrees! One of the chicks seemed to be panting, but others were snuggled right up to the heater. We moved the heat lamp up to help regulate the temperature. It was still pretty high, so we unplugged the heat lamp to see if just the sweater heater was enough. That's how I managed to get the lovely video below where you can actually see the color of the chicks. The heat lamp is red, so a previous video I shot was really weird with everything looking kind of red.<br />
I went to check on the chicks an hour later and they were all quiet, snuggled in a line down the side of the heater, trying to stay as close as they could. Okay, too cool! So I turned the heat lamp back on. Goodness, with all this heat fluctuation we might lose a chick or two. It's a bit stressful on their little bodies! But so far they all seem healthy and active - so fingers crossed!<br />
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The yellow ones are Delaware. The black ones are Cuckoo Maran. The brownish ones are Americauna. The grey ones are Blue Cochin. I have always wanted blue chickens! So I'm excited about those. We are very likely to end up with some roosters. Hopefully we'll have a quieter rooster than we had in the last batch!<br />
<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-68902030303152846842015-05-17T08:32:00.000-05:002015-05-17T08:32:32.987-05:00StumpedMore pictures from the past. This is a project from exactly one year ago today!<br />
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We took three ash trees out back in 2013 but I had them leave these tall stumps. I'd always thought it would be fun to have a bird bath on one of them. I still haven't gotten around to having a proper bird bath... some day! (The third stump is off stage left.)<br />
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But what to do with the other two stumps... I decided to screw this large plastic pot onto the stump (so it can't be blown off) and plant it with trailing plants.<br />
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Here it is with alyssum and nasturtium.<br />
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It worked pretty well. I planted two nasturtium in it last week and I'm thinking about what else to plant this year. I'd love to get some lobelia or other similar trailing flowering plant. Any suggestions?Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-31242028575344738022015-05-16T08:28:00.000-05:002015-05-17T08:28:55.490-05:00When life throws you tires... Looking through photos on our camera is now a fascinating trip through the last year...or more. We used to pull photos off right away and tuck them safely in some folder or other on the computer. But now they languish on the camera with plans to someday do something with them.<br />
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For instance, eight months ago (last September) I put a plan into action regarding a pile of tires that had been dumped behind our fence. It started with just a couple tires. We didn't do anything about them, so a few more showed up. I realized if we didn't do anything about them, we'd soon have a VERY large pile of tires. So I brought them in to the yard and started thinking.<br />
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I decided to try growing garlic in two of them. The garlic plants didn't do so well last year - not sure why. This new spot is right outside the back door. It's also close to the house and Jeremy prefers not have any food items here because of the possibility of lead paint in the soil. So I put the tires down and filled them up with compost. I planted five or six garlic in each tire, put some hay down for mulch, and put fencing around to keep the squirrels out.<br />
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The black of the tires causes the soil to warm up faster and stay warm longer - I suspect. The garlic actually started growing before the winter. Now that winter finally seems to be over, the garlic has grown like crazy and is mostly doing very well. (No pictures of that just yet.) If the garlic is actually growing nice and big down below, I'll be repeating this experiment!<br />
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I save the other three tires to make a potato tower. I haven't grown potatoes since I was in high school, but this seemed like a good time to give it a try. When life throws you tires... grow some food in it!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-8625744180135783482015-04-06T19:09:00.001-05:002015-04-06T19:09:31.992-05:00A first time for everythingYesterday Jeremy and I went to a family lunch for Easter. We came home and had the whole afternoon before us. Jeremy headed upstairs to work on the computer. I turned on the tea kettle and headed down to the basement with the laundry.<br />
On the way back up the stairs I looked out the window to the chicken coop. I do this every time I go up and down the stairs. It's sort of silly because I can't really see the chickens in the hen house unless there is sunlight shining straight into the windows. And I don't usually see the chickens in the far side of the run, the only part of the run I can see from the house, because they're usually over by the feeders stuffing themselves.<br />
I looked over to the run and saw something weird. There was a white blob. A chicken? It could be, but they didn't usually hold that still, and not squished up so close to the wall. A foreign object of some sort? Something was up.<br />
I headed out to the coop. Sometimes my mind jumps to awful conclusions, but generally those prove to be unfounded and ridiculous. Preparing myself for the worst I guess. But in this case, the worst had happened. As I cleared the hen house and came in view of the run, I saw a dead chicken. One that had been clearly snacked on. I vaguely noticed other bodies and feathers everywhere. I had to peek in the hen house. I half expected a deranged, bloodied animal to leap out at me, but no such thing. Just another half dozen dead chickens. There wasn't a movement in the whole coop or run, besides feathers drifting about. That meant all 19 were dead. I think I was in a sort of fight or flight shock state at this point. I needed backup.<br />
I went into the house for Jeremy.<br />
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"Jeremy," I said as I walked through the kitchen. He didn't hear me.<br />
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"Jeremy." I said it my most serious something-horrible-has-happened voice. He heard me that time. I could hear him jump up from the computer.<br />
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"Do you need me to come down?" he asked, as he started to head down.<br />
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"Yes." Again, my very serious voice.<br />
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"Is it an emergency?" Jeremy wanted to know if he should walk down the stairs or run, and if he should call 911 - yep, he recognizes this tone of voice.<br />
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"Well, it's not anymore. They're all dead!"<br />
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We headed back out to the yard so Jeremy could survey the massacre. He put his arms around me. The adrenaline was wearing off and I suddenly felt weak in the knees and had to sit down. He was very comforting for someone who was also very upset. Of course, he knew what he was coming out to see whereas it was a surprise for me. And I always seem to be the one to find the dead chickens!<br />
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We talked briefly about what to do. Should we bag them up and throw them away? It seemed wrong somehow to do that. We would dig a hole and bury them. I was worried. That would have to be a VERY big hole! But Jeremy was determined. We changed into grubby clothes and grabbed shovels. We decided to bury them in one of the garden beds. We dug up half of the bed, piling the dirt in the other half. At one point I dug up a little grub-like insect and immediately picked it up to give to the chickens. They would love this...oh. That's right.<br />
We each picked up chickens and laid them in the ground. We fit 10 in then piled dirt on them and dug out the other half of the bed. Nine more chickens were laid to rest. I also raked up as many of the feathers as I could get and added them to the grave. We replaced all the dirt and smoothed everything over.<br />
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"We should be intentional about what we plant in this bed," I said. "Sort of like a memorial to the chickens."<br />
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Jeremy thought about it for a moment. "Well," he said, "no root vegetables." Agreed!<br />
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We decided to plant a tomato there and some lettuce. We'll have to wait a while longer on both, but that's the plan.<br />
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I wandered around the exterior of the coop and began noticing signs. Big paw prints. Signs of digging by the fence on the north side. Signs of probable pacing or running back and forth around the whole chicken compound, the killer trying to get in. And, what I had noticed almost right away, the brick keeping the door to the run closed was about a foot away from where it should be. Like something had forced the door open, sliding the brick out of the way. We remodeled part of the run a month or so ago and hadn't quite finished the door and latch part. Given the attack in the middle of the day and the killing of everything in sight without really eating anything, we both figured it was a dog. Well, the somewhat clear dog prints helped confirm that. I wondered at one point if there had been two dogs. There was just so much destruction.<br />
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I posted a Facebook message about our loss and messages of sympathy came pouring in. Then this morning I saw a post from a neighbor a couple blocks away. She had seen two large dogs coming out of our yard yesterday and called Animal Control to report it. Wow. Practically caught in the act! Our friends didn't know what the dogs had been up to though.<br />
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With that information, I sent an email on a listserv to our entire neighborhood.<br />
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Dear neighbors, Do you (or someone you know) own two big grey dogs? Did your dogs get loose from your yard yesterday and go running around the neighborhood? Did they come back a bit messy, perhaps with feathers on them? If so, I can tell you what your dogs were up to. They were attacking and killing our entire flock of chickens. We had 19 beautiful girls, just about a year old. They were safely penned in their coop and run – or so we thought. Your dogs managed to get the gate open. We were away from home having an Easter meal with family and came home to find the scene of the massacre. We will be starting over again and we’ll be making our gate and fence stronger. We would appreciate it if you could fix your gate/fence so your dogs can’t get out and do this again. If you want to take responsibility and reimburse us for our loss, please contact us off-list. </blockquote>
More messages of sympathy came pouring in. Then, an email from another neighbor. A neighbor of hers had found two grey dogs roaming the neighborhood and had caught them. They had found the owners somehow and the dogs had been returned home. It looks pretty likely that these are the dogs. We're working to track down the information of these people. I'm not sure if anything will come of it. Will the dog's owners take responsibility? Or will they claim innocence? Worse, will they said they were "just chickens," so who cares? I don't know.<br />
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In the meantime, we're feeling sad about the whole situation. I've heard of people losing their whole flock to one thing or another - usually animal attacks. We probably got a little lax after 6 uneventful years of chicken-keeping. There's a first time for everything. And hopefully this will be the last time!<br />
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We plan to start over with new chicks, maybe in a few weeks. Personally, I need time to consider the whole thing, adjust, and prepare.<br />
<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-59683814415670836642014-04-07T20:48:00.000-05:002014-04-07T20:49:33.843-05:00Quilts, and chicks, and mushrooms - oh my!I was doing so well there in February, and then off the bandwagon I fell! <br />
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The first part of March I was spending all my spare time working on this:
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Yg2rmoS9UrI/U0NOm43cs2I/AAAAAAAAF-I/QPBgE9AnZrM/s400/quilt1.JPG" />
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It's a baby quilt for a friend. The pattern is a version of Disappearing 9-Patch and the quilting stitch pattern is called Sticky Buns. I had a friend quilt it for me - goodness I love having my quilts done on machine now!<br />
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tyMbczQFGTM/U0NOnvgN5iI/AAAAAAAAF-Q/jwlAFcAPc9I/s400/quilt2.JPG" />
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C. loved the quilt, so that was a success!<br />
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About a week after that, we got new chicks!<br />
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The last batch is now about two and a half years old. Jeremy thought it was time to replace them. I don't think they're slowing down laying all that much, though maybe a little, but we are still working on the elusive flock that will be the perfect balance of meat and egg birds and winter hardy. Especially after this winter we had. Yikes! So this new batch includes Americauna, Dominique, Light Brahma, and Delaware. We're trying out roosters again so we'll see what happens this time. </div>
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<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pTbs-yd-XxI/U0NOmgOOYdI/AAAAAAAAF-A/Lu_8JpcHLcE/s640/overall%2520chicks.JPG" />
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In the video and picture they're a day old or so. Now they're just under two weeks old and they're so much bigger! They've got wing and shoulder feathers and some of them have tail feathers coming in. We've already had to double their brooder size. <br />
Some day soon we'll have to take care of the adult hens. They'll be going in the freezer to make room for the new batch coming in. The five that were hatched last year and year before will be getting a new home with my sister-in-law. Those chickens still have some good laying time left!<br />
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Ah, and here are the big girls last Friday, very unimpressed with our big snow day.<br />
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VdhqHO3RXBg/U0NOoTDqy-I/AAAAAAAAF-Y/2gGKhsUOPco/s400/snowchickens.JPG" />
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Now, the other thing I spent a lot of time working on in March was helping Jeremy get ready for his Kickstarter campaign. This was a good time to do it so crammed to do a lot of planning and organizing and prepping. The campaign went live on April 1st. Jeremy had a little launch party for it and I made some Reishi mushroom chocolate brownies for the affair.<br />
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That's a piece of dried reishi in front. Jeremy borrowed a food mill from a neighbor to grind the reishi up into powder and I mixed it into the brownie batter. They were pretty good - though I didn't think they tasted any different from the regular kind. =)<br />
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So the Kickstarter campaign is what I'll be spending the rest of my month on. Jeremy is trying to raise money to build a hoop house for fruiting mushrooms. This will help him expand his farm and grow way more mushrooms than he has been able to.<br />
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I'm trying to pace myself on posting about it. I don't want to get too obnoxious. But I think I might start a crazy blitz of posting soon. Pledges aren't coming in as much as I had thought (and I think far less than Jeremy had thought). We still have three weeks left, but my optimism is starting to waver a bit.<br />
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In any case, I haven't posted as much about Jeremy's mushroom farm recently because he has his own website and blog (and Facebook page!). But that all continues on and often feels like a big focus of what's going on. You can check out his Kickstarter page to see video of him and the farm, learn about the project, and all sorts of stuff, here: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617128968/locafy-our-fungi-with-the-cthm-shiitake-fruiting-h">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617128968/locafy-our-fungi-with-the-cthm-shiitake-fruiting-h</a>. Please consider chipping in and/or telling everyone you know about this!<br />
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In other news, we still have the dog. Jeremy likes her a lot; I can't wait for someone to adopt her. I suppose partly it's because she's a puppy and this is the way they are, but she just has WAY too much energy for me.<br />
And last, but not least, our bees made it through the winter! Yay! Hopefully I'll get some pictures or video sometime soon to prove it. I'm so impressed with them. I mean, this winter was ridiculously cold. I can't believe they survived. I guess we did things right, and they were just hardy. I'm looking forward to maybe getting some honey this year!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-37586700592700885922014-02-09T15:08:00.000-06:002014-02-09T15:08:55.515-06:00Doggie!As I briefly mentioned in my last post, we've decided to try fostering a dog. Jeremy has been wanting to get one for awhile, to have on car trips to the farm, at the farm, at home with him during the day, etc. Basically, we're buying him a friend. <div>
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But hold on! You can't just get any old dog! You can't take it back to the store after 3 days if it doesn't work out for you - this is a lifetime commitment! (Well, I know some people get rid of animals like that. Grr.)</div>
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One way to get around that is to foster. It's a much shorter time commitment and it gives you a chance to save a dog's life and figure out if having this creature is such a good idea. We discovered <a href="http://www.safehandsrescue.com/" target="_blank">Safe Hands Rescue</a>, which is based right in our neighborhood. And last night we picked up our foster, Noel. That's how they spelled it, though perhaps it should have been spelled Noelle, or however you spell the girl version. Anyway, it's hard to get a good picture of her because she's a bit full of energy! (Actually, right now she's conked out on the bed behind me, holding as still as ever.) </div>
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Here she is, Miss Wiggleworm:</div>
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Kind of holding still.<br />
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You really get a better idea with a video:</div>
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Here's her walk this morning. She LOVES diving into snow. She's also quite adept at walking and jumping a bit on her hind legs. She's like a meerkat. =) </div>
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Nap time!</div>
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We're not quite sure what kind of dog she is - a mutt of some sort. She's about 1 year old and 29 pounds. She's a bit underweight so we're going to feed her up. She is quite a clown when she plays with her toy. She loves to be with her people and snuggle. She doesn't seem to be trained to sit or lie down or things like that. But she's been pretty good about letting us know when she needs to go out (uh, though we're still learning how to identify that!). </div>
Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-557662870579396222014-02-08T17:33:00.002-06:002014-02-08T17:35:53.785-06:00Today's project: demolitionAs some of you know, getting rid of the chicken coop annex has been on the to-do list since last fall. The chickens haven't been using it and it turned out to be a bit of pain for us to use too. We like it better having one coop for all the chickens. <br />
It was interesting to see how the chicken society developed with two coops. Who ended up in which coop? Was there a "cool" group in one or the "outcasts" in one? And then when it got cold more chickens moving to the coop with the heat lamp versus the sweater heater. Interesting.<br />
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Anyway, here's the annex, in all its glory. We always meant to paint it and put on an actual roof, which of course we never did get around to. Today, being an absolutely balmy 15 degrees (warm enough to snow!) we decided to tackle the demolition.<br />
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Here's a view from inside the run. Jeremy is shoveling the snow off the roof before we get started. There used to be roofing paper on the roof parts, but time, weather, and various birds pretty much destroyed it.<br />
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Starting to see the original brooder now. This whole annex was built from our brooder, which we built for our first batch of chicks in 2009. Jeremy built the walls up, added some shims, put in some rigid insulation, sheathing on the outside, voila! Chicken coop! Here though, all the exterior sheathing and insulation has been removed.<br />
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Here's the outside now. Next to go is the roof...<br />
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Timmmmbeeerrrrrr! =)<br />
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After the roof was off it was a simple matter of 1...<br />
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2...<br />
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3... done!<br />
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I cleaned up the scraps while Jeremy moved that brooder box back into the house, and it was as if there had never been an annex out there! Well... I guess you might wonder why there is a door sticking off the side of the coop.<br />
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Obviously we need to do something about that gaping hole before we can let the chickens out. Luckily (??) we're supposed to be down to -20 the next couple days so we won't be letting the chickens out anyway. Hopefully that's enough time to paint some wood to make the new fence we've been planning. Jeremy's plan is to move that gate over to the far right and then make a small covered area where the door is now. That will help keep some area of the run right outside their door dry and snow free. Pics when we get to that...eventually.<br />
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Now we're just thawing out inside and biding our time. We've decided to foster a dog - see if having a dog works for us - and our foster dog will be ready for pick-up tonight at 9:30. Yikes! Hopefully this won't become a dog blog. =)Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-59316434333764269672014-02-05T08:00:00.000-06:002014-02-05T08:00:01.401-06:00Ticker tape owlI have a sewing blog for this type of thing now, but I'm lazy, so I'm posting here instead.<br />
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An online sewing friend recently said something about making a "ticker tape quilt." I had no idea what she was talking about. There was a picture and a link so I followed and went down that rabbit hole. Wow! There are some really cool ticker tape quilts out there! And what a great way to use up the loads of scraps I have. I wrote down some instructions and stashed them away, another item on my long "things I want to do someday" list.<br />
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And then a couple days later I had some free time and didn't feel like spending it cleaning/organizing the basement or the garage, so I clipped out some scraps and made this:<br />
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It's not sewed down yet, so hopefully it will look as good when done. It seems the common way to do ticker tape is to use a straight stitch and sew in 1/4 inch from the edge on each scrap. Then as the quilt is used and washed the fabric edges fray a bit making the quilt sort of soft and comfy. So they say. I'm not really into that frayed edge look. Another way is to zigzag stitch around each scrap. That's what I'm planning to do. Luckily this is about 24 inches square. All the same, now that I've got the layout done, I'm going to find something else to do and avoid this for awhile! =)Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-27295074210938023972014-02-03T08:00:00.000-06:002014-02-03T08:00:00.608-06:00Wham Bam Walk-in Cooler!Oh how I wish I had some better "before" pictures of this project! The best I can offer is the second picture from <a href="http://northmidwest.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-heck-has-been-going-on-part-1.html" target="_blank">this post</a>. That would be the garage in all its disastrous glory. Stuff piled everywhere! It only got worse when Jeremy brought in the huge stack of walls and things for the walk-in cooler - and then we brought in all the foam insulation from the basement. <br />
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We made some plans because all that stuff in the back corner had to go somewhere: the giant tub of hay for the chickens, the aforementioned claw foot tub, a bathroom sink, our chest freezer, loads of storm windows, piles of wood, shelves, hoses, etc, etc. Some things moved down to the basement, some things went up in the rafters, some things were piled up for a run to the dump, and by last Wednesday, the corner was amazingly cleared out. A little sweeping and it was as clean as the day we bought the house. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cleanest this corner of the basement has been in years!</td></tr>
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From that back corner, surveying the rest of the garage, you can see piles of wood and some windows on the far right, then the tub of hay (hiding the tub and two sinks behind it), then the stack that will be the walk in cooler, covered by some of the foam insulation.<br />
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On Friday Jeremy got to work. I don't know if I can describe how this thing goes together. He had to attach 2x2 strips to the floor and then the walls fit onto those strips, and slotted into each other. He started in the back and worked his way around...<br />
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Wham bam! Instant walk in cooler! Okay, it wasn't really instant, but the first picture was taken at 3:20 and the last one at 4:30! I don't think the ceiling is on in the last picture and that took a little bit more time. Sunday Jeremy finished the electrical so there is an outlet inside the cooler and a light. The next step is to build in a floor, just like the one in the basement set-up. A bunch of insulation laid down on the floor with some wood over the top. And then we'll move up a couple of shelves from the basement and it will be ready to receive mushroom spawn and later, mushrooms!<br />
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Oh, I should say there is nothing to cool it at the moment (except Minnesota's crazy cold winter), but later Jeremy will add a modified air conditioner to keep it chilly inside.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-1082538740273343062014-02-01T19:11:00.002-06:002014-02-01T19:11:29.440-06:00Basement: organized. (sort of)The basement has come along nicely since I last talked about it ..... uhh... a week ago. =) We got all the insulation out and everything cleaned up. In the process of taking things apart we decided not to take the walls out completely. We left about three or four studs out on each end and took out the corner part (which I know doesn't make a lot of sense for you visual folks). We left a bit of wall on the north side. We decided to build a much smaller root cellar with that as one of the walls. I'm not sure when we'll get to that project, so the insulation will live there in the corner in the meantime, as well as a few 2x4s ready for making new walls. Hopefully we'll get this set-up in the fall in time for storing onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, etc.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over on the right you can see the bit of wall we left from the original, large root cellar / walk-in cooler. Someday that will be the right wall of a more closet-sized root cellar. And beyond is a lovely set of shelves Jeremy whipped together. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy constructing another set of shelves. I'm back in the corner of the basement, inside the former root cellar. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here is the first set of shelves, all full of stuff!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another set of shelves, on the other side of that partial wall we left, also filling up with stuff... </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the last set of shelves. Goodness it is glorious down in the basement now - so many wonderful shelves! </td></tr>
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I debated whether or not to post all these photos of our junk in the basement. But I have to say this blog is just as much for us as for all of you. I rather enjoy looking back through the years to see what we've been up to, and the various changes we've made to the house. So of course I had to post these pics.<br />
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Also, these pics were taken a week ago, and already it's gotten a bit messy. Much of this stuff came from the front of the basement. Moving it back here allowed us to move loads of stuff in from the garage. More about the garage project soon...<br />
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And now I'm going to make some excuses for why we have SO many boxes in the basement. Really, I'm a bit embarrassed about it. What IS all that JUNK!? When I was single in Seattle I had maybe 5 or 6 boxes of "stuff" stored away in the back of a closet. A few stuffed animals and toys from childhood I can't bear to get rid of, journals, papers from school (all ages) - that sort of thing that many of us have, can't bear to throw away, and also don't really want to display in our adult homes. Jeremy has stuff like that too, though I think he has literally every homework assignment he ever completed in every grade, including college and grad school. Then there are probably 15-20 boxes of kitchen stuff that just doesn't fit in our kitchen. Seriously - we need a remodel that makes our ENTIRE house a kitchen, with a tiny little bathroom and bedroom and sewing room tucked away somewhere. We spend all our time in the kitchen anyway. And then there are loads of random tools and construction things, boxes with fixtures, plug-in things, electrical wire, etc. And then, the kicker, there are dozens and dozens of empty boxes for mushrooms. Yep. Piles of empty boxes.<br />
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Okay, now I feel a little bit better about myself, and our packed out basement!<br />
<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-464527234841733542014-01-26T08:00:00.000-06:002014-01-26T08:00:02.650-06:00What the Heck Has Been Going On, part 3This time of year I find myself insanely optimistic and excited about the yard. Insane because it's January, well below freezing, and the yard is of course well below a lot of snow. And I know, deep down, that it's possible snow won't be melting and ground won't be thawing for as much as three or four more months. Oh the agony! All I can do is make plans. I like making plans well enough, but I like doing a lot more. All this planning, planning, planning is agonizing without any doing, doing, doing!<br />
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One thing to be excited about is that my sister sent me a gift of daffodils and tulips last fall. There were several bags which I think added up to dozens and dozens of bulbs. I planted the front yard full and found a place for a bunch in the back yard, on top of the terrace, as well. I can't wait for them to come up! They're all different colors and styles so that will be excellent – compared to the old yellow standbys I've had for years. I've also got a little patch of crocus that didn't do so well last year, but hopefully will do better this year. And I tried an experiment of planting the garlic in with the strawberries. I only had one garlic plant come up last year – a total fail – so I hope they do better this year.<br />
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I tried an experiment of “insulating” our rosemary plant with lots of hay to see if it might survive the winter and come back. I'm a little dubious now that our winter has been so thoroughly cold, but maybe something will have made it? Only time will tell. Maybe this will be the year I finally finish the terrace as well. There is still a pile of “urbanite” (broken up bits of sidewalk) that has been laying around for years. I'd really like to get it done. And then there is the last bit of retaining wall in the front yard to finish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dqmmlCZSG8o/UuCMmncbFKI/AAAAAAAAF3M/vtfSpNUb778/s1600/yard_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dqmmlCZSG8o/UuCMmncbFKI/AAAAAAAAF3M/vtfSpNUb778/s1600/yard_pic.jpg" height="504" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the terrace in mid-November. You can't really see the rosemary, it's behind the tree trunk, absolutely buried in hay. Fingers crossed!</td></tr>
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Something else I've been thinking about for awhile is a water feature. I used to love going to gardening centers and nurseries with my mom and I would spend as much time as possible ogling the fountains and ponds. Every now and then I see a set-up in an old bathtub and I want it so bad! I saw one in a book the other day and got to thinking and talking about it again. I'm always wondering where we could put something like this and the one place I'd thought of is the top of the terrace. It would mean digging out a ton of dirt to sink a tub...but it would be pretty cool. Of course I just planted a ton of daffodils and tulips of there, and there is a ton of thyme, and some asparagus. Maybe not a good spot. So now we're thinking about sinking it in the raingarden. There's not too much going on in there at the moment, mostly just irises and turtlehead – and a few other random tidbits, maybe a hollyhock. It would be pretty easy to move things around and plop a tub in. And then what? Is it for grey water? Do we have water plants and fish? How do we keep it from becoming a mosquito breeding ground? There is still a lot of research to do. The problem is, a lot of books or articles or websites seem intent on a particular kind of water feature in a particular kind of yard. A very pretty yard that doesn't look overgrown and unkempt – like our yard. =) I don't want a pretty water feature with a fountain and pumps running, complete with miniature benches and doilies and ridiculous stuff like that. I want it to look natural and be functional. More research is needed - plus I'll have to find a small tub to use in the first place. =)<br />
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And I think it's time to bring out a master plant person who can help me identify some of the last plants I don't know about and then help me make some plans about what else I can grow in certain areas. There are big swathes of yard that don't have much going on, maybe because they're just too shady. I want to get some plants going there. And I want more bird/butterfly/bee attracting plants. We're doing pretty well on that now I think, but... more! More! More! I'm planning to add lavender to the yard this year. I need all the hardy bee-attracting perennials I can get.<br />
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Also, we've got a whole grove of Quaking Aspens coming up in the side yard now. We had the three junky elm trees cut down last April, and then a crazy windstorm last June took out one of our Aspens and put a permanent bend in another.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPTiby4x5JM/UuCNX-0r9-I/AAAAAAAAF3U/IvqDBTOtJfM/s1600/broken_aspen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPTiby4x5JM/UuCNX-0r9-I/AAAAAAAAF3U/IvqDBTOtJfM/s1600/broken_aspen.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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We had to top one of the Aspens when we first moved in, so that leaves just one that hasn't been maimed in some way. There was a young one growing up between the three elms, but I'm not sure it's going to make it. I think the Aspens, who are all linked together by roots running just at or below the surface, saw what was going on and set to work making babies. The side yard was so full of young trees it was ridiculous. I cut back all but the biggest ones in the fall and hope that the 6-8 I left will spring up healthy and get tall fast.<br />
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There, I've gone and got crazy about garden planning – and that's not even talking about what annual vegetables to plant! Come on spring! Don't let Old Man Winter keep you down for too much longer!<br />
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Bonus pictures. Hmm, the word "bonus" has a positive connotation and there's nothing positive about these pictures. I realized I never posted pics about the big wind we had on June 21st. Not really a big wind storm, just one big 60 or 70 mile an hour gust of wind. It took down thousands of trees across the Twin Cities. My neighborhood was in the worst hit area. I don't think there was a single block that didn't lose a tree. Many cars were wrecked and several houses were damaged, some perhaps beyond repair. </div>
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It was an incredible event. Right after it hit, and the day after, everyone in the neighborhood was out inspecting the damage and offering help to neighbors. Woe to the folks who had electric chainsaws - some areas were out of power for days! Xcel had crews coming in from a dozen different states to help with the cleanup, which I have to say is still in process. The light pole across the street from us is still a shattered stump. </div>
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In any case, the damage and loss of trees was stunning, almost beyond comprehension. Some thought the whole area had been wrecked and would never be the same. There are certainly some empty spots in the sky line...but I guess they'll fill in over time. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree across the street - almost every street for blocks and blocks was blocked by a tree like this.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vIwdPa2ReNo/UuCQRFr9KLI/AAAAAAAAF3g/jPgx_rMhiQo/s1600/P1080138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vIwdPa2ReNo/UuCQRFr9KLI/AAAAAAAAF3g/jPgx_rMhiQo/s1600/P1080138.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the other side of same tree...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACIrKZT6BAQ/UuCQRZIf-yI/AAAAAAAAF3k/xjtO4EnP1so/s1600/P1080139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACIrKZT6BAQ/UuCQRZIf-yI/AAAAAAAAF3k/xjtO4EnP1so/s1600/P1080139.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For the trees that tipped over, they pulled up the sidewalks, so there were a lot of sidewalks that had to be replaced.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same tree across the street. It fell on the light pole and the pole stripped the bark right off.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gP3PADQUEkg/UuCQSWl2IvI/AAAAAAAAF38/P0BF7gKcxUM/s1600/P1080142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gP3PADQUEkg/UuCQSWl2IvI/AAAAAAAAF38/P0BF7gKcxUM/s1600/P1080142.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another tree in our neighbors yard; they had to take this one down sadly - too much damage.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g036jAmHPGk/UuCQSbAjN5I/AAAAAAAAF4A/-nz18iV19tY/s1600/P1080143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g036jAmHPGk/UuCQSbAjN5I/AAAAAAAAF4A/-nz18iV19tY/s1600/P1080143.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This car was under that tree...neighbors cut the branches away and the owner drove it away without a scratch on it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A beautiful Kitalpa around the corner from us.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was a big beautiful tree.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dkvhsraQ9-4/UuCQT0c_93I/AAAAAAAAF4Y/JVbCCu2IN8s/s1600/P1080146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dkvhsraQ9-4/UuCQT0c_93I/AAAAAAAAF4Y/JVbCCu2IN8s/s1600/P1080146.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And it totaled this car!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oCJVtnBZQPE/UuCQUakBL8I/AAAAAAAAF4g/lBg2ilsrWYU/s1600/P1080148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oCJVtnBZQPE/UuCQUakBL8I/AAAAAAAAF4g/lBg2ilsrWYU/s1600/P1080148.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Branches (as big as trees themselves!) in the parking lot near our house.</td></tr>
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These same images were to be found as far as you could walk throughout the neighborhood. Luckily, no one was hurt! </div>
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Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-10557844197795015492014-01-24T08:00:00.000-06:002014-01-24T08:00:01.351-06:00What the Heck Has Been Going On, part 2Jeremy's big news is that he had to move the farm in December. Ugh. He had been making plans in September about how to expand his business and had asked permission of the land-owners to expand into some other areas. They weren't really keen on it and asked him to wait till next May, to see what happens. What's that supposed to mean!? If Jeremy was going to expand, September to November was the time to get things set-up. He suspected something was up with the land (since it has been for sale for years and years). He immediately started looking for a new place to move – meeting farmers, taking tours, etc. Nothing was set yet, but he was narrowing it down and hoped to know by February or so and then make the move. But the day after Thanksgiving he got a call that the land had been sold and he had until the end of December to get out. The weather hadn't been too bad till that point, but three days after the call the temperature dropped like a stone and we got our first big snow of the year. Just great. Jeremy talked to some different farms and found a place that was willing to let him move everything. Poor Jeremy spent a good two weeks hauling logs (around 2500), posts, shade fabric, tents, the trailer, etc, etc. It was exhausting and he certainly couldn't have done it without all the volunteer help he got. So now he's in the midst of firming up plans with this new farm. Does he stay there, or move somewhere else? If he stays, what does the new set-up look like and when should he start building it? At the same time, he's trying to track down loggers to get the logs he needs for the year and planning for the types of mushrooms he'll do. I think he's cutting down on Oyster mushrooms. It's too bad because they are so beautiful and very tasty. But people just don't seem to buy them as much as Shiitake. I think people aren't familiar with them...so maybe they're a bit scary. Who knows. <br />
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Something else that came up in the fall was the discovery of mold in the walk-in cooler in the basement. Bummer! The whole walk-in cooler experiment was... very interesting but it was definitely time to move on. We had a modified air conditioner keeping it cold in there, but it just wasn't doing the job properly anymore. Jeremy purchased a chest freezer off Craigslist and did a conversion to make it more of a fridge. He got another one to use as a freezer. All the mushrooms went to love in the chest fridge and freezer in the garage. We still had a lot of bags of chicken feed in the walk-in, which we kept there to keep away from the mice. But then we discovered the mice had chewed their way in – underground I think, through the basement floor, up through several layers of insulation and plywood till they found a way in. So we got another chest freezer, one that didn't work, so it was free, and we piled all the chicken feed in there. Airtight and mouse proof! Of course – we now have four chest freezers in the garage! Sigh.<br />
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Oh. And then Jeremy bought a professional walk-in cooler off Craigslist. It's pretty much a bunch of walls and a ceiling that have to be put together. Of course there is no room in the garage for it at the moment because of how much is in there. We need to do a good cleaning of the garage – get rid of some junk, try to sell that lovely claw-foot bathtub we bought years ago (and now know we will not be using), move things around, organize, etc. A lot of that will be dependent on being able to move some things into the basement. Which is totally packed and unorganized too! So... first things first – we dismantled and removed the root cellar/walk-in cooler. We're leaving some of the stud walls to create shelving along the back wall. Then we'll be able to organize a lot more stuff into the basement. And we'll be able to clear out the bit of shelving at the front of the basement, which we plan to convert into a chick brooder because we're planning to kill the rest of our chickens this spring and start a new batch of chicks! It seems all so normal and not a big deal until I say it (or type it out) and then I think – we are crazy!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyinmU5a9eY/UuCJZJUz_kI/AAAAAAAAF10/HPMTk7yMOjU/s1600/basementredo1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oyinmU5a9eY/UuCJZJUz_kI/AAAAAAAAF10/HPMTk7yMOjU/s1600/basementredo1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These were the canning shelves, devoid of canned goods and coming down. This shelving was attached to the outside of the root cellar / walk-in, so it all had to go!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x4UlUymGrG0/UuCJZsrRLNI/AAAAAAAAF18/D9YmLfYIPYk/s1600/basementredo2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x4UlUymGrG0/UuCJZsrRLNI/AAAAAAAAF18/D9YmLfYIPYk/s1600/basementredo2.JPG" height="325" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the outside of the root cellar, one last time!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">canning shelves coming down nicely...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2tb8WC0oe0/UuCJafDjhII/AAAAAAAAF2Q/W6L3cP_lgP0/s1600/basementredo4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2tb8WC0oe0/UuCJafDjhII/AAAAAAAAF2Q/W6L3cP_lgP0/s1600/basementredo4.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking off the sheathing, revealing the insulation we'll have to deal with...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSSPsyJS9yo/UuCJbAtbryI/AAAAAAAAF2g/Lmu0RBQmtew/s1600/basementredo5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSSPsyJS9yo/UuCJbAtbryI/AAAAAAAAF2g/Lmu0RBQmtew/s1600/basementredo5.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy took out every piece of sheathing and insulation one by one, then I took it through the basement, up the stairs, out the door, to the garage. Boy did my legs hurt after all the stair climbing! And now our garage is packed full of this stuff!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nLKft6KH-g8/UuCJbECEt6I/AAAAAAAAF2c/AJKy1RC-ptQ/s1600/basementredo6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nLKft6KH-g8/UuCJbECEt6I/AAAAAAAAF2c/AJKy1RC-ptQ/s1600/basementredo6.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy surveying the next steps.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4JRivryNE1Y/UuCJbZkHgEI/AAAAAAAAF2k/J949t9W1tys/s1600/basementredo7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4JRivryNE1Y/UuCJbZkHgEI/AAAAAAAAF2k/J949t9W1tys/s1600/basementredo7.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ah, here's where the mice were getting through! When all the insulation was cleared away we discovered a LOT of holes in the foundation wall, right in the edge between floor and wall. We're going to have to fill those with concrete soon.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwuVzojPT08/UuCJb_kCPRI/AAAAAAAAF2w/qzYnV-9U_aA/s1600/basementredo8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZwuVzojPT08/UuCJb_kCPRI/AAAAAAAAF2w/qzYnV-9U_aA/s1600/basementredo8.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We used a blower for much of the process, pointed right out the window, because of the mold. Better safe than sorry!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-36pSpCfrepU/UuCJcInn3ZI/AAAAAAAAF24/Oi9n2M7OwPU/s1600/basementredo9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-36pSpCfrepU/UuCJcInn3ZI/AAAAAAAAF24/Oi9n2M7OwPU/s1600/basementredo9.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready for taking off the interior sheathing...</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fTUGnkCEPM/UuCJZVBzmbI/AAAAAAAAF14/lC4rn4ELh2c/s1600/basementredo10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fTUGnkCEPM/UuCJZVBzmbI/AAAAAAAAF14/lC4rn4ELh2c/s1600/basementredo10.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We used blown in insulation (which had originally come from our top floor when we remodeled up there!) When you take off the sheathing it pours down into the room. What a mess! We bagged it up and will use it in some other wall-building project in the future I'm sure. </td></tr>
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Oh. And then there's my plan to re-do the bathroom as well. (See what I mean about crazy?) I've been scheming and thinking about if for months, but biding my time till January because I just couldn't think about it till now. And now Jeremy and I have had a chat about it, and there is a plan. But it's dependent on finding a new bathtub first. A good long one, like six feet I think, and extra wide. We don't want a whirlpool/spa tub, though at that size maybe you can't get a “normal” tub. And the drain needs to be on the right or in the center. And we can't really afford the $1000 or so pricetag I've been seeing for that big of a tub. I'm thinking more like... $200. Any takers? =) So that requisition might slow things down a lot. But once we secure that, I'm super excited about the changes to the bathroom. I'll have to blog more about that in the future because we have some sinks to decide between and a really beautiful cabinet we got from some friends that just has to be in the bathroom. So stay tuned for that (but you know, not too eagerly...)<br />
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Bonus! The tea shelf I bought at Savers in 2008 had become woefully too small for our tea collection. I designed a new version. My sneaky plan was to tell Jeremy the size of the boards I needed so he could cut them out. Then I will put it all together. Well, Jeremy saw my picture so he went ahead and put it all together for me. Yay! I feel like we could already use a slightly bigger one...or maybe we should cut down on the tea? Anyway, it's very simple and beautiful and I love my new tea shelf!<br />
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<br />Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-46962381820723908312014-01-22T21:08:00.001-06:002014-01-22T21:08:19.554-06:00What the Heck Has Been Going On, part 1I thought it was hard to keep up with the blog when I went from being full-time unemployed to employed part-time! Things certainly slowed down a bit after I got that job back in 2010. But they came to a screeching halt when I got a new job, a full-time job, in September!<br />
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Yes, that is why it has been so deadly quiet around here. I've only got a few hours at night between getting home from work and falling into bed. It doesn't leave much time for blogging – let alone doing all the projects I'd like to do in order for me to have something to blog about!<br />
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I keep wanting to say, “I promise this year to do better,” but I'd rather not make promises I don't think I can keep. Also, I don't want to have a weight of guilt hanging over me that I haven't blogged about this or that, etc. So, I'll carry on as usual – I'll blog when I feel like, with no excuses or apologies! =)<br />
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And since I feel like it right now, I'll share a bit of an update about what's happened in the four or five months since my last update.<br />
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The last post was about renovating our chicken coop. That project hasn't been finished yet, but we did enough to make this winter with the birds the best yet. In my opinion. I think in Jeremy's opinion and the chickens' too. The space that used to be the entire original coop, with hen-house and run, is now all hen-house. We can keep their food and water inside and use a heat lamp as needed when it gets really cold. This renovation came none too soon as it has been very cold this winter. December and January have been stunningly cold. We had several days in a row where it didn't get above zero and the wind-chill was wicked. The coldest was -20 something with a -50 wind-chill! The chickens didn't get to go outside for days. But instead of being cooped up in a tiny space, they have a much larger area to run around in and I think it has made them much happier and healthier. Not a single sign of frostbite!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLnF_2Qih1E/UuCGufswPAI/AAAAAAAAF1c/2ZHGBKBkuV0/s1600/coop_remodel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HLnF_2Qih1E/UuCGufswPAI/AAAAAAAAF1c/2ZHGBKBkuV0/s1600/coop_remodel.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The coop gets insulation and sheathing on the inside (and there is even a ceiling now too!)</td></tr>
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In October we decided to cull part of the flock. We took out six Silver Leghorn hens (who were obnoxiously loud and laid tiny eggs), the rooster (who was just obnoxiously loud), and a Rhode Island Red (who had become our yard chicken – separated from the flock due to some illness, but then unable to be reunited with the flock, and also not laying eggs anymore). This was our best culling yet. We set a large plastic table up in the center of the garage, up on blocks so we didn't have to bend over, and hung a huge shop light directly overhead so there was plenty of light. We kept a pot of water simmering on a single electric burner for the scalding part. We put the killing stump just outside the door, right in the middle of a garden bed – so all the feathers and... other stuff could just drop into the garden bed and not have to be cleaned up. It went quite well and we've already managed to eat a couple of the birds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFlp_fVfzqQ/UuCHAfKFa8I/AAAAAAAAF1k/Wa-sSKi0LJ8/s1600/chicken_culling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NFlp_fVfzqQ/UuCHAfKFa8I/AAAAAAAAF1k/Wa-sSKi0LJ8/s1600/chicken_culling.JPG" height="356" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the garage layout for our chicken culling day. Jeremy was at the right height, but I had to have a platform to stand on!</td></tr>
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November and December for me were spent sewing and preparing for the Women's Art Festival and Christmas. Also, lots of baking and making Christmas cookies! There were so many things I wanted to do during the holidays that I didn't get around to. It made me start thinking about how things have gone the last several years. This was my fourth Art Festival. My fourth year of scrambling to get enough stuff made for the sale, working for weeks on end, not having time to spend with friends, barely having time to make cookies and Christmas gifts, etc. So, I decided to take a break from the Festival next year. I want to enjoy the holiday season! I want to say yes to every invite to a friend's party without feeling guilty that I should be sewing instead. I want to make loads of cookie recipes, instead of only the two or three kinds I think I have time for. Of course this kind of thing is dangerous as it got me to thinking about other ways of taking a break. Soon enough I had decided not to the Powderhorn Art Fair, which I've also done for four years now. Then I would have lots of time to spend working in the yard and perfecting the garden, getting to projects I've wanted to complete for years! And I won't be feeling guilty that I should be inside sewing instead. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5PB91LmMyCU/UuCHWwDefOI/AAAAAAAAF1s/noAM67QQFtE/s1600/bigstainedglass1a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5PB91LmMyCU/UuCHWwDefOI/AAAAAAAAF1s/noAM67QQFtE/s1600/bigstainedglass1a.JPG" height="544" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the last big quilt (already gone to a good home!) - but I'm planning to make another one, even bigger, soon!</td></tr>
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Don't get me wrong: I LOVE sewing. I have a ton of stuff in process right now and a quilt I'm dying to make as soon as I can find the right fabrics. But I'm more inspired and energized by <i>wanting </i>to sew and create, than <i>having </i>to. Constant deadlines can crush creativity after awhile. So it's time to take a bit of a break. I'm really looking forward to it. At the same time, I'm not planning to quit selling things all together. I'll keep my Etsy shop open and I might do a small, non-stressful (or at least not-as-stressful) neighborhood house sale in December.<br />
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To be continued...Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-70496243106240206692013-09-14T09:55:00.000-05:002013-09-14T09:55:12.909-05:00Happy Chicken Coop Tour!Today is the Twin Cities Annual Chicken Coop Tour. I think this is our fourth year on the tour. I'd hoped to get our coop remodel done by today, but what with starting a full time job and other distractions, we're only part way through. I'm sure Jeremy wishes we were done too! But the coop is certainly functioning and showable.<br />
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Here's what we've been up to the last few weeks:<br />
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Inside the coop you can see we got the sheathing up on the north and east walls. The chickens were quite interested in the power tools.<br />
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<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lDFqYF-okhY/UjR1wxjAB3I/AAAAAAAAFzk/eu4AR2o4VuQ/s640/remodel5.JPG" /> <br />
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Windows in on the west and south walls:<br />
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<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6ZMzFKtd1A8/UjR1x-ihfeI/AAAAAAAAFzw/BH8pKSn4nfU/s640/remodel6.JPG" /> <br />
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Once all the outside sheathing/windows were done, Jeremy got to work on removing the original hen house from the inside. Doors off first!<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-35hE1ng7Jeg/UjR1y704kWI/AAAAAAAAF0A/d1AmNz_VdbI/s640/remodel7.JPG" /> <br />
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Then dismantling the floor...<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8MyV-mE6h3w/UjR1zZS8qMI/AAAAAAAAF0E/VOE9jjNsf1I/s640/remodel8.JPG" /> <br />
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...and cutting that away, all but the last foot or so in the back. We're planning to add three more nest boxes under the original three and have their food and water under this ledge. You've got to have a cover over those things or they'll poop in it!<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A7PF9GZOyyU/UjR1z098EcI/AAAAAAAAF0M/YKVoaCmr4XA/s640/remodel9.JPG" /> <br />
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Here it is on the outside with the trim and paint mostly done! Okay - the only part of the exterior that isn't done is on the north and east walls which you can't see at this point. Pics of those ... later?<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GR2LZa7XTvg/UjR147mVhiI/AAAAAAAAF0c/9xLdYIligco/s640/remodel10.JPG" /> <br />
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Inside! Readers may remember our tiny mini-coop we put in last year. We decided with the remodel to turn that to the side and make the entrance go right into the main coop. When I post pictures of the north side this will make more sense. It's blocked off at the moment because the chickens were trying to eat the rigid insulation! After some more finishing touches they won't be able to get at that.<br />
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<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YfnVe4INrAw/UjR149u208I/AAAAAAAAF0s/QwEpMLRALOY/s640/remodel11.JPG" /> <br />
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We added an extra roosting bar spanning the whole length of the coop - but these are all temporary. There are 3-4 silver leghorns that have been roosting up in the rafters and attic space for the last year. We'll be putting a ceiling in soon and putting a stop to that. And we're thinking about the best design for roosting space. <br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PNTvqp6vVeM/UjR1439-R8I/AAAAAAAAF0g/3ix-u_6pVR8/s640/remodel12.JPG" /><br />
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This unfinished state works quite well now because it has been quite warm the past few weeks. But pretty soon we'll get insulation in the walls and sheathing up. Then they'll be nice and toasty for winter. Plus, on the really cold days when we can't let them out of the coop, they'll have plenty of space to roam around, and access to their food and water. I think they will be much happier.<br />
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Now, it's almost 10:00 and that's when the coop tour starts. I'd better get out to the coop!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-64282441780820857202013-08-16T09:43:00.001-05:002013-08-16T09:43:46.152-05:00Busy bees<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A few weeks ago we did a check up on the bees. They seemed quite active to me, maybe a little different than usual. It's hard to say how you can recognize bee behavior, especially when I don't stick my head in to see what they're up to all that often. </div>
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But somehow, things seemed a big different. We had two boxes on at that point. I'm so bad with all this bee terminology, I don't even know what they're called (which I'm sure would be really helpful). In any case, there were two boxes, and a third on that top that had some bee food. That was to help them get through our super cool spring and the beginning of summer. </div>
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Jeremy took that box off and then we started looking into the top box with frames. Holy cow. The bees had been REALLY busy! Each of the individual frames of honey/way/etc probably weighed 4-5 pounds a piece! It was intense! </div>
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Anyway, we swapped some things around and then put on a third box. This is good news for us and the bees. Last year our bees never got far enough along for a third box. Jeremy is going to check them again this weekend and see if it's time to put a super on. (I do know that word! Uh... not exactly sure what that means. I DID take a long class about all this and read a lot, but I've forgotten!)</div>
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A few days after adding the third box, the bees were doing this: </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzmWHLH4PHUQYosJXTA-K8Obf9uSqPzvQGeFOYhsgsHhhG0PBOHSeII4sINDRLe44LCbQrXGBRf16DI3lG-4g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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I'm hoping they were just partying. A beekeeper friend says it's possible this was robber bees stealing our honey! But we're not sure yet if anything has gone wrong. They're not doing this anymore and there continues to be bees coming and going from the hive. So we'll see!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-52297402385347163312013-08-15T18:01:00.000-05:002013-08-15T18:01:16.807-05:00Remodel!Remodel our house!? Finally finish the bathroom; the gaping hole in the floor!? Finally finish the front hall, the railing, repair the plaster? Do the big giant kitchen remodel!?!?<br />
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No.<br />
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No, we are remodeling the chicken coop. You heard me. The chicken coop. Our needs must wait, the chickens come first around here.<br />
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Well, I guess that's not entirely true, but a chicken coop remodel is much more affordable/manageable at this point in time. I've been pretty excited about this remodel for at least a year, maybe two. At least since our two dozen birds got big and their house wasn't big enough. The annex was meant to fix this, but it hasn't been convenient to use, so took on a temporary status. You know: 'permanent temporary.'<br />
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Just as a reminder, here is what we've got now:<br />
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<img height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ElVRv9I8NSY/Ug1cIfltqbI/AAAAAAAAFyU/_u95jwyWL_Q/s400/remodel1.JPG" width="400" />
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<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z2rb76XI8Hg/Ug1cJZcwDuI/AAAAAAAAFyk/hyYaK4F81pA/s400/remodel2.JPG" />
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(The annex to the right.)<br />
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Jeremy has been dreading this project for as long as I've been excited about it (of course). But I finally talked him into breaking it down into small manageable steps that take no more than a couple hours each. We're going to attack the coop one wall at a time, one piece at a time, and hopefully finish it by mid-September!<br />
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The first step was to replace the old Dutch door. Having your human door swing into the coop is bad. A big no-no. Take it from us: don't do it! We never would have done it that way, but the whole coop was designed for a completely different location where the door couldn't swing out. Of course then we moved to a new house and it didn't matter - but the coop was already done! So we've been dealing with this stupid door ever since. One problem is that the chickens kick piles of straw and stuff up around the door until you can't open it anymore. Luckily the top opens independently so you can open that and use a shovel to try to dig out the door. Another problem is that when you go in you have to open the door wide enough to get in and get past the door, which often leads to sneaky little chickens escaping! Also, when you're trying to remove anything from the coop - the food bin, a bucket of poopy straw for the compost, a sick chicken - it's hard to hold onto that thing and get the door open at the same time, without letting half a dozen chickens escape at the same time!<br />
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We dug a regular house door out of the garage and cut it down. The glass was broken out at some point so we screwed on an old storm window. A couple coats of paint was all this baby needed.<br />
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<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h6NnKiLgJqc/Ug1cJdYTTfI/AAAAAAAAFyo/NoebbSBDGwc/s400/remodel3.JPG" />
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So - door now opens out. And isn't it a fabulous door!?<br />
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<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--F9MYQmyXs4/Ug1cJqjW89I/AAAAAAAAFy0/37x_nTB8O9o/s400/remodel4.JPG" /><br />
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Next up: the east wall.Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-57779108434965012692013-06-01T11:00:00.002-05:002013-06-01T11:02:26.342-05:00Spring!I guess it's technically spring since summer doesn't start till June 21st, though I'm sure most of us consider summer to start on June 1st. But... I'm also used to spring meaning a lot of flowers and things growing. This year winter lasted till May and everything is slow getting started.<br />
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I'm very disappointed that my entire garlic crop seems to have failed. A dozen or more shoots were up a month or so ago... and then they just sort of died and disappeared. I've heard others had this problem, so I assume it's the weather and not just me.<br />
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In any case, I've been seeing flowers blooming all over the place though ours have been slow. Two of our phlox varieties are blooming and the Bleeding Heart. <br />
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My first Siberian Iris bloomed just this morning:<br />
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<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bbvPPm2vXWw/UaoYjgkQepI/AAAAAAAAFwA/zObjxCHxAvo/s640/iris1.JPG" /><br />
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It's hard to tell the size... and still sort of hard even with my hand in the picture. But these are smaller than regular Iris.<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-vdjuBNW8r20/UaoYkw1IS8I/AAAAAAAAFwQ/UWXlVJy9Iok/s640/iris2.JPG" /><br />
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They grow in a large clump that looks sort of like grass and dozens of these beauties bloom at the same time. They're one of my favorite flowers in the yard. <br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5eANF7UI-lo/UaoYluzxYNI/AAAAAAAAFwU/ZKoSqFurMCE/s640/iris3.JPG" /><br />
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In other garden news, what happens when you let your chive plants go to seed?<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zCi_mjhTUII/UaoYgqZkbII/AAAAAAAAFvs/p_q-wiycu9I/s640/chives1.JPG" /><br />
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Baby chives!! Lots of baby chives. I saw these yesterday and thought for a moment it was grass - but there was something about it... I picked off a piece to chew and they were chives. There are a dozen or more in this spot and a few in other areas. They each consist of two or three little chive blades and, did I mention, they're tiny?<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1Gm_QPMG-ls/UaoYi_XqNFI/AAAAAAAAFv0/7nPFx6hambQ/s640/chives2.JPG" /><br />
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They are to the left and front of one of our main chive plants here, near the stepping stone. See them? Like I said, they're tiny!<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3C3_fGzQJFA/UaoYkA8jYPI/AAAAAAAAFwE/Rc0ZOsDEBGA/s640/chives3.JPG" />
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This is very exciting though for our plans of turning the terrace into a perennial herb garden. Chives are taking over this spot for sure!<br />
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Also recently I planted out the top of the terrace with a variety of thyme. There is also some parsley and nasturtium up there. Unfortunately parsley is an annual here. And frankly, I've never seen nasturtium re-seed itself. (I guess it would help if Jeremy would stop eating the flowers before they can go to seed!)Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-70541196107975140242013-05-26T13:09:00.000-05:002013-05-26T13:09:02.699-05:00NestingI was just sitting down to a quiet lunch and heard a funny sound. It was sort of a scratching, crunching... hard to identify sound. But clearly not natural. I though maybe we had mice gnawing on something in the living room. I moved out through the house slowly, stopping every few feet to make sure I was still hearing the sound and figure out what direction to go in.<br />
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I got through the living room and realized the sound was coming from outside, but close, maybe on the front porch. I looked out the window, saw nothing. I went to the door. The sound was loudest there. I peeked out the door and saw:<br />
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I opened the door and scared him off so I could take a look at the damage:<br />
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This old door used to have some sort of extra lock which we took out some years back. Jeremy filled the hole in with some foam stuff. It has stood the test of time...until now. I went to get some tape and the bird came back and kept digging! He'd be pretty surprised once he broke through the foam to find not just a nice nesting spot, but a whole house at his disposal. Just what we need. I shooed him off again and taped over the hole. I suspect he can get in through tape too so we'll have to keep an eye on this. I have been wanting to put up some bird houses - maybe now is the time! And it also adds a bit more urgency to getting our new doors installed.<br />
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Yes, we have brand new, beautiful doors all painted and ready to install (you can tell by the photo that we obviously are way past due for an upgrade!). Jeremy doesn't have the time because of mushroom stuff so we're getting a local contractor/builder to do it. They have to squeeze us in so they'll be giving us a couple days notice and then the doors can go in. We haven't heard anything yet, but I hope we can get them installed before the birds get through and move in!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-60024129145827082602013-04-08T14:40:00.000-05:002013-04-08T14:40:00.698-05:00Embarrassing (aka: I Told You So!)Those of you who remember our "freezer challenge" from a couple years ago may not be surprised by this. Our freezers are still jam packed full of stuff and we have pretty much lost touch with what's hiding in there.<br />
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I think I've mentioned this before, but Jeremy has a thing with a fully stocked larder. He doesn't feel safe, or like we have a real home, if there isn't food spilling out of every crevice in the house. He didn't grow up poor or starving or anything, so I don't know where this comes from. But he really does feel giddy when we have lots of food around.<br />
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I've been saying for some time that we should do an inventory of the chest freezer out in the garage. Winter (or at least Minnesota's freezing spring weather) is a great time to do it since it's practically the same temperature in the freezer as it is outside. Taking everything out and cataloging it is not an easy one person job. I've been suggesting we schedule this for weeks, or many months, but I don't think Jeremy was convinced. He thought he knew what was in the freezer.<br />
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Uh-huh. (That's a little foreshadowing for ya!)<br />
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Jeremy had some meal idea yesterday and he kept remembering that we were hung up because we didn't have chicken broth. Grr. He'd have to make some. He said he was going to go out to the freezer and look for...something. Chicken parts, or something, I can't recall now. I innocently suggested that maybe I should go with him, with a pad of paper, and maybe now would be a good time to just take a quick little inventory... Jeremy hesitated for a moment, and then gave in.<br />
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We trooped out to the freezer, set up a few temporary tables to hold things, and started emptying it out. Holy cow. It's stunning how much stuff is out there! Jeremy, with a bit of shame, admitted I was right and this was a good idea. Why? Well, for one thing we found at least FIVE containers of chicken broth!! =)<br />
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What else was in there?<br />
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<li>lots of bacon</li>
<li>a few packages of pork soup bones</li>
<li>bags and bags and bags of mushrooms and mushroom stems (the stems are for stock)</li>
<li>package of ham</li>
<li>bee pollen and sugar for the bees</li>
<li>loads of bread: sandwich bread, hot dog buns, rolls, fancy breads, bread flours</li>
<li>beef brisket (when the heck did we get that!?)</li>
<li>two packages of cream corn (Jeremy had just said that day we should make sure to preserve corn this year since we didn't have any now. Uh-huh.)</li>
<li>4 pie crusts</li>
<li>tons and tons of blueberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries</li>
<li>edamame</li>
<li>butter</li>
<li>chicken innards and chicken feet and packages of chicken necks and backs, probably a dozen altogether (for the stock)</li>
<li>zucchini</li>
<li>roasted sweet pepper juice. yes, juice. What are we doing with this??</li>
<li>banana</li>
<li>pesto (Jeremy was really excited about this)</li>
<li>3 whole chickens! (Jeremy almost bought another the other day...didn't realize we had some in the freezer still.)</li>
<li>rhubarb</li>
<li>cranberries</li>
<li>asparagus</li>
<li>loads of squash</li>
<li>dried currants</li>
<li>roasted tomatoes</li>
<li>spinach</li>
<li>pears</li>
<li>basil</li>
<li>coffee beans</li>
<li>salsa</li>
<li>grated beets</li>
<li>shelled peas (from 2008!! I think these are ones we grew ourselves. yikes)</li>
<li>peaches</li>
<li>plums</li>
<li>green beans</li>
<li>left over whey from when we were making cheese ages ago.</li>
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It's kind of embarrassing listing all these riches. I see a lot of fruit ice cream in our future, blueberry muffins, chicken stock, banana bread, zucchini bread... </div>
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Later on relaxing in the kitchen I said to Jeremy, "You know what we should go through next?" With a gleam in his eye, he replied, "The canned food!" No. "The other freezer." </div>
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He wasn't excited about that, so who knows when we'll get to that one. It's much smaller, but we do use it all the time and it's a disaster. I think a person would have to have their freezer stocked entirely with frozen meals - in boxes - for a freezer to be organized well. It's hard when everything is in plastic bags. </div>
Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-45310997594761798582013-03-19T08:00:00.000-05:002013-03-19T08:00:15.350-05:00Working the beesThe bees arrived in a buzzing little box in mid-April (while I was off traveling in Kenya!). So Jeremy took care of installing them in their new home and there are no pictures of any of that. You'll have to wait for those details because we do have more bees arriving next month. More about that later.<br />
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Here they are happy (? - I hope!) in their new home.<br />
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Coming and going.
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It's not a good idea to disturb the bees too much so we really tried not to. In June Jeremy opened up the hive to make sure things were going well. I know - it's kind of silly that he wears a bee veil but has bare arms! I guess he'd rather get stung on his arm or hand and not his face.
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Looking for the queen.
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These guys have been busy! Yep, busy bees! =)
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Oops, put this board in upside down! You can see how they're building comb all over in any place where there is space. Sue Hubbell talks about the "bee space" which is the ideal distance apart between combs. I think if there is too much space they may find it drafty so they fill it in. We're still working on finding the right spacing for our bees.
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Jeremy checked the bees other times too, though it mostly looked the same as that time in June. We had a general idea of how much honey the bees should be making and when we should add more supers. But they were slow for some reason and it was some time before Jeremy felt they needed another super. I think they only got that third box on before fall came. Jeremy went out to check on them for the last time in about October and discovered they had all died.
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Here you can see the comb, with honey, and dead bees in the comb.
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We don't really know why they died. We've talked with a number of beekeepers and think we've narrowed it down. We're pretty sure it wasn't disease. That's good - one of the bee diseases is so bad the only solution is to burn the whole hive (there is no disagreement about that!). It's possible the queen died for some reason and the bees hadn't been prepared with a new queen. They are pretty dependent on that queen. She makes more bees, so if she dies, the bees slowly die out with no new bees to take their place.
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The other possibility is that they starved. The first picture seems to show that: bees crammed into the comb eating the honey. I think we had some cool evenings and it's possible they were too cold to move over 3 inches to find more food. That does happen I guess.
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But maybe it's a combination of those two - or neither of them. We don't know. We did learn some interesting things in the process though. First, we had a beekeeper extract the honey for us (she's a professional and has a machine and everything!). She said we had a lot of "wet honey." The bees bring in nectar and store it in the comb; the nectar has a high water content. Throughout the summer they fan their wings to dehydrate it, thereby creating the honey we all know and love. Our bees hadn't had time to dehydrate the nectar all the way so our honey had a high water content. It still tastes fine, the problem is it will go bad faster. We gave some little jars away to family and warned them not to admire the jar for too long - eat it right away! We put the rest in a bucket, secured cheesecloth over it, and set it in front of the heater vent. After a couple months it seemed to be the right consistency. I hope our future bees will do this job themselves!
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The second thing I learned was about flowers and nectar. I wondered if our bees just hadn't found enough nectar and that's why they were so slow and then died. But we have tons of flowers in our yard, blooming a lot of the summer! I talked to a beekeeper about this and she said it's possible since there was such a drought last year that there wasn't much nectar in the flowers. I've prided myself on some native and drought-resistant plants - they still bloom and look pretty even when we haven't had much rain. But it turns out they aren't making much nectar and that's what the bees need. So this year I'm going to be better at watering the flowers - and I'm going to mulch better to keep all that moisture in.
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In the end I think we got about a gallon or so of honey. Not bad for our first year!
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That's all we've got left now; we'd better slow down and make it last! Our new bees are set to arrive at the beginning of April. I'll try not to take a whole year to let you know how that goes!
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Oh, for those of you who are wondering, I haven't been stung at all (and I've gotten every bit as close to the bees as Jeremy). Jeremy got stung once I think. As long as you don't bother or harass them, they are very peaceful and content to go about their business. Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-11263234795425358462013-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:002013-03-18T08:00:02.320-05:00Bees...the beginningI can tell I fell of the blogging bandwagon in a big way when we started a whole new urban homesteading project and I never blogged about it! I know I mentioned it once or twice (and some of you have been patiently waiting for an update - you've told me!). It's amazing that some of these photos are from more than a year ago now. Without further preface and delay: getting into bees!<br />
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To start with, we took a day-long beekeeping course, asked tons of questions of everyone we knew who ever had anything to do with bees, and we got some books. The number one thing we learned (which has been backed up by other beekeepers since): PERSONAL PREFERENCE! That is, you'll hear a dozen or more different ways to do any single task with bees (how to feed, care for, medicate, etc) and it's really up to personal preference. Actually, the way Sue Hubbell explains it in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Bees-How-Keep-Them/dp/0395883245" target="_blank">A Book of Bees</a>, this is because climate and bee habitat vary from area to area and something that works in one place may not work in another. So really you have to get to know your own bees and your own bee habitat. Don't worry, I get the feeling they'll teach you.<br />
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Jeremy was really the instigator of this project. He begged family for gifts of all the beekeeping stuff we'd need, and over the space of about a year he got it! Last Christmas he got boxes of bee frames to put together. Yep, DIY! And there is a lot of little fussy stuff to do when putting these things together.<br />
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First he built all the boxes.
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He drilled some holes in the fronts to allow for bees to come and go and for extra ventilation. We got little corks to fit in these holes so we could block them up when needed.
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Then he primed and painted all of them. Painting is important because the hives sit outside, of course, and the paint will help keep the wood from rotting away.<br />
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Then Jeremy built all of the frames. I think these were the most nit-picky of all.
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After they're put together you slide the wax foundations in each one, then secure them.
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And then start loading them up in the boxes.<br />
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Here's all our bee stuff ready to go: bee hive all painted and full of frames, with the base thing down there at the bottom; the smoker; a bee veil; and a hive tool.
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This was all done by the beginning of March and our bees were set to come in mid-April. But I was gone when they got here!Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-65672321764591300882013-03-16T16:00:00.003-05:002013-03-16T16:00:51.664-05:00Caution: slow moving springThe day after we cut those branches down we had some good melt and a bit of rain. The backyard filled up with water.<br />
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Those of you who have been around since 2009 know that we dug out our backyard almost as soon as we'd signed the paperwork and took possession of the house. Back in the day, before we did this little fix, all that melting water would have poured straight into the basement. Yes, we bought our house even though there was frozen sheeting water on every wall and a skating rink on the floor! Anyway, now all the water pools in the yard, making it slightly difficult to get to the chickens. But we manage.
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During most of the week last week we had really cold temperatures and the lake froze. Not quite enough to walk on, though by the end it was almost there. I finally went out yesterday and started breaking up the ice. It had started thawing from the bottom up. There was some melted water and a bit of ice, an air gap of about 3/4 inch and then this huge slab of ice about 2 inches thick covering the yard. I had to hop up and down on it a bit to get it to break. That was fun!
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Another thing that happens when the melt begins - the slabs of snow/ice on our metal roof starts sliding off.
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It makes for quite an awning from the inside! I've never seen it curl off like this before. It didn't do any damage to our gutter when it finally broke off after several days.<br />
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The worst part about this is the topmost roof. It's nearly flat so the snow/ice doesn't slide off as quickly. The slab will slide out slowly, bit by bit, till as much as 6 or 10 inches is hanging off. Because it's sticking out straight (and not at an angle like the lower roof) the snow doesn't curl, it breaks off suddenly with a sound like a bomb going off. Well, at least that's what it sounds like at 3:00 in the morning! It's kind of fun and exciting during the day - I just wish it was stick to falling off during the day and not during the night. But it's mostly gone now.
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A week or two ago we had a friend over who knows about pruning fruit trees. This is something we know nothing about and haven't really looked into much. Now that our old cherry tree is mostly dead, we'd like to work on the two new ones (and the apple tree) and make sure they fare better and are healthier than the old one. Sarah gave us some great tips on how to prune so I'm excited to keep that up.
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As we clipped away she told us some of the branches, if stuck in water, would leaf out. So into a glass of water they went. They are leafing out v e r y slowly. Sort of like our approaching spring. It is coming v e r y, v e r y slowly. We're supposed to dip down to single digit lows again this next week. Brr! Come on spring! You can do it! Win the battle against winter!
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Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5172018271137170502.post-67727683431832171452013-03-08T18:26:00.003-06:002013-03-08T18:26:57.616-06:00Didn't see that comingI've been nagging Jeremy about taking down a few trees in the yard for quite some time now. (Note to self: be careful what you nag for!)<br />
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There are way too many trees on our tiny 1/8 acre. Some of them are mere inches apart. Three in particular are Siberian Elms - junk trees basically. They spend all year dropping branches and twigs all over the place; spreading their evil weed tree seeds all over the whole yard; and blocking out all the sun to our garden. And to top it off, these trees are known for not having good joints. That is, where branches fork off, the tree is weak and prone to rot, so those big old branches are liable to just fall off out of the blue. (Or in a storm, <a href="http://northmidwest.blogspot.com/2011/08/weve-been-meaning-to-take-that-down.html" target="_blank">which happened in 2011</a>.) Unfortunately these trees have gotten very big and are leaning precariously over our house and our neighbors. They have to go! We got an estimate on tree removal last fall. While it's not too expensive, we still can't really afford it. Besides, Jeremy has a chainsaw and we have access to ladders. Surely we can do it ourselves! Er, that is, surely if I nag Jeremy long enough he'll eventually do it! =)</div>
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We had some spare time this afternoon and Jeremy whipped out the chainsaw. The plan was to take down one of the big branches. Very big branches. If it fell too far to one side it would take out our neighbor's electrical; too far to the other side it would take out ours. So the plan was to cut it so it would fall into the Kitalpa tree a couple feet over. <br />
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Which it very nicely did for us. Jeremy cut several feet off the bottom of it hanging out of the tree, and then we discovered it was STUCK in the Kitalpa!<br />
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Jeremy actually swung from the thing a few times and it was not going anywhere. Hmm. Didn't see that coming!<br />
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<img height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JrjuH0WSzmU/UTp379qJrHI/AAAAAAAAFiU/1Gj4KvDvd7o/s400/trees4.JPG" width="299" />
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So now we had a huge branch stuck and swaying ever so slightly in the top of this other tree. I won't go into all the details since our mothers read this and I don't want them to know - it was kind of scary. But I suspect it was like when you see someone tipping back in their chair and you're just sure they're going to fall at any minute, it looks so unsafe! (Or maybe that's just me?) But when <i>you </i>tip back in your chair it feels totally safe. So I'm sure Jeremy felt totally safe, but I was pretty sure he was going to fall off that ladder, chainsaw in hand, at any moment and die a horrible death. Geez, I guess I asked for it when I nagged him for years to cut these darn trees down!<br />
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<img height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-oV9FIiJK1AU/UTp38jCcilI/AAAAAAAAFig/sXopL-GxqEU/s400/trees5.JPG" width="400" />
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<img height="300" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-24Jz_xbpLr8/UTp39b8X-nI/AAAAAAAAFis/9v7unVT6Bt0/s400/trees6.JPG" width="400" /><br />
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Skip to the end: Jeremy got the huge branch out of the Kitalpa with no injuries to either of us and he cut a second branch off the junk trees for good measure.<br />
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<img height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iQdATiiAs-8/UTp39UVYOnI/AAAAAAAAFiw/6sfDL6I-J-U/s400/trees7.JPG" width="400" />
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Now there is a huge pile of brush to be dealt with - which the neighborhood birds are going to go bonkers over. I don't know why, but they love hanging out in brush piles, dozens and dozens of them. I'll see if I can catch them in the act this weekend.<br />
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(In other news, I am very annoyed with Blogger/Picasa/etc for constantly having to update and change things that worked perfectly well before! They have made it very difficult for me to put pictures and text where I want it! Grr!)Aimeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04570718941895225222noreply@blogger.com2