The weather is a little bit strange this year.

Well now, it seems like it has been forever. Not much to write about, I guess. We have not been out to our land for some time, what with the snow and frigid temps, and now the melting of the snow and the mud. Hope everything is okay out there.

Unusual weather...you bet.

We suffered through a couple of weeks of absolutely frigid, below zero temperatures. We plugged in the light for the chickens at night and ran the generator during the day to boost our lost power. The llama water froze, in spite of the heater we put in it...that froze into the bucket of 24" of ice. Every morning Richard takes 2 hot 5 gallon buckets of water out to dump into the llama water. He then tries to break the ice out. It was freezing again by noon there for a while. And to my horror and dismay, a couple of wild bunnies got themselves into the water over night, but of course froze quickly and in the morning were just  an image frozen into the ice. Richard dumped them out and cleaned out the trough and filled again with hot water. A mess. So cold...wind chills down to -31 F overnight. Temps down to -15 F. I was so worried about the llamas that I have decided to make them llama coats from a pattern I found online. So I asked for donations of comforters, sleeping bags and horse blankets. Got a few things, including three horse blankets from a kind lady down near Santa Fe who runs a horse boarding facility. I think I can alter them a bit and they will be great for some of the girls.

With no snow to speak of...too cold, and no melting of the snow we did get previously...too cold, our water situation has been rough. So I hung the horse blankets out on the clothesline to get moisture to maybe clean them a bit. And Richard hauled water. Or tried to.

Every time someone used the water trailer, something broke. The fittings are all plastic, and with temperatures below freezing as our new normal, it wasn't too surprising, but it created a big headache for everyone. Richard found new pieces in town and managed to fix it. We had to put chains on the van to pull the water trailer on the snow pack and ice. Lucky the chains for our handy Kia actually fit on the van...not perfect, but well enough to make it work. We are thankful for those chains.

So, we hauled water, and blew through our stack of firewood. I have to say with some awe though, the Earthship  stayed at about 60 F overnight without heat. In the back room (Richard's office) it got down to 54 because the door is closed overnight. Still, we put every blanket we owned on our beds and slept in socks and full pajamas. It was fricken cold!

And being the person I am, unhappy with snow and cold, I began to research moving someplace warmer, someplace south. Although, it seemed that even Maine was warmer than we were at this point. So, I looked at Edgewood and Moriarty, in central New Mexico, because they were not experiencing the cold temperatures we were, even 200 miles south. We drove down there one Sunday to explore, but it was not what we were looking for. The mountains seemed so far away. And there was no sage brush. How could I live without the sage? All was not lost on our twelve hour trip...we did pick up those horse blankets and we went shopping and stocked up on groceries when we passed through Santa Fe.

So, back to where I am, again. The temperatures are back up, and for a week or so, a bit warm for the season. It rained. Melted the snow and turned the world to mud. Taos mud is unforgiving. And then it snowed again and refroze the world around me. Back and forth, but no where near as cold as it was a couple of weeks ago.

With the freezing and thawing, we seem to have developed a leak in our roof where the porch meets the rest of the Earthship. The porch looks to have been added on later. We have someone coming to look at it this week. The pipes to the cistern that take the water off of the roof were frozen solid, and some have come apart. That needs to be fixed too.

Roof is leaking.

That pipe is full of ice and this roof work is a mess.

We also inherited some chickens a week or two back as one of the men we sold chickens to last summer, brought some back. They moved into a house in town and could no longer have them. So now we are back into eggs. Lots of eggs. We get about a dozen a day now. We sell some to the neighbors, but they are stacking up in the fridge. The kids love eggs. How many ways can we eat eggs? Fried, scrambled, hard-boiled, and Richard made a souffle yesterday. Free range, organically fed chickens. Anyone want to buy some eggs?

So, except for experiencing global weirding first hand, there isn't much going on out here on the farmstead. Richard did get the second half of the roof on the girls side of the llama barn, just in time for the rain. He also put some boards on the front to block some of the wind. It's getting better all of the time. He's still making chicken coops out of pallets and selling them quickly on Craigslist.

 

Pallet wall on llama barn...and a little bit of siding at the far end.

Looking through the llama barn...see that NM sunset?

Metal roof on the second half of the llama barn

Maybe in the near future we can get back out to our place and see how well our mud plaster held up on the pallet shed.

Just enjoying our time in the Earthship, waiting for Winter to be over.

Honey on the planter box, rain coming down and a rose in bloom, next to the avocado tree.

Rain and a whole lot of mud.

The monsoons have arrived, which means it rains nearly every afternoon, and sometimes well into the evening. Lots of lightening, which always scares me (too many extended family members struck..you'd think it ran in the family...I do my best to avoid the lightening!), and thunder, which scares my dogs. Last night was a mighty powerful storm that even got my Great Pyrenees, Honey, sticking to my side like glue, while the Chihuahua shook and tried to jump in my arms. The lightening was so close, I thought for sure it hit nearby, but we never saw anything on fire.

We were rather involved with our cistern problem while the thunder boomed and the rain came down. You'd think with so much rain, our cisterns would be quite full, but not the case at all. Our daily use cistern was apparently close to empty and the water was sputtering at the kitchen sink as the pump tried to pull in more water. So as it rained, Richard ran the generator, hooked up the portable pump and transferred the stash of water from the non working cistern to the cistern that lets water into the house. Unfortunately, it seems the pump in the house managed to pull some sediment into the pipes, clogging them somewhere, which meant we had no water coming in, even with water in the cisterns! So, while I paced frantically, wondering who to call at 8pm, Richard tried to blow out the pipes with his compressor. When that didn't work, he hooked up the shop vac, alternating between blowing air through, and sucking water back. Eventually something gave, the filters were full of gunk and after cleaning out the filters and working the shop vac, we had a trickle of water coming in at 10pm. Hey, some water is better than no water!

Today Richard is up at Cerro Vista Farm doing his volunteer day, and when he comes home, it's back to cleaning the filters and trying to get the water flowing again.

Tesuque Pueblo Seedbank

So, our evening was full of cistern fun, but our day was full of mud plastering at the seedbank on Tesuque Pueblo. That was a lot of fun and we learned how to mix the mud for the outside walls (clay, sand, straw, water) and Amy Lin (the natural builder in charge of the project) taught us how to apply the plaster. This was the second or third coat, so it was pretty painless, and rather therapeutic...smearing the mud with bare hands, although after a couple of hours, I was developing a blister on the heal of my hand from the tiny rocks in the mixture.

Richard putting on the mud.

Everyone working on the seedbank project was very friendly and Emigdio Ballon, the man in charge of the farm project, gave us a tour of the inside and the basement, where the seeds will be stored. The basement foundation is made of bailed tires, the sidewalls of the building are strawbale, with some adobe block in front. Insulation downstairs was straw and clay--very cool. We learned a lot and also got to see the farm project and orchards at the Pueblo. Very nice.

Even the kids can help with this job!

On the way home, we encountered  a rainstorm that caused flooding and left piles of hail on the side of the roads. Where? About 6 miles down the road from our land in Carson. While it was tempting, since we missed a workday out at our place, we decided not to venture down the muddy road and went home instead.

Yeah, it's stuck.

While we didn't get out to the land much this past week, we did make it out last Saturday for a bit. We took a load of gravel for the Earthbag cistern.

Rain. Did I mention how much rain we have been getting?

We got the car and trailer stuck in the mud in the road trying to get to our property. Luckily it was only a few hundred feet from our driveway, which made it easier, but not pleasant, to carry the tools and buckets of gravel to our building project.

As we were ferrying equipment, our volunteer friends showed up, walking down the road. Their little car only makes it so far down the road, thankfully, and they didn't get stuck in the mud. Our road is a high vehicle clearance sort of road, and four wheel drive is helpful, although, not so much in the case of a ton of gravel in a trailer planted at least six inches in soft mud.

We opted to leave the car in the road (not much traffic here) and work on our shade structure for a while, hoping to give the mud a chance to dry a bit.

We only had enough funds to buy half the metal roofing this time, but when its up, one half of the shade structure will be done and provide shade and water runoff. Hopefully next payday, we can finish the roof.

Due to more clouds building, we quit early and focused our energy on getting the car and trailer out before the next rain came and the car became a permanent fixture in the Taos mud.

With a bit of arguing about the best plan of action, Richard decided to empty the trailer, while I focused on building a gravel road under the tires of the car to give the four by four some traction. My plan was to run strips of gravel out of the ruts to allow the car to drive up onto the high parts of the roads and avoid more deep mud. With the trailer almost empty, and the rain bearing down on us, Richard, David, Simone and I shoveled gravel furiously into the road and under the tires, and you know, with all of our combined ideas and efforts, it worked, we got the car and trailer out before the storm rolled in!

Leveling the cistern trench.

After so much fun, David and Simone decided to head back to their car before the rain came. One day of hailstorms in their tent was enough for them. Richard and I stayed while it rained gently for about a half hour. Richard got the roof metal on the shed structure and my son and I leveled the cistern trench and filled it with the gravel Richard and David had carried from the trailer.

Gravel in the cistern trench.

With the rain every day, I'm not sure when we will be able to get back out to our land. I hope David and Simone are not stuck out there. (They have our number.) Most likely, they are enjoying some in town time.

Trailer full of pallets.

We did pick up another load of pallets from the local lumbar/hardware store. After the pallet shed gets done, I want to try and make a hay barn and pick up some hay for the winter before the prices go back up to $18 a bale!

The old truck is missing its gas tank as Richard tries to clean the sediment and corrosion out with white vinegar ( a tip from the local machine shop).
Otherwise we could be hauling gravel and pallets in the truck...assuming it didn't just die on the side of the road.

That old truck, broken down again.

Everyday is an adventure here in Northern New Mexico, but I wouldn't have it any other way. gives life some excitement and meaning! This next weekend we are planning on going to another mud plaster party at another Earthbagger's,  house on the mesa. Should be fun, and now we even have some experience!