It's been raining! And, I think my ducks are gay!

A few days ago, as I was hanging clothes outside on my "solar clothes dryer," it suddenly struck me that something subtle had changed. The light, the air, the movement of the wind, everything was somehow different in the slightest way. It's the beginning of August. That faint smell of fall in the air, that can't be real, can it? But, I fear it is, as I wake to chillier morning and notice the sun doesn't come over the horizon now until 6:40 am. I believe Fall is on its way and maybe faster than we think. With climate change, how can we know anything for certain anymore in relation to our seasons and our weather?

It's been raining a lot. Thankfully our cisterns are full, almost to the point of overflowing. Good news, since Richard had the old truck towed into town to get checked out again. He put a new fuel pump on it. That did not solve the problem of it's frequent stalling. Hopefully it won't be anything expensive. Our cheap truck may not be such a good bargain after all. But, at least the mechanic has showed an interest and even offered to buy it. There is a way out.

With all of the rain, we decided to prioritize our water catchment systems, and began the Earthbag cistern out on our land this past Saturday. It was the first day of our "workshop." Ironically, there seems to be little interest in this desert community for learning how to build a cheap cistern. We were disappointed by the turnout. Maybe everyone is too busy building their own houses. Regardless, we continue on with our building.

Richard fills the last bag to finish the first two courses on cistern.

We actually got the foundation courses done on the cistern...the first two levels of bags which hold gravel. Then we painted mud slip on the bags to protect it from the sun.

Mud slip on bags.

When we went back Wednesday, yesterday, we were disappointed to see the rain had washed most of our mud slip off.

Mud slip washed off.

On the plus side, the buckets I stuck under the preliminary guttering on the shade structure were full to the brim and had even over flowed. Too bad that water wasn't going into a barrel or a finished cistern!

Bucket o' water.

So, yesterday, we worked on finishing the gutters on the shade structure and hooked up a couple of barrels to catch that precious water. We will need lots of water to plaster our cistern, and our pallet shed.

Rain barrels to catch rain runoff from shad structure.

Pallet shed...

We got it wrapped in paper and stucco netting. It is ready to plaster! Well, I think the roof is next, with an overhang to protect the walls from the rain.

Pallet shed, papered and netted, ready for mud plaster.

We hauled in another load of gravel to put on the floor of the cistern and decided to use the remainder for the floor of the pallet shed.

Gravel on floor of cistern...sloped to allow drainage to one side.

Gravel floor  in shade structure.

Our road fix held up well to the rains. We need a bit more base course and in a few more areas along the three miles to our property. Is it our responsibility? I guess it is if we want a road we don't get stuck in.

Roads. We went by our friend Susan's bus, on the other side of the hills from our Earthship, to pick up the feed bags we took her last summer. She has so many grain bags from a brewery in Santa Fe, she doesn't need our bags. But we can use all of the bags we can get.

We took the back way to Susan's, what I affectionately call the Renegade road. There were several questionable spots, where the mud crossed the entire roadway. I envisioned the car stuck again, and was afraid, but Richard plowed on through, trailer swinging on the back of our remarkable SUV that seems to go anywhere and tow just about anything. Not bad for a KIA.

After we made it out of that development, my nerves we frayed. There were lots of mud pits in lots of places. I am not a fan of the roads in Taos County. A four wheel drive vehicle is a must. Especially if you live on Four Wheel Drive Road. I guess getting stuck is fairly normal. I think we need a winch on at least one of our vehicles. That'd be handy on our truck...if we could get it to run consistently.

My two girls.

At home on our makeshift farm, it turns out both ducks are female. We are now getting two duck eggs every morning, and we have two ducks. So, unless one duck is laying two eggs a day, I think they must both be girls. I guess that mating behavior I witnessed last week...perhaps a gender identity crisis? Or maybe our girls have a particular fondness for each other. This wouldn't be new. One of our llama boys certainly loves his pasture mate and isn't afraid to express his love. I wonder, were they born this way? Is this naturally occurring behavior? Maybe I could take them all back up to Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs for some counseling. Do you think they counsel gay farm animals? Do you think they could "fix" them?

Just kidding, of course. I accept and love all of my animals, exactly as they are, and we give them the space to be who they need to be. With all of the nonsense floating around these days about Chick Fil A funding anti-gay hate groups, I couldn't resist. Yes, I'm boycotting Chick Fil A in support of all of my gay friends. Maybe I could take my gay farm animals to a protest at Chick Fil A, and all of the right wing nuts could explain to me how homosexuality doesn't occur naturally.

Seriously though, we should all avoid ALL fast food joints because the food is poison. We try not to eat fast food because we don't know what the "food" is. And, it makes people sick. Over the long term, the American diet, which is filled with high fat foods and fast, convenient foods, is killing Americans. It's that simple. Eat local (support local businesses and not the Corporatocracy) and eat organic. Chick Fil A doesn't fit in there anywhere.

Frosty the little llama, roads, mud, pallets and earthbags

Today I'm fasting, and the urge to eat is incredible. Richard and I decided we would begin this fasting/detox regiment at the beginning of each month, for at least three days to begin the new month with clean systems. But it's hard. Haven't gotten past three days in my fasting attempts, which is when everyone claims the hunger subsides. I'd like to make it to that point.

Frosty the new llama boy.

Yesterday we picked up another llama. His name is Frosty and he's seven or eight years old. I found him on Craigslist for free. He's a little llama, like my two boys. Today, he's standing out in his yard humming, nonstop. I think he's pretty upset about the whole arrangement. We have him separated from Turbo and Vader, but in connected yards so they have time to adjust. Frosty is a gelded male, like my two llamas, but still, they will probably challenge each other and try to decide who gets to be the new boss. My money is on Turbo...he's been strutting around like the king of the playground, showing us his "crazy" eyes, ever since we brought the new llama home.

Turbo and Vader looking on at the new llama.

I enjoyed our ride into the mountains to pick up Frosty. It was green and there were lots of trees. Lately I have been missing the trees, in a bad way. But as we drove the scenic mountain roads yesterday, and I looked at the huge Ponderosa Pines, I knew with the fires hitting the southwest, it is far better for us to be in a more defensible space right now. Still, it was so nice and cool up there... and there were little creeks running next to the roads. I miss standing in mountain streams on hot summer days.

Pallet coop.

Also at home, Richard has been busy on a pallet chicken coop for the Jersey Giants. It's finished now and the chickens have been moved to their new yard. Still too many roosters crowing in the early morning hours though. They are twelve weeks old now. Another month until they can be processed for the freezer.

Richard is getting pretty good with building out of pallets. This time he cut the pallets and then infilled with other pieces of pallets to make solid walls. There is a hinged roof and three nest boxes inside. The space underneath the coop allows the chickens to find shade when they need it. Pretty cool. I will post a more detailed blog about this later.

Out on the land, we have been repairing the road in front of our place...the spot where we got stuck, hoping to prevent a similar situation in the future. We brought in two trailers full of base course, which is sand mixed with gravel, and filled the ruts we left  the day we planted the Kia and trailer in the mud. Hopefully this will keep others from getting stuck too.

Next weekend we are planning the beginning of the ongoing workshop to build the Earthbag cistern, and we want people to be able to get there. They will still need high clearance vehicles to clear the mound of grass and sand that fills the center of the tiny dirt track we like to call a road.

Richard also finished the shade structure, which is the most wonderful thing! And we even hung up a hummingbird feeder for the little bird that has been buzzing us the last few times we have been out there working.

Classroom space cleared.

While Richard put the finishing touches on the shade building, and finished up the walls of the pallet shed, I cleared more sage. I got the 30 x 50 foot space cleared for our classroom/temporary house, and a space cleared for a pallet hay barn. I'd like to stock up on hay for the winter...before it hits $18 a bale like it did last year.

Pallet shed, west side.

Front of Aly's Earthbag house.

I haven't been posting much, and so much is going on. We made it over to Aly's house a couple of weeks ago to help her plaster the inside of her house. That was fun. David and Simone were there too, and they left a few days later to head back home to Maryland. We sure did appreciate their help while they were here. Thanks guys!

Mixing up the mud plaster at Aly's house.

And...the ducks started laying eggs! Well, at least one of them. I saw some rather suspicious mating behavior yesterday, so one of them might be male. Maybe we will have Pekin Ducklings next spring. That's be fun.

And on a side note, but very exciting for me, I got accepted into my first Taos art show, which is pretty darn cool, considering this is a REAL art town.This event, Arte de Descartes XII (sponsered by Wholly Rags) is about art made from recycled stuff, which is right up my alley, but since all of my recycled wood masks were done so long ago, I had to come up with something new. I asked for wood scraps on Facebook, and a wonderful lady in town has been supplying all the wood scraps I need for many art projects to come. After I get the piece hung up in the gallery--August 23, I will post a picture of it. Still making art for the young at heart!

Having fun in Northern New Mexico!

Stay tuned for the Earthbag Cistern news and directions on how to build a pallet chicken coop (for up to six hens).

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!