Learning more simple ways

Daffodils on the northside

I'm going to go ahead and decide that spring is here, with all of my plants waking up throughout the gardens.

chives

We've got chives, green onions and catnip coming back along the path to the goat barn, and a lot of the trees and bushes we planted last year are budding. Won't this spring be a glorious one!

catnip

The classes this past weekend were a big success, even if we only had three folks show for the chicken class. It was still great fun, and a little more personal as we all got to know one another a little better. There was a nice couple from Pueblo and another fellow from the Greenhorn Valley who also came to the Season Extension class on Sunday with his wife. Interesting people, all of the participants. I really enjoy hearing everyone's story and why they are interested in our sustainability classes. Turns out we all have a lot in common when we think about the future of America.

On Sunday, Richard and his class got the hoop house up over the newly planted potatoes in the lower garden and possible future home of a USDA funded high tunnel.

They bent the conduit pipes for the frame on the small hoop bender Richard built.

pipe bender (hey, there's another one of those pesky pallets)

 And, with all those hands to hold that plastic, the breeze was hardly noticeable.

long hoop house

Here's a really easy and functional cold frame Richard built out of two by sixes and an old storm window from our Victorian house in the Springs.

Three pregnant goats, Cinnamon in the middle

Things don't have to be expensive or complicated to get the job done.

Cinnamon still has not given birth...so we wait...and we wait.

Gates across the driveway

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting the gates across the driveway. Finally. I've been waiting a long time for those gates that will keep people from just driving in (selling meat from a freezer?) and will keep my kids and animals from running out into the road that people drive down like a race track.

We also had dinner with some new friends this past weekend, and enjoyed ourselves immensely, talking and talking well past the kids' bedtime as they ran from one end of the house to the other. Luckily, our guests were not frightened away.

I had a moment, while trying to get the kids to nap during Richard's class, to watch a documentary on the Amish, which was fascinating. They are a people not much different from myself, minus the religion. They want to live sustainably and avoid the trappings of the mainstream society that would drag them into the chaos and lesson their quality of life. And, they'd like to protect their children from a culture that is ego based and competitive to the point of self-destruction. I'd like that too. The Amish believe in work and the enjoyment of choosing a life dedicated to family and community, living simply and giving themselves an opportunity to be close to nature and God.

With the upcoming energy crisis, I have to wonder if the Amish ways are not better ways. I find myself looking into more of the pieces of their culture and realize the rewards of abandoning the use of electricity for manual labor. I'm very interested in finding a functioning Singer Treadle sewing machine to replace my worn out electric machine. Wouldn't that put some joy into making clothes and quilts for the kids? I would find joy in learning to use and maintain an antique machine that proved itself capable of withstanding the changes of modern man, to the point where it becomes useful again. The items that we need to stock our homes with to survive the future are the things the Amish have been using all along. We could learn a thing or two.

And, Amish are about humility and fighting the Ego, something I have personally been trying to overcome in my own life. Ego is the killer. Just think of a life, a simple and sweet, natural life without that troublesome Ego messing everything up. Wonderful. I wonder if the Amish give workshops? Classes? "How to live Ego free in a mad society." "How to restore a hundred year old sewing machine." "How to teach your kids the value of life and educate them without the use of Disney characters." Sign me up!

Classes still open this weekend!

Just letting everyone know that we still have openings for our chicken basics class this Friday, March 18, from 12-3pm here at the farm. Learn how to order or buy chicks and how to care for them, including building cheap housing. It's time to start your own backyard chicken flock for fresh eggs and healthy meat birds.

We also have openings for the season extension class on Sunday, March 20 from 12-3pm. In this class, Richard will be teaching how to build a hoop bender and make low tunnels for early crops and late crops, how to make simple cold frames, and simple greenhouses--low cost.

Both classes cost $10 per person and you can register at Green Desert Eco Farm

Sign up now! Help support the farm and food for the future! Grow your own!

Projects, goats, chicken radio and Big Horn sheep

We've been working hard this week...Richard on various unfinished projects, and me on my continuous hunt for a place to relocate the farm.

We've almost finished the pallet fence in the upper garden. I think it looks nice. The boards that rise above the fence will be for the electric wire...to keep the deer out (I hope).

And from the outside...I like it too. Below is the view from the road.

 

We've also been working on our parking area with all of the dirt and gravel we've loaded into the truck by bucket fulls and dumped in our yard. Free cycle again!

Before long it will be finished and we will have a nice place for visitors to park. A lot of these landscape timbers came off of Free cycle too.

This week we sold, and delivered, Penny and Yvette to a family outside of Colorado Springs who raises Gypsy Horses and was looking for some more milk goats. They have a huge old barn that is in desperate need of renovation, but having only just bought the place, they are working nonstop to catch up on their projects too. The barn makes me nervous, but I think they will give our girls a good home and I hope they will send photos when the girls kid.

Penny and Yvette, on the way to their new home

And Cinnamon, my little girl goat, is about to kid...any day now. We check on her every few hours and I put one of my old baby monitors in the barn to listen for goat screams (the sounds of labor), but so far all I get are the chickens, singing their chicken songs. Richard calls it chicken radio..."I'm on a chicken radio..." Not quite the version by the Wall of Voodoo, but catchy. 

In the early morning hours, after the chickens are let out to run and play, the little song birds hang out by the barn and I can hear them, like the birdsong on the "soothing sounds" of the alarm clocks meant to lull you to sleep. It makes me happy. I wasn't aware of the variation of birdsong on our small property. When we were out working on the parking area, there were the prettiest sounds coming from a bird perched on the top of one of the Junipers. Very unusual. Richard thought it might be a Mocking bird. Do we have those here? It was too far away to see well enough to look up in my bird book.

So, I'm listening to the birds and listening for a goat in labor and looking for land on the internet. We took a drive yesterday up to Westcliffe because there is some cheap land up there, and I wanted to see how it "felt."

It was not right either. Too high, too cold, too windy, and too far away, although the thing that bugs me the most is that all of the roads into this mountain town are horrendous...winding and steep...giving me mini anxiety attacks as I look out over the edge of the mountain. It seems the older I get, the larger my fear of heights gets.

But, I was rewarded with an amazing glimpse of a herd of Big Horn Sheep as we headed towards Wetmore and the flat lands. The sheep were still in the twisty mountain valley, and my camera is still lacking a good zoom, but here's what I got:

Big Horn Sheep herd outside Westcliffe, Colorado

The best zoom my camera gets...not good enough.

They are amazing, breathtaking creatures, and I am fascinated every time I see them, which is not very often. I have yet to see a mountain goat, and I've been looking. Wouldn't it be cool to see one of those?

Anyway, the search for affordable land is on. It seems we might have to have at least 35 acres (the magical number) to be able to get a well that we can use for our home and for our gardens and livestock. Crazy water laws here in Colorado. Can we find 35 acres for less than 30K that is not desert hard pan? The challenge is on.

The Earthship thing...probably not, but I haven't entirely ruled it out, and we met a really cool man who's bringing his lady over for dinner on Friday. It seems we have a lot in common and even more to talk about. And yes, he lived in an old converted school bus while he built his homestead. Livin' the dream!

One day I'll land in the place I am meant to be...or maybe that's right where I am now. Who knows? I only know I have to keep on seeking out adventure because it keeps my heart beating and keeps my spirit singing. Live the life you are given to the best and fullest of your ability. That's all anyone can do.

Magical Chicken Days

The Chicken Class was a big success. We had a couple of cancellations in the morning, but everyone else that signed up showed up. Thanks guys! Richard did a wonderful job. I think he's a natural born teacher. Me...I freeze in front of a crowd, so I'm better left to the writing side of things...or the sign making, which I can usually pull off on short notice.

Copied chicken, bad cut and paste

This picture does not have the chicken's feet, so when I was free handing a bigger version of this onto poster board, I had to do a little research on chicken feet. Handy if you happen to have a flock of chickens in your backyard!

chicken foot (hen)

During this class, my little ones and I were entertaining my mother and sister (who came for a short visit), on the other side of the house.

This past week sure was all about chickens... moving them around, drawing them, teaching about them, chasing them back into their yards after discovering they can fit under the gate.

New Hampshire Reds go for a walk

It was also about learning, and how life is full of lessons every single day. I learned that our farm can not accommodate dogs, so please leave them at home if you come to visit. I learned how to draw chicken feet and how to fit ten extra people comfortably in our kitchen. I also learned that miracles still happen, and when I asked for one a few days ago, in relation to our farm location situation, I never expected it to show up in the form of a jolly man who might just be the answer to my prayers. And the new adventure may just involve that old sleeping dream of living in an Earthship. How about that?

Maybe the serendipity, the synchronicity, the magic of intention and the power of the good old Universe has come knocking on my door, or maybe the wind has blown some of the dust residue from NM and Susan's good luck into my mountain valley. I can't wait to see how this all plays out.

March 6 chicken class is full

Believe it or not, we filled up our Chicken Basics Class for this Sunday!  But, there has been so much interest that we may offer another class next week. Let us know if you want to come and we will set it up.

Also listed the two big goats on Craigslist and have been fielding e-mails about that. Who knew two pregnant dairy goats would be so easy to sell? They aren't gone yet, but we are hopeful our first callers will come through, but if not, then the second family definitely gets them. And by the way, that second family needs affordable dairy goats for their little girl in a bad way. They are so far out in the country (near Trinidad) and the little one is allergic to everything but the goats milk, so if anyone wants to sell a couple of nannies in milk or about to kid, let me know...there's a family who needs them.

Today we went to Pueblo to get more pallets for our fence project. Hey, the midden in the upper garden is almost hidden from the street now. The neighbors should be pleased...if it wasn't for that damned pallet fence.

Going to do a seed starting class next Sunday, and as soon as I get the details together, I will post them. Feel free to register early.