Lamb Gets A Name

I was amazed that I got over 50 name suggestions for the new lambakin. Everybody had some good suggestions. Tis a shame I don't happen to have 50 ram lambs right now that need naming. 

I finally decided upon Dodge Ram. I know, I know. It's a crazy name. But I'll be calling him Dodger.

So little Dodger it is. By the way, he is doing fine. Stacy brings him to me every morning, and although he's leery of me he watches me brush his mom and feed her treats. 

Isolation Cages

Now that I'm growing seed, I'll be growing some of it from time to time on the homestead farm. When that's the case, I'll sometimes need to cage the plants in order to keep them from cross pollinating. Of course, that depends upon which veggies I'm growing for seed. Some cross pollinate, some don't. Plus, there are other ways to prevent cross pollination. 

Isolation cages. I'm making a few cages for beans. I have a few bean varieties that do exceptionally well on my farm. So I might as well take advantage of that and grow them here. This I'm experimenting with isolation cages so that the bees don't cause cross pollination. Beans are primarily self pollinating. But foraging bees have been known to transport pollen from one bean variety to another. Therefore my isolation cages are being designed to exclude my honeybees. 

I'm figuring in making the cages 3' by 3' square, and 2' in height. I want them easy to put up, take down, and store away. Plus I want them made as inexpensively as feasible, recycling materials when possible. So my first step was to gather up assorted used lumber, cut it down into 1/2" by 1/2" widths, 3' and 2' lengths. To stabilize the frames, I used a 45° brace in each corner. 

Once the frames were made, I decided to cover them with clear lightweight plastic. I have a roll of plastic sheeting that had been given to me. Perfect for the job. 

I attached the plastic to the wood frame using a staple gun and home scrounged material in place of batten tape. I could have purchased a roll of batten tape, but hey.....I already had some bands that came off hay bales and some lengths of discarded electric fence tape. 

Here's a closer look-see on how I stapled the plastic on by running the "batten tape" over the plastic sheeting, then stapling it to the wood. This method prevents the plastic from pulling through the staple. 

How to quickly erect the cage?.......my first thought was to tap a nail in at the corners, then tie the frames together with a bit of string. I'm not entirely happy with this arrangement, but it will do for now. 

At the bottom of the frames, instead of tying them together, a well placed rock or stake does the trick. 

So now I have a cage with four sides. So far, so good. But now it needs a top. A plastic top will not work. The cage would get too hot inside. So I'm opting for screening which will let the heat out and the rain in. I have been collecting and saving old discarded screening for some time now, so I have a good supply. So I cut a few pieces into 3'6" squares. 

Now how to attach the screening? Remember, I want easy on/easy off, so staple gunning it to the frames won't do. I came up with the idea of using clothes pins. Quick and easy. 

Ta-da! Completed isolation cages. Very quick to erect and take down. Let sun in, rain in, heat out, and keep bees out. 

This is my first test run using these cages. So we shall see how they work. Will they prove effective in keeping bees out? I'm predicting that they will. Will they get too hot inside? If so, I could always use screening on one or more sides. Will they fall down if it gets breezy? Perhaps. Then I'd need to make them fit together in a sturdier fashion. 

I'm still not thrilled about those nails. I need to think of a better, simple solution. 

Seed Farm Update

I've been quiet on the blog during the month of January simply because I've run out of free time. The time I've normally spent blogging and reading has been usurped by my first income generating project. Not that I intend to switch over to a life of all work and no relaxation. Naw. I just got enthused and hooked on starting this new project. Now that the first baby step is underway, I need to slow down and be less intense. I noticed that I was gradually slipping back into the rat race lifestyle. Whoa........."slow down, you move too fast, ..." Yeah, I gotta make my mornings last.       :)

In order to have a micro seed retail business, I need seed to sell. I plan to sell only my own farm produced seed. Thus I've been setting up seed grow boxes down on the seed farm to grow them. In fact, I've hammered together 32 new boxes and am working on filling them up with compostable debris. I got the boxes made in just 4 days, but filling them will take a weeks. So far I've got 6 filled and seeded with beans, plus another 11 in the process of being filled. Now that I'm seeing the first boxes germinating, the frantic need to fill boxes seems to have lessened somewhat. My senses seem to be returning to me, rather than being over consumed with my new ideas. So time to back off, smell the roses, enjoy the sunsets. Ah, time to remember why I moved here. 

So far I've lined up 28 bean varieties to grow. Some snap beans, dry soup types, cowpeas, limas. And so far 9 pea varieties that I really like. A few shelling types but mostly snaps and snows. Next I'll take a  look over the radishes and decide which to grow. Now that I've got things rolling, I'm thinking that adding just one or two grow boxes a week would be just fine. No, I need to back off some......so let's say just one a week for now and see how that goes. 

No photos yet of the seed farm progress, but I'll get to it some day. 

Update - Walkin Closet

Yesterday there was a major stride in the building of the walk-in closet. The floor got installed!  

I had recently made a trip into town and stopped at Home Depot to pick up the flooring. I opted for the TrafficMaster snap together flooring. I had tried that brand in our hallway and it is holding up just fine. Although the store salesperson tried to steer me towards a snap together laminated wood flooring, I knew better than to go with that sort of product. While it might be "nicer" in many people's mind, laminate wood flooring is a disaster for my area. It is far too moist here. The floor quickly cups and is ruined. 

(Very pretty grain pattern. This one is "oak".)

Anyway, the floor is now down. Wahoo! Once I get the next load of cedar tongue & groove, the ceiling and trim will get completed. Then it's time to sheath the rafters and trim them. Ah-ha. Done. Well, except for installing the ceiling lights. Then it's time to make shelving and move in. 

Woodcrafting Tables

I haven't tried making my own furniture yet, but I'd gonna give it a try. Every since elementary school refused to allow me into wood shop (I had to take home economics where I learned to make placemats, potholders, and aprons, yuck), I've wanted to work with wood, make useful things. But I never learned the basics as a kid, and only now am trying to figure it out. 

I recently acquired two slabs of monkey pod from a dead tree. That's a variety that grows in my area. Monkey pod has very pretty grain. Well...at least that's my opinion. These two slabs are about 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. One is about 18 inches on its widest diameter, the other about 36". 

This bigger one has two holes in it. While others may see this as a defect, I count it as an asset. It will give the tabletop some character. Tables, yes. That's what I have in mind. 

First step is to rough sand it. The initial sanding is with #50 sandpaper and a belt sander. There are a lot of gouges from the saw, so it will take a bit of sanding. 

So after the initial sanding, this is what they look like...........

So far, I'm pretty pleased. Now I'll sand them using a finer grit, #80 paper. 

I think the grain is oh so pretty. Plus I plan on leaving the bark on and let it be rough. I still haven't figured out what sort of finish to use. Hope I decide well and don't ruin them. But we shall see what happens. 

Chickens -- Calcium

I've been asked to comment in what I use as a source of calcium for my chickens. How could a self sufficient/reliant farm supply this need? 

First, I don't believe that 100% of every resource has to come from the exact acreage of a self sufficient farm. As long as the farm can source the item locally  without undue expense, I believe that is enough. Local sourced, rather than shipped in from outside the region, sits fine with me.

Calcium. Most folks in the USA use ground oyster shells or ground limestone. They simply buy it at the feed store. I could do the same, but why should I? Locally I have a free source of calcium.....coral sand. 

On top of it, the sand is slightly salty from the ocean water. So it becomes a source of salt and trace ocean minerals too. 

I put the sand, right from the beach, into a small bucket which is fastened to the fence so that the birds don't knock it over. I purposely use a small mouthed container so that the hens don't climb in and kick the sand all about. The girls don't eat lots of sand, but over the course of time, they gradually eat away at it. 

My hens also eat small bones in their cooked slop & glop, mice when they can catch them, small birds (a type of dove) when they catch one, plus plenty of green leafy stuff like kale, spinach, and such. So all things considered and since their eggs have strong shells, I think they get enough calcium. 

Flowers in My Salad

Personally I like the idea of growing edible flowers. Sure it's a part of self sufficiency, but it like the beauty of them in my food. Hubby is just the opposite. They are not something he ate as a child, so he sees no need to start eating them as a adult. Oh well, his loss, my gain. 

Above is a bowl of mixed greens topped with lovely nasturtiums. I end up eating all the flowers. Can't even sneak one colorful tidbit passed hubby. Sigh. 

It may surprise you that I never ate a flower until I came to Hawaii. Like hubby, I had the opinion that I never ate them before and I wasn't starting. But getting into my self sufficiency project, I opened my mind to possibilities. Flowers are openly acceptable now. How pretty!