Using My Margins

Margins are those areas along defining lines that most people don't utilize. Places like.....

.....the foundation around buildings

.....the edges along a driveway

.....the space between a fence and building or orchard

.....the strip along a pasture fence

.....the ground between two greenhouses 

I became aware of using margins because I lacked decent soil to make enough in-the-sun garden beds to satisfy myself. So any and all land with soil that was a sunny location was pressed into growing space. Since then, I've gone into making gardens in margins because they are accessible and I can add soil to the low spots. Thus the driveway margin beds. 

On the other side of the rockwall, most of the ground is low. Not all, because the rockwall was built right into the raised ground in some spots. Where the ground is low I've been filling in. Layers of coarse vegetation, cardboard, waste paper, fresh grass clippings, chicken pen litter, pasture manure, compost, and soil gradually fill in the future garden bed. After a few weeks of filing, watering, stomping, the low places get filled up. I'm aware that this fill will reduce in depth significantly, so I plan on refilling in a couple of months. It will take several months before the new beds are ready for their final planting. 

The above pictured area is still in the settling process, but I said what the heck and planted sweet potato cuttings today. When I comes time to add more fill in a couple months I'll simply harvest the vines to feed to the livestock. That way I'll get a harvest while I'm waiting for the final garden bed to develop. 

This area I'm now working on ........

It was about a 2 foot deep and 3 foot wide hole behind the rock wall. It's ready for planting and will be first planted with a banana tree, some shade tolerant taro, a few pineapple plants for the sunnier spots, and sweet potatoes as the ground cover. After the taro and sweet potatoes are harvested out, I could grow other semi shade crops such as cholesterol spinach and turmeric. Or switch gears completely and make a perennial bed with bananas and chaya.  Who knows. I can let you know next week what got planted, 

Continuing With a Rock Walls

It seems the just about every project I get involved with ends up with a pile of rocks. No problem. There's always a rockwall that can be added. 

I've been working on making new garden beds along the driveway margins. Plus I've been removing surface rock from the pasture areas I'm improving. An almost constant source of rocks. 

Here's the new stretch of wall going up along the driveway. It's far from being done, but it's on the way. 

For years I've been adding walls to line the driveway, and I'm not even close yet to running out of driveway. Yes, I've got a really long driveway. But you know, it's starting to look really nice. I find that driving up toward the house, with rockwall and gardens lining each side, is really "rich" looking. 

Rats!

Living rural, rats are always a problem. Living next to a macnut farm, rats can be an absolute nightmare. Rats are the reason why this farm maintains a dozen or so cats. We really need them to deter a rat invasion. 

Last night some bold & brazen rat got my window screens. 

Lucky for me, the windows were shut. Otherwise I'd be dealing with a rat in the house. Egads, just what I need. But what really annoyed me was the the buggah went around a chewed holes in 8 screens!!!!!!!!! Not fair. 

I showed the holes to Crookshank, my best rat catcher. He was mightily interested in the smell. Let's hope he does some rat hunting tonight, 

Problematic Gate Post

When the new rotational pasture fence was being put up, we ran into a section where the pahoehoe lava was real close to the surface. As a result the fence posts couldn't be properly pounded in. For much of the fence, it didn't really matter. Sheep don't tend to put much stress on a fence. But the gate was another matter. 

The post supporting the gate needed to be firm. I could have had a neighbor bring over his skid steer with a hydraulic hammer to bust a hole........or I could cop out the quick & dirty way by pouring some concrete. Being impatient, I dragged out the concrete. It may not look neat and pretty, but it's dang functional. It gets the job done. That fence post surely isn't moving anywhere soon. 

Transporting Sheep

"K" emailed to ask how I transported the new sheep. 

Transporting sheep, I find, is easy. I don't need to use a special trailer. I don't need to call in a livestock hauler. I don't need to cram sheep into dog crates. Nor truss them up with duct tape or rope. No. I use a "cage" that I made especially for my truck. 

After measuring the dimensions of my truck bed, I custom cut and bent cattle panels to fit the truck space. I wanted flexibility in using it, so I didn't weld the pieces together. I simply used snap hooks to attach the pieces. That way I can take the "cage" apart to store it. And using cattle panels is far lighter in weight than using lumber. I can easily toss this cage into the back of the truck all by myself. 

The sheep themselves seem to respond to this set up just fine. They aren't panicked. They aren't trying to escape. I guess because they can see in all directions, they don't feel trapped. Just guessing. 

Above is a picture of the snaps I use to hold the pieces together. They are easy to put on and take off, and they are secure enough to hold the sheep. 

I use black rubber bungees to hold the cage down. This way the sheep can't shift it around or accidently flip it. One bungee on each corner does the job. 

I find it's easy to put sheep in and out of the cage by using the back panel as a door. I've never had a problem with loading and unloading. 

New Lambs -- Fresh Bloodlines

I picked up ten new lambs to add to my flock. The opportunity was there and I needed two things : fresh blood in the breeding flock and more mouths to graze down my excess grass. I actually didn't care if I got ewe or wether lambs (although I would like at least a few ewe lambs in the bunch) because I primarily wanted my grass under control. I figured that if they were wethers, I could just put them into the freezer when the task was done. But the seller was interested in keeping the wethers himself to grow on for meat, so I got all ewes. That was just as fine with me. So instead of slaughtering them, I'll just add them to the breeding flock. This gives me the opportunity to phase out the older ewes. Plus now I won't need to replace my rams since these new ewes aren't closely related to my current stock. 

For now they will be isolated from my other sheep until they adjust to the change. Sheep stress out fairly easily, and when stressed can come down sick. So best to let then adjust to their new home, new grass, new schedule before they meet the resident sheep. 

For now they are in the newly fenced rotational pastures up at the front of the farm. I'll let them work their way through the grass while I visit them several times a day, getting them use to my presence and a grain bucket. I'd like them to follow a grain bucket before I move them into the back pastures. These lambs are not bottled fed babies, so they are quite skittish around people. I don't expect them to be friendly, but I'd like to be able to control them easily without a lot of to-do. 

Crusty Lost a Toe

Crusty is one of the farm dogs. We're guessing he's about 8-9 years old, but we really don't know. He wandered in as an adult dog several years ago.

Two weeks ago we noticed a growth atop one of the toes on his hind foot. I was planning on attending a spay/neuter clinic in a week, so I figured I'd take him along and nick off the little lump. But once we had him under anesthesia, closer investigation revealed a second lump deep in the pad. Rather than take a chance, I opted to have the toe removed. 

Good old Crusty is now a three-toed-dawg.........(sounds like there's a country western song in there some place).

He's doing just fine. Other than being annoyed with the stitches, he acts normal. He's even frisking with Noodles and Spotz. 

Even though he's missing one toe pad, it hasn't affected his walking and general gait. He runs up the hillside stairs, jumps up into hubby's lap, does all his normal things. I find it amazing and humbling that they simply get on with life. Gee, if it had been me I'd be limping around for sure, even if it was just to garner a bit of sympathy.