GETTING IT TOGETHER

OOPS, I forgot to put in the pictures of the finished wall. The first picture is of the wall from the deck looking toward the greenhouse  and the second is the end toward the greenhouse.

The only thing left is to put down weed barrier along the filbert trees and cover with compost. Therefore this edit has to be put up so you can see where we are.

Well the last couple of weeks has really gotten a lot of things done that we needed around here. Weekend before last our eldest son and family came over and helped us on the block wall as well as repairing two spots on the ceiling that were damaged when the shower up stairs leaked, he also repaired the shower drain. I have already posted pics of the wall when he was done, and I will get pics of the ceilings soon.

 

This last weekend our youngest son and kids came down with one of his friends and two of his kids, wow what a houseful.

We had sold our D-2 Caterpillar to the son's friend and they came to pick it up. Prior to loading the Cat on the trailer they had to play with it, which was to our advantage. As you can see from the above photo, we can actually park our truck under our car port.

 This is looking across the pond at the largest log removed from the pond and placed to catch soil.

 This is another view of the same log.

 This is a second pile of logs also removed from the Pond, they are braced against an old growth stump.

They used the cat to pull several logs out of the pond and place them as eco-logs to catch runoff and stop erosion.

After placing the logs both of the men cleaned out our Goat barn and used the bedding for a filter layer next to the logs, after which they hauled about half my dirt pile down onto the top of the bedding so the horses would not eat the alfalfa that was waste from feeding the goats.

All of the kids helped in ways they could depending on age and size.

This is what the area on top of the first log looks like, at this point I have also planted grass seed on the soil. during the seed planting we received a lot of light rain that wet things down but didn't dislodge the seed. 

Really looks great now, Janice and I went all around the place planting grass seed, about 75 pounds in total. We covered the horse paddock first.

 We are really hoping with the rain this seed takes off and grows well, but as you can see below, the horses were not confined off of this area.

 As you can see by the next two pics the horses are really glad the rain has stopped. I am hoping that the churning of the soil by the horses will help make better soil to seed contact and improve germination. 

At one point Everyone was gone from the place and I got ambitious and stacked a half pallet of blocks onto the wall.

 It really is starting to look pretty good!

 Janice went out today and started curving the ends around toward the drive way.

 Today the Honey Bees are happy, happy, happy, the rain has stopped and they are working their little selves like crazy.

 Janice went out yesterday while I was seeding the paddock and cut the grass in the bee yard by hand, no easy task.

 This is an area in the trees in the pasture that we seeded, due to it being almost totally bare.

 I also seeded up the hill under the log there. I had already seeded above the log a couple of weeks back. I did walk up and check above the log and new grass is sprouting there.

This is a bare area in the pasture where the horses really like to roll. Actually it previously had grass growing there, but that's horses for you.

We hired our neighbor to cut, split and stack our firewood this year. Holy Cow does it ever feel good to know that chore is done.

 Janice picked the last of the Turnips and Beets out of the greenhouse, maybe time to plant more outside.

 The sweet Peas, Green Onions, Green Beans, more Radishes, and a little lettuce is doing well.

 We really didn't think these pigs would have grown this fast. The area they are laying across is eight feet, that means they are in the four foot range. Makes me think Pork Chops are in the not too distant future.

Janice has finished this end's curve, now onward! Oh shoot, now she wants me to sharpen the shears she uses on the grass. She can't use the weed eater due to the Shasta Daises and the Filbert Trees being too close.

 

LOTS GOING ON THIS WEEKEND

This weekend was very busy. Our eldest son and his family came to visit and assist us with some stuff around the place. Of course it broke my heart when Kaitlyn spent a lot of time playing with Grandpa.

Specifically two spots on the main floor ceiling where the shower had leaked upstairs and damaged the main floor ceiling. Our oldest son is a good builder and knows that kind of thing much better than Janice or I. While here D.J. also helped out with stacking Blocks in the wall Janice is building.

 The Peonies are really looking nice and since Janice and D.J. worked over the yard so does it.

 We are still going to need a few of pallets of blocks to finish this wall and the garden in the center of the yard.

Today D.J. and some of his family are in Brookings, one of his long time friends has Cancer, and D.J. is building him a wheelchair ramp into his home.

 Natasha is becoming quite the horse lady and Flash is really liking the extra attention. This is his second grooming of the day.

 Dancer was being especially good for Janice today and she is loving the attention also.

 I wasn't able to get the camera before they left as I helped them tack up.

 I thought Flash was going to go into the paddock when they returned the first time but he was just headed for the trail again. 

Janice and Tash went for a second little ride.

 

After Janice helped D.J. haul some wood down to Brookings, Natasha came back to spend the night with us, so her and Janice got the horses ready and went for a ride. They both said they enjoyed themselves and the horses were wanting to go as well. I could really tell Tasha really liked the ride she was excited and talking about 40 miles a minute.

Progress on Block Wall

 

I was finally able to start work on the block wall again yesterday. The rain has finally decided to subside for a while.

 

 

I made good progress as I got the base row finally complete to the point at each end I will slightly start to make a bend.

 

At the top of the row we have some filberts planted and need to get them weeded very badly. So I will be working very hard to get this wall up and back filled. I then want to get the weeds cut back and pulled away from the filberts. Then I will take cardboard or news paper (very thick) and spread around the trees and fill with compost. I do that to help stop the weeds from coming back so soon. I plan on putting a soaker hose down first with a short piece of regular hose connected to the faucet so all I have to do is turn it on and off as needed and the filberts will get watered.

 

As I was headed back to the house after taking the first two pictures I noticed my Jasmine is full of blooms getting ready to open. This is the first time it has been this full. Exciting for me.

 

Hope everyone has a great day and may God Bless each one.

ADDITIONS TO GRAFTING

OK so you've gotten the down and dirty lesson in Grafting, now let me expand on some stuff. Firstly if using black electrical tape, it should only be left on for one season, as it will constrict the growth of the plant.

Don't worry if not every bit of the Cambium is touching, as long as you have good contact the graft has a good chance. Different types of grafts have better percentages of success. Plant material being grafted should be from the same family i.e. Apple/Apple, Stone fruit/stone fruit.

When doing Cleft Grafts use Grafting wax to seal the grafts. Do not rely on the asphalt or tar material, or paraffin type wax. They will all crack thus making the graft no longer air tight. A cleft graft, by the way, is where you saw a limb or trunk of a tree, then make splits at the ends in order to insert the scion wood with 2-3 buds contacting what cambium you are able,.

The Bridge graft would be used where a tree or other plant is damaged, as in some animal chews the bark girdling the trunk. You can take Scion wood from the same or like plant and graft both ends of the scion across the girdled area. Don't do what I did, Please nail both ends with appropriate sized brad nails. When I used this graft I just taped it in place on both ends (I used three around the trunk of a small tree). The tree did well the first summer and well into the next spring, but then we got some big winds which broke the grafts and the tree died.

A couple of odd grafts, I have not tried but they are supposed to be compatible are, tomato grafted to the root stock of potato, or Hops Scion grafted to the root stock of the cannabis plant. (note Cannabis plants are illegal in most state without special circumstances) There are many companies selling what they refer to as fruit cocktail trees.

also there are certain grafts normally used on certain family's of trees as Bud grafting usually used for stone fruit, citrus, and small fruit trees done by the hundreds in nursery's. Splice grafts to add pollination to a tree, to add a desired variety to a small seedling or rootstock or top work small trees.
Cleft Graft is usually used to top work larger branches or tree trunks. This being said I have not heard or read any hard and fast rules regarding this. For grafting smaller (pencil sized) stock there is a tool that cuts a "keyhole" Type cut across the stock, grafts made with this tool are supposed to have a 95% success rate. Other grafts have lower success rates.

Arbor sculpture, one thing I want to try is to plant Willow whip cuttings along a line where a fence is wanted. Willows are 100% strike rate and planted at 45 degree angles opposing each other and then weave and graft to make a fence. A living growing fence might be pretty cool!!! Imagine a weeping Willow fence.

A SIMPLE FIRST LESSON IN GRAFTING PLANT MATERIAL

OK, so along the way I have told several people that I would devote a post to the art of GRAFTING. I was born and raised in the central valley where at that time there were many fruit and nut trees and I was a curious child.

 I tried my first graft at age 6, and would have most likely succeeded if I had used an air tight tape instead of surgical gauze.

I later took a grafting class through the OSU Master Gardeners in about 2000, I then became a Master Gardener in 2005 and taught Grafting along with other subjects for some years. I have also taught Grafting through our public Library.

This is going to be pretty down and dirty, Firstly make sure you sterilize all materials, tools, and your hands. A solution of one part bleach to nine parts water is good for this. This is after all, Plant Surgery.

At this point we need to talk about the biology of the plants you want to work with, by the way Grafting only works on diploid plants. these plants consist of three basic parts. There is the Xylem, this is the woody part of the plant. Then you have the Phloem, which is the bark material of the plant. In between these two parts is the Cambium, this is the layer that produces the rest of the plant and where the plant grows.

Next we have to realize there are many types of Graft, each working basically in the same manner but just in a different form. Types of graft include the Cleft, Splice, Bridge, Bud, as well as others. The most commonly used Graft by the average person are Splice and Bud Grafting. Not all Grafts will succeed.

The basics of all grafts are; you need to make good contact of the cambium of the Root stock and the Scion wood, The graft needs to be kept Air tight (so it won't dry out), make sure all materials tools and hands are sanitized.

In Splice grafting long tapered cuts are made on both the rootstock and the scion wood, if you want a tongue can be cut in the middle to assist in holding position. This graft is usually done at the first slip of the bark in spring, about Feb. - March. Making good cambium contact tape together with black electrical tape or grafting tape, tightly. This needs to be air tight. In grafting Scion wood you only want 2-3 buds on the scion wood , no more. Seal the top of the Scion with 2-3 buds with Grafting Wax so it has less chance to dry out and die.

Bud Grafting is usually done in late summer where a swollen growth bud is taken from the Scion plant in a small shield shape. These are found at the base of the leaf stem or petiole.
Remove the wood (Xylem) from this piece. Make a T cut vertically on the root stock and open the Bark (Phloem) on both sides, exposing the Cambium, and insert the bud under the flaps making good Cambium contact. In this graft it's best to use Grafting Tape, wrap tightly but only put one layer over the top of the bud. this bud should heal but not grow until the next spring. If using on a small rootstock in the spring cut above the bud to force it's growth.

Sorry most of the graphics I used in my power point would not copy or transfer over to the blog, but please if you have any questions please ask! Oh before I forget Arbor Sculpture is using Grafting in making interesting living items. Willows work very well for practice.

  Enjoy!!!

 



MEMORIAL DAY

 Nue Van Song was an ARVIN (South Vietnamese Army) Lieutenant with whom I was friends.

 

I can't help but remember and think about fallen comrades on this day, especially since I had gotten into my Company (C company 2nd Platoon 2nd Battalion of the 60th Infantry)  in Viet Nam the second week of May 1969. People forget the price paid by our Brave young Men and Women in times of war. And any conflict our country is in, is a WAR.

Tommy Nebel and I arrived the second week of May, and were in combat the next day. This started out by our entire Battalion being pinned down in a single rice paddy. We were being hit with mortars and snipers fire, and then an Officer set off the wrong colored smoke grenade. This is when our own helicopters opened fire on us, many casualties.

 

That day was bad, but the next day was worse. We still had the entire 2nd of the 60th infantry together with two 155MM howitzers (the lightest projectile the 155's fired was 92 pounds with bags of powder behind them) and a lot of Air Support, this time on line advancing on a tree line supposedly against at least a battalion of NVA regulars. We  advanced three times and were repelled three times, along with air strikes and artillery fire in between with many more casualties.

 

At three in the afternoon, my platoon leader decided that Tommy, myself and Sgt. Jenkins should try to flank the tree line to the right. We are talking about, two newbie teenagers (third day with our unit) PFC's with a more experienced, still teenager Sargent Trying to flank a Battalion of North Vietnamese Regular soldiers whom howitzers, jet aircraft with bombs and Napalm, and cobra helicopters carrying mini-guns and rockets along with our machined guns and M-16 hadn't whipped..

 

We advanced about 300 yards when we saw the muzzle flashes, I jumped right and started laying down cover fire. Sgt. Jenkins jumped Left and also returned fire, Tommy dropped in his tracks. After neutralizing the threat, both Jenkins and I went to Tommy, he had been shot twice through the guts and once in his hand. The shot in his hand had laid the left hand open , you could see all the bones, tendons muscles and such. The two through his guts ripped out most of his liver and spline and deposited that along with a lot of blood onto the front of my clothes. I ended up wearing a lot of Tommy for three days.

 

We patched Tommy up as best we could, and tried to tell him he would be OK, then carried him back to our lines and the med-evac helicopters. Tommy lived 14 days when doctors said he should not have lived fourteen minutes.

We captured many enemy weapons that were later made into plaques for the officers which THEY were allowed to take home.

Later Sgt. Jenkins showed me a letter, he was  writing me up for a Bronze Star with a V for Valor, I never got that citation, but really didn't care because I was just doing my job for my country and trying to cover mine and my comrades butts. Well I lived through that action and many more each more horrific than the last, I was in my post, Tan Tru, on an  unusual time off duty, and decided to go and get a regular Mess hall meal, as we had only eaten C rations and stuff purchased or sent from home. As I approached the Mess hall, Darned if it wasn't taken out by an enemy mortar, not one regular meal but we all became master chefs with C rations canned in the 1940's.

I was assigned to "Eagle Flights" basically we flew from place to place looking for a fight, and boy did we find them. I am ashamed to say it got to the point where I didn't want to know anyone else, they would just die.

 

I came home and even though I always worked, I was angry, depressed and denied I had PTSD for years. I married my wife, Janice (a Saint) and had two children (great sons), but I lived with survivors guilt and a lot of anger over the waste of life, and still do. I worked thirty five jobs in thirty years, with the longest being eight years as a child protective worker for the State. While in Viet Nam I was protective of a war orphan, "To My", (not to be confused with Tommy), who lived on the scrap heap of our camp, they would not allow him in the safety of the Huche (wood building surrounded with dirt filled Ammo boxes to protect from rockets).

It didn't hit me until many years later that someone who didn't deserve that citation may have received it. I was at an eye doctor's office waiting to be seen and while looking around the wall noticed the citation of a Silver Star awarded to that Doctor, just for being in Viet Nam, no blood, no death, just for being in country. I also read in the news about a Major in the air force playing Trombone with a band who got a Bronze Star just for being in Iraq.

 

I am not writing this for sympathy, I just want to remind people who read this, that we still have Brothers Sisters, Mothers and Fathers still under the hardships of WAR. We need to remember and HONOR them every chance we get. They are the reason we are free to laugh, and work in a free Nation, the United States of America.
Remember our NAVY, ARMY, MARINES , AIR FORCE, and  COAST GUARD even at home protect our Counrty!!!!

Life today with grandchildren is GOOD!!!
"LIBERTY IS A TASTE THAT THE PROTECTED WILL NEVER KNOW" by Unknown

BEGINNERS GIVING BEES A HEALTHY START WITH HERBAL BEE TEA

We are three weeks into our new adventure as beekeepers.  My amazement every time I peek in the hive, or the saucy pride I feel when I notice some of our bees working away on lavender, kale, and fruit tree blossoms has yet to wear off.  At this point, it is hard to imagine I will ever take these hardworking little honeybees for granted!

As a beginner (and I mean brand new, never-before, only-read-a-bunch-of-books novice), my first obsession was simply getting the bees to stay.  I wanted to make sure our home-built hive was as hospitable as possible and that the new bees had everything they needed to get off to a good start.

We started by preparing our hive—since we built a Kenyan Top Bar beehive, we needed to make sure that each of the 28 bars was an obvious choice where the bees would know to attach their combs.  We melted about 4 ounces of beeswax pastilles over low heat, and dipped lengths of hemp string we’d precut to be just a tad smaller than the bars into the warm wax.  We then just pressed the string along the length of the bar.  This way, the bees would have a guide from which to attach the combs they’d be building from scratch!  For added hospitality, I sprinkled a handful of beeswax pastilles along the bottom of the hive and shook several drops of lemongrass essential oil at each end of the hive.  We did this a week or two before we got our bees, so the hive was ready and waiting.

Herbal Bee Tea

Amidst all my pre-bee research, I came across the Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary (www.spikenardfarm.org) in Virginia.  They are a wonderful resource for organic beekeeping and bee health information.  There is a “Healing Tea for Honeybees” created at Spikenard Farm that I adapted for our Pacific Northwest bee scene:
(I used a mix of dried and fresh herbs and flowers, but you could use all dried or all fresh):
Heat 3 cups of water to boiling
Prepare a tea mix:
½ teaspoon organic dried chamomile
½ teaspoon organic dried yarrow
½ teaspoon organic dried nettle
½ teaspoon organic dried peppermint
¼ teaspoon organic dried sage
2 fresh Dandelion flowers
½ teaspoon organic fresh or dried hyssop leaves
½ teaspoon organic fresh or dried thyme leaves
2-3 big, organic fresh or dried lemon balm leaves
Put all of the herbs into a large tea infuser (you could use cheesecloth or simply put them in a jar and then strain them after steeping) and pour 3 cups of boiling water over.  Let this steep for 10-15 minutes.  Then, add 3 cups of cold water.  You will find this is a surprisingly strong smelling infusion! Check out the original recipe for other herbs you can add to the tea.
Once it has cooled to room temperature/lukewarm, stir in 1 cup of high quality, organic, local honey.  I put a quart of this in a chicken watering container and filled the tray with little rocks, but you could definitely use a quart-sized bee feeder too (store the remainder in the fridge and use if/as needed.) The idea is to put the tea out where the bees can take it if they need it and use in times of stress—new colony and hive, early in the season, late in the season, etc. I left it out for about a week until it seemed like the bees were doing just fine and had plenty of nectar and pollen to forage for.
At this point, our bees seem to be going strong.  We have been going in for a visit each week and have watched as they built the initial combs, the queen started laying eggs, and things have progressed to several full combs, hundreds of capped brood, honey and pollen deposits, and what looks to be an expanding operation! I love the faint smell of honey as I walk by the hive on warm, sunny days and the steady whirring buzz of all those bees working away inside.  And don’t even get me started about how fun it is to watch those bees clamber all over our garden plants and then speed off back to our hive!

The Above was copied from http://mountainrose.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bees4.jpg with written permission. I wish to give many thanks to Mountain Rose Herbs for letting me share this post. ALSO TO NOTE I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS PERSONALLT YET!

Visit

Our oldest son and his family came to visit us this weekend and was very enjoyable. The two older girls and I went riding on Sunday after it rained all weekend and finally cleared up just before they were getting ready to leave. So it was a very short ride, but they had fun any way. They like to come to grandma and grandpa's house to ride.
I took a picture of the youngest with her grandpa playing a game on the computer. Was too cute to pass up.

 

She won the game

Honeybees are vanishing so fast we might soon have nothing to eat

Honeybees are vanishing so fast we might soon have nothing to eat (click the previous line to read the article)

In order to try to ensure our own survival we must spread the word. Pollination accounts for 80% of our food supply. Act now, contact your legislators and even down the line to State, County, and City government people.

UPDATE FOR THE FIRST OF MAY 2013

Things here are going well, or at least as well as can be expected. Our new honey bees appear to be happy and setting up housekeeping in their new hives.

 

The Horses have been very good lately, wanting to please more than ever before. Janice and Andria took them for a ride on Sunday for about 1 1/2 miles and they did well. Of Course they are little out of shape from sitting all winter.
The baby goats are all big enough to wean and sell, which will happen very soon.

 

I started to remove some of the mountain of dirt from the upper driveway. Prior to that Janice and I dug in a used tire retaining wall around the west rear corner of the horses barn as Flash had stomped a pretty large hole in the west stall. After the repair I moved a lot of dirt to try to help keep the dirt from coming out from under the barn wall. There were several areas in the paddock where sudden drops were left, after having some stumps removed, which I tried to repair and smooth out. There is still a lot to do.

 

In the picture above the large pile of dirt at the back of the upper driveway used to be over twice as big. I spent about 5-6 hours on the tractor moving what I got moved. OK, so my tractor is a compact, it's better than a wheel barrow.

 One little chore Janice and I took care of yesterday was to move a few stock panels to the top of the garden in the center of the yard. We felt we needed to do this for two reasons. One, we graze the horses on what others would call lawn, and Flash has been known to taste things that look good to him that are really for us, like the really nice Asparagus spear. Then Second We have a lot of deer in this area and several think everything we have planted is for them, so hopefully this will discourage their munching lips. 

 As you can see in the above picture Janice has started that stack block wall below the Filbert Hedge. It is slow heavy work and I help what I can, but Janice does most of this, I just move some block around where it's easier for her to reach.

 As you can see by the line of pallets of block in the back, it is a long process. It's also hard to see but between the stack block wall being built and the river rock wall in front we have planted six apple and pear trees across that area. They are still pretty small as I only grafted them year before last.

The cedar stump in the middle of the wall that didn't get ground this year, was a good location for our Grizzly Bear.



Updates and More

We had such a beautiful day today that I went around the yard and took some pictures to update on some of the projects we started earlier and some new ones.

Below, the strawberries that I planted earlier this spring are starting to grow really nice. I think the new cage is going to work pretty well as far as keeping the unwanted critters from nibbling on them.

 

 

I can hardly wait for the strawberries to start bearing fruit now.

As you can see, the bee hives are ready to go and waiting for the new inhabitants to arrive. We put some cinder blocks down with two 2 x 10's on top of them. Living on the hill side you do what you have to to make things level. 

 

Also, with all the rain we get, hopefully this will keep the hives out of the water and dryer for the bees. This winter we will have to put up some sort of wind block until the plants that we planted around the inside of the fence grows up enough to block the storms.

 

Our next project in the stacking block wall at the back side of the area that Don leveled out earlier this spring. You can see the blocks piled up behind the area we will be building the wall. We are just waiting for the weather to dry out enough to start the project. Will take more pic's when we are finished. It shouldn't take us too long to do once we can get started.

HONEY BEE YARD

Well we are almost done with the yard for our honey bees. Yesterday Janice and I worked on the fence between the horse paddock and the bee yard. It's complete except for installing woven hog wire to the back side and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It was nice to be able to reuse a gate that was on the place when we moved in thirteen years ago.

 The rails on the fence are two by eight pressure treated wood.

In this picture and the last, you can almost see the Honey Bee Hives. 

 From the bottom you can see the hives better. Right now they are painted two shades of green, although we plan on painting some camouflage onto them, in the future. If you look up at the horse barn Flash and Dancer are watching to make sure I get some good pictures. 

Uh-Oh, someone is coming, we'd better watch them and make sure they aren't a threat.

NEW FAMILY MEMBERS

Janice and I went over and picked up a couple of new members to our farm family yesterday. We had purchased a handy dandy animal transport with a sliding door and attached it to a pallet with plumber's tape.

Being on the pallet was really handy when it came to unloading the two, one hundred pound pigs we purchased. Red and Blackie were really scared when we brought them home especially after riding in the back of the truck for a couple of hours, even if the front side of the transport was tarped to protect them from most of the wind. When I went out this morning both of them had snuggled into their bed, and didn't even want to raise their heads for a while.

 After calling to them for a little while, Red raised her head just to peak at me a little .

 Then Blackie raised her head a little, but neither kept their head up for long, it had been a hard day the day before and they wanted to relax and get used to the new surroundings. They had already eaten and had a little water, so were ready for a nap.

The new pigs were not the only ones being lazy this morning. We had left Flash and Dancer in the pasture last night and after Janice did chores this morning, Flash decided to lay down for a little nap.

 And of course with me walking around taking pictures and talking to the other animals, Grizzly decided he needed some attention as well, so of course I had to give him some scratches 

What do you mean our animals are spoiled!!!