High 34            Low 26    Bright and sunny in the afternoon, thick fog in the morning and night.

Whew, I made it. It’s been a busy holiday season. Even though I have worked a lot, I can truly say it’s been a Happy Holiday season. I have worked most every weekend selling our farms “value-added” items. SongCroft Naturals is expanding it’s all-natural skin, body and hair care from Farmers Markets, to Holiday Fairs and now in to retail establishments. This is exciting news. We now have products and gift baskets in the Yogalife Studio at Greenlake as well as the Natural Clothing Company on First Street in historic Snohomish. We are happy to partner with both owners who are wonderful people that support other small local businesses.

Now that the business events are over, I am taking the next two weeks off to just hang out with my family. We will go ice skating, make a gingerbread house, bake cookies, make name tags, watch classic holiday movies, wrap presents, play board games and create memories that can only be created through true connection and love. This is what Happy Holidays are made of.

My side of the family will join us on Christmas eve for a dinner of smoked chickens, roasted vegetables, baked quinoa, salad and pumpkin pies. A great deal of the ingredients will be from our land. We are still harvesting cabbages, collards, kale, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, spinach and parsnips. We have squash set aside from local farms (those who had extra sent some our way after our ducks made chop suey out of the vines).

We will exchange gifts, play some games and I think the younger generation will be playing with nerf guns and magic cards. (neither of which are something that I can relate to). The rest of us will likely be making jewelry, talking and laughing at life through stories and memories.

I especially value this Christmas as one where I can enjoy both my own family (as my children are still young and at least one still enjoys toys) and my mother who is starting to show her age. I find myself cherishing every moment that I get with her. How fortunate I am to be able to experience this before she leaves this world. A Happy Holiday for her is to have her girls together with their families.

To update you on what is happening on the farm, as mentioned, we are still harvesting the aforementioned vegetables and we also have a lot of herbs. We put up a few hundred pounds or apples and potatoes for the winter so we are enjoying them. Our “Liberty” apple and “Spartan” produced well for their first time. Next year I will likely have to thin them a bit to get bigger fruit. Our medlar gave plenty of fruit. They are palatable but not especially juicy. While they would be helpful in a time of scarcity, they are not proving to be a family favorite.

The hens and rooster , Iris, are doing well. They have a very nice dry space thanks to Brian’s work this past Spring as well as the recent coop improvements made this past week. There are now added roosts inside the coop and tomorrow morning I plan to staple a layer of greenhouse plastic across the top of the walls to lower the ceiling in hope of it holding more heat in. The plastic is clear so light will still come through the rigid clear poly-carb roof and the air trapped between the two should create insulations. We have not added a light.

The turkeys are doing well. I added a nesting box today so we will see if we get some eggs. There is a hen that is squatting every time I walk past her. This is a good sign that she wants to hatch some eggs. I will get a leg band for her and over the next couple of weeks, I will band three hens to save for breeding. Midget Whites are good breeders so no artificial inseminations is needed.

The goats are still not bred and just like last year, they are not showing strong signs of wanting to be. There has been no one calling out, flagging her tail or anything else. I thought for sure they would go in to ester on the full moon but instead they got totally silent and pretended to be statues because coyotes came to visit. Maybe the coyotes scared the hormones right out of them (kidding)

I sold six rabbits this past month.  Lots of people have been interested in our rabbits. They are a good bunch and easy for people in the city to raise. They produce great manure that is highly valuable. I have been able to use it to barter with. I love raising rabbits!

Our ducks are still quacking about. They are not interesting in going in to their pen at night and are hard to catch. I am hoping ot catch them soon before a coyote or bobcat gets them first.

Well, that is the skinny on what is happening down-on-the-farm. How are things up your way?

Happy Holidays!

If you would like to support our farm by purchasing some amazing personal care products that you probably need anyway, www.songcroftnaturals.com is our retail website. We will have all 35 products there shortly! Check our Facebook page for sales and special offers. Thanks.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

It’s been a busy harvest season here on SongCroft. I have been canning tomatoes, peaches, pickles, sauces, plums, and salmon. Crocks of cucumbers and sauerkraut have been fermenting and sausages were made. Whether you are homesteading or not, this the time to put up the harvest!

There is lots to do as we transition from the summer into autumn. Alfalfa must be stacked for winter feeding of goats, stalls must be cleaned, hooves trimmed and herbal worming must become a ritual. I must also watch for signs of the does going into ester as we have one two-year old doe on our homestead who will be bred for the first time this year.

Chickens have their needs too. I do an extra deep cleaning of their yard and house, scrub out the nest boxes and give them a little extra diatomaceous earth to ward off mites. Pests become more active in the wet months so these are preventative steps.

The duck flock had to be reduced as we had to many drakes. Drakes can be relentless in their desire to breed and if the ratio of drakes to hens is out of balance, the hens lose. My youngest child and I worked together in harvesting our ducks and making them in to the best sausage we have ever had!

I’ll have to begin harvesting turkeys soon too. Our flock of 11 are huge and beautiful. I will keep my favorite tom and two-three hens with the hope of breeding them next year. The rest will come Thanksgiving dinner and many other meals throughout fall and winter.

Now is also the time to amend the soil. I plan to get several pick-up truck loads of horse manure from a neighbor who feeds only organic hay. We are making compost on our homestead but want to get a jump start by bringing a bunch on to our homestead instead of waiting until we make enough o our own. In time, we plan to only use what we make ourselves. This as well as all of the Big Leaf Maple leaves I rake from the neighbors 4 acres will be piles on our garden beds before they are seeded with fava beans and winter rye. (That means  I better get a move on things because I’m running out of weather!)

There is also garlic to be planted so we can enjoy it’s harvest all next year. Deciding where I want it to go this fall is a challenge since I want to add the manure and leaf mulch too. I will have to work that one out soon.

This is also a great time to plant or relocate plants. I moved a plum so it can grow on the edge of the campground and placed a medlar in it’s former place. I hope that I will be able to  pitch a tent under the plum tree in future years. It will bring back fond memories of my summer with my kids on the Bullock Brothers Permaculture Farm on Orcas Island.

In between the chores, I hope to get in some reading, board games and knitting. What are you doing prepare for fall? are you on a homestead or ? We would love to hear more about our readers.

If you are interested in reading more about  moving towards self-sufficiency as a family, check out our quarterly newsletter. The Winter 2012 issue is going to have our duck sausage recipe!

High 65 Low 40                 Clear sunny day with some crispness

Want to live on a farm for the summer?

It is that time of year. The time when interns are moving on to farms all around the country in hope of learning how to grow food, work with livestock and for some run a business.

Our interns will get to learn some of all of the above and a whole lot more! We are opening our farm to up to three interns at a time. We hope to keep the same folks from June to September so that they can build community and learn the processes more deeply. A minimum of 30 days is required.

Most of you know that we run a Self-Sufficiency Skills School as well as Farm Camp and other classes. Our interns get to experience these things as well as be part of the day-to-day learning opportunities. Interns will work along side of us as well as independently as we grow food, harvest, save seed, put up the harvest, milk our goat, raise (goat and human) kids, make cheese, raise chickens, sell eggs,raise bees, tend our fruit trees, build an outbuilding and enjoy our silly ducks.

Interns will be living permaculture.

We are outside of Snohomish, WA on a 3+ acre family farm. We are not a big operation but rather a small farm working on a closed system, permaculture design and cottage business. We are close to lots of amazing hiking, beautiful lakes and a sweet little town that feels like it’s out of an old movie.

We have a weekly farmers market booth where we sell our all-natural skin, hair and body care products, www.SongCroftNaturals.com. This is a good opportunity for someone interested in learning about running a business. Social networking, marketing, writing a blog, bookkeeping, shipping and managing products are all part of the mix.

You may also have the opportunity to work on the subscription newsletter we publish.

We expect interns to have good work ethics, great communication skills and the ability to live in a somewhat rustic way with a good sense of humor, some knowledge of growing food, carpentry, animal husbandry, business or alternative energy. We are able to enrich your knowledge base but hope you have at least one of the above skills.

It would be nice if interns have some experience living in community/cooperatively.

Interns will have their own tents as well as access to our work studio, most of the time, which has a shower, kitchen and library. We also have Wifi available for you to use your own computer.

There will be lots of good healthy food as well as private spaces on the land to sketch, observe nature or?

The stipend is room, board and education. Interns get two days off a week.

If you are interested in exploring this adventure, please send a resume and cover letter to us via email by June 1st.  marilene@songcroft.com

Thank you!

High 33   Low 20

Snowing with high winds!!!Whoohoo!

(If you want to learn even a little of what you are reading here, our apprenticeship program starts Jan. 15th. Last call for registration!)

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/

Folks email me all the time saying they get tired reading the list of things we do. Well, you might want to grab yourself a cup o’ tea and kick your feet up ‘cuz this is going to be a long one because I’m going to give a summary of 2010!

All in all, it was a good year in many aspects. We accomplished some of our goals and completely failed on others. Okay, failed is pretty harsh. We just didn’t get everything we wanted to get done done. I am sure we got more accomplished than the average bear since both Brian and I are ‘Type A’ Capricorns.

Our apprenticeship program filled up and we had 3 teens all year!

We had a successful Fish Camp here in conjunction with Wolf Camp.

We took a few camping trips as well as went to our favorite seasonal gathering.

The things we didn’t get done were due to a matter of lack of weather, money, time or energy. The early part of Spring was very wet.

When we went on a camping trip, the chickens got out and scratch up much of our garden beds. I replanted and got things under control, so I thought, and one of the kids didn’t latch the gate so the chickens rearranged everything again. It is amazing what they can do with my tidy little rows in an hour! Of course, they left the forest garden alone since it would’ve taken more effort to walk over there.

We lost part of our duck flock, we think to neighbor dogs, so we are down to just three. Our son was heartbroken when he found his pet duck “Blackfoot” dead in the field.

We sold lots and lots of eggs all Spring and Summer. That was a nice supplement to the family budget.

We also sold a few goat kids too. We got a lot of milk and enjoyed the cheese.

Brians workshop was built and we will finish it in the Spring.

Our cabin was transformed in to a classroom and manufacturing facility for our SongCroft Naturals Personal Care product line. (The ingredients are so safe I can use them on my babies!)

We grew a good garden that is still providing us with fresh vegetables. We had tomatoes until early December and ground cherries too!

I “put up” lots of canned meat, fruit and vegetables, pickles, kim chi, as well as dried fruits, herbs and vegetables too.

I caught two bee swarms and hived them.

We put in the forest garden in April and it’s looking good.

We are one year closer to harvesting asparagas!

So, to the coming year. What are our goals? Well this is what I have settled on:

1. Finish Brian’s shop!
2. Enjoy our apprentices
3. Launch SongCroft Naturals our all natural Personal Care Products and have a Farmers Market booth.
4. Grow a bountiful garden that is well and truly chicken proofed!!!
5. Have more of the family’s help with harvesting more often so our production stays up and our waste in minimal.
6. Preserve more foods and herbs than last year.
7. Learn to smoke different meats.
8. Clear the spot behind the cabin so I can plant new beds. I haven’t decided what to plant there yet though.
9. Plant an evergreen edible hedge on top of a berm to create privacy as well as more perennial food.
10. Plant an evergreen privacy screen near the road.
11. Make more soap than last year. We ran out and I got too busy to make more.
12. Plant more trees for firewood.
13. Which reminds me, reinforce the goats browse area.
14. Fix all of the little jobs like greenhouse door handle, hinges on the compost bins, etc…
15. Re-design the lower part of our land.
16. Build new hay storage.
17. Build a new rabbitry.
18. Expand the summer chicken yard from 16×30 to something like 30×30.
19. Host Farm Camp.
20. Host Illumina Girls Camp.
21. Host Fish Camp.
22. Camp more, play more
23. Sing more.
24. Dance more.
25. Breathe more consciously.

I hope you enjoyed reading our summary of 2010 and being witness to us setting goals for 2011. Somehow it makes it a little more of a commitment if others know that the goals are set. (Maybe I should mention the 10 pounds?)

Oh, and if you come by for a visit, feel free to roll your sleeve up!

Thanks for reading. Your comments are welcome. Please do share our blog with others that you think might be interested. Happy New Year!

High 77   Low 49  It is finally clear, blue and sunny!

Our young Buck Harpo and his sister Shug are for sale. If you are looking to increase your herd or want to start one, these two herbally raised Nubians are the way to go! Both have good form and come from very good milking stock. Born March 21, 2010. $100 Harpo/$150 Shug

Summer is here! The newest version of our newsetter is available. If you haven’t subscribed, now is a great time!

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

Farm Camp begins August 22nd. Register now to reserve your spot. http://songcroft.com/index.php/farm-camp/

The registration for the 2011 Self Sufficiency Apprenticeship Program is already starting to fill up. If you have been sitting on the fence, now is the time to register. We have filled up for the past two years in a row! http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/

Yesterday we finally broke 75 degrees and it feels like summer is here. It was our seventh day this year without rain. Folks here are happy to see the sun out. It is suppose to be in the mid 90’s by tomorrow.

Although the sun’s arrival is definitely welcomed it will prove to make gardening a bit of a challenge in that a sudden change can be hard on plants. Growth has been slow at best this year. Corn in the valley is only about a foot tall and the farmers are frustrated. Our garden is no exception. The only things that have really enjoyed this long wet season with its deep chills have been the fava beans and weeds. They are about 5 feet tall.

When the weather switches rapidly from a cool damp stage to dry and in the mid 90’s, plants are going to bolt. This means they will think it is their last hoorah before fall and they will go to seed. They will no longer put their energy in to growing lush foliage or fruit but instead focus on sending seed out so that their genetic material will be around the next year.

This week will keep me busy weeding and trying to keep the seed I planted for fall and winter moist enough to germinate.

Also on my radar this week is making sure all of the animals have enough water. Sudden changes in weather can be hard on them too. The goats and rabbits have automatic waterers, which will be very helpful. They chickens will need to be checked on at least twice a day until I get their water system done (There is always something that needs do’in). The bees will also enjoy water set a bit closer to them as our creek will likely dry up this week.

Speaking of bees, I checked the new swarm today. The queen was present but she doesn’t seem to be laying much. It has only been a week so I will give her a bit more time to see if she starts laying better. There has to be enough workers and drones to keep the honey coming in so they set up enough to get them through winter. Otherwise, I will be feeding them in fall.

Okay, it’s time for me to get out there and get some work done. (The earlier in the day the better when it’s real hot.)

High  61    Low 49   Grey and overcast with showers on and off all day

I’m assuming you all have heard of rain gardens, cutting gardens, forest gardens, bog gardens and plenty of other types of gardens that follow a central theme or purpose.

Well, after all of the questions I have been getting form folks this year, I am proclaiming this the year of the slug garden.

Due to massive rains, the not so charming descendants from snails are abundant in the Pacific Northwest this year. To qualify my above statement, slugs can be charming and even downright pretty except when they are uninvited guests to my garden. By the way, some slugs aren’t bad but instead provide a much needed service. North Coast banana slugs, Ariolimax species, are a vital part of forest ecology, cleaning up debris and dispersing mushroom spores and native plant seeds. They are a valuable food source for the Pacific giant salamander.

But what about common garden slugs?

They wait in formation every night as we turn our backs and walk away to clean ourselves up after a hard days work planting and preening the rows. They chant songs of conquering the peas and lettuce and laugh in the face of our astonishment when we return in the morning to lacey leaved vegetables looking helpless and perhaps a little embarrassed.

Like it or not, this is the year of the slug. Consider it an opportunity to hone your skills at keeping these little creatures in check. After all, they are only trying to make a living.

If you want more information on slugs, check out this link http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fs/fs277.pdf

High 61 Low 45  Drizzly but warm. ( Our seedlings are loving this!)

Farm Camp

http://songcroft.com/index.php/farm-camp/

This month has been busy with all of the usually Spring chores of getting the cover crops turned in, garden planted, pullets out to forage, hens in their Spring/Summer home, goat kids birthed and settled in, does milked, cheese made, rabbits bred and the post-construction landscaping started, all the while enjoying the flush of green that has taken over our land.

Although these things have me excited, it’s Farm Camp that has been on my mind. In August we will be opening SongCroft up to those who would like to live and learn about how to run a family farm. This is so exciting that I am finding it hard to concentrate on other projects. We’re going to have a lot of fun!

You’ll experience instruction on dairy goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits as well as growing your produce year-round and preserving the harvest. Mushroom logs, the basics of permaculture, food forests, alternative energy and home arts are all part of the program. It’s great to read books and dream about living a more self-reliant lifestyle but it’s a rare opportunity to be welcomed on to a farm where you are able to learn and try things out for yourself!

Checked out the Farm Camp page. Tell us what you think, what you would most like to learn and if you intend to enroll don’t wait because space is limited.

High 55 Low 31

Overcast Morning with blue skies in the afternoon but it’s pouring now!

Wow, what a busy day. It has rained and even hailed here most of the week so when I woke up this morning to mild weather, I put my working clothes on and got busy!

After getting the kids breakfast and the house semi-settled, I got busy collecting eggs and checking on all of the chicks and ducklings. Our eggs are such beautiful colors that they are really the best naturally “dyed” easter eggs!

In the goat shed. I mucked the kidding stall and the main loafing area. After putting down fresh straw, I cleaned out the water feeders and feeder racks. Then I brushed the herd down and fed them. They were very happy.

I checked Aggie, our three year-old black Nubian doe, to see how close she is to kidding. Sure enough, I could feel all the way around her tail so the time is very near.  I offered her some herbal tea with raspberry leaf and she sucked it down in one long draw. I have been keeping my eye on her all day. She should have at least one kid by late tonight.

Next, I ran a hose through conduit across some paths to the goat shed. This will be buried when we bring in some fill dirt to level out the area a bit. Yeah, no more tripping on the hose!

I then mucked out the chicken yard and laid out fresh straw for them. They were hilarious as they ran around snatching up all of the worms that were hiding under the old straw. When I muck, it is really funny because the chickens are watching me and darting around, trying to get worms and trying to keep out of my way. I call it the chicken dance.

I used most of the old straw mixed with manure to lie down on the uneven paths and surrounding ground. I am using it to level out the terrain, which is really difficult to walk on when it’s slick. It is slowly becoming more even. My goal is to be able to wheel a hand-truck with hay bales across this area without wrestling it at a 60-degree angle.

The ducklings and young pullets were out in the chicken tractor today. They got a breath of fresh air, grass to eat as well as some nice bugs. We put them back inside for the night because the temperature is dropping and because we don’t want them to be anyone’s snack.

One of our ducks is on a nest of 12 eggs. She just sat on it today so the clock has just begun ticking. We’re on day one of 26 to 28 days. I’ll post photos when they hatch.

We also have a hen on a dozen or so eggs. They are not all hers but she didn’t care. She just wasn’t getting off the nest. We will show them to you soon too. They will be a mix so it will be fun to see what kinds they all are.

The bunnies were all given “green chop” and alfalfa to munch on. They are all such nice bunnies that we haven’t been able to come up with names for the does. Our buck’s name is Mr. Clementine T. Bunny The T. stands for Trustworthy. He was named by the kids. The three does were all going to be called Easter Bunny but that was just too confusing!

Now it’s time to feed the kids dinner before I run-off to play doula and mid-wife to our goat. We will be having homemade chicken rice soup and rosemary flax baguettes, all fresh from our kitchen.

This is a typical “stay-at-home” Spring day on our croft.

If these sort of topics and activities interest you, you’ll love the Spring issue of the Newsletter!

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

High 65 Low 43 Cool morning with warm afternoon. Sky was blue by noon.

I spent today puttering around on the land finishing lots of little things that needed to get done as well as taking care of a few larger things.

I moved all of the pullets to the big brooder. That means we now have nineteen pullets and five chicks. The chicks are still in the house. They have a small brooder box and a heat lamp. They were too young to join the rest in the large brooder since they have not feathered out yet and are still quite delicate. We will keep them inside for a couple more weeks. We have a hen sitting on a dozen eggs. We are hoping for success this time. We will be selling laying hens as well as eggs in a few months.

The ducklings spent the day in the new chicken tractor I finished. Brian gave them a seed tray as a splashing pool. It brought back memories of Sofie and Simon at two years old. They got in and out of the pool over-and-over again, splashing, laughing and having the time of their lives.

The goats went for a long walk with Sofia.  As the goats browsed, Sofia collected Balm of Gilead to make in to medicine later. I wonder what the goats think when we wild craft beside them?

Before coming in to make supper, I brought the laundry in off the clothesline and they smell fresh and crisp. It smelled much like my mood right now, optimistic and happy, with lots of energy. Just like Spring.

High 56             Low 45                 Warm afternoon breeze

Spring ahead? Not us, we’re taking giant leaps! There’s been a ton of stuff happening at SongCroft this week. Where can I begin…?

Over the course of the week we brought in a bit more hay to get us through until it is haying time here in the area. With a couple extra goats this past Winter, we went through more hay than usual so our estimate in August was a bit off. But no worries, I hauled the bails across our land. It is rugged terrain as we haven’t filled that side of the property yet and it is very uneven. It is hard to keep a bale on a hand-truck since they all want to fall downhill. Then I had to stack them under cover. At eighty pounds a bale, this job takes that take all by 5’4” frame has to offer. To keep the goats from leaning from their stall over in to the hay storage area, I installed a wooden barrier. Now they can only look at it longingly instead of gorging themselves until they look like someone ought to tie a line to a hoof so they don’t float away as giant goat balloons.

We also got almost all of the fencing around the vegetable and forest garden done. We just need to install a few gates. This means even if the goats do get out, they wont be eating my cabbages and strawberries!

The Winter rabbitry was converted in to a brooding house for the 17 pullets and 6 ducklings we are raising. We also have a hen on a nest in there. It is a good use of a small space. I will post photos and a video later.

All but the vegetable garden beds got compost on them. I will make another go at it over the coming week. The goats ate part of the garden in front of the house, that’s what happens when the kids leave the gate unlocked, so I put the compost down there first hoping it would help the poor plants survive. Even our big horse trough full of bamboo looks like Giant Panda’s attacked it!

Rhubarb and asparagus were planted. Only a few more years until we get our first harvest. (That was sarcasm incase you didn’t notice)

We cleared out an area so that we can bring in soil to level the land on the side of our house. This will make getting to the hay a lot easier. This is going to be major work.

We taught both our first year and second year courses from Saturday through Monday. We covered soils science, composting, fertilization and pruning. It was really busy and a lot of fun. Folks learned to do soil samples, test for ph and how to make compost. We mixed bedding and goat poo with a beautiful combination of scrap vegetables and juice bar compost. The colors were amazing and the results will be powerful. We also made a worm bin and were able to send it one with one of the student’s family. I truly love being with all of the course participants and am blessed to live such an amazing life.

Sometimes the songs here are the chirpings of birds and others times they are the grunts made while heaving bales of hay but it all makes for a beautiful rhythm that we love to live in.