High 62  Low 34  Clear and slightly warm.

Visit www.songcroftnaturals.com to support our family farm and to get great all natural skin and body products!

Visit the Farmers Market Thursdays 3-7pm

I’m not even going to put the date on this entry since I am embarrassed how long it took me to get around to writing. You see, it’s spring and although it has been the wettest April in Washington’s history, there are still a lot of spring shores to be done!

• Have planted a thicket hedge of prinsepia to help keep the neighbor dogs from coming over.

• Planted a variety of willows in blue, red, green and yellow along the creek.

• Trimmed back the rugosa, raspberries, woody herbs and several other plants

• Mucked the goat shed, cleaned the stall mats in them and sanitized all of the feeders and water buckets.

• Made a new perch for the chickens.

• Bred the rabbits.

• Got help re-doing parts of the goats sacrifice area as well as their browsing areas.

• Brian added on to the chickens poly-carb covered roof on their summer home (okay, they are a bit spoiled).

• Deconstructed some keyhole beds so I can reconfigure parts of the garden and add vertical growing space as well as an outdoor room.

• Fed the bees (It’s been so cold that they rarely go out and things are blooming late)

• Harvested lots of greens.

• The kids and I planted lots of carrots, radishes, lettuce, bok choy, peas, leeks, cilantro, potatoes, onions, and flowers in the garden beds.

• Planted a ton of seeds in trays that are now overcrowding the greenhouse (snow and hail in April!)

• Made compost tea and applied it to a test garden. (Amazing difference!)

• Taught two soils science class and composting class.

• Planted a berm with edible berries and trees with my apprentices.

• Planted a perry pear, cider apple and medlar tree.

• Planted forage plants including Nanking cherries around the summer chicken house.

• Did all the mom things like helping both kids enter project in a science fair and droving kids to and from swim classes.

• Did the homestead stuff like baking bread and making cheese.

• Got our www.SongCroftNaturals.com business ready for the Snohomish Farmers Market.

• And so the list goes on…

Soon I will be at the Snohomish Farmers Market every Thursday.

You might be asking yourself how I find time and energy to do all of these things. It is really more simple than one might think. I don’t have to go to the grocery very often and I don’t watch TV. I eat a healthy diet that includes very little processed foods and I have a positive attitude, even in this rainy season.

Attitude is everything!

See you at the Snohomish Farmers Market!

High 47  Low 41   It is a bright and beautiful sunny day!

The Spring issue of the newsletter is out. Subscribe, renew, gift… http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

We have a new calendar page!  See our upcoming events! http://songcroft.com/index.php/calendar/

Spring is here and I am feeling the pull to be outdoors. Actually, I am aching to be outdoors. It has been over a week now and I have been on bed rest. I will be up and moving by next week but wont be able to lift for another six weeks. How on earth can that be when I have all of these farm chores to do?

I had went in for a schedule procedure which was suppose to be very simple and only take 45 minutes but I ended up staying in the hospital. Apparently, I am one of the people that don’ respond well to anesthesia or pain meds.  Anyway, it’s nothing serious but I spent the week with complications and should be up again by next Monday. If not, you’ll probably hear me ranting, even if you are reading this from the other side of the country!

I am ever so grateful for my wonderful community of friends and my dear mother who rushed me in for emergency care.  Friends have been bringing meals over for our family and helping out with errands. The kids even had rides to and from their activities. I can’t express enough what a blessing our community is!

Oh, I just have to mention Lotsa Helping Hands! It is a free service that you can use to arrange care (even across state) for someone in need. I have used it several times for friends with cancer and other health challenges. It allows you to add “needs” to a calendar (say like meals, rides for the kids etc…) and others to click on them and sign up. You invite friends and family to join your support group and help out. I could not have organized things without their help. Although their service is free, they really on donations and they will definitely get one from us!

With this “extra” time I have had, I have been trying to get the things done that I can. Mind you, I have been doing these things while very dizzy and groggy I might look back at it all later and think, “What in the world was I doing?”

Among the tasks I accomplished was a new garden plan. We will add some raised beds and arbors to the garden. The raised beds will also allow for seating for garden classes or parties and the arbor will make it feel more like a room. Other benefits of raised beds is that they will be tall enough to deter dogs and with the slightest bit of fencing, our chickens! Look later in the season for picture because as soon as I am able, I’m on it!

In Community,

Marilene

High 34 degrees  Low 8 degrees Clear with 6 inches of snow over night that began to melt in the late afternoon, becoming a solid sheet of ice in the evening.

I was recently asked to share my favorite fruit tree varieties here on the blog. My apologies for taking so long but now is the time of hard woodcuttings, seed starting, classes, and getting my SongCroft Naturals products in to the Grow Washington store. It has been a busy time (as always).

There was another reason for not getting right on listing the varieties I like, there are just so many.  I mean for some women, it’s shoes and purses or jewelry and perfume but for me, it’s plants and dirt. I just can’t get enough! So narrowing down my list was a bit hard and I must start by saying that there are plenty more varieties of fruit trees I love but these are the ones that made today’s list and each for their own reasons.

Apples are a mainstay in most of Americas diet. I grow a few different varieties and would grow even more if I had more room. When I choose a fruit it will be for flavor, characteristics, size, disease and/or pest resistance. Of course whether or not it survives in my area is a factor as well as what time it comes into fruit. The Chehalis Apple was discovered in Western Washington. It does well in a short season area with a lot of rain so it is a perfect fit for me.  Other favorites are Williams Pride, Akane, Winter Banana, Liberty, Spartan, Gravenstein and the columnars. Columnars are fun because of their unusual growth pattern and because they fit into pots or other small spaces. I do not care to buy varieties with multiple varieties, which have been grafted on since they are not usually very hardy and at least some of the grafts will usually fail.

Pears are great and I love to eat them fresh or canned. Most are not really great at being stored in a cellar but they are so good that they are worth it.  Bosc stores for a month or two and usually tastes better afterwards. Orca has been a reliable variety for me. It was discovered on Orcas Island, WA. which is also in Western WA. Bartletts are delicious fresh but do not store very well. They are great canners though! Red Bartletts are pretty.

Cherries are a challenge. Every time they come into season I feel a sense of anxiety since it’s the birds or me. I tried planting some for them too but they don’t seem to get the “some of them are for me” part.  Some folks say that the gold cherries are less bothered by the birds but I think the best eating are with the Vans, Stella and Lapin varieties. I like the dark cherries best!

I have grown peaches in the past. Frost has been reliable and abundant but only lasted about 12 years before petering out. From what I hear, this is normal. I now have an Avalon which is young and gave it’s first couple peaches last year. They were small but delicious. We’ll see what we get this year!

We have a Puget Gold Apricot that is growing like crazy, probably due to the autumn olive planted next to it (nitrogen fixer) but it hasn’t given any fruit yet. We are crossing our fingers that this will be the year.

As for Plums, Beauty is our hands-down favorite for fresh eating.  We discovered it while staying on the Bullock’s Farm on Orcas Island.  Sam had us pitch our tent right next to a tree and the kids were as happy as clams!  Italian plums are the best for preserving.

I hope that this is enough to get you started.  I am planning on expanding this to a much more detailed version for the newsletter.  I think it would be a helpful article for many.  I will be sure to mention which fruit is good for preserving in what way and which need to be eaten fresh.

Happy garden planning!

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 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 47 Low 36 It’s grey and misty today.

This is some healthy rhubarb!

After straining my wrist a couple weeks ago, things have been a bit harder to keep up with but where there a will there’s a way. Typing in particular was difficult.

Nonetheless, it was a busy couple of weeks here on Songcroft. I taught two classes for Sky Valley Community Schools. (This is similar to a larger towns Parks and Rec.) It was really great to introduce the basics of permaculture to folks who were so new to the concept that they came because the description made sense and intrigued them. The second class I taught was Winter Gardening. I think folks from the class will feel more confidant to give growing year-round a go this year.

Brian did a fabulous job finishing the summer chicken yard roof. It is part clear polycarbonate and part fishing net. I saw the fishing net in the driveway of some folks in town. It sat tin the driveway for quite some time. I asked them if they wanted it hauled off and they were delighted. They were seniors that needed some help so I did some small chores in their yard. It was a win-win for all, including the landfill.

After completing the summer chicken yard I began to landscape around it. I planted a grape that’s been in a pot for at least three years, a honeysuckle, two columnar apples, borage and some wormwood around the edges. It will look nice as well as serving multiple purposes. This is what we refer to as “stacking our functions.”

On one of the really rainy days I worked inside the greenhouse installing the drip irrigation on one side. I will have apprentices help the other side so they get some hands-on experience.

I reorganized my mini barn. Our barn is actually a long narrow building made from huge shipping crate panels and hollow core doors. It was great way to use salvaged materials. What is lacks in size, it makes up for in character but yes, I definitely have barn envy when I look at some large barns out there.

Organizing the barn was no small task as I was mostly one-handed and had to take most everything out to install shelving and hooks so things were in better order. It is now about as organized as it can get for being a small space that is expected to contain more than it’s fair share of gear.

Another thing we did was fill the West side of our land. Usually, it wouldn’t be necessary to fill in a slope on our land as we can take advantage of slopes but this is an area that we have our drain-field in and it needed to have more soil above it. So we spent the better part of this weekend filling and leveling the land so that paths are not so difficult for our many visitors and the drain-field is safely tucked away.

Next we will install some woodchips paths and seed the open areas with meadow mix that our chickens can forage on. This is another way to “stack our functions”. The meadow mix will be beautiful, protect our drain-field, keep mud from being tracked all over and be a source of nutritional forage for our chickens. We try to use the principle of “stacking functions” in all of our designs here on Songcroft. It just makes sense.

Well, it’s time to get busy. It’s soap making day and there’s lots to do!

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter, your support is appreciation

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

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.

High 56             Low 34

It was a beautiful clear day.

It’s hard to believe that it is February in Washington. In all my years, I have never seen it so warm this time of year. We have peas sprouting in the garden  and it feels like May.

During this early warm-spell, we have been able to get a lot done. Brian has been setting fence posts and I have been cleaning up the fallen branches from winter storms.

I have cleaned the goat stalls in anticipation of kids being born over the next few months and even installed a new automatic watering system. With two less goats, we sold two kids, there is a bit more room. Our buck will be leaving us soon. We will just have three does. Milking time is coming on fast and I relish the mornings where I still get to sleep in.

The winter rabbitry has been cleaned out and made ready to become a brooder for the broilers that will arrive soon. We hope to keep a few from this flock to use as breeders so we can sell them locally. If we have time to prepare their home, we will also raise a few heritage breed turkeys. The heritage breeds are beginning to disappear since they are not as breasty and fast growing as the more common commercially raised turkeys. These turkeys haven’t had the turkey bred out of them.

The henhouse and yard were also cleaned and given fresh straw. We have hens and ducks sitting on eggs and the kids are raising another 13 chicks in the house. We hear the “cheep-cheep” of little ones and it brings smiles to our faces. These chicks will grow to be part of our egg layers. We sell a fare amount of eggs from our flock and occasionally need to raise new girls to replace older girls who stop laying.

Today, our daughter took the goats out for a long walk in the sun. They were all leaping and jumping as they happily went looking for fresh browse. On the way back, they took a diversion and caused some havoc in the garden. Brian is trying to get the fence up as fast as he can. I can only laugh at the thought of the goats biting things as they run off knowing darn well they are not suppose to be there.

It’s only February and the nettle is up, the winter wren is still singing and the frogs have been in chorus. Another song has been written on our croft.

High 42 Low 39       Light sprinkling of rain in the early evening

I Can Hardly Wait!

A currant ready to burst!

Okay, I know it’s only February but I can hardly wait for Spring! There are tulips up on my front porch and the current buds are swelling so big, I swear I’ll hear them when they burst!

This time last year we still had at least a solid three feet of snow!

Earlier today the children, goats and dogs were all out on the land running, browsing and playing. It was fun to watch them together, all one herd–Human kids and goat kids all umping, bouncing and calling to their mamas.

The latter part of the day was spent measuring parts of our land with Sofie. As I measured, I explained to her what I was doing and why. I sometimes asked her to tell me why I would want to know the distance from this to that.  Mapping and surveying were part of our homeschooling today. She is a bright girl who catches on to things quickly.

We plan to move a few things around (Isn’t that what gardeners do?) and finish some projects as soon as Spring blesses us with warmer weather.

I relocated a few currants and a young cherry tree. I drew plans for new plantings and perused plant catalogs to find a few hard-to-get items.

While in the garden, Sofie rolled a log over and we marveled at the many earthworms that were squirming around in the rich soil. Flipping things over in our garden is almost like looking for crabs under rocks at the beach. No matter how many times you see them, they are still always fascinating.

Tonight I will put my measurements to graph paper and create a more detailed design. I will tell myself to be patient as the sun begins to rise higher each day until Spring and I will dream of hyacinth and flowering currants.

High Temp 52 Low 40
Early shower and clear afternoon

Brian giving apprentices a tour

It’s a beautiful day here on SongCroft. The January sun is bright against the blue sky. It is a sky of optimism after a great start to the 2010 Self-Sufficiency Apprenticeship program.

This past weekend we had a group of excited people here to learn more about how to live more self-sufficiently. We talked about how local dependence and community  are a large part of the equation. The weekends all have themes. We spent one day this weekend going over sustainable housing options. We toured SongCroft and explained the methods and reasoning behind the way we built our home. Cob, strawbale, structural insulated panels, passive solar designs, radiant floor heating, solar arrays and plenty more were included. We showed a slide show of projects we have worked on and places we have visited. Within the month, our apprentices will have garden plans ready for fine tuning and will be returning with lists of what they want to grow.

We are blessed to have an interesting mix of people with a variety of experiences, including three yoga instructors and two teens in our course. This means break times begin with stretches and moments of connection. Does it get better than that?

I cannot express enough how deeply fortunate we feel to have the opportunity to share our knowledge and skills with others. We are also thankful to be on this journey and to have recognized it when it called.

Apprentices touring the land