WWOOF’ing on SongCroft allows for time to connect with nature and yourself!

To support our family farm, you can purchase products through www.songcroftnaturals.com Thank you!

Summer has been a little different for us this year on SongCroft. The sun has only shown itself enough to make us remember what we’ve all been longing for, the rain barrels were only empty for a day or two, local hay has not been able to be harvested because of the weather and I have experienced the worst seasonal allergies of my life.  Climate change is no friend of mine.

After a lot of discomfort, I am finally able to function at an almost normal level but have spent much of the past month trying not to let my face swell up. I wont go in to the gory details but lets just say that I was so swollen and red that even local folks didn’t recognize me.

On the upside, we have had the most wonderful experience with WWOOF’ers.  Our little farm has been blessed with three young people who have come to share their enthusiasm, energy and talents with us. It has been a blessing have these folks join our family, share our meals and be a part of our life here on SongCroft.

We have room for more until Sept. 15th.

We take turns with many things including meals, animal care, garden work and cleaning up. We are all committed to living light. This is more of a relief than one might imagine as it can be really hard to find folks who will commit to using a clothes line, looking to the gardens for food before the pantry and who can work together towards goals like getting everything in for a productive Fall and Winter harvest.

The interns sleep in tents that are out on the land and use the cabin for showers and a community space. They are welcome in the house but can use the cabin for their own quiet space as well. This creates a great balance as one intern is currently studying for a class at Evergreen State College. The cabin also provides space for daily yoga, mediation and an occasional movie.

Our family thrives on the presence of community in our lives. We enjoy cooperative living and we love WWOOF’ers!

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 34      LOW 22   Clear sunny day with ice and a bit of snow still on the ground.

It’s two weeks until the new apprenticeship program begins! Marilene posted a special in honor of her birthday. We only take registration until January 15th. After that, you’ll have to wait until 2012! Look at our facebook page for the special offer only good on January 6th!

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

Breeding time is an exciting time of year. This year seemed to come later than normal be cause the girls were just not showing strong signs of being in standing heat. Although we had a nice cold snap in November, which often gets the ball rolling in regard to breeding season. My girls were just not in the mood. It very well may have come from the stress of having coyotes on our land.

The coyotes never got a chance to make a kill but they visited several times in the late fall and even stood right out our backdoor yipping and making a fuss. Our goats were scared, as they well should be, and remained still as statues.

We got snow just after Christmas and fortunately one of the does went in to heat. I brought her over to a neighboring farm where I bred her to what I do believe is the most beautiful buck I have ever seen. He comes from amazing bloodlines so the union should result in lots of milk and cheese!

It might interest you to know how I get my girls over to neighboring farms. I do not have a truck with a canopy. I have a Subaru wagon. The does jump up in the back, sometimes with the encouragement of a banana peel or other such treat.

I grew up with a family pet goat that used to ride around in the car like a dog. (Really) We lived out on the coast in a small town of about 80 people. Things were real boring at times so my dad would take Amber for a ride just to get folks gossiping and making a fuss. This was one of his more minor spectacles!

In about 5 months from now, right around Memorial Day Weekend, we will have kids born. I will be back to milking and the rhythm of the seasons will take another turn towards abundance.

I can already taste the chevre!

High 50 degrees       Low 32 degrees            It was cold, wet and dark by 4:30! Winter is near but I’m not complaining.

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/ (Register for our apprenticeship)

It’s Friday night and I am sitting in front of a warm fire with a glass of homemade wine and my laptop. The rain is coming down outside and I can tell we are in for more than just the light frost that we’ve had the past few days.

Its times like this that I am thankful for planning ahead, seizing the moment and for making hay while the sun shines.”

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time splitting kindling. It was cold but cold isn’t as hard to work in as rain. Don’t get me wrong, rain isn’t bad. I like rain but when I am splitting wood for a fire, getting it wet defeats the purpose. My method for putting wood up is not rocket science but it might be helpful to a few folks so I thought I would share it here.

When we first moved on to our land, that’s the first two years, we lived in a little travel trailer. It was a nice trailer with a gas stove and Corian counters (did you know that most of them build post 1990 have Corian and other “fancy-pants” amenities like that). Anyhow, we didn’t have much space so I put together an outside kitchen with shelving and a worktable. We were lucky enough to stop at a garage sale where some folks had just moved across country. They had a whole bunch of  Rubbermaid containers that they used for the move and they sold the to us. We used them for our outdoor kitchen and they were great. Now I use them for kindling.

When I split my kindling, I pack it in to the Rubbermaid containers ( rubbery plastic boxes with tight fitting lid). The lids are the solid kind not the one’s that are split down the middle. Trust me when I say the “split-lid” boxes don’t really seal and when you most need your kindling, it will be full of rainwater if stored outside. (Murphy’s Law)

I store several of these boxes near the backdoor where they are easy to reach. My goal is to have at least 7 of these large containers full at all times as well as firewood stacked nearby. If I use one up and I get a clear day, I split more to keep the supply up. This way I have kindling and firewood handy at all times.

My method has been really helpful more than once. The year my kids both had the chickenpox I had wood handy. When the kids and I were snowed in for 16 days without my husband home, I had wood handy. You get the picture.

A little work done in preparation for busy times, emergencies or just for days when you want to stay in your pj’s is well worth it to me!

I hope this has been helpful to you.

Farm Tour

High 54                        Low 34

Yesterday was a really fun day. Nancy Chase from Camano Island organized a tour of fellow permaculturists. There were 12-14, I think. Nancy is a natural at organizing things like tours since she is the owner of http://www.livewellventures.com, an adventure travel company.

There were five farms scheduled on the tour. We started at Wise Earth Ecological Land Trust in Maltby http://www.wiseearth.org/home.html. Wise Earth is a fun and interesting place that my family has enjoyed visiting over the past few years. Albert Postema has been at the visionary behind saving this piece of land from being cleared and creating a special environment for education. The forest is being cared for and maintained and huge Hugelkultures have been built on the land. Wise Earth is also the home of cottage industry. They are raising oyster mushrooms and produce for market.

After Albert’s we visited Ravencroft Garden in Monroe. http://www.ravencroftgarden.com Ravencroft is a great example of what can be done on a small piece of land. It is in the midst of suburban landscapes and only minutes from rural properties. Eaglesong, owner, herbalist and gardener extraordinaire raises chickens and goats on her small parcel. She showed us how she planted for coppicing (cutting and bringing) food for her goats and spoke of the importance of biodiversity. Eaglesong is a good friend and neighbor.

Our next stop was to SongCroft where I showed the group the land. Shared our vision for perennial food sources as well as season extension so we can harvest year-round. They are ground cherries from the greenhouse and walked the trails. I was able to tell them about out classes and courses offered and also about our summer camps, like Farm Camp (that’s the summer camp we have for families.)

We ate lunch in the cabin around a nice warm fire. It was good to have the time for people to connect and get to know each other.  After lunch, introduced our cottage business, Blissfully Natural, a personal care product line. We finished our time at SongCroft by walking the trails and visiting the rabbits, goats and poultry. We hope that our visitors found something here that inspired them.

Our next stop was Alderleaf Wilderness College where Jason and Kerry Knight run a nature education center and wilderness survival school. http://www.wildernesscollege.com Okay, I can admit it, I wish I had their land. They have a big creek and lots of room for their outdoor classrooms, gathering areas, food production and livestock. It is a sweet set up. They showed us where they teach different topics from flint napping to tracking, We even saw a bear print while we where there.

Our next destination was Gil Schieber’s place in Snohomish. http://www.borealislandscape.com/home.html It was getting dark yet his massive number of apple trees, table grapes, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries that he has been propagating was impressive. He has a lot of potential there for interns and a huge space for growing food. Gil has a gift for grafting as some people have a gift for music. I wonder if I stand next to him enough, some of that magic will drift over to me through osmosis?

It was a long day. I had been up by 5am and did my chores by headlamp. I watched the sun come up as I fed the ducks. The day was cold and I ended up outdoors for the better part of 13 hours on a cold damp day but when I’m on the land the time goes by fast. It was a good day.

Thanks for all who participated!

High 74     Low 49        Humidity-99% and overcast

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

Click the link. Find out about our programs and classes!

Things have been busy here. There has been a lot of food preservation happening. We have hundreds of jars of tomatoes, peaches, pears, jams, salsa, chili sauce, saurkraut, pickled beets, and a large variety of pickles cucumbers and kim chi.

We will be putting apples and root vegetables in to cold storage very soon. The milk flow has slowed a bit but is still coming. The chickens are molting and laying a bit more sparse but are on their way back in to full swing.

The Apprentices from 2010 had their last class and are off to all sorts of things. There was a big canning party put on by some of the alumni! When the apprentices are organizing community canning events, I’d say that my time teaching was well spent!

I added a photo of them with their certificates of completion. Aren’t they cute!

I will be spending more time getting ready for the 2011 apprentices and transitioning to a new year. Registration has just opened for the 2011 program. People are already signing up. We’ve filled up for the past two years. If you want to take the course, now is the time to get registered!

I attended the Cascadia Transition Network Summit and the Northwest Permaculture Convergence. They were two very inspiring events with lots of “Cultural Creatives” in attendance. It gave a great opportunity for building transition networks.

One of my highlights of the weekend was spending time with a young man named Tim. He wasn’t actually attending the event. He was working there. We had some wonderful philosophical conversations and I got to teach him how to propagate herbs for his culinary explorations. I hope he caught the gardening bug!

Tim, if you read this, I hope you will remember our conversations. I hope to hear about the beautiful story you write for your life!

Among the many things happening in our lives is other transition of the cabin in to a learning center. We are opening our cabin up as a classroom for SongCroft and as a space for event rental. This will give us the ability to take more students as well as have more space for activities. We have hosted Doula trainings and other day events. This is a valuable and rare space to hold intimate sized classes in a rural setting.

We will also be making our products in the cabin and will soon have an online store. This is big news and quite the transition!

Thanks for stopping by. Please let us know how your Autumn is going. Please do let other folks know about us. We would love to hear from more folks!

Registration for the 2011 Self-Sufficiency Skills Course is open! http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/

High 84  Low 55  Clear with a beautiful blue sky!

It is high summer and the sun is out.The summer harvest is on. It is almost 85 degrees today and the rain has finally stopped. Not that I am complaining. We are fortunate to have the rain that we do. It’s just that we cherish every moment that that great yellow orb hovers above us!

We were in Nelson, B.C. for a wedding of a dear friend last week so I am a little behind schedule on chores. While we were away, our chickens got out and pecked away much of the Winter garden.  The rows of carrot seed that I kept moist and nurtured through the warm days, the meticulously laid out patterns of red and green cabbages with yellow beets between were all pecked and thrown about like a giant tossed salad.

Upon inspection, I could see that some of the carrots were still sprouting, so I left them. I replanted the rows with more seedlings. It will be interesting to see where the carrots end up. Perhaps there will be a secret message from the hens hidden in the carrot tops.

At any rate, we are harvesting summer cabbages, purple and green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, chili peppers and zucchini just to name a few.  I hope you are all enjoying your local summer harvest because it slips by way too fast!

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 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.

It’s that time again. We are opening registration for the 2011 apprenticeship program. The 2009 and 2010 programs filled up super fast and we are anticipating the 2011 class to be full within a couple months.

SongCroft School empowers our community by providing one and two year apprenticeship opportunities in self-sufficient living, real-life examples of permaculture landscapes, community connection and cottage industry development. We assist our apprentices to be better equipped to deal with changes in their lives and environments.

If you are concerned about current changes in food and fuel prices, if you want to actively supplement your grocery budget, if you want to hone your skills while reconnecting with nature and it’s rhythms or if you long for a strong community enroll in our program!

You can check out more about the program at http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/#skills

Spaces fill up fast so don’t delay!