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.

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/

Baby Chicks and a Good Hen (click here to see a video of the hen and chicks)

I just have to show you our new baby chicks! One of our hens decided to sit on a nest of eggs and today they began to hatch. No matter how many times I see a baby chick newly hatched, I am still always amazed.

Our hen sat on the nest, diligently, for 21 days. She kept the eggs warm, turned them several times a day and rotated them beneath her so none of them got warmer than any of the others. She never got up. She never left them. She is a faithful mother. She’s a good hen.

Her nest is inside a dog crate. It is private and safe. The kids and I placed a water feeder and food within her reach.  It was her very own private hotel complete with room service and a bed of straw.

When I checked on her today, there were  four baby chicks and several eggs that she is still trying to hatch. One baby chick was hatched moments before I saw it. It was still wet and a bit groggy. There were two black chicks that look like they are Australorps and another yellow one that looks like our hen, an Auracana.

You can watch them in the video. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

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/

The kids and I will be dying eggs this weekend. It is kind of funny since our hens lay blue, green, pink, brown, white and tan eggs it always seems like we have Easter eggs anyway.  Some years they just stuck stickers and colored on the eggs because they liked the colors as they were but this year they want to color them.

We will use onionskins, spirulina powder, beets and red cabbage to make our dyes. One of the tricks to make the colors really work is to let them sit in the dye with a little vinegar added for about an hour. Allowing them to sit makes all of the difference! The colors are really amazing and quite vibrant. You can use your own creative ideas as to what to try as a colorant. Simmer your dyes for 15 minutes before using them and of course, don’t forget to hardboil the eggs! (Even if April Fools is close to Easter this year)

I’ve included a couple links incase you would like detailed instructions or a video to see how it id done. The photo is of our eggs before we dye them. Aren’t they beautiful!

http://www.ehow.com/how_4825511_dye-easter-eggs-naturally.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/natural-easter-egg-dyes/33289.html

Enjoy!

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.

It’s early March and Seattle just got snow. It was just a light dusting but it was enough to make me worry about my peach and apricot trees which are in full bloom.

A hard freeze after the trees are in bloom can destroy all hope of those sweet succulent morsels ending up on our menu.

The past week has been a rush to get compost spread, livestock fencing up and other farm chores done. One bit of hard work was an accidental discovery: our nephew was digging in our yard and discovered a boulder which after six men and a few large poles (used for leverage) worked on getting it out of the ground, it became a nice addition to the landscape.

I also started more seed so that we can get an early start on the growing season. We have a nice set up for seed trays to germinate and then receive the light they need to thrive. Our tomato, pepper, and ground cherries have already got their true leaves and are doing well. Seeing them makes me long for warmer weather.

In the greenhouse and cloche there are beets, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, mustards, collard greens and radishes all ready for harvest. We took the bunny tractor out and turned the rest of the cover crop in to the soil but not before eating all we could. Check out our Facebook fan club page to see the conversation on chickweed. http://www.facebook.com/pages/SongCroft/232174564481?ref=sgm

We are getting lots of amazingly rich and butter duck eggs as well as chicken eggs with whites perfect for meringues. I was so inspired by the quality of our eggs that one of the recipes in the upcoming issue of the newsletter will have eggs as a main ingredient. If you subscribe, you’ll get a recipe for a rhubarb tart with a meringue top. This is one of my signature dishes. If you make it for a gathering, people will be amazed as it has a beautiful presentation as well as being incredibly delicious! You can tell them were you got the recipe. http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-self-sufficiency-newsletter/

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.