Lauren Ritz

Time and past time for an update. In the past few years I have made a number of changes.

I now use a self-leveling system, with hoses over the top of each bucket into a central reservoir. The central reservoir is maintained at 2.5 gallons in 5 gallon buckets.

Nutrients: I got rid of the metals in each bucket and went with a mixture of ash and red clay, which provides most of the nutrients the penny and so on provided. The mixture is neutralized by vinegar, then topped off with water. I am currently feeding a quart of this (settled water only) + nitrogen into the central reservoir three times per week. Once per week I add a quarter teaspoon of an aged almond shell ferment and I keep the reservoir covered to avoid an algae bloom.

There are cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers actively growing on this mix.

John C Daley wrote:THE SEED BANK IS AMAZING  IN THAT IT SURVIVED.

My old property was in a subdivision for 50+ years. And yet, when I got rid of the grass the old biota started showing up again. It had been the flood plain of a stream that was forced underground to build the subdivision there. That last spring, I found morels.

I always wonder what treasures are waiting to emerge if we just step back.

This week I found:

Peppervine
Wild blackberry
Edible Sumac
Canadian Nettle
Poison ivy, apparently growing from an existing root. No idea where it's coming from. Most everything within a mile is grass.
More oak tree and maple tree seedlings. At least there are maple trees within half a mile, but those oak trees have to be coming up from the seed bank.

When I got my chicks this spring I made a mistake and gave my experienced broody 10. All but two died, or at least disappeared. She's usually pretty good about raising them, so this was a surprise.

Of the 15 I brooder raised, 13 survived.

I seem to have 4 Sussex-Dorking crosses (2 male), at least 5 Kraienkoppe (3 male), and the remainder mixed American Game (3 male).

I'm not planning to keep the Game boys. Everyone else will be evaluated for behavior before I decide which to keep.

Apparently I must add werdz in order for pictures to post.

The bees found my garden! They're happy-happy pollinating melons, and overflowing to the pollinator garden.

This week I transplanted goji and almond seedlings, surrounded the shelterbelt trees with cardboard and woodchips, and started moving the newest chicks to their permanent roosting area. Since I want them to be entirely free range I am putting them in the roof of the carport. A little more protected from the elements, and not out where owls will find them.

Of course I got excited and harvested my first watermelon too early, so the chickees got a treat.

Two raspberries and two blackberries survived the summer. I'm down to four 3 year old peaches, and three apricots. No surviving almonds or plums yet, but I'll be putting seeds in the ground for hopeful spring emergence as well as starting more indoors.

My first ephemeral pond is dug out and when filled takes 3 days to empty. The soil below it remains damp for a couple weeks in about a fifteen foot circle. I'm trying to decide what to plant in the basin, on the berm, and below the berm. I planted rice in the basin as a test, but it didn't germinate. It will be interesting to see how the vegetation is different next year.

I tasted one of my almonds this morning and it was stale. These nuts are probably 5-6 years old but they were gathered for seed. I have put some in the ground to sprout over winter, some in the refrigerator to cold stratify for planting inside, and have probably a couple dozen left that I would like to store in the freezer.

Will freezing them work? I tried freezing chestnuts and they all died.

The almond seeds have sprouted just fine in the past, it's my neglect that kills them.

Anne Miller wrote:What are the elevation of your property compared to your neighbor?  

It's just a matter of inches. The only reason I know there's a slope at all is the water flow.

John C Daley wrote:What is "culinary water" and a fedge?

Culinary water is generally municipal (city) water but can be well water. Water that is used inside the house, basically.

A fedge is a fruit tree hedge.

"I can't" is a hard place to get out of. It could be coming from recent discouragement, which is the easiest to resolve. If it's coming from ongoing social reinforcement,  that will be hardest to resolve because it requires her to revognize the unconscious expectations, not only of herself but also of the people around her.

I know you went (and are still going) through this process of recognizing broken social constraints. Maybe use some of the techniques you used for yourself?