evan's ant village log

Day 14

Started doing a little something to try to deer-proof the fence around my garden. It's not as fast as some of the ideas mentioned in this thread, and it's considerably more work, but I think it'll be more reliable and maybe even a bit prettier to boot.

Also helped Tim move his cows and made good progress on a fence job for basecamp too, but I didn't get any good pictures. I'll be sure to do so tomorrow. In the meantime, check out this picture of a nice flower.

Good idea on the fence.

Flower looks like a Shooting Star, Dodecatheon meadia.

Your fencing is coming along nicely, thank you for demonstrating an eye towards longevity. Also, I appreciate the extra large photos. So many posts have small, un-clickable images that I can't see well enough to make comments. Nice work!

I'm intimidated!

Oh yeah, everybody should click to embiggen the fencing image. I didn't catch the scary part until I enlarged the photo!

Looking good! If I were you I would collect the animal manures that are around and use them in your garden beds. (OK, don't plant into fresh manure, but there should be caches of old stuff where the animals were.) Potatoes could maybe be planted now, definitely peas, also cole crops like cabbage and kale.

I am with Baxter. You are intimidating...and terrifically inspiring.

Day 15

Got a lot of work done cutting and moving logs for the basecamp paddock fence today. Ranger Doug was quite the trooper hauling all that wood.

Some of the logs went into fence posts that were buried 2 ft deep where we could dig down that far. Some were turned into rockjacks, which are neat contraptions for fencing in rocky areas.

Here! Have some more flowers you lovely permies!

Day 16

Today saw lots more fence building. A few more days and we should be done. Paul seems to really be looking forward to having a turkey/deer-proofed garden and chicken paddock. He's put quite a reasonable bounty on this job, and collecting on it will go a long way towards meeting some of the expenses I expect to incur in establishing my homestead. Plus, it's good practice and finishing my own fence should be faster and easier as a result.

While pulling up rocks for the rockjacks, I uncovered an impressively fast centipede. This little guy did his best to get out of sight and back under cover, but I managed to snap a (somewhat blurry) picture first.

I don't blame him for hiding. The robin I saw hanging out on top of the giant hugel berm probably wasn't the only thing that would have eaten him if given the chance.

Paul is lucky to have you helping out! I hope you get some more company soon!

Day 17

The galvanised steel field fence part of the project is mostly done now, aside from some tightening up. The main thing that's left to do is the woven wooden saplings part of the project. We got a lot done, and I think it's looking pretty good so far.

Did I mention how my parents are awesome? My mom sent me a care package, and among other things, it contained my grandpa's old binoculars! These will be great for long-range observations, plus the storage case has a compass on it! Neat! Thanks mom!

Thus far, I've taken several dozen pictures of the many different species of plants that I've seen here at the labs. It's hard to decide which ones to share when. These tiny blue-ish flowers were found growing in the middle of a gravelly dirt road.