April Boughton

I have raised and "trained" lots of Pyrenees pups. The cool thing is that the guarding they do is just their nature. Even without a herd or flock to guard, they like to get up and head out to the pasture in the mornings, lay around there for a while and make sure everything is going according to plan. Then they like to get up and move over to a different area and lay around there for a bit keeping an eye on things. They like to bark warnings at anything out of place. They do all this naturally. It only takes a very little while for them to figure out what the standard operating procedure is. You will be responding to things that happen, they will watch and become concerned about whatever you are concerned about. Your energy when all is well will go a long way toward showing them what "all is well" means. Having said that, puppies are different from older dogs in that they like to play a little harder. The first year of the dog's life you'll need to spend a little bit of time telling them what they can and can't do. I've lost a few chickens to overly playful pups. As long as you catch them doing it and tell them forcefully that it isn't allowed, it probably won't happen more than once.

We live in the middle of some Ozark woods with lots of deer, racoons and squirrels. I haven't even seen a squirrel on my property in years. The dogs keep them warned off and I get to keep all the hickory nuts! They've never killed a squirrel, they just tell them forcefully that this isn't the place for them. They don't attack the deer or wild turkeys, but they certainly don't let them very close to the goat herd or gardens.

I love my gentle giant guard dogs!

It's a very good medicinal plant for bronchitis, asthma, etc. I grow it on purpose!

We're on around 70 acres, 50 of which (the higher up part) are wooded. Your comment about building humus struck a chord with me. I imagine that's part of the problem. The soil here on the mountain is kind of shallow and the large granite rocks are not far below the surface.

I've never thought about water loving trees. Great idea!

Thanks!

We live on the north side of a small Ozark "mountain" ("big hill" to the rest of the world). We get a LOAD of runoff from above us which floods a creek about a mile below us. I get flooded in and can't make it to work (darn the luck) a couple of times each March/April. Our yard stays pretty soggy until July or so, after which it's merely damp.

With this in mind, should I still be considering swales and/or catchment ponds higher up? I have been thinking that slowing the water down a bit and holding some of it up higher would make things less wet, but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just be digging drainage ditches and letting it all go downhill. That won't help with the flooded creek, but it might help with the soggy yard. I hate to lose all that water, though, because we do get a bit dry in August except in the lower parts of the yard.

Thoughts?


Thanks!
April

Thanks for the responses! I've got some more thinking to do. Good thing it's winter or I'd already be out there mucking around with stuff before I have a good understanding of the big picture.

The idea of water being a better heat buffer than granite is extremely thought provoking. I had also though about burying the heat retainers to slow down heat loss through radiation. My husband is already starting to raise an eyebrow at me at the thought of digging up rocks just to bury them again, but he'll get over it!

I think I need to rein it in a bit and work on some simpler things before I try to grow lemons. I have a bad habit of rushing into things too quickly. We've gotten to the point where we've got dairy, eggs, chicken, beef, goat meat and pork provided for ourselves from the sweat of our own brow using very sustainable and mostly organic methods (except for "milk stand grains" - still working on that). I struggle with veggies, but I think hugulkultur/permaculture is the answer there. That will happen this spring. So exciting!

Thanks to everyone for your passion and thoughtfulness!

-April

I've been digging around in this forum for many days straight, as well as watching videos and listening to podcasts. I feel like I've wasted the last five years trying to get a conventional farm going. Now, I can't get the silly grin off my face! My existing (useless) landscaping and conventional gardens are quivering in fear every time I walk around outside thinking about what I can do here or there.

I'm very intrigued by the creation of individual microclimates to suit different areas, but I have a couple of questions.

We have tons (literally) of granite rock here on our little mountain in the Ozarks. I understand the idea of using them as heat stores and am making many plans to that regard. As I was driving up the road yesterday, I noticed that many of the sofa sized granite boulders still had snow on them when the rest of the snow had melted away. The ones I saw were in the woods and not getting as much sun as they could be. But it got me to thinking. Do they also "store" cold in the same way they store heat? Can cold even be stored? Ice cubes store cold, I reckon. I don't think I'm thinking about this the right way.

My second question concerns the extremes of weather that we have here in Southeast Missouri. If I'm creating a microclimate for some protection against the harsh winters we have here, will I be creating an oven in the blistering heat of summer time? If that's the case, are there steps I can take to ameliorate that situation?

Lastly, is it horribly un-permie of me to consider using plastic (or other artificial means) in winter time in order to extend seasons or grow veggies that I really shouldn't considering my climatic conditions?

You all have really struck a chord with me. I know it's going to be a lot of work to get from where we are to where we want to be, but it's going to be SO worth it!

Thanks,
April Boughton
Southeast Missouri