Food systems

I think I have already mentioned this, but now that the house is so comfortable, we are focusing our attention this year on the power, water and food systems.

The power system is now done, at least for now. We will one day add another solar panel and get a freezer, and build a couple more wind generators (even though this site is not great for wind, we have the parts and we love wind power). For the first time, we have free refrigeration - having switched form propane to electric. We run what we want when we want (although we are conservative by nature - force of habit, I guess). We recently put a fence around the solar mount.

The water system will be addressed in a couple of months, so stay tuned.

As for the food, we are really enjoying working on that system. Until we have our big tank, we are taking it slow, not planting the majority of our seeds until the rains come - next year, we will be able to go crazy! For now, we have lettuce, beets, cabbage, collards, tomatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, radish all in the ground in the garden, growing like weeds on compost and worm tea. Inside, in seed blocks, we have turnips, eggplants, arrugala, chard, cherry tomatoes, rhubarb, comfrey, purslene, asparagus. We should be transplanting most of them this week.

Under the trees, we have all kinds of squash, beans, spinach, melons planted and they are getting big. All our trees are doing great and we will even get some fruit this year, which is incredible considering we just planted them.

The trees are on a drip system and they get watered twice a week. Their water comes from a small tank we set up uphill from them. We have a fishtrap in the river and we are trying to stock this tank. So far, we have 4 perch, 1 bass and 1 carp in there. We have a little solar powered pump set up that oxygenates the water. A small system, but Leo loves it. It is his job to feed them worms, which he also loves.

Of course, there's the bees and the chickens, mentioned in previous blogs.

And last, but not least, rabbits. We haven't actually got rabbits yet, but we are starting to work on their house. While I have been making garden paths, Abe has been leveling a 20' x 10' area. We will build a shed for them in this space, and then have pens coming off that. We are going to be keeping the rabbits in a colony setup instead of cages. We'll keep you informed.

2 Years Old

Well folks, Leo just turned two years old on Sunday. Hard to believe. In some ways, it seems like time is flying so fast. And yet, it also feels like a long, long time since he was that tiny, fragile creature that came out of my body.

Still too young to appreciate what a birthday is, we decided to celebrate on his behalf. Some friends came over (we call them Leo's God Parents/padrinos, though he wasn't ever baptized). We had a huge roast dinner and were too full for cake/Jello, etc.

So, as we digested our food, we decided to go to a friend's ranch that is further along our road. It is beautiful. Very remote, with HUGE Pine, Oak and Juniper trees. After walking around some, we all settled by a large pond and did some fishing. The cows came down to drink, and Leo was throwing rocks in the water, but otherwise very quiet!

Abe caught a couple of fish to put in our tree irrigation tank. We want to grow some fish in there, so that their poop can go to the trees, and we will have fish to eat later down the line. Our first (and very basic) aquaponics system. We want to go back, with a net, and get a lot more.

It was late when we got home, so we didn't do the whole cake/candle thing. We just split it and other desserts up so our friends could take a share home. A nice day.

More photos