It helps me to write down my goals - and a nice public space like this blog means I feel more accountable!
I really would like to get my warmer/drier needs plants starting in the greenhouse. That means I need to help set up the tables that my husband brought home from a friend's this weekend and mix some planting mix out of my compost and some garden dirt and a little fine cinder.
I need to figure out what seeds I have (lots and lots of beans and a few other little things) and what seeds I need and/or want for plants that we would be partial to eating. I am at least two weeks behind on this particular task, which is anxious-making.
I really need to get that FAFSA started, if not done, for my college kid, and the financial aid application done for my 3 Kamehameha kids. Not my favorite task - worse than taxes.
I really need to get a handle on the impossible amount of laundry. Our family schedule has fallen apart as sports schedules and work schedules change - and we have to once again figure out which day each kid gets to wash, dry, and fold (this is the part the falls apart) their laundry.
We (need help with this one) need to think about a more permanent solution for the chicken run surface. It gets very, very muddy and isn't draining well.
The sheep hooves need to be trimmed, and it is time for worming again. Ugh.
I MUST decide which, if either, of the two intact ram lambs are going to stay intact. And then, I need to castrate the unlucky one.
The phone corner, with all the piled up mail, old report cards, seed packets, weird parts to appliances that I am not sure are still functional, etc, etc needs to be organized and straightened.
And, of course, I want to do all of this in one weekend. In reality, the FAFSA and the Financial Aid application will take most of the weekend, because I need to do my taxes first. sigh.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Focus!
That's what I need. I am finding myself rattling around the property and the house starting little projects and finishing few. I did clean the sheep housing and added more cinder. I washed a few dishes. I weeded a bit in the outside garden, and inspected the plants in the greenhouse. (My husband brought home some plants from a friend and some old greenhouse tables, but he doesn't know what the plants are and I don't recognize them, either.) So beyond a good half hour of mucking out, I really just puttered around.
Right now, like a child, I am meant to be cleaning my room. Things tend to get piled up, and it is time to sort through them and give everything a good dusting. Only...the computer was just sitting there, so here I am posting instead.
Once I am done with my room, I am going to bake. My 16 year old requested monkey bread, and I will probably make snacky things, like muffins and sandwich rolls and cookies. Dinner is a simple stir fry with beets and mustard cabbage and some chicken to be served over rice. What I really want to do is take a nap, but I wasted an incredible amount of time as I sat and pondered selling my good mare. Although I did bake some sandwich bread yesterday, I didn't accomplish anything else, except reading a book and a half and pondering (or perhaps the word is "moping").
I definitely need to get a move on!
Right now, like a child, I am meant to be cleaning my room. Things tend to get piled up, and it is time to sort through them and give everything a good dusting. Only...the computer was just sitting there, so here I am posting instead.
Once I am done with my room, I am going to bake. My 16 year old requested monkey bread, and I will probably make snacky things, like muffins and sandwich rolls and cookies. Dinner is a simple stir fry with beets and mustard cabbage and some chicken to be served over rice. What I really want to do is take a nap, but I wasted an incredible amount of time as I sat and pondered selling my good mare. Although I did bake some sandwich bread yesterday, I didn't accomplish anything else, except reading a book and a half and pondering (or perhaps the word is "moping").
I definitely need to get a move on!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Lilikoi
A coworker gave me a bag of lilikoi. I ate some over cottage cheese this morning, and I am determined to save at least one of the fruit to grow a vine or two. I forgot how delicious fresh lilikoi is. Also known as passion fruit, it is part of a popular juice combo called POG (Passion Orange Guava). I really look forward to the day I can make my own cottage cheese and put my own fresh lilikoi on it. It was soooo good.
My son's Hawaiian teacher said that the fruit is really liliko'i, but no one says it like that anymore. It has an intense taste and a penetrating fruit smell, so sometimes visitors don't like it - but it reminds me of growing up in Maunawili. We used to ride the horses out into the big pastures and pick lilikoi and share them with the horses.
Tomorrow morning, the woman is coming to look at the mare. I am of two minds about it. I want her to be occupied and loved and with my schedule, I just don't give her the occupied part of it. She has SO much potential! I will miss her a lot if she does go, and it feels a bit like giving up a part of myself. I am fascinated by the sheep and spend a lot of physical and mental energy on them, but horses have been a part of me forever.
The babies are doing well. I have to decide which of the two ram lambs to keep intact and which to castrate. The white streaky one is starting to creep feed a little already. In just six days, they have grown so fast. I have been surprised by how fast the lambs grow. The three week ones almost seem to have doubled in size and they are so adventurous. This weekend, another chore I have in mind if the weather cooperates and I can drum up some help around here is trimming hooves. Not really looking forward to trimming Elvis' hooves. I think I will have to rig a halter and have someone hold him tight so I can lift his legs up one at a time. I wish I had one of the flippers that you clamp the sheep in and turn them over! It would be amusing as well as convenient.
My son's Hawaiian teacher said that the fruit is really liliko'i, but no one says it like that anymore. It has an intense taste and a penetrating fruit smell, so sometimes visitors don't like it - but it reminds me of growing up in Maunawili. We used to ride the horses out into the big pastures and pick lilikoi and share them with the horses.
Tomorrow morning, the woman is coming to look at the mare. I am of two minds about it. I want her to be occupied and loved and with my schedule, I just don't give her the occupied part of it. She has SO much potential! I will miss her a lot if she does go, and it feels a bit like giving up a part of myself. I am fascinated by the sheep and spend a lot of physical and mental energy on them, but horses have been a part of me forever.
The babies are doing well. I have to decide which of the two ram lambs to keep intact and which to castrate. The white streaky one is starting to creep feed a little already. In just six days, they have grown so fast. I have been surprised by how fast the lambs grow. The three week ones almost seem to have doubled in size and they are so adventurous. This weekend, another chore I have in mind if the weather cooperates and I can drum up some help around here is trimming hooves. Not really looking forward to trimming Elvis' hooves. I think I will have to rig a halter and have someone hold him tight so I can lift his legs up one at a time. I wish I had one of the flippers that you clamp the sheep in and turn them over! It would be amusing as well as convenient.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Oh, arrggh...
Elvis has decided that it is fun to try to catch me. He got me good when I was trying to get Audrey and her lambs in the small pen, even though he is usually totally engrossed in eating when there is food available. Now he seems to be watching me when I go out to feed the chickens. Unfortunately, the chicken run is inside the sheep pen. Today I barely made it out of the gate.
Someone taught him that human pats (former owner) feel good and someone else (me) has learned her lesson about keeping up the tradition. I guess that is why this the "Hapless" rather than the "Akamai" Homestead.
This week has been a bit of a challenge, even though it has only been two work days so far. The students are great and my student teacher is working out great - I am just incredibly tired and rather cranky when I get home.
My divine 18 year old is cooking tofu in butter and garlic and it smells yummy, and there is leftover Thai peanut sauce and noodles from last night (yummy, if I do say so myself), so maybe tonight I will be able to catch up on some work and feel more ready for tomorrow.
Someone taught him that human pats (former owner) feel good and someone else (me) has learned her lesson about keeping up the tradition. I guess that is why this the "Hapless" rather than the "Akamai" Homestead.
This week has been a bit of a challenge, even though it has only been two work days so far. The students are great and my student teacher is working out great - I am just incredibly tired and rather cranky when I get home.
My divine 18 year old is cooking tofu in butter and garlic and it smells yummy, and there is leftover Thai peanut sauce and noodles from last night (yummy, if I do say so myself), so maybe tonight I will be able to catch up on some work and feel more ready for tomorrow.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Busy Day
We made a lot of progress on our expanded garden beds today, thanks to my husband and his tractor. I watered my seedlings in the greenhouse - they definitely dry out faster there. Of course, the deep clean of the animal shelters always happens on the weekend. I also did some castrating out there, my first time but just a fact of sheep farming, I suppose. First time anything is always a little anxious.
The oldest daughter went off hiking with some of her friends from high school. It is always nice to see those kids; we've had some lovely huge sleepovers in the past, and now they are all growing up to be young men and women.
As I am typing here, I hear some thunder out in the distance and a few rattling rain drops on our metal roof (metal for rain catchment). One of our catchment tanks is only about 1/3 full, so the rain is coming at a good time. Just a few days of light rain and we use so much water with all these animals. I am including the 4 two legged young animals who are going to learn the hard way (a turned off water valve) if they don't go the easy way of shortening their showers on their own.
Yesterday, I was really thinking about what to do with the horses. The sheep are very much taking the time left between being a teacher, a mom, and a gardener, and I have been feeling guilty about that big galoot of a horse out there being untrained. I love her manure, and she is an easy keeper, but I am not using her mind or her body in the best way. She tends to make it difficult for my laminitic gelding to get his share and generally just pushes him around and all the other animals on the farm, too. (She tries to push the humans around, but isn't very successful. I have no patience for it, and it could be dangerous, so she just isn't allowed.) So, I said a little prayer asking what I should do for this mare. And, darn it, if there wasn't someone on craigslist looking for just this type of horse. I don't know what will come of it, but we'll see. I will miss her terribly, but maybe it is for the best.
A lot of changes, therefore, might be down one horse and we've doubled our sheep population. The garden space has been quadrupled, not including the greenhouse. I wonder what else is in store for us?
The oldest daughter went off hiking with some of her friends from high school. It is always nice to see those kids; we've had some lovely huge sleepovers in the past, and now they are all growing up to be young men and women.
As I am typing here, I hear some thunder out in the distance and a few rattling rain drops on our metal roof (metal for rain catchment). One of our catchment tanks is only about 1/3 full, so the rain is coming at a good time. Just a few days of light rain and we use so much water with all these animals. I am including the 4 two legged young animals who are going to learn the hard way (a turned off water valve) if they don't go the easy way of shortening their showers on their own.
Yesterday, I was really thinking about what to do with the horses. The sheep are very much taking the time left between being a teacher, a mom, and a gardener, and I have been feeling guilty about that big galoot of a horse out there being untrained. I love her manure, and she is an easy keeper, but I am not using her mind or her body in the best way. She tends to make it difficult for my laminitic gelding to get his share and generally just pushes him around and all the other animals on the farm, too. (She tries to push the humans around, but isn't very successful. I have no patience for it, and it could be dangerous, so she just isn't allowed.) So, I said a little prayer asking what I should do for this mare. And, darn it, if there wasn't someone on craigslist looking for just this type of horse. I don't know what will come of it, but we'll see. I will miss her terribly, but maybe it is for the best.
A lot of changes, therefore, might be down one horse and we've doubled our sheep population. The garden space has been quadrupled, not including the greenhouse. I wonder what else is in store for us?
Greenhouse Pictures!
Sorry, Faith - this took awhile. Finally, I am posting these pictures. We adapted the hoop house to fit up against our house, attached to the deck. It has the added benefit of sheltering the stair case which was getting pretty beat up in the weather. So far, I have transplanted 14 small tomato volunteers and started a few eggplant seeds. The eggplant seeds are quite old, so we'll see if they sprout.
Out in the garden, I planted some garlic that sprouted in my fridge. It was grown in Hawaii, so I have hopes. I also planted some onion seeds, turnips, beets, lettuce, and mustard cabbage. Of course, now that I have planted seeds, the sky is rapidly clouding over. It never seems to fail that when I plant seeds, it pours for days and washes the seeds away. If I do get anything, they are all out of place and I am left guessing what they are. It was very sunny when I was planting, and the soil was lovely and fine and dry. Next time there is a drought (rare), I will know what to do. Plant some seeds and let the rain come to fill up the tanks!
Here is a picture of the finished greenhouse - view from the stairway.
Looking down the staircase.
Looking down from the deck. You can see how we put up the beam and attached it to the frame.
The early stages, just the pcv frame is up.
A view from near the water heating solar panels.
We extended the frame out a bit over the raised area next to the pump house and water heating panels. I really need to pull that volunteer avocado out of there! I plan to use the lava rock walls as supports and a seed starting place. We've always talked about terracing that area for a small kitchen garden or veggie start bed.
You can see how the hoops attach to the deck here.
And here, too...
I was so pleased with the project, I guess I overdid it with pictures.
Now that we are going to spend so much time "down below", we should really stop using it as a storage place for construction leftovers.
Here is a detail of how the pvc attaches to the flange on the deck side. The greenhouse beam is a bit over 10 feet in height. It's about 20 feet long and 12 feet deep.
The boys moved some old 20 ft. long boards out to the greenhouse yesterday, so I do have some surface to keep the seed trays up off the ground and out of reach of my naughty dogs. I am so delighted with this project! The ends are still open so it is more a rain cover than a warmer area. I am going to try the tomatoes in there, because they really do suffer in the heavy rain we have here regularly.
Out in the garden, I planted some garlic that sprouted in my fridge. It was grown in Hawaii, so I have hopes. I also planted some onion seeds, turnips, beets, lettuce, and mustard cabbage. Of course, now that I have planted seeds, the sky is rapidly clouding over. It never seems to fail that when I plant seeds, it pours for days and washes the seeds away. If I do get anything, they are all out of place and I am left guessing what they are. It was very sunny when I was planting, and the soil was lovely and fine and dry. Next time there is a drought (rare), I will know what to do. Plant some seeds and let the rain come to fill up the tanks!
The boys moved some old 20 ft. long boards out to the greenhouse yesterday, so I do have some surface to keep the seed trays up off the ground and out of reach of my naughty dogs. I am so delighted with this project! The ends are still open so it is more a rain cover than a warmer area. I am going to try the tomatoes in there, because they really do suffer in the heavy rain we have here regularly.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Newest Lambs
I think he is so pretty.
Everyone's peaceful. I will leave them out for the day, and put them in the lambing pen when it comes time for dinner.
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