i should be asleep

get your hands dirty and join the secret society of baling wire. that's what her blog said and i loved it. my first and only purchase for a long time was baling wire. i want to be part of that secret society. so in my insomnia i did a little research on the fancy web and realized i had to fill out a form to homeschool in new mexico. oops. also, i need a sewing machine. also, i have this terrible problem where i want to do everything at once and each time i try and then realize it is truly impossible i want to hit the bottle. okay, rough and tumble sentiments aside, just how do i slow this down to a reasonable pace? and why can't i figure out how to put a roof on the greenhouse? i'm leaving for seattle and a much needed break from the 'stead and so will be away but while i'm gone - pray, light a candle, lay in a field for me, whatever you do to bend the universe to your will, do it now and send some love.

grandmother moon

after another long day of hiking and farm work, the full moon rose from behind the mountains as we sat, relaxed, and drank a glass of wine on the deck. my cousin, the apprentice, and i talked about family and regretted somewhat, all the while celebrating, that she must return to her home on tuesday. the seed is here, the drip line set-up is on its way, and i used the handy claw-tool i found at the Re-store to tear up and aerate the very first bed. the only bummer in all of this is that i will be in seattle for a week (where i get to visit my 2 best girl friends and my sister) and cannot plant the seeds until i return. this will seriously change my plans, but i am needed elsewhere... i hope all of my friends, new and old, enjoyed the moon.

fine, fine cast-away wood

one of my early morning rituals, especially when i cannot sleep, is to 'surf' the internet, how else do you find ecorazzi?, random sites i find that i've been meaning to return to, there are so many worth mentioning like the Ranting Jamaican who is currently pissed at american airlines, and so i scoured craigslist for local materials, as usual, and found what can only be described as a giant mound of good lumber, cast away by a dweller of 'the pueblos', our newest green subdivision that looked like it had eaten up a bit of desert habitat from my vantage, poor homeless little whipsnake said sustainable my ass, but i happily loaded up the studs and strips and 8 and 12 foot long boards that he was giving away as firewood... ah! and now to my point, the point, is, that now it is my greenhouse! ta-dah!





the only purchased items so far include wood screws and some metal joiners, and of course the 6 mil plastic i bought because i couldn't find it used anywhere though i asked everyone i knew, and found a post somewhere in michigan or north carolina giving away some greenhouse plastic, but i broke down and went to town and got it and now i'm in about 60 bucks in all, a number that will grow as i learn to put a roof on that measures my liking, something slanted for rainwater catchment that has a vent... stay tuned.

the apprentice

double rainbow


the beautiful mountains - is this a postcard?


fencing the beds


working in the sun


happy chickens


erin the apprentice


i dig the holes. happy.

finally, my cousin erin arrives from Houston to take on the task of "assistant" on our tiny farm. the past few days have held events phenomenal and tragic for our family and our loved-ones. the rain falls as thunder cracks throughout the nights. the weather cools and wets and then heats up again to inferno levels. beds are being built, seed catalogs filled with circles and dog-ears, and wonderful new stranger friends sign up for a share. the greenhouse is finally laid out thanks to our desert subdivision friends giving away piles of free scrap lumber as they build and remodel. photos galore.

does it rain?

it began with the loudest CRACK i've experienced, at least the most jarring of my adulthood, the gray sky opening as though the weight of the watered-down clouds was simply too much for the sky to bear. huila and i ran outside and i pounded several nails into a 10 ft rain gutter ($3 at the Restore) across the 2X4 below the tin roof overhang on the shed with a 50 gallon drum positioned under each end. soaked, i stared at my work smiling, with hammer in hand as the rain fell first upon the roof, then into my gutter, and down into the drums, my sopping hair clinging to my head, my t-shirt clinging to my back. what a sensation, what simple pleasure, how overjoyed i was to watch a diverted spout of rainwater pouring deliberately into an intentional destination to save for later use. and now as the rain still pours the south side barrel is nearly halfway full and i will run out into the rain again to dance around my collected water as i watch the level slowly rise. the system is flawed, there is no outlet, there are no pipes, there is no gravity feed, there is no drip line.... as an aside, chez poulet is water tight, not a leak in the down-pour, and the babies safely tucked away inside. thanks to everyone who helped us pray for rain.

chez poulet, or... the hen house

they busted out the power tools on the club house turned chicken house today to seal it up for the little pullets. they're 3 weeks old today and starting to feather out in funny ways. we are really looking forward to moving the girls outside. check out the sky!

school

grace began her routine today. we are going to carefully document our own version of school this time around. i mean, in Mexico we certainly followed a curriculum of sorts, a deliberate method of opening our senses and learning new things, even in traditional school settings at times, and grace became fluent in Spanish because of it, but this time we will have a printable version of "the 5th grade school year" by way of computer. i think the schedule is well-rounded, leaving room for flexibility and interpretation, but still bounded by a set of disciplining principles... okay, so that's questionable, but with grace it can't just be a free-for-all. she has no self-discipline in the sense that she will sit down to a project, goddess-help-us ALONE, and work on it for more than about 5 minutes before exhibiting her 'kinesthetic' ways and jumping up to twirl or chew on her tank top hem. even a canvas with the perfect 'tooth' and expensive acrylics, she will stand in front of the easel with her pallet for 10 minutes before abandoning it for a good prance about the house. yes, i jest a bit, but focusing 'American style' is just no good for grace. so here's the preliminary schedule, and because she began today, we will patiently observe...

8-11: wake up (that's a pretty natural hour for her these days, so we went with natural. she used to wake up loads earlier, but now i have a couple of hours alone in the morning) eat breakfast, relax, help with animals or outside with farm, reading time, maybe a "learning" creative computer game, but i really limit these, interaction with something stimulating, something intentional, carefully guided, so it's "her" time, but she's being constructive with it.

11 am: "school" subject - we often critique this notion of Westernized schooling, and i'm still not completely on board with "un-schooling" and it's baggage, so we use this hour to sit and focus on something of an "academic" nature. by the end of the hour i peeked in to where david was giving an artful lesson on WWI (it's relevant to grace's questioning of late) and she was rolling on the carpet with her pencil between her teeth. yeah. positively (and conversely), grace has a really high level of respect for david, and because he's such a great teacher, it's a good fit.

12-1: healthy lunch hour, time to relax, today they played battleship during lunch as an extension of WWI lesson and something about King Ferdinand and a torpedo?

1-2: Quiet time, room time (meaning her bedroom to organize, put things away, clean up if she chooses this to break up the day), art time, reading time, helping time (to help out with a project on the farm-stead) or reflection time, where she blogs what she reflected on/learned that day

2-3: "school subject" - we like to tie everything together and david's forte, aside from medical stuff and anatomy, is literature and art, so "lessons" will revolve around a person, an era, an historical event, etc. but this hour they are beginning the periodic chart, one element at a time. science is grace's self-proclaimed "favorite" and as i peek in she is sitting at a desk, asking questions, drawing hydrogen and really focusing. hmmm?

3-4: art time, reading time, project time, helping time, outside time, exercise, etc.

then she's off the hook as far as my watching over and guiding her time by the clock. if we can add in a musical instrument i'll be thrilled, but she's a "designer" so much more inclined to put outfits together, fashion show, cut out and glue collages, draw and sketch. this will be new and exciting for us and grace is much more anxiety-free not having to face the dreaded public school classroom. finally, i am open to suggestions.

chilly crocodile drops

our rain prayers were answered today, if only briefly. giant, slow, heavy, cold drops fell for a few minutes. we ran out in it and praised it probably more than was necessary. we'll increase our "rain dance."

early morning arrival

our friend at the post office across the highway called around 7:15 this morning and said, "your babies are in." i rushed over and pushed open the heavy, glass post office door and heard faint but beautifully uplifting "pi pi pio pi pio pi's" coming from a cardboard box with slats. i gently brought them home and david, having read my reaction and consequent actions, was readying the brooding box, our oversized, oblong (plastic) bathtub in the master bathroom where they'll live for the next month, i think. i'm still researching these marvelous creatures that uplift the soul. oh my goodness, 25 perfect, chirping, fluffy, baby chicks jumping into your hand and your heart... oh! seriously it's that magnificent. magic. the stuff i try to surround myself with. we purchased the mixed special, and at that it even came with one "rare" they threw in for excitement. just like babies, they emerged from their enclosed home each already filled with a very distinct personality, displaying different and unique behaviors, exhibiting their quirks. we gathered around the bathtub (grace in complete awe and talking nonstop and asking nonstop questions) and, naturally, many babies were named. we have giselle (the super model with long, almond-shaped eyes that look like they're engulfed in dark makeup), rosa, martin, and malcolm, the three black chickens with completely distinct personalities... hey. hey! it's funny. (especially because they're all female). sage woman (she looks wise), carmen (heavy red makeup and poofy hair), marilyn (platinum blonde with black diamonds), rebel (tall and daring), tiger (cause she looks like a tiger), comet (totally different from the others, a brown ball that shoots across the tub) and i think that's all for now. some are kind of less distinct, but i'm sure will become their own strong chick women. the low lighting in the bathroom does them no justice, so i will try for more pictures when i knock the shower out and open a door to the back porch, for shizzle, because the bathroom currently sucks.

soil building

delilah helping out

i can't remember whether or not it rains here. seriously. i lived here from 2001 to 2003 and have been gone until very recently. someone asked me yesterday if i remembered how the rain fell... i have to admit that i do not. this past week it has rained in a perfect circumference all around us, but not upon us, and it makes me wonder. as i practice my quiet watchfulness, observing the land and her patterns, the wildlife, the many natural swales, i wonder...

and as i wonder i make soil. this morning, early because of the heat, i completed the pallet compost bins and finally moved the kitchen scrap to one, building upon free horse manure and weathered yard pilings in another. i chuckled to myself as i was working - to date i've only purchased a roll of bailing wire. i love bailing wire. but the point is that everything else has been "free" or radically recycled as i am fond of saying. the wood pallets, the manure, my trusty red wagon (all terrain vehicle), fencing, posts, rain barrels... the list goes on and on. and on my budget i've spent $5 on bailing wire, $35 on baby chicks that should arrive any day now... but that's about it. i am grateful for the gifts of the cast-away. they make for beautiful, and cost effective, farm infrastructure.


grace decorated the all-terrain-vehicle


cardboard, composted leaves and manure, topped with straw


only the beginning

and sow it begins...

the move was tedious, and tremendously satisfying. work has begun with important "first projects" - the compost project, the chicken coop project, the shade-making project, the soil building project... we're meeting all of our new friends - the beautiful tarantula in the peach tree well, wasps everywhere, bull snake by the water spigot, every species of lizard known to humankind, birds too numerous to identify in one day. this will be the content of postings for a while as we settle and learn the land.


the backyard

tarantula's home

one of many

Just Arrived!

Mother Earth News's "111 Modern Homesteading Articles" on CD ROM. As soon as this powerful, moving, and overwhelming national conference is over (I worked 14 hours yesterday through moving speeches, tears, and laughter) I am going to devour every 111th article.

Moving day is tomorrow. Soon we will post pictures of the land in all of it's beauty. My two major concerns are the supposed locust infestation (we'll see just to what extent the locusts have damaged plants and what different people mean by infestation) and a red fungus on the cottonwood trees, which will be a really big bummer to chainsaw down. My immediate remedy? TEAS! Chamomile, comfrey, and nettles brewed into a medium to light-strengthed tea sprayed on flora can cure many ills. This is my favorite journey so far...

Community Mesquite Bean Milling

i am so inspired by they way community comes together in tucson, especially around rainwater harvest and mesquite bean milling and use. i was talking to a friend at the farmer's market saturday who is also interested in somehow cooperatively purchasing a hammermill so we can grind and use all of the nutritious and delicious mesquite beans that go to waste every year in our city. check out the hammermill page to see what the community in Tuscon is doing with their cooperatively owned hammermill! we can grind, make and sell flour, and have a community mesquite pancake breakfast! who else might be interested? check out www.desertharvesters.org for ideas, and let's purchase our own hammermill!

New Book on the Way

just ordered based on recommendation from tiny farm.

Ms. Widow Transplanted

look who we accidentally transported. i felt really terrible uprooting her from her beautiful Gila Wilderness home, but somehow she moved into our pots and pans and wound up spinning her trademark web in our kitchen sink. my tendency is to simply work around them, but david saw her while i was out of the house, took pictures of her, and then gently moved her to the grapevine in the backyard. i am looking forward to seeing who else we run into in the days ahead. last night we sat in the backyard with friends brainstorming (still) the coming weeks - how we are going to "plot" the land for planting, positioning, what to do with the mines (i want to go spelunking) where to place the greenhouse. finally, grace is home and i will post more about her with a fresh picture later today! for the love of pachamama...

thought for the day

you cannot plant the seeds until you plant the water. i will save seed planting for very last to ensure great soil, sufficient compost, and sufficient support from all of the elements including all of my friends. thank you...

master of ceremonies?

i would not consider myself the obvious choice, but i found my name in the final program. that's right, you heard it here first. no warning, no pleading, just print. black and white. the program can be found at http://malcs.nmsu.edu then clicking on the 'institute schedule' on the left hand colum. in addition to my talk on saturday afernoon, i was chosen to MC the "noche de cultura" on friday night. this will be the first time, and maybe the last, i ever stand before a crowd of 300+ in an auditorium and attempt funny and articulate with fear pulsing my veins. as the boxes pile up around us and the sorting and packing continue, anticipating grace's arrival home on friday and working hard on the city council campaign, i am stunned and flabergasted... did any of this make sense?

all things beautiful

my overjoyed brother and his beautiful bride after they read their vows.





her amazing silver work. the peruvian turquoise bracelet she made me.

Stone "rusting" (or night-time thievery)

there is an underground, black-market, illicit stone trade. according to the Stone Wall Initiative, one must take great care in getting fresh stone and understanding where these stones originate because, and i quote, "some quarries are really yards where strip-mined stone is gathered, sorted, and sold." but while i was chuckling to myself about the seedy side of gathering rocks, i ran across a website, The Stone Foundation, in Santa Fe that i thought was really cool. because there are old mine shafts yet unexplored on the property, i am interested in experimenting with different decorative yet useful stone walls around the different sections of the farm. this will be a very nice 'extension' of the mountain and i wonder how it might help keep the fox, rattlers, deer and other wildlife on the other side of it while helping to retain moisture inside - yes, i am dreaming and designing and really hoping someone volunteers to help on this one!

Panty Hose, Hot Peppers, and Tea Bags....

with my 'alternative' mind-set i normally try to avoid popular or mainstream publications that i always feel leave out options, variations, diversity, etc. etc. BUT, because we rely on hulu.com and netflix for our viewing entertainment, meaning no television, we are sometimes left with the need to hit the local video store - in this case, hastings. so yesterday, i just sort of wandered the store, something i rarely do as it's usually a get-in-and-get-out operation, and what did i stumble across? well, just a strange book after my own heart. (another note, i never buy brand-new books because COAS is so spectacular). can i use old phone books in my garden? why yes, and here is how... what do you do with a bungee cord and two plastic one gallon jugs? why, here's an idea... Got an old box fan that's beyond repair? Well, do we have a suggestion for you...

i am not one easily impressed by "1,000 Ways to Do Things" lists of any sort, but i must say, this book was written for me. the one who says, 'surely this can be used for something...' i also feel awkward in the presence of the word 'yankee' so technically this book should not have caught my eye, but i cannot put it down, and now i will know exactly, precisely how to use all of the old 'junk' laying around on the land to make my farming life way more enjoyable. lesson: yes. it's about judgment. ha!