Tuesday, March 23, 2021

We'll kick it off with chickens today.

I'm gonna try and start my posts with chickens more often. There's something magical and healing about chickens.

Forest chickens

The chickens are liking hanging out in the swales. I think the grass growing over the swales makes a great humid environment for bugs, so with the addition of chickens, it's a permaculture insect trap... That poops breakfast.

Man, I missed having chickens.

Up-potted seedlings

Last night at work I was, by complete chance (more likely Providence), flipping through Craigslist for random things that might come in handy. Canning jars, cast iron cookeare, freezers, the awesome homestead essentials. Not something I probably do often enough, so it was a happy coincidence that someone had listed a nice freezer for only $75 in my town, like five minutes from my house. It had been listed for almost a week, so I fully expected it to be gone, but I messaged the Lister anyways. They got back quickly, and I was able to hit the ATM on the way to pick it up. We now have our first deep freezer! I need to find out how many we'll need for two pigs and a billion rabbits, but I reckon four or five. In this market, $75 is a bargain. People have been straight up hoarding these things since covid hit, and the secondary market is often time and a half over retail, if you can find retail. It's almost like things are being manipulated...

Birds of a feather...

I don't know why, but I've been a sleep machine here lately. Rest has been excellent, I got eleven hours of premium quality sleep today, and woke to Melissa and her friend having finished clearing out the apartment and the front flower bed. Of course, I didn't do much today. I need to probably stay up a little later in the morning, so look for a little more of my own contribution in tomorrow's post. As for now, I have no particular plan. I'll probably plant beans. Big thanks to @goldenoakfarm for sharing a graphic to help me gauge how much I need to plant this year, I think we've got the tomato front covered, at nearly thirty starts. The main focuses this year are tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans for our own eating and preserving. I'm also growing a lot of squash mainly to share with the pigs and chickens because it's such a productive and attractive plant. They're halfway planted as ornamentals around our big trees out front. I'll probably plant some more of them tomorrow too... We'll see! There's a couple margaritas and some wine at the house, so there's no telling what'll happen!!!

I'm liking the heavy focus on a few main crops. It helps me feel like we're getting more done. Rather than less than a percent of everything, we're focusing on a high percent of a few things. I let my ADHD kick in the last few years, and nothing got done well. This year Melissa is helping and things are lining up to be epic.

I'm gonna go get to work now. Maybe dream up a plan, or a list, or something organized. Or maybe I'll read my book more. We'll see.

Love from Texas

Nate 💚