You WILL Survive!

And perhaps you'll THRIVE!!!

No really, I mean it...in our 6 months back in the US, we have lived--actually done quite well--without a TV.  Now that being said, we did again watch five out of six years of the series "Northern Exposure" during that period.  We'll watch it again if you'd like when you visit.

It's amazing what you can learn to live without.  And probably your lifestyle will improve vastly.  Say, you just don't 'have time' to fish.  Well, take the time that you spent watching the tube and I bet you'll now be able to do A LOT of fishing  (I still have to get hooked.).

Of course, the area that we most put time into was our garden. And thanks to 9 Wonderfful Wwoofers, we came a long way in that creation.  And with more vegetables--and I dare say, more vegetarians around--well...you will definitely be eating more healthfully.  

As we also ended up living out of our cooler as the 'new' refrigerator, we also have ended up spending less money on propane.  Our old propane/electrical fridge biting the dust didn't necessarily turn out too bad.  It also made us even more mindful in planning our menu.

One block of ice every second or third day worked great!  

Making changes has proved beneficial for us, and they may do the same for you, and if you really don't like your new lives, just change back!  Promise, you won't melt!

in hono(u)r of Christmas

Lime, Favas, and Season's Bounty

Final Butternut squash take for the season

It's already November, and even though the growing is almost done for the season, there's still much to do including the final harvest of the season--just in time for our Thanksgiving butternut squash pie Brent is planning on making for our big family meal together at the end of the month...

There's bags of lime to put down (Most has been completed.); even though everything grew very nicely this season, a pH of only 5 seems a bit low for optimum production...

There's a sizable bag of fava beans that have been carefully planted in all the areas we "degrassed" at the end of the season that will serve as this year's cover crop to add nitrogen to our soil.  I've planted them in various ways to see what technique will prove most .

And there's a lot of landscaping in our efforts to beautify the entire planting area and to add some interest to our homestead (See the round river stones in the picture that follows.); many plants that the deer found tasty in the arboretum have been moved near to the cabin to help make them less desirable...

the 'limed' garden down from the partially landscaped swath
of ornamental plants and river rock


Watch for future developments!!!

The Cherry (or Strawberry) on Top

Actually, it's more like a very small pebble or a large piece of sand...my suggestion: don't pass a kidney stone unless you can do so extremely quickly--or--it's SO small you don't know you had it!  Almost $4000 and TWO visits to the emergency room later--and in our hospital--we definitely look to returning Down Under.

But folks here have been incredibly generous as I just transported all sorts of herbs and flowers from the place that I worked this summer and transplanted a few dozen strawberry starts from the plants that the person that I worked with there provided me.  They're all supposed to bear fruit in June, so I planted them in a patch by the house to hopefully keep whatever critters may like them away.

My permaculture plan has definitely evolved into a vibrant vision--and reality--of a garden this past summer and autumn, and has even included a bit of landscaping by using the plants that the deer kept munching that were further from the house.  So, along with all of the plants started from seed, dug up or donated, this has been a pretty economical start to creating a sustainable homestead.  I'll try to take a current picture of that planting as well as the view from the house into the garden in my next posting.

The Garden is Defined!

Can you believe it?  Four months from our first planting and we’ve got next year’s garden all but ready to go!

Son & Son Kettle


Thanks to Steve(n) and Cooper,  essentially all the ‘desodding’ has been completed.  What this means is most of the perennial grass roots have been removed.   We’re hoping this will result in much less weeding in the future.  Again, it’s that idea of trying to get things right from the beginning.  But whatever you do, don’t let Margaret (my organic guru from New Zealand) know…as she met her better half by agreeing with him that he didn’t have to do any digging in her gardens.

Almost there!

So, now it comes down to trying to raise my pH a couple of octaves!   What this means is now I’ve got to get serious about laying down the lime.  Rob was always encouraging me to do this in Royal Oak, and I think he was on to something.  Unfortunately for us (according to our soil test results), that might mean that what I actually should be applying would require a dumptruck rather than the ten 50-pound bags (Yes, no more metrics as we’re out of NZ!) I just purchased yesterday.  Just for the record, the recommendations suggest that I need 9999+ lbs per acre.  As we have about ¼ acre in vegetables, that’s only 2499 ¼ lbs…isn’t that comforting?

And, again for the records, EVERYTHING in the garden has grown well this summer; perhaps, I’m being overscientific about all of this!  BUT again, I AM trying to get this right from the beginning.

IN CLOSING, for this segment of organification, I would like to thank Sandy, Dan, Angelita, Noel, David, Matt, Reed, Steve and Cooper for their wonderful Wwoofing efforts and getting us on track for the future!  And, just to let the Wwoofers know, we’re now in full harvest, and that one big pumpkin is now very big!!!

Getting in the artichokes and rhubarb

As we’re getting to the end of our planting season, it’s time to put in the perennial veggies that were started from seed.  Overall, I’ve been happy with the results…the few rhubarb plants that did come up came from seed from our own plants!

Matt and his four-legged friend, Reed

You’ll notice that my Wwoofers, Matt and Reed, hailing from Washington DC, are planting them outside the deer fence.  I think this will be a safe move as I know that no animals have been feasting on the parent rhubarb plant (which will also be divided and moved to this planting area once the rains kick in) in a very vulnerable open area in which it’s been growing.  I also understand that deer don’t like artichokes (although I’ve covered with netting to give them protection from deer and other varmints through the winter); they have grown greatly from the seedlings transplanted just three weeks ago.

Being drawn toward experimentation, we’ll be planting the other half of artichokes next spring.  I think it will be interesting to see how the two groups of plants grow and produce.  It also will give me more options should a killing freeze do in the artichokes that are in the ground right now.  I think that our climate should be fine.

The seed packet states that these plants may produce a crop next year.  As I got them planted up by the end of June and they’ve had a short summer in which to reach their current size, this may be hoping for too much.

Natural Beauty

One of the joys of living in this neck of the world is the tremendous scenery and natural wonders that it has to offer.  We open our door daily to it which is pretty (and) amazing!  There is something about Cloudplay that brings all of those wonders together…

That being said, there are so many other special spots to see and experience that make it natural to share these with the Wwoofers who make our place their temporary home.  I have made it a point for anyone staying two weeks or more to take them to visit at least a couple of those awesome wonders as well as to various spots that make Curry County and the Siskiyou region such a unique bioregion.

As well as these pictures of the coast, which are quite indicative of what you’ll experience in travelling here, there’s (at least) a couple places that I don’t want folks who come all of this way to miss.

a shot along the way

 



shrouded in clouds or sunny, it's magic!

streams and waterfalls, too...

‘Secret Beach’ is one of those.  Whether you catch it on a foggy or sunny day, the magic of that spot cannot begin to be gathered until seen by descending the hill from a very basic pull-off behind a safety railing from the main highway.  There are pelicans and seals checking you out from just offshore, waterfalls, small creeks with pools, tree-topped rock islands and forested cliffs that filter the sun, hidden caves and routes through the humungous rock formations and even natural arches and rock bridges to explore during low tide.

 

Dan in awe in our living cathedral

‘Stout Grove’ is another.  A path winding along a pristinely turquoise river takes you to a cathedral of trees—the mighty redwoods—that speak of another time and which man has fortunately left to be.  There are nooks and crannies, fallen logs, gigantic trees that a family of ten can’t reach around, and a fairy forest in which you can just sit and absorb forever.  Viewing upward takes awhile to discover how and where the sun could possibly enter to hit on scattered patches on the fern-laden ground.  There is no doubt that this place is sacred, and this is only enhanced by the ghostlike voices of fellow souls as they echo within and throughout.  Leaving this place is possible, but not something you are in a hurry to do.

 

All of this being said, you can discover much more at your leisure and find those places that resonate for you.  And no, I am not a tour guide!

Labo(u)r Day

It’s already September!  For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s kind of like Good Friday (although that’s a bit changeable) in that it marks the end of summer and good weather and getting out and about for holidays and vacations.

On the other hand, Kiwis and Ozzies have Christmas to mark the entrance to down time and better weather, where we here in the US have Memorial Day, which is more like your Anzac—although, we always move it toward a weekend to make for a longer break.  So, we’re now all back to work and/or to school and the days are rapidly getting shorter.

So we have just celebrated our last ‘day off’ until Thanksgiving just like you wait for the Queen to celebrate her birthday in early June.  It also marks the official end of our tourist season, although here in Curry county in SW Oregon, that can go until the rain really sets in in November when most of the retirees and childless couples take advantage of the kids being off the road to visit and to enjoy the natural beauty in our neck of the woods.

Just a few fun facts for those of you interested in planning future breaks depending on your hemispherical perspective.

Labor Day has always been a time that I stop, observe, and reflect on where I and we are and where we’re going.  For us here at Cloudplay that’s easy: we established, planted, and fenced the main garden with the help of Wwoofers Sandy and Danny and just finished fencing the addition that Wwoofers Angelita and Noel helped create.  This creation has been quite satisfying and organic in nature and has really helped this homestead to become a home.

A note on the addition of the ‘winter garden’, after finding several cabbage seedlings disappear, it became imperative to get the fencing up that our friend Sue donated to the cause.  Other than a few plants being munched, however, all the other kale, broccoli, greens and peas appear very happy indeed.