homesteading – Page 2 – Peacock Orchard

How to grow pear trees from seed

Last winter I had a good attempt at growing apple trees from seed. I actually did a pretty good job until summer, when I no longer watered my tree seedlings and they all died. This time around I will have more time and hopefully will not repeat my mistakes.

I’ve found the hardest part is finding pear seeds at all. Most of the store bought pears I’ve gathered have 0-1 seeds in them. I was lucky, though, and found organic pears from Colorado at our local King Soopers. Naturally, I bought two of each variety. They had a lot of seeds in them so I’m hopeful of success.

So, just like apples I cut the pears up, divided out the flesh to the kids and collected the seeds. I cleaned them and placed them on a clean paper towel in a plastic cup. Then I add a small amount of water to the paper towel, put the cups in a plastic bag and wait. I find times vary by seed, though 2 months is pretty standard. I check weekly to removne any molding seeds and plant out germinated ones. Once you see a nice root growing you simply plant out to compost filled plastic cups, water and voila, easy peasy.

2016 Winter planning and a year in review

Winter is a slow outdoor season for obvious reasons. I’ve had to do some pest proofing of various trees and bushes but for the most part we just wait for snow and then marvel at the resulting white. December I begin spring planning. Last years planning involved a lot of tree purchasing and mapping out of various earthworks. Dreams of our greenhouse, pergola and water harvesting mechanisms were also included.

We accomplished some of those tasks this year along with a lot of tasks that weren’t pre-planned. This year we managed the following:

The mini-Kraters were built and planted.
Water harvesting from our driveway was increased.
Experimental seeds were planted. (sainfoin and a lot of other cover crop seeds)
The sunken hugel was built and planted.
Kitchen gardens were expanded.
The yards were tilled and planted with low growing clover.
Cider orchard was built and planted
We got pigs
We had a ton of hatchlings
We lost a ton of hatchlings (all but 1 baby peacock died this year).
We did the back porch project that included re-flooring, painting and wiring the sun room for lights.

Gosh, I’m getting tired thinking about the things we did this year. Still a lot to accomplish though. The major projects I had wanted to get done this year were not done. Now that I am not working these will be at the top of my project list. The pergola, the greenhouse and starting all fruit trees from seed. Because of the loss of my income I’m going to make a real push at growing my own from seed and growing root stocks to graft from the successful experimental trees.

Also on the list is improved food production in the kitchen garden and we are planning to butcher the pigs at home . I am trying not to set us too many tasks as house maintenance often surprises us. I know we need to repaint the house and probably caulk the windows ASAP.

One major project I want to take on is building a natural swimming pond that is also going to collect roof water. I admit, that will probably be #1 on my list. Stay tuned for that. I have a habit of over doing ponds. Hopefully this one will be sealed better than the last one I dug.

Other than that I’m preparing the basement now for the kids and for seedling growing. I’m also managing our permaculture group. Whoo. I’m glad I quit my job now. I’m going to be BUSY!

Farming means you sometimes have to do the unbelievable.

As I’ve already posted here, we got pigs on the farm. Two of them, small and of unknown age. We have grown to really enjoy the pigs, well I have. They make the most adorable noises and do the most interesting things. I like how excited they are to see us and how they sniff our shoes to smell the dogs (just like the dogs sniff our shoes to smell the pigs). Their eyes are almost human as well.

B.L.T has become quite comfortable being petted by us. He is a very friendly pig. Rocker-Digger isn’t as friendly but he’s not as skittish as he was either. At least he was getting to know us. He probably hopes I trip so he can chew my leg off now. What do I mean by that? Well we had our pig’s anus sown shut.

I’m amused just typing that. I shouldn’t be amused, it was awful, but it is kind of, sort of, funny. So I woke up to a nice snow on November 17. I went to feed the pigs and noticed the most awful thing on R-D. He had part of his anus hanging out of his butthole. I’ve tried to think of a nicer way of saying this but it can’t be done. It was bloody and big and red and be thankful I didn’t take pictures. It was nasty. I run inside and hit Google to find out what is going on. Anal Prolapse (don’t click on that unless you want to see graphic pics). I do some reading and it appears that you can push it back in and it’ll be ok. It is also suggested that spraying it with cooking spray may help it go back in naturally. So I grab some rubber gloves, cooking spray and what little dignity I have and go out to shove my pigs butt back into his body. I try to trick him with some hot oatmeal. He does want to eat it but not enough to let me touch his butt. I’m chasing him about when Husband comes in and helps me corner him. The internet had said to be rather gentle. So I tried gently pushing it back in but it wouldn’t budge. So I spray it generously with cooking oil.

We go inside and I decide that perhaps I should just call a vet to see what they think before going to work. I do and JEES. It’s far more serious than the internet led me to believe. The vet tells me to go back out, hold the pig up by his hind legs and shove his anus back in like I’m folding socks. I repeat this many times as I can’t quite believe what is about to happen. Husband goes back out with me and we play chase and wrestle with R-D until he is finally captured and hoisted up by his back legs. I shove his anus back in and it actually works. I’m so relieved. Husband lets R-B go and as soon as his feet hit the ground, POP, it’s out again. Crap! The vet said if that happened we’d have to sew it in.

I call the vet back and hours later we are at the vet, R-D very sadly in a cage in the back of the truck. The kids are with us and I have prepared them for what is to come. R-D is going to scream. He’s going to be in some pain. It’s ok though, we are going to make him better and we can give him extra juicy apples when it is all done. I load the kids up with books and toys in the Vet’s office and Husband and I go with the vet to restrain R-D for the procedure. So Husband has R-D’s legs and I have what may be the worst half, the biting half. I’ve thrown a sheet over his head in what may be ineffective to stop biting but makes me feel better at the very least. I’m sitting on a bunch of pallets with R-D’s elbows stuck against my leg, one arm under his throat and the other over. I’ve got this pig in a wrestling move. Boy he really doesn’t appreciate the local anesthetic being applied. He is screaming, I can hear the kids crying from the other room, R-D’s thrashing as much as he can against us. It was a real work out. So the vet pushes his anus in and stitches his butthole closed. We are told to give him a suppository for a few days and to use mineral oil in his food so his stool is incredibly soft.

I help Husband load the kids up and off they go to work and Daycare. I remain to take R-D back home. When we got home I thought I was going to need help from our neighbor to get him out. However, as I’m preparing his seclusion center I see him alert and sniffing. I think he knows where he is. So I open the door to the cage and he slowly walks out onto the tailgate of the truck. I pick him up, he screams, BLT screams, everyone screams. I put him in seclusion and watch him as he gulps down his body weight in warm water. BLT is still screaming. He hasn’t figured out where R-D is yet, he just heard him yelling. When I left R-D was wearily laying down under the heat light I provided him. It was a hard day for him.

My day hadn’t even started yet. I shower and dress and go to work for a few hours before going home to check that everything is alright. R-D broke out of seclusion, figures. R-D hopefully will not have a relapse. If he does we were informed we’d just have to eat him. Life is tough when you’re a pig.

Interestingly this episode appears to have made R-D more friendly. I had no problem touching him and getting close to inspect him. I was sure this episode would make him terrified of us. Apparently touching his anus just brought us closer. HA!

Rocker-Digger (R-D)

B.L.T.

While I was taking pictures these chickens were fighting over sleeping position.

Meanwhile the peacocks were glaring at me from above.

I quit my day job

I have worked full time for an amazing couple for the last six and a half years. I love my job. It’s varied and interesting. I’m the only employee so I have an amazing amount of freedom to do whichever task I would like to do at a given time. This job has enabled me to buy hundreds of trees and bushes. This job has been something I’ve truly loved.

So, why am I leaving? Our kids. They have been happy in their childcare center and I have been happy with it as well. That is no longer the case. I do not want to move them to a different center. Our oldest will be in kindergarten next year and he does not take to change well. When we weighed our options it became clear that the best thing to do was stay home with our children.

However, I see it more as the eventual career shift we knew I’d be making happening just a bit faster than planned. We always knew that when the farm was stable I’d quit to farm full time. We aren’t there yet. We only have 5 acres planted, so many more to go. My time has been quite stretched though. There were times this spring when I wasn’t sure I could do everything I was doing. I am relieved to know that I will not have to split time between the farm and my day job any longer. I’m also relieved to have before and after school care figured out for our Son.

I’m not all that sure how I will do things yet. Daughter doesn’t much like being outside. I’m not sure where she gets that from. So I’m not sure how I’ll manage all my chores with her. I’m excited to figure it out though. I’m excited to start a new chapter of our life. I’m excited to be able to devote my time and attention to our trees and plants.

She fell in some mud at the barn and was SOOOOO mad!

Things will be slower now. I’ll be growing more from seed. I’ll be grafting from the trees I have established already. I’ll be more restricted with financial resources. I’ll be so freed up on my time though, I think it will even out. I can finally dig that pond we need for irrigation and the pond we want for swimming. I can build more Kraters. I can build a giant hugelkulture to block wind where it’s needed. I can do so many things now.

So this winter I’ll be focusing on the house. It has been sadly neglected and I fear I am going to be purging vast amounts of useless stuff. I’ll be turning our unfinished basement into a winter play area for the kids. I’ll be finishing the kitchen (I hope). I’ll be very busy this winter.

So stay tuned for interesting things to begin happening on the farm!

Also, pig pets!

Mini-Krater gardens first snow.

I’ve been intensely interested in how much snow our Kraters may collect. They’ve done pretty well with rainwater collection and I assumed they’d fill with blowing snow, but wasn’t sure. The results are in after our first snow.

Deepest Krater with pawpaw island. Had about a foot of snow all around.

Largest Krater in circumference. Snow only collected on one side.

Goji Krater, did the absolute best. For some reason this Krater is just in an ideal location. It always collects the most water, the plants here did the best and it collected the most snow. I’ll have to think and observe why this krater has done so well.

Just for fun here are a few more pics of our first snow collection and fun:

This is our newly renovated driveway drainage ditch. Filled about 3 feet with snow.

This is another driveway drainage earthwork and the path from the garage to the ditch filled pretty well with snow. Enough for the kids to enjoy fully!

As you can see from this pic the snow blows and sometimes we will have 0 snow on large amounts of the property as there is nothing to catch and keep it. We experimented with our earthworks, which work well, and also selective mowing of our incredible sweet clover sections. Selective, on contour mowing harvested a ton of snow. It was far from the house, and the kids were happy where they were, so I didn’t get pics of this. I’ll try to later on.

My kids are so adorable!

I convinced them to go to the barn to feed the pigs and they did this while I was busy doing chores.

Our akbash is such a weirdo. He doesn’t know what to do with the pigs. He just stood there wagging his tail and doing this high pitched whine that the pigs didn’t like at all.

Such cute little piggies! Getting friendlier every day.

Meanwhile, thanksgiving dinner keeps threatening me.

What really works to control houseplant pests?

That is the question I’ve been mulling as I suffer through pest after pest on my indoor plants. I believe I have spider mites. I know I have aphids, white flies and fungus gnats. Actually, at this point it’s more of a question of what I DO NOT have on my plants. This is so discouraging as my jasmine plant has finally bloomed, and I believe that to be what attracted the aphids. They are fully encompassing my jasmine flowers.

This just won’t do, so I started treating. I happened to have a 3-in-one organic pest spray on hand from previous years. So naturally I used that first. It knocked some of the bugs off but it didn’t kill a single one.

Organic Spray is seen here, dripping off my plant. The jasmine flowers are completely covered in bugs

Next I went out to the chicken run and grabbed some Diatomaceous Earth (DE). If you’ve heard of DE before than you know that people proclaim DE to cure absolutely any pest infestation. This dirt has received so many amazing accolades in the organic/homesteading/permaculture community that I had visions of the bugs flopping over dead on contact. So what actually happened? Well I covered my plants in dust is all. It didn’t have any impact on the pests. Well, I shouldn’t say that exactly. The impact it had on pests is that they’ve moved from on top of the leaf, where the dust is, to under the leaf, where it is not.

Next up is the old rubbing alcohol, soap, water wash. This I figured had to work as you are physically removing the bugs. It does work, you do remove them. However it is incredibly time consuming and you have to continue doing it.

I’m brushing the DE off my plants here.

Wiping the bugs off.

Neem oil is supposed to repel the creepy crawlies so I set about locating and acquiring that next. It has been applied to my jasmine plant and I will let you know if there is any real impact on the pests in my home as this was done very recently and I have nothing to report yet.

Ok. I admit. This was for photo purposes only. I put the Neem oil in water and sprayed in on the plants.

Sevin dust is a last ditch effort for me. I’m not even sure it will work as I used it on my peppercorn plant last winter and it almost killed the plant. If Neem oil and Sevin dust fail me I’ll simply have to throw my plants out to get rid of the nasty bugs. I’d really rather not kill my plants.