July 2013

 So, July was a bit of a blur.  Mid-summer should be like that, right?  We moved out of our cabin into a tiny camper in the driveway, and started applying finish plaster to the walls of the cabin, both upstairs and down.  The plaster consisted of clay-earth sifted through a screen, water to make a slip, sifted sand, and boiled wheat paste.  We had some major help on this project when our neighbor Ian came over for a day and helped us do three of the four walls downstairs.

 The summer kitchen got a facelift when the old cabinets from the cabin were moved out there.  It became a focal point both mornings and evenings, as we could no longer cook in the cabin, and the camper was really too small for much other than sleeping and a bit of engineering work.

 The overhanging porch off the west end of the cabin became our pantry, with chest freezer, another chest freezer wired to run as a fridge, the cream separator, grain grinder, cabinets, bulk bins.

 At the same time, we used the backhoe to level out a spot in the woods, added carpet as underlayment, and installed a used above ground swimming pool that we found for cheap in the want ads.  The pool was 18' wide, and big enough to store around 6000 gallons of water for the garden for the end of August when our irrigation water typically runs out.

 It also made for a nice swimming hole on hot days.

 Towards the end of the month, we traveled down to Flagstaff again for Linc's mother and sister's birthdays, and did some car camping and hiking near Telluride (Lake Hope above), and Monument Valley (below).

 Stopped for a look at the Sneffels Range on the way back up.

 And took a selfie at Gretchen's place as we worked on Mom's taxes.

 Meanwhile, the garden was progressing, with the 3 sisters (corn, squash and beans) growing nicely below, surrounded by the ever-present bindweed and prickly lettuce.

 And, the snow pea harvest started, along with lots of greens.

 Here, we tried making a trellis of cattle panel to use to grow squash up.  Unfortunately, the squash never got big enough to climb it this year, but someday we'll get it to work!

 Linc helped out a bit with a community art wall downtown as part of a Village Building Convergence project.

 And, there was always the community garden asking for attention.  We wanted to help with this project a lot more than we were able to.  It came out great!

 At home, Linc installed a fertigation system in the irrigation pipe feeding our garden, and used it to innoculate the soils with beneficial microorganisms.  We used a purchased product called EM-1, and also fed extra whey, from making goat milk cheese, through this.  Hard to say what effect it had, since we didn't use a control in this experiment, but the garden did really well this year.

 We also periodically used the truck to move the chicken coop around the field, moving a portable electric mesh fence and solar powered fence charger with it.  The effect on the vitality of the pasture after the chickens had been there was dramatic and unmistakeable.

 Jeanne continued taking the goats on daily browse walks up the ditch...

 For a scale perspective of the landscape we inhabit, Jeanne and the goats are in this photo, just below a solitary tree in the center of the picture, walking along the ditch.

 Same photo, just zoomed in.  Now you can see them!

 And, the interior of the little camper we called home for four months or so this year.  I don't miss living in it all that much!