The above photo shows our 2014 garden, as seen from the roof of the goat barn. I shouldn't say our garden, since really it was the grasshoppers', not ours. After replanting all of the corn, squash, melons, beans, kale, etc., only to watch them eat every seedling as it came up (well, the slugs were out in force this year too, so they helped the grasshoppers with the mass murder of our seedlings), we decided not to bother even TRYING to weed (other than potatoes plants, which seemed to be mostly unaffected), so the bindweed and chicory (neither of which appeal to grasshoppers and slugs, unfortunately) took over.
Linc read that Bill Mollison, founder of the regenerative design philosophy called Permaculture, once said that there is no such thing as too many insect pests, it only means that you need more predators (as in ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys), so we are now scheming on how best to incorporate ducks, and possibly turkeys or guinea fowl, into next year's garden.
Remember when I said that homesteading teaches perseverance? This was definitely a perseverance-teaching lesson!
Unfazed by the loss of our crops, we put together another E-bike, this one for Linc to replace the one he'd burned out the previous winter. Here they both are, a 750 watt Bafang BBS01 mid-drive kit on Linc's bike, and a 350 watt on Jeanne's (the guy's has to be faster than the woman's, it's a rule!) The single solar panel on the right is part of a separate solar system that will eventually supply power for charging e-bikes, e-car, and a second milk-storage fridge - thanks to neighbor Jack for the inverter, and Zoe and Colin for the batteries for that system.
The photo above says so many things. It's of Jeanne, happily planting the new greenhouse winter greens beds, as the moon rises over Mt Lamborn and another vibrant colored sunset slowly fades over our homestead. It got so dark that we had to finish up planting, and installing row cover, by headlamp in the dark. I think I'll call this photo "Perseverance". Maybe it should be called "Optimism". It encompasses the philosophy that we are learning, which is to always focus on what we want to create, rather than worrying about what has gone wrong, or what we might do wrong, or what others might think. And when we do, (go through the extra effort to get those new seeds planted, even if it means doing it in the dark, and even if they might all get eaten by grasshoppers and slugs like everything else planted this year), we're rewarded by beautiful experiences. In this case, the beautiful experience was the sunset sky with moonrise that we might have missed if we'd been inside eating dinner. Later, we were treated to an endless winter supply of greens, and that was icing on the cake.
Another nice thing that happened this month is that friends from New Hampshire, the Anderson Family, drove up for a visit on their way to see Mesa Verde. Being short on guest space, we brought them up to our neighbor Eric Darby, where they slept in a large room he'd built above his earth ship, complete with a view of the West Elk Mountains out the open east side. They loved it, and we loved seeing them and chatting about old times and life in between. Yay for friends, old, current and yet to come!
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