July 2019

Most days here are busy.  We keep a farm journal on an Excel Spreadsheet file on the laptop.  It helps us keep track of what we did when, what worked, what didn't, and if we wake up the next day and wonder, "What the heck did I do yesterday, anyway, I have no recollection!", it's written down.  It doesn't include most of the basic regular chores that we do.  For regular chores, Jeanne takes care of the regular goat chores, feeding, watering, cleaning and rebedding the barn, milking them, taking them on daily 1 hr long browse walks, processing and storing milk, morning dishes and evening meal cooking, and midday bird chores (more feed, water and collects eggs).  Linc cooks breakfast and makes salads for lunch, does garden/hoophouse harvesting and veggie processing, lets the birds out in the AM and feeds them, closes them up at night, and does the evening dishes.  Here's a somewhat typical summer farm day Journal entry (July 3rd).

Chores; J walked goats, cleaned, EM'd and rebedded barn, mid day chores, cleaned duckling tray, feeder, waterer and tub, trimmed hooves on Sage, Jasmine, Amanita and Jewelweed with L's help and some help from Amber, took a bath, ran town errands, made smoothies and goat breakfast, boiled, peeled and pickled a dozen chicken eggs, did some "clean up" from New Moon; one turkey hen & dark guinea spent night out, looks like they may have been at east side bottom of paddock 2, L restapled shade cloth tunnels in broody (first hen was getting in and pecking eggs of 2nd turkey hen), we've got a broody chicken hen in main coop, one duckling died (female brown), L having trouble getting Cu sulfate through fertigator, running tests on that, L emailed Elise Casselberry (Delta County Master Plan Coordinator), and left voicemail for her re: restrictions to additional residential units on one parcel), L transplanted winter squash & zuke SB into garden, watered them, transplanted a few tomatoes into hoophouse west, weeded all of hoophouse west, replanted beans in 3 beds in garden (chewed on by insects or something), Luke Reshke caled - about 3/4 CFS left of natural, I asked for just 45 gpm of Overland for now.  L helped w/goat hooves, then watered tree seedlings west of garden & thonwheels, spread dandelion seeds (gathered yesterday in mtns) on far west exp. plot, started watering that, took a bath, transplanted an Elderberry from GH into garden NW crnr, and a Carpathian Walnut from GH to tree strip west of Paddock 4, then transplanted 2 conetainer apples (grown from seed) into spot just west of cabin, then fixed 2 flats and changed tires on J's mtn bike, finished filling both upper cisterns (all cisterns now full) and put away pump/filter, fertigating pastures, moved gun sprinklers.

Gotta love those slow, lazy summer days! 😊
What's strange is, it's fun.  And, we both got to take hot baths in our solar heated tub that sits out in the trees overlooking the valley.

The goats eat a lot of the pasture grasses and forbs, but it was a good year and we still managed to cut and bale 75 bales of surplus.  Unfortunately, the hay from our pastures doesn't have enough legumes in it yet for the goats for winter feeding, so the hay we bale is used for garden mulch and barn bedding, and we purchase our winter alfalfa hay.  Either way, there's something nice feeling about a barn full of hay.  It's good to be thinking ahead to winter and starting to store up.

To get in shape for a planned 5 day backpacking trip, we went for a day hike on the Anthracite Creek Trail.  With all of the recent snowmelt, the wildflowers were stunning  Jeanne posing by a Monument Plant, or Green Gentian, which flowers only once in its 20 to 80 year lifespan.

 Colorado Columbine, Lupine, Yellow Sweet Clover perhaps?, and Jeanne's purple pack.

Lupine, a beaver pond, and peaks along the ridge north of Mount Owen.

Then we left for a planned leisurely five day backpack around a peak named Storm Ridge, off of the Kebler Pass Road.  Unfortunately, even though it was on our packing list, and we both talked about needing to stop by a store on the way to the trailhead for a bottle of bug dope, we completely forgot about it until we arrived at the trailhead.  With all of the meltwater from last winter's record snowfall, the mosquito population was tremendous.  Here's Jeanne at our first night's campsite.  No, it's not cold, in fact she's sweating like crazy, but it's preferable to being eaten alive.  Still, she's obviously happy to be out there.

To be able to hike, we had to strip down to shorts, sandals and t-shirts to avoid overheating, so we used a typical White Mountains of New Hampshire bug control strategy - evergreen frond swatters!

Swatters could be temporarily stowed away in the open areas where the wind put the skeeters at a disadvantage.

We ended up doing the loop in only 3 days, partially because it was hard to take it slow with all those mosquitoes.  We spent the last 2 days in Crested Butte, sightseeing and hiking to a small alpine lake (Green Lake) from town on the last day.  Still, the scenery on the backpacking trip was outstanding.

  

Elk Peak across a swampy meadow along the Castle Pass Trail.

More moose!

Jeanne, not one to blue blaze (short cut or bypass a section of official hiking trail), attempting to negotiate a snow tunnel.

Back home, the full moon rising over the summit of Mount Lamborn.

June 2019

Dandelion, the doe that wanted to lie down every time we tried to milk her, learned new ways to wiggle out of Linc's hands when he would lift her rear end twice a day so Jeanne could milk.  Plus, she's a heavy goat.  Linc learned too, and propped her butt on his knees once he had her lifted up.  So, Dandelion pooped on him.  Usually goat manure is dry little pellets, but when they're out on fresh, growing green pasture in spring and early summer, they often expel clumps of smelly green wet poop.  Dandelion won.  Temporarily.  Linc came up with what is shown in the video and photo below.  Dandelion, who's a really nice (skittish, but nice) goat, seemed to kind of like the sling.  At least, she tolerated it well, except for the first time we tried it with a homemade tripod out in the yard.  Linc let her down too much and she got some traction and bolted, pulling the whole 10' tall steel pipe tripod over onto her.  Gradually, she relaxed about it.  She'd let us put it on, and then dangle in it, seemingly contented.  Eventually, she did outgrow this, and as I write this months later, she has learned to jump up on the milk stand and, other than leaning against the wall, has become much more easy going about the whole process.

Here she is in the milk stand, just starting to put some weight on her legs instead of completely dangling.

 The June garden, as seen from roof of goat barn.  There'll be a photo in September to show how this orderly composition turns into a jungle by season's end.

 Those old sickle mowers work pretty well.  Mowing this paddock takes only about 30 minutes.  Getting the mower onto the tractor takes at least another 30, but Linc thinks if he tried mowing with the hand scythe (we have one, just haven't ever had the time/energy to try to mow a paddock with it), it would probably take him a full day to mow a 3/4 acre paddock and another full day to recover.

 

Amber spelled us for a long (5 day) stretch so that we could get up into the high country.  This is June, mind you, but it had snowed a lot last winter, so we brought some winter gear and skis, just because.  Here's a video of our summer picnic at Lake Irwin.  Not sure why our camera turns everything purple when we take movies.  Maybe because Linc bought it on Ebay for $15...

There was so much snow at Lake Irwin, near Crested Butte, that on our second day out, Linc wanted to go summer skiing.  As it turned out, it was kind of a long hike up in plastic boots for some marginal skiing, but the views were very nice.

Wanting to see spring instead of winter for awhile, we drove a few miles down off Kebler Pass to spend a night in Horse Ranch Park, maybe 1000' lower than where we'd been camping on the Lake Irwin Road.  There, we were surprised by a big bull moose who walked right through our campsite.  By the time Linc realized he wasn't going to charge us, and managed to find the camera and get a photo, the moose was a hundred yards away, but it's still a nice view of a Colorado moose, an event that has gotten much more common out here than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Well, we weren't done with snow.  The last day, we hiked up towards Oh Be Joyful Pass on the Silver Basin Trail.  The higher we got, the more snow we ran into and the harder it got to stay on the trail.  Still it was solid snow, almost no post-holing, which was a good thing.  Here's Jeanne hiking along in her Keen Sandals.

On the way back, Linc took this video of Silver Basin.  All mountains seem to be like this in spring, everything feels so fresh and green and new, with the first wildflowers coming up right behind the melting snow, and the sound of running water everywhere.  Too bad the camera doesn't catch the smell of spring, but, it's the next best thing to being there.

May 2019

May continued busy on the homestead, with Dandelion kidding (one doeling and one buckling), so fast and easy that Jeanne missed seeing one come out as she'd run up to the cabin for a moment.  As a new Momma, Dandelion needed to be milked, as her kids weren't able to drink all of what she could produce.  Unfortunately, Dandelion (one of our most skittish goats ever) refused to jump up on the milk stand, and when Jeanne would try to milk her, she would lay down.  We tried putting a bucket under her to help keep her off the ground, but she folded herself around it like a giant slug, and broke the bucket.  We resorted for the rest of this month to having Linc pick up her rear end while Jeanne milked her.  See June for the continuing Saga...

 

Linc continued prepping and planting garden beds, mulching, and started fertigating garden and pastures with a variety of bacterial and fungal inoculants and soil life stimulants.  Somehow, we also got away again this month (thanks Amber).  This time, we drove down to Ouray, at the north edge of the San Juans, for two nights, 3 days of hiking, mountain biking, and hot spring soaking.  Linc caught a ferocious cold at the end of the first day, but we stuck with the plans and had a great time (paid for it the following week).

First, we hiked the Ouray Perimeter Trail.  Here's Jeanne, at the trailhead sign on the north side of town, with the steaming Ouray Hot Springs pool behind her across the road.

The view south across town from the trail.

  Being acrophobic, we were both a little surprised at the amount of exposure on this "family" trail.  Despite that, we really enjoyed it - a great day hike with some spectacular views.

Swinging around to the west side of town, the trail goes through an old water works tunnel after crossing Box Canyon on an old iron walking bridge.  Jeanne looks like most people probably feel as they head through this section.  "Really?  The trail goes in here!?"

After the tunnel, you stay high on the steep valley wall for awhile, with more great views out over town to the mountains.  It's probably impossible to pick out, but the east half of the Perimeter trail traverses that super steep slope above town in the photo.

The second day we spent sightseeing in Ouray.  We also drove up the highway 550 (the Million Dollar Highway, also known as one of the most unsafe roads in the country) towards Red Mountain Pass.  Great views from the road, just don't try to look at them and drive at the same time.

With all of the snow the winter before, there had been some gigantic avalanches.  Here's one that buried the avalanche shed (which protects the highway in winter on a major avalanche path), closing the road for a few weeks.  Now, in May, the shed was open to drive through, but the snow and debris lingered on.

On the last day, we spent a few hours mountain biking the Ridgway Area Trails (RAT) north of town.  And I do mean bike - I think we rode nearly every trail in the system for a total of about 20 miles.  Extremely fun riding and lots of great views.

Then to Orvis Hot Springs for a couple hours of alternating between the Lobster Pot (110F) and the cold plunge pool (60F) before a visit to the Himalayan Restaurant in Montrose and home.

All in all, a really nice month.

April 2019

Wow April has got to be the busiest time of year here.  I'm writing this in December, looking back at our farm journal from April.  It's strange to read about our activity level last April while I'm sitting in a cozy, snow-surrounded cabin, typing on a computer.  

Here's what went on in April.  We evicted the poultry from the garden so that bed prep and planting could begin (they had done a great job over the winter of breaking down last year's plant matter and mulch, picking out parasitic insect eggs and larvae, manuring and generally having a great time).  Then all of the bed prepping (starting to broadfork then entire 155'x55' area, shoveling paths into beds, mulching beds that weren't going to be direct seeded), then transplanting and direct seeding into the beds.  Our irrigation water source (creek) started running, so the 6000' long, 10" diameter pipeline needed flushing and repairs, then all of the terminal end infrastructure (fittings, valves, sprinklers) needed attention and periodic use and draining on cold nights.  One of our two pregnant does, Jasmine, kidded on the 13th, resulting in 3 wonderfully cute kids (2 doelings and a buckling).

Linc realized he was missing important planting dates, and spent an afternoon coming up with a couple of garden planning spreadsheets.  This is what happens when you convert an engineer into a homestead gardener.

In the middle of all of this, Linc started grumbling about missing out on spring mountain bike season in Moab.  Around noon, Jeanne suggested that she'd be willing to cover his chores for the next 2 nights if he wanted to go by himself.  It didn't take any arm twisting.  Within 2 or 3 hrs, he was packed up and on the road.  Here's a shot, probably from a trail called Captain Ahab, with a view out over the Behind the Rocks area to the La Sal Mountains.

The desert has some crazy rock formations.  This boulder sure looked like an enormous Desert Tortoise lumbering along.

On his third day, Linc decided to do something epic, and opted to put together a ride that combined several trails into a thirty five mile long odyssey that involved a little over 3000' of climbing.  Midway through, he passed by Gemini Bridges and took this video.

Linc's end of ride tired happy face, partially because he'd just found the homemade chocolate goat milk frap that Jeanne had put in his cooler.

Near the end of the month, Amber once again gave us both a break (which Jeanne still very much needed), and we planned a 3 day backpack down Owl Canyon and up Fish Canyon on Cedar Mesa in Utah.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast called for heavy rain, and canyons aren't the best place to be in that kind of weather.  Undeterred (desperate maybe?), Jeanne said, "I'm going!" and Linc tagged along.  Afraid of Jeanne most likely, the rain held off long enough for us to grab permits from the off-duty friendly rangers, drive into the trailhead in the Prius before the rains made the road impassable, and even get down into Owl Canyon and to a high and dry campsite before the rains came.  The weather for the next two days just got better and better.  Here's looking down into Owl as we started in.

A 600 to 800 year old granary tucked into an alcove under the rim.

We both love the laughing call of the Canyon Wren, and as we finished the descent into Owl, there it was.  Jeanne couldn't stop grinning.

The beauty of a pour-off pool midway down Owl.

The view from near our campsite in Owl of an arch (Jeanne's pack stashed in a boulder-cave in foreground).

The second day, as the weather cleared, we made our way to the confluence and turned up Fish Canyon.  With all of the rain the day before, the trail turned into an exercise in route finding with a lot time spent crossing back and forth over, or walking in, the canyon bottom stream as it streaked across ledges and tumbled over little waterfalls.  Jeanne, who wear's Keen sandals on almost any backpacking trip, loved it.  Linc had boots, but switched to a pair of half broken camp Teva sandals, and we splashed our way happily up the canyon.

Our camp site on a ledge over the stream, below the hair raising climb out of Fish.

Here's Jeanne, about halfway up the scramble/climb out of Fish early on the morning of the third day.

We tried to avoid thinking about the one serious (for us) scramble that we'd read about to get through the Fish Canyon rim, until we got to it, here, and found the fixed rope missing.  We both hate heights.

Linc got part way up it with his pack still on before getting stuck, but somehow turned into a lizard and slithered up the final bit before lowering a rope down to Jeanne, first for her pack, and then for her to use as a guideline.  This photo is looking down that last pitch.

Finally up, we celebrated with a snack and enjoyed the view, before the easy mesa top walk a mile or two through Pinyon-Juniper forest back to the car, and home.  Thank you desert canyons - you are full of magic.

March 2019

With the 89 Toyota back on the road, we decided to sell the 98 Tacoma that Linc had bought as a replacement.  After putting a new steering rack and ball joints in it, repairing dents and repainting the whole truck, we still thought the old 89 was a better farm truck.  The 89 has a V6, auto locking front hubs, a customized rear suspension and receiver hitch for hauling, and the Tacoma didn't.  Besides, the previous owner had hidden those scented christmas tree air fresheners all over the inside of the truck, and it still reeked of fake hemlock tree, a year after purchase which kind of drove Jeanne crazy.  Linc sold it on Craigslist.

With the two trucks done, he pulled an old Ferguson tractor into the garage for new brakes and rear axle seals.  With the first hint of spring, we started to get a little busier with farm things.  Cleaned out the barn and barnyard using backhoe, loader, wheelbarrows and hay forks, an all day job but worth it for the goats and for the huge amount of already half composted goat manured bedding that we pile up for the garden.  We also were busy starting plants from seed in our cabin greenhouse in trays of 2" soil blocks (home pressed earth blocks instead of pots).  The garden already started to need some work, cleaning up from last year, and getting ready for the next.  Some water started coming down Roatcap Creek and the pipeline that serves our land sprung a leak or two that caused some exciting flooding and repairs.  

Winter here is also a time for catching up on indoor hobbies and gatherings, crocheting for Jeanne, mandolin practice and a weekly Irish music gathering for Linc, some song circles that we both attended.  Jeanne has been gradually rediscovering musical pitch, practicing singing with some interactive music software on the laptop.

The highlights of the month were getting out skiing up on Steven's Gulch, below, to get ready for a winter ski camping trip in the San Juan Mountains.

Then the trip itself, thanks to Amber for taking care of the goats and farm so we could get away!

Jeanne at the Blue Lakes Hut trailhead, Sneffels Range (where we were headed) behind.

Great view of the Sneffels Range on the 6 mile ski in to where we tented near Blue Lakes Hut, located at the head of the valley ahead.

Ah, toasty toes around the wood stove as we melt some snow for drinks in the winter tent after a long day of skiing.

Jeanne on Log Hill above our tent site.  Mount Sneffels behind.

February 2019

A little bit of repair work to do on rentals, but still a pretty quiet time of year.  Linc spent time in his car garage, taking our old 89 Toyota Pickup apart to get it ready for a non-rusty bed, fender and doors from our parts truck.  In the process, he discovered the fuel tank, rear brake line and fuel line were all goners (as in, they crumbled when touched).  Nothing like fixing things at the last possible moment!  So, he swapped those from the parts truck, sandplasted, rust-cured and repainted the truck frame, and even swapped the rear axles and fixed rust holes in the cab, before installing the body parts from the junker.

Hey, where'd the wheels go?

Non rusty tank, brake and fuel line installed, frame repainted, ready for replacement rear axle.

The finished product.  We'll never have any trouble figuring out which truck is ours in the parking lot now.

In the meantime, we decided we needed a better winter camping setup.  After some research, we purchased a tiny 2 lb titanium woodburning stove and chimney, and made a floorless pyramid tent out of a neighbor's donated used greenhouse plastic (involved a day or so in the local library community room cutting and sewing).  Linc also made a ski pulk out of a plastic toboggan and some PVC conduit and hardware, following Youtube how to videos.  We took the whole rig out for a two night test run up at 10000' on the Grand Mesa.  Worked great!

First, a photo of the Prius next to snowbank on the Mesa.  Record setting snowfall this winter!

Here is Jeanne pulling the homemade ski pulk.

The tent stove in use.

A view of the homemade tent with smoke exiting chimney.

The video is from our first backcountry skiing day trip up to Huntsman Ridge off of McClure Pass, about 35 miles from home.  Jeanne skinning back up for another run.  A nice playground fairly close to home.

January 2019

 We had a fair amount of snow this month, and were able to ski right from the door, and out onto the Fire Mountain Canal path for as far as we wanted to go.  We also occasionally drove about 10 miles from home, up Steven's Gulch and into Gunnison National Forest, a couple thousand feet higher than where we live, where we could find deeper snow.  There, we could get out on forest roads and find a mix of untracked powder and some groomed snowmobile routes.  Linc took a couple of videos holding camera in one hand while attempting to not fall over.  The resulting films are a bit jerky, but give an idea of what it's like up Steven's.

Our home rental business was puttering along without much input, the garden in winter limbo, so Linc spent a good portion of the month working on vehicles in his homemade hoohouse garage.  More on that next month.