Schöne Vida gets an upgrade

Since farming has become my absolute passion there have been many things that we have needed to make certain things around here work. The biggest challenge for us is acquiring things that are necessity and knowing what things are luxuries that will have to wait. For example: we need a substantial shelter that can house the chickens and goats while protecting everyone from predators, but we don't need a sprawling red barn with a hay loft right now. My obsessive bargain searching has paid off well. We knew that we needed a new shelter for the animals at the new farm and we knew we wanted one slightly larger than the current one. I found a man on Swap Shop (a local radio station's craigslist-like website) selling a 8' x 16' shed frame constructed with 2x4s. This gentleman had built the frame years ago and covered it in plastic sheeting in order to protect his tractor. The price for this beauty: $50! Really nothing in comparison with how much all the wood would cost to build it. Justin and I promptly drove over and loaded the disassembled shed into the truck.

When we were lucky enough to have a break in the weather our neighbor was kind enough to use his new tractor to level a building pad for us. Then for the next week Justin used his amazing skills to build the barn frame then cover it in plywood and tar paper for the roof. And what good timing. Right as he was finishing putting on the tar paper a huge rain storm came through. We managed to move over all the animals in the down pour during the most miserably wet day I've been through in a long time. Being cold and wet is no fun especially with the added stress of transporting 7 frightened animals and tearing down their old shelter for scrap wood and chicken wire, but we did it. We banged together some last minute essentials and called it a day. We slept terribly that night, waking up to every little animal sound we heard, but everyone made it through the night just fine.

The shed has been complete for one week and the animals seem to love it. Their new enclosure has plenty of brush to eat and bugs to search for. As for us, we are so happy to be here in the new house. This is a great place to learn more about farming and save more to buy a farm of our own. Things continue to get even better!

Putting the Cart Before the Horse.. Adventures in House Hunting

Today was a great lesson for me in patience. For about a month I have been preparing to turn in my loan application to the USDA Rural Development Office. All the while many hours have been logged on the Nevada County MLS website. What started as a innocent curiosity about the "the market in our price range" turned into daydreaming about how a certain property could perfectly fit our needs, then led to a phone call to the listing's agent to find out more information, and ended up with us looking at a couple properties today. The prospect of real estate turns me into a monster!

We looked at a beautiful property in Grass Valley. Nestled on 10 rolling acres between Grass Valley and Auburn. Basically, its a perfect location to place ourselves for easy availability to customers buying our produce and meat. We were elated and giddy on the dream of our own property with so much promise. Sure, the house was in dire need of some work, but Justin with his years of construction experience didn't balk at its state.

This is it right? No more searching, we've found our future home, right?? Nope. While riding on the wave of sheer real estate ecstasy my cell phone brings me back to reality. It's Mary Jo, my mortgage broker expert calling to make sure I wasn't getting ahead of myself. "I don't want you to waste a lot of time looking at properties until you have been approved by the Rural Development Department to go for it. This 10 acre property doesn't sound 'modest' to me, so don't get your hopes up." Now I know I wasn't supposed to get ahead of myself, but I've been swept away. Damn.

Thankfully I have a wonderful partner in Justin to bring me out of my post euphoric real estate slump. Feeling sorry for myself, I told him about what Mary Jo said. In his usual buoyant manner he said, "All we can do is wait for the application. There's no point in getting ahead of ourselves until we know what's up. We're going to get whatever place we are meant to have." That was just what I needed to get out of get out of my funk. That's why I love this guy.

Now it's time to move on with new resolve and wait to hear about our application. Patience really is a virtue....one I don't always have.

Everyone, Meet Jack

Meet Jack, the rooster. Justin and I decided the girls needed a strapping man to protect them after the dogs got in and killed a hen. We knew we wanted one that wasn't mean to people and able to be picked up if we needed to do any first aid or treatments. We found Jack, a Light Brahma on a little farm in Colfax where we also scored a beautiful tiny Aracauna hen, "Thumbelina". At first we were worried about his flock-leading prowess. The hens picked on him mercilessly at first. The whole right side of his neck was torn up from other roosters at his old home picking on him and he hardly had any tail feathers. He actually looked like a butch hen when he came to Schone Vida. Well, now he's come into his own. His ladies adore him, following him around everywhere he goes. His feather have grown back and now he is quite a handsome sight. Moreover, he takes very good care of his girls. In return for some "tail" whenever he wants it (which is about 5 or more times a day), he alerts the girls to predators sp they run for the shelter of the barn and during feeding time he steps back and let's them have their fill before he takes a turn. Yesterday as I was making the pathway down to the barn and uncovering shovelfuls of worms in the soil. Jack would scrutinize the soil until he saw a delicious morsel then trill to his ladies to come running. Pulling the worm out by his beak he'd fling it toward one of the hens and point at it with his beak. The girl went nuts for this and went to bed with full bellies. Guys, you can learn something from this: Woman like to be fed and protected...most of the time anyway.

Moving and Shaking

Time for an update! With spring approaching I have been getting antsy to begin the growing season madness. The chickens have already begun celebrating the increasing daylight by leaving 5 little gifts for us each day. Even Blondie (the meat chicken) has taken up the challenge of providing an egg a day and always with two yolks! I think she's saying "thank you" for not slaughtering her last summer with the rest of the meat flock.

Because our neighbor told us she was worried about her horse stomping Charlotte and Buttercup over food we have opted to keep the goats and chickens in the large garden area for the duration of our time here. They don't seem to mind the arrangement at all as long as we keep on feeding the supplemental hay. They next big question for us was: Where do we have the garden now? The conclusion was to have an elaborate potted vegetable garden on our front porch. We have been calling landscapers around the area and making deals to buy their used black nursery pots for cheap (i.e. 75 cents for a 15 gallon pot). It won't be the most beautiful garden, but it will get the job done until we find a place with enough room for everything. Our good friend, Phil, made us an even better deal and sold us three 150 gallon galvanized water troughs for an unbelievably good price. They were brand new and just sitting around his property without a purpose until I laid eyes on them. Now they are holding beautiful soil from Hansen Bros. landscaping and the promise of happy veggies come spring. So far I've planted asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries, garlic, onion, and potatoes. I've got some beet seeds soaking in water for the day and carrot sees on a damp cloth to jumpstart the germination process. Those seeds will go into the soil tonight along with lettuce and spinach. Peaceful Valley nursery has promised that my back ordered strawberries will arrive in a few days. Can't wait for that!

In the mean time, Justin and I decided to put a nice path with steps leading down to the barn. We are lining the path with rocks and filling the path with left over bark from our wood-splitting activities. There was a sizeable pile just lying around and I've been vexed to find a good purpose for it. The bark will break down every time we step on it, putting useable carbon back into the soil, and it looks pretty! We want to leave this place nicer than when we came and I think the next renters would appreciate such an effort. So far it's looking quite nice.

The biggest news to share was my attendance of the inaugural Sustainable Local Food and Farm Conference in Grass Valley on January 22nd. With over 300 people there to hear the wonderful lineup of speakers, the Holiday Inn Conference Center was buzzing with excitement. The first speaker was Aaron Lacich, a smart guy who used to work for Fox and CSNBC behind the scenes, but had a child and realized he wanted to do more for the world in which his baby girl was going to grow up. He has spent about 6 years working on a film documentary called We Are What We Eat. You can check out his website: www.wearewhatweeat.org . The documentary looks promising and very educational.

The next speaker was Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy. He is all about raw milk and actually sells his product to our Local Co-op, The Briar Patch. He asserts that food has been disconnected from health. His presentations spoke about the wonderful health benefits of drinking raw milk and the FDA's regulations on the sale of that product. They are asserting that raw milk is a dangerous product with a high likelihood of killing people who drink it. Guess what? Not a single person has died from drinking raw milk in hundreds of years, but the untested pasteurized milk most of us (including myself) drink has killed 3 people last year alone! His presentation makes me wish Charlotte was in milk right now. I miss having raw milk available to me whenever I want at a cheap price.

Will Winter, DVM spoke next. His presentation opened my eyes to the importance of maintaining healthy pastures. Grass is the best way to feed cattle, he asserted, and healthy cattle are grown on healthy pasture. He taught us how to mob cattle up into small spaces by using portable electric fencing. This is called an intensive grazing system. You forced the cattle to become more of a herd again and by doing so make them eat every bit of the available feed in that small area before moving them to the next space in 24 hours. This challenges the grass to grow stronger and more lush during times of rest between grazing. It's an elegant system that reduces erosion problems, increases plant biodiversity, and improves herd health.

Finally, the keynote speaker and the person I wanted to hear speak most came had his turn, Joel Salatin. He is a revolutionary farmer and a self-proclaimed lunatic. He is the owner of the very successful Polyface Farms in Virginia. His keys to success are a highly diversified farming model with lots of movement and no debt. His farm is raises beef, meat and egg laying chickens, rabbits, and pork. He uses these animals in rotation on his pastures and woodland to improve the soil and wildlife on and around his farm. The system is so beautiful and simple that I cannot believe more people aren't following it. He says it's because people these days have "constipation of imagination". But by allowing his animal herds and flocks to express their "phenotypical expressive states", disease issues drop dramatically and animals are much happier. Chickens are allowed to range out on pastures three days after the beef herd to scratch out fly larvae that have grown on the cow patties. This fertilizes the pasture and promotes healthier soil. Pigs are mobbed up into the forest areas to root and disturb the soil, stimulating undergrowth. He completely blew my mind with his business model. I know that as Schone Vida grows we will apply many of his ideas to help us toward success. I'm glad I went to the conference and have decided to attend as many as possible. The knowledge is priceless and I want the locals to get to know us better.

Well, its time to head back out and put more time into the barnyard. Peace out!!

The Blissful Place

There wasn't an exact moment I could tell you when it happened. Sometime in between having Justin's dad over for dinner back in September and sharing Thanksgiving with good friends this little farmhouse became a home. We've slowly hung more pictures and salvaged old furniture, brought in and warmed the house with an old wood stove, baked delicious pies and burned Thanksgiving stuffing. Schöne Vida has become a comfortable place for friends and, soon, family to gather. This is a place where we eat dinner at the table together every night, something I realized I took for granted growing up, but completely enjoy now. The plates and glasses don't match and we don't have a couch yet, but that fact seems to make it bit more special. Schöne Vida does not judge where you came from or what you're wearing (although it will likely smear some dirt on your shoes or jeans as a parting gift) and it is not pretentious. Moreover, the door is always open to loved ones who want to drop in; it's a true country home. Being here makes me excited about the year to come. Hopefully we can make more traditions and enjoy more wonderful food with the ones we love. Happy Holidays!

Tahoe and Fences

This morning when I went out to do the morning chores my gaze was met by more than just Charlotte and Buttercup. Before me stood, along side my goats, my neighbors 4 goats and Tahoe, the giant horse. Oh no...we forgot to close the pasture gate last night! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but with heavy rain systems passing over Shone Vida, our garden and farm yard areas have been turned into giant mud pits. Little 45 lb Charlotte and Buttercup can't do much damage to the soil, but 1000 lb Tahoe makes the garden soil look like the surface of the moon--cratered. Great...

The shenanigans that followed while I sleepily tried to herd the horse and 4 goats out whilst keeping my goats in were quite comical. Tahoe stood there resolutely non-plussed by my efforts to pull him out and Buttercup ran out into the pasture crying for Charlotte and evading my efforts to coax her back into our farm-yard (she's still a little shy of us, but loves Charlotte). Finally, I got all my neighbors animals out into the communal pasture and my goats locked in our farm-yard. Now onto the morning chores. The girls were happy that they didn't have to share their hay breakfast with Tahoe and company. The chickens were more at ease. Now everything is back to normal, except the garden soil. Justin is going to be driving T-posts into the line that will delineate the garden and the farm-yard today and on Monday we will string the fencing; something we've been wanting to get done for a long time. Then we will have a legitimate garden!

Our lesson for today: always close the pasture gate at night.

These Rainy Mornings

Tonight is Cornish Christmas in Grass Valley, the town where I work my day job, so my bosses don't need me in until noon. Granted I'll be working until 9pm tonight, but the work will be fun since we'll be too busy to be bored.

This morning after being not-so-gently coaxed out of my warm bed and into the rain by Charlotte's loud bleating. I took hay to her and Buttercup, let the chickens out, and ran back inside for some much needed coffee. Right now Justin's slowly getting the fire going, due to some wet wood, and soon we'll head back out in the rain to clean out the barn and lay down fresh straw. Since I have extra time this morning Justin and I agreed we'd work on cutting and splitting some fallen oaks around the property. Our little wood stove demands more fuel and I demand a warm house! We bought a nice maul (wood splitter) from our local hardware store a couple weeks ago and have put it to good use. Justin taught me how to split wood properly and I must say that I feel a little more hardcore every time. After I've worked up a good sweat and can hardly catch my breath Justin takes over and makes my measly splitting look like child's play with a leap and a sharp swing of the maul. He can take a giant round of oak and turn it into 8 or more perfectly even wedges with 2-4 whacks. Show-off.

I'm very thankful to have Justin here to teach me the more manly side of homesteading. He has learned a lot of useful winter skills like splitting and stacking wood. It may not sound like a whole lot, but this guy gets the work done with gusto and he's an excellent teacher. If you'd have asked me as a child in Pasadena if I'd be living in the country splitting wood to keep my house warm I would have said "No, that's why we have gas and Poppy to bring the wood in". Yikes right? Nevertheless, I'm better for it. My weakling arms are getting stronger and I feel more and more confident in my "roughing-it" skills.

Ok, coffee's done and the rain is lightening up...