Hope But No Promises

Farm life is a lifestyle full of hope and no promises.  No promises anywhere, anytime.  There is no promise that tomorrow will be like today because livestock and the weather, by their very nature, are going to change things up for you.  

Today you have 10 chickens but later today a coyote might come through and now you have six.  You look again 25 days later and you have 7 and number seven has 7 little chicks in tow.  The sow you were sure you had bred turns out she was just fat, but 20 days later you find you were just off on your breeding date and now she has little piglets suckling on her.  There was hope, but no promise.  

You can’t make any promises either.  You can have plans but you had better get used to being fluid on those plans.  Yes, you planned to meet your friend for lunch but as you were pulling out of your drive you look over and see your precious Petunia Pig on the wrong side of the fence tearing through your neighbor’s garden.  By the time you have lured her back to her pen, fixed the fence, and cleaned up you’re well beyond late and looking at an early dinner if your friend still has time.  

You did promise you wouldn’t bring home any more farm animals but, “It was a good price” “It was abandoned” “We don’t have one like this! Think of the breeding possibilities!”   Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Hope.  Hope springs eternal and hope is sometimes all we have to cling to in this precarious lifestyle.  There is hope that the pigs will all stay penned.  The hope that when we finish this grow out we will have a freezer full of food that we trust where it came from.  The hope that with the work of raising, growing, and caring for one thing we will be able to trade for the items we still need.  The hope that our friends, that live differently, will understand when we are an hour late because farm life happens.  The hope that even when one of our herd/flock dies and our heart is broken that there will more life to follow.  The hope that that tiny seed we pushed into the dirt will spring up as food later this summer if we water it.  It seems unlikely but 30 days later, there are the leaves, pushing up and encouraging our hope.  When the hail comes down and batters those leaves, we persist and plant some more because we hope.

I write this the day after finding a cria that died over night.  Yes, he showed signs that something wasn’t quite right but I couldn’t find anything definitively wrong (not without $$$ of tests) so this was unexpected.  I am sad.  His birth was the hope of bringing in new blood, new color, and new temperament to my herd.  In his death, following the necropsy, I have found a weak point in the genetics of my herd and learned that I need to move a different direction.  The loss hurts but we cannot mourn for long because just around the corner is the hope that last summers’ breeding will bring new life this coming summer.   

Farming is not a lifestyle for those who need promises.  There are no promises that even when things seem ok that tomorrow a different truth might emerge.  The learning curve on this point can be quite steep.   You can hope and as you learn to go with the flow of things your hope will become grounded and your optimism will grow.  You will find that hope is worth waking up to. 

 I promise.

Time To Get Ready

It's February.

     Time to start seeds.  Time to get fiber processed before the spring shearing rush. Time to think about getting new chicks.  Time to get equipment ready for shearing.
   
I've sent about 50 lbs. out to Heart and Soul in Penn Valley to be cleaned and turned into roving.  That will make getting it spun up into yarn happen a lot faster than if I clean it myself as well as make it more enjoyable for me.  This also means nice clean fiber available for other spinners will be available for sale.   This year I have a bit of motivation for getting more product available.  You see, come September the World Gold Panning Championship will be held in El Dorado County.  I am planning on having the ranch open for any visitors exploring this area of the divide as well as products to show off what our beautiful alpacas provide for us.

     Next on my list of to-do's will be to get some dying done.  As usual it will all be natural dyes. I am spinning whites as fast as I can so that I can offer a variety of color this summer at the farmers market. 

     February has started out with snow on the ground and high 20's temperatures.  We had great rainfall totals for January and I am hoping it continues for the next three months.  It makes work sloppy and muddy but it sure beats drought and higher than usual fire danger.

     While the ground is soft I will be pulling some ground cover plants to be replanted later after I re-landscape an area that has been left fallow for some years and hope to revive the garden area in front of the studio/guest house.  It will involve fixing the drip irrigation which has also been left to sit for last few years as we have coped with low well levels and too many holes in the main line.  My goal will be to not only get the water set up and on a timer but get flowers back in and screened from the veracious chickens.  I could pen up the chickens but that means they can't do their job of keeping the bug population in balance.  So I would rather protect the plants.  It's odd but it works.

     This month also brings us the bitter sweet moments where we will have to say good bye to the puppies that have given us so much joy these last few months.  Some will go to their new homes this week and others will stay on a little longer to get more learning time in with the older LGD's as well as time to get big enough to handle themselves at their new job sites.  My feed bill will be relieved but my heart will miss their fluffy little faces.  I will breed again.  My oldest and my first LGD's are eight years old now.  It's sad but these are not long lived breeds.  Sasha is showing her age lately and it will be time to bring in younger workers.  I never imagined when I started an alpaca ranch how much these dogs would come to mean to me.  I love having their eyes, ears, and noses on guard duty.  They do what I cannot.  Now I can't imagine ever running a ranch without them.

    For those of you who also keep fruit trees, now is also the time to prune and spray Neem oil.  This is best done on a windless day.  Fruit trees are some of the most rewarding to me.  Once established they need so little from you and give so much back year after year.  As the saying goes, "The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago and the next best time is today."

     Last I would like to ask you to keep in mind that now is the Time that your local 4-H kids are getting ready to purchase, hatch, or otherwise birth the market animals that will be available for auction at the next county fair.  Know your farmer and support these hard working kids.  Your purchase is tax deductible, and you will get some fine meat for your freezer.  Your support continues "making the best, better."


  

Happy New Year! Welcome to the ranch.

Well we went from no water to El Nino and you won't hear me complain.  Well, maybe just a little.  The soft muddy dirt means that the alpaca toenails are now pretty unruly and a mess to trim up. 

Lots of changes to our little homestead and alpaca ranch this last year.  We brought Greyson home.  He is our newest herdsire and I am hoping for some lovely grey.  He is a sweet gentleman who really loves his pellet treats. 








Next, over the summer we lost our sweet Reighnee.  This was not the first time she had gone downhill but we were able to get her back on her feet last time.  This time after Three weeks of hand feeding, trying to get her C1 going again, she gave up.  I miss her terribly and look for her even now when I go out.

We were expecting two cria this this year. The first was another sad day on the ranch.  The poor guy was badly deformed in the face with no eyes, nose or upper pallet.  He was the offspring of two I have bred many times before so we were really unprepared for such a travesty. 






The second was a perfect, textbook birth from an outside breeding with Embervanna.  He is a beautiful boy, almost a carbon copy of his dad, Keanu.  Watching his development carefully as we hope he will be a hirdsire potential in a few years.  Just love his coloring.  That undercoat will develop to a grey!  We dubbed him "Gambit".




In the homestead news my next big thing was bringing home Zoey.  Zoey is a Dexter and Jersey cross heifer and I am just tickled with her!  Never did I think I would be a cow person but I do love her.  She fits right in with us.  She will be bred with a low line Angus and we look forward to fresh milk in the spring of next year.  She is a small breed and it fits right well with keeping heritage breeds on our little farmstead.  She does have horns that I am learning to respect.  Fortunately she is young so they are not full length yet and so we are learning together. 

Last summer we had to shut down our fodder set up.  It was always in a temporary location and the invasion of varmints and ants had me at my wits end.  Couple that with higher temps causing the seeds to sour and we just shut down.  We have a container waiting to be the new fodder location.  Money and time were the challenges and having both at the same time doesn't happen very often.  So we have just worked at it a little at a time.  Cleaning it out was the first battle and then insulating it.  Following that was sealing it up.  For that we used a product called Metacrylic.  It takes many layers but when you are done painting it on you have a very water proof surface.  Then my husband worked in the plumbing and the lights.  This week we got things started again.  We still have work to do.  The heat that was sufficient for the smaller previous fodder space is not enough for the bigger container, the ceiling still needs more insulation and paneling.  Then the last part will be expanding so that there is enough feed for the animals we have added over time.  Everyone will benefit from this especially my pocketbook.

We had a small "oops!" in that Obadiah and Ellie got too close while she was in heat.  I thought the worst but was reassured by many breeders that a 1st gen inbreeding  line breeding would be just fine and possibly give very desirable traits.  Ellie has turned out to be a great first time mom.  All six pups are healthy and normal.  We have truly enjoyed our puppy time and even more pleased to say they all have good, working homes to go to. 




That puts this blog back up to date again. 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a speaker along with my dear friend on our local radio station, KFOK. We were asked to talk about homesteading here on the divide.  A broad subject.  The thing I wanted to share the most, that I want to encourage, is to remember that your homestead is unique to you.  Don't get caught up comparing or keeping up with what another homesteader is doing.  Some of us have been at this longer than others and no matter what our situations are very different.  Also that it's not all milk and honey.  Some days just SUCK!  We lose precious animals. We have feed go bad.  We have pipes break and no one to fix it but ourselves.  Don't give up.  The good times outweigh the bad and the milk and honey days are right around the corner. 

California Drought and Small Farm Living

It's another non-winter here at the ranch.  Could not ask for more beautiful weather except that we are asking for wet, cold, snowy weather.  We are asking for a lot of it.  The reservoirs are so low one can hardly refer to them as "lakes" anymore.  Rivers are mere trickles.  The state that provides for much of America's produce is looking pretty sad. 

We are on a well.  This comes with it's own joys as well as challenges especially when you have livestock counting on you for their well being.  First off we have a 3000 gal holding tank.  This gives us a little breathing room in the event of a pump problem.  I am surprised how many other well owners did not include this in their irrigation/plumbing plans.  It was something we had to add years after purchasing our property.  Not that the previous owner didn't have a tank it just wasn't closed.  Not something you would want to drink from for sure. 

What we learned from last years drought conditions was that our well was not recovering as quickly as it does when we have regular winters.  This prompted the addition of a well pump timer.  This means that instead of the tank always filling when the float is at a certain level it only fills for a set amount of time during a set time of the day.  This has saved the pump from working to hard or worse, working dry. 

This means that just like the rest of the state we aren't mindlessly using water.  Anything that needs water is on a timer and/or a drip system.  Public water is not an option for us where we live.  We have never been mindless about our water supply, pumps are expensive and and we still pay for the electricity to run the pump but these last few years have certainly forced us into more restrictions. 

So as I watch the alpacas sun themselves on this beautiful March day I am also doing my garden dreaming.  This years irrigation will be very different from years past.  My son has already tilled the soil with new alpaca manure and we will establish a drip system for each row, keeping water low to the ground to prevent excess evaporation as well as being able to adjust for the water needs of each different crop. 

While we work hard to make use of what we have there is an undercurrent of fear as the drought continues.  If the water source that feeds our well drys up, what next? 

It's all fun and games till someone says "evacuate"

We live in the forest and with that always comes the risk of fire.  This year has been more tense than other years with the severe draught.  The King Fire blew this direction and because we are a one way in and out road we were asked to evacuate.

My worst case senerios were laid to rest in that we had time.  We spent Tuesday evening moving animals and had all of Wednesday to pack valuables and get out.  That means 23 alpacas, 40+ chickens and ducks, 5 geese, 3 guinea hens, 12 rabbits, 2 LGD's, 7 puppies, and one hatchling duck and really good friends with trailers to help you move it all.  Really, really, really good friends.

We bugged out for ten days and were guests at one my really good friends.  It was, as we had no choice, a lovely vacation.  My friend put us up in style and was a generous hostess.  I got to be away from home with the comfort of my animals near by.  We count ourselves extremely lucky.

The firefighters, dozen workers, and police/sheriffs all worked diligently. They not only kept the fire at bay but protected our homes from those that would have taken advantage of our absence.

It's been a few weeks now of being home.  Still putting things back where they belong.  Even once we were allowed back they were still working on containment leaving a still nervous energy just under the surface.  Only a week later we had some Yahoo arsonist lighting fires up the freeway by Applegate.  Seeing the smoke clouded rise from the other side of the canyon will make your stomach clench.

It takes time for your mind to wrap around the woulda-shoulda-coulda's and for all that I held it together for the animals and the family my body let me know on its own that it was stressed and it only now feels like things are settling down.  Life is rocking back to normal.  The season is changing and that helps too.

With the seasons change comes all the lovely fall hustle and bustle.  Fire wood, canned fruit, and warm stew.

Sasha had puppies in late August.  This time around things are much smoother than last year.  Seven healthy pups!  We will be keeping two as replacement guard dogs as Alexi and Sasha are seven this year!  It doesn't seem that long ago that I was bringing them home as pups.

I count my many blessings as I write this.  This year has brought me closer to my friends and brought new friends in my life.  Sometimes I think this is as good as I could ask for but then something or someone comes along and makes it even better.  One of these things is my children.  Everyday they bring me joys that I didn't know yesterday.  They were real troopers through the whole evacuation.  They worked just as hard as everyone else even through the uncertainty of wondering if there would be home to come back to.   Proud just doesn't seem to do justice to describe how I feel about them.

As the temperatures change cooler, imagine me with my steamy coffee and my feet treadling my spinning wheel.  This is the season I revel in.  There's no place like home!

Dear El Dorado County

The El Dorado County Assesors Office needed to keep its abnormally large nose out of my blog and start paying attention to running its own business.  There's nothing here.  If you tax me more than I make in a year I will call it quits, go out of business and you will get nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Homesteading is not for the Ikea Dependant

Homesteading is not for the Ikea dependent.

Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may or may not also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale. Pursued in different ways around the world — and in different historical eras — homesteading is generally differentiated from rural village or commune living by isolation (either socially or physically) of the homestead.

I have had the privilege of visiting many ranches over the last few months. One of the most outstanding things I find about each one is how they make things work. It doesn't matter that you don't have the latest and greatest from Crate and Barrel or the most brand new gadget from Martha Stewart. Homesteaders have the greatest talent for looking around and seeing what's on hand to get the job done. They waste nothing. Everything has a new purpose when it's done with its old life.  

This is not a life for one who is dependent on having all the parts handed to them with a picture by picture guide to assemble and directions on how to use it. This is a life for the Lego "master builders" who can look at what's on hand and make something out of it. Why do we do this? Well, usually it's because all our money is sunk into feeding our livestock so we can't afford to buy the latest and greatest. But there are lots of factors. We also take pride in what we sweat and toil over. We often build it better than Made In China. Our ideas are more suited to the individual needs of our ranch. It means that we use hog panels for more than just hogs, bathtubs for things other than baths, and pallets for, well, everything. It means that all that we do might not be picture perfect but it is real. We aren't looking to get our picture in Better Homes and Gardens though we would be stink'n proud if we were featured in Backwoods Magazine because for us, that's real.

Homesteading will not give you all the pieces you need to build the perfect farm. You will need to use your common sense and creativity and from that will come a pride that will supersede anyone wanting to look down their nose at you because your chicken coop isn't quaint and cute. Your chicken coop will be predator proof and your style of ranching will be unique to your climate. Do not be discouraged, you are breaking the mould, doing something no one else could do because they didn't have bits and pieces laying around. You are homesteading.

I walked out my door today on a hunt for material that could be used to fence in some ducklings that are not quite feathered out yet. As I walked down the drive I am surrounded but the things I love. Ducks, pigs, rabbits, chickens, the geese greet me as I walk by, the dogs wag their tails and the alpacas look up from their recline as they chew their cud. "This is the life!" I think to myself. It is not easy, it does not save me any money, but it gives me a quality of life that can't be compared. I know other people only look into our life and see the bottom line or they see a ranch with (dis)organized clutter. It's more than just the good feeling of raising your own food, it's enjoying the animals that bring us laughter in their antics as well. It's the manure that to someone else is just poop but for us it's the life of the soil that brings forth good food. It's not that we don't value the bottom line it's that we realize that money is just a stepping stool for getting to what is really important, enjoying life.

Go outside and look around. Are you keeping up with your neighbors? Or are you keeping up with your dreams?