Fellin’ by Some Fellers

Not that we don’t have enough to do with all the property management and start of Infinity Gardens, we also have had to deal with a number of trees living WAY too close to the main house and casting shade on our food production fields.  The last thing we ever want to do is cut down trees, but there were two invasive maples that we got pruned before this winter (thank goodness).  We have a wonderful slate roof on the main house and want to protect it as much as possible; plus original half-round gutters that were being inundated with leaves; plus the trees just didn’t look well (you will see why later!).  It was time…

So while we were in LA, we asked Dan and Nick – affectionately known as “The Dudes” to take care of the trees for us.  Dan owns a landscaping business.  As you have probably gathered, we could keep them busy for years!

This is the best picture we have before the trees in the front of the house were felled.

We will certainly miss the shade provided by the maples in the summer since the front of the house faces mostly south.  However, now I am not stricken by stress and anxiety every time the wind blows!

I’m not sure we will be able to estimate the age of this one (tree was to the left if looking at picture above) – where are the rings!!!

  

What do you see?  I see Grimace!  I think this may make a killer piece of art!

Thinking about making a chess/checkers table out of the stump!

The other tree (to the right if looking at the picture of the house above) was much healthier.

Now we have some nice hardwood for fires!

Then, a Spruce tree along our driveway decided it was time to fall…all on it’s own.

Got to test out my newly tuned up/sharpened chain saw (thanks, Pop!).  Not gonna lie, chainsawing stuff makes me feel very manly!

The Dudes showed up with their landscaping truck to help haul off branches!  The Dudes are awesome!

Some booty that Ceola found while we were cleaning up the spruce tree.  The antler has become the dogs’ favorite toy while outside.  Ceola carries it around like a trophy and guards it from Tecumseh.  In this picture she is just checking that he isn’t around to steal her antler!

The last tree that needed to be removed was another Spruce that cast a huge shadow on our planned market garden space.  The sun actually sets right behind this tree and not having it should give us some good early evening sun in the summer.  Dan and Nick also took care of this tree while we were away!

Speaking of our market garden, as you saw in a previous post, we plan to put about a 75’x75′ area behind the main house into production for the first season of Infinity Gardens.

Here we are doing some field prep.  We marked off the area and began to spread manure we got from a friend who raises cattle.  We also had to spread some lime.  Our soil was slightly nitrogen and phosphorus deficient so these amendments are only the start.  As we get into our crop rotations, more amendments and proper cover crops will be added to increase/stabilize soil health in this area as well as across the property.

 

Manure and Lime amendments spread.

That’s where we are at right now.  Just waiting for the right time to plow up the sod and disc the newly turned soil.  It’s about to get real, People!

Pollo Expreso

Whew…a new post just shy of a month from the last one.  Just when I think there isn’t much post-worthy stuff happening, I look back at my pictures and realize I have enough for like 4 posts!  So, there will be a lot of updates coming in the next week.  Enjoy…

To begin, we were tired of the weather so we skipped town for Passover weekend…

While hanging out in Tinseltown, Delicia got to keep her annual tradition and visit her favorite store called It’s a Wrap.  The store sells wardrobe and props from movies and TV shows.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to visit It’s a Wrap that day, which was a bummer because the new arrival rack had wardrobe clothes from my favorite TV show of all time – Breaking Bad!  It would have been sweet to get my hands on a Schraderbrau mug, one of Walt’s Tyvek suits, or best of all, a bucket from Los Pollos Hermanos!

So what the heck does Breaking Bad have to do with Spring Hill Farm?  Well, hmm….nothing, except I have been waiting for a long time to mention Breaking Bad in this blog and this may be my only chance!  Completely non-linear, I know, but Breaking Bad made me think of Pollos Hermanos and Pollos Hermanos made me think about our chickens and our chickens made me think of the farm.  So there you have it…

For those of you who didn’t watch the show, you can learn more about Los Pollos Hermanos, and its various players here.

So before we left for LA, we loaded up Los Pollos Hermanos (I think some of them are related?) in the “Chicken Express” – aka my once-mint 2000 Subaru Outback that has now become the farm wagon – let’s just say that if you plan to have chickens poop in your car, spring for the leather option!

The chickens were being moved out of the house (they grows up fast!) and into their new digs – an addition off the west-end of the barn.

The space has been recently updated, but we can’t tell when or for what reason.  In the past, the addition may have been used for calves or goats as there are 4 stalls…which happen to be perfect for our chickens!

A cool roost D made with an old ladder we found in the barn.  The ladder had seen better days and seems to have made a better roost rather than use it to actually hold a human.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…sing it with me!!!

 

We couldn’t do the move by ourselves, so D enlisted the help of Jaime and Pnut (aka Audrey) – with the lure of lunch (I think they had eggs).

The chickens were a little nervous and confused at first and didn’t want to leave their transport box.  Apparently, they haven’t seen Chicken Run yet!

But as soon as the older chickens figured out there was a better life outside the box, they all started to make the run to freedom….er, well at least a bigger space for now!

Overall, the chickens seem to like the new indoor home.

The next step will be to make an automatic door going out the side of the space so they can roam the fields and come in at night.  More on that endeavor and resulting aerial attacks from Owls and Hawks later.

By the way, it F#%*ing snowed the night before we left for LA – which was April 15th!  WTF?