When the Homily is about Immunology

Things done and things left undone

We are fast approaching our 1 year anniversary of packing up and leaving suburbia for rural farm living and this fact has put me in a reflective mood. Much of our property remains a bit of a mess as we are still doing construction work on the cabin, though really only wrap, siding, electrical and drywall remains to be done - save of course the details of molding and painting. I am hoping for a dry and warm September to finish up a few winter preparing tasks.

So, what things have we done in the last year? Well, we do have a functional cabin as noted (thanks in no small part to many friends - and especially to our architect and master carpenter Rade). We converted/remodeled a shed to be a chicken coop and then fenced off a large area for the chicken run - large enough to be separated into two "pastures." We then acquired 26 chickens (was supposed to be 25 but we apparently got one extra), two died apparently from transit (you may recall they were "lost" for an extra day) and then one would die from some form of fratricide...otherwise we succesfully raised 23 chickens into adult egg producing machines...the sales of which have been effectively paying for the supplemental food we give the birds.

Then we remodeled the barn and fenced in a section of pasture around it to host the two Nubian goats we purchased. It all came out very nicely per my wife's design and included sectioning the barn in half, making stalls, and adding a front wall with two different gates/doors. I even managed (without breaking it) to install an old antique window that had been left laying around. And so now, outside of some supplementary cheese products, the majority of our dairy arrives into our fridge from some 150 feet away. This alone means I am doing more for the environment than Al Gore.

To offset this good deed I have stored up what I hope to be enough wood for the winter and ALL of it (save some my brother-in-law acquired for me) originated from our land. Suffice to say we will have paid for our heat this winter with our own sweat...and the sweat of a few friends.

Sue did most of the garden preparation. We both realize that it is perhaps half as large as we would like it to be, but we will increase it for next season. We dug several beds and have a good deal of beans (just now coming out in seriously edible numbers), a couple of varieties of peas, potatoes, spinach, pumpkins, carrots, and a large swath of tomatoes that are doing well so far. Actually I should let Sue report on the garden stuff as she is clearly the green thumb of the family - I am sure there are more things growing out there, but these are my favorites so far...hopefully we will continue to grow and have less and less need for veggies grown anywhere but here.

Additionally we have done innumerable small things and projects - too many to list. As was expected for each livestock or garden related duty we finish it ends up spelling more daily duties, such that even when we aren't busy, we are busy...to some degree. Add on homeschooling, church and the retarded "real" job in the city and we fairly meet the criteria of being busy. Sue is really deserving of praise in this regard...she is a true homesteader in many senses of the word.

I slaughtered my first farm animal (a troublesome rooster), Sue cleaned it and cooked it, and then we all ate it. Delicious.

Just this weekend we were reminded that living in the forest can be dangerous. In preparing for this I have acquired a number of firearms (not to mention the fact that police response to my house can be as long as 20 minutes - country homes would be a PRIME spot for home invasion robberies because neighbors will not hear or see a thing, except for one problem directed at bad guys: the common presence of firearms in rural homes). Correlating with these purchases, we now have a family membership at the local sportsman's club where we can practice and receive safety training. I do hope to do some hunting (and fishing) as we become more established and settled.

Things left undone: In the house I STILL have to replace the downstairs toilet and floor...I'm hoping to do this this week. Also I have two more windows to install (we did manage to get two done). Outside we have barn/coop painting to do...we have been collecting cheap "oops" paint in order to do this...not quite ready as we are trying to find shades of red to mix together. I need to install a gutter and drain on the back of the barn, I did finish one on the front, but the back really could use one too...I also will have these drain into barrels to collect the water...though with all the rain we have gotten I'm not sure much of it would have been needed this year. Also, in front of the barn and through the chicken run we have some drainage issues that need to be addressed...a sort of french drain is in working through my cluttered brain.

Once these are accomplished, I think I will have done most all that I wanted to over this past year. Now, we are also looking to the future...I am fairly sure we have decided to start our next flock of chickens soon. It will press us into getting the new run and coop set up and this will afford us the ability to have the chickens not be quite so young during the cold, wet, and often powerless winter. We are shooting for 50 birds...yes I said fifty which will bring our total to 73! I'm told we are getting a 50/50 mix of black australorps and rhode island reds.

We had planned on doing pigs...but after meeting the miniature hereford rancher from Sequim we are now wondering about raising them. The plan would be to clear a significant portion of our land just east of the seasonal pond and use it for pasture, but one of the issues we wrestle with is knowing precisely where our property lines are located, but we are currently working this problem. Overall, it may be a while before this all happens: pigs or cows.

The goats will be freshened sometime in the near future and then we will have AT LEAST two new kids to deal with (Goats usually have twins so we likely will have four) and then we will also have two lactating does and so this means we will have an abundance of dairy. Hopefully we can try our hands at making some of the hard cheeses like cheddar. All of this will be quite an experience. We have learned much this past year and have much more to learn - we look forward to it!

I'll have a few more "anniversary" thoughts later that I suspect won't read quite as much like a "to do" list.