In which I revisit the legacy fruit saplings and scout greenhouse areas, and plan my first kitchen garden

The day dawned overcast but dry today, and thanks to our economy measures the house was at a predesignated 55 degrees. I had slept better than most nights, and it was 8 before I left my snug warm bed. Spent a half hour making a blazing fire in the wood heating stove, and turned up the thermostat to 60, just enough to circulate some air while the wood stove did the heavy lifting. The result was the central area being warm, and the bedrooms somewhat cool.

Made corn pancakes for breakfast with eggs, coffee, bourbon maple syrup, and OJ. 

Adam Rust came by with a pair of bolt cutters to cut off the other realtor’s lockbox attached to our porchlight. We hadn’t seen him since the signing. We invited him in and had a nice chat. In the end the bolt cutters did no good at all, but he promised to work on getting it done another way, through the manufacturer.

Worked on organizing the workshop area of the garage some more.  Reinforced and put locking casters on the drill press stand.

Lunch was peanut butter and banana with apples and Earl Grey tea. Thank you MM.

After lunch I found fencing pliers and loaded them, some t-posts, t-post driver, some baling wire, and some loading straps into the wagon and went out to repair the cages around the sapling fruit trees North of the house.  Two of the trees were pushed down severely, and I arranged two t-posts in a braced upright to put some pressure on the fallen trees to straighten them.  Tomorrow I will tighten the straps some more- hoping to straighten the trunk without breaking anything. There are two apple and two cherry trees, and a peach tree that didn’t survive.  Some other trees in that area I can’t identify- perhaps more fruit trees.  Time will tell.

The saplings were in awful shape when we saw them last Fall, some of their cages falling down or crushed by a rampaging mower, it looked like. They didn’t look any better today.  I straightened the cages and tried to put things right, but I wonder whether the surviving canes are rootstock or scion in some cases.  If rootstock, maybe I can propagate it to make more root stock trees and graft my own scion onto it.

 The ones that live may bear some fruit this year, but I will not let them bear more than a half-dozen fruits so that they can grow stronger.

By all appearances we can look forward to a bumper crop of blackberries this year. The forest will yield a generous supply of fallen alders and such from the last ice storm, once I can get tooled up and harvest them for firewood, and 10 foot fence posts, something I will need a lot of very soon, for deer-proof fences. Anything accruing from my planting annuals depends on how much I can do while I am in this wrist brace, with all my other infirmities.

My first thought for the ideal process to build a garden is to first build a portable chicken house and place it inside the deer-fenced garden plot.  Using the plot for a chicken run and forage for 8-10 weeks {meat birds) should condition the soil, especially if I put generous amounts of straw down. Not sure where the parallel idea of straw-bale gardening will fit in- maybe as a heat source for the chicken house…

I have sites for two greenhouses-  one frame already put up in the upper orchard which needs a covering, and also between the RV pad and the Annex- a proper zone one configuration.

MM worked on putting doors back on the seven and a half foot wide oak veneer bookshelves, which we built together yesterday, and the division of that area to two small bedrooms is virtually accomplished.  If we like it we will build a permanent wall there. Some books are loaded into that 3-bay system and we are thinking of adding one more bookcase to close the gap.

Dinner was French green lentil and rice soup, flavored with some bacon and assorted veggies- served with drop biscuits and cookies made from some batter I had frozen from the last batch. This took me an hour and a half to make, so next time I need to knock off work earlier.

And now catching up on journaling- I suppose I’ll never record some of the things that happen, once they pass me by, but here, at least, is some of the flavor.

Up the Creek Jan 23:

Jan 23:  Sunny, 35°F

It's been 3 weeks since we moved in. Still working on getting set up with the everyday necessities of life up the creek. (Bennett Creek) Tooling up for the homestead life, I have bought generator, winch, chain saw, hedge trimmer, wood chipper, log splitter, a small stock of t-bar fence posts, a t-bar driver, and a giant rake. Also got my 30 packets of local landrace seeds straight from Carol Deppe (The Tao of Vegetable Gardening, The Resilient Gardener) of Corvalis.

Yesterday I built a leaf compost bin from a pallet and t-posts and some 1 inch green mesh fencing I had, and added wheels to my generator for off-road use; tested out the log splitter and the electric chain saw and hedge trimmer. I hope to use the hedge trimmer to gnaw away on the margins of the blackberry invasion. Elizabeth and Jack, thanks for the loppers- they have already proved their quality around the place.

Headed to town to buy more long underwear and some antibiotic ointment. Later I will see a doctor about a troublesome burn and a sprained wrist. Chest cold is still with me, but reluctantly getting better. Trying to keep my medical distractions to three.

Moving in

We found the tiny Episcopal church in Cottage Grove last Sunday, and it seems like a congenial congregation, though the 20 members in attendance (every pew was in use! ) were not any more musical than your average subway car. It made us think of home, however, and I thought I'd drop you these lines.

John and Gayle left a few days ago- they came and visited and we rewarded them with the task of literally making their own beds. The few days they were here were a nice change of pace for us, though the getting settled is taking all our time most days, getting some fresh viewpoints was a welcome perspective on our organizational efforts.

 I will be spending inauguration day 20 minutes north of here in Eugene, buying a generator and a chain saw to clear some of the fallen trees and branches from the last ice storm, and cut down a maple that wants to eat the yurt, starting with the stovepipe. I took a walk around the property and found that I will need to be a forester before I get to be a gardener, it seems. In the end, the forestry may yield some fenceposts for the eight foot deer fence that is mandatory for any garden in these parts. I'm building a two-wheel dolly to strap onto the rear of a towed log, to help the process, and a winch to help draw them in.  There are probably a dozen logs already cut and more in the recent wreckage that I must clear before someone gets hurt. Made some progress on the winch and mount- just have to get the electric power figured out.

It probably won't rain much, and if we're lucky the temp will get over 50 for a few minutes in the afternoon. All in all, I feel better preparing for an abundant year (with flowers!) than contemplating the storms to come in DC. 

The next day, Saturday, I will be returning to Eugene attending a home and garden show/ expo and get a big dose of Carol Deppe, who will be holding an all day series of 5 talks, on home gardening, breeding locally adapted strains of veggies, and other matters important to sustainable gardeners.  And she will be selling the locally adapted seeds from her genetics research- squashes, beans, corn, and greens- which I want to plant this Spring.

It's been a busy two weeks since we first turned the key in the lock of our new place. I am seeing fewer cardboard boxes and finding more of the basic stuff we need for living. Meanwhile the stack of cardboard to start garden beds is growing. 

The chest cold from Hell is still hanging on, but it's starting to improve incrementally. 

We ordered and received an almost-cord of imperfectly seasoned firewood and we are using it to augment our electric heating, Keeping a wood stove going day and night in the large windowed common room off the open kitchen. 

I've been shopping for a pan to rebuild the semi cylinder frame we found here into a greenhouse once more. Territorial Seed Company has the covering I need, though I must improvise the two flat ends with framed doors.  

I found a box of sweaters and coats and now I can put my two flannel shirts in the wash.

 I'm putting my garage shop together and making maximum use of the pegboard on the walls.

 Got a jumbo mailbox to replace the small one we had, and we're all set now to get small packages delivered. 

In between I'm walking the land and planning out gardens and terraces and play areas for the grandchildren.  

I got a heating pad for my worm bin in the garage to keep them working- it's been between 40 and 50 out there, and though they won't freeze, I want them working harder. 

Got satellite-based internet and local wifi last week.  Now we can get Netflix and HBO on our TV, get text messaging on our phones. We switched to a mobile phone company that is received pretty well in this valley.  

Still looking for a beat-up blue pickup truck for carrying garden materials, but I imagine it won't be long before I start shopping for it in earnest on Craig's list. 

Through the snowy passes

There was a question whether we would be able to make it to Cottage Grove in time to deliver our cashier's check for our down payment on the appointed day: January 3, 2017- the first business day of 2017.

We had spent December 29 and 30 loading up the contents of our storage lockers into Bekins' truck- in spite of our taking some time last May and June boxing our personal effects and the garden projects there was a lot to do to get it into a long-distance hauler.  In the end it took a second truck, the first being partly full from the start with other people's goods, and an extra day of packing it in, saying goodbye to Gloria and Alex and taking care of our financial affairs in El Segundo, returning to San Diego on the evening of the 30th.

Dec 31 we spent packing up our cars and saying our goodbyes in San Diego to our respective families.  After going to bed early, we awoke early and breakfasted on the first day of the new year and made our departure into our new life, along with cat, worm bin, heirloom begonia,  night blooming cereus, and our suitcases filled with clothes from last July.

We drove all day January 1 to Williams, just north of Sacramento, in a loose caravan in our respective cars.  We didn't have the option of trading off drivers, and we took breaks to rendezvous, refuel and rest every two hours- about a half tank for me in the Element, far less for MM in the Prius. We made it to our motel at about 8 PM, and the air was noticeable nippy.

The next morning weather forecasts were a little vague concerning the road conditions on I-5 north of Medford, but after consulting with southbound travelers in the breakfast bar, we decided that a) we could probably make it, b) we'd better be carrying chains, and c) we'd better get them well south of the pass to avoid finding them all sold out where we needed them.  So we were stocking up on show chains, cold fried chicken, and road snacks at a Walmart just north of Williams.

As it happened, we got to Medford around 2 PM, the "heat of the day," up freshly plowed road and amidst blowing snow flurries with traffic slowed down to a crawl, past an overturned truck that looked a lot like the van we shipped our household goods in, but we got through the passes and down the other side with our chains still unopened and in time to make Cottage Grove, still sedate and green, by nightfall.

By that time the chest cold I had been developing since packing day (thanks to one worker who showed up with severe laryngitis) has become more severe, and I was glad to get some soup and turn in for the night.