Shaking The Tree

 When I first started building the house I was very selective, reluctant even, to take out any more trees than just absolutely necessary.   That's good in one respect because you have time to think about which ones you want to cut and don't end up with a giant bare lot.  However, it helps to make the decision within a reasonable amount of time because it sure is easier the smaller the tree.  Thinning out large trees can be a pain and they grow much faster than I think we realize.  So, I decided that this winter would be a good time to finally get rid of a few of these trees closest the house, before they got any more awkward to fell.  Now, I know some people are gonna squeak and fuss about cutting trees but sometimes you just have to.  Two of these are damaged anyway and one of those leans slightly towards the house.  The other two are sweet gums, which, if you are not familiar, are what we call "trash trees".  The wood is not good for much, they crowd out nice trees because they grow much faster and they put off these hard, spiny balls that are a pain, literally, if you step on one.  And lastly, having these trees removed will make backing a concrete truck up in that area much easier.  I still have those planter walls to pour in front of that concrete block you see.  I know it's taking forever but I will get to that one day!

I know the photo is really crappy but i was shooting through a window with a screen on it.  You can see (maybe) one little woodpecker up on the suet block and several little sparrows (?) on the feeder.  Other regulars are cardinals, nuthatches, tufted titmouse and possibly a couple of goldfinch. 

And of course, the opportunistic, greedy chickens are never far behind.  They patrol under the tree like hungry sharks, just waiting for the occasional seeds the birds drop.  Anybody coming up would think we never feed these girls. 

I also forgot to close my cold frame the other day when I let the girls into the garden for winter clean up.  They quickly discovered my mistake and proceeded to dig to China.  I think they might have found a few bugs but mainly they thought it was the best place to dust bathe ever!  At one point, there were so many of them crammed in there they really couldn't even move around very well.  There was only a few remaining dregs of lettuce still planted, so it didn't really matter.  I let them have their fun for a few days but ran them out yesterday so I could plant a new batch of loose leaf.

So, our tree cutting is on hold for now.  The wind has really been horrendous these past couple of days and would make something like that potentially very dangerous.

In A Nutshell

 A few days ago I was actually feeling well enough to do a little hiking/ walking so Chigger and I set out for the trail that leads to the top of the ridge behind the house.  We didn't make it to the top mind you, but that wasn't really what I had in mind anyway.  It goes up on one end of my property and about halfway up you can take the deer trails over to the west and come down right behind the house.  One of these days I'll actually make some clear, formalized trails but for now you kinda just follow intuition.  Anyways, I remembered that there were 3, big, hardwood trees not too far off the main trail we cleared that had been downed by a storm and I wanted to see just how much trouble it would be to get to them.  The fate of the trees is a bit of a mystery.  They are large, healthy hardwoods, well, except for one that was completely hollow, but they were all just snapped right over about 15 feet above the ground and they all fall in the same direction.  It was obviously a storm that did it but the type of storm is what gets me to wondering.  See, the trees grow on the side of a small mountain that is very, very rocky, so, high winds just normally blow the trees over, roots and all.  And, they almost always fall in the opposite direction that these fell.  It was a fairly recent event also (within a year) as the trees still bear dead leaves. Amongst the leaves and limbs of the trees I found this:

Now, that side of my property does connect to a subdivision but that thing is a ways down a pretty steep hill.  I suppose some crazy dog could have toted this coconut way up there and dropped it but it had no chew or teeth marks in it.  So, how did an intact coconut get way out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a ridge??  You may remember back in 2010? when we had those really bad tornadoes that tore up many places.  We found probably 2 pickup loads worth of debris scattered across my land, some of which is still way up on the higher elevations because it is just so hard to get down.  I found numerous items from Tuscaloosa and areas over 100 miles from here.  Maybe there were flying coconuts that night too??  Who knows??

Well, in other news, we have harvested just about everything but the brussel sprouts out of the garden and I am slowly feeding the spent plants to the girls.  They really go nuts over the stuff!  They stripped one of the cabbage plants so fast it looked like feathered piranha going after it!  The greens really add some good vitamins to their winter diet though and it really doesn't cost us anything.  Before too long I will be able to screen my brussel sprouts off and just let them into the garden to forage, dig and poop to their hearts content.  They do a great job of cleaning and preparing the garden for spring.

And we can tell the days are starting to get just a tad longer again...We are getting more eggs!  I was excited to see we got all of the colors today.  The browns, white, aquas and olive.  It's funny, the olive colored egg is laid by Marilyn, our all white Ameraucana.  I really thought she might lay a pale pink or blue egg.  Oh well, shows you what I know. 

Changes

I though this iris was a lovely, new color.  Reminds me of pink lemonade for some reason.  Oddly enough, I don't ever remember planting anything this color and there are only 2 in a large mass of the common purple/ blue combo.  I also have a couple of bunches of the pure white iris about 10-12 feet away.  Could they spontaneously intermix??  I have no idea how that works.

I have been working very hard on clearing a bit more land down below the garden and chicken run.  this is the area off to the right and you can kinda see where the grass stops, just to the right of the yellow iris blooms.  This area was just a huge mass of privet, poison oak and other nasty vines.  I should have cleared it long ago but just didn't get to it and it was growing up so it was crowding my 2 plum trees, plus just looking terribly unkempt.  In the newly cleared area I might plant a nice Japanese maple or another fruit tree.  Something that won't get too big.  We still have some more clean up to do in this area though.

The cursed damned fire ants were eating the crap out of my rhubarb in the garden, so I moved 2 of them up to a big pot on the deck.  (their gnawing is why these look kinda rough) This way might be better anyway as I can keep them shaded and cool much easier.  I am determined to find a way to grow this stuff.   I still have 2 others in the garden also, so we'll see.

And I finally put the finishing touches on the east end of the chicken coop.  Unfortunately, the rest of the coop looks like hell, but I'm getting there.  Yes, that horrid swatch of blue in the background will go away.  I was also proud that I finally found a place to install that black planter basket on the left.  I know I have carted that freaking thing around for 10 years or so and never really put it to good use.  Well, I think it finally found a home.

Many other changes are going on in the garden now also.  I've got about half of the crops planted and hope to get the other half in today.  I'll post more about what I'm growing this year a little later.
I also finally poured the hearth slab in the house!!  Yay!!!  I used a new formula and was very pleased with how it came out.  Well, I haven't wrecked the edge form yet so....I think I'm pleased with the formula.  Ha!  I'm sure it will come out fine.  I was able to get a very nice, tight finish on the slab but I will also buff it with those diamond pads to finish it out.  I'll post about all that also.

Well.  Lots of work to get done today!

Family Trees

Things are basically back to normal here, although we are going through yet another bad thunderstorm as I type this, so I thought I'd show ya'll a few photos of the damage from my Mom's house.  We really didn't have many trees down in our area but downed trees took out large swaths of power to the north and west of us.  My Mom's area was much harder hit although they actually had their power restored a day earlier than us.  As you can see from the photo above this very, very large oak tree just barely missed Mama's house.  I hate to say but, I secretly wished it had taken out that awful screened-in porch so I could build her a new one and let the insurance pick up the tab.  As it is I don't believe enough damage was done to warrant anything like that.  At any rate, it was heartbreaking to me to see that this old tree had gone down.  We estimate it was easily 100 years old and was a constant source of play for us when we were kids.  We had an ol' rope swing on it that we literally wore out until the rope just disintegrated.  It shaded many a family picnic, badminton game and countless hours of play for countless kids, family or not.

This is just a slightly closer view and no, that is not an actual grave by the root ball.  Well, there's a cat buried there but not a human grave.  My Mom is a little eccentric maybe and when she found this headstone of some of her kin discarded, after a new stone had been purchased for a double plot, she deemed to rescue it from the trash pile.  Since it was marble and recorded his military service she had the cemetery workers load it in her car and then coerced one of us to erect this thing in the yard.  It gets a lot of second glances and comments at any rate.

Mama spent months, literally, searching for just the right concrete bench she wanted to go under the old tree.  I personally thought she should have turned the old headstone into a bench but she didn't cotton to my idea.  So, it's mashed to pieces now.  That one end support is okay but I couldn't see the other one.  It's probably rammed about 2 feet down into the ground.

The family consensus is to try to find someone with the proper equipment, who would be willing also, to mill this trunk into slabs suitable for making tables.  The trunk is so large it would take a small crane to move it if it had to be transported, but I was hoping to find someone with portable equipment that could come to us.  I don't know if that is even possible but I'm going to check.  I hate that it had to die but I would love to commemorate the tree with a new dining room table; just to keep a part of it around as long as I could..

This is a large cedar in her front yard that also succumbed to the storm.  It was a double trunk and the other half is still standing but we'll take all of it down now.  We also wanted to save the trunks of both for some possible building project.  Cedar that large is just too nice to discard or burn.
My sister actually planted this tree about 40 years ago.  She was pretty small but dug up a teeny cedar sprout and transplanted it here, declaring as she did that "it was going to grow!"  And it did.  Quite well actually and provided a very safe and secretive home for baby birds of various species.  The birds continue to flit all around and in it even now, chirping their distress at the death of their old friend.

So, we have much work to do at Mama's now to get things back in order and cleaned up.  Need to put her in a new sidewalk too, as you can see form the photo.  Seems like it never ends but at least we are all safe tonight and unharmed.

Friday Fun

One of the wild cherry trees in bloom that I told ya'll about. The picture doesn't really do it justice. They are very pretty in person.

All the wild hydrangeas are opening up and leafing out. I love the early morning light illuminating their structure. I am fortunate to have tons of these on my property. Free flowers!

More free flowers! Jack and I spent a good part of last Sunday at my Mom's doing yard work for her. After all that was done we went next door to my grandmother's old house and dug flowers and shrubs. Very few of my grandmother's plants still exist (these were planted later by an aunt and such) but it's still nice to have plants here that came from her land.

My blueberries seem to be doing very well so far this year. The bushes have about doubled in size and are loaded with buds. The bees love them.

I can't help but imagine these ferns as stretching and yawning as they slowly wake up from their long winter nap.

Jack got the rest of the garden tilled for planting. I am way behind in putting the potatoes in but at least it's ready now. We are expanding this year so I'll show ya'll that later.

Jack has also been doing a little clearing around the creek bank so it can be seen better when you drive in. I plan on transplanting a number of irises and hydrangeas along here.

The May apples are blooming and I actually caught it this year. They are kind of elusive. Supposedly, they also produce a small fruit or berry but I have never seen that.

The chard is doing well; this is the Bright Lights variety and it is too. Very bright. I have a recipe for a wonderful frittata that uses this. I'll share that with you soon.

The figs are already making! Seems early this year but everything else has been. It took me a while to get fig trees established here but these are doing well now. An old friend of mine always told me you couldn't have good fig trees unless you had chickens. I think he meant chicken poo was good for the trees. The chickens do love to rest under the trees for some reason if given the chance, so maybe he was right.

Swwweeeeeeet!

 Alright!!  The maple syrup experiment was a success!  In my opinion anyway.  Our season ended quicker than I wanted, due to this unusual warm spell, that has now lasted for a couple of weeks.  So, I went ahead and took the 2 gallons of sap that I had collected and processed it.  Now, to people that do this regularly, 2 gallons isn't squat.  It's hardly even worth fooling with but for me it was something to try.  Just enough to see if it would actually work and taste decent.
So, Jack hooked up the big propane burner that we use for boiling water for chicken scalding and I got my pots and stuff.  Now, all this is done outside because it puts off an enormous amount of moisture.  I used a large stainless steel pot and it was just big enough for the 2 gallons.  So, basically you just get it up to a rolling boil and check on it every once it a while.

 

After several hours it had boiled down considerable and had begun to get this foam around the edge.  I scooped that off occasionally.  Don't know if it matters or not.  At first the sap is basically like water but as it boils down it starts to take on a golden hue and you can smell the sweetness.  At this point it was starting to get pretty low in the pot and I didn't want it to burn so I knew I would have to transfer it to a smaller pot.  I had calculated about how much finished syrup I would get out of this batch (about 3/4 cup) so I knew when it was getting close.  When it did get around a cup and a half or so I took it inside, which is okay because most of the water is gone, and poured it into a smaller pot on the stove.  It's very important to have a candy thermometer to work with.  I had also calculated the boiling point of water for my area because the syrup must reach 7.1 degrees above that boiling point. (It varies according to your elevation above sea level.)

So, I continued to boil all the while monitoring with the thermometer.  At this point the syrup formed a lot of foam as it boiled but that's okay.  When it reached temperature, for me 217.1 degrees F., I took it off the stove and poured it through clean fabric to filter it.  You have to do this while it's still good and hot.  The fabric I had wasn't too fine so I poured it through an unbleached coffee filter next and it cleared it up really nice.  Some people recommend using a hydrometer to test the syrup and that's probably a good idea, and I actually have one, but this was such a small amount and I knew it would be kept it the fridge anyway so I didn't bother.

And here is the final product!!  We had pancakes this morning with it and it is really good.  It is not very thick as many people would expect syrup to be and it doesn't have that really strong maple flavor but I thought it was quite tasty and sweet.  My maples are Red Maples by the way, not the Sugar Maples but you can use any type maple and they say even Sycamore and some other trees.
I know if I had a large batch of sap, say 30-40 gallons, this would be a much more time consuming and labor intensive thing but for what I did it was pretty easy.  Just get set up and get the stuff boiling and check it every so often.  Now, when it gets close to being boiled down all the way you have to monitor it closely but it was pretty simple and not a lot of trouble.  I think spending a weekend to do this for a gallon or so of syrup would be well worth it.

Winter's Work

Caution:  the following post contains photos that some people may find objectionable.  Viewer discretion advised.  I'm serious; there is chicken bodies and blood.









Even though the garden is pretty much out of commission right now and most chores associated with that, there is still plenty to do around here where food is concerned.

Cool weather is historically the preferred time for slaughter and I agree with that myself.  The yellowjackets are just too bothersome in the warmer months to do something like this outdoors. So, Sunday we finally got to the task and harvested 10 of the meat birds.  That is a good number for us to do in one day it seems.  We usually pick a nice sunny, cold day.  I do this for me and for the chickens.  Nice for us because you don't want to do this in impending bad weather.  Better for the chickens because they are running around outside enjoying themselves and have no clue what is transpiring.  We only bring down 2 at a time so they don't see anything going on and are happily oblivious.  I don't like to have a bunch sitting in a cage waiting their turn, you know?  Jack and I don't enjoy this at all and a lot of people can't understand this part but I do not wish to participate in the abusive, industrial food system anymore, where chickens and other animals are raised in horrible conditions out of sight and no one cares.  It's hard to walk these guys down to the awaiting table but I know they had a good life and enjoyed running around outside in the sunshine.  If I'm going to ask for their life I should have the cahoonies to do it myself.  So, we both 'do the deed', so to speak and as quickly as possible.  Me holding and Jack wields the knife.  Then, after they are bled, he scalds them and we both pluck and I do the dressing out while he plucks more. 

I was very pleased at how well developed these were.  Very plump all over, no scrawny legs and such.  After they are completely dressed out and washed very well they get packed in coolers with ice and salt and aged for about 3 days.  This draws any last bit of blood out so you don't get any gamey taste.  I then divide them up and freeze some whole for roasting and then cut up the rest for stir fries, frying and so on.  We had let these get bigger than most do just for lack of time and such to deal with it.  Christmas had me so busy we just couldn't find the time.  As a result, the hanging weight (after dressing out) of these were all around 6 lbs.  

So, what did the other chickens think about it all?  I have to admit, they kinda gross me out.  They always come down to see what's going on and end up scratching around for bits and pieces.  Yes, you got that right...they eat whatever they find of their brethren.  I even chopped up a little fresh liver for them, just to see.  They fought over it.  Almost knocking each other down to get to eat it.  I have to say in their defense though that Runt, the rooster there, was very upset when we caught the first 2 meat birds to process.  I slipped in and picked them up gently but they are not used to being carried and so squawked a little.  Runt came running let me tell you! He sensed something and went into protector mode, even going after Jack.  We shooed him off finally though and he ran back to his girls.  Most people would never believe a chicken will eat meat but they love it.  I used to have a good frog population here.  Used to.  Frog is a great delicacy to them, apparently.  I even once saw Big 'Un, the Barred Rock rooster we raised, down a small field mouse whole.  I didn't think a chicken's mouth could open that wide.  He flipped that thing up in the air and 2 gulps it was gone! 

 So, anyway, on to brighter things... I am running a bit of an experiment this winter.  My land is inundated with Red Maples so I have tapped a couple to see what I can get.  Up north the maple season is usually in February and March and I waited that long last year only to see the temps go up too high and stay.  See, it must be cold enough to go below freezing at night but get above freezing in the day for the sap to flow.  For us, that's January.  So far I only have about 1 1/2 gallons of sap but I've only had the trees tapped for a couple of days now.  I may tap one more as we are supposed to go back into cold weather this week.  So, we'll see.  I just wanted enough to be able to see if this would make good syrup.  The sugar content in Red or Black Maples is not as high (obviously) as Sugar Maples but it is still supposed to make good syrup.

It's fun anyway!  These buckets are quite large.  They would probably hold 3 or 4 gallons of sap.  I think I'll just use plastic buckets or such for any more.  I collect the sap every day and pour it up into 1 gallon jugs that are BPA free and rated for water storage.

It takes 10 gallons of sap to make 1 quart of syrup.  That is quite a lot of sap but you can get about 1 gallon from one big tree each day. 

The sap must be stored around 38 degrees and only for up to 7 days before it is made into syrup.  At first I had no idea where I was going to be able to store that much sap.  You really need to have several gallons to start with or it's just not much worth all that work.  Finally, Jack remembered a small refrigerator he had stored out in the tool shed we built adjacent to the chicken coop.  I had kinda griped about him keeping it but it turned out rather handy I must admit.  The chicken coop/ shed has power already so we just had to plug it up and clean it out a little.  It should work great for storing 10-11 gallons of sap easy and will only be turned on for stuff like this. I can't imagine that our syrup season will last long so it won't be running for weeks on end. 

I had to include this picture of Chigger with her buddy Ramona.  Ramona is the only chicken that will play with her and Chigger is just beside herself!  She loves her chickens!  They do this staring contest thing a lot and Ramona always wins.  That chicken don't back down from anybody!  She is a great hen, very personable and chatty.  If Chigger gets a little too rambunctious Ramona will peck her on the behind to show her who's boss! 

Was A Sunny Day

There are a gazillion songs about the sun but I don't believe I've ever used a Paul Simon song before so I thought I'd go with him. Always liked his work. Anyway, as you can see from the photo, I got Allen to cut down a couple of trees for me today. First one being that oak right next to the house. Now, before anybody gets their panties in a wad, look at the photo below. When this land was logged about 10-11 years ago, the loggers banged into a bunch of the trees and they get these big scars on them, often with rot on the inside. I've already had one of these scarred trees to fall on the house; don't need another one. There was one other oak, a little further way, that we also took out because it was leaning pretty noticeably towards the house. This will also let the remaining 2 oaks fill out, since they won't be crowded anymore. Allen tied a rope on the trees high up and then tied it to the Bobcat. I got up the hill with the machine and tugged as he cut to make sure it fell my way and not towards the house. All worked fine. And yes, we had a long enough rope that I wouldn't pull it over on me! I made sure of that!
See that rot on the inside? I could actually stick my hand through the wood in the center there.
So, we ended up cutting 3 trees all together. I just wanted the 2 but Allen couldn't stand seeing this one hickory near the house that was bent waaaay over. It was like my own little mini St.Louis arch. He chopped it up though. So, I loaded them all into the Bobcat and hauled them down to the splitting area.

I worked on the house also, painting and caulking. Late today I took the Bobcat down to the dam and gathered up another bucket load of flagstone. I also used the Bobcat to haul some more fill to widen the driveway by the creek. Boy, I really wish I could find my own Bobcat for a reasonable price. You can do SO much with those things.

I'm feeling much better but I worked so today that my butt is dragging right now. My doc said I was just a small step from having pneumonia; that was why he gave me such strong meds but I think it's helping. If I could just get rid of this cough.

Well, hope everybody has a good week and that it starts warming up!! This weekend was so beautiful here. It really has me yearning for spring. The daffodils are up to about 6 inches now too. Even they are getting impatient to come out!

*Paul Simon