Here's Lucie (aka Lucie Goosey) digging her way to China (well, grubs or bugs more likely)

Diggity dig!

Estella, seeing Lucie's hole is bigger,  stops her digging and comes over to it out

One of the ducks wants in on the action

Did you find anything?

Sheesh, just look at that soil - it's next year's garden (two times a year we scoop up the black gold and  it goes to our 50 plus raised beds and umpteen self watering containers)

Our chickens, ducks and goats play a vital role here at the urban homestead.  They are soil builders!

We got our chickens back in 2002 and they've been an integral part of the urban homestead ever since.  The following years we added rabbits, ducks and goats to the menagerie (oh, and not to mention a few thousand feral bees and worms to the mix).

Speaking of chickens, here's an article that sheds a somewhat interesting light on the recent chicken craze.  Although we don't particularly agree with all that she says, we have the same concerns over this latest fad.  When it comes to the countenance of an animal, we believe animals are a product of their environment; however,  when those on the "trendmill" wind up with more than they bargained for,  we agree.

Here at LTITC we've been saying something similar for some time. Having a barnyard in your backyard ties to you to the land - meaning less vacations, less spur of the moment "let's leave for the weekend" or staying out too late and forgetting to lock the girls in.  Countless times, we've heard tales of of mass slaughter because of this neglect.

Besides dealing with the waste issue (which is a blessing for us urban farmers-- we've stepped in enough chicken crap; believe me, it's part of the life), here, in the city, it's a matter of dealing and caring for your animals when they get sick.

We, too, like the article states, don't want chickens, ducks, rabbits and,now, goats to go the way of the dalmatian or pot belly pig when hundreds. if not thousands, were dumped onto local shelters.

What we like to tell folks- before they run out and get a few cute chicks or kids - is do your research first.  No, seriously, you wouldn't believe how many times we've heard from people who ran out to buy chicks and then call us asking "what do we do now!"  Asking them questions, we find out they have no brooder, no waterer, no mash - nothing- just the chicks.  "Oh dear," we think to ourselves and hope that these chickens have a chance and not end up dead or disowned.

You are not just going to be a chicken or goat haver but a keeper; and a keeper's job comes with a slew of advantages and disadvantages.  Too often articles just focus on the lighter side of these urban homesteading trends but really don't get down the nitty gritty of what it's actually like.

Unlike dogs or cats, when chickens get sick, you may not be able to rush them to the vet so you will have to have the know how and  have the courage to treat sick, injured  animals.   Read up on what could go wrong even if there's nothing wrong with your animals.  Because, sometimes, there's a brief window to help your animal when it gets sick and you don't want to be running to the internet or bookshelf at such a critical time.

Get to know your animals and if you sense something is off with one of them - then look into it asap.  Don't wait or brush it off.   A good time to "get to know your animals" is at feeding times.  Note routine or behavioral changes.  Look for animals that are standing off to themselves, not eating or drinking.  This is a good sign to tell you that the animal is not well.   Make this a habit and you won't believe how your senses will be trained and honed.  Senses that are in this modern world dulled into numbness.

So, if you don't mind the good and bad that comes with raising chickens (or any animals/insect for that matter) in the city, and know what you are getting into, then get a few chickens because they are worth it.  Not only do they provide you with amazing eggs, hours of entertainment and great fertilizer but  they also teach us to be responsible stewards of not only the earth but the creatures that inhabit this great green planet of ours.

Goodbye Bunsie

We have some very sad news to report, Tuesday we had to put our 4+ yr old dwarf bunny, Sierra, to sleep. We are all very emotional over this traumatic decision, but it was in her (and our) best interest.   This past few weeks we could see that she was slowing down (her back legs were "dragging"), not her normal self.   She developed spondylosis of the lumbar spine and on Tuesday developed a serious complication because of her condition.

On the way to the SPCA, Jordanne stroked and fed her her favorite herbs from the garden (salad burnet and fennel) and also a few raisins.   She had enjoyed her surroundings, digging tunnels in the soil and hanging out with her pals (the chickens, ducks and goats). Sierra always welcomed us in the morning with a happy and expectant look and a half-hop, wondering what kinds of treats we were going to bring her from the garden.   Giving her over to the fellow who was to take her to "the chamber" we gals were a blubbering mess. The folks at the SPCA were very kind and respected our wishes to bring her body home with us to bury her in the garden.   She went to sleep and died in peace which was a bit of comfort to us. We all (more so Jordanne) are certainly going tomiss the little buns and her sweet self.  

Q & A

For all those of you who have left had questions for us to answer in the "comment box," first off - thank you!  I will get to them as soon as I can. There's has been a lot going on lately and I, especially, have fallen behind in responding to all you who left comments. We really appreciate your questions and feedback - so please keep them coming. Like I said, I will get to those comments soon. Thank you for your patience and understanding.   And to make it easier, I will email those of you personally with our replies so that you won't have to go back and track down our responses.

Past Journal Images Now Viewable

For you folks who have been reading through all the old journal posts, I just realized that you weren't able to view the images! Duh.  Transferring the old posts into this new format a few months back (March, I believe it was), I somehow managed to forget to change the images url path. As a matter of fact, I was clueless of this and just this week I accidentally stumbled on that realization. Boy, sure wished someone would have taken the time to alert us to the fact they images weren't loading. Oh well.

So for a few hours yesterday, I went through the 500 posts or so fixing all the images.   So ya'll now can read the post with images - helps, doesn't it? Sure makes me feel better.  

Sheesh, and all this time I thought everything was fine - well, of course having copied and pasted the old format into the new there are a few problems with spacing, font and font colors but that's tolerable - the images; however, were not.   I have to go and check each post to make sure I didn't miss an image here and there, but so far it looks good.

Interviews

I don't know, but it must be the weather - something, because this week we've had four requests for interviews. Stay tuned.   Today we had a guy who is working on an article for Hope Dance along with a video/audio segment that he hopes release to radio and other audio/video outlets. On Tuesday and Wednesday two local reporters were doing a story on gardening and edible landscaping and early this evening Aaron fromGroovy Green will be interviewing Jules over the phone about the PTF project.

Metal Roofs - Green?

Or so we thought.   Nothing is as easy as "black and white."    We were pretty bummed to learn that many of the metal roofing available have been coated with a teflon or a vinyl type coating (especially after seeing the movie Blue Vinyl and learning how dangerous and deadly pvc's are to the environment and people's health).    Basically, now it comes down the lesser of two evils, but it still stinks to have to be put into such a predicament.    On the homestead in New Zealand, Jules put up corrugated iron roofing and drank from the rainwater collected on the roof that was stored in a nearby concrete cistern - simple easy!

But here, now with modern chemicals in practically everything it's not a very easy decision to make.   We had been debating for weeks - asphalt singles or metal roof and thought we made a good decision settling on metal roofs even though the are a bit more expensive figuring we've saved lots of money doing the tear down ourselves.

It's been quite warm these last couple of days; however, it's supposed to cool down slightly today.

The other day I made two lemony sweet jars of lemon verbena syrup. I plan to use the syrup to sweetened lemonades and other fruit desserts. Yesterday, we baked up another batch of blueberry muffins (with our blueberries, of course) in the solar oven. The muffins baked up in less than two hours and were very moist and delicious.   Another plus with cooking with the sun it that you can never burn the food and the food doesn't dry out.

Since we can't always bake things in the recommended black pots (because black absorbs the heat), we have to find ways to bake things like muffins while maintaining a consistent temperature. We've used bricks, pizza stones and glassware for this effect.

We are nearing 50 lbs of blackberries - incredible! What a blessing to be getting so much fruit from such a little area of fence line in the front yard.

Harvesting beans, peppers and handfuls of swiss chard.

Animal enclosure

Yesterday evening, we gals and a friend took the goats and went for a stroll in the Arroyo Seco again. It's so beautiful at that time of day (5-7pm) --The path is shaded by the canyon wall covered in oaks and sycamores -- cool and quiet. Above, the brilliant blue sky and sunshine plays off the famous Colorado Bridge .   The goats love going for walks.  Blackberry likes to "talk" to herself practically the whole time, like she's carrying on a conversation with herself. She's so funny. 

Jealous animals

We put some of the straw bales in the animal enclosure and the all the animals are thrilled. The goats use them to jump, climb, bounce, slide on (even a scratching post). Yes, goats are just like human kids-- they love to slide. Blackberry puts her two hooves out straight and slides down the bale on her belly!   We placed the three bales on recycled cinder blocks, tilted two of them to leave gaps underneath the bale because the bunny likes to use it as her hide out and the ducks use it as a quiet place to lay their eggs.

One of the bales we picked up on Sunday had strings missing and it was falling apart. So we put down a new layer of straw in the animal enclosure. Straw and mulch are our favorite ground covering to use in the enclosure. Not only does it keep the dirt covered, it also makes it easier to keep the place clean. All we have to do each morning is fluff up the area where there is any manure. The manure easily falls to the ground, leaving the straw clean and fly free.

In the animal enclosure, we have bucket, half a chair and whole chair for the goats, ducks and chickens to perch on. The chairs and buckets were all picked up on the side of the road. Actually, the "whole" chair is not only for the animals. This chair is one of our favorite places to sit in the early morning and evening time - watching the goats do their gymnastics and dances, the ducks playing in their pond, the chickens happily going about scratching and bunny munching away on her favorite gourmet greens.  

When you are in with the animals, it's better than watching tv and it's so relaxing. I think that is why we like the chair so much... it's our meditation, relaxation chair.   Well, that is until two goats jump on your lap and vie for your special attention. There's some serious jealously and jockeying for the best lap position.

Fruit & flowers

Living Off the Land

There's a battle that we are faced with every day: we have to decide whether we spend time writing/talking/teaching about the homesteading and simple life, or, instead, actually live it.  

One such example: A few months back, Jules was invited to be one of the keynote speakers (along with the likes of Dr. Brian O’Leary &Julian Darley) at a sustainable conference in the state of Washington.   The timing of such a "sustainable" conference was unfortunate since it was in June. After thinking about if for a time, Jules decided against going.  He felt such a trip at that time in the growing season would be going against the very principles that he believes in.

There comes a time when you have to choose between being truly tied to the land and not living off workshops/books/films/speaking engagements about living off the land. People, fame, money--all pull at you, but the pull of land must come first.   If the conference had been, say, in January, like the Eco Farm Conference, or even in late August like Sol Fest, the pull from the land would be a little less.

We have to admit, it's tough to make such decisions. It's so "comfy" to sit a chair in front of computer or audience  instead of sweating and toiling with your hands in the earth with dirty knees on the ground.   It's only human of us to want to choose the easier path and we struggle with this each and every day. How do we manage this site and writing about how we are walking this path and actually walk the path, step by step every day? It's definitely a challenge to keep the balance.   For example, while at the Sierra Club Summit in September 2005, we were watching a film screening that was attended by the film subject himself, and someone stood up and asked the man (subject of the film), when was the last time he was on his farm. The "farmer" answer was that he hadn't been back to his organic farm since November 2004(!!) because he's been too busy touring with his film. I thought to myself, when does such fame not make one a true farmer (homesteader, environmentalist, etc) any longer? That's a tough conundrum.

It's starting out again as a gray, cold and overcast day(and so was yesterday). Our long awaited winter weather that we should have had in January and February is delaying warm spring weather for now.   For now, our warm sweaters, coats and long sleeves are still out and being used. This is definitely typical of the La Nina weather pattern - warmer than normal winters and cooler than normal spring, summer. Tomatoes, peppers, squashes and what have you don't take too kindly to this type of weather. We'll have to be on the guard for any signs of mildew or wilt.

Yesterday we spent most of the day outside hoping to get caught up on all the work and projects - and we did! We started assembling the lodge pole trellis in the new area of the yard. The trellis will cover the broken concrete pathway and use to grow pole limas and a place to hang strawberries self-watering baskets. The trellis will run adjacent to a greywater system that we still need to work on, but meanwhile that area of the yard is slowly taking shape.

We weren't the only one's busy on the urban homestead, Sierra, our rabbit is building a strawbale house! The animals love it when we put a bale of straw in their enclosure - all of them like to climb on top (they are probably thinking to themselves "I'm queen of the world!") and some fancy going underneath.

I started knitting a kiddie sweater for the goat - a fun and fast project.Pattern

BOOKMARKS
Oslo to heat homes with sewage

In an extreme energy project tapping heat from raw sewage, Oslo's citizens are helping to warm their homes and offices simply by flushing the toilet.
read article

The Weather Makers - How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth

"Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
read article
more on about The Weather Makers

Spent a lovely time at a friend's home for vegetarian dinner on Saturday night. We saw an old acquaintance we hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. Find out that this fellow is into solar installation and alternative technologies and he's friends with people we know. It's certainly a small world.

Deliberate Life

The path towards complete freedom is one of living deliberately. This life and livelihood is certainly not for everyone and is hard for us at times. One can't be forgetful or do things on the "spur off the moment." Each daily action has to be planned days or hours before.  

The more we take steps backwards and becoming unplugged, the more time it takes for us to live our daily life.

For instance, one day we are hoping to/planning to purchase a wood cook stove to replace the gas stove. Now let's say we want to take a bath - right now?  Not so fast! You've got to chop wood, put it in the stove, allow it to heat and then you can take your bath. So much for daily showering practice! 

Fortunately for us, it won't be too drastic since we take baths only once a week (twice if needed) and for those wondering, no, we don't stink (our friends can attest to that -- I think?)!  

Dailybaths/showers are a western luxury and use too much precious water and energy. For as long as I can remember our family has taken weekly baths, and for years we also conserved water by not flushing the toilet following this rhyming guidance " "if it's brown flush it down and if yellow let it mellow." 

It's a shame to use perfectly good and valuable drinking water for such purposes - another wasteful western tradition.

This path is certainly a challenging one but with the looming energy or global warming crisis, I think more and more people are going to have to look what we, Westerners, come to take for granted and consider "normal." Thankfully, we have had this opportunity to get a head start and help others with the skills and knowledge we have learned through trial and error.

It's frustrating at times, for instance, to have to choose between using the hand washer/wringer (which takes time -- hours) or the convenience of the electric washing machine ( that happens to be an energy and water saving model ), knowing that one really should use the hand washer.   Somedays you  just don't have the time.   Washing the old-fashioned way forces you to wear less outfits.  We really have too many closets filled with clothes. A few hundred years ago, people had a couple of outfits and wore them until they were worn out.   

Here on the urban homestead, we do laundry about once or twice a week, wearing the same outer clothes (unless soiled) for days at a time.

This year I would like to depend less on store bought items from the grocery store to beauty supplies. I've made yogurt before a few times; but continuing to make your own with so much going on is challenging. Instead ,it's so much more convenient ( ... ah, that devious little word! ) to pick it up at the health food store. To make my own yogurt I still would have to buy milk; or for deodorant I would have to buy witch hazel and essential oils.   

So what's the difference -- buy all the ingredients or the already made product?    Well, the later choice is definitely easier, but not always satisfying.   I hope once all these new projects and construction work are completed the homestead will go back to its regular paced rhythm where we can find time to go back to making our own yogurt, deodorant or other products that we now have had to buy pre-made and packaged.   

It’s liberating to learn how to do things that are basic to survival -- the true reality show. Stay tuned for our next episode!

Changes

It's the end of an era for the unique and original bunny hutch that Jules designed.  It's been dismantled and a he built smaller bunny hutch. The new bunny house was moved into the chicken and duck enclosure, making room for a shed to store garden tools and animal feed (which we desperately need). It was sad seeing the hutch go, but it's for the better.

Another structure to go was our homemade solar shower built from all sorts of scraps. It's been in need of repairs and the guys are planning on building an improved solar shower structure (one that has sides!, one that will include an outdoor urinal that will empty into a nearby compost pile.  (Human urine has been dubbed "household liquid activator" and is practically sterile, available to everyone, and a perfect nitrogenous compost catalyst). The arbor that was used for the structure of the solar shower now will become an arbor in the backyard garden, covered in pole beans in the summer.

In the garden, we just need to build two more raised beds and then we are finished with that section of the garden. The backyard is taking on a whole new look and it's exciting being a part of it taking shape.   Plans and designs are being adjusted ,sometimes right on the spot as we go about transforming the backyard.

It's been a constant flurry of activity these past few days, hopping from one project to another! First on the agenda is getting things in order for the soon coming compost toilet. There are so many different projects going on at once, it makes your head spin. But we are determined to tackle them and try and complete them this year (hopefully, with the help of a friend who's a skilled carpenter) . We always like to do things ourselves, but sometimes you need a helping hand.

Countdown

There's an urgency now to finally finish the redesigning and revamping of this site.   We've fooled around with it now and then. We  silently and sometimes verbally mutter to ourselves ,wondering why we have taken on such an immense task, taking up so much of our time. In the long run, we know it will be worth it when we experience the  feeling you get when you finally tackle a unorganized and cluttered room.   We are now shooting for the site to be completed sometime in February or March.

Thankfully, we are skilled enough to take on the website development ourselves; otherwise, like Jordanne often reminds us, "we couldn't afford to pay ourselves for our work." Doing things ourselves and relying on others as little as possible is certainly a step towards being self-sufficient and frugal. We save money this way so that we are able to purchase other more necessary items such as the compost toilet!   I believe our homeschooling experience has helped us not be afraid to tackle new things, allowing us to learn without having to take paid courses.  We learn by doing or observation.

Lots of work to be done today:
1. daily chores
2. clean up cellar and back bathroom for compost toilet installation
3. repot, divide strawberries
4. dispose of the graveled soil
5. research cisterns / price compare
6. work on website
7. find a knitted summer top pattern
8. finish knitted "thing" for a friend (not saying in case you are reading this!)
9. call Tree People about their rainwater harvesting project
10. repot taro roots
and much more

Someone's having fun!   Sierra's enjoying the warm fall days by digging a tunnel in the animal enclosure. She certainly is taking the digging seriously! Unfortunately, we'll have to fill in her excavations since it's pretty deep and we don't want to have any accidental cave-ins.

The guavas are ripe! We have been looking forward to them for a whole year. The pomegranates, we juiced -- delicious and healthful!  The heat has certainly helped ripen more of the fall tomatoes. Justin harvested about 5 lbs just yesterday (decent sized ones too!)  

Today we will enjoy delicious lima bean soup (with homemade herb bread made yesterday in the cob oven). The limas are certainly a wonderful, "meaty" addition to our diet.    The fall garden is turning out to be quite a success thanks the sort of weather we've been having.    Temps are expected to cool down, but no chance of frost in the foreseeable future.

The garden is undergoing another drastic transition - out with the old summer crops and in with the new fall ones.   So we are busy with a flurry of fall plantings to fill in the empty gaps in certain parts of the yard.

Now that it's dark at 5pm, we are using more of the oil lamps. It's quite a challenge to knit under such conditions since the radius of the light given is quite small.   But, we've placed lamps in strategic spots and oureyes are adjusting more -- actually I think we are seeing better.

Life on the urban homestead

Yesterday a boy scout troop came by the urban homestead to observe plants and other environmental aspects of the urban homestead. After their brief tour, theysat down to eat a pizza lunch that was cooked in the cob oven.    One of the boys told us that "he didn't know such a place existed" and went on to enthusiastically exclaimed " I love this place!"  
Another batch of bread was made it the oven, these turned out great. In addition to cooking the bread and the pizzas the boy scout troop brought, we also cooked a few pizzas for ourselves topped with fresh tomatoes, peppers, squash and herbs from the garden (and some tofu sausage from Trader Joes).   

Before retiring to bed that evening around 10 pm, Justin went to check the oven and it was still warm (around 200 degrees -- nearly 9 hours after putting in the last piece of wood!)   A new "business" proposition is rolling around and I am thinking if I get good at baking, cooking in the oven perhaps I can make some extra money by selling such things like bread (or maybe pastries) made in the cob oven. We already have contacts with restaurants and caterers - so there's definitely an opportunity there.

Next on my list is to try in the oven are pies (especially made with our pumpkins and sweet potatoes), then perhaps cakes and cookies. So far, we have cooked lasagna, soup, potatoes, steamed vegetables, pizzas, bread and warmed up a few other dishes.    The oven now takes about 1 1/2 hours to reach 475 degrees and hovers around that temperature for a good three hours or so ( I have yet to write down the exact temps and hours which I should really do)

The butterflies are back for the summer, visiting the flowers, flitting from one to another.

Our emotions are still a raw after Moonshadow's passing (thanks to all who wrote, it's greatly appreciate during this dark time), but life goes on and there is work to be done as we move further in our journey.

One of the many things we learned from this circumstance is that we realize that urban homesteading here in Pasadena isn't an ideal situation - for animals. Because we don't have any males around, animals that we do raise to be healthy are unable to produce offspring  we can enjoy.  The animals - chickens, ducks and bunnies-- are all living a dead-end life and, basically, it's unnatural.   When we loose the rest of the animals to old age or illness, we will then have to start all over again.  Purchasing the animals from a hatchery or pet store, always starting anew.  What good is that?  There is no way to pick out the healthiest animals and raise even healthier offspring to continue their lineage.   

Last week was a busy week. The guys have made considerable progress on the deck. There's lots of work needing to be done in the garden - harvesting, watering, etc. 

On Friday we harvested 100lbs of tomatoes!  Sunday morning, a photographer (and his friend) hired by the Natural Home & Garden magazine, came to snap some photos for the upcoming article about PTF (should be in the Nov/Dec issue). The photographer used a  $50,000 camera for most of his shoots.  I can't fathom there could be  a camera that cost as much as two cars - unbelievable!    We went through the photo shoot in a daze because of the situation with Moonshadow, so I am not sure how it went or how well we looked. 

On Sunday afternoon there were many tasks to be taken care of.  Justin brewed another batch of biodiesel, I peeled some peaches, Jordanne did her weekly cleaning of the animal area, Jules planted and tidied up the yard and worked on his "Post Petroleum" presentation for Sol Fest.
Packing day

Ray came by on Friday to do some surgery on the oven - replacing a marble piece that cracked due to the intense heat and also made improvements on the oven door. We still have to put one more layer of plaster on the dome and plaster the bottom, then cover the plaster with boiled linseed oil to give it a protective coating.  Hopefully that will all happen this week and then the cob oven will be completed!

Thinking along the Post Petroleum line: This year's Sol Fest has a new workshop tent  "Preparing for the Post-Petroleum World".   If one really thinks about it, in a post petroleum world would PTF travel 400 plus miles (one way -- 800 miles roundtrip) to attend such a gathering?   Nope. I don't think so.(Perhaps we could bike there?  We figured it would take about 10 days -- one way).  Really gets you thinking.  Right now it's so easy to get around and go places and get this and that.

The post carb lifestyle will be so topsy-turvy, it's scary to even start to dissect our way of life into smaller and smaller pieces. We may have to learn to do without a lot of what we have come to depend on as normal.  What's scary is we don't even know if we, ourselves, are ready for what's in store.    Right now we do our best to wean ourselves off our dependence(and we ain't perfect). Sometimes, instead of taking painfully small steps, one seriously considers doing something drastic and unplugging the life-supports all together.  

This entry is very hard to write... It's a sad, day here on the homestead, our sweet Moonshadow passed away this morning. The poor thing battled but the fly strike was worse than previously thought.   Jordanne held Moonshadow as she died from toxic shock as the larvae ate their way out of her alive.  Before she died, Moonshadow licked Jordanne as if to say 'thank you for a good life, you tried your best.'   So very sad, very sad.  I am still a little shaken and sickened... it's been a traumatic experience for all involved.... we tried our best. 

Doubt, blame, anger, grief all these thoughts are consuming our thoughts now. Dwarf bunny's average lifespan is 4-7 years and she was nearing 3 1/2.  We keep going over and over (and over) in our minds if we could have prevented this -- could this have been somehow our fault??? What's puzzling is that the flies normally will attack a bunny who isn't cleaned on its backside and Moonshadow was kept clean. So we are suspecting that she may have had an underlying cause that was sensed by these damn awful flies.  We have 2 rabbits the same age, bought from the same store and both on the same diet and kept in the same environment. 

Only Moonshadow had gotten sick all these years. Not too long ago, Moonshadow had another attack of Pasteurella and once bunnies have this they really never get rid of it (she had an her first attack after we brought her home from the pet store which probably got her from a "bunny mill").   We are going with our gut feeling here on figuring out why whole experience happened to her.  Backtracking, it seems that after her Pastuerella attack,  her gut slowed down which brought on a hairball incident (with her fresh green diet she should have never had in the first place) During this "slow down period"  flies must have sensed her weakness and laid eggs in her scent glands. The first hatching out last Sunday and again today -- poor baby.  There was nothing we - not even a vet could have done at this point once they've laid inside.   

Thankfully with her being a bunny, nature has it that they go into shock and don't feel any pain.   Even then, it's a horrid away to die and a very traumatic experience for all of us.  Death was a relief to her and we are grateful for that.

Thank you to all those who wrote and expressed concern, it certainly helps us through the dark time. We will miss her very much, we (and her pal Sierra) mourn the loss. We did our best and I guess that's all she could ask, but it still hurts.

The muggy weather has finally left - thankfully! For a few days, the humidity and heat were pretty brutal.  We are back to our regular schedule of summer-like weather.  Boy, it sure is nice to be rid of the humidity.   We can actually sit in the shade and not break a sweat.

Posting on the journal has been decreased, one cause being an ongoing animal emergency. Moonshadow's not out of the woods just yet .  She's requiring hourly care and we don't know for sure if she's going to pull through but we are hopeful.  She's been affected by a horrid condition known as fly strike. Since the buns are well cared for and are on a natural diet, we attribute this "strike" to the humid weather that brought a type of fly we've never seen before.   Her recovering condition from a hairball probably made her a weak target (see July 20 post); however, she's always been more prone to illness since we rescued her and Sierra from the pet store. After taking Moonshadow home from the pet store a few years ago, we discovered that she had a deadly case of pasteurella (which Jordanne successfully treated naturally).  It's amazing how fast a fly strike can be and it's pretty gross and I won't go into gory details (let's just say after treating her, one needs a slug -- or more! -- of brandy).   Hopefully, we caught it in time.

Holistic animal husbandry requires a lot of patience and, if you are treating the animal yourself, an iron stomach.   We've experienced and learned a lot from raising animals and the knowledge that we've gained from  it is certainly valuable to pass on to future generations.  Right now, we are going through another of life's learning curves.
Not much into writing these days, pretty drain physically and emotionally.

On a more happy subject: The peaches are coming into the kitchen by rubbermaids full. This can only mean time for some serious canning (and homemade ice cream).   Justin harvested over 75 lbs of tomatoes yesterday and our customers are thrilled to pieces.  

The eggplant is ready and a few Mexicola avocados are looking pretty ripe  (can't wait to make some fresh guacamole with the tomatoes - yum!)  It's all about good, wholesome food this time of year.

Urgh, it's sooo muggy! We want our "dry heat" back! 

The garden is growing and growing, keeping everyone busy. New crops going in, old ones going out. and harvesting of summer crops.  New crops are ripening each week  -- apples and limas are the latest to come into production.  The kitchen counter is overflowing with produce - life is good!

Well, almost...

Unfortunately, there is a massive spider mite invasion on the tomatoes. Every day there's another casualty.   We are going to have order some predatory mites from Rincon Insectaries pronto!

Speaking of spiders, there seem to be spider webs and spiders everywhere! I wonder if their increased presence has anything to do with all the rains we had over the winter and spring?

The past few days, we've been working on getting the PTF open source portal up. Pretty soon you readers will be able to contribute articles and links to this new online resource directory.  We are excited about this new service and look forward to your contributions. 
Last week, there was an incident with one of our animals that really concerned us greatly.  

Moonshadow, one of our dwarf rabbits (aka "lil chipper") wasn't feeling too well. You could tell something was wrong; she was just sitting there and didn't want to eat the tasty greens that are picked for the bunnies every morning.  She was, however, excessively thirsty.  We hadn't a clue what could be wrong.  After doing some research, it was determined that it was possible that she had a hair ball caught in her gut.  Jordanne then ordered some natural herbal treatment for this sort of condition in rabbits.  We also put colloidal silver and grapeseed extract in her water to help with her immune system.  We tried coaxing her with all types of her favorite greens and she still wouldn't eat.  Finally we hit on something that she liked - blackberry leaves.   What better treatment than blackberry leaves which are extremely tonic  and anti-inflammatory.  She definitely knew what her body needed.  Moonshadow has already improved, though now I think she's spoiled. She likes all the attention she's been getting, wanting food brought to her, etc.  Silly bun!

Every morning Justin is firing up the oven and we are steaming veggies for lunch and dinner. Yesterday evening the oven reached temps of 550 degrees! Once the oven is completely "cured" I can't wait to bake these tasty, golden loaves (great "down under" blog, btw - with lots of pics on building a mud oven)!  

We gals went thrifting on Monday with a friend. Instead of it being a pleasant shopping experience, it turned out quite the opposite. It seems that because there are only a few thrift stores left in Pasadena, the selection of clothing is pretty limited.  We really miss the huge Veterans thrift store that was nearby.  We always seem to come out with bags of clothes with great finds.  These days you'll find us walking out of Salvation Army empty handed (sniff) and frustrated.