Who turned on the heat?  It feels like summer out! Temps have topped 85 degrees.  Guess winter is behind us as we sprung forward last weekend.

It's certainly been a busy week of activity here on the urban homestead, so I am afraid I am behind in keeping ya'll up to date.

So once again here's a pictorial dispatch (or two) to get you caught up with happenings here on the urban homestead.

And for all those new readers, a warm welcome to our little homestead in the city.  We hope you stay awhile.

If you have a hankering for more, mosey on over to our YOUTUBE channel

In the Mail

A gift!

Handcrafted and recycled metal sign, Homegrown. Made from scrap metal in the garage workshop of a California homesteader. Offered exclusively by Path to Freedom Urban Homestead on the Peddler's Wagon!

Click here to purchase HOMEGROWN sign

In the Garden

There're up.  Soil blocks and squash

Soil blocks and beans

Planting more soil blocks.

Learn how to make your own soil block - click here

Don't have a soil blocker?  Then a soil block at our online store - here.

Homemade self watering containers.  Out come the potatoes and ollas - in go tomatoes and ollas!

Apricot blooms

Pretty in pink

Garlic

Jungle of peas

Homegrown potatoes

Worms at work

Ruby red chard

Cabbage head warmed by the sun.  Sorry can't get enough of the gorgeous cabbage heads.   Pretty soon they'll all be gone as we are eating them up one by one - just don't tell this one that she's next!

Growth spurt.  The backyard garden starts to fill in after a long winter

One of our restaurant clients deliver oil for Justin's home biodiesel brewing

Hive Happenings

With the warm weather the bees get active.

Time to go in and see what's up

They spot new queen cells and divide the hive to keep peace in the bee kingdom

Sleepy Head

With too much going on at the urban homestead, Fairlight lends her support - not really! Instead snoozes thru all the fun.

There's more so don't you too fall asleep, stay tuned!

Some more incoming links from Sunday

We aren't one to laud biodiesel as the answer to the fuel crisis (two wheels, two feet or four would suffice), we look at it as a band-aid solution.  Once every one to two months Justin brews a 30 gallon batch (using recycled veggie oil from one of our restaurant clients) which lasts us quite awhile because we still conserve how many trips we take using the car.  In fact we clock in less than 4,000 miles a year on our bioburban.

Farmer J & Farmer S chatting at the Freedom Gardens Swap N Meet when Justin is asked a question about biodiesel

FYI I am the voice heard off camera inform Justin that it's a moving camera.... hehe

Here's a little impromptu interview with Justin Dervaes, the “Biodiesel Man’s” Biodiesel Recipe

Also thank you to Motherearthsoup for encouraging your readers to support out outreach.

Don't forget FreedomSeeds.org for safe, secure seeds grown by the people for the people.

BTW the book Justin is referring to is HOMEBREW BIODIESEL GUIDE

We love this used oil delivery set up!

The other day one of our clients dropped off 21 of these containers full of used cooking oil.  That's A LOT of GREASE!

They pulled up and left the oil on our driveway.  Justin took a photo and said "Look - Peak Oil."  Very funny, very funny.  Think he's a funny guy, huh?

This oil should last us about 4 months.  Though we use biodiesel to fuel our car, we aren't what you might call biodiesel advocates.  We feel that biodiesel is a temporary ("band-aid") solution to the world's fuel addiction.

Back to the used veg oil, now we have to find some room in the garage - which is turning more and more into a "barn" these days.  Yep, we have some additional "homesteady" plans for our garage. 

Right now our garage is a biodiesel plant/seed storage/beekeeping storage/ bicycle parking/Peddlers Wagon boxes and everything else storage.

But that could change, very soon.

:: Field Hand Appreciation :: $20 from GM.  Your support (and phone call) was greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your postive encouragement and monetary support of our work.

Justin has a new lady in his life - her name is Mercedes Benz.

This old classic beauty is Justin's latest pet project.  We acquired this turbo diesel wagon under very special circumstances - a good friend of ours is in the process of moving and also had some unexpected vet bills to pay since his dog got hit by a car.  So he offered us a good deal for the 1985 wagon that we couldn't resist.  Thanks JA!  One of the previous owners had mentioned to him that the car did make an appearance in a HBO piece, so it will fit right in (especially these days!)

Right now it's non operational with Justin working on some issues.  Justin isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and loves fixing things (very handy man!).  The previous owner ran a B20 blend and we'll be running it on 100% homebrewed biodiesel so there are also a few filters to replace.  With more than double the MPG of our  '88 Suburban, we should now use about 15 gallons of fuel a month!  Justin says it has about 180,000 miles on it,  so it has been around the block more than a few times.  Some minor problems include a clogged air filter, a broken egr pipe, a touchy fuel gauge, a broken odometer, a few vacuum leaks and the engine doesn't turn off - other than these things, Justin says it runs perfectly!

It's already got a great new nickname - "Peddler's Wagon."

Homemade Fuel 3:23 (CNN Video)
People are converting their cars to run on alternative energy, such as used vegetable oil, to avoid high gas prices.

View Video

{Thanks Wendy for the email alert!}

How We Got Into Homebrewing Our Own Fuel

After simple living, smoothering the lawn, growing food, raising citified farm animals and energy elements were tackled here on the urban homestead the next step was alternative transportation-fuel.

We had our bikes, did a lot of walking, staycationing, reducing trips and we had an old 1976 VW avocado colored camper, but it needed some serious work.

So, back in the summer and fall of 2003 we got to researching about veggie oil being used as a fuel for diesel cars. Should we go SVO or biodiesel? Convert the car or convert the oil? After months of reading and research we opted to convert the oil and not the car. Biodiesel was recognized by the EPA as a "fuel" and we didn't want to go about tinkering with cars, besides, we heard some first hand horror stories from those who took SVO route. So with the information we had at the time, we started down the homebrew biodiesel path.

While searching how to brew biodiesel we stumbled onto bio-homebrew activist's Maria Alovert's homemade biodiesel processor which uses a simple water heater. We thought to ourselves, "hey we can do that!"  Best of all the parts for the processor were all accessible and relatively cheap.

Another search lead to some local folks who were tinkering with making the first homebrew processor in LA. So we hooked up and with the help of bio enthusiast folks in the community we built the first biodiesel reactor in LA and brewed our first batch of biodiesel in January 2004. To celebrate this event we hosted the first Biodiesel Mixin' Mixer in LA.

From the beginning we have stressed that biodiesel is a band-aid solution. We are in no way advocating biodiesel as a solution to the world's out of control fuel consumption. 

Our family has only one car - an old, second hand '88 Chevy Suburban which we use with care - driving less than 4,000 miles a year. We also have a unique situation, the used/waste grease we get from our produce clients means we don't "dumpster dive" for waste oil, almost all of our customer deliver the oil to us.

The best form of transportation now and for the future is two feet, two wheels or four legs.  Blackberry and Fairlight could do a bit of hauling! 

Yom Kippur Blessing

Summer ended and fall started with an unexpected blessing - rain. And lots of it. Here at the urban homestead our gauge measured 1.25 inches of rain. That one storm brought nearly 1/2 the amount of rain we received all last season (a miserly 3 inches).

Although unexpected, what a blessings this rain has been. After the driest year on record, the air and just everything around felt dirty and grimy. Thanks to the rains, everything feels fresh and new - perfect for Yom Kippur.    It's like the world's been given a brand new start; however the cool crisp weather is short lived. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 90's by mid week.  However, we will enjoy every minute of beautiful after-shower weather.

Weekly Meals

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to jot down what we ate here on the urban homestead this week due to the filming going on, which really threw off normal urban homestead activities and meal times.   Even through the disruption we are still eating primarily from our garden as we continue to harvest figs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green beans and greens.

High on Hemp

The other day we received a call from the president of IHerb.com asking if we'd like some expired hemp oil to make biodiesel with - he didn't want it to go to waste.   Sure!   Don't tell Justin but I may just sneak a few cupfuls to make some hemp soap.

Missed Opportunity - Greywater & Living With Ed

We received a call fromBRAC HQ in Montreal Canada regarding eco-celeb Ed Begley’s wanting them to film an episode that will feature his installing aBRAC system in his house here in LA. The vice president atBRAC wanted to know if we had installed ourBRAC greywater system so that he could bring Ed over to see the installation. The vice president himself willthen be flying in from Canada to take part in Ed’s eco show.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to get around to completely finishing our system. We’ve had too much on our project list this year; of course, the vice president ofBRAC was somewhat disappointed. Even though we had good reason, we still felt badly about letting him down especially since we are the local distributor.

With seven years of urban homesteading under our belt and with dozens of articles and other press coverage we’ve received already, our local homesteadite following and growing readership, one would think eco-shows would know all about us by now?

:: Field Hand Appreciation :: WW generous $50 donation. Thank you very much helping us grow the future.

BOOKMARKS

Climate change worse than feared: Australian expert {Yahoo}

SYDNEY (AFP) - Global warming is occurring at a faster rate than the worst-case scenario envisaged by experts just six years ago, Australia's top climate change scientist said Thursday. Tim Flannery, named the 2007 Australian of the Year for his work in alerting the public to the dangers of global warming, said the issue was the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century.
read more

Brilliant winged giants {LATimes}

THERE'S a new bug in the garden, and it looks a lot like bird poop. Unappetizing, you bet, but so clever: This odd little caterpillar's job is to avoid being eaten, and one day -- like magic -- become a giant swallowtail butterfly.
Even in one of the driest years on record and an "awful" one for butterflies, according to Fred Heath, author of "An Introduction to Southern California Butterflies," giant swallowtails are fairly easy to spot, particularly in neighborhoods where citrus is common.
read more

Turning Dirt into Diesel  {Whole Life Times}

Hugely popular in Europe, biodiesel is more common than SVO among local green transportation connoisseurs because of its ease of use and controlled, ultra-low emissions. Currently only two gas stations in LA sell biodiesel at the pump (see chart), which can be inconvenient, but more are expected soon. Any diesel engine car can run on biodiesel, without conversion, but regular diesel fuel can still be used in a pinch (a bonus on long road trips). Homebrewing biodiesel is also an option. The Dervaes, a Pasadena-based urban homesteading family, craft their own biodiesel for under a dollar a gallon. “My [young adult] son Justin brews 30 to 40 gallons at a time in an old waterheater in the garage,” patriarch Jules Dervaes said. “It’s the American thing to do, to have a gas station in your garage.” The process starts with straight vegetable oil, to which lye and racing methanol are added to create a less viscous oil, biodiesel, and the byproduct glycerin. (WLT ran a brew your own biodiesel breakdown last February, archived on our website wholelifetimes.com). Readymade homebrewing systems are also available for those who don’t want to build one from scratch. The Dervaes deliver their organic heirloom tomatoes and salad greens to upscale area restaurants in a sleek, homebrew-powered Chevy Suburban. One of their customers supplies the vegetable oil needed for homebrewing, completing the carbon-neutral cycle.
—Katie Winchell
read more {PDF}

[Note: as we often keep having to remind people since sometimes statements are taken out of context, we believe that biodiesel made from vegetable oil (and even SVO) is only a temporary, band-aid solution - biodiesel is not THE solution to the world's addiction to oil. However, it is something that can easily be done here and now. We pride ourselves on our DIY war of independence and it's only American and patriotic that we do what we can right now with what we have where we are.

WHAT COUNTS? The Price of Oil {Whole Life Times}

10,000 If this many people stopped buying bottled water for one year, enough oil would be saved to fuel four cars for that entire year.
10,000 If this many people chose just one locally-grown apple instead of an apple shipped across the country, the oil saved could fill the gas tanks of 19 Hummers.
10,000 If this many households replaced only one box each of 48-oz petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with a vegetable-based product, enough oil would be saved to heat and cool a two-bedroom apartment for a year.
10,000 If this many mothers chose to keep their baby in a non-disposable diaper over a disposable diaper just once, they’d save enough oil to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
read more

Snap shots

"...small old path that leads to freedom: a path of action, of thought, of wisdom." ~ Katherine Tingley, 1914 ~

Photos

Here on the homestead there's always something quirky, beautiful or stunning to take photos of. Here are few of the best shots taken:

Top right - to left: peaches ripening on the tree; Blackberry eating out of Jordanne's hand; Cassidy on the peak of the garage roof early one morning. I can imagine she's thinking to herself "I'm Queen of the World!"

Bottom right to left: butterfly visits the Echinacea; Cat Stevens (aka "Spanky") sits in the garden; late afternoon shadows silhouette the cob oven.

On the urban homestead

The guys brewed about 60 gallons of biodiesel this week which should last us 2 months or more. They figured on making a "bulk batch" now so that they could concentrate their efforts on the roof in the weeks ahead.

Now that the cob ovenhas been resurfaced with a new coat of earthen plaster, it's back to being used more these days. Of course, during sunny days, we still prefer using the sun/solar ovens; however, nothing beats freshly baked bread or pizzas topped with freshly picked toppings from the garden.  

The cob/earthen oven heats up well using a little scrap (recycled) wood.   We have plenty wood stored in 55 gallon barrels on the side of the house . To preheat the oven, we just have to plan ahead. It takes about 3 hours to reach 300 degrees. No instant gratification here.

For a early evening snack, we enjoyed a slice (or couple of slices for the guys) of homemade sprout bread (made home-sprouted alfalfa sprouts) served with homemade elderberry jam.   If not properly guarded (and having strong will power), the whole loaf could have been easily devoured in one sitting.

Elderberry delights

Have a lot of food preservation that needs to be done: marinated peppers, drying hot peppers, canning up more fruit jams/preserves.   I can't wait until it late fall so that we can harvest the patch of horseradish to make up some sauce with the spicy roots.  

Another tasty tuber that we can't wait to harvest is theyacon's. This plant is from South America and is hardy in our area producing juicy (jicama-like) tubers that are great in salads or vegetable stir fries.

The figs are ripening like crazy. Besides trying a few new recipes, we are going to dry a few batches in the sun oven.

Some things are "off" this year, one being the lemon cucumbers. We usually harvest a bunch, but, so far, only a handful. Of course, the crazy weather is partly to blame, but we also are noticing the lack of bees to help with pollination.   As urban farmers we are on the "ground floor," as you might say, in noticing different weather patterns and changes. This year has been one of the weirdest we've experienced in our 15 years of gardening here.  

We are also concerned about our beneficial insect population. Haven't seen many lady bugs as before and the praying mantis are much smaller than normal at this time of year.

Top: Front yard from street Bottom: Part of backyard garden

GREENWAY: Abundance with Sustainable Gardening

Pasadena, Independent August 10, 2006by Sue Z SmithThe length of time it took for Jules Dervaes to fully realize his dream of living off the land brings to mind a familiar Zen maxim: "The obstacle is the path." Fresh out of college with a degree in math and computer science, and toting "thirteen issues of Mother Earth News in a briefcase," Dervaes traveled to rural new Zealand in the 1970's to try his hand his hand at homesteading. Absorbing the information contained in those magazines and invoking the spirits of his grandfather, an ornamental horticulturalist originally from Belgium, and his father, an oil executive and avid gardener, helped Dervaes to sow the seeds for what would later develop into a thriving urban homestead in Pasadena called "Path to Freedom."In 1984, Dervaes moved his family into their fixer-upper on 1/5 of an acre in Pasadena, where he cleared the land "like a pioneer would" and created an "ornamental jungle." But a nagging fear that a GMO [genetically modified organism] was "assaulting my food supply" convinced him to go organic and plant a sustainable garden. What began as a small vegetable patch of easy-to-grow foods -- corn, beans, tomatoes, zucchini and an assortment of herbs -- flourished beyond his expectations and eventually took over the backyard. The bold next step was to expand to the front. Keeping in mind that, "if you are going to do something different," said Dervaes, " it better look good," he and his family uprooted the lawn. Today, winding paths paved with "buffalo grass" and snake through the gorgeously landscaped frontage -- a lush haven of herbs, wildflowers, broomcorn, sunflowers, peppers in summer, broccoli in winter, strawberries as ground cover ("we have to beat the birds and the slugs to the fruit," he said), chives as a border, purple basil, and much more. Dervaes and grown children Anais, Justin and Jordanne have parleyed their concern for the environment and entrepreneurial talent into a successful business by raising specialty crops like heirloom tomatoes and gourmet lettuce, which they sell to local restaurants. About ninety-percent of their front yard produces income, too. "I am doing it for the future," said Dervaes. "You know how they say,' it takes a village?' This one takes a family."To fuel their car, Justin produces biodiesel in the garage behind their solar-heated {powered} home, which he crafts from used vegetable oil salvaged from restaurants. "We deliver the produce and, get the oil to deliver the produce," said Dervaes, happily. At the top of their to-do list right now is replacing the roof a task they're learning about as they go along. When that's completed, the plan to "toast" the occasion with elderberry wine, courtesy of apprentice winemaker Justin -- and the sumptuous berry plucked from their vine. Learn more about sustainable gardening and "Path to Freedom" at their website www.PathtoFreedom.com Email comments: szsmith@coremg.net

HOT TIME IN THE CITY

It's another hot and sticky day. Frankly, the humidity is getting a bit tiresome; we aren't used to that kind of weather here.   From what other readers are saying (even from "across the pond"), the heat is on!

BOOKMARKS
Britain endures hottest-ever July day

Britain faced the hottest day ever recorded in July on Wednesday as a heat wave swept much of Europe. Temperatures hit 96.6 degrees south of London — so hot some road surfaces melted.
read more

Scorching U.S.: First Half of 2006 Sets Heat Record

The average temperatures of the first half of 2006 were the highest ever recorded for the continental United States, scientists announced today.Temperatures for January through June were 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average.Scientists have previously said that 2005 was the warmest year on record for the entire globe
read more

Sparse Postings

Again, sorry for the lack of postings these days.   It's good to spend time away from the computer now and then.   Well, maybe not, now that there's having to catch up with emails and I really have to update the photo gallery, finish part 2 of website, etc. Anyhow, here are some updates with of some of the things we've been up to and enjoying.

Goats roam the yard, play "head butt" and relax

Kids At Play

Our animal enclosure is pretty sizable one (over 400 sq ft) for the goats, ducks, chickens and a rabbit; however, when we are out and about in the morning (or late afternoon/early evening) working in the garden or just doing daily chores, we like to let the animals out (especially the goats).   Fairlight (aka "Lady Fairlight") and Blackberry like to follow us everywhere we go - guess it's that herd mentality and we, apparently, are their herd leaders. The goats now have taken a liking to following us inside the house! It's a funny sight to see goats in the kitchen and each time they get more and more bold, having finally made it to visiting the bedrooms. Silly goats.

We really have to get the dancing goat video up. Since I can't put it in words, you have to see the Blackberry "Twizzle" (that's what we've dubbed her dance).   Fairlight now is trying to copy her moves, but, like Jordanne says of Blackberry's dance-- it's "often imitated but never duplicated."

Jules & Justin chip away at the wood shakes. Recycled mulch.

Chips Ahoy!

The guys spent late afternoon chipping the containers of the wood shakes that they removed from the roof. It certainly makes nice mulch - and it's recycled too!  
Having to fuel the chipper meant a trip to the nearby gas station. So Justin hopped on his bike and rode to the neighborhood gas station to fill up a container....

"What is a Gas Station?"

Justin remarked how unusually weird it was to buy gas at a station because it's been so long since we've fueled up at one.   He commented it has been a long time since we've bought petroleum diesel - the last time was the summer of 2005 (of course that was when we ran out of biodiesel). And the time before that was sometime in 2004. Wow - once in 2 years.  

Tomato alley

How Does Our Garden Grow?

Slooooowwwwly..... I am serious, everything seems to be ripening in slow growing motion.
The tomatoes are FINALLY ripening and we had our first homegrown tomato of the season this week. Why so late for tomatoes?  That's a very good question and we too are scratching our head. Looking over last year's records, we were harvesting 100 lbs of tomatoes a week by now and this year, they are barely trickling in. We had a lady stop by this week to see if we had any ripe tomatoes since hers weren't ready either. Glad to know that we have company.   Another related story when I was asked by one of our clients about the status of our tomatoes, he said that he's buying top of the line (A plus quality) tomatoes and he says that those tomatoes looked awful -- all spotted. We are not even talking about organic - just the tomato crop in general. The tomato plants are still looking healthy (no sign of mites) and tall (some over 8 ft) so we continue to hold out hope that there's still a good harvest ahead.

Driveway, backyard garden, successive plantings

Besides the roof, the guys have been busy with preparing the beds and transplanting for, hopefully, a second (late summer, early fall) crop of tomatoes, squash, cukes, eggplant, beans, peppers, and greens. We gardeners, urban farmers, never give up hope do we -- and there's always looking forward to next year?

Preserving (and Enjoying) the Harvest

We harvested a bunch of Anna Apples and made a delicious apple crisp in the solar oven - yum.    The elderberries are almost ripe and we'll be making our first batch of elderberry wine.

On the subject of preserving the harvest, in the next co-op delivery this month, besides our bulk order of Fair Trade, raw sugar, recycled toilet paper and other big # items, we are expecting 40 lbs of organic peaches and 20 lbs of organic cherries.   I just couldn't pass up the deal of $14.00 for 20 lbs of organic peaches and about $50 for 20 lbs of cherries - what a deal, oh yeah, I already said that.   Anyhow, we know what we'll be doing next week - canning, canning, canning and canning! I figure we make a batch of preserves and sliced peaches in syrup (great on top of sour cream pound cake made with our duck eggs) And if there are still leftovers after that, then maybe some peach wine.

Also it's time to go down in the cellar and dust off the drying racks to dry some of the backyard's bounty.  

Water reclamation

Water Wise

The guys temporarily rigged up a pipe that attaches to the house to divert the laundry water into the fruit trees that are along the driveway wall. Before the water would drain out into a 55 gallon drum, but that just got to cumbersome to handle. Eventually the pipe will be placed underground once all the work on the roof is complete and we can then divert our attentions to the mulched driveway.   Tearing out the driveway a few summers back has certainly made quite a difference (cooling the south side of the house considerably), retain the rainfall on the property and growing space for an assortment of fruit trees and veggies.

Deodorant Recipes

I see there's interest in making deodorant (sorry, forgot to link to the recipe -- that's what happens when you are busy, I suppose)

If you can't make your own, we find thatThe Crystal (made from mineral salts) works just as well and lasts forever (well, actually, two years)

Here are a few recipes for deodorant powder, splash or stick.
I usually make this recipe:
Herbal Deodorant Stick
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 teaspoons beeswax
1/2 tablespoon cocoa butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon thyme eo
1/2 teaspoon rosemary eo
1/2 teaspoon lavender eo
3 drops castor oil

Melt the beeswax over a doubleboiler. Add cocoa butter.
When melted add oils. Stir and mix thoroughly, then pour into an empty
deodorant stick container (wash out a used one!) Let cool & set.

Animal Tales

Wow. Two posts today, what's the world coming to?

I had to share this story before the weekend.

Last night, around 10 ish, before heading off to bed, Jordanne & I went outside to check on the animals. To our shock and worry, we could not see the goats. They weren't in their house, they weren't on top nor in the pen.   We were worried!  Where on earth could they have disappeared to? For them to get out, they would have had to jump over a 7ft fence and that was very, very unlikely.   Then, we heard a small "mmmmhaaaah"  and Blackberry comes out from the duck house! She was in there with our two ducks. OK, so now where is Fairlight?  We hear a loud commotion and Fairlight pops her head out from the chicken's coop/roost (boy, I wished I had a camera - what a sight)!  She had hopped into the chicken house that is built into the garage window and was roosting with the chickens! How funny! Of course we were relieved and a bit perplexed why they wanted to sleep there instead of together in their house. Perhaps they were invited to a sleepover with their new friends.

Fairlight had a brief cause of scours (loose stools) yesterday morning We were a bit concerned, but are happy to report that her stools have returned to normal. We concluded that her runs were  caused because she ate too much greens and her system is just adjusting to fresh greens. We monitored her throughout the day. Jordanne feed her blackberry leaves, baking soda balls and a form of acidophilus for animals and by late afternoon her stools were greatly improved. You know that you are a country girl at heart when you do a dance and whoop when your goat has "regular" stools.

Early this morning just as the sun was coming up, while the guys picked and packed the produce/herb/edible flower orders, we gals spent a few hours cleaning the animal enclosure.

Because of the unexpected downpour a few weeks ago the straw that we have covering the soil compacted and got really moist underneath. With the hot weather that's not good (could eventually smell musty and attract flies). So we pitch forked all the straw going down to soil level (about 1 foot) and will let the area dry out for about a day or so. Then we'll add some new straw and that should (unless we have another rain) last us all summer.

The old compacted straw we put in the back area of the animal's enclosure - the chickens are ducks were having a field day finding all sorts of tasty treats.   As I was raking and leveling out the old straw, while Jordanne was pitching it to me, I was getting higher and higher. I think we raised the soil level about another 2 feet! Of course, it will compact over time, and will be used to enrich the raised beds and made into a potting mix for the plants.

After the area dries out, we'll spray the area with EM ( effective micro - organism mixed with molasses which Justin makes every couple of months) and also sprinkle the ground with diatomaceous earth to control flies.

GOT OIL?

We have surplus hydrogenated vegetable (soy) oil to sell, cheap (50 cent a gallon), if anyone is interested. This oil has only been used once and titrates out to ~.5 grams of lye.Contact Justin