winter rest

christmas was more hectic than usual.  an unexpected, quick trip to london for work up-ended my holiday prep.  no tree this year, but i managed to hang a couple of strings of lights and dig out the stockings before christmas day.  london power-shopping yielded gifts of tea from fortnum & mason, scents from penhaligon's and yummy-smelling concoctions in blue bottles from neal's yard.  as nice as it was to spend the holidays with family, it was also a pleasure to come home and relax with a good book.  i received a few great ones from james - "farm city" (novella carpenter's book about ghost town farm),  "storey's basic country skills", a huge bon appetit cookbook and two books about chicks ("living with chickens" and "the joy of keeping chickens").  

a couple of weeks ago, i received an email from a girl whose family owned a small hobby farm in ventura.  she was looking for a babydoll to give to her father for christmas.  sheep are flock animals and don't do well solo, so they agreed to take two - cain and abel.  yesterday, the whole family came to visit and see our sheep shed, since they need to build a shelter before they take the twins.  they should be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the boys, which is perfect timing since lambing season is fast approaching and we'll need the extra space.

sarah seems alittle further along in her pregnancy than skittle.  she is starting to "bag up", meaning the area around her teats is engorging.  for the past 2 years, sarah has delivered twins about 2 weeks before skittle delivers a single lamb (though, oddly, skittle always looks bigger than sarah).  both ewes have been avoiding the rams, and spend most of their time foraging.  they should both be close to 6 weeks away from lambing, so we'll start supplementing their feed with grain and alfalfa.  70% of the lambs' growth occurs during these remaining weeks, so the ewes become eating machines.  it's time for dr. martin to give both ewes clostridium and tetanus boosters, which will allow them to pass antibodies to their lambs though milk.  in a couple of weeks, we'll start separating the boys from the girls at night, in case the ewes deliver early.  we have a lambing shed, where we can isolate mom and babies for the first 48 hours, or until they're strong enough to be in the flock.

the leaves are nearly gone from the figs and pomegranates.  i picked the last few carrots, pulled out the bolted remains of lettuce and bok choy.  the oranges and tangerines are ripe, and being enjoyed by family and friends.  with the shorter days and cooler weather, the hens are laying less, and we are more appreciative of the eggs they give us.  soon, all the plants and trees will take a winter rest.  and just when we think the hibernation is complete, there will be new lambs wandering in the yard.

finally the rain has passed

after a few mad weeks of work and a car accident, i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  my back is on the mend and a christmas break is imminent.  i don't feel quite myself and am looking forward to some rest and reflection.

the small ponds around the yard are draining after a few days of rain.  the animals were finally out and wandering in the sun.  the sheep shed was soaked, but now has fresh, dry bedding.  we're due for a sunny week in the 70's, and we're all looking forward to it.

the garden is almost done.   i picked all the beets and most of the carrots.   the beet harvest was small - i froze most of them, and and canned some in red wine vinegar.  the heirloom carrots were very sweet - shorter and plumper than the supermarket variety.  i blanched and froze most of them.  i planted an italian heirloom variety of red onions, which are growing very slowly.  i uprooted a few and added them to our morning scrambled eggs.  we still have a few small, green tomatoes on the vines.  not sure they'll have time to ripen before the temps drop permanently.

some of the bantams were stowed in the standard coop at night this week, when the temps dipped to freezing.  i used to put a heater in the coop, but now the birds create their own warmth because there are so many of them.  in the morning, there was a layer of ice on some of the rain puddles, but the coop remained close to 50.

skittle and sarah should be about 3 months pregnant.  i can tell because they are the first out of the shed in the morning, looking for fallen fruit.  their appetites are bigger and so are they.  sarah seems more lethargic, and moves alittle slower.  i scored a couple of boxes of green apples at the shoot yesterday, which the sheep will enjoy.  

these hooves were made for walkin

it's cool and windy today.  the chickens are huddled under bushes, against fences or wherever there's a block.  the sheep are wandering in the front, where there's less of a gust.  i just soaked jacob's foot in a bowl of warm water and betadyne.  i noticed something wasn't right yesterday when he laid under the grapefruit tree as the other sheep ran for the fallen fruit.  when he finally stood, he was balancing on the tip of his left front hoof.  upon closer examination, i found a tack nail stuck straight into the bottom of his hoof.  james pulled it out with some pliers.  dr. martin just happened to be in the area, came by to check it out, and left us with bottles of penicillin and baytril.  jacob will receive 2 shots, twice a day for a week (plus a daily soak), to prevent infection and tetanus.  he's limping a bit, but is getting around okay.  

it's about time for some hoof trimming, which is not my favorite task.  i bought some trimmers from a sheep supply, but they're not as easy to use (or as sharp) as i had hoped.  dr. martin recommended buying some dykes instead.  i need to sharpen my scissors for some wool clipping, too.  little becky is getting very wooly around the eyes.  i usually have to trim the sheeps' faces a couple of times during the winter.  left untrimmed, they can become "wool blind" when fleece grows too long on their faces.

i cut the bantams' nails around dusk.  since they're penned, they don't run around enough to wear them down naturally.  some of the chicks acted like i was murdering them, while others were nonplussed and remained calm.  we had a rooster fight yesterday, so one of the bantam roos is separated from the rest.  poor little guy's spur was torn off while he was in the hutch.  no idea if he got it stuck in some wire, or if the other roo kicked it off.  we cleaned him up and sprayed the wound with alushield, which stopped the bleeding immediately.  we've had spur incidents with a couple of the standard roos.  roosters fight with their feet, and spurs can be broken, but they eventually grow back.  some people remove the spurs from their roosters to prevent them from wounding each other or the hens.  we're lucky that our roosters are tame.  we can pick them up and carry them around without a problem, which is not the case with many.  they say the way to tame a rooster is to turn it upside down in front of its hens.  apparently it's quite embarrasing for the rooster, so it takes him down a notch.

the orange and tangerine trees are ripening.  i think we're close to losing our navel tree.  it's showing signs of old age and isn't producing as much as it did.  looks like we'll have a bumper crop of tangerines, though.

bacteria can be delicious

it's not as easy leaving the house since we changed the clocks.  the sheep are up and out earlier, and usually wandering in the front of the yard when i'm ready to leave for work.  scooter has been waiting for me nearly every morning this week.  he follows me, follows my car as i pull to the gate and would follow me out to the street if i let him.   i have to get out of the car, lead him over to the grapefruit tree and drop some fruit as a distraction.  or walk over to the avocado trees and pull down a few green leaves for him to devour.  if the other sheep see me doing this, they'll run over as well,  then i have a whole herd following me until they get treats.  they definitely have me trained.  i usually end up driving away with dirty hands and bits of straw on my clothes.

i went to the farmer's market last sunday for the first time in about two years.  can't believe it's been that long, but weekends are precious time and sunday mornings are usually spent cleaning the pens and cooking a big breakfast.  the santa clarita market has grown since i'd been there. the longest line was for the tamale lady, go figure.    i've always liked the fact that farmer's markets keep you eating "in season".  rather than buying the not-quite-ripe fruit from south america sitting in the supermarkets now, you can buy super fresh apples, persimmons and pomegranates grown locally.  i confess that i miss summer fruit, though, and i mourn the end of peach season (time to crack open the canned ones).  i managed to drop about $45 on vegetables, bread, cheese and sausage.  i bought about 4 ounces of organic "jersey" cheddar, made in petaluma, for about seven bucks.  time for me to start making some cheese (both kinds).  and when did blueberries start costing $5 for a small basket?  i'm a sucker for them, and they WERE awfully fresh...

james is on a mission to make sauerkraut after visiting pattie.  she's been reading a book called "wild fermentation", and made a batch of sauerkraut using only salt.  she gave us a sample from a pot sitting in her dining room.  it was strong, but good and crunchy.  pattie seems to be into all things fermented right now (the jars of kombucha have multiplied since my last visit).  i've always loved borscht, especially my grandma's.  i remember her giving me a polish cookbook when i was in college, so i could make my own.  i was slightly horrified to read the recipe, which involved sticking a bunch of beets in a clay pot and letting them sit for weeks at room temperature until they fermented.  to my young mind, that didn't sound very healthy (or appetizing).  pattie was quick to point out that i could find the same recipe in "wild fermentation".  

speaking of fermentation, i'm considering experimenting with some cheese-making this winter (that $7 cheddar got me thinking).  i've always loved cheese, and a recent episode of "good eats" made it look so simple.  i'm sure pattie will offer a few tips, too.

  

the big squeeze

the wind is back, and was blowing strong on tuesday night.  it blows from the north, along the foothills and straight across our property.  tango and amy sat nervously in the den after dark, looking at the windows as they rattled throughout the house.  we had avocado and olive limbs come down, much to the sheeps' delight (they managed to polish off all of the leaves in a couple of days).  otherwise, no real damage.  overnight temps dipped into the 40's, which means summer is officially gone (or is it?).

on wednesday morning, i found about a dozen large avocados on the ground - picked by the wind.  i snapped them up before any squirrels could take a bite.  they always manage to take a chunk out of the best avocados, before dropping them on the ground when they're too heavy to carry.  one year around this time, we had about 100 avocados blow down at once in the wind. one of our neighbors took a bag-full of them, and brought back some homemade guacamole for us to enjoy.  that was a good trade.

i bought a bale of grain hay for pattie during my usual feed store run on saturday.  when i delivered it, she gave me 14, 12-ounce bottles of pomegranate juice (and kept as many herself). she's nearly finished squeezing all of the fruit, and proceeded to share handwritten notes about her juicing escapade.  pattie is a record keeper - she keeps meticulous notes on everything from how many eggs are laid by her hens, to how many ounces of goat milk she gets, to how much juice comes from each pomegranate.  she has to write everything down to process it, which i love.  she's constantly experimenting with cheese-making and preserving.  her latest project is homemade kombucha, which she's now supplementing with shots of pomegranate juice.  you can ask her anything about animals (or almost anything, for that matter) and she'll have the answer within a short time.  if she doesn't know, she'll know someone who does, or she'll find it in an article from a magazine she's been saving.  we first met though an ad she tacked up at the feedstore, advertising kids for sale (the goat kind). she advised that goats were not a good choice for us, since they'd strip bark from all of our trees (and, basically, kill them).  after that, she invited me over to see her method of dehydrating tomatoes, and we've been friends since.  instead of borrowing sugar, she'll call to borrow a vial of tetanus antitoxin, powdered colostrum or an elastrator (and i'll have it!).

pattie took me to the goat pen to see her visiting buck.  he's on loan for free, and she's hoping he'll knock up her two does.  bucks become more attractive to females by urinating on themselves and generally becoming as stinky as possible.  he smelled like very strong goat cheese. apparently her does were smitten.  pattie will have her mexican friend palpitate the does in a few weeks to see if they're pregnant.  there's no way to know for sure without an ultrasound.

for us, rutting season came early this year.  i'm fairly sure our two breeding ewes are knocked up and we'll have lambs around valentine's day.  little becky hasn't been pregnant in the 2 years we've had her.  though the boys follow her around, i don't think she cycles and that's probably for the best.  our vet thinks she'd have a hard time lambing because of her small size.

a quiet sunday

it's a quiet sunday - warm and breezy.  relaxing on the sofa, with tango at my side and amy on my lap, after a full morning of chores.  i was up at dawn to open both coops and feed the chickens, brought out another bale of bermuda for the sheep, and picked and juiced some pomegranates. i made breakfast with fresh eggs and homegrown potatoes for james and me. we cleaned out the sheep shed with the tractor, and will let the ground dry in the sun before sprinkling with hydrated lime, and covering with shavings and straw.  i power-washed and disinfected the perches, with scooter at my side (i think he secretly enjoyed getting sprayed by the hose).  james built removable perches in the standard coop, which is genius.  the tops are covered with astro-turf (to help prevent bumblefoot) and i can take them out for a deep cleaning about once a month.  while i don't like cleaning the house much, i don't really mind cleaning the coop and the shed.

pattie came by yesterday and we picked most of the pomegranates and loaded them into her pickup.  when she saw how much fruit was coming off of the trees, she was apprehensive about taking all of it, so we left some for the sheep and chicks.  she'll spend the week juicing what she took, which is quite a chore.  the first year we were here, we set up a juicing area outside and juiced hundreds of pomegranates.  now, we rarely have the time, so it's a treat that pattie is doing the work for us.

i dug up the rest of the sweet potatoes, which yielded a disappointing harvest - about 12 potatoes from 5 plants.  the plants were so large, i expected a bigger crop.  i made soup with a few of the potatoes, some onion, an apple from isabel's tree, and some fresh rosemary and sage.  it was spectacular.  we have lettuce and baby bok choy, and beets and carrots look like they'll be ready soon.  the tomato plants are still hanging on in the late summer weather, and have a couple of small fruit growing.

the weather's still unusually warm, but temps are supposed to drop later this week.  we had the same phenomenon last year, and actually had two harvests of some of the figs.  all the fruit trees are on the wane except the citrus.  we have a crop of very small grapefruit that's not quite ripe, along with some navel oranges and tangerines.  last week's storm has left grass sprouting across some of the dirt in the back.  it's amazing what alittle water can do.

here comes the rain

i've been working non-stop for the past few weeks, with little time for more than necessary chores.  warmth turned cool, then came rain, and now we're back to summery temperatures. to the delight of the ducks,  there are still small ponds of water around the yard from this week's storm.  the sheeps' fleece was still damp this morning and they didn't hang out in the back as they usually do.  they stayed in the front and enjoyed some pomegranates as their coats dried in the sun.  the coop floor was wet so i shoveled out the bedding and put down new shavings.  everyone's relieved that the weather is clear, including me.

the rain was a reminder that the seasons are changing and soon it'll be time to winterize the coop and hutches.  i'll seal most of the coop windows with clear plastic to keep out the wind and keep in the warmth, as well as the front of the bantam hutches.  the bantam pen still needs to be finished before the worst weather hits.  it's huge, with a run that's about 30 feet long.  the new bantam coop is a palace - it has proper windows and screens, as well as a roof vent.  the chicks will feel like they've won the lottery when they're moved.  they're currently in smaller pen in the front that i built myself a couple of years ago (with very limited building skills).  they need more space, a pen with better drainage and a roof, and a proper coop. stephanie (a blind bantam hen) will have her own protected pen in the new setup, so she can scratch around like the rest of the chicks without fear.

the garden is still green with lettuce, tomatoes, a few broccoli and beets, and huge sweet potato plants.  i think i'm going to uproot the first potatoes this weekend, since there are a few yellow leaves (which i've read is a sign they're ready to harvest).  i've never grown potatoes before, so it's a new adventure.  the tops of the plants have overtaken at least a quarter of the garden, so i'm hoping the roots are equally prolific.

friend and neighbor pattie made a proposition to juice our pomegrantes, in exchange for borrowing our juicer and keeping some of the juice.  i think we'll take her up on the offer this weekend.  the fruit is ripe and ready and the juice freezes well.

fire watch

i guess you can't really have indian summer in southern california, but if you could, this would be it.  september 22, and it's 91 degrees at 11pm.  the santa anas are back, blowing hot and dry across the foothills.  after working late, then relaxing over pizza at caruso's with james and niko, tango and i took a walk in the yard.  the sky was clear and dark, crickets sang, and the stars seemed to be burning alittle brighter.  there's a strange electricity in the air that even the animals can sense.  i could hear the sheep rustling in their shed and walked over to see them all standing together in the middle, in the dark, facing the same direction.  they were completely still.  i opened the gate and went inside.  everyone was especially calm and affectionate.  scooter leaned against me, as usual (he's an attention hog).  i slipped out the gate, and told them to get some sleep.

the wind always puts me on edge.  they remind me of last year, when two fierce fires hit our town within the span of two months.  the second was the worst for us.  started late on a friday night in the hills during a spell of santa anas, and grew to an inferno within hours.  the gusts were so strong they blew a window open.  smoke filled the house and left a layer of ash on every surface.  i was summoned to help open a shelter at the local high school, then came home around 5:30am to check on everyone.  when i opened the back door, emily, amy and tango were all sitting in opposite corners of the kitchen, just staring at each other.  they knew that something was very wrong.  the word "firestorm" was an appropriate description - a rolling, low ceiling of black smoke, with ash blowing so fast that it felt like sandpaper.   i could tell that the fire was close from the long line of engines parked nose-to-nose down glenoaks, but i couldn't see it.  every few minutes another engine would pass by the house, sirens blaring.  the smoke was too thick to see any flames, but embers were landing like grenades a couple of blocks away from us, igniting yards, trees and fences.  if it hadn't been for the garden hose brigade of local residents, the whole neighborhood might have gone up in smoke.  the fire department simply couldn't keep up, as the 70 mph winds were constantly shifting, spreading the fire in all directions.  a few blocks from us, the firemen dropped their hoses and ran when the wind and flames became too intense.  i waited, kept all the animals inside, and hoped that we wouldn't need to evacuate.  we were fortunate.  the fire moved north of us and jumped the 5 freeway, roaring west into granada hills and north towards santa clarita.

on the news tonight, i saw that a fire's burning near fillmore.  according to the news, we're now on "fire watch".

final days of summer

a certain feel in the morning air this week reminds me it's almost fall.  it was nearly 100 degrees for the past two days, but the sharp edge of summer has dulled.  shadows are longer and the light has changed.  the days are shorter and sun is gone by 7:15, leaving little time to wander outside or bbq when i arrive home from work.

we're still harvesting figs, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers.  i pureed some zucchini into soup and stuck it in the freezer for cooler days.  i may make another batch of tomato sauce tomorrow.

in an effort to savor the last of warm weekends, we've invited some neighbors for a barbeque this afternoon.  jim and debbie are renovating their house, so have been without a kitchen for several weeks.  jim is an excellent farmer, but hasn't been able to can any of his beloved tomatoes or or dry and grind his peppers into homemade cayenne.  i'm hoping they'll enjoy alittle home cooking (and maybe bring along some of their garden booty).  i started cooking early to avoid heating up the house as the day gets warmer.  i made a lemon cake and potato salad, prepped 3 racks of baby back ribs, trimmed a few strip steaks and coated them in dry rub.  i'll drive to lombardi's for corn before smoking the ribs for about 5 hours.  

the sheep are relaxing in the shade of the fig trees, taking morning naps.  they've enjoyed some early pomegranates this week, as i've been picking the fruit that's cracked or has been compromised by birds.  i throw the fruit on the ground hard to scatter the seeds for the chickens, who love them.  soon the fruit will be completely ripe and the sheep will walk around with red-stained mouths, looking like they're wearing lipstick.

ivan is bandage-free, after a visit from dr. martin.  aside from one small scab, his leg seems completely healed.  rosie has become his regular companion again, and now waits in the coop every morning to be carried into the pen with him.  ivan and rosie have a history together. when rosie was about 10 months old, she went broody and decided to sit on a clutch of eggs. she was so clumsy, she broke nearly every egg before finally giving up the nest after 4 weeks. when she went back into the flock, the roosters fought over her and mated excessively.  as i chased one of them off of her, i noticed blood under her wing.  she had been flayed by a rooster's spur and the cut was large.  we kept her in the house for 2 weeks, cleaning the wound each day until it healed sufficiently.  then, dr. martin performed her surgery on the dining room table.  he put her under with anesthesia, removed the dead skin and tissue and stitched her up. after staying inside for another week, we put her out in a portable pen for 2 weeks until she was healed completely.  ivan sat next to her pen each day, keeping her company.  when she was released, they were constant companions.  she was his number one hen after that, until his injury.  now they're together again, under opposite circumstances.

lesson one

the sun was bright orange this morning as it rose through smoke from the la canada fire.  it smelled like char, and was already 80 degrees at 6:30am.  yesterday was close to 110, and today's supposed to be equally hot.   i soaked the garden before going to work, and everything seemed to be thriving despite the heat.  

we lost another buff orpington on thursday.  she had trouble balancing on tuesday night, and by thursday morning she couldn't stand and wouldn't eat or drink.  she was alert and didn't seem ill, but clearly something was very wrong internally.  she's the 4th of 6 buff hens we purchased from privett hatchery to pass away.  the first two died suddenly at about 22 weeks, with no symptoms. when the third one passed unexpectedly, a week later, i took her body to the cahfs (california animal health and food safety) lab in san bernardino for a necropsy.  the lab's run in partnership with uc davis, and they provide necropsies at no charge to private owners.  they complete a full report -including clinical observations, biotechnology and histology.  i was surprised at the results - the hen died from advanced lymphoma, caused by avian leukosis (a virus often passed from hen to chick, while in the egg).  the disease is usually most fatal around puberty, which is when our hens passed.  after talking with dr. martin, i'm sure they were infected at the hatchery.  i called and sent the report to privett, but they never responded.  now i'm going to make some noise. bio-security is a big deal.  

james just called to tell me that the wethering is finished.  he said it was quick - less than 10 minutes each - and was done on the ground with the help of anesthesia (and a device called "the emasculator" - ouch).  i guess the rams are still alittle groggy but doing well.  dr. roush sprayed the wounds with a liquid bandage, so all we have to do is spray for flies each day until they're healed.  i love farm vets.

we received an email from the family that adopted joseph, one of our ram lambs, last may.  he lives in bell canyon with a few dogs and horses.  they also adopted molly, a young dwarf goat, and sent some adorable photos of both.  joseph's very handsome and looks just like his mom. susan described him as a "kind soul" with "super personality" who's tolerant of their dogs (who love his 4-way feed).  i'm happy that he's doing so well. we had a hard time when he was born - our caretaker removed him from the shed just after he was "thrown" and carried him to the house to dry him off (yes, really).  it was a saturday morning, and i heard a lamb bleeting and started for the door - when i saw james ahead of me, running back to the shed with a lamb. lesson one - never remove a newborn animal from it's mother!  skittle was (understandably) apprehensive, and wouldn't let him feed for more than a few seconds.  we tried rubbing him with some of the afterbirth and kept them together in the shed, hoping she would bond with him.  things improved, but he developed some congestion and couldn't nurse long because he couldn't breathe through his nose.  he was underweight and weak, which is serious for a newborn.  dr. martin came out on day 3, and gave him a shot of vitamin e, along with some antibiotics for a bronchial infection.  we had to oversee his feedings with skittle 4 times a day until he was strong enough (she wouldn't stand still for him).  he gained weight and recovered, and skittle bonded well enough for him to thrive.  i think that because he was handled by so many of us as a babe, he was more sociable than the average lamb.  he was so sweet and friendly - and the perfect pet for the family that now loves him.

hot fun in the summertime

it was an interesting weekend, peppered with new beginnings and endings.  i came home on friday to find part of the garden (once again) dug up by some renegade hens.  the white rocks are definitely the ringleaders for banana plant-eating and garden break-ins.  they're tomboys - noisy just to make noise, white feathers stained with dirt (even their little faces get dirty!).  i hastily stapled some wire along the tops of the wooden fence around the garden to keep them out, which worked well for about 36 hours.  looks like we'll need more of a prison-style barbed wire set up to really deter them (maybe some spotlights and sirens, too).

i've been on a mission to plant an heirloom winter garden, so bought some seeds - lettuces, beets, carrots, onions, bok choy and broccoli - at a local nursery and planted them on saturday. i made a trip to lombardi's ranch in santa clarita, where they grow the best local tomatoes and corn (and have for many years).  bought a flat of what looked like beefsteak tomatoes, along with some yellow and white corn and italian sweet peppers. yesterday, i roasted the tomatoes (drizzled with olive oil) for almost 2 hours, then made a sauce with some added fresh basil, roasted peppers and shallots.  after cooking it down, i was left with 2 large jars of sauce.  2 jars, that's it...mama mia!

the ram lambs seem bigger each week.  the smaller of them (abel) hangs out with the adult rams and gives as good as he gets when it comes to head-butting and roughhousing.  the larger lamb, cain, still hangs with his mom.  abel jumps up on his hind legs to beg for figs when i'm picking them.  the lambs have become more friendly since weaning.  both will be wethered at the house on friday (before rutting season arrives!) by a new vet that dr. martin recommended.  it'll be interesting to see how he does this "on-site".

our recently widowed friend is moving to san francisco, so we took the pickup to eagle rock on sunday and loaded up all of the plants from his patio garden.  we finally took edith's upside-down tomato plants (which still have some fruit on them), along with some herbs, ferns, peach and apple trees, cymbidium orchids, various succulents, flowers and bushes.  he told us all about the plants - their names, how old they were, how often to water them, whether they liked sun. clearly, he had spent much time and care cultivating them.  the whole truck bed was filled with green, and i think it was alittle sad for damon to see his entire garden driven away.  maybe one day when he's settled, we'll be able to send some plants to him.  until then, he knows they have a good home.

i made some summer corn chowder on sunday night - using the ears from lombardi's, some shallots and roasted italian peppers.  i dropped it off on monday morning at a neighbor's house. we received the unfortunate news on sunday afternoon that she had miscarried, and it was all i could think of to do.  she and her family are good friends, and i'm sure there are others in the neighborhood who are reaching out to them, too.  that's something i enjoy about living here - there is a sense of community and people do look after each other.

peaches and pruning

the weather is perfect today - sunny and comfortably warm with a slight breeze.  perfect for canning.  this afternoon, i poached some peaches in water, sugar, orange and lemon juices, filled some ball jars, and processed them in boiling water.  peaches are absolutely my favorite fruit and the season for them is always too short.  i've finally gotten around to drying some figs.  the trees are full of them, and it looks like we'll have ripe figs for a few more weeks.

i picked our first zucchini, summer squash, heirloom beans and one tiny bell pepper.  the garden was in a bit of chaos after a huge branch from an adjacent coral tree snapped and landed smack in the middle.  ace tree came to the rescue yesterday (with 3 trucks!), to trim and mulch the branches (along with a huge pile of accumulated wood).  between the wind (which drops a few big branches every year) and heavy duty trimmings (every 2-3 years), we always seem to have a large pile of wood in the backyard .  the first year we trimmed all the olive trees, i couldn't believe how much wood was dropped and how expensive it was (nearly every improvement or maintenance project seems to cost about 5 times more than i imagine).   it took a crew of about 6 men an entire day to trim and mulch the branches.  james is handy with a chainsaw and does alot of trimming himself, pruning fig and pomegranate trees yearly after harvest.  the following summer, we'll use the wood for smoking meat.

during our first year, we decided to plant a hedge along the chain link fence in the front and side of the property (which sounded so simple).  we took a field trip to sperling nursery and decided that we liked brush cherries.  then we figured out how many trees we'd need (about 200). at sperling's prices, it would have cost a small fortune for a hedge, albeit a very long one. fortunately, our neighbor owns a wholesale nursery and was able to buy them for us at almost half the price.  james rented an auger to attach to the skid steer, we bought a gazillion bags of compost and spent a whole weekend drilling holes and planting brush cherries.  i'm still amazed that we did it ourselves.  we actually met some of our neighbors for the first time when we were out on the street, shoveling dirt.

the most impressive tree experience we've had so far involved transplanting about twenty, 75-year-old olive trees from the lot next door.  just after we moved in,  john laing homes (the evil empire) received a variance to build 40 mcmansions on 14 acres next to us.  the lot was part of the original olive growers association lands and was covered with beautiful, old olive trees.  one of the conditions of the variance (which allowed them to build a house on 7000 sq. ft, rather than 1/2 acre) mandated keeping many of the existing trees on the land.  being a sneaky, profit-at-any-cost kind of company, they found a way around this.  they hired an arborist to certify that all of the trees were diseased or unhealthy.  we negotiated to take 10 of the trees, and plant them along our property line as a screen.  they boxed the trees, lifted them out of the ground with a crane and onto a huge flatbed trailer, then drove them 50 feet onto our property.  it was quite a spectacular sight.   then, they were lowered by crane into holes about 8 feet deep, buried, and flooded with water.   john laing homes boxed an additional 10 trees, which they later planted on our property at no charge as a peace offering, after they broke a mutual written agreement involving block walls (but that's another story).  sadly, the rest of the trees were carved up and thrown away as trash.  now, there is not one olive tree on "los olivos road", nor is there one horse in a k-zoned development advertised as "your home in the country".

in the end, 7 of the olive trees we planted never came out of shock.  the rest are doing well and will be trimmed when the weather turns cooler.  we'll be seeing lots more of ace tree this fall and winter.  this time, we'll be trimming on the installment plan.

recovery

relaxing at home after an exhausting couple of weeks.  wish i had more energy to do alittle work outside.  the most i could muster today was some watering and smoking a pork loin.

the garden has been invaded by a couple of adventurous hens and some hungry squirrels.  half of it is gone - the parsley, basil, green onions and most of the green pepper plants were dug up by the hens while looking for bugs.  the squash, beans, potatoes, a couple of pepper plants and some potted basil have survived.  before i left for new york, there were a few good-sized tomatoes on the vines that i looked forward to enjoying.  i came home to empty plants...all the tomatoes were gone (alas, the curse continues). 

ivan had his stitches removed last week.  dr. martin thinks he's doing well, though he did have some dead tissue and scabbing (which he removed).  his leg is wrapped and he's still on two antibiotics and is confined to the pen, with a couple of hens for company.   cedric is doing very well and is off antibiotics after a recurrence of bumblefoot in both feet. bumblefoot is an abcess caused when a small scratch on the bottom of the foot becomes infected by staph bacteria.  cedric had a bad bout in one foot last year and recovered after months of treatment. we've been dressing and soaking his feet a few times a week, which softened the scabs and allowed them to be removed easily.  his feet are still wrapped until the wounds heal completely, but i'm happy to see how quickly he's healing.  he's alittle clumsy (a few of his toes are lame), but that doesn't stop him from tearing around the yard to romance any hen he sees.

the ram lambs are big now - 6 months old.  we need to wether (neuter) them before mating season arrives.  one of them is already following one of the ewes around and trying to mount her.  the sheep are enjoying ripe figs every morning.  they run for the trees when their shed is opened, looking for fallen fruit.  i sometimes drop the half-eaten (by birds or bugs) figs for them myself.  time to start drying some fruit.  maybe next week...

you can take the girl out of the backyard...

it's an interesting contrast to go from waking up to the crow of roosters to shooting anna wintour against a white cyc in the space of 72 hours. 

i flew to nyc on sunday, greeted by a spectacular summer thunderstorm.  i haven't been here for about a year, so it's nice to get a fix.  i'm producing a psa for a fashion industry event called "fashion's night out".  the economy is effecting fashion and retail (just like every other type of business), so the fashion community is rallying to get people back into the stores. it's interesting to see a cross-section of designers, models and fashion luminaries coming together to address the economic squeeze.  kind of humanizes them, i think.  in the words of donna karan, "you're not just shopping for YOU" (sort of like rosie the riveter, but for shoppers).

when i visit this place, i realize how much my life has evolved since i had a top-floor apartment on maiden lane.  one thing that strikes me is how much simpler my life was, and how i took free time for granted - even wasted it.  it's ironic, because living in manhattan is (on the surface) a complicated venture.  but now, even though i think of my life as simple, it's filled with constant activity.  i don't spend time shopping at barney's for prada bags, having facials at mario badescu, or getting pedicures at bliss like i once did.  i don't have to invent things to do because there is always something to be done.  the challenge now is to allow some time for leisurely pursuits that don't involve wearing work gloves.

this visit to ny is allowing me to indulge some of my old past-times, like browsing through c.o. bigelow on sixth ave., pizzeria-hopping for the best slices, eating freshly-baked bagels and bread, wandering through citarella (just to marvel at all the varieties of salt) and walking endlessly for no good reason.  did i mention eating?  i was lucky enough to have a few kumamoto oysters at matsuri last night (so good, i dream about them).  i'm enjoying the thunderstorms and rain that seem destined to continue through the week.  it's such a different world here, i am trying to breath it all in and let its echo remind me of all the good things in my past.

still, i miss james, miss amy and tango snuggling against me, miss the life that is all around me at home...

 

meds and charlatans

it's gone from being an unseasonably cool to an unreasonably warm summer in the space of two weeks.  at 6pm, it's still 95 degrees.  our old house has no air conditioning, so we have fans spinning everywhere and a small free-standing a/c unit in the bedroom to make it sleepable.  the olive trees help to keep the temperature down, both inside and out.  the animals can usually be found laying under them during the heat of the afternoon (or under one of james' trucks, which usually leaves a tell-tale grease mark).  i tipped a couple of the waterers in the yard and the chickens cooled down by soaking their feet.  

ivan is in a cage inside the pen for another week.  dr. martin came on wednesday to remove his bandages.  he said that ivan's stitches are looking fairly good but his leg needs to remain uncovered for the next week - so he must be caged and kept away from dirt and bacteria.  ivan's being a good sport about it and we're trying to give him lots of treats to compensate.  based on the results of cultures, he's now on two antibiotics - ceftiofur and amoxicillin.   dr. martin called in the prescription for amoxicillin to walgreen's.  in the state of california, you can't obtain drugs for your animals without a prescription.  while this seems like a good idea in theory, it also allows overcharging for these drugs by unscrupulous vets.  dr. martin never charges more than he pays for medication because he doesn't want to discourage people from treating their animals properly.  unfortunately, i think he's the rare exception.

three years ago, after we'd had our first sheep for about 6 months, i had a horrible experience with a vet.  our black ram, scooter, was laying down alot, having difficulty breathing and seemed lethargic.  it seemed like something might be stuck in his throat and i was frantic.  since dr. martin was out of town, i called our previous vet for a recommendation of someone who could come to the house for an emergency.  most vets won't see "rumens" (animals with 2-chambered stomachs, like sheep, goats and cattle), but there are a handful of vets in l.a. who cater to "exotics" and make housecalls.  i called the recommended vet, and a receptionist answered.  she explained that the vet could come in about an hour and a half, he would charge extra to come for an emergency, and i would be charged for travel time.  at that point, i felt i had no choice since i couldn't find another vet who was available.  the vet, john, showed up with an assistant, listened to scooter's lungs, took his temperature and pronounced that he had pneumonia.  he took cultures from scooter's throat (which take 3-4 days for results) to determine the type of infection.  in the meantime, he loaded me up with about 20 pre-filled syringes of antibiotic (for which he charged $200) and told me to follow up with him the next day.  when he found out i was a producer, he  bragged about how he worked with many animal trainers in the film industry (i should have know).  i wrote him a fat check for over $600 for about 20 minutes of his time and antibiotics that cost him about $25 for the full bottle.  the next day, scooter was worse.  he couldn't stand.  i called the vet and he recommended adding another antibiotic to the course of treatment, since the cultures wouldn't be ready for another two days.  i drove down to his "office" (in an industrial park in the valley) to pick up a bottle of antibiotic - for which i was charged about $225..  this medication could be purchased online for $26.  i didn't have the time to wait because scooter was very ill, so i was charged about 9 times the retail price.  i asked the vet's receptionist how, in good conscience, could they ask clients to pay such a huge markup.  she rattled on about how they kept their meds at a constant temperature, under ideal storage conditions, and that was what it cost for them to maintain their inventory.  basically, they were ripping off people who were desperate to cure their animals in an emergency situation.  when i told her exactly that, she just looked at me like she really didn't care.  i was so angry that i wrote a letter to the veterinary board when i returned home.

the kicker is that the second antibiotic didn't work either.  at that point, dr. martin had returned and i begged him to come to the house.  he examined scooter and recommended treating him with - penicillin!  he sold me a whole bottle for $15, and it cured scooter.  i had wasted $1000. on a charlatan.   dr. martin charged me $45, including the meds.  a few months ago, i received a postcard from dr. charlatan, wondering why he hadn't seen us in awhile and letting us know he was available for our medical needs.  indeed.

ivan

what a relief.  ivan the terrible had surgery yesterday and is doing well.  after a couple of early-morning conference calls, i popped him into a kennel and we drove for an hour to the agoura/westlake animal hospital.  the front desk staff knew who he was immediately ("that's the rooster, right?").  i guess it's not very common to see a chicken at an animal hospital.  dr. martin was there to meet us, and he explained his strategy for the surgery - which was to clean out the infection in ivan's leg and pull down some skin from his thigh to cover the opening that's been there for months.  i signed all the paperwork and left ivan in his capable hands.  then, i drove downtown to my office for a 4-hour friday frenzy of phone calls and emails.

around 12:30, dr. martin left a message that the surgery went very well, better than he had hoped.  the infection had extended from the front of his leg joint to above, around and behind it.  he cleaned everything out, pulled the skin down over the wound and stitched his leg so there's no longer an opening.  he said the rest would be up to ivan and the antibiotics.  results from the tissue cultures he submitted to the lab would be back next week.  then, we'll finally know what kind of bacteria has been causing the infections and be better able to treat it with the right medication.  until then, ivan needs shots of baytril twice a day, and dr. martin will visit next week to remove the bandages. 

as i made the long drive from the bowels of industrial l.a., back to the tree-covered, rolling hills of westlake, i was struck by the peculiarity of my life.   i was on the freeway in my cadillac, enroute to pick up a rooster, chatting on the phone about animatronic robots capable of squirting liquid for a soft drink commercial .  somehow it all felt perfectly normal, like just another day.  i strategized about how to squeeze in a stop at the market for some fresh corn, blueberries and spinach for ivan.  fortunately there was an albertson's across the street from the hospital, so i made a pit-stop.  this was no was ordinary market - it actually had british, german and southern food sections.  westlake is a long, long way from the carnicerias of sylmar.

i arrived at the hospital and the receptionist retrieved ivan's chart.  there was a bag tucked inside, containing a bottle of baytril and several syringes.  she looked at me somewhat squeamishly, and said "ohhh, this medication is injectible".  i think she expected me to protest or gross-out, but i smiled and told her it was no problem, i give shots all the time.  after a long parade of fluffy dogs, the vet tech finally brought ivan out to me.  he was awkwardly stuffed into his kennel, his rear pressed against the door.  the tech seemed flummoxed and not quite sure what to make of this rooster with a bald and bandaged leg.  ivan looked at me, stumbling and unable to move his leg into a comfortable position.   i opened the kennel, layed him on his side and loaded him into the car.  

we arrived home, and ivan started clucking as i carried him into the pen.  a good sign, i thought. some hens gathered around him as he emerged from the kennel.  after helping him to stand, i put some feed down and he immediately started eating (an even better sign!).  he was able to put weight on the leg, though he'd crouch every few minutes since he was clearly sore.  i brought him some water infused with vitamins and he drank.  big sigh of relief that he made it through and is still his adorable, terrible self.

welcome home ivan, it's good to have you back.

smoke & bananas

4th of july was a perfect opportunity to smoke.  nothing better than back ribs that have been sitting in a smoker for 5 hours.  we had a family bbq with ribs, grass-fed ny strip, free-range chicken and grilled corn.  since we've lived here, we've only used wood for cooking outdoors (i never knew what i was missing by using charcoal!).  fortunately, we have plenty of olive, pomegranate, fig and citrus wood from numerous prunings for fuel.  we have a cheap little barrel smoker from home depot that james bought when he lived in reseda.  when he'd smoke meat, the neighbors would come over to make sure the house wasn't burning down.  now, no one even notices.  the smoker sits on the foundation of a brick oven that was destroyed during the '71 sylmar quake.  that oven was built by the original owners - the owner's daughter showed us the plans for it (someone actually drew an elevation).  we haven't gotten around to re-building it - looks like it was awesome before it collapsed.  there was also apparently a wine cellar in the middle of the yard that was destroyed and buried after the quake.  the owner's son-in-law told us that there might still be some old, homemade bottles of wine underground.

we had our first mission figs last week.  the trees give us 12-20 "early" figs that ripen a few weeks ahead of the rest of the fruit (like a little preview of what's to come).   they didn't last long.  there are lots of tiny pomegranates on the trees.  we still have a few oranges higher up on the trees than i can reach, and the lemon tree is full of fruit even after quarts and quarts of homemade lemonade.  in an effort to use more lemons, i made a few jars of lemon curd last week (it freezes well, hurray!).  yesterday, i made a cake with lemon curd filling for dessert. turned out well, i think.  gave the leftovers to james' mom so i wouldn't be tempted to eat half a cake by myself.

we lost all of our lettuce plants and some herbs in the heat of last week.  fortunately, mostly everything else seems to be thriving.  a friend generously offered us some sweet potato slips, which went into the ground last weekend.  i've never planted potatoes before, but they are doing well.  we're having a bit of a water crisis, trying to figure out how to drop our consumption without damaging all the trees and plants.  we've cut our watering down, but we may need to take more drastic measures once the next bill arrives.  fortunately, since we have no sewer and use water for irrigation, our rates are lower than most.

the "save the bananas" project is on-going.  after we moved in, james transplanted some banana plants from reseda, and we moved a stand of plants from the back of the property to the front. we had a huge, lush stand of green plants and little burro bananas until the winds and sheep took their toll last winter.  once the wind and cold had weakened the plants, the rams discovered they could topple them with a few good head-butts.  they polished off all but one lone stalk, and nibbled the rest down to little nubs.  james had the brilliant idea to surround the perimeter with straw bales to keep the sheep at bay.  bananas are very prolific so we've been hoping the roots would re-generate shoots.  leaves are finally emerging, but now the chickens have taken a liking to the tender sprouts and peck at them mercilessly.  the next step in "project banana" is surrounding each plant with bird netting.  it's always something.

this is a test

ivan crowed this morning for the first time in nearly a year.  he was having breakfast in a cage in the pen, listening to the other roosters make noise, when he lifted his head and let loose with a respectable crow.  this little sign of progress is cause for celebration.   for the past two weeks, ivan's had a very hard time standing and walking.  whenever he makes the effort, he opens he beak slight and starts panting (which seems like an expression of both exhaustion and pain).  for a few days, i wondered whether putting him down was the humane thing to do and decided to have the vet take a look.  

dr. martin came last tuesday.  he's seen ivan about half a dozen times since he was injured.  as always, the towel-covered top of our washing machine was his exam table (the laundry room is our triage center).   i layed ivan on the towel and unwrapped his leg.  dr. martin seemed alittle sad, as i was, to see ivan declining a bit, since he had always improved following each previous visit.  as he explained the options (to perform surgery and run cultures, or put him down), sweat and tears started rolling down my face.  holding ivan, i wished that he could tell me what he wanted us to do.  the thought of putting him down was heartbreaking, but i didn't want to prolong his life as an exercise if it meant constant pain.  dr. martin told me to think about it, as i wrapped ivan's leg using our regular dressing ritual:  betadyne rinse, dollop of antibiotic ointment, cover with gauze, wrap with 3 long strips of waterproof tape.  i was grateful that he left some pain medication, which we're to use in very small quantities.  he told me to continue the same course of treatment until surgery, if that was our choice.  i don't think there is another choice for us now, considering ivan's noisemaking this morning.

i came home yesterday to discover half of the chicken pen door missing.  gone.  ivan was kept inside the pen during the day with food and water.  i found him crouched in a corner, with the feeders empty.  we have a small door-within-a-door for the chickens to use, which was closed that morning, but i could see that it had been opened before being sheared off with half of the big door and all the poultry wire.  i knew immediately who the culprits were.  as they saw me pulling in the gate, they had hustled to the back of the yard, away from my view.  i walked back to the flock, expecting to find the remnants of a door around someone's fuzzy little neck, but they just stared at me innocently.  no door.  i circled the property and finally found some wood, with the chicken door and wire still attached, wedged between two boxed fruit trees.  i can only imagine the scene as one of the sheep wandered frantically with a door around it's neck. 

periodically, people considering sheep ownership will email or call for advice (we're listed on a couple of "sheep sites" as babydoll breeders).  one of the first things i tell them is that they need solid fencing and housing, because sheep will test the soundness of your construction.  they will respect a boundary until they discover it can be breached (which doesn't take long).  then, all bets are off.  last year, we sold our lambs to a winery near paso robles and delivered them at the buyer's request.  the owner, danny, had built a small pen next to the house, as he wanted to keep the lambs close to home while they were young.  after they were settled in the pen, he took us on a tractor tour of his vineyard and winery, and even gave us a couple bottles of wine.  all was lovely until we returned to the house and i noticed that the pen was empty - no lambs.  the fencing was not secure enough and they pushed a wire panel open and escaped.   we all took off in different directions, searching and calling across the acres and acres of open land.  i knew that if we didn't find them, coyotes would.  danny found the ram and chased him into his woodworking shop.  james and i discovered the ewe in an open field and, as we were herding her towards the barn, danny's german shepherd appeared.  he thought we were playing a game of chase and promptly chased the ewe across the field, through some deer fencing and onto a neighbor's property.  we drove up and down the road looking for her, as danny zoomed around on his atv, but she was gone.  i had little hope of finding her and went back to the ram to dress his wounds (he had torn some skin on a fence) while james and danny continued to search.  about 2 hours later, as i sat with the injured ram, i could hear james yelling and danny's atv revving.   james had found the ewe grazing calmly in a field across the road and stalked her - slowly crawling on his belly until he was close enough to pounce.  it all ended well but i had to ask danny what in the world he was thinking when he built that pen.  

big-cheap-easy

the weather is perfect today - sunny and high 70's.  the sweet corn has been so good at the market that i've been obsessed with making all kinds of soup.  today, i made corn and summer squash soup with cilantro.  yesterday, i made corn and leek chowder.

james read "the ominvore's dilemma" and has been sharing bits and pieces of wisdom from it. that, the release of the book "farm city: the education of an urban farmer" and the movie "food, inc.", has me thinking alot about our food. what can i do to improve the quality of what we eat while supporting local farmers and diversity in the food supply?  we've become an oversized nation, with oversized livestock and produce that is genetically manipulated for outward perfection and uniformity (rather than taste and nutrition).  we've cross-bred our cattle and sheep to make them bigger, but not better.  hereford cattle imported from england in the mid-19th century were half the size of modern herefords.  the original 600 lb. hereford produces almost 75% of the premium, lean meat produced by a 1200 lb. "modern" cow (who eats twice as much food).  the "modern" cow surpasses the "original" breed in one area - fatty, cheap cuts.  progress?  interestingly, the original breed size is now classified as "miniature", and some farmers are giving them a second look because they are more economical to raise.  our babydoll sheep are considered a miniature breed, but in fact they are the original size of southdown sheep imported from england.  modern southdowns were cross-bred with stock from new zealand to produce larger sheep, making the original breed virtually extinct.  babydoll southdowns are now considered a specialty breed, are registered and sell for nearly twice the price of modern southdowns.  maybe the tide is turning back to "mini"?

james has enlighted me about how a diet of corn is the worst thing for cattle.  their stomachs are not equipped to handle a grain diet,  yet most commercial producers prefer it because it fattens the animals more quickly and requires no land (whereas a diet of grass requires a pasture, and less crowding than a feedlot).   grass-fed beef contains less fat, 80% less frequency of e-coli bacteria, and more omega-3's.  feeding grain and corn to beef or dairy cattle increases physiological stress (ulcers, liver problems, mastitis, etc.), usually encouraging regular use of antibiotics.  

i've been corresponding with betsy at paicines ranch, a family-owned ranch in san benito county.  it's been a working ranch since the 1800's, and they breed angus cattle and quarterhorses.  they also sell their own beef, which is raised on organic pasture without hormones or antibiotics. the family also owns a meat processing plant that is certified in humane animal handling and offers services to small livestock producers.  i think i'm going to order 25 lbs. of beef from them (at $7.75/lb., it's cheaper that whole foods).  i feel compelled to support small producers who raise their animals in the healthiest way.  

i plan to do more research on heritage breeds.  there are breeds of animals and vegetables that are approaching extinction for a variety of reasons (mostly because they don't conform to the modern desire for big-cheap-easy food).  it doesn't seem smart to put all of our eggs in one basket (so to speak) where our food supply is concerned.  diversity is the smart choice, even if it isn't always the easiest one.

the weekend

as usual, had a busy weekend.  made the weekly trip to east valley feed & tack on saturday - a 15 minute drive down the 210 to sun valley.  we blow through two bales of straw and hay, two bags of wood shavings, and about 100 lbs. of lay mash and scratch for the chickens every week.   having animals is not an inexpensive proposition.  we've started feeding bermuda grass to the sheep instead of alfalfa, so now that's on the list, too.   i spend as much on their food as i do on ours.

we have a few gimpy critters limping around.  ivan has been hobbling for awhile since a scrape on his upper leg became infected.  we spent months repeating a cycle of de-briding, then letting it heal. over and over.  the infection is back so i'm cleaning and dressing his leg every day and keeping him in the pen.  i think it may be time for more chicken surgery in the dining room.  two of the sheep are limping now, too - skittle and isaac.  maybe it's contagious.  foot and leg injuries are the worst because they can take so long to heal.  last year, one of the lambs twisted his foot when it became wedged in a lawn chair.  don't ask me how he did it - lambs get into all sorts of trouble that defies physics.  one managed to get trapped in a tomato cage this year.  his torso was actually inside the cage and it looked like he was sporting one of those gaultier contraptions that madonna wore in the 90's.  anyway, i had my first experience with a large animal emergency facility as a result of the chair episode.  the humphrey-giacopuzzi animal hospital in somas, to be specific, where their medical facility is a barn with cranes (for lifting the biggies).  they have a special, hand-held xray machine that can accommodate an animal in any position on the floor or standing.  we all had to wear heavy lead aprons, of course, which was only slightly worrisome.  fortunately, the lamb had no broken bones, just a sprain, and i had a lesson on lamb leg structure and vet-wrap.

we finally saw the sun yesterday after a gloomy couple of weeks.  tango, our little rescue "chorkie" (i'll let you guess his mix), enjoyed some sunbathing.  i think my tomato plants are perking up after looking listless for a week.   spent most of the day doing chores outside.  i cleaned the chicken coop, raked the pen and worked in the garden.  transplated the fig saplings james started from cuttings last fall, and planted the lettuce seedlings given to us by a friend.  all the veg have sprouted except for summer squash, so i planted more seeds.  

last night, we had dinner with the husband and family of a friend who recently ended her life.  edith's brother lives in duluth, so we bonded over farm tales.  he explained how he successfully super-glued a hen who'd been nearly torn apart by a wolf.  i was glad that our stories and iphone pics (cute little lambs are always a hit) added some levity to a difficult time.  edith's husband asked us to take her upside-down tomato plants, which are apparently huge and loaded with fruit.  looking forward to enjoying them but also slightly concerned, considering my track record with tomatoes.  hopefully edith will watch over and save them from my brown tomato thumb.

life and death

i lost my favorite hen yesterday.  we bonded when i nursed her back to health last year.  she was blind in one eye and had isolated herself in the coop to the point of starvation.  i fattened her up, re-introduced her to the flock and watched her thrive - until last week.  i'm not sure exactly what happened, but she seemed to have broken an egg internally.  though i thought she was improving, she died right around dusk.  it may seem strange that someone could mourn the loss of a chicken, but i do.  i will miss her.

i've become more familiar with death than i ever imagined i would be.  i'm coming to accept it more (what choice is there?) and fear it alittle less, though i can't imagine ever becoming indifferent to it.   i don't have the luxury of turning away like i once did -  i'm there to face it when the time comes.  though heartbreaking, it's also a privilege to share the last moment of a creature's life with them, to comfort them as they take a last breath.

we've had a few close calls that resulted in miraculous recoveries - a ram with pneumonia so bad that he couldn't stand, a rooster with a respiratory infection who could barely breathe, a hen who was flayed from her wing to her leg by a spur.  by necessity, we've honed our veterinary skills, and i can now give injections, intubate, de-bride wounds, de-worm and trim hooves.  we vaccinate yearly and have a great vet who makes house calls.  still, sometimes nature takes an unexpected course and despite all of our resources and good intentions, i realize that we are not really in control.   sometimes all we can do is watch things unfold and try to punt the best we can.

my friend and neighbor, pattie, has been there to help me with many health emergencies.  she's a die-hard texan, with a quick wit and a generous heart (and a serious ability to punt). she breeds blue-eyed dairy goats, and was there to support me when we nearly lost a lamb this spring (he recovered). unfortunately, she was dealt a very bad hand last month when her beloved doe, azula, went into labor late one night.  she delivered a kid, then grew progressively weaker.  they could feel that there were still three babies inside, but something was very wrong and she couldn't deliver despite hours of labor (it was later discovered that one of the kids was stillborn and blocking the canal).  pattie had to make a difficult choice (one that i hope i will never have to make) between losing everyone, and losing azula but possibly saving the babies. the next morning, pattie asked a friend who was an experienced hunter to come to her house. after she said a tearful goodbye to her doe, he put her down with one clean shot.  they went to work quickly and were able to save another kid.  i'm in awe of her for enduring that with such grace.  what an amazing thing to experience life and death on that level, to move forward and find joy despite the overwhelming pain.  she's now the mom of two adorable bottle babies but she will always miss her beautiful azula.

everything you've always wanted to know about eggs* (*but were afraid to ask)

we collect between 1 and 2 dozen eggs a day (and we hoard egg cartons, so call me if you have any spares).  our hens lay brown eggs, as most breeds do. supermarket eggs are usually white because most commercial breeders use the same breed of high-capacity laying hens - white leghorns.  this, combined with the decline in the number of backyard flocks, has pushed a few chicken breeds to the verge of extinction.  some of the chicks we keep (orpingtons, wyandottes and brahmas) are on the endangered list.  i'm concerned about the loss of diversity in the food supply, but more on that later (let's stick with eggs for now).

more egg trivia (more than you probably want to know)...

hens start laying at about 22 weeks of age.  some breeds are better layers than others, but most young hens will lay an egg a day in summer.  laying decreases as they get older.  

a hen's laying cycle is based on light.  they need a certain amount of continuous light to produce an egg, which is why they lay more eggs in the summer and less in winter.  it's also why commercial egg producers use artificial light - creating an artificially long "day" and short "night" - to increase laying frequency (which is hard on the hens).  the natural drop in winter egg production gives the hens a "hiatus" that their bodies need. 

hens don't need a rooster to lay eggs, they only need one to fertilize them.  you'd be surprised how many people don't know this.  a hen that's inclined to sit on eggs to hatch them is described as "broody".  a hen will usually sit on a nest that's accumulated 4 or more eggs, though some of ours will go "broody" on a nest with no eggs at all (even though i've explained the futility of this).  it takes about 21 days to hatch a chick.

hens add a natural coating to the outside of their eggs which makes them non-porous and resistant to bacteria.  the coating also keeps them fresh longer, and allows them to be stored unrefrigerated (which is how most of the world stores their eggs - surprise!).  commercial egg producers wash their eggs before sale, and add a thin sealant (usually mineral oil). since the sealant is not as effective as the natural stuff, these eggs must be refrigerated to avoid spoilage.

if you crack an egg and see a red, brown or darkish spot near the yolk, it isn't an embryo - it's from the hen.  sometimes tiny blood vessels burst in the oviduct, which can cause a spot in the egg (i know - yuck! - but it's perfectly safe to eat).  

older eggs are better for hard-boiling.  fresh eggs are harder to peel because the whites have not aged enough to separate from the shell.  learned this the hard way making deviled eggs for a party (at least they tasted good!).

the garden

hurray - i finished planting the vegetable garden.  alittle late, but that's usually how it goes.  the hardest part is removing the crabgrass that creeps in over the winter.  it's relentless.  once the grass was cleared, james dumped about five skid steer buckets of compost on the soil.  the chickens had a good time scratching and pecking while i raked it around.  our compost is looking good this year, thanks to james.  he collected manure from a neighbor's horse stalls for about a year, taking the loads by tractor each sunday and dumping them into three huge concrete bins in the back of the property (which, i'll admit, seemed alittle crazy to me at the time).  he mixed it with straw, shavings and manure from our animals, kept it moist and turned it with the tractor every week.  eventually, steam rose from the piles when he turned them and worms appeared, as if by magic.  now we have a ton of rich, odor-free compost for the garden and trees.

fortunately, most things grow well in the soil here.  we had big success with lettuce last summer despite the heat, so i planted more.  i also planted an heirloom variety of beans, yellow peppers, cucumbers and summer squash.  broccoli rabe is a new addition, as are scallions.  the quest for decent tomatoes continues.  i've never had luck growing them, but i try every year.  this year's attempt = early girls and beefsteaks.  i want to plant a large plot of corn in the back, but don't know if we'll get around to it this year since we need to build a temporary fence first.  i've never planted a large enough crop to produce really good corn.  someday.

in another month or so there will be an explosion of figs; missions, brown turkeys, queen annes and kadotas.  there was a fig orchard on the back acre about ten years ago, but only a few trees remain.  i dry as much of the fruit as i can once it's ripe, since figs don't stay fresh too long after they're picked.  the first year, i tried drying figs in the sun but they were hard and chewy. the daughter of the original owners (who lives next door) makes candied figs every year so i modified her technique for processing figs.  i combine water, brown sugar, fresh orange or lemon juice with the peel, red wine, cloves and cinnamon in a stock pot and simmer the figs in it for about 20 minutes or until they are soft and plump.  then i drain and dry them in the oven for 2-3 days.  they last in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or in the freezer for several months.  we save the poaching liquid to use as a syrup over ice cream.  it's awesome.

our fruit trees are old and some of them are reaching the end of their life spans.  we planted about 20 saplings this year - apples, peaches, plums and apricots, mostly.  our neighbor, jim, showed us how to root branch cuttings from our fig trees.  he's lived in the area his whole life, grafts his own trees, and is an encyclopedia of experience about all things green.  with his help, james rooted half a dozen little missions and queen annes that are ready to be transplanted into boxes.  

shearing

we finally finished shearing the sheep.  we saved the easiest for last - becky (the tiniest), and skittle (the friendliest ewe).  james and i sheared the first four alone, but had the help of a couple of friends for the final two.  they thought it would be "fun", but i think the novelty wore off when becky peed on one of them (thanks for being good sports, craig and vickey!).

we started raising babydoll southdown sheep about three years ago.  they're little lawnmowers who will eat nearly anything that's green.  we used to spend hours weeding, trimming and mowing, but no more.  the sheep do it all for us.  babydolls are a small breed, known for their gentle temperament.  they follow us around like dogs and love attention.  we currently have 6 adults - 3 ewes and 3 rams.  each year we have a few baby lambs.

no one really taught us how to shear.  the first year, i hired a couple of 4-H kids who were on their way north from riverside to pick up some hogs (yes, really).  i couldn't find any professional shearers who were willing to travel here for a few sheep, and the kids had raised and sheared their own, so it seemed like a good idea.  plus, they knew the breeder who sold skittle to us.  i was eager to see how it was done, and wondered what kind of equipment they would bring with them.  they brought clippers with one blade and a halter.  that was it.  we used the halter to lead the sheep to the tarp i had laid out, then two of us held the sheep still as one of the girls sheared the animals where they stood.   it looked very easy. unfortunately the blade didn't stay sharp enough to shear all four sheep, so i had to use scissors to finish trimming the last ewe.  i decided that it wasn't very scientific after all, and james and i could do it ourselves the following year.

last year, i ordered a shearing machine and a couple of blades from an online sheep supply.  i borrowed a stanchion from my friend, put down the tailgate of my old chevy pickup to use as a shearing table, and invited a couple of neighbors to help us with our maiden shearing.  since sheep don't come willingly to be shorn, much of the work involved either luring or carrying the animals (or both) onto the stanchion.  the shearing machine was heavier than i thought.  it was tricky to anticipate the contour of the sheep's body before running the incredibly sharp blade across it.  the fleece completely obscures the skin beneath.  one wrong move and the skin would be cut.  our vet told me a horror story about a 4-H kid who cut the jugular of a sheep at a shearing demonstration.  images of that disaster ran through my mind as we took turns cautiously clipping the fleece.  the sheep were very patient with us and fortunately, there were no major injuries.  we did discover that becky had a hernia, but that was nothing serious.

this year was easier.  i bought a stanchion with a ramp, which seemed like a good idea until we realized the sheep would only put their front legs on it, but wouldn't walk up it.  we had to slide each sheep up the ramp, onto the platform (and clearly, our rams have gained weight since last year!).  the goal when shearing is to run the blade through just once, rather than going back for a second pass.  second cuts decrease the value and useability of the fleece for spinning yarn. james wielded the clippers with confidence and i used scissors to trim the more delicate and unreachable areas.  the sheep were fairly well-behaved, with the exception of isaac who jumped off the stanchion when he was half-sheared and led us on a wild goose chase worthy of the three stooges.  i ended up on the ground, flat on my stomach, listening to the patter of little hooves around me (sheep roadkill?).

the world record for shearing a sheep is 45 seconds.  most professional shearers can finish a sheep in less than 2 minutes, and shear 200 head per day.  how do they do it?  it took us about an hour to shear each sheep and we needed a lemonade break between them.  after finishing two, we needed a nap.

buffy

buffy is back in the house tonight.  poor thing.  she's been in and out for a week, battling a nasty sinus infection that's left her pale, thin and lethargic.  i offered her some fresh corn and blueberries (her favorite) when i came home, but she wasn't interested.  i gave her a shot of baytril and put her in a cage in the den to sleep (while i watched the nba playoffs - go lakers!).  buffy's a white cochin bantam - basically, a miniature chicken.  i don't know whether she's going to make it, but she's been fighting for a week so i'm not counting her out just yet.

i knew nothing about chickens before we moved here.  a few months after we arrived,  james and i found a skinny old rooster walking down the side of the road in the rain and adopted him. our local hardware store sells baby chicks, so one thing led to another and soon the rooster had a flock of 6 hens.  now, after several hatches and a few adoptions, we have 34 standard chickens, 12 bantams and more eggs than we can possibly eat.  our latino neighbors say our chickens remind them of life in mexico.  hopefully, in a good way.

hens remind me of teenage girls.  they form cliques, and do everything together in groups. the cliques tend to run along color lines, with all the same-colored birds flocking together and the one-offs forming a separate group.  hens will snub anyone who's not in their group and like to perch next to their best friends at night.  they complain alot, like to sunbathe, take naps and preen.  

chickens aren't very compassionate.  in fact, compassion seems to be lacking in the animal world as a whole.  guess i could have tuned to animal planet for that bit of news.  don't know why i find it surprising.  birds will pick on the weak and ill, which is why it's so hard to tell when one is sick or injured.  they'll hide their suffering until they're nearly at death's door.  at the same time, they can be surprisingly resilient, courageous in the face of pain, and occasionally very brave.  

i wish i had noticed buffy's condition sooner.  under her fluffy feathers, she's very thin (she probably only weighs a pound or so).  i'm hoping the baytril will do the trick.

the beginning

it all started when james and i decided to look for a house with some land.  our search took us to the northeast corner of the valley, where we became the second owners of a lathe-and-plaster, spanish-style house on 2.3 acres.  the house was built in 1928 by an immigrant italian family who planted olive trees and processed the oil for sale.  the iron oil presses still stand in the barn, and the property is dotted with over a dozen huge olive trees and a small fruit orchard.  we are one of a handful of larger properties in the area that haven't yet been competely sliced up and covered with mc mansions.   suburban sprawl is all around us - condos and townhomes are overtaking the landscape and traffic is increasing - but riders still trot their horses down the streets and roosters crow to each other at dawn.  

i lived in the city nearly all of my adult life.  i didn't own a pet or even a plant because my job required constant mobility.  creating a home with james and putting down roots in this little suburban community taught me as much or more than i learned by traveling the globe.  i now know how to use a backhoe.  i have built a chicken pen by myself.  i can make jam.  i know the difference between a kadota and a queen anne fig.  i have friends who make their own cheese - using milk from their own goats.  i've assisted with a hen's surgery on the dining room table, and trimmed the cord of a newborn lamb.  i never thought that i would know how to do any of these things, nor did i anticipate how these experiences would forever change me.

this blog is a place to share some of the unexpected things i have learned, and continue to learn. welcome!