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...