Winter is Coming

I think I can safely say Winter is on its way.  It is chilly and breezy outside and I'm wishing I had a nice warm fire and a good book to curl up with.  Alas, we are low on wood and are rationing it until we have a chance to bring some more home from the property.  The last two nights it got down around 25°F and out little nursery in our Citrus Heights backyard had to be tucked in for the night.  We covered our baby orange and olive trees and the little blueberry bushes.  And my rabbits bunkered down for the night in timothy hay forts, while the chickies huddled together to keep each other warm. 

Today is Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to more Turkey, crab cakes, Granny Goose's rolls, and all the other yummy food we are having this afternoon!  Right now I'm watching the pre-Thanksgiving Day Parade and then the National Dog Show.  Now, I must go finish my triple chocolate mousse cake.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Photo Update!

I was not fortunate enough to make a trip up to the property this week, so I thought I'd get caught up on photos from the past few months.  Next time I'm go I'm hoping to get some cuttings from the crape myrtle trees and propagate a few more.  And I'm hoping to have a giant bonfire!

Let the Rain Come!

So I guess I'm not too great at keeping this blog up. It's not that I don't want to; it's more like that I don't know what to say. But I will make more of an effort, because this really is a great adventure!

Summer has come and gone. It was hot! But we actually did a lot! Mom has almost officially completed the rock retaining wall around the crepe myrtle trees. It looks really amazing! We have all learned a lot about building with rocks, how to fit them together and use smaller rocks to fill in the crevices. Next week I'm hoping to cut the suckers off the Crape Myrtle trees to propagate.

I have painted and set up bee boxes for Dad hoping the bees would come...they did not. But in the spring we will catch a swarm from an area beekeeper or a home-owner with a swarm in their yard. As terrified as I am of bees I'm actually excited about this project. I want to have the home-harvested honey and the bees-wax to make candles and cosmetics.

Our current project is building a pole-barn style well/pump house. I can't remember the exact measurements, but it is fairly large and will cover the well, pump and our holding tank. It will also provide shelter for our barn cats.

I probably should make a statement about Hobble Rock's current barn cat population. Hunter is still watching over the property for us, but unfortunately Winchester is in kitty heaven. From our observations he probably caught and ate a rat that had eaten some poison and consequently died. We do have three (or so) young kittens born earlier this year that are Hunter's little buddies. We love our barn cats, they keep our rodent & snake population down and give us entertainment.

As I said in the title of this post "Let the Rain Come!" It is now Fall and we have had a couple good rain storms. Since the rain has started, our trailer has begun to leak. And I have become good friends with a product called Henry Roof Cement (or that's what I call it) and you can put it on in the rain! How awesome is that?! I have so far done two applications on last week and one today...I really hope it works for good this time. The view from the top of the trailer is really cool!

Since it has officially started to cool off for the Fall & Winter, Dad and I have started to cut out more of the dead brush. Next week we will hopefully hook up the tractor & trailer and haul what we have cut up to the fire pit and burn it! I'm so excited for bonfires!

Last but not least, we have started on the barn!  It will be a 24' x 36' pole barn.  We have started to auger the holes and hope to have it done by early spring! 

Seriously, Can't We Just Get A Goat?

So the title of today's post is a bit odd, but today we weed-eated (is that even a word?) and I goat would just be a huge help! Think about it. I goat (or ten) could eat down all the brush, weeds, and vegetation that is a fire hazard in the summer and would convert that into manure which could be composted and would do wonders in the garden! But seeing as no one is there to take care of them, it wouldn't work too well. Oh well, I guess Dad and I will be doing a lot of weed-eating the next couple weeks! But I do intend to get a goat in the very near future to help me with this daunting task!

County Fair!

Today, we went to the Sacramento County Fair. We saw a couple 4-H & FFA friends, check out my placings on my entries and watched the goat show. The weather was less than great, it started pouring rain and by pouring, I mean like coming down in sheets! I'm glad we weren't in the livestock barn when it started! I plan on spending most of Memorial Day weekend at the Fair, hopefully next year I'll be a 4-H leader or maybe I'll be at the Butte County Fair! Oh, and I got 1st place on my wood burned sign, 1st place on my beef jerky and 3rd on my strawberry jam. I have one more competition on Saturday and I'm hoping for another 1st! Wish me luck!

Oops! I kinda forgot about ya'll!

I seriously didn't mean to forget about this blog! But it has literally been months, over half a year in fact since I last posted. Anyways, lots have happened and Hobble Rock is coming along swimmingly. We have a nice crop of volunteer potatoes coming into their prime, crape myrtle trees in a healthy grove, olive and orange trees waiting to be planted, blueberry bushes waiting to produce delicious berries for us, and a two trailers waiting to be repaired. I'm going to make a commitment to my readers now...I commit to writing at least one blog per week for the until December 31, 2010. Let's see if I can keep this commitment! God Bless!

Yet, another Update!!!!

This past Saturday in Bangor was definitely fun! Dad’s friends at the Horseman’s Association gave use another load of manure to spread on our “garden-to-be.” This time Dad decided to use a tarp to just pull the manure out of the truck bed and dump on the ground…well it didn’t really work as well as we had hoped. First we fired up the old John Deere tractor and tied the tarp and tried to pull the tarp with the load of manure on top out…the tarp ripped on one corner. Tied it again, got back on the tractor, pulled. Ripped the tarp! It was so entertaining! I was enjoying myself immensely! Eventually, after totally trashing the tarp the manure ended up on the ground, ready to be spread out with the tractor.



Then we saw we needed to re-fill our water barrel…so I get the new 100’ hose (which is not of the highest quality) and Dad and I hook up the hose to the spicket and hook the other end into the water barrel. Then we turn on the water and to our great mistake, walk away. I should add that the water barrel irrigation experiment has worked out to great success! The shrub we set the water barrel next to has perked up and even has a few flowers on it! So after a while we kind of forgot about the filling of the barrel and Dad goes to take down the hill on the edge of the “garden-to-be” and I start talking to Mom and enjoying my blue Powerade. We I look up, I see the water barrel in the middle of falling over and the little spout coming off it shooting a stream of water into the air. I run to the spicket to shut of the water and then over to the fallen barrel which weighs-in at around 500 lbs! Dad tries to put it back upright with the tractor to no avail, so we wait for it to empty a bit before righting it by our own man-power (or Dad’s man-power I should say).

Oh, and I almost forgot! We got another 100’ roll of horse fencing 5’ tall (as tall as me!). Next weekend we plan to fence around the front gate then move on to the far side of the property (where there is absolutely no fencing) that Dad has been clearing out.

Another exciting event was our first time having to stop for a train on Lower Honcut Road! It was a long and FAST train!!! Kinda cool!!!

I hope everyone is doing well and stay tuned for my next post.