stubbed toes and mud pies

[digitS']

Guidance may be provided within your home state:

Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming

With its cold climate, short growing season, and dense forests, Michigan's Upper Peninsula is known as a challenging place for farming. But a new Dartmouth-led study provides evidence of intensive farming by ancestral Native Americans at the Sixty Islands archaeological site along the Menominee...

phys.org

Here, and for a number of years, compostables found homes in what were 3 bins, plus the activities of prepping for crops. The bins were divided into as many as 4 sections but only by shoveling and piling in different directions. Nothing was moved from bin to bin. We are now down to 2 bins and I am struggling with grass sod but that's unusual.

One bin was located in the smaller distant garden of about 2,500 square feet. Crop rotation and that bin accommodated Summertime activities which included harvesting and marketing from the big distant garden of 6,000 sqft +. No composting took place in that garden but all debris was underground at the end of season in both those gardens.

Winter finds the collection of kitchen scraps in covered 5 gallon buckets in the backyard. Fortunately, the raccoons that sometimes visit have never caused a problem. Freezing and then thawing helps with allowing a refilling and I often had 7 buckets full by the time gardening season arrived and I could move out enough of the previous season's compost to move those compostables out of those buckets.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

Guidance may be provided within your home state:

Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming

With its cold climate, short growing season, and dense forests, Michigan's Upper Peninsula is known as a challenging place for farming. But a new Dartmouth-led study provides evidence of intensive farming by ancestral Native Americans at the Sixty Islands archaeological site along the Menominee...

phys.org

corn is not a crop we do much with here, but composting and using bottom mucks from low areas is known and used by me for other crops.

also noted the comment about the area likely not being forested for many of those years. around here any area not managed will revert to forest within 20 years even if not planted by the landowner. poplars are quite happy to start up anyplace they can and grow quickly. after that it is a long and slow gradual return of the climax species (white pines, oaks and maples).

...
Winter finds the collection of kitchen scraps in covered 5 gallon buckets in the backyard. Fortunately, the raccoons that sometimes visit have never caused a problem. Freezing and then thawing helps with allowing a refilling and I often had 7 buckets full by the time gardening season arrived and I could move out enough of the previous season's compost to move those compostables out of those buckets.

i won't be doing any buckets outside like that, there's no place convenient or likely to happen without Mom objecting and i understand her objections. at the current rate of production i'll be able to keep up by my usual methods and if i can't we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...

 

[flowerbug]

i finished a garden by planting three rows of beans - in the process of doing that i also made sure to bury all my existing compostable materials that i had in trays and flats around my room waiting for me to do something with them. i hardly recognize my room - it is very strange to see it in such a state.

 

[flowerbug]

a killdeer momma came and is reusing the nest that was recently vacated (a week or two ago) so either it is the same birdie who lost her babies (i'm not sure yet) or a new one. alas i will need to weed the pathway near that nest sometime soon and she's not going to like it.

oh and i saw the big snake again. very pretty snake.

 

[digitS']

Snakes and ground-nesting birds?

Snakes and eggs?

Maybe she can find another location off in heavier cover.

 

[flowerbug]

Snakes and ground-nesting birds?

Snakes and eggs?

Maybe she can find another location off in heavier cover.

the snake and nest were about 40 feet apart. the snake didn't bother the previous nest/eggs.

 

[Anniekay]

the snake and nest were about 40 feet apart. the snake didn't bother the previous nest/eggs.

They eat baby birds too. I had a coppermouth climb a tree in my yard to get to baby birds. An Oak snake tunnelled into my chicken house and ate 3 baby guineas in one setting. How he really got in is a mystery because we burried chicken wire all along the outside of the coop a foot under ground. I killed him with a shovel and the three bulges on him were my three baby guineas. He was 68" long !! His head was as big as my fist.

 

[flowerbug]

groundhog 2 made the mistake of making a noise when i dumped a bucket of weeds on the weed pile and then it ran along the fence trying to find a way out, but i didn't have my air rifle with me so i had to come back to the house and then go back out and it did not get away. they are not very smart and can't see that well. RIP poor critter.

 

[flowerbug]

got going on the next garden for bean planting and made progress but it will likely be tomorrow to finish getting it turned under again and then plant on Monday.

 

[Moon888]

but really i should call this hermit's rest or something like that.

some years ago i contemplated joining a monastery - except there's a few problems with that for me. i don't much like rules, i absolutely am not a morning person and i'm not very religious.

http://www.societystjohn.com/index.php

they were recruiting though and i spent a lot of time visiting them and helping out when i could. still though, i just could not see myself being "under someone else's discipline". i first met them when they were getting started and were in the small place they had and they were getting ready to expand the place so they could have more than just the two of them. i also got to know them more as they were learning Tai Chi and we would go and practice with them on the beach.

they had some rules back then, called vows. one i liked was the vow of stability. being a homebody that fits well. so i've adopted it here for myself along with some of the other things i do like about the monastic life. i live simple. i stick to my tasks at hand. i don't go out and around much.

at first it was just the two of them there. so at least one of them had to go out from time to time to get supplies and do other things as needed. it was very rare that both of them would go out together but they made the decision that learning Tai Chi was important enough that they would come to attend the class on campus.

now i'm not sure how many there are in residence. it has changed a great deal in the many years since i first met them.

at present my job is here in helping out in the gardens and whatever else needs to be done. retrofitting, reengineering what i can, making this an easier place to be, growing food, fondling beans, protection... it is all part of the whole. i am a support person. Mom is the reason and i'll be here as long as she needs me. she took care of me as a kid, i can return the favors.

longer term, i'm never really sure what i will do next. i may end up just staying here. i may not.

at present Mom is back to her sewing/winter routine. she makes lap quilts for veterans and hospice (last year almost 400 of them) and quilts for people. on nice days we putter around outside. after the ground freezes we'll try to walk more up and down the road. i am doing more reading and writing.

sometime i may get back to working on programs or computer stuff, but that is not a major priority in my life any longer. if i ever get stuck inside someplace with nothing to read i may break out again. i need a new computer first. this one is creaking along...

to return to monastic thoughts for the moment, this past spring one of the founder's passed away up there and i wonder how everyone else is doing, yet i know they'll keep going. they have a pretty nice location there and a good business for what they do. that aspect was also appealing to me (cooking jams, breads, goodies, etc.). that was a great time for mid-winter quiet when the shop was closed for the season, but we'd try out new recipes and sit around and talk and listen to good music. once in a while they had their religious duties to attend to. i was not interested in those much so did not participate. they were really good about not pressuring me and just accepted me for who i was. but yes, they were also trying to recruit me. they wanted anyone who'd join them.

now i'm in a different place and i'm glad i can do much the same thing here. yet up there, on the shore of Lake Superior, it was quite a remote world. one so very remote now i've moved away, but many fond memories. i carry a lot of that peace with me still.

um, this isn't very organised, but i'll leave it as this for an introduction...

for more details of this place i'm hermiting about you can find them at:

http://www.anthive.com/

Hi Flowevug, Your link is broken, not sure how important it is to watch?