Compost a Solamente

Because there is now only light in the morning for me to work in the yard -- the sun has set by the time I get home from work -- I decided to see how long it would take me to do a load of compost by myself before work. Jenna is up but is getting ready for school. Jeff is not up. The dogs are not any help with this sort of thing.

I went out about 15 minutes before Jenna had to leave for the bus, so about 7:45, and was able to load up a tarp with leaves that had already been piled up. It took less than 10 minutes to rake them onto the tarp and pull it back to the compost area. Then I came in to wish Jenna well at school. Once she had left, I returned to the compost area, took the cover off the shredder/chipper and moved it into position. It took a couple of attempts to get it started. It took about 10 minutes to feed the leaves through the hopper.

I decided to try something different. I took all the leaves that I had just processed and put them back on the tarp. It reduced the apparent volume to about 33% of the original. Then I fed the leaves through again. The mass was now about 25% of the original or maybe less. It took about 20 minutes overall. So, it's doable in short periods; in a half an hour I can do a complete load of leaves. It will take at least a week at this rate, but it has the benefit of giving me a morning workout (in addition to walking the dogs). It's raining right now, so it may not work to do this everyday.

November Composting

It was finally a good day to start taking care of leaves. Nice temperature (around 60F) and not much wind. Jenna helped me load and pull the first tarp down. I tried to get the chipper/shredder started. Jenna tried and Jeff tried. It would turn over but not start. So I went to Tractor Supply and got some priming spray and a new spark plug. I haven't started the chipper/shredder in a long time, so I am not surprised that it needed something to get going. Jeff finally got it to turn over.


When I bought the chipper/shredder, I got it used. It is a Murray, a company that went bankrupt or sold out. I believe Troy Bilt bought them, but I'm not positive. Like many companies that build quality products that go out of business, I feel a bit sad for them (probably an overstated emotion, no tears were actually shed). They may something really good. It has a great design with the pull down hopper that allows you to scoot leaves in from the ground level. Many other chipper/shredders I looked at didn't have that feature. But, of course, there are not going to be any replacement parts when something customized for the machine breaks. I enjoy it and feel lucky to have found a used one that was in very good condition.

Jeff and Jenna brought me two more tarpfuls of leaves (about a quarter or less of what we have in the yard). It took an hour to process all of them. The process is automated but not fast. The goal of using the chipper/shredder is to break down the leaves so they will compost faster. The chipper/shredder only does a fair job at grinding things into really small parts. While all of the leaves are ripped, some of them are still somewhat sizeable. I ran some of these through twice. Three tarpfuls unprocessed take up about three cubit yards of space. The chipping/shredding reduced this by two thirds to about one cubic yard.

It will take nature's processes to fully break them down. Leaves I have processed this way in the past end up good, but shrink to about a third the volume. With as many leaves as we have, there should still be a decent result, maybe a yard or a yard and a half. We've been blessed in the past with a lot of earthworms that seem to love the leaves and do a good job helping turn the pile into good compost.


What is left of the manure compost is ready to go.


The whole process took a lot of physical energy and time. The outlay costs beyond the machinery, tarps, and tools, were only gas and a spark plug. The heavy cost was my time. At the end of doing this one batch, I wondered if it was really worth doing all of this for a yard or two of compost. Strictly in economic terms, it probably isn't. There are compost companies who have bigger machines and that process much more of this stuff much more quickly. I could simply buy the end product for less than it costs me if I were actually paying myself for my time. But, I remind myself that this is part of being self-reliant. The cost of a cross-country trip by a tractor trailer to deliver me some mulch via Lowe's has costs that haven't been fully calculated. I have the raw material ready at hand. And, I love the feel of doing something with the resources I have been given. I'm really not happy on Saturday until I am exhausted.

Thanksgiving

There are things to be thankful for. Mostly, even during a recession, we live in a land of plenty. It's better to live today during a recession than in the 1300s when the Black Plague raged, for instance. But it is even better to be alive today than in the 1930s and 1940s. I guess you can even make the case that, with the demise of disco, vinyl records, and polyester, it is better today than in the 1970s and 1980s.

I personally am thankful for the same things that would matter in any age. I comfortable companion who accepts me for what and who I am and children who never cease to make my life interesting.

My family, of course, comes with a heritage. Those who left me with genetic and psychological qualities and who provided me with life-molding experiences. They survived much more trying times but continued to see life as worthwhile and my life as holding promise. I'm not sure what my distant relatives -- those who survived the Black Plague long enough to procreate -- contributed, but I have no doubt that they did.

And then there is the sailboat. A very great surprise birthday present from Kathy, Jeff, and Jenna. It's something to be thankful for. I hope it doesn't cause an early demise once I start sailing it in earnest.

Waste

The weather looked like it was going to be on the cold side again several days ago, so Jeff and I put the covers back on all four cold frames. It got down to 34 one night and 32 the next. Since then it hasn't been as cold, but the highs have been in the low 50s, so I am happy to keep the cold frames on.


Today is our garbage day. Kathy cleaned out the refrigerator in anticipation of Thanksgiving. So, the fridge is now clean. The garbage can was full and heavy. This brings me to the point of talking about waste. I am not happy to be a contributing member of the most wasteful generation in the history of the world. What is worse, is that I think about this every Monday evening when I have to take the evidence of our own wastefulness to the curb. I certainly don't want to keep it around, but it makes me mindful that we waste a lot. Yet, I am not sure what to do about it. I have the appropriate attitude. I am not wasteful on purpose. We recycle plastic, cardboard, newspapers, and aluminum. But we still consume a lot. At least a portion of what is thrown out consists of things that no longer work or that cannot be reused by someone else -- broken toys and appliances -- things that are either broken or obsolete. I know everything we throw out was once upon a time brought in. I guess this means we are among the world's best consumers (although probably not as good as some).

I notice that we waste a lot of food. For a long time, we were feeding seven of us. When you are used to cooking for seven, it is hard to scale down to cooking for just two, three or four. Plus, Kathy and my consumption has decreased markedly. It seems we always cook too much and put leftovers in the refrigerator that spoil before they can be consumed. Part of the challenge is that the serving size that is offered in the grocery is too large. We can't eat a whole chicken, a whole pound of hamburger, or a complete box or mix of anything in one sitting.

I did buy a FoodSaver and we have started using it to freeze portions and left overs. But we are not yet consistent. And, on the good side, there are things we use regularly that we have taken pains to save, especially food from the garden. I think when you grow it yourself, you come to realize that it is precious and not to be wasted. That is one of the unadvertised benefits of growing your own food. It all of a sudden becomes more valuable. We still see waste, but much less. There is an attitude that comes with planting, tending, watching, fighting off pests and drought that you don't get when you pay $2.99 per pound.

Lava Lamp

I was in the room where we have our computer and needed some extra light. The only lamp in the room is a lava lamp. It doesn't give off much light, but I plugged it in anyway. Lava lamps are really pretty useless except as entertainment, but they are enjoyable to watch for short periods of time. The one we have has been around for a couple of years and is actually not in very good shape. But it still works.

As I watched it, it reminded me of Catastrophe Theory.



What is Catastrophe Theory? What does a lava lamp have to do with Catastrophe Theory? and What does Catastrophe Theory have to do with having sufficient for our need?

Catastrophe Theory was the brain child of Rene Thom. It is not a theory about why bad things happen. It is a mathematical theory about how to quantitatively describe sudden, discontinuous, irreversible changes. While it is a mathematical theory, the essence of the theory doesn't require math to understand. In fact, what I really like about the lava lamp is how well it demonstrates what a catastrophe is.

The essence of how a lava lamp works is that it contains blobs of wax in water that is heated by a light bulb. When the wax is cold, it is denser than the water and sinks to the bottom. When the wax warms up, it becomes less dense and rises.

Most of the time, meaning for minutes at a time, the wax in the lamp sits like it does in the first picture. It might appear at first glance that there are no changes, although if you watch closely, you can see the wax at the top and the bottom begin to change shape. The wax at the bottom bulges a little; the wax at the top starts to elongate. Then, when some magic point is reached, either the top drops a bubble of wax, or a bubble of wax rises from the bottom. Sometimes they collide. Sometimes the top will send a drop and the bottom will stay put. Sometimes the bottom will send a satellite and the top will absorb it. Sometimes the various bubbles of wax will stay separated at the top or the bottom. They will then suddenly merge. After a bubble leaves the top or the bottom, it can't be stopped and turned around. A bubble never stays in the middle. But I am watching one right now that lingers at the top without making the merge with its permanent sister.

Think of this as a metaphor for other things in life. There is the potential for catastrophes to occur around us in all areas of life. Like the lava lamp, events have the potential for catastrophes to disrupt life. Housing bubbles, stock market bubbles, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet have the potential to be global catastrophes -- sudden, discontinuous, irreversible events. They are all just waiting to change, being gradually pushed to the point of catastrophe. There are also smaller catastrophes like the suicide of a friend's teenage son, the loss of a beehive, and blight on potatoes. Like the first stage of the lava lamp, we generally see a little expansion or contraction and assume that life will continue or that we can deal with it. But then the moment of catastrophe is passed.

What does this have to do with having sufficient for our need? I think the catastrophe model -- sudden, discontinuous, irreversible change -- is what we need to prepare for. Smart people need to learn to become aware of the signs the mark the onset of catastrophes before they occur and figure out how to change course before the point of catastrophe or, at least, prepare to survive it. It's only before the point of catastrophe that something can be done. Sensing it coming and acting is crucial to avoiding or surviving its effects. It's something I've been thinking about for some time. Little by little I hope to explore this.

Chores

The end of daylight savings and the limited hours of light do have an effect. It is just harder to find time for a working person to do the chores that need to be done. In the past week, I have accomplished only a couple of tasks; picked and stored a couple of heads of broccoli and combined two smaller bins of composted horse manure. Of course, my 60th birthday left me doing other things as well. So, now I am faced with some small chores that I need to find time to do. Here is my list:
-- Go to the horse barn and get a load or two of manure.
-- Clean out the two raised beds that don't have anything planted.
-- Lay out and build three new raised beds (sort of a bigger chore).
-- Rake leaves.
-- Put the leaves and other dead plant materials that has been piled up through the shredder and get a new bin of compost started.

Most of this has to be Saturday work. The challenge is that I don't have the stamina or desire to spend an entire Saturday trying to get them all done. I will have to try to figure out what I can do in short periods before work, because that is the only time there is light available. (I haven't figured it all out yet.) I went out this morning and spent 12 minutes raking leaves. I timed the start when Jenna left to walk to the bus and the end when the bus arrived.

The temperatures have been warm and I still have the covers off the cold frames. It got down to 38 yesterday morning, but it is getting into the high 60s and low 70s during the day. I think that might be too warm to leave the beds covered. Some November! I am watching for colder weather.

Dead Hive

Doug Shaw and I went into the two hives that are on my property this afternoon. The primary purpose was to take off the top feeders. But, as soon as we got into the one hive, I could see that I had real problems. In fact, the ultimate problem. The hive was dead -- d.e.d. dead. Wax moths had totally destroyed everything inside. There wasn't a honeybee alive.

This is the same hive in which I had noticed deformed wing earlier. I had treated it with api-life, but evidently (and this is just the post-mortem done on the spot by Doug and me) the deformed wing was a marker of varroa mite infestation. The treatment evidently didn't work or didn't work well enough. Weakened by the mites, the bees were not able to fend off the moths and the moth larvae. Strong hives don't let this sort of thing happen. So this hive must have grown weak. It's sort of sad. There should be a lesson in this. I think I will try some Russian bees next.

The other hive had no sign of any issues whatsoever. There was a nice cluster of bees in the brood frame and they had stored quite a bit of honey (I judge by weight when I pick up the back of the hive). In fact, I am now wondering if the healthy hive didn't rob from the weak one when they sensed what was going on.

Doug took the frames and boxes to his chickens to clean them up. Evidently, they really did a nice job and enjoyed the feast. Glad that something could benefit.

Ida

The once upon a time hurricane Ida has graced us with her presence.


It's obviously not as bad here in the Piedmont as on the coast, which is one of the reasons I felt that we could move here. Still, there has been plenty of rain. Our 3 acres has an easement that runs through it. Today is one of those days when you can see why. In what is normally a field of grass there now runs a 4' - 5' wide stream of water. We are literally at the top of the watershed. The stream seems to start at the culvert that empties into our yard. On the other side of the street, there is no stream. It means we will probably never need flood insurance because the stream cannot rise very high even in the most severe deluge.

Ida has also brought us wind, which has been a constant 20-30 miles an hour since yesterday. Evidently, the tropical low ran into a cold front from Canada and so it has sort of stalled off the coast, keeping the winds going longer than if she would have just passed through.


This all reminds me of one of my favorite fables.

There was a farmer who needed to hire help for his farm. He went to the annual fair where young workers could be hired. He asked around, but by the time he got to the fair, most of the young men had been hired out. In fact, there was only one young man who was still looking for work. He asked him, "What are your qualifications?" The young man replied, "I can sleep through a storm."

The man thought he would look around some more. Sleeping through a storm, just when help might be most needed didn't sound like a very good recommendation. But, alas, his searching brought him no other prospects. Reluctantly, he brought the young man back to the farm.

As the days went on, he was generally pleased with the young man's work. He did his chores without complaint. He wasn't the most talkative helper he had ever had, but that wasn't bad. Then the inevitable happened. A storm came up in the night. The farmer could hear the howling of the wind, the pounding of the rain, and the roar of thunder. He ran to the room where his helper slept and tried to wake him. True to his word, he could not be roused. Shaking and yelling had no effect. He could indeed sleep through a storm.

The farmer put on his coat and went outside, expecting to find the animals and crops scattered. When he got to it, the barn was secure. The latch and the hinge that had been broken were repaired. The missing shingles had been replaced. All the animals were safe and calm, unaffected by the weather. The hay was covered and tethered.

It was then that the farmer understood what his young helper meant when he said he could sleep through a storm.

When the winds blew last night I thought about this fable. I received the strips to help secure the windows in my greenhouse yesterday, but it was already raining and I wasn't able to install them. I was pleased this morning to look out at the greenhouse and see that the panes were all still in place. In preparation for the storm, because I knew it would rain and blow and that it wouldn't get near freezing, I took the covers off the cold frames. The veggies look a little blown, but for the most part they don't appear to have been damaged. The exception is the cauliflower. About half were blown hard enough to kill them. I should have kept the cover on this one bed.

There is a bigger message, of course. There are all sorts of storms we must prepare to weather: physical, financial, psychological, relationships, and spiritual. I think that is one of the constant thoughts that propels me forward in this quest for sufficiency and self-reliance.

A Weak Hive

On Sunday, Doug Shaw helped me pull a top feeder off of the hive I have in Clarence Brown's yard. This is the same hive I fed just a week or so ago. We were both impressed that this is a weak hive. I have fed them twice and they have capped honey. But there are still empty frames in the super. I'm not sure if I didn't feed them enough, but it is probably too late to feed them again.

However, the real weakness is that there aren't as many bees as I would expect to see in a strong hive and they are way too docile. This hive always has other critters inside -- earwigs, spiders, cockroaches, small hive beetles.

It will be interesting to see if they survive the winter. I hope they do, of course. In the spring I will need to take an extra good look to see if they have a productive queen and if they have some undetected infestation of mites. (I haven't seen any evidence of mites yet, but given the variety of other bugs, I can't rule that out.)

Austerity

The other day, Kathy asked me about my post about the bathroom. She said it sounded as if I was advocating for austerity as well as sufficiency. Before that, Laura Karendal and emailed and said my blog reminded her of the Amish or the Shakers. So, I guess the question arises, "Does sufficient for our need require austerity?"

A quick look at our home should suffice to answer the question. There is little austerity there. The house doesn't qualify as posh. In fact, in nearly all respects, it is just like those in our neighborhood. We upgraded the kitchen several years ago. We added a front porch. We finished the attic (three year's of do-it-yourself labor minus the electricity and heating that were sub-contracted). In fact, I recently spent time organizing the sound and movie system.

I think the point is we have done much of the upgrading ourselves or have done it within our means. The upgrades have met various needs.

So, I don't think austerity is what is meant by sufficiency. I think instead that I use the standard of sufficiency to ask questions and plan for the future.

Cold Frames Finished

All four cold frames are finally finished and covered.

When Jeff and I were installing one of the frames, a rib broke. Of the 40 sticks that made up the ribs, to only have one of them brake is not too bad. It would be better, of course, if none of them had broken.


I thought about why this might have happened. The first two frames went up flawlessly. They were designed in large part because of the accidental breaking of the plywood when Jared and I drove it home from Lowe's. The larger of the two pieces had a minimum length of 49", so that was the length I followed. But for the two new pieces, I had Lowe's cut the length to be 48" (this cut the 8'x4' sheet exactly in half, two 4'x4' pieces). I did this so I could just put them inside the car. It avoided using the trailer. So my first thought was that loosing 2" on the length of the rib might have put more stress on the boards than they could handle. However, when I took out the lag bolts that held successfully installed ribs, they had already started to hold the curved shape they had been forced into, so the wood's flexibility was sufficient to accommodate this arc.

I think the better explanation was how this one board was installed. Each ribs is fastened with two lag bolts on either end connecting it to the frame of the raised bed. For all other ribs, I only put the upper lag bolt in first and put it in loosely, allowing the rib to flex a little while I started the second bolt. For this one, the first bolt went in tight. When we tried to put the second bolt in, it was difficult to find the lower hole and we pushed it too quickly. I think it stressed the rib too much and it snapped.

I replaced the broken rib (didn't lose any hardware in the process). Then I installed the fourth frame without incident. I had learned the lesson, so I proceeded slowly, leaving the top lag bolt loose until the lower lag bolt was in place.

I went to my office earlier in the day to finish constructing the cover. (The office has a large room where I can spread the plastic out, cut it to size, fold the edges and tape them, then put in grommets.)

Bits and Pieces

I called customer service this morning about my greenhouse. It has been hard getting in touch with the people who provide customer service; I'm not sure why. A very friendly woman answered the phone and knew immediately what my problem was -- the strips that hold the windows in place have warped. Evidently, the greenhouse parts are fully warrantied. She is sending me replacement strips at no cost to me. (I was prepared to pay if I had to.) So, despite its small problems, I am happier now with the greenhouse than before and I would recommend it to someone wanting a small space to let seedlings grow. The company does a decent job with warrantying its product.

This morning I went to make my oat meal and found moths in the container. I selected storage containers specifically with the idea in mind to keep moths and other bugs out. I looked and found moths (plenty of them) in 3 of the remaining 8 oat meal containers. I went deep into the one container I found moths in, throwing away the top layers of oats, and cooked some anyway. Kathy noted that if any were alive, they would probably die in my digestive tract anyway, so I shouldn't worry. I threw the rest of that container away.

Thinking about it, it must be the case that the eggs got in before the container was sealed, because the lids do fit nice and snug and, once inside, the moths and larvae have not apparently been able to get out.

It was 34 degrees this morning. Everything was fine in the garden.

More Cold Frames

It was 30 degrees when I woke up this morning, with the over-night low being 29. So, the cold weather is upon us. I'm glad to have installed the covers on the cold frames yesterday.

I looked at the broccoli. I have one large head. It seemed OK, but I will need to check it again.

At lunch I bought more plywood for the two frames I want to put over the broccoli and carrots and onions. I have one cover ready to go (#3). I need to make a fourth.

This evening, I started making the frame. I had Jeff help me cut the plywood into 2" boards. The last time (which was the first time), I wasn't as concerned about precision. As a result, the boards weren't as well formed (size varied just a bit more than I should have let it) and I tried to drill press multiple boards at the same time. This time, I watched closely as we cut the boards. I used a template I had created on Excel to mark where the holes should be drilled and I drilled the holes on one board at a time. I am very pleased with the result. The joints lined up much more cleanly.


It was too cold and dark to get the frames installed, so Kathy and I just put sheets on the broccoli for tonight.

Getting Ready for Frost

It was down to 36 degrees in our yard last night. The forcast for the next several days will be for even colder nights, down into the frost zone. I went out this morning and put the covers on the cold frames. I need to build two more and hope I can get them built before the carrots and broccoli sucumb.

November Cutworm?

I went out this morning to just look around. Daylight savings is gone and that gives me time in the morning and I doubt I will have any in the evening when I get home from work.

Most things looked good, but I need to do some clean up. The tops of plants that have been harvested haven't yet been put into the compost. There are small weeds poking up where the carrots and sweet potatoes grew, and some larger weeds in areas that I neglected.

Looking around was what I expected until I examined the cauliflower closely. One looked like it had fallen over because of the rain. But a closer inspection revealed a severed stem.



I didn't think I would have to deal with cutworms at this time of the year. I guess little collars are in the making for this evening. Of the 18 plants I put in, 1 died at the outset (the top growth had been pinched) and it looks like 3 will go from cut worm damage. Damage!

Cheers and Jeers

We harvested some broccoli from the garden yesterday and we have more ready to gather. Yesterday's turned into broccoli cheese soup.


The spinach is coming along nicely, but is only a couple of weeks old, so it is not ready to harvest yet.



I planted some cauliflower seeds about two months ago in 9-pack containers. I kept them in the greenhouse. Nothing happened. So about a month ago, I replanted. This time, I kept the 9-pack in the house in a Ziploc plastic bag to ensure that moisture and temperature would be constant. Some of these seeds sprouted -- not all, but enough to make me avoid the total failure label.


But here is what has me bothered today. The greenhouse was bought from Costco, but is no longer offered there. The problem I have had from the beginning is that the windows pop out because the system for holding them in is either poorly designed or poorly produced. (In my case, I think it is the latter.) The windows are held in by a thin plastic strip that snugs the window in place against an aluminum frame. The strips are warped. I have two windows that I am often replacing. Sort of a pain.


This is a problem that I have to solve one way or another. I have thought of drilling small holes and threading a bolt or something through it. I don't have much started in the greenhouse so far and don't plan on anything until spring, but I have to get this one solved. A greenhouse without windows that stay put is not a greenhouse.