Ann and I went out to the Farm late this afternoon to put out about twenty-five pounds of Crimson Clover seed. The Clover is intended to begin the long process of choking out the weeds and grasses we don't want. We also spent a bit of time spraying those few pesky berry vines missed in the last spraying. It looks like we'll actually tame the berry problem in the first year of cultivation.
While there, we added a truck load of leaves to the compost heap, which has grown to twice the size it was when we pushed it together in the Spring tractor day #6. The heap sits in a two foot deep depression just inside of the front gate, now a mound about four feet high. I figure there's maybe five cubic yards of compost in that pile. The compost will be the basis of MacGregor's Garden's organic fertilizer once we get it all sifted out. We planned this compost pile from the start of the project and have been seriously composting everything we could for two years. Sifting compost is a project designed for early December, but we won't get to it until early January, once we are spending the weekends at Camp Creekside and building the first market garden.
I am planning to re-purpose the trailer from my landscaping business into a box trailer to haul things around in. I'll put a chain link cover on it and then throw the compost on top of the fence to sift the big pieces out, leaving a fine mulch to use as soil amendment.The result of the compost screening might cost as much as twelve dollars a cubic foot to buy at the garden store and if all goes well we will be able to keep the compost heap producing for us indefinitely. A real savings, and better produce. Eventually I will need to make a real compost sifter, something with a fine mesh and a powered screen shaker. I have seen these screens made into a motorized barrel which sits at a slant and the big stuff fall into a pile suitable for burning, but I have no idea if I can build such a thing. So a flat screen will need to be the thing for the time being.
After our work was done (not a big work day), we walked around and had a great time talking about things to come. This is one of our favorite passtimes, talking about where the tiny home will sit and how much fun the dogs will have once we make the permanent move to Camp Creekside.
Darkness falls pretty early in late Fall, at the base of Oregon's coast range, so we headed home just before dark.
It may seem to be too much information to continue this, but it is important to the history of Ann and I as a couple, and also the history of the Farm.
After returning home we made a dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I also made biscuits using Ann's new pancake and biscuit pre-mix (something we might wish to sell in our Farm Store someday). This new biscuit and pancake mix uses all non-GMO flour and non-GMO sugar. This is important because the GMO flour and sugars have so many downsides. I've used Bisuick brand biscuit mix since I was old enough to cook, but the GMO flour and sugar made continuing to eat the stuff impossible. The heart burn and upset bowels stemming from the herbicides and pesticides used in making the grains, beets, and corn is a national tragedy in the making. Now, having a new mix, I can return to making a simple pancakes and biscuits instead of waiting for Ann to do it from scratch.
Though I am a good cook, I am not to sort to use measuring utensils or recipes, so a mix is better for me if consistent results are your goal. I once heard the WC Fields could never read the same line from the script twice the same way. The food I cook tends to come out well, but I make it up every time so things come out different.
The flavor of our new mix is really very good. Perhaps a little sweeter and the baking soda flavor comes through more than with Bisquick. But the mix works the same for me as the Bisquick once had and the results are very good.
Dinner was superb. But the day did not end there. Afterwards we took a bottle of champagne out to the Cabin tiny home sitting in our driveway. Drinking champagne in front of the electric fireplace watching Amazon Prime on a smart phone while pretending to already be living at Camp Creekside was a nice way to end the day.
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