Spring Update

Breakin' Wind

We put (nearly) the finishing touches on the windbreak today. The latest additions include a row of Rocky Mountain Juniper (which weren't available last year when we put our order into the seedling nursery), and a handful of replacement Ponderosa Pines and Doug Firs that didn't make it through the winter. For the most part, though, it looks like well over 90% of our shrubs and trees are budding out and looking great! There are a few more unfilled holes waiting for trees, but we got the bulk of the work done and are super happy about it. We now have 400-ish trees/shrubs in the ground. Tonight: Aleve and early to bed.

Rocky Mountain Juniper

Big Blacks

Soon to come to the Blue Cloud farm are two "little" pigs. We're switching over from pink Hampshire hogs to a heritage breed called Large Blacks.  The hogs are appealing as they are meant to graze. Apparently, they are very docile, in part to their large floppy ears that block their vision. We'll train them to a hot wire, so that we can easily rotate their pasture, and see how they do. We will be getting our two black piglets from a breeding farm (Cranky Carl's) up north in Eureka, MT, within the next few weeks. This year is a test run. Hopefully, if it all goes smoothly, and if the bacon is up to par, we'll look into breeders next year.

In with the Black....

...out with the Pink.

The Potato Patch

The Potato Patch.

In anticipation of two more hogs to feed, we expanded our garden area. The Potato Patch is 400 square feet of newly roto-tilled land just to the east of our solar panel. It sits in between two of the rows of windbreak, so we'll easily be able to hook up watering system from the tree water drip line. Tonight we put in about 60 potatoes, so hopefully they grow. We'll also add a corn patch, turnips, and cabbage to the same area. I also transplanted some of our horseradish into a container to sit near the spuds, to ward off potato beetles.

The Worm Bin

The composting worms are going on two years old, and they've not yet been mentioned here. I just put some vermicompost on the garden tonight, so I think it's time the worms deserve a little spot light.

I ordered my red wigglers from this guy who seems to be the go-to source for all things worm composting. If you're interested in worm composting, check out his site. He even does weekly podcasts. He loves his worms.

I've got a "worm inn" which houses my red wigglers. It's basically a nylon bag with a zipable screen on top and drawstring cords to keep it closed on the bottom. It cost a little more up front, but I like how easy it is to care for. Moisture is the first priority in worm composting, and you can run into trouble with underwatering (worms die) v. overwatering (risk of anearobic stink). The worm inn basically makes it impossible to overwater, as you pour in water through the top screen, and the excess runs out the bottom, through a little drain hole.

We generally feed our worms vegetable scrap matter, eggshells, and coffee grounds. Carbon goes in in the form of cardboard, newspaper, or egg cartons. We harvest about every 4 months. I probably could adjust things and make it more efficient, thus getting more compost, at a rate of double. But I'm sort of lazy about the worms, not really paying attention to size of scraps that go in, and sometimes surely underwatering. They keep putting out the rich, brown compost, so I figure we're not doing too bad.

Maiden Voyage

We took Shrimp Scampi on our first run for a quick overnight to Canyon Ferry Lake. The dogs and the humans all had a great time. The heater, operated via thermastat, was a great perk, especially considering we got a bit of snow. Minor glitch: we forgot salt. Majar glitch: the batteries didn't charge properly while the truck was running....I'm sure Bill will post more on that in a later Scamp blog.

Commuter Challenge

Bill and I signed up, through our respective employers, for the Helena Commuter Challenge. It's an event sponsored by the County to encourage folks to bike or walk to work in May. Blue Cloud sits about 10 miles out of town, so we'll be getting our biking on!