Pressing Onward

This week we had our friend, John, who does tractor and earth-moving work, come by to give us an estimate for ridding our pastures of the stumps we left when we removed a bunch of alder trees last year, for leveling things up a bit, and for "dragging" the fields in preparation for replanting forage grass. "Ooh, this not be cheap!" Nevertheless, redoing the pastures is definitely cheaper than paying for alpaca boarding at other farms, so on we go.

Yesterday, Bill continued the process of removing leaves and branches deposited (or, in the case of the branches--relocated), by the flood water. He figures he's gotten rid of about ten percent of the mess from the areas inside the pasture fences. John will be here next Saturday, March 1, so I'm thinking that debris removal will be my chief job for the next week.

About a month ago, I had Brian, a consultant from the Thurston Conservation District, visit our farm to give me advice on how best to rehabilitate our pastures, and suggestions on appropriate use of our woods and meadow. At his suggestion, we are piling all of the stumps, branches, and leaves, and perhaps even some rocks in the wooded area surrounding the slough, rather than burning or dumping them. The "snags" formed by the piles of debris will become habitat for small critters that inhabit our woods. Brian also told me (Hurrah!) that it is not only legal, but desirable, for us to remove the non-native and very invasive blackberry brambles from the understory of our woods. He gave me a list of plants, trees, and shrubs that would be attractive, thrive in the area that is wet during the winter, and even help control flooding, and that would make good replacements for the blackberry vines.

While Bill was removing debris, I was in Olympia running errands. I attended the annual Native Plant Sale sponsored by the Conservation District, and, for less than twenty dollars, I bought about fifteen small trees and shrubs to plant in and around our woods. We plan to reopen the walking paths through the woods that the former owner of our property used to keep cut back, and I bought a few wild roses, dogwoods, and other pretty plants with beautiful bark, flowers, and/or berries to plant where they will be visible from the paths.

One of the bushes I bought is the American Cranberry, which is an upright bush that produces lots of berries that make delicious sweet-tart jams and jellies. Don't be watching your mailbox this Christmas, though. The three-year mantra for growth of newly-planted bushes is "Sleep> Creep> Leap, " so it'll probably be summer of 2010 before we get a significant crop of berries.

Toward evening, I headed outside myself, and finished raking leaves and twigs from the front and back pastures at the south end of our house, and then I used a spreader to apply Ferrous Sulfate to kill the moss that invaded the fields after the flood. The vet wanted that done before I bring the animals home. It was almost dark when I finished, and the directions on the moss-killer package said to water the area immediately after application. It was too dark to drag hoses out by then, and I was concerned that the chemical wouldn't penetrate the soil as needed. I trusted Heavenly Father to take care of things for me if I kept the Sabbath holy, though, and I was rewarded with a nice little overnight rain that washed the stuff right down into the grass. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Apart from the outside chores, I've been working on getting the inside of our house in order. We finished relaying all of the laminate in both bedroom "stalls." The wallboard repairs were completed last Monday. I painted the laundry room a pretty, light spring green. We picked out light aqua blue paint for the master bedroom, and bought two gallons early last week. After I painted a small area, though, we both hated how it looked on the wall. We decided to "live with it" for a few days, but by the end of the week, we still couldn't stand it. I took it back to Home Depot on Friday afternoon, and left if to be "doctored up" and toned down. There was a miscommunication (or no communication) between the lady who took the paint from me, (who doesn't normally work in the paint department), and the mananager who came in on Saturday morning. When I stopped by about 11:00 to make certain they knew what I wanted them to do, the paint had already been added to the "Opps" shelf, and the note I had left with it was nowhere to be found. On Thursday, I had bought one additional gallon of a color we both liked, and tried ragging it on over the aqua, but that didn't work. When she heard about the "retinting" mixup, the mgr. of the paint dept. , bless her heart, mixed up a second gallon of the replacement color for me, and wouldn't charge me for it. To my delight, a lady walked up to the counter while I was waiting for the paint mixer to stop, and bought the two gallons I had returned. In the end it was a win-win situation, and I look forward to getting that last bedroom painted so we can move our bed back in from its temporary home in the office.

Jumping In

Welcome! Does having my own blog mean I'm a grownup, or does it mean I'll probably never grow up? Hmmm...I'm afraid I already know the answer to that question. I thought this might be a good vehicle for sharing with my friends and family the day-to-day joys and sorrows of life on a wannabe alpaca farm, and perhaps even my random (though somewhat rare) thoughts of reason and sanity. So, for better or worse, and with encouragement from my son, Erik, here I go.

Before we bought our property in December 2003, we asked the former owner whether it was subject to flooding. He told us that the house is four steps up from grade level, and the property is not classified as being in a flood zone. However, there is a slough across the property that takes seasonal runoff from the nearby Black River. Sometimes the water does flow up on the next-door neighbors' property, and it may then enter the low corners of our place. Also, a few low areas of the pastures get some water pooling in them during heavy rains, but this is very temporary. During the infamous "hundred year" flood of 1996, (recently reclassified as a three hundred year flood), the water came right up to the garage doors, but it didn't get inside. He said he also had a small amount of water under the house, but that it went down quickly and readily, and there was no permanent damage. In the spring/summer of 1997, he built bermed gardens around the house to protect the foundation from future flooding, and he told us they had worked very well ever since. We opted to purchase flood insurance, "just in case." Smart move.

December 2007 began, here in the Pacific Northwest, with a big ol' flood. Rosie Borders Alpaca Ranch was covered in some areas with more than two feet of water, and the house and decks became an island from December 4th to 6th, and we ended up having quite an adventure. At some point, I'll tell the whole story of the flood days, but not today.

State Farm came through with the money (almost $9,000) to pay for needed repairs to our laundry room, garage, and crawl space, however, we had to do a lot of ripping out and cleaning up ASAP after the flood. The insulation and vapor barrier under our house were replaced last week. Later this afternoon, the contracter we have engaged to repair the damage to our house and garage will be stopping by with the project foreman to estimate the materials needed. They will begin work next Monday, and expect to complete everything by the end of that week.

Just out of curiosity, where would you put seven very expensive alpacas if flood water
came up so suddenly in the pastures that there was no way to evacuate them?

..........Video 1. Girls' Dorm: Safe But Not Happy.........................................Video 2. Bubble, Bubble, Toilet Trouble.........