Category: Normal Life Updates

The Day Has Arrived!

It is with tremendous satisfaction and great happiness that I can now announce that the day has arrived! We are finally set to see temperatures up in the forties and fifties. The forecast at the moment shows a few days that will dip in the mornings to below freezing. Apart from that, we look set to have actual springtime weather! The fields around us are still frosty and white, and covered in a fair amount of snow. I have heard some farmers are complaining about a late start to the year, and how that may affect hay prices. I have also heard it said that this is how winters here used to be. Seems conflicting. But as the precipitation we have had seems to have put a dent in the drought conditions, I sure welcome it! Hopefully the reservoirs will hold enough I can recklessly grow a garden this year!

A note on precipitation, I notice the forecast shows none of that coming at all. That is a real change from recent weather! We could use the chance to dry out! The ground is saturated, and the water table is high! It is showing itself around the house, right in our own yard! So I am happy to see a break. Mud season has been hell this year! I can barely get my tractor back to get hay from the stack. We have new trailers that are stuck in the front of the house due to the mud, too. I could not possibly drag them back to put them away. But that’s okay. There is some work yet to be done on them before they are ‘put away.’

Even though it got cold last night, I woke up to a morning when the pools of water around us are steaming, and hopefully showing signs of evaporation in the sunlight.

Missus is squeezing in some time during work hours at home to do some spinning on her spinning wheels. I have to say, she has really improved so far this spring. She has gone from art yarn to something narrow and consistent in its appearance. I am pretty proud of her! I hope she is well proud of herself, too!

It is grandson’s weekend over, and he has spent the night a day early due to his mother and father’s involvement in a friend’s wedding. Right now, it is time to go fight with him over his attitudes about getting dressed in the morning. Oh, the joys and trials of being five!

A Passing Snow Squall in the Night

I woke up nearly at 2:00 AM last night. After tending to my personal reason for waking, I went back to bed, and checked the weather on my tablet. There were four weather alerts but two were about actual precipitation. The first was a typical winter weather advisory, and the second warned of a snow squall about to hit our place. Well, I have heard of blizzards and the like before, and seen them on occasion. But a squall? I may have been through them before, but the only way to know for certain was to stay up the fifteen minutes necessary to let this squall set in over us. Once the allotted time had passed, I checked out the glass of the balcony door. Looked pretty much like a blizzard to me! There was little visible but sheets of snow hammering down from the sky. I could see the neighbor’s house, and the people next to them while their light was on. But beyond that, nothing could be seen but the snowfall. It came down pretty steadily at about a 45-degree angle. It would have certainly laid down a lot of snow if it stayed around for longer, but it only lasted about an hour. Then we were back to a clear night with high cloud cover. Nothing to worry about.

By morning about three inches of snow topped what we already had on the ground from previous days. I cleared that from the dog walk and the mailbox approach with the tractor. It was light and fluffy. Would have been great for skiing in! As we are only about two weeks till the start of Spring, I sure welcome it! Go ahead and do your will, old sky. It’s not like we don’t need the snow to help us long!

My next task is to get the dehydrator going and put in some meat I got to make jerky with. It has marinated long enough by now, and I need to do this before it goes bad. I thought I had reports due for the school, but they are not due till next week. I won’t want to keep it till then, as it is my birthday then. It is a happy Sunday here on the farm!

Autumn Proper

The first week of November is already by, and I am already starting to lament the thought of that long period between Christmas and spring planting, when the seed catalogues come, and the season never seems to go. Everyone who lives with plants knows just what I mean. As for those with animals, unless they can afford plenty of hay, they will understand the anxieties I have right now about the amount of hay we have on hand, and how well the tarp is staying on it, or not. Anyone who survives the cold with only wood heat and limited access to the wood knows the other anxiety I am suffering right now. I know we could be a lot worse off in so many ways. It is just a part of the agrarian life that one lives with when each year one gets just enough to get by. I hope that during the coming year I will better this situation and get truly ahead.

I have got so much done in the past month since the tractor arrived that I am amazed. I am half done with the land bridge from the main property across the street to the other side of the swale at the bottom of the place. Once that is done, I will be able to wither carry on with the idea of planting trees along there and calling it Willow Bank, or I could let the livestock over to graze at their leisure and have about 4/10ths of an acre more land to feed from. It’s no small thing as that would support a cow for a while. Every little helps. But if we do the Willow Bank idea, it would be best to leave it as an untouched natural space for animals and picnics. Willow trees would just finish it over there, providing shade and play.

I went out to do some work in the shop yesterday but noticed the llamas giving attention to something at the bottom of the property. I could not see what it was, so I went over instead, and found three hounds had trapped a raccoon and were biting and barking at it. The raccoon was in a struggle, but I could not do much to interfere with frenzied dogs who would only ignore my pleas for them to stop and let it be. I checked with some people who I saw on the next property, but the dogs were not theirs. I went back and the raccoon was still alive, but had no fight left in it. I thought the dogs were being fairly inefficient at killing it, then realized what was going on. They had worn it down, then one bit on its throat till it choked to death. It was a maneuver that they could not have pulled off with the raccoon fighting back. It was a sad thing to see, but they were not my dogs and I could not stop them, and I did not want to get tangled up with a raccoon. If there are rabies, then I’d be the final victim. No thank you. I now know who’s dogs they are, but there is not much I can do about them, as they live close enough that unless they are going to keep their dogs permanently locked up, they will always end up over on ours. Also, we have had horses break lose and end up in their pasture before, too, so it is probably best to keep an understanding with these particular people. It was a raccoon. It was not one of my animals. But it does mean that I have limits to what animals I can keep over there, as small ones and waterfowl are probably out of the question. It is best as a grazing pasture.

I am nearly done setting up for a welder in the shop. I need to clean up in there, so I don’t set a fire or cause an explosion. I just need to install some gear I have got in order to plug the welder in, then I need to get some practice in. I have got me some learning to do. I put in all the electrics into the cottage for Missus, and now I am doing a bit of work on the shop. Much of it is done already, and things are working much better in there. For example, the air compressor is kicking on at full power now and runs without tripping a breaker. It sure feels a lot safer without worrying about all the power coming into the shop down a single extension cord from the house! That has also relieved a circuit in the house, too! The kitchen ought to run better, and we have finally closed that window on the front porch all the way. There is the door out there that could do with being replaced, and I think it will keep much warmer in there going forward from that.

The Season’s Change

Nothing marks the end of summer for the children quite like the start of the school year. The school year starts in the morning though, and we have got to get things going for the home education program. Our oldest is going to be taught via teachers online, and our youngest will have a school provided curriculum with e as her lead. Despite these, we have no idea what to do tomorrow, or who to log in with or whatever. If the year starts a little slow, so be it; it has happened before. We’ll get it figured out.

Summer does not end till the third week of September. Even as an adult I still have a time getting my head around the difference between when the school year starts and closes a hard curtain on summer, and when the actual season changes according to the Earth’s orbit around the sun and its reflection on the calendar.

The firewood collection is coming along well enough. I have almost half of it split and stacked, though there we need more to fill the bunk, and more to stack away for use in the fireplace and in the shop. I do intend to go get more wood still, and there is time to do it. We need to get the last of it gathered and split by Thanksgiving at the latest. We are limited to Friday’s now, though, because of school.

The new log splitter seems to be working out pretty good so far. It does not allow the carburetor to fill with water the way the Champion did. That makes it easy to start after wet weather. Not that we have had much wet weather!

The drought is still on here in Southeast Idaho. With the change in the climate, it is probably time to stop calling it a drought and accept it as the new way of things here, unless of course we are still in the course of change. Probably so. I think we will need to change how we do our thing here. Let’s see what comes this winter with the winds of change.

The weather station is working pretty good so far. I bought that new computer about a month ago, and it seems to be doing what it needs to in order to track the weather station and keep the database, and publish the weather online. I added a second monitor to it as it is powerful enough to run a lot more than just a weather station.

That’s what’s new here on the Peasant’s Manor Farm.

Summer Scything

I was awake at 5AM this morning, and it only took one YouTube video about medieval scything to get me up and send me out the door chasing g the tall grass along the side of the road before the sun rose. I only cut one tenth of an acre before the sun peaked up over the eastern mountains. It is enough grass for a couple of days of feeding, and puts off the purchase of hay for a little bit longer.

While cutting it was easy to imagine parents of the past scolding their children for leaving strips of grass uncut as they passed. On second thought, I wonder if they said it was okay, as those would drop some seed soon, helping to prepare the field for next year? It is hard to know exactly what the conversations would have been in the practical sense, so the chore has to be done time and again to really master it, and get into the mindset. People were not just stupid dolts then, and the chore would have been, much like all aspects of life, mastered.

Knowing that the people of the time tended towards piety, or were at least led to guilt, it is easy to see how the metaphors of death and God were woven into the daily chores.

Back in for breakfast and two cups of coffee as I was joined soon by the rest of the family to start our day off together. Missus began with working in the herb garden while I lent her a hand at moving some potted bushes to the back border of the space, gathering some fallen grass up, and bringing out the box with solar lights in it.

After finishing up the day’s work in the herb garden I went out back and started watering the trees, and I removed the fire ring that had grass growing up all around it, which made it impossible to see. I used a pitchfork to find all the stone, and pull them up, but once I found the perimeter of the ring, I ran down the grass around it with the riding mower, to make it easier to see where I was working, and less intimidating. Once everything was loaded, I took it to separate it out to a stone pile next to the granary and a compost pile next to the llama pen. Some things went to the bins for collection. The whole fire ring removal was a fair amount of work by itself. Time was, it would have been about half of my day’s work, but today it was less than a quarter, and I never got bone sore like I used to. I got tired. But that was fine. I had to sit and soak that in, because for once, I was able to get a lot of work done, and I was not sore for it.

There were various other chores that I got to today, too. But those are the highlights. We are expecting company tomorrow when our oldest comes to visit. That will be a highlight all in itself.

Summer Stuff

My daughters and I went down to the city dump yesterday to pick up some firewood for winter. We got a pretty good amount already cut down to length, and I cut some more to size also, so it’s out of trailer and right onto the log splitter. There were some birch pieces at the dump too, so we picked up a bit for me to try on the lathe.

I think we got a cord and a half or so . I need to get everything split and stacked and see if we have got enough to last all winter or not. Hopefully we do. We’re certainly a bit closer!

This morning I could not sleep from 3AM, and finally at 6AM I gave up and got up and went out to the roadside with my scythe and cut down a good two or three days’ worth of feed for the goats and the llama. My process is to cut a bit then pull it up in a couple of days to feed. At the moment it goes right from the ground and into the feeder. I am not storing any in a pile anywhere.

This afternoon I worked in the herb garden, putting down mulch and finishing beds, boarders and all. I cut the grassy paths, too. I hope that the work in there will help Missus catch up on what she wants to get done there and make the garden into what she is dreaming it to be.

This evening would be a great time to top up the water troths while I feed the animals, as well as get some of that firewood split and stacked. The herb garden is not finished, but the progress on it has been substantial enough that I won’t feel guilty for doing something else for a spell.

Father’s Day

Tough Father’s Day today. My stepdad passed away yesterday due to complications surrounding heart surgery he had back in March. Nevertheless, I spent the day with my wife and kids, and enjoyed it as I could. I got a lovely Mappa Mundi etched in wood with Romanesque surrounds. On the back was a sweet poem written by my daughter and also etched in wood. I am framing it with a homemade frame that is open on both sides so I can display either. I could not have asked for a better day with them.

I have found my limitations with my joint pains, and though it seems I can leave a relatively pain free life, I think I cannot do a whole lot more than I was able to before without my pain starting back up again. I will try working my way up a bit still and find a higher threshold. If nothing else, to be pain free is a suitable condition.

We are in a cool spell right now, and have a nice day promised tomorrow. It will be lovely if the wind settles down and we can have a day free of dusty haze. It’s been like that here the past few days, and really unpleasant where the views go, and where the air quality is concerned. At least it has not wreaked of smoke yet, as it has done in previous years.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. I know it is bittersweet for my brothers above all, and hope so much they find their way through this moment of pain and to a place of peace.

Recovering From A Life of Pain

The trouble with manual labor is that it requires someone who is fit enough to do it. If you are thinking of taking on a homestead, you will be able to put a lot more into it, and get a lot more out of it, if you are fully able bodied, and capable of keeping up with all of the chores. I never could admit to myself over the past decade or more that I was never fully capable. I am 51 years old and have been suffering severe joint pains since my teens. Admitting that to myself, and accepting it, has never been a part of who I am, because doing so would be accepting that I will never have as much out of life as I want, or that I will never be able to provide that my family needs.

Then comes this time last week. I decided to try out some tablets that are available over the counter at Sam’s Club for joint pain. To me, my pain has always just been ‘in my bones,’ and I have never been sure of what needed to be done to properly correct it. It has been worse the past decade or so, though I have experienced it almost all my life. So sure, one bottle of glucosamine, please.

On the first day, the joint pains were gone, but I still hurt. It was not hard to figure it out though, as I have been limping and walking a little hunched over for some time now, and I have been adapting to the pains. I was finally able to use my body normally. Also, I was tired the first day, but that’s to be expected when recovering from immense pain. New muscle movement, new posture and position, of course it would be exhausting. I kept going like that for two more days. Then the tensions started to ease off. I am now six days into it, and today I have been fully active, and able. I have finally confirmed the feeling I held for many years that other people were more capable in their daily lives simply because they were not going through what I have been going through. It was a revelation, and it was a relief beyond words!

Now all I can do is hope I can retain access to the tablets, and that they keep working. One thing’s for sure. They have given me a life I never expected to have.

The point of all this is to acknowledge a massive change in my life, and to address the hope I have that it will mean I am more capable than ever to accomplish my goals on our little farmette. It is also, of course, to advise that one not necessarily take on more than they can handle, and to be realistic of their ambitions, or to at least be ready to come up short when injury and pain get in the way. It’s all just part of it.

The Weather and Heating

According to an article I just saw, January was in a drought, officially, in our part of Idaho. I can confirm that anecdotally. I have not seen much new snow at all. None, really. If you were to look in our yard, you would find snow that has been there since December. Forecasts for the rest of February are not promising.

As for temperatures, it has been warming for the last week, giving the feeling of an early mud season. The grass has been wet, and some of the snow has melted away. There is still a lot covering the ground, but the clear patches are getting larger.

Our upstairs furnace started producing carbon monoxide on the 29th of January. We had a visit from the fire brigade, and then after the weekend, we had a visit from the repairman. The repairman took one look at it and said he could not fix it because it is in a bedroom, and as a combustion furnace, it is out of code. We had some things to discuss in this house, let me tell ya! The furnace upstairs is there because there is no route for ducting from the downstairs to the up. The downstairs furnace has not operated since 2015.

We decided to order some 400-watt panel heaters that hang on the wall and produce constant heat. The effect is similar to a radiator. I ordered three, but so far have only installed two. Between them and the woodstove in the dining room, the house is easy to maintain at about 70F throughout. That’s with the temperatures outside in the tens and twenties. I am actually concerned that when the temps get up into the thirties and forties, it will get too hot inside, and will be hard to keep at an even temp throughout the day.

I have yet to be updated on our electrical usage, but the two panels are using about as much electricity as two or three always on computers. Either way, we are no longer using propane, so there is a cost saved there where the money to cover the extra electric cost can come from.

As for our firewood, I think we will be running out early this year. I need to get more each year ready for winter. I have some green wood that we can burn into to keep warm after we run out of seasoned. There is still about a cord of seasoned left, mind. But once it is gone, I will need to watch the chimney more closely. Green wood burning clogs the spart arrestor. It also clogs the pipe if not kept clear, so I may have to have it apart for that. We are fortunate to have a bend in the bottom of the masonry, which is also out of code, but it collects what drops much faster than the rest of the pipe clogs, and it keeps me after that pipe, and aware of the condition of the entire thing. Once I have to clean that bend out, it is not much of a stretch to just clean the whole pipe. The whole job only takes about an hour. Small price for heating that has proven safer, easier to service, and much more reliable than our furnaces. Less costly to feed, too!

So that’s where we are at with our heating situation. It is a little unconventional, but it seems to be working. It is also redundant, still. I think in a perfect world, I would run a couple of dedicated circuits to carry only the heaters, and put a dimmer switch over each one, allowing them to be individually controlled, and turned down, especially for spring and fall.

Half-way through February, it is getting time to start making some solid plans for spring. Missus has said she would like to try a garden again this year. I would REALLY like to put water in near to the garden spots, so it is not all hose dragging and maintaining. It really kind of ruins it having to carry upwards of 300 feet of hose around the yard to be able to reach everywhere. It’s a pain where watering animals is concerned, too.

Out With the Old, Propane

It’s -2F outside right now, three in the morning. The house felt cold, so rather than try to roll over and go back to sleep, I got up to answer nature’s call and to put some wood on the fire. It was a hot bed of coals when I got to it, so I scooped those to tone side and added three medium sized logs to it and let them light. Once the plasma had formed, I shut the door and set the damper for a fair burn, enough to keep the flames going, but not enough to burn quicker than a couple of hours. Missus will be up and able to add more wood when it goes down.

The furnace upstairs started producing carbon monoxide last week, and we have had to shut it down. We had a fella come by and give it a look, and he right away said he could not repair it simply because it was not properly vented for where it existed, in a bedroom. The only way we could carry on with it where it is would be to replace the existing unit with a direct vented unit, or an electric one. Also, he understood my reluctance to give up on this particular unit for reliability. It is an old Whirlpool unit, produced here in the USA, with a tag on it that states it was produced with Union Labor, that he said was about 60 years old. He said what would need to be done on the unit to get it working properly again, which I am not qualified to do, and am not so sure I would want to for the reasons he gave that he was not allowed to repair it. Sucking up all the oxygen in the room while there are sleeping inhabitants was mentioned.

So, with the furnace shut down, we are heating on wood alone at the moment. It is enough to keep the cold at bay and make the living spaces quite bearable even in the temperatures we have been experiencing, which has ranged only from -8F to about 30F, on a good day! It’s bee cold! But it has been easy to keep the whole house at mid 60’s and above, even through the night.

Missus has been using a wall panel heater that uses half the wattage of a normal space heater and having great success with it. It is not the kind of thing that heats a room up to hot, at least in the large room where she is using it. But I think in these smaller upstairs rooms, they ought to keep the space quite nice, and hold the cold back plenty well if they are put in the right places. I have ordered three more of them and will be giving them a try. We also added more smoke alarms in preparation for any methods of heating, as we did not like the idea of carbon monoxide being made in the house. The alarms sense it, in addition to smoke. As they are on battery, they will have an advantage over the sensors that went off last week. Not that we would be producing carbon monoxide when the power is out, and the sensors would have to be on a battery to function. Then we would be on the woodstove alone, again, and I think I have only ever set the alarm next to it off one time in all the time we have used it to heat.

With all these changes, we will be shutting down our propane tank and using strictly electric heating and the woodstove going forward. The money we save on propane will go to the electric bill instead, with the woodstove doing the bulk of the work during the winters. I think our propane dealer is going to be disappointed. We are their best paying client apparently, because of the way we pay. Rather than requiring a fill and then struggling to pay the balance, we have always paid $50 a payday (twice a month), then asked for fills out of our credit on account. We have a credit now, and a full propane tank, and no way to use it. At best, I could probably have it connected to our barbeque and use it up that way, but that is sure going to take time! How long can I operate a barbeque on 300 gallons of propane? It has lasted us half a winter on constant use with that old furnace!

I’d like very much to have the propane tank moved out of the garden it is in and put somewhere more convenient for filling and use at one of the outbuildings. I think there is a lot of use in it still. In addition to the barbeque, there is the idea of being able to heat water on a range for chicken processing. This all leads to a change in how we use the granary, which we have considered before using as an outdoor kitchen. Is this the year to do that?