A glance again on the tasks we have labored on and different memorable occasions this 12 months. The hyperlinks will take you to the
unique weblog posts.
January
In January,
we started working on swales.
| Beginnings of our first swale on the high of the backyard. |
We now have a protracted scorching, dry spell each summer season, which takes its toll on vegetation. In
the previous, we have relied on rainwater assortment and irrigation, however the higher
plan is to hydrate the bottom so totally that not as a lot watering is
wanted. The backyard swale pictured above was
the first in an ongoing swale project.
February
|
| Planting hostas in my forest backyard |
Indoor tasks included
a lot of canning.
March
We made
our spring project list
and Dan
converted an old piano into a desk.
|
| Finally, it will develop into a communication station. |
April
Kidding commenced in April with twins born on the 21st and
Caroline’s single on the 23rd.
|
| One in every of twin bucklings. |
We additionally began on one other swale for the pasture.
Might
We made
a little progress on the pasture swale
earlier than the tractor conked out.
June
|
| Jersey Buff turkey poults |
July
|
| Shut-up of our first hugelkultur construct. |
|
| It drains into the pasture swale. |
August
|
| Cherry tomatoes, okra, and bell pepper. |
It was a scorching and humid month, so the outside venture tempo slowed right down to swimsuit.
We did some analysis and dialogue in the direction of
replacing our wood heat stove with a masonry stove.
|
| Experimenting with the location of a batch field firebox. |
The attraction of rocket mass heaters is that as a result of they’ve a built-in thermal
mass, they use loads much less wooden! (The fireplace heats the thermal mass, and the
thermal mass heats the home.)
|
| We had 17 ducklings this 12 months. |
September
October
|
| A greenhouse has been on the potential venture checklist for years. |
November
|
| Dwelling milled lumber and among the home windows for the greenhouse. |
|
| Instantaneous mashed potato powder. |
December
|
| First home windows in. |
particularly constant at recording our day by day highs and lows previously, however
I consider our 7°F (-14°C) low on Christmas Eve tops (bottoms?) our earlier
document of 10°F (-12°C) in February 2015. Our first winter right here (2009) was extraordinarily chilly and the kitchen could be in
the mid-40s F after we acquired up within the morning. However then, my notion is tinted
by the truth that we hadn’t but upgraded our previous home windows and insulation.
Changing them with power environment friendly home windows and including insulation helped
loads!
Anyway, “actual” winter arrived, simply in time for the vacations. Which
was fairly good timing, I feel, as a result of it meant we may take pleasure in a relaxed
Christmas weekend with out feeling responsible for taking the time without work!
