urban farming-micro farming

as some of you know.....i am a firm believer in urban farming
in old fashioned victory gardens,
and in people being more proactive in the production of their foods
i also like to eat locally ( which for me isn't too hard as i have a lot of friends that are farmers....and we grow a lot of our own food here)

i have hopes that soon we will return to goats, chickens and sheep being returned to the urban and suburban areas....

as some of you know i have 4 sheep and a goat that i currently board..... i have more then enough land here but due to zoning.... i can't have them here.
( deer, wild bear and turkey yes.....my sheepies and goatie no-even though my neighbors would be more then happy to see and BORROW my little wooly lawn mowers and brush clearers)

so as you all also know.....we want to move to a larger peice of land so my babies can come home
( and i want a mini jersey milk cow too)

i think small scale family farms and neighborhood cooperation is not only the way of the future, but may end up the way most people that are middle class working folk are going to survive.

every day i hear of food recalls, due to various nasty bacterias or contaminations
it is getting very scary to me
i see on the internet that our children are not only getting fatter, but getting things like ADHD etc.

i think part of it is the NON-FOOD we are feeding ourselves
chemical cocktails that at this point our bodies are not able to fully utilize

while i am not advocating wheat grass shakes and tofu
i AM thinking that NOT putting human growth hormones in our beef
and NOT killing our meat while the animal is terrified out of it's mind is a start in the right direction

i am also thinking that going back to having a backyard cow...... which is a smaller thrifty beast could be a good idea
or milk goats
or milk sheep
one cow per two or three average sized familys?

i am thinking....... at this point
the systems we have in place now are not working really well
and if oil continues to be a problem the practice of bring food long distances won't be workable either

just a few random thoughts

as i wait for my seeds to start

til next time

vi

does it ever end?

i spent two hours on the phone today with verizon.....
we are trying to change our cable broadband to dsl.
we would have a savings of 240 a year by doing so


after the two hours of nothing but people who could NOT speak or apparently understand english
that 240 seemed like just not enough savings to me.....

verizon ships with 'in line' filters, which every phone must have to use their service.
fine
except i have wall phones, which have a seperate filter
and they charge you over 10. a peice for them
i needed three

BEFORE i even could decide if i liked this dsl service or not they are soaking me over 30.bucks!

i got so pissed off i told them

you know what, CANCEL this damn service
forget it
i will stay with broadband through the cable company and forget verizon
( and i will find a NEW PHONE option while i am at it)

miracles do happen as the last person i spoke to is sending me the filters i need for nothing

as they don't want to lose me as a customer
ok
then why did verizon put me through hell for over 2 hours
and i still don't have dsl ????????


just one of the little things that make life so damn exciting

( this is sarcasm.....just in case anyone noticed)

i am still not a happy camper..
i am thinking verizon owes me and bernie a meal at a resturant for the over 2 hour run around i got today
with a lot of folks that didn't speak or understand english

oye

til next time

vi

coming to you LIVE from the studio FLOOR

no shit..... i am practically ( and for all intents and purposes)
on the floor
as my chair broke~!
and the piston that kept it up high enough is now gone
so i am about on the floor!

we are going out this week to replace it

meanwhile
you folks that know me in person know how vertically challenged i am

well....imagine MY chubby little knee up around my ears....

to say this is annoying .....well.....
you know


now i tried a few other chairs
but like baby bear.....they ain't quite right
and they hurt my back

so right now i have three choices as i see it

this on the floor chair.....
a hurting back.....
or no computer.....

wait....did i just say the last one?
noooo
can't be


not me

nope

guess it is the hurting knee thing huh?
oye

til next time

vi

where did my week go?

well.......ok monday bernie was late getting in
tuesday due to weather he didn't get home at all ( none of us slept, not me.....not him, not the cats, not the chickens)

he got home wensday, and had to bring wood in for a few days, as due to the storm TUESDAY i couldn't get the wood up to the studio
when we all finally got to sleep the la perms slept ON HIM and i held his arm all night,..... i don't think anyone realized it until morning....

oye

last night he was late as his fleet had a unit to be cleaned
i don't know yet about today

happy valentines day to you all.....a bit late i know


i spent yesterday catching up on dishes and chipping ice out of the duck pen, trying to get the flooding in the basement under some sort of control

etc.....

holding down the fort so to speak

in KNITTING NEWS!!!

i started a KAL at KR and ravelry

for a shawl called Moroccan days/Arabian Nights designed by Susan Pandof and commissioned by Kim of Woolen Rabbit


i have never done an actual kal before so this is going to be interesting

i like this pattern, it is lace, but it is a very textured lace with beading etc
so i find this interesting
i plan on doing one in the honey color, and i am thinking i may do a second one in spicey reds....
i am even going to buy the yarn it's shown in!!!!!

i really like this pattern.

as you folks may realize, i do try to help designers along, if i like their work.
i made how many ice queens? ( she is another very talented designer)

there are a few others that i have gotten their patterns but haven't had a chance to do them yet.....
of course as i do i will tell you all

i don't mean to slight anyone
so if i have some of your patterns and i haven't said anything, it is because they are in line and i probably haven't found the yarn i want to do them in yet

now as to this week......i am very glad it's over
i hope next week is better


til next time

vi

happy anniversary noogums

today is our anniversary.....31 year
YEARS!!!!!
and he still can make me laugh
he still makes my toes curl
and while i am still super annoyed about the no canning/no kitchen countertops thing

i still love him dearly with my whole heart, and soul and toenails....

although there are times.....

anyone who's been married for a long period of time to the same person will tell you....
there are good things, bad things and things you don't bother to fight about anymore....

there is something to be said for being with one person forever.....
they are family...

sometimes more so then blood relatives.......

or maybe most often?

and while you do get mad
if you still enjoy each others company like bernie and i do

you are way ahead of the game.

he woke me up this morning, at 4:30 am ( yup we get up early)
and remembered to wish me a happy anniversary.....
me..... i was still half in a dream state.....

i just called him to make sure he'd gotten to work ok.....
yup just pulled in

we were to have gone out to eat yesterday but since he was out sick that week, we stayed home.
we shared the cooking, with a roasted chicken, my homemade mushroom gravy, mashed yukon gold potatoes and green beans from last years garden
my homemade and home canned applesauce for dessert

i am pretty sure he'd marry me again in a heart beat


til next time

happy anniversary bernie, i love you


vi


JaneThank you so much

'Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.'

i would say as i do visit your blog regularly, i would pass one right back

then there is

Catherine
Cyndy
martha
lanea
Jen
Jane
nanette
Amie
kelly
and last but not least.....a very very smart lady
bess
( bess dear.....it's true, you are scary smart)

it's snowing!!!!

naturally!

as i am trying to organize my garden plan, and make sure i have the seeds i need
i put in a small seed order to heirloom acres seeds, some colored tomatoes, and a few odds and ends that i don't have.

i still need to get the seeds for the 'old ivory egg' white tomato
and more eggplant seeds
the one last thing i would like is three blueberrie bushes

i think they will be good in barrels though....

when i was out to feed and water the ducks, i was still sort of mentally going over the garden.
even though i have it on paper, there is nothing like being OUT THERE

we have to cut back some of the apple tree that overhangs one edge.....i wish we could USE those apples....

anyway....
anyone ELSE doing their seed starting?
i have to get the pepper seeds into the starter, they take the longest to germinate

OHOHOH
the hens are on vacation....
yup since they aren't laying anyway much, we have cut their light hours back to give them a good rest, and hopefully they will be over the molt soon

no more then 12 hours a day of light.....preferably 10

even so ....we are getting three more pullets
i will give georgie up the hill some of the extra, and our attorney who also loves our eggs

til next time


vi

oh what do you all think of the names....
clotilde
yvette
clorisa
for the new hens?

any one got some suggestions?

tis the season la la la

it's time to start garden seeds....some folk already have
and
i will admit
i am a bit behind due to being sick and all

this year.....
i will be editing what i plant
my intentions are
not to over plant by 200 the tomatoes i need ( 20 of them should do it)

and only about 30 peppers.....not 100

i would however like more diversity in the garden.....
more to can at the end

this year i plan on canning sweet red pepper sauce, peppers and onions with various meats as well as plain.

i want to make sure that we have a good stock on hand of canned beans, potatoes etc

so the garden this year is MOSTLY going to be geared to canning.....
the deck garden will be our fresh eatting garden.....the main... for winter storage
and THIS YEAR
the brussel sprouts will rule!!!!!!

now when we move i intend on a hoop house to be able to move around the garden, extending a season here..... getting a jump on a season there
housing poultry over the winter....

here with the neighbors, i can't risk it
i would have mark come and clear where all the neighbor's dumping was......
level it out and put a hoophouse.....
but those kids would have the covering in shreds in about a day
i watched them breaking their own fence!

i can probably do a couple of cold frames and a very SMALL hoop house
sheilded by the main garden.....

anyway.....tis the season


so i am sitting here with long lists of varieties of seeds i have saved....
and trying to figure what to start and where it's going when it's ready for the garden.....

and yOU?

vi
til next time

Spirit Trail Fiberworks yarn

in all it's fibery goodness
SPIRIT TRAIL has some of the bestestest coloring around

isn't that the prettiest skein you ever did see?
so happy and bright and spring like!



Jen thank you so very very much

it's such a happy happy skein of yarn
now....
what to make of it??????


til next time
vi

still the flu

i am getting better
but
i keep thinking i can do stuff

i cleaned the woodstove today
took me 4 HOURS to recover......
huh?

i normally clean the woodstove, then make the coffee, feed the cats, stoke the stove,
turn on the computer, stack the dishwasher.....all in like 40 minutes in the morning

i had to REST from cleaning the stove!!!!!

i had to rest from takeing a shower.....

going to the po....ditto

as watering the ducks is.....

this flu still is knocking me for a loop

so....til next time

vi

i can't sleep

i spend the day ill again, this flu thing is pretty bad

i WAS better then went out to feed the ducks......
i ended up shaking, in a cold sweat, nauseus, dizzy, and very very weak!
just from carrying a bucket of water out to the ducks

huh?
i do that daily!

anyway, i went to bed normal time and couldn't sleep.
Thaddeaus couldn't either and kept getting on the bedside table, knocking a book off.....
and jumping off

now i got a LOT of books on my bedside table.... he was aiming to knock all them off.

bernie got upset so i dragged thaddeaus under the covers.....which is where he wanted to be anyway

but i still couldn't sleep so here i am

i was thinking about a ton of things

this upcoming election, which i intend on voting in..... now this will be my first time voting EVER, i never knew enough about it before, but after last election, i was so shocked at what i thought the smarter then me people in america did.....i swore i was going to vote in this election..... i just never knew enough before......but my friend pieheart explained it to me enough for me to really start to understand. i am smart about a LOT of things.....but politics doesn't make much sense to me.....

my chickens who aren't laying- i spoke to the folks i got them from, and they feel that the ladies are taking a break. And with the return of warm weather and longer days they will resume. i still ordered three new pullets.....yup buff orpingtons.....we are going to have chickie booms again. AND, we are going to change the ladies schedule... only 8 hours of light a day for a week or so then increase it gradually

how on EARTH we are going to move in this really tough housing market.... this is a biggie, as we need to get the sheep and goat home...... it was only for two years they were to be boarded..... i didn't figure this bad a market...... plus there are a number of things i want to get started, the orchard, greenhouse, tilapia experiment, passive solar, worm farming for castings for the garden, maybe even some more alternative energy and also more heritage breeds and veggies

trying to figure a way to be able to retire in 15 years.... another biggie, we don't have nearly enough savings, another reason i want the farm so bad, i figure it is a win win all the way around, we feed ourselves and sell our surplus, the money saved goes into retirement along with our regularly budgeted retirement savings

worried about finding a closer place for my sheep and goat so i can see them......if we can't move this year.....it was only supposed to be 2 years.....violet is two now....

wondering how long this flu from hell is going to get me.......it really has me phsycially weak i can't take much more of this, i am not used to not being able to do my chores

trying to figure what we are out of in our little storage system....... that long term food storage etc system i started two years ago has stood us in very good stead, for the most part, we have almost everything we need in emergency. This bout of flu was even semi planned for, but i didn't have enough theraflu....however i did have some.... so bernie sick as he was did NOT have to go out with his abcessed tooth to get more to break my really high fever

wondering how to get the dead tree out front taken down without going broke or having it fall on the house.... it's gettin worse, i looked at it today, but boy the wildlife LOVES it....that is why i haven't actually been in a huge rush to get it down..... i know they could use the help but it's starting to get dangerous now i think..... so even if we top if off at ten feet......they get the benefit...... we don't worry

oh yeah....i do worry RIGHT

no wonder i can't sleep

i didn't want to disturb bernie ( although neither of us sleep well without the other one there.....we better die together or no one will get any rest in peace)

so i figured i would come down.... stoke up the fire again
maybe knit a bit
write some of these worries down.....maybe i can figure a solution to some of them

see if any of my friends around the world are up..... isn't it daylight yet in england?
or how about australia?

or maybe just sit by the fire and see if i can get tired enough to sleep

til next time

vi

a certain fascination

i have to admit a deep dark secret.....

i have a certain fascination with contained small creatures

fish, small birds and rodents, even small bugs (ant farms, and worm abodes)
but especially goldfish

i don't know why

lately catherine has been posting some pictures of her garden pond with her goldfish

and naturally i am enthralled

i don't know what it is

the sparkling scales seen through that clear clear water?

.....the life? at once so at home and yet so alien?
living in an enviroment that would kill US in a fraction of a breath?

i remember as a kid going down to the creek out back ( at my aunt's house.....did anyone else do things like this?)
it was a very fast moving but shallow creek
the deepest was maybe 6 to 8 inches
but it was CLEAR

and watching minnows in the current,
hunting snails and newts and frogs

just for the pleasure of SEEING THEM

i remember watching algae clinging to the rocks
and my mom yelling for me not to get wet
yeah right

with all that life going on
how could i not plunge into it

picking up pebbles that shone like precious jewels under the water

or an empty pond snail shell

or even a bowl of pond water with a live snail in it
which naturally i was made to put back
reluctantly

i suppose i am not alone in my fascination right?
a lot of folks have ponds and keep fish in tanks

for me it's always been a mystical magical amazement to see
colorful creatures at home in the water

vi

almost back to the land of the living

and i learned a lot while i was so very sick

let my pain be a lesson to you

never drink a gallon of apple juice across 4 days......what goes in must come out
and when it does come out.........well......lets just say 'you are no longer full of shit'

never underestimate the weight of goosedown.....it weights 48 million tons per square inch
and it WILL trap you.....
as will blue eyed kittens...
who instantly weigh 97 pounds on each leg

dry toast can be a blessing

so can clean toilet bowls

there should be a law in marriages

if one person is deathly sick....the other MUST not get sick at all

sadly i broke that rule and bernie had to take care of me

i tend to halucinate nekid chickens dancing in a chorus line when my fever gets too high.....

this is an improvement of the plucked turkeys i halucinated when my temp got to 104 after bernie and i first were married

cold compresses are only a shock for a few seconds.....they are exceptionally good on your eyes

theraflu is your friend

logs for the woodstove must be made of lead
i don't know how those leaden logs burn

if you hold your arms up when you are really sick.....you fall over
(don't hang the laundry......it will bite you in the ass)

remember that apple juice thing....or you will regret NOT remembering it over and over and over

red noses are not the glamour statement you would think after hearing that stupid rudolph song

when you're really sick...... room temp water....
it's the BEST THING
vintage 20 seconds ago.....seriously
but it also weighs a ton.....must be really hard water

maybe i need a 'sippy' cup?

puffs tissues with the lotion.......pay extra


and the last thing

an entire week of your life can and WILL just slip by

you won't know
you won't CARE

and you won't even KNIT


til next time if i survive

vi

ps bernie is much much better
having gotten the other abcess yanked thursday....with no help from me

bernie is still very sick

we took him to the doctor today, he does NOT have a cold, the flu or sinus infection
she said that it was all from that tooth and the abscess from that
he was so ill this morning that in coughing and yacking....he shook the bed so hard it broke!
not the wood part
a Metal SLAT!
snapped in two!
we got it supported on wood blocks right now

he had a high fever and was shaking with the 'cold'
under a goosedown quilt and a heavy topper quilt

he kept telling me that if he could only go to work it would all be ok

his company is wonderful
his bosses are as worried about him as i am

he is eatting yet
but i am making him a lot of soups, pastina
oatmeal
tonights soup was ground beef with veggies and elbow macaronis
simmered until it was all soft for him
i had canned the meat with veggies during the summer
he's on his second bowl

he goes to the surgeon tomorrow
however if he gets worse tonight we take him to the hosptial

he can't even throw firewood on the deck
i will be bringing in tomorrows load in my wheel barrow

i also made him some honey with lemon for his throut
as this mess is draining it makes him sore and sick.....so that has been helping

i am so very grateful to have learned to can
and to have canned so much food over the summer
we certainly are using it now
( we were using it anyway.....but the soup stuff really has me grateful)

i'm really tired...
i haven't gotten much sleep but i try to sneak a couple hours in the morning
when he is up and is feeling good

funny how FAST you get adjusted again to an ill person in the house
it's like it was when my father was living with us
i work around his good days and good times and his schedule

til next time
when i hope i have much better news

vi
please wish bernie luck at the surgeon tomorrow
he needs this treated ASAP

bernie and the dentist

he's been there.... and now is a mess
he had one tooth extracted and now has got to have his impacted wisdom tooth out
and everything is covered with a lovely abcess!
oh man
MEN
WHY are they like that

so i have to run and get his RX filled
i hear his truck and yes he went to work and WENT BACK TO WORK

cause he is an idiot

and has me worried sick over him


til next time

vi

vote for MY babies.....PLEASE

no i am not bias...
hahaha
yeah right....NOT MUCH

anyway the la perm cat club in Britain is having a La Perm cat of the year contest

i entered ( i was asked) my three
fawn
calpurrnia
thaddeaus

so i ask you all
go see the la permies

vote for mine ( as they are the bestestest...... but i am not bias)
hahahahaha

http://www.laperm.co.uk/nominationsRegion1.htm

there is the url again


And the matter of my archives......
http://notashyviolet.blogspot.com/2008/01/html-and-my-archives.html

if anyone can figure it out

i would be really grateful

vi

ok i got some knitting to do now
and bernie has a very bad toothache and abscess tooth
which he is stubbornly refusing to go to the dentist for
now....where is that frying pan....you know the cast iron 12 inch one........

OH BERNIE....................

HTML and my archives

i am having a problem with my archives
they get progressively smaller to the point of being unreadable

( that is just picked at random.....scroll down)

if anyone can help me figure WHERE i accidently put that progressively 'smaller' peice of code
i would be grateful

as i am trying to figure it out and so far haven't been able to

thanks to you all

vi

i won i won i WON

i won a skein of lace weight yarn from Spirit Trail
i have never won ANYTHING in my life

so i am super super excited

i asked for magenta......or magenta and purple, red, yellow, orange
hahahahahaha

well i AM colorful you know


i am so excited!!!

now some (ha) progress has been made on the kitchen......he reversed the hang of the fridge/freezer door

still no built in dishwasher
so still no possiblity of counter tops

oh man........

still

a bit more


i guess the blistering blog post got that much done.......so what do i have to do to get the dishwasher installed?



it's a bit cold out
the woodstove is again for like the billiionth time paying for itself again

i love my woodstover

i talk nice to it and clean it daily

i highly recommend a woodstove to you all

ok i have to go
cause i am also drying clothes by the woodstove


til next time
vi

i dreamt of turn of the century immigrants

i dreamt there was a family,
mother and father
two daughters
about 4 years apart
i was seeing this from the eyes of a young teacher who came to the house to help the girls
the family was not rich
but they were not scrambling poor either
it was unclear where the source of support came from as neither parent appeared to work
it was a patriarchal family, and a fundamentally religious family although the religion was not clear.....the father was disappointed however that he had daughters instead of sons
the mother submitted to the rules of their religion and her husband

and the husband/father ruled with a strict and heavy hand according to his beliefs

from the young teachers point of view, the father was abusive
although she did not witness anything other then the father ordering his family verbally.

the demeanor of the family members and the fear in their eyes said much more
the apartment they lived in was lined with shelf after shelf of books
and the daughters sat at the center table under the light of an oil lamp studying from these books

the crutch of the dream came when the young teacher in a quest to stop some of the abuse within the family......

instead of attempting to remove or 'reeducate' the father ( which really was not done at that time)

proposed a rather unique solution......

she asked the father if she could try to jump the girls ahead a grade.....to challenge them

she informed the father that the girls were very smart girls ( which they were but not geniuses)
and
'let's challenge them just a bit, approximately half a grade'

from my vantage point in the dream i could see the father
he was so thrilled, and so proud and started to relax a bit
it did work in my dream

he had been driven to DRIVE his family out of fear that his girls weren't going to be perceived as 'good enough'
that their future life in this new country would not be as secure as he hoped
he was afraid that the community would as a whole look down upon them all
judging him and then his family inferior
that they would suffer and possible starve because of it

part of what i took away was the progressiveness of the thinking of this young teacher
in a society that did NOT have rules conducive to stopping abuse within the families.... she found a way around this

a way that everyone was a winner

and as i sit here and type this
i am starting to understand the father
which i could not do during the dream.......during the dream i kept thinking
'what a jerk......he needs to be gone gone gone'

i can see the thrill and relief in the eyes of the mother when the young teacher proposed this
i can FEEL the mood of the room lighten as they saw the young woman to the door as she was leaving

i can see the father......feel his fears start to drop away, being replaced by hope as he turned back to the center of the room and table with the girls, their books and the circle of warm light cast by the oil lamp

now i know that who ever this family is or was.............
or whatever reason this dream came

there is always another way

sometimes it is the opposite of what we think however


til next time

vi

hot porridge for all

it's cold

ok so all the people in the winter areas of the world know that already
it is obvious fact

(where the hell IS global warming when you need it???)

i'm cold

my toes even encased in woolen hand knit socks are cold

my ankles too

we won't even talk about my ass


i'm cold

sooooooooooooo

beings that I am cold
i feed all the animals a HOT breakfast

yup
the lot of them get a hot breakfast

I KNOW some of you besides shaking your heads.....are wondering

how the HELL do you feed chickens and cats and ducks a hot breakfast?????

well

cats get cat food with really really hot water stirred up into it
sort of like a kittie soup

chickens get mash with hot water and cooked oatmeal

as do duckies

my sheep and goat are out at the farm so i can't get to them
they get grain
and hay
here they would get porridge

so am i nuts?

well duh......that's a given

do the animals CARE?

who knows........ but i do


i'm cold so they get a hot meal

after all i don't have sweaters for the chickens and the ducks
just for the cats


vi
til next time

we gotta stop meeting this early.....

ok ok
so i haven't actually posted this early lately....but i have been UP
heating with wood means getting up early and getting the stove going

so i literally keep the home fires burning

i am looking into alternative energy

i would like to find a method or systems ( plural even would be ok, say passive solar and geothermal)
that wouldn't be too expensive to do
and could possibly be integrated into an existing dwelling

for when we move

yesterday i was sort of kicking around the net and found some ideas on using manure.

now before you all go..........ewwwwwww
manure CAN be stored in such a way as the odor is not accessible.
and the methane gas can be used for either fuel for cooking or heat

PLUS the heat of the actual 'cooking' compost can be used.......

then the finished compost can be used in the garden

a side product could be a worm farm....... worms for bait and castings for the garden

ok that would take care of heating problems

now how about electricity?
i know windmills, and wind turbines........but they are NOT cheap
even with tax incentives, they are not cheap......nor if i understand it right....
could one of them provide the household with enough electricity to not only go off grid
but to sell some.....
hydroelectric would be one thing......but who has niagra falls in the backyard?


if done correctly...... evenly balanced, it is my belief that a person CAN live on small acreage
AND provide a lot of their own needs for living....
not just survival but really fine living

and it need not be a back breaking endeavor

i just know too that there has to be a truly affordable way to go about all this
and once in place, i believe it would not take too much to run the entire system

animals will excrete without any more intervention then feeding them!

that needs to be moved to a place where it can join other objects of excrement and work together to do what it does best..........COMPOST


anyway.......
these are the things that i think of at 4am while waiting for the stove to heat
so i end up talking about by 5am when i am waiting to wake up

and you all thought i was shallow.......
hahahahahaahahahah

ah.......wait.......maybe i am!
haha

til next time
and hopefully WITH coffee

vi