Comments for The Shambles under Highland Butte

Comment on Phoney Phleece by George Entenman

George Entenman — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:15:43 +0000

You’re welcome!!

Comment on Coming-out Day by skepweaver

skepweaver — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:30:53 +0000

Geese are prodigious weeders (as are chickens and ducks), and completely indiscriminate in their destruction of growing things. Hence the pen. It is a movable feast, like Easter. The photo doesn’t show it, but the pen has screening on top and a shelter at one end. The wire is stout. I think little mousies can get in but, given the chance, a chicken will eat a mouse, so the pullets may have some epicurean delights ahead. Watch out, mouse!

Reaching the pedals: we put in special controls. And wing windows.

Comment on Coming-out Day by jmsdonaldson

jmsdonaldson — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:12:14 +0000

I’ve always heard that geese can be used to weed out gardens or potato patches, yet I’d be anxious that they might take out the wrong shoots inadvertently. Will you have any problems with local critters that will cause you to have to sequester the chickens at night, or is the screening on the tractor secure enough?

(I’d joke about how they reach the pedals, but hey, well…I should have.)

Comment on Coming-out Day by skepweaver

skepweaver — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:44:47 +0000

Oh, yes. Like having a flock of velociraptors on patrol around the garden.

Comment on Coming-out Day by George Entenman

George Entenman — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:51:58 +0000

I saw my first chicken tractor here in NC a couple of years ago. What a terrific idea!

It reminds me of the chicken moat, an idea I read about many years ago: you surround your vegetable garden with two fences and put chickens in between them. Apparently few bugs get into the garden.

Comment on Coming-out Day by skepweaver

skepweaver — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:02:52 +0000

Yellowcat made herself a gift to us a few years ago. By the time we understood she was staying on, we’d been calling her That Yellow Cat for some time, so she kept the name Yellowcat. Right now she is still wearing some of her winter plumage, and is leaving it all over the place in gobs of gold attached to everything she passes.

Comment on Coming-out Day by thecrazysheeplady

thecrazysheeplady — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:41:39 +0000

Beautiful cat. No better friend than a good gardening kitty :-).

Comment on About by jmsdonaldson

jmsdonaldson — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:47:41 +0000

You truly have a wonderful site, both in the vasty nothingness of the internet and on your farm in Oregon. Rather than writing a dreadful paper on Hesiod and Works and Days I’ve been reading your blog tonight, and I find that you seem to be living out my dream for the future. I’m stuck in this college town apartment on the prairie, dreaming of trees and hills and woodsmoke and chickens, hoping to find it some day when the money’s right and the chance hits. I read Small Farmer’s Journal and price gate panels at the farm store and plan in my head, hoping to one day get the chance to find my dream. Thank you for sharing your life at the Shambles, and I hope to keep reading it for a long time to come.

Comment on Science Friday by parsnipsaplenty

parsnipsaplenty — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:51:31 +0000

This is really cool.

I replied to your comment in my own blog, but I clicked back over here and got sucked in by Science Friday! I worked a little bit with black and white infrared film in high school photo classes, but not for scientific purposes.

Serendipitous, as well, that you’re in Oregon - I’m thinking of moving to Portland at the end of the summer. I realize I’m a total stranger, but I’d love to hear some more reasons for moving up that way, if you’d be willing to share. Send me an email at hikuwai(AT)gmail(DOT)com. If not, that’s fine too.

Comment on Off and Flying by Richard

Richard — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:15:22 +0000

That old log has been around for a long time. 10 years ago, we moved it from SE Portland where it already had been in service for several years. Mr. Knox, probably wouldn’t approve. [ed. note: "Mr. Knox" is the source from which you can purchase Orchard Mason Bees in our region. His website is linked just below in this comment.] The log is drilled, with no discernible precision, on both ends. As I recall, we started with a purchased 20-cell block that was full of bees (don’t know whether he sells those anymore.) We experimented with several materials for our own blocks. (4×4 cedar, redwood, pine, fir, etc. Most worked, although the aromatic woods that last a long time weren’t colonized until at least the second year.) For those intending to do it themselves, invest in a 5/16ths” brad tipped high speed bit. If you intend to use Knox’s paper tubes, you should find out what their outside diameter is.

A source for bees and nesting blocks (if you don’t have the equipment to drill your own) can be found at http://www.knoxcellars.com/ (They don’t have bees until fall of this year. However, if you anticipate adding bees when they come available, order a nesting block or two and Mr. Knox’s book. It’s possible you’ll snag some wild bees this spring.)

The only reason I refer you to Knox is that’s where we got started and he was prompt with delivery.

And a note about the bees: insecticides that kill hornets and wasps and other flying insects, of course kill orchard bees. Especially in small plots and around your garden, it’s probably a good idea to at least reduce the amount of insecticide you use. At the time of year orchard bees are flying, the real pests, bald faced hornets, haven’t emerged in numbers. And even they are not much of a problem until fall when natural forage begins to disappear and they try to fly off with your pork chop when you dine outside. Both wasps and hornets are beneficial in the garden. Except those that pose a hazard by nesting on the porch near a door or in the ground near a gate, we leave them alone. If you must kill them, try to use non-persistent insecticides that can be applied directly to the offending nest. [ed. note: I don't mind the Bald-faced hornets so much -- they seem to be pretty gentle, though they look black and mean. It's the Yellowjackets I'd prefer to do without. But then, we'd be up to our necks in carrion I suppose, so we'd better keep them around, too.]