Sweet Liam

As the morning sun kissed the treetops greeting a new day, our Sweet Liam went to sleep for the last time. It was July 18, 2013, he was two years old.

There is an enormous hole in our life and hearts.

Souls come into your life touching it so deeply in such a short period of time that you are never the same again. Liam was just such a Soul.

He was an “old Soul”, wise beyond his years. He could look right into your heart with those amber eyes! Those same eyes could see your pain, and without so much as a glance his way hinting to the need for it, he would come in his quiet manner and gently give comfort.

There is a flower called Sweet William. The name Liam is the Irish form of William. Our nickname for him was Sweet Liam. It fit. His name also means “guardian”. From the beginning we said he was the guardian of our hearts. He knew he came to heal our broken hearts and he did, on a daily basis, bringing joy with his beautiful happy face. Now our hearts are broken over the loss of him.

He was the most loving dog we’ve ever known. Sure, he wanted attention, but he also gave it readily. “Loves” we called it, leaning in and burying his head in our chest (or armpit), or resting his chin on our shoulder, cheek to cheek. He loved being kissed on the head!

Liam appointed himself the Ranch guardian. He had the most amazing resonating, booming bark! We could literally hear him 1 mile away at our friend’s house! He warned off coyote many times, cougar, and also black bears. When Liam was on duty they dared not come close! We feel a little less protected and cared for without his presence. We listen for that reassuring voice to no avail.

Every time we realize we’ll never see him again it feels like a sickening punch in the gut. At the same time, we have his son Fahey who resembles him in many ways. In fact, all of Liam’s puppies have a strong resemblance to him. It is bitter sweet to catch glimpses of him through them. Oh, are we ever thankful he gave them to us! Fahey learned by his side to be a good guardian, and he has been from the tender age of 10 weeks. We know he will carry on in his sire’s footsteps with pride.

The death of two truly amazing English Shepherd males in as many years is a lot to endure. Humbled with gratitude for sharing life with them for a spell, in their honor and memory we forge ahead to give back to this incredible breed in the way of healthy, happy pups.

Sweet Liam, we miss you boy. You will always be in our hearts and a part of our life.

Officially Off-the-Grid

We are officially off the electric grid now!

About one month ago we disconnected. Unfortunately, we don't have a pv system yet so we are still heavy on the fossil fuel grid. Sigh.

It's been a learning curve.

Keeping the batteries maintained. Making sure we have gas for the generator (which we affectionately call "geny"). Remembering to take our power cord with us to charge the laptop at the library, etc. Weaning ourselves off watching movies in the evening to conserve on fuel used to power the geny which charges the laptop. So much to think about!

It sure will be nice to generate our own solar power soon!

Late Spring Rains

 
Goodness gracious, we've had tons (a slight exaggeration) of rain the past 2 weeks! It's slowed up final stages of the infamous bridge re-construction, but sure does make plants grow beautifully.

Here is a pic of our hugelkultur beds. We didn't get nearly as many built and planted as we wanted, but this fall we will. In the meantime we're sort of experimenting.   ;)  The pic above shows the potatoes in one loving life! That was taken 2 weeks ago, they are twice that size now.

Yum, taters!

Introducing...

... the newest addition to our English Shepherd pack… Highland Glenn’s Blackrock Ailagh! 

Ailagh is a beautiful Black & Tan female who came to us by way of her owner/breeder whose life circumstances changed dramatically. She needed to find a home for Ailagh in which she could blossom contentedly. Interestingly enough, we had hoped to get a female from Ailagh’s litter (knowing the cross with Liam’s lines would be a good one) but decided to keep one of our puppies. Isn’t it funny how things happen? 

We are simply tickled pink to have her! Ailagh (pronounced AY-la) and Fahey met last fall, hitting if off right away. Well they are the best of mates now!

Ailagh is Naturally Reared like our dogs so will expand our line of Naturally Reared English Shepherds.

Just One Bite

Folks, it is the time of year when flying critters of the insect variety start to annoy us. We do our best to live in peace with bees, wasps and yellow jackets (although I have childhood trauma from the later), but mosquitoes, also known as mozzies, are a particular nemesis. One tiny little stab results in a sometimes huge welt that itches like for mad for days.

Prevention is the key. This year I have been experimenting with an essential oil blend from Young Living called “Purification”. We usually use it on the dogs to repel ticks, which it does. So I tried it for repelling mozzies, too. It works! And wiping just a bit on my hair and clothing every other day does the job. Only I forgot yesterday… and today. While out milking this morning sure enough I got zapped. I felt the little blood sucker jab me on the inside of the wrist and blew him off immediately, but just that second was enough for a welt and itching to begin. I seem to be pretty sensitive to them. My first mozzie bite of the season. Oh yay.  

Last year I heard that a dab of lavender essential oil helps, and it does, relieving the itch for a couple hours at which time another application is necessary. However, I recently read about an old-time remedy involving witch hazel. Being the kitchen herbalist I am, it just so happens I have a bottle of witch hazel extract on hand. So I employed it this morning.

I am thrilled to report that it works! The itching stopped immediately, really! And the welt subsided somewhat, something the lavender oil didn’t help with. I found it took a dab two times per day to keep itching at bay, but then after about 3 days there was no more need.

I call that success!!!

Black Gold

We struck black gold… SOIL that is! The kitchen garden has been underway for the past several weeks - drawing the plans dreamt of during winter, deciding what varieties we just had to grow (or attempt to grow) this year, ordering seeds/plants, and site prep work. 

Once the surface was broken through, there it was… beautiful black soil!!! The friability, or colloidal content, is terrific – compacts when squeezed in your hand yet breaks up. Just half an inch down and there is moisture despite it being a dry spring (the last measurable rainfall was one month ago). Soil quality will only get better from here. 

Although avid gardeners, neither of us has ever grown a vegetable garden in such a northerly location or such a short growing season. And we don’t have a greenhouse. So we chose the earliest maturing varieties suited for northern locations, heirlooms that originated in places like Siberia. Many items will be an experiment. But every year is different and somewhat of an experiment anyway no matter where you are! 

Talking about experimental, we’re constructing a couple hugelkultur beds in the garden. This German word means “mound culture”. These are basically mounds of raw wood (logs, branches, twigs, etc.) anywhere from 4-6 feet high, about five feet wide, any length, covered with soil. We’ve read hugelkultur popularity is on the rise because: 1) it effectively utilizes downed timber/debris from woodcutting or storms, or in our case slash piles from past selective logging; 2) eliminates the need to burn such thereby putting it to good use; 3) it fits in well with permaculture practices; 4) since rotting wood holds onto moisture like a sponge, after the first year water needs are reduced; and 5) as the wood breaks down it adds nutrients to the soil much like a “nurse log” in the forest. Sounds pretty cool, hey! 

Yes, it is a lot more work initially to build them, but the end result seems well worth it. Depending on how it goes, in future we may convert the entire garden to hugelkultur beds. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.

There are many major Ranch projects going on simultaneously, each equally important. However, priorities are different. The kitchen garden is a food system which will provide most of our fresh food for summer/fall, preserved food for this winter, herbs for nutrition and medicine - so getting it into shape and growing is at the top of the list. 

Once the dirt work is complete (Tom’s forte), I, Krystal, take over with the planting, and then daily maintenance is mostly my pleasure as well.  Although, I must here admit a strange quirk about myself – I am fascinated watching how plants grow, and so enjoy the green lushness and bounty, that harvesting is sometimes difficult for me! That’s when I know Tom will step in and help.   ;)

I can almost taste the delicious vegetables already!

Harbingers

Aside from the spring equinox, spring has really sprung in our neck of the woods. Ask residents of Ferry County what the typical harbingers of spring are here and you’ll hear answers like: seeing robins, bluebird sightings (a personal favorite), or spotting the first little sunny buttercups. 

In the past week we’ve seen all three, including twitterpated robins. Groups of juncos hop around everywhere giving our house cat some entertainment. The chickens keep escaping their yard to scratch around in the soil, much to the chagrin of our young dog who feels they should stay out of his yard.

And then our Shetland lambs have begun their arrival! The hens are providing 8-16 eggs per day. The warm sunshine and breeze feel glorious, and the soft rains are welcome!