Garden Box revisited

Well, its time to visit the newest garden box in the front yard. If you look back earlier, you'll see that this box was just built and filled this year. Through the miracle of photosynthesis and time, we're now on the cusp of a nice crop of Poblano Peppers.



As well as peppers, we've have Swiss Chard, Blue Lake Bush Beans and Snow Peas growing in the box, all planted in various phases so that we can harvest them in succession. This means that when the peppers are done, the peas will have more sun. As you can see, the bean plants are getting quite large. As we eat the chard the beans will get more sun to make more beans. Also, the shade the chard receives right now keeps it cooler in the sun, keeping it from bolting and extending the harvest.


It's been a fun little mini-garden to watch. Hanmi has been diligently removing the nasty bugs and giving a good watering every other morning or so. I think we'll create 1 new garden box each year and try different things. Today we saw someone growing corn in theirs! Last year's box is overflowing with pumpkins and soy beans. Yummy fun arrives in October.

The morning harvest

While puttering around in the garden yesterday morning, I couldn't help but notice how lovely the fruit & veggies & eggs looked when I set them down to attend a tomato plant... so I ran in and got the camera.

A full quart of blueberries, 4 eggs, and a half pound of beans... not bad for a 3500 sf. urban lot! I can't wait for tomato season!

Garden box o' leftovers [mostly]

On a hot summer day, we decided to build another planter box for the front yard. In our ever-growing need to expand our garden, we're always hunting around for nice designs that satisfy a few requirements:

• Pleasant to look at
• Pleasant to work with
• Holds dirt, won't rot quickly
• Good drainage
  
• Above doggie pee height
• Uses up some leftover building materials
  

It was a perfect day to take out the tools (table saw, miter saw, skill saw, drills and hardware) and use a bit more of our cedar woodpile. The rosewood stain and Trex decking make everything nice colors. The Trex top also makes a great bench, making a fun place to hang out while chatting with neighbors or just plucking weeds. We hope to have something popping up in about 3 weeks.

Hanmi came up with this design last year and it's held up well. The oil keeps it from rotting.

Here are some peechurs!

The staples can come out... they were a quick way to hold the end framing together prior to assembling the box. Also, the triangle braces for the Trex are the leftover miter cuts from the end frames. Overall we had very little waste.

Here you can see the original "prototype" for the planter on the left. It has been supplying us with lettuce, garlic, mustard & kale greens all spring. Next season crop is already on the way: pumpkins and soybeans! The only difference is the prototype was made with 3/4" plywood leftovers [the first box was made entirely of scraps].

Being fresh out of 3/4" ply, we got some 1"x6"x6' cedar fence boards and used those full length. The end panels were made with leftover 1/2 plywood framed with a leftover 2x6 that had been ripped in half.

words by Jim, photos by Hanmi

Back to the Front Page

Thanks to some prodding from friends, we're back to blog more regularly. Aw - you guys are great. So there should be a few posts appearing more often than the usual "every blue moon." In this post, I'll catch you up on whats been news lately.

If you've not heard the old news, flip back and read about our trip through Patagonia, which wrapped up in January. Since then, I've switched jobs - haha, yet again. I decided to recognize that tougher times are just around the corner and picked up a full-time position at an old client. They're a good shop and have their eye on the long-term, instead of what seemed like very short-term thinking in some other places I've seen. Plus, the people are wonderful.

On the home front, we're still fuzting around with our bathroom remodel - slowly picking through the final pieces and putting them together now and again. We've definitely fallen into the "long tail" finish of this project. There's around 5 things left, its all going well though. We use everything in the room and it all works great.

We overhauled the "back 40" on our lot and tilled the yard up, spread compost everywhere and planted a mix of grass and wildflowers. It's been a cool, wet Spring so the sprouts are slowly coming along, but there's a peach-fuzz of green across the yard.

The chickens have been moved to the side yard. They don't like this area as much since their view is obscured and their sunlight is more limited. However, it gives the back yard time to revitalize and allows us to set up the garden without worrying about their scratching and pecking at all the sprouts.

I'm learning to bake bread! We don't have a bread mixer or a bread machine, so I'm perfecting the use of the food processor (the "chopper") for some initial mixing. I'm quite impatient so the "rising" portion of the making sometimes gets cut short. I still don't know what a second rise is all about, so I skip it. The first loaf was horrendously bad, as I didn't understand the purpose of gluten. (Imagine an all-gluten loaf of gum) The second loaf was better, but it was a little dense, as my yeast poured right through the chopper's center hole (note to self: turn machine on).

Han has been out in the nicer Spring days on paid shooting gigs. She's also picked up a very fun assistant position as a web designer for a sustainability blog. She's quite busy when those schedules converge, and the post-processing is a big job.

The bikes have been tuned up for Spring. I performed my first "brake job" on the mountain bike the other day - it was tricky but when finished, the lines have no bubbles and I could flip over the handlebars as easily as my first day. I rode to the new job yesterday and it was one of the most magical, wonderful routes I've ever enjoyed on the way to work. It's close to 15 miles each way, with a few steep hills, so the evening was a hot bath in the gigantic tub.

Hanmi set out the sprouts and our first round of garden plants are just about ready to go in the ground. She also prepped the plot and sowed seeds directly last weekend. I'm very excited. After a break last year from tomatoes and similar plants (peppers) - we're back with a full-range of vegetables: Potatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Tomatoes, Strawberries, Blueberries, Swiss Chard, Cilantro, Basil, Oregano, Sage, Spinach, Snow Peas, and 2 different kinds of Beans. The lots of Carrots and Brussel Sprouts, Mustard Greens, Kale, Lettuce, Chives, Onions, Garlic and other stuff are all around the house in planters. We also have a fig tree and a persimmon tree we planted last winter that will hopefully bear fruit this year. Should be interesting!

The eggs are arriving steadily, about 3 a day. We have given a lot away lately, which feels good. We received a cute Thank You note from a small child (and family) that walked by to "visit" the chickens, since they are now visible in the front yard. The chickens are quite friendly, almost to to point of being nagging in their quest for food, sunlight and attention. Riding on shoulders is a common sight when we're in the yard. We let them out to clean the front yard of slugs now and then. It's a fun, carefree feeling to relax with chickens napping on your legs on a lounge chair on the porch.

We are harvesting rain! The first 2 rain barrels are in place and full already. I'm slowly adding delivery pieces to the output side of the system. Our barrels are "nonstandard" in their storage, so that I could fit them under the back deck. But after a few tests everything seemed to work out. I'm very happy with it. We'll have the garden on a pH-balanced and filtered water system, run off a battery timer, flowing every morning for an hour or so. It's drip irrigation so there's not a lot of waste. The pressure from the gravity feed, with 110 gallons about 2 feet about ground seems fine.

We've played a lot with the numbers and the space we could devote to this concept. We have room for 6 more barrels for a total of ~400 gallons (about 3200 pounds!). I've been imagining some neat uses for all the water in later phases (toilet, basement sink, bird feeder, etc). For now, I've been advised to finish some older projects first. Wise, those unnamed advisers.

Two eggs in one!

That giant egg we got last week did indeed turn out to be a double yolker!

Giant egg!!

I'm not 100% sure who laid this monster, but it's nearly twice the size of the eggs I collected yesterday!! It's either Foxy or Delilah--I'm tending to think Foxy. Not only is it the largest egg any of our hens have laid, it's the biggest [chicken] egg I've ever seen! I wonder if it has a double yolk?

Thrrrrreeee! Thhhreeeeee eggs! Ah ah ah ahhh!

Much to my delight, in the time it took me to write the last post, Delilah, Foxy, and Francine all took turns and left a neat little pile of 3 eggs in the nest box for me! Delilah's was huge for a first, and it's clear that she had a bit of a painful struggle, as well... but all are well and happily feasting on some cottage cheese to celebrate. That means Betty is next, and I'm sticking to my prediction that we'll be getting 4 eggs a day before the end of the week.

Egg #1

Number 1

Jim sent this to my cell phone while I was shooting in Seattle. How cute is that? :)

We have EGGS!

Still busy with a recent photoshoot, but wanted to announce that the eggs have started arriving! And with this news comes confirmation that Francine is definitely a hen. She is our first layer and has already supplied us with 3 [#1 came on Sunday morning] delicious, albeit small eggs. The shells are light brown and the yolks are a deep orange-yellow. And man, are they tasty!! Yay Francine!!

My, what a busy summer!

It's officially fall here in Portland. The chickens are pretty much full grown, [we'll be looking for eggs in the next month or so], the pumpkins have been harvested, the last of the tomatoes are slowly ripening, the bathroom has been gutted and the remodel is in full swing, we've renewed our climbing gym memberships, the fenders are back on the bikes, we've been eating figs off neighborhood trees and checking the fallen chestnuts for little treasures.

Jim has been working very hard and very long hours over the summer, so our adventuring has been minimal. Instead we've put a lot of energy into projects in and around the house: a new roof for the deck, gardening, and the bathroom remodel. The demolition began 3 weeks ago, and the skylight is being put in as I write. The framing of the new lofted ceiling/walls has begun and almost all of the components and fixtures have been ordered. Where we could we've bartered with friends to keep costs down and keep the money "in the family". We're going as green as possible--to the point that it hurts at times! It's been a lot more work to research and specify truly green products, but it is worth it. In most cases we're actually saving money over the conventional route. We're doing our best to keep it local, too. I'll do another post later with all the details and final specs and, of course, photos. Today I just wanted to post a quick update to let you know all is well.

I've been getting several requests for portrait work, and in fact have one this weekend in Seattle with my friend Lisa. Once the remodel is done, I'll be able to focus on building a business. But for now I've dusted off my design hat and busted out my tape measure and clipboard and play Designer/General Contractor most days and evenings. It's actually been pretty fun, and in spite of all the dust and inconvenience of taking our only bathroom to the studs, it hasn't presented too much hardship. We still have a working toilet and tub, but eventually everything will need to come out to do the floors, which is when I expect we'll have a couple of rough days. But our neighbors have offered to let us use their bathrooms and we can shower at the climbing gym, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Now I'm off to order lights, call the plumber, and go to Pro Photo Supply...

Much to do!

So much has been going on, so little being blogged about... I now know why people end up busier than ever once they retire... this retirement=boredom idea is a complete myth... urban legend, even. I suppose there could exist someone so unimaginative, so completely without inspiration that they must always have someone directing them, but thankfully I know of no one that fits that description.

As for me, there has been the website, chicken coop, garden, new planter boxes, djing a high school reunion, sweeping the 2007 Backyard BBQ Iron Chef competition, bike rides, discovering new restaurants, hanging with the neighbors, teaching young chickens new tricks, putting a show together, creating a studio/office space, taking photos, and learning to get comfortable marketing myself. In fact, there's been so much going on, I've only gone climbing 3 times since retiring!

My next week or so will be devoted to getting some marketing materials together, as I have a show opening on First Thursday! The evening of August 2nd will be the official opening downtown at the Morning Star Cafe. Save the date! More details to come. If you want to be added to the mailing list, please send me me an email.

[where: 510 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204]

More Chicks!

The girls are growing like crazy! These were taken last Friday and they're already noticeably bigger. Francine and Delilah pretty much look like full grown Bantams... But since they are standard size chickens, they'll get even bigger! Enjoy!

Retirement part 1 and more chicks...

On June 1st, at the ripe old age of 35, I gleefully retired... Today is day three of my new life of leisure, and it's good times all the way. The weather hasn't really been cooperating lately, but that's okay. On Sunday we roasted in the hot sun to get the veggie garden started, so the cooler weather and rain is a welcome event.

Much to my surprise I'm spending nearly half of my day with the chicks... either cleaning the brooder, refilling/cleaning their food and water dishes, handling/playing with them to keep them used to people, or just watching them interact with each other.

As Francine and Delilah get bigger, we are increasingly concerned by the marked physiological differences... longer tail, shiny neck feathers, flat chest/butt... basically we think Francine is a Frank... and that just won't work for our purposes. We went to Pistils Nursery to get more chick feed and asked about getting another chick so Delilah wouldn't be lonely if/when we have to send Frank off to live on a real farm somewhere. Unfortunately, their chick season is over, but we got loads of good advice & a list of other places to get chicks, from both the staff and another customer. I followed their recommendation and went to Burns Feed store to pick up a 4 day old chick. The staff was very helpful and even offered to take Ellis for a walk and treats while I was in the "chick room".

While there, I learned that Rhode Island Reds are very bossy and that we should not have more than one. I was also told I should get two to introduce to the flock, as they always do better in pairs. Since there was a 3 week age difference, this made a lot of sense as I was quite concerned about two "teenage" chickens hassling the baby. I picked up a Black Sex-Link [which sounds like an x-rated website, I know] and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. We named them Foxy Brown and Betty Davis respectively.

Francine (l) and Delilah (r)

Betty Davis (l) and Foxy Brown (r)


Betty Davis eyes the camera


Foxy Brown is a little more camera shy

I was surprised to learn that we didn't need to keep them separated from Francine and Delilah. I was told to rub a towel on the older chicks, then rub the same towel on the babies and introduce them to one of the big girls at a time. If there was any pecking or aggression, take the aggressor out and put them in a dark place with no food or water for a few seconds. Then reintroduce. Keep doing this until they figure out it's bad to pick on babies... Luckily no one had to go into solitary confinement. The girls all got along right away. The problem is that as F & D get bigger, they're a bit gangly and unaware of their own size/strength. I decided that a day of rest was in order for the babes and put them in a separate box anyway, so they could get more sleep/food/water. They're all back together now, though, and seem to be getting along just fine.