Thursday, December 3, 2015

Well, a NEW Year  indeed.

Last July the FIRESTORM, also known as the CARLTON COMPLEX FIRE, swept through , on and over our place on the hill at Pateros.

The garden is gone. Some fences remain, some debre, and I wonder about the future of Chicken Hill.

Out of 33 chickens, I had 8 turn up, after the fire. Later 3 more showed up, and after a week, one more scorched and tatterd hen wondered in. All Buckeyes and hardy. These were actually the ones that I had put in the back pen, culls-- to dispose of. Boy was I glad to see them.

They moved into the surviving goat house with few admendments. After a year they still do not have roosts or next boxes. They have a nice midday shaded pen from a surviving Radiant Crab Apple in the dog pen to the south west of them. They have done well last year, but are showing their age now.
They give me a reason to go up on the hill.

It took me all summer to get the garden planted, and there was still some just in pots outside of the chicken pen. I went from a pert barely 68 years old gardner  to a trudging 69 year old barely doing, woman..  But I managed to incorparate a small some kind of fiber pool that set on top of the ground pool into the garden entry area and the bees and wasps came. I know that water in your garden is a must now. Excellant fertilazation, extremely few bugs. Of course the bugs may have burnt up-- but not the wasps? No, I don't think so.

I did buy and someone planted for me a Stanley Prune, a Perfection Apricot tree, a Redgold Nectarine tree . They are down the hill by the drive. We didn't have water here when we needed and not good soil except in the garden so thats where they had to go.

I barely got stuff planted and picked, though the garden did well. I had to keep buying hoses, because at first mine kept disappearing, for other needs I suppose. Some things I was promised, never happened. With so much to do, to build, and in a certain order, all of chicken hill took a back burner, and unless the "after burners come on-- next year is uncertain at best.

I have thought alot about what I want, and a little about all that I really need.

The seed catalogs are starting to come in. I have an order planned for new Buckeye chicks.

There is a birdfeeder by my office window so that I can watch wild fowl. It has been a joy.

We will see if the farmers daughter is kuput--next spring.

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