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.

This has been a confusing, and confining year. Can't explain why exactly but my body has just let me down.
So, as always, perhaps next year will be better.
When I came home from Oregon, Tag told me that I had has some hens getting out regularly, he had cought them and put them up. It has happened to me twice since I have been home. But yesterday, Sam cought one and gave it to Jan quite willingly and I am happy that Sam has a good Labrador soft touch mouth. But--- when I found it in the garden where Jan had thrown it, my sweet brown hen has a hurt leg. I don't know how bad yet. She has lots of strength and try yet and has not completely givin in to the resigned dying chicken syndrome.
But I knew then that I had to do something, and fixing the fence wasn't in the picture. I have fell a couple of times in the garden already this week and that is scary, in the dark and also the twisted overgrown wilderness that is up there. After pondering my options, calling Tag to see if he could help me and not finding him home, I thought down deep- Do I still want chickens. I have to cut the cost here. What do I do.
Finally I prayed that I would still be able to take care of things in my life and that God would walk with me and protect me, then dressed to move chickens and praying again went up on the hill to do it.
I moved slowly, easily and with surety and kept catching, carrying, dusting and penning them and in about half an hour had all 17- 20 of them caught and repenned in the greenhouse, watered and fed. Life was great.
Thank you father.
On Friday, I went up and pulled half a Pig Pen Garden full of deadly nightshade and got it out of there. It is not all gone, but the front patch by the gate that Ashton was so interested in the berries is gone. They were so lushious and shinny  and I was afraid that he might not believe my efforts to convince him that they were deadly, so they had to go and fast.

Now maybe I can find a new patch of something to pull and start the fall preparation of putting the garden to bed-- before it gets to cold to want to be out in it.

Saturday, the last day of Nov. I made it up the hill in beautiful sunshine and 53 degree weather. Finished with all the tomato cages on all the uphill gardens, cleaned and put away in closed pens of turkey pen. Raked and hand picked the tomatoes off the ground and under the parsley, let the chickens run through everything and smiled.
It feels oh so good to have that done!

on Nove 28th I managed to go out and drag my tomato cages out of the garde, strip plants from them and stack them into the back pen of the  turkey pen. It felt good. But that really was a good choice of how much to do. Thought about raking up toamtoes and decided to let the hens mull them over. Perhaps I can rake them later.
Today was not cold but it felt frigid with damp low clouds and threaning rain. Noticed my young rooster setting on the roost, his back to the world. That ain't good.

Planting!

First real snow. About 3 inches everywhere this morning. But as the day wore on it is melting, though it is still partly there late this afternoon. Saturday night, the 10th brought our first killing frost here.
There are a few things still going, but not for long. Last year that frost came on Nov 7th, so warming climate changes-- possibly but could just be a long cycle. We have never went this long before killing frost though.
Today I went out and tore the topgrowth off of the creeping charlie, the impatiens and martha washington geranium in the big pot on the entry porch across from the door. The pot is large,  between 24 and 30" across and that deep too. So I planted 10 or 12 hyacinths in the pot. Half were red ones and half were mixed. We will see how they do-if they do!

Catch Up

On Tuesday Nov the 6th, I looked at the cracked from the water, sour from the temperature tomatoes, grabbed a very tight head of cabbage from the garden and turned the left condo of chickens into the  West, goat pen, and East corridor and old duck pen section of the garden. I set their water outside so that I could refresh it from the gate and put a pan for feed on their porch. The birds keep flogging their housing anyway.
It is supposed to freeze tonight Nov the 8th and so plan to let them roam and have fun for a week or so and then start putting them into the greenhouse quarters for the winter. This way, I don't have to make excuses for not cleaning the garden or mulching or anything.
Lionel finished putting in a frost free pump for the greenhouse, cleaned up the horse corrals some and piled up a big load of manure for the rain to ruin. I need to get busy, but really, my health isn't so good right now and now ambition to garden. Its scary.

Spuds

I dug the spuds in the old dog pen. Not a big crop, but really big potatos! These were Red potatos. I dug my white ones first. Now need to dig the russets. But I am very out of shape and that was enough for today. Don't need to push it. Need a nice day to clear the stuff off and save what is good for compost, read up what is to be planted where in there and prep it for a long winters nap!