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1. My wife was heading to the orchard a couple days ago and observed a fox charging the chicken run fencing. Apparently it understood it couldn’t get in and was attempting to convince them to fly out.

   So nice free reminder to check on fencing condition and energizer on the electric portion. Wish I had been there.

   Reading Joel Salatin’s Everything I want to do is Illegal. Good book for liberals and people who are right in the head– both.

2. As a new gardner,(only 15 years or so) we seem to have a large selection of sprays, dusts and fertilizers! There is ALWAYS some new bug, mold or mineral deficiency. My point is, in a shtf moment, how much would all of this “stuff” be worth? While everyone else is trying to get beans and bullets. This “stuff” will be everwhere. At least for a little while.

3. Greetings from the Great Midwestern redoubt! It is now the “Attack of the Japanese Beetle season”. Being one armed for another month I am now the official “beetle squeezer”. Nice job eh?

   Foxes: I almost always get them when they’re trying to pull a chicken back through the fence. They are so occupied with what they are doing it’s easier to put the sneak on them and take them out. Of course it does cost a chicken that way…. Local fox population seems to be exploding lately, not sure why. My two Mountain Curs have brought me two opossums so far this year as well, not bad for squirrel dogs!

4. After losing more chickens and ducks this year to our local fox population we have finally invested in a livestock guard dog. He is a Komondor Akbash cross from parents on a working ranch, it is critical to buy from working parents NOT pets. His parents (and the other 4 members of their pack) have fought off bear, wolf, coyotes, cougar, and bobcats at their ranch south of Helena MT in the Elk Horn Mountains. The new pup will also add some comfort for us during kidding season for our goats as we have bear and cougar spotted within 1/4 mile and a large wolf was take about 5 miles away last fall.

   1. One dog is not enough. Please get at least two more with the kind of predator pressure you have. One dog cannot fight off a cougar or bear nor be everywhere at once. Coyotes have been known to distract while the others attack elsewhere.

5. If possible, I would enjoy seing a “scan out” of one of the children’s journals.

6. We’ve had our retreat/farm for 4 years now. My wife and kids moved there full time in June 2016 so we could start getting livestock and the garden/orchard going. Over the Independence Day holiday weekend, we finally got around to building the first of two workbenches to get all of my tools out of piles on the floor of the 30’x40′ shop building. We also assembled several shelving units and started to organize things we moved from our other home. We also finished the initial installation of a dual IBC water tote rain catchment system, including a first flush system, that will be used to irrigate the garden. We’ll add more totes to the system over time, but it was good to get the initial system collecting water. It was quite rewarding to see the progress over 2 1/2 days of hard work.

7. Were I not a city dweller, I would have some weld, indigo and other natural dye plants growing. Next year I hope. There’s no question that I have a green thumb- but one hour of shady sun on the balcony will not do it!
   As it were, I’m reading up on natural dyes used to color both cellulose and protein fibers (cotton, wool). Getting plenty of good books on inter-library loan. The wonderful local librarian even purchased one of them for their collection.
   My interest is locally derived products for dyeing which are also known to be highly colorfast. Fading being an issue with some natural dyes. Of interest, also, is some of the tannin dyeing processes in Japan which they say creates a UV shielding and water resistant fabric.
   And who knew that avocado pits will create a lovely pale pink on a properly prepared fabric! And that oak galls are priceless for the home dyer (they will mordant a fabric without leaving a dark stain behind as compared to acorns and other heavy staining tannins).
   Lily good luck with your plant studies.

8. Limited projects this past week with the 4th and more rain that popped up. I did refill my automatic feeder (not for livestock nor deer) I have a place that is infested with wild pigs so I keep a feeder running year-round to keep these pork chops on the hoof close by. Because these are viewed as an invasive non-game animal, you can take them over bait, at night with a light or trap them so long as you do not relocate them (alive) to another area. Anyway, I filled the feeder with 200 pounds of feed corn, changed the battery in the feeder, pulled the camera card to see what is coming and going and called it good for another two months. I did work on a knife that the handle design was just not right for my hand. A little metal grinding and trimming of the scales made the knife fit my had a lot better. After that my wife told me that the air compressor was leaking so bad that it would not charge. The hose had a hole in it where it comes off the compressor and makes a slight bend. I cut the hose off, used a threaded brass coupling where I put a connector on both sides, one to connect to the tank and the other to slip the hose over. I had to rob a clamp off of my sprayer tank to clamp the hose to the connector. The first try did not work. As I torqued the clamp down I pinched the hose and put another hole in it. So, I cut that piece off and tried it again not being so aggressive with the clamp this time. I plugged it an and no leaks. The wife was then able to get back to checking and filling trailer tire air for her boat. She has an urge to go to the river. I have an urge to eat a home-grown tomato sandwich.

9. While brutally hot up here on the Canadian border, as Jorn moves unto the farm where there is no power, and therefore no freezer, Jorn will have to jar up 125 pound of meat as quickly as possible, marathon fashion, as the meat will only be stored in a home made (field expedient) ice chest. Fortunately the material on hand allowed the construction of a heavily insulated ABS plastic box with drain, that is also shielded from IR with large sheets of a rugged Mylar material salvaged from central heating ducting. Canning times have been revised upward in recent times. One quart jars require 160 minutes at 12lbs of pressure for an altitude of 3,000 feet, verses 110 minutes of older recommendations. Both of Jorn’s canners hold 7 quart jars. Setting up a temporary kitchen using two portable propane camp stoves in the barn so as not to heat the house, estimated processing time might be 4 hours per canner. It is going to be a longer and even hotter week than expected. Canning in 100 degree weather is not a good idea.

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