Transplanted two Douglas fir trees for Christmas 2026, one in each corner of the back acre. They’re about 2-3 feet tall.
Transplanted a bunch of chives found in the hazelnut orchard.
Today I finished my first hügelkultur mound. It’s 3 feet by 12 feet. I created it by digging a hole six inches deep. Then, I lined it with birch logs from a tree that we had to take down when we lived at our Crater Lane house. I added smaller logs and branches as the next layer. Next, I filled in the gaps between the wood with wood chips we received from various Chip Drop dumps. Finally, I used the first that I initially removed as the topping. Much of the sod that I dug up in
This weekend I planted seeds indoors that I plan to transplant in a month. They’re sitting on the window bench in our dining room. Spinach, Swiss chard, kale, peas, and marigolds. I used cardboard egg cartons, seedling soil mix, and some plastic containers. I purchased all the seed packets at the Dollar Tree for 4/$1.
We worked on building the trail today by spreading wood chips. We also put up fencing around the fruit trees that we planted a few weeks ago to insure against deer. I pruned the pear tree today. I probably removed about 30%, which is more than you should for a pear tree. It might cause the tree to grow over-vigorously this year. But there were a lot of branches growing downward, across the center of the tree, or crowded.
We also dumped about three tractor buckets of wood chips on Heather’s hügelkultur garden row.
The boy lamb looked quite a bit better the day after his first shot five days ago. However, he has continued to run a fever of 104, and he has been lethargic compared to his sister. She is very empathetic and spends a lot of time with him. This morning we gave him his second (and final) antibiotic shot. A few hours later, he was already looking better. But we don’t know if it will last.
Yesterday, we noticed the little boy lamb was limping. We checked the leg, and there was no injury. We learned that infections usually affect sheep in the legs first. We called a vet. He checked the lamb’s temperature, and it was 104. He gave it an antibiotic shot. The vet visit was $250. We need to give it another shot in five days.
Bought 3 St. Croix sheep. Ewe born in 2016. The lambs (one girl, one boy) were born yesterday. It’s cold this week (lows in the 20s), so we worry about them.
Bought chicks: 2 Jersey Giants, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, 2 Cuckoo Marans.
Planted fruit trees: apple (5 varieties), peach (), nectarine (), peach-plum. Mulched with wood chips. Pruned the plum tree (a lot).
Started building the pasture fence. We’re using stock panels and T-posts.
Pruned the grapevines. A lot.
We changed the fluids in the tractor: hydraulic fluid in the hydraulic reservoir (topped off), hydraulic fluid filter, hydraulic fluid in the torque tube (drain and refill), gear oil in the steering box, gear oil in the transmission (flushed with diesel), engine oil and filter, and grease in as many grease fittings as we could find. I also topped off the coolant and installed a new radiator cap. The oil in the transmission was like milk, and the oil in the engine was blacker than black. We found a large screwdriver in the transmission.
The tractor came. It’s a 1958/59 Case 310B with an International 2000 loader. We paid $500.
