November photo assortment

peasWell, mostly November. This picture of 2008’s second pea crop is about two months old (the weather changed and the plants became goat food)

greenhouseWith Western Oregon’s mild climate, we will be trying our hands at winter gardening. I’ve replaced the leaky, opaque roof on the greenhouse with “sun-tuff” – corrugated plastic panels – and used some of our old windows to make a cold frame (the 2′ high glassed projection on the front). We hope to grow kale and a few other greens in there, after getting them started indoors and gradually acclimating them to outdoor life.

Outside the greenhouse there’s still plenty to do. Cover crops of clover, cereal ryegrain, faba beans, and vetch have been planted in last year’s beds:
cover crops

garlicHere’s a 40′ double row of garlic, about 1/3 planted. We’ll be doing three different varieties, with different storage life and flavor attributes. In our mild climate, the garlic will (we hope) grow slowly through the winter and burst into life in the spring, with harvest coming in May and June.

goth sunflowersPerhaps inspired by Halloween festivities, these sunflowers have gone goth.

Goats, of course, don’t take a break in the winter as most of the garden does. Stand by for gratuitous cuteness:
aberdeen door

koko aberdeen door

3goatsdoor

goat gateNext year, the goats will enjoy another little pasture area. I’m putting a lot of radish seeds in there, because goats love the greens, which grow early and fast. Here’s the door from their current enclosure to the new pasture. The door is of course made from old shipping pallets.

firepit stepsIn non-farming news, visitors will be happy to see that the deadly mudslide down to our fire pit now has steps.

And finally, the Yamaha saga. I found what seemed like a good deal on a mid-size road bike, and bought it with dreams of 55mpg dancing in my head.yamahaThe wiring and tires were a mess, but I’ve fixed that and a few other things. The title was lost, but the previous owner’s widow filled out all sorts of paperwork that should have helped me get a title.

Finally the day came – I went to the DMV and all my papers were in order, but there is a lien on the bike from the 1980s, and I’m currently navigating a voicemail maze at the finance company in question to determine whether the lien is satisfied. Oh well, it’s raining all the time anyway now, but I hope to get this thing on the road for next spring. For now, it just sits there looking cool (as cool as it can with the ill-fitting Harley seat, slated for replacement with a stock one)

10 thoughts on “November photo assortment”

  1. Hilary

    That gate makes me think of this shipping palette coffee table I saw recently, oh the things you can do with shipping palettes!

    Hmmm, also reminding me that we need to get that clover planted pronto! Plus secure the new chicken coop roof and since we lagged on getting our kale, garlic and other such winter crops started ourselves, we need to go get some starts!

  2. Peter

    heehee, it’s so cool that you’re doing all that in the city! My chicken coop roof isn’t done, but the floor is now 2″ of concrete with wire mesh embedded in it – we will feed chicken to zero weasels!

    Why not start your winter stuff inside (‘cept the garlic, they say it doesn’t like that)?

  3. Hilary

    I would but I don’t have enough light. The big, south facing window is in Anaya’s room. I guess I could figure out how to hang a shelf there. I love this apartment but sometimes I hate it too! I could put them at our west facing windows but the kittens are just to wild at this point, they’d knock the starts over in a heart beat. Hmmmm, there are always grow lamps but they can be so expensive, argh!

  4. Peter

    You don’t need to run a big 400W HPS or anything – a little 18″ tube fluorescent is what I’ve always used for starts/clones/etc. The tube should be 1-2″ from the tops of the plants, as light falloff is distance2, and keep in mind that the tubes are much brighter toward the center than at either end.

  5. Peter

    Yep, one of those 18″ long fixtures you get for like $10 at a hardware store. They’re much more efficient than regular bulbs, and their coolish light is better for plant growth. The “grow light” bulbs they make for them might be even better, but I never bothered.

    Don’t be jealous of the bike until I find out whether I can register it without paying off some dead guy’s loan =\

  6. Hilary

    Sweet, I have one of those in Anaya’s closet. Maybe I should just hang a shelf in there underneath it.

    Hopefully that lien isn’t too much…

    Well you can always steal some plates, right? 😉

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