our ochre way | a homesteading blog about gardening, farming, and permaculture in north carolina

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making a bantam chicken tractor!

yesterday i finally finished our bantam chicken tractor! very exciting!

it all started with an old truck camper with 1/2 of the roof removed.

the old truck camper, about to get re-purposed!

it took a little while for me to decide what design would be best for our new birds (bred by my father), and i thought about it a while. ultimately, i determined that having two “stories” to the structure would be the way to go, so that they could roost higher off the ground and not have roost bars on the lower level getting in their way as they spent the day grazing around the grass inside the tractor.

in order to make the second story, i added bent and molded electrical conduit which, once screwed together with self-tapping screws, was very sturdy.

screwing in the bent electrical conduit as a frame… tedious and exacting!

this process took the longest of all, since i had to hammer out certain portions of the conduit so that it was flatter and easier to drill into, and i also had to clamp the conduit to the camper framing so they it wouldn’t slide about while drilling (which it still wanted to do anyway!).

hammered out electrical conduit… flatter is always easier to drill into!

whew! the frame is finally done!

once the two conduits were attached, we decided that removing another 1/2 of the roof (3/4 now in total removed) would allow for more sun and fresh air to reach the bantams. the nest boxes (3 of them, made out of an old plastic planter) are attached to the tractor itself so that when the device moves, the egg box does too! we applied the same concept to the platform that holds their waterer.

now the egg box is firmly attached…

once these were secured, i started attaching hardware cloth to the open sides and open roof on the half of the tractor with just one story.

hardware cloth… be sure to wear gloves!

attaching the hardware cloth…

then i attached hardware cloth to a portion of the roof of the second story, leaving space for most of the second story to be covered in the sheet metal i removed from the camper. i added more sheet metal (that we found while cleaning out our woods) as the sides to the second story and finished level 2 off with some more hardware cloth that was woven to the top piece with electric fence wire.

i added hinged doors to the side with the nest box, so that we can open them up and get the eggs without any trouble. this also has a latch that locks so that if any clever raccoons get brave, they shouldn’t be able to get inside. we spray painted the whole contraption white and drilled holes in the sides of level 2 to slide in three nest bars. i added a rope to the front of the tractor so that we could easily slide it along to a fresh grass spot each day.

opening the nest box door to collect eggs!

and that was it! it was a three day project, but it was fun to make. we’re proud of our “chicken hotel,” and now all we have to do is convince all of the hens that they should roost instead of giving up and sleeping in the nest boxes. at least roosty will enjoy having his own flock without having to worry about rex bullying him!

.:.

Kale! The Superstar of the Fall and Winter Garden

October 21, 2014 / jason / 2 Comments

As the leaves start to turn and the acorns start to drop, the summer garden is ready to be put to bed. This is a time for mulching and cover-cropping, but it’s also a great time to grow a fall/winter garden. In reality, fall garden planning starts in the summer, but our homestead wedding took most of our energy and attention during that period of time. Still, we will not be going without fresh garden produce entirely. We can thank kale for this. The wonderful, green, nutritious, and delicious superstar of the fall and winter garden.

sweet potatoes and chia are some of the last crops of the summer garden

We planted a whole bunch about 2 weekends ago, in the empty garden spots vacated by our potatoes, and it has germinated and is off to the races. Our mild weather is helping it to establish itself before it truly gets cold, but even then, kale loves a frost, which just makes the leaves sweeter.

saving kale seeds was easy, and our germination was great!

We have 3 varieties in the ground, Vates (heat /cold resistant and tasty too), Lacinato (Italian heirloom from Tuscany also known as Dinosaur Kale), and our Siberian Kale seeds that we saved from last year. This should keep us well stocked with kale, and give us plenty of chances to make our famous kale soup with Neese’s sausage and homegrown potatoes!

Black Walnut Trees in the Home Landscape and Garden

October 20, 2014 / jason / 1 Comment

The other day, I was asked a great question in the comments section on my post about what wood to use in hugelkulture about planting black walnut trees. Specifically, about the ability of black walnut trees to “poison” other nearby plants with “chemical warfare.” I figured I would write up a post about some things to consider before planting these magnificent trees at your home or homestead.

First off, why do we even need to be concerned that a black walnut tree might kill our plants? Well, black walnut, along with hickory and pecan trees, produce a chemical called juglone. This chemical is toxic to many, but not all, species of plants and even some animals if consumed in large quantities. This gives black walnut trees an advantage in the wild, helping it to compete among other trees, vines and shrubs for sunlight, nutrients, and water. But not all plants are sensitive to juglone. In fact, many plants that co-evolved in the same areas with black walnut are not affected by the alleopathic effects of the juglone.

Furthermore, there are many factors that can influence a plant’s ability to live near a walnut tree and not succumb to the juglone poisoning. A few of the factors are related to soil and site conditions (pH, moisture, soil life), while others have to do with proximity to the tree. Because juglone does not travel very far in the soil, only plants immediately around black walnut trees are susceptible to poisoning. Also, by planting buffer trees, or trees that are not affected by juglone such as black locust, mullberry, elderberry, and black cherry, you can essentially contain the juglone to the area immediately under the tree.This area is particularly high in juglone because of the accumulation of leaves, nuts, nut hulls and roots.In this area, it’s best to only plant plants that are tolerant of juglone (check out a great resource here).

Plants that are not juglone tolerant include:

apple
azalea
birch, white
blackberry
blueberry
chrysanthemum
crocus, autumn
forget-me-not
grape, domestic
lily-of-the-valley
linden
mountain laurel
peony
pine
potato
rhododendron
thyme
tomato

Keep these far away from your black walnut tree, and make sure that when it drops its leaves in the fall, that they don’t settle down and decompose around these plants.

Personally, I think that there are a lot of options when it comes to using black walnut in the landscape, particularly in a food forest setting. With a little research, and some planning, anyone can take advantage of its majestic shape, delicious nuts, and extremely valuable timber. The nuts are easily planted in the fall, 3-4 deep and covered with a layer of either straw or leaf mulch. After freezing and thawing all winter, they should germinate in the spring. Just make sure to mark them off so you don’t mow them down next year!

goodbye, sweet bridey: the best friend anyone could hope for

October 19, 2014 / Emma / 4 Comments

dear, sweet bridey!

what can i begin to say about bridey, the most wonderful dog? i guess i can begin by saying that on september 7, she stopped living. it’s been hard to process because jason and i had to launch ourselves into wedding preparation, and at first i felt like i didn’t get enough time to properly mourn her death. then, the more i thought about it, the more i realized that she would have wanted it that way. given a choice, and knowing her, she would have rather the world continue on around her, just as she always preferred. let me explain further…

ever since i “inherited” her from my friend and roommate who moved to mexico, she and i have always had a quiet, “no need to discuss it” relationship. she never really liked a lot of attention, and when i had friends over she would visit with them for a minute and then promptly dismiss herself and go find her solitary corner to lay in. she never really followed me around the house like bolt does; she always did her own thing and enjoyed her alone time. “strange for a dog,” i always thought. she always seemed so solitary and certainly didn’t like people hugging her or getting too close to her face.

we had an understanding, she and i… we were best friends, but we didn’t need to constantly hang out or be on top of each other (as some dogs like to do). she never slept in the bedroom with me, always preferring to stay on her bed by the front of the house and guard the door. she would bark when she heard strange noises and walk around the house all stiff-legged, just ready for the bad guys to come in. they never did, of course, and i’m sure that’s due largely in part to her bravery and commitment to protecting her house and her friend.

she didn’t care much for other dogs, and just like she was with people, she would visit with them for a little bit and then walk away for some alone time. she and i were partners, best friends, companions. she was always there, no matter what and during my entire adult life, beginning when i was 18, she lived with me and watched over me.

she died on a saturday, about 3 weeks before jason and i got married, almost as though she knew she didn’t need to stick around to take care of me anymore. she was 15 years old, and she had a good long life for a dog. right up until the last few weeks she continued to have fun. her hearing was mostly gone, and jason and i spent many an afternoon laughing at the funny antics that an old, deaf dog can get into. she had certainly gone a little bit senile (who can blame her, living with me for almost a decade?), and would forget that she was walking sometimes and just stop and stand. she had also started to become restless in her old age, and would walk around and get her feet tangled up in her leash. up until the end, her eye sight was alright and that was our best communication with her, that and petting her.

i’m also grateful to her because she taught bolt a little bit about how to be a good dog. she had to put up with a lot from him, and even though i know she secretly enjoyed it, it was still tiresome.

when i walk around our land, i can see her everywhere: in the briar patch where she got lost one morning in the predawn and i had to crawl in and rescue her; on bridey’s run which is named after her because once she started going downhill on that trail her legs would take over and she wouldn’t be able to slow down or stop until she fell over; by her grave, which is at the end of bridey’s run covered in hay and waiting for the clover to grow next spring.

she was such a good friend to me and my family and i will never forget her. i know that her patience, calm demeanor, and laid back and fun-loving attitude will never be matched in another dog that we may have. she was unique and kind and understanding.

the day we decided to put her to sleep was a hard one. we knew that it was coming, because for months she had been wearing diapers (she could no longer control her bathroom urges) and weeks before she had started walking around in the kitchen when we were at work and getting horribly stuck in furniture and spending all day stuck. even after we confined her to the kitchen, and tried to move furniture around, she would find a way to get stuck under the dining room table or even under a regular chair.

we knew she was near the end when she stopped wanting to eat bread, her favorite food of all time (once, she stole freshly baked bread from the counter and hid pieces of it in the sofa and under my pillow for later). she stopped eating everything, couldn’t stand up or support herself if we stood her up, and couldn’t get her mouth to work to drink water. we didn’t want her to dehydrate or starve as her last experience on earth, so we decided to put her to sleep.

i was able to talk to her before the end, thank her for all that she was and that she had done for me, and tell her how much i loved her. i was able to lay with her and pet her and just love her and be with her.

afterwards, i was able to carry her body in my arms down to the grave and lay her in with her favorite rug, some flowers, some bread, a chew toy, and her favorite stuffed animal from years ago. we also sent her with some chicken feathers, since she used to love to chase chickens.

bridey is laid to rest.

jason and i dug the hole and we covered her up together. her grave is right at the end of bridey’s run, and will forever be visible to anyone walking the path to our pond. she will always be here with us, on our land.

bridey was an amazing friend and companion for so long, and we will miss her.

we will miss her, and although we’ve said goodbye, we’ve not said goodbye forever.

.:.

Kuska Wiñasun Homestead is on Facebook! (Finally)

October 17, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Well, the loyal readers and followers of our ochre way have asked us many times to get on facebook and we finally listened. That’s right, we are on facebook! This is one of the many upcoming changes that we will be implementing in the next few months, so friend us at https://www.facebook.com/ourochreway to stay on top of everything and not miss a thing.

Also, we’d like to thank everyone who has read our blog, left a comment, shared a post, or linked to us or one of our youtube videos. It means the world to us, and we hope to bring you more homestead adventures, thoughts and recipes in the future. A special thank you goes out to all those who have supported Kuska Wiñasun Homestead and shopped on amazon after clicking through our affiliate link.

Thank you all so much! Stay tuned for more exciting developments, and be sure to follow us on facebook!

the complete history of our ochre way!

October 15, 2014 / Emma / 2 Comments

this is a recording/podcast that i recorded in march of this year! it details the history of our ochre way, kuska wiñasun homestead, and the jason and emma partnership that just became a legal one!

click on the link below to hear the details!

A History of Our Ochre Way

.:.

dr. seuss flowers: cosmos flowers are saving the bees!

October 14, 2014 / Emma / 1 Comment

this spring we placed a few old tires at the end of our beds to help block the hose from dragging over our crops while we walk around watering.

we filled these tires with dirt and in two of them, we planted a “save the bees” flower mix, planting sweet potato slips in the other 2 tires. during mid and late summer these “save the bees” flowers really took off, particularly the cosmos flowers, which grew to be over 6 feet tall! most of the flowers are pink, and they were in full bloom right around the time of the wedding, which was nice. they are on their way out now, and i’ve been picking some periodically to enjoy them in a vase inside the house. i think they are fun, funky, and very dr. seuss-like! they don’t really have a smell and their stems are a little curvy and crooked at the top, but the bees sure love them. an added bonus: they have light green, hairy/fuzzy stems that make them look even more fantastical!

don’t they look like they are straight out of the lorax?

I recommend growing cosmos flowers to anyone who enjoys a fun, funky, colorful, bee-filled garden or yard!

.:.

processing and freezing jalapeño, aji, and cayenne peppers

October 13, 2014 / Emma / Comments Off

our peppers are still coming in strong and we just picked a lot of them to prepare for our first frost which usually comes in around this time. although our weather has been warmer than the norm for this time, we could have our first frost anytime in the next few weeks. last year our first frost was mid-october, so we’re getting ready for it!

many of our peppers were ready to be picked: red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, aji peppers, and cayenne peppers. the spicy peppers have certainly done better than our sweet bell peppers this year, which is fine with us. although we love eating sweet bell peppers in stir fries or in roasted dishes, our spicy peppers are easy to preserve and they are wonderful when added into soups in sauces throughout the winter. we still have a few “cubes” of jalapeño puree in the freezer, and it’s always nice to see that you have a surplus, even if it is just a surplus of 5 spicy ice cubes!

after we picked this batch of peppers, we rinsed them, and decided to process and preserve them separately. we have an awesome little food processor that fits about a cup of ingredients at a time, and it is great for processing little batches without much cleanup.

i began with the least spicy of peppers, realizing that if i began with the cayennes , all of my other batches would be equally spicy! so, jalapeños went in first, being chopped into quarters and tossed into the processor with some olive oil. once all of these peppers were pureed, i packed them into ice cube trays and stuck them in the freezer.

red and green jalapenos

after the jalapeños came the aji peppers, which are a little spicier and interestingly “empty” inside. let me explain… where green and red jalapeños are both very firm and meaty, aji peppers feel very flimsy and when cut open have such an open chamber inside that they resemble a smaller, wrinkly sweet bell peppers. after the aji peppers were processed, they were also added to the ice cube trays (taking up considerably less space than the jalapeños).

delicious aji peppers… introduced to us in peru!

after the aji peppers came the cayennes, and although i did my best, my fingers did start to burn after scooping out these pureed peppers and packing them into the trays. nothing like cayenne pepper juice to make your hands hot!

spicy cayennes

we filled up a little less than 2 ice cube trays, and oh, what a sight! the lovely green jalapeños (with some red flakes from the fully ripened red jalapeños), the carrot-orange aji peppers, and the bright red cayenne peppers make for lovely, colorful ice cubes. for now, if you include the other spicy peppers we’ve preserved so far, we’ve got a healthy store of spice for soups and sauce this winter!

jalapenos and aji peppers about to be turned into spicy ice cubes!

.:.

cleaning a lion’s mane mushroom

October 10, 2014 / Emma / Comments Off

and yet another post about the amazing lion’s mane mushroom!

check out this video to learn more about how to prepare your mushroom for dinner!

enjoy!
.:.

Turtle in the Woods!

October 9, 2014 / jason / Comments Off

Fall is a great time to walk in the woods. Emma and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather to explore our woods and watch the seasons change. The acorn crop this year is a big one, and we have already harvested some wild lion’s mane mushrooms.

But today, I stumbled across a turtle. A cool, little box turtle was hanging out under the shade of a great oak tree and hung out for a few minutes while I snapped his picture.

KW Homestead

Pasture Raised Poultry & Edible Landscaping Plants Since 2013