Last road trip this year to visit W's mom & eliminate a monthly storage unit bill. It was very cold we used a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to help keep heat on the oil. We over heated; lost most of the fluid from the radiator. Trucker stopped & gave a case of bottled water, got us to the gas station, it was eventually too cold for veggie oil, did the last 30 miles on diesel.
This is just a quick pictorial update.
We dug out the 3rd row of stadium seating on the fire pit and used the dirt to complete more of the Island Garden beds.
I finished installing the solar heater into the bathroom window.
It out put over 120 degrees but the air flow seems low. I'll be looking into putting a solar powered fan into the out put to pull more air through it.
We used some of the yard leaves and our free loose straw from the local feed & seed to insulate the fruit trees for winter.
I re dug the creek channels that go around Hugel Island so they can handle more water without washing our food away. This is the 1st of many water management measures to be implemented this winter.
All but 3 of our Island garden beds are now full of proper dirt.
All the completed beds have been sown with Barley or Oats as a winter cover crop. Cover crops help mitigate weeds, improve soil quality, provide free mulch in place in the spring. The Oats will eventually die off before maturity and we hope to be able to eat the barley.
Barley
This was our squash, corn arugula bed; now planted with Barley.
This big bed by the bridge has been filled and planted for the 1st time. Oats.
The 3 beds at the top of the Island have finally been filled and planted. Oats.
Same 3 beds reverse view.
Meet Pepper!
Pepper is a Catahoula Leopard Cur, the state dog of Louisiana. The Catahoula is believed to be the first dog breed developed in North America and is sometimes referred to as the "Catahoula Leopard Hound", although it is not a true hound, but a cur. It is also called the "Catahoula Hog Dog", reflecting its traditional use in hunting wild boar.
She's still being tied up to various trees near where we're working and going on daily perimeter walks. Soon we'll let her off the rope. She's doing very well with minding except for the over zealousness shown toward the cattle she see's...
Come visit Pepper, she enjoys sniffing new people.
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