Why did you not use the birdhouse?

So last year I made a few birdhouses for the property. So obviously, the birds this year make their nest inside the barn resting on the plastic vapor barrier. Oh, and thanks for ripping the screen that's suppose to keep birds out of the barn.

What Bird House? from R. Upshaw on Vimeo.

So I guess I'll wait till they are gone, and repair that screen. I wish they would have used the birdhouse...

Maybe I made the wrong style?

See you next time...

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

Very Sad Day...

I want to dedicate today's blog to a good man who died suddenly last week.

His name was Loren Elliott. He mentored me as a beginning bee keeper, and then became my friend. Loren was always there to help you when you needed it. He was kind, honest, and decent. He always knew more about most things than I did, but always approached with humility.

Loren served in the Air Force, and was given a full Military Funeral today at Tahoma National Cemetery.

Two weeks ago we got together to film a basic beekeeping video, and now he's gone. A lot of people are going to miss him.

Rest In Peace Loren Elliott

1945-2010

Hello World, I'm LuLu...

So do you want the good news, or the bad news? I guess we'll start things out with the bad news first. We had to put Frank the Dog down right before Christmas. Franky was a lucky dog. The Cowgirl found him abandoned in Mississippi right before Hurricane Katrina. He was starving, had about 40 giant ticks, lime disease, heart worms, and the vet down there told her to put him down immediately. She thought we could nurse Frank back to health, and she was right. (Expensive, but right.) I always looked at every day as a bonus day for Frank. He lived almost 5 years after that first vet said he was a goner. We're going to miss you buddy.

So that left our other dog Gerty by herself. We could tell that she was pretty lonely. She started digging out of the gate, something the Gert never did before. So we decided she needed a pal.

And that brings us to the good news. We went to the King County Animal Shelter and looked at the dogs up for adoption. We took it as a sign that there happened to be one dog that was a Catahoula breed. The same as Frank. It's not a very common breed up here in Washington, so we figured this was the one. She is a little younger than we wanted (10 months) but she seemed to get along great with Gerty.

So here's the new mutt: we call her LuLu

Hello World, I'm LuLu from ron upshaw on Vimeo.

Losing a pet is always hard, but I know that we gave Franky the best 5 years of his life. Now if we can train Lu to not bark under our window at 2am, it'll be all good!

See you next time.

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

Can't see the forest - cause we cut down the trees...

When our house was built, there must have been a sale on every ugly plant. We have systematically been taking out old, fugly plants and trees and re-landscaping the ranch.

Here's the latest step - taking out a row of totally overgrown trees along our access road.

Taking out the trees... from Upshaw Ron on Vimeo.

It makes such a huge difference already.

See you next time...

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

World's Easiest Cherry Jam Recipe

So, you've got a cherry tree too. Or you drive by that stand on the side of the road selling cherries and want to make some Cherry Jam.

Now in my second year with two cherry trees, I think this is about as easy as you can get to have some delicious cherry jam.... enjoy!

Cherry Jam... from Upshaw Ron on Vimeo.

Good Luck, let me know how it turns out!

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

Where's that tool again?

I'm sure this has never happened to you...

A pair of needle nose pliers is needed to complete the job you're working on. You know that you own a pair of said pliers. One problem - your garage looks like my barn.

I finally decided to do something about the hornets nest that was my barn. I scored a great deal on some drawers and wall cabinets from Second Use. If you're in the Puget Sound Area, it's definitely worth a trip for used building materials.

Barn Cabinets from ron upshaw on Vimeo.

Nothing ground breaking here, but I will say that the metal drawers with the heavy duty runners is a major plus in a garage / tool application. Oh, and it sucks to not have a level floor!

Here's how things turned out:

Barn Cabinets - After from ron upshaw on Vimeo.

Now the challenge will be to keep it this way!

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

Rancher Ron 1, Blackberry Bush 0

It's been a while since I've blogged, but not because I haven't been busy.

We wanted to get one more big project before the rain starts, and that big project was a permanent fence along our stream. This jumped to the head of the list because of a program we are part of with the King County Conservation District. Since we attended their Farm Plan classes and then got a Farm Plan, we are eligible to get reimbursed by the County for certain projects. Things like our manure bins, animal containment areas, and wetland buffer fences are reimbursed up to set percentages.

The buffer fence is around 75%.

We had a project manager from the Conservation District come out to help draw out where the fence will go to qualify for a Wetlands Restoration Project. After we do our fence, the KCD will come out and restore as much of our stream buffer to native plants. They say they will also maintain it for three years. This is very good news for us.

The first step was clear out some of the blackberries that were right on the new fence line and get the post holes dug. I decided to hire The Brush Monster. It's a bit spendy ($160/hr) but I think it's money well spent. If you've ever taken out blackberry bushes by hand, check this machine out.

Rancher Ron 1 - Blackberry Bushes 0 from ron upshaw on Vimeo.

We decided that since this part of the pasture gets pretty wet in the winter, we'd go with 4x6 pressure treated posts, and 180lbs of cement in each hole. That's totally overkill, but I only want to do this thing once. Since we're getting reimbursed for some of the cost, I spent a few hundred dollars extra on bigger posts and more cement.

I'll get some pics of how things turned out...

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

Pickles 3 Ways...

So I had a bunch of onions out in the garden and didn't know what to do with them all. Did not seem like the best thing to give away... "Hey, you want some free onions?" - "Um, thanks?"

So I decided to try my hand at making pickles. Since I'd never done it before, I made pickles 3 ways. One was an English recipe, one was my own spicy creation, and one I got from Good Eats.

Pickles Three Ways from Upshaw Ron on Vimeo.

If you want the original from Alton Brown - here you go:

After a taste test - don't even bother with anything but the Good Eats recipe. They are awesome! The best pickles I've ever had. Went through my whole stash in a few days. It would even be worth it if you don't have a garden - just buy onions and pickle cucumbers.

Best. Pickles. Ever.

See you next time!

Rancher Ron

REVIEW: DIG Drip Irrigation System

I've heard a few people call it "Chore Efficiency" but I just call it lazy. Or maybe I am being efficient. I'm talking about watering the plants. We've spent $500 easy on new plants around the house, and watering is a pain. Plus we're going out of town for vacation, and don't want to come back to a bunch of dead plants.

My first try at doing the drip system was in my garden when I saw a kit on sale at Harbor Freight for $10. It didn't work too well for me. In fairness, I think I was asking too much of it. This kit would work great if you just need to water some planters or a small herb garden.


So I ended up getting a much beefier system at Home Depot. It's the DIG Micro Sprinkler Watering Kit. The basic kit at Home Depot was $26. I got one for the front of the house, and one for the garden. I also bought an extra 100 ft. of the half inch tubing. I think 150 ft is about the max for length, and I needed about 140 ft.

Here's a video of my install.

Review of the DIG Drip Irrigation System from Upshaw Ron on Vimeo.

Now that I've had it for a few days, I'm really happy that I got the battery powered timer.
If you're going to "automate" your watering, might as well do it all the way!

So overall, I'm really quite pleased with the micro sprinkler kit.

See you next time.

From City Boy Starts Farmin'

My DVD is on Amazon!

This is cool news. I just got a DVD I produced with my buddy Kenan on Amazon.com.

We did it a few years ago. It's called Hike Seattle.com. Great hikes close to home. It's basically a half hour video for the beginning hiker or for a hiker that's new to the Puget Sound area. We cover a bunch of really cool hikes, and cover what gear you'll need including the 10 essentials. If you're into hiking - check it out.



Thanks

From City Boy Starts Farmin'