In a wonderful barter arrangement, we are getting chickens, a small chicken house, and bees from our friend India in exchange for two weeks of house and animal sitting. We were planning to add chickens to our place soon anyway, and we got this chance to get ten grown hens. I've got plans to build them a nice coop of what is popularly called the "Amish" style, but they are coming with their own coop that will work till I get the new one built.
I've had chickens several times over the years. The picture above is from a small setup I had when I lived in Round Rock in the '80's. It worked quite well for the time and place. I love those Rhode Island Reds! The new ones will be a mixed bunch, and we're happy to be getting them.
We're also getting a hive of bees. Now, personally, I like bees. However, I'm a bit spooked by them. I seem to be a bit allergic to their stings. Over the years I've been stung several times, and each time has been worse. I'm not sure how much risk it will be to be stung again. However, we want bees here at EarthSong Retreat, and so this is a good thing. Cat Dancing has wanted bees also for some time, and she feels that she connects with these already. In a couple of weeks we'll be getting the hive. We've both been studying up on the art of beekeeping. I'm looking at the structural aspects of housing, etc. Cat has enlisted Michael to actually help with the hands-on bee working.
Both of us feel that adding bees will contribute to fighting the decrease in bee populations all over, as well as greatly aid in pollination of the various plant life here at EarthSong. We've also seen that bees are in serious difficulties in this area already from the drought and heat.
We've already delved into our first controversy concerning bees. Some of my Permaculturist friends introduced me to "Top Bar" hives as being very simple to build, natural, and beginner friendly. The "Langstroth Hive", however, is more common and more used commercially. Both designs have assets and drawbacks. The clincher, however, is that the season is late, and a Langstroth is what the bees are already established in. We've been looking at various designs to build our own, and we will see about trying different types as we divide the hive or add more bees later. I'll keep you posted.
On a related note, Cat has been looking at the "space suits" for working with bees. She is considering just going with the head veil and gloves, knowing that many keepers work their bees with no extra covering at all. Not to be outdone, I've been looking at bee suits as well. I'm considering this model:
On the other hand, perhaps she would appreciate me getting her another assistant:
Nothing is too good for my darling beekeeper!
To be honest, I showed her this suit, and she pointed out that it might not fit me. Sigh.
In other news, we are having our first work day for volunteers here at EarthSong in association with our partners at Vajra Azaya. I've designed a series of wicking bed garden beds to be hooked into our proposed gray-water system. We'll be building those this Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011. My back has been a bit out of whack, so I may be the geezer in the chair pointing others where to dig!
I'll end this with a lovely logo my friend Larry Santoyo has on his t-shirts.
See you!
You know, typical hot summer three day Labor Day weekend. Catch a movie, eat out, maybe plan a barbecue with beer and watermelon and mmmmmmmmm beef ribs and sausage. Did I mention cold beer?
Add the thrills of seeing huge clouds of roiling smoke as a north wind driven wildfire of gigantic size sweeps by within spitting distance of your place burning whole neighborhoods to the ground, melting cars to puddles while you and thousands of your neighbors are evacuated and most spend days huddled within hastily organized (or not) shelters while you wonder what the hell (literally) is happening to your house and family members.
Damn, do we know how to party in Texas or what?
All joking aside, it was a horrendous experience. Our firefighters and emergency services, and even local government folks really showed and continue to show their worth and humanity! Thanks all of you!
And, to so many who lost their homes, their loved ones, even their pets, it is impossible to express words close to being worthy of the loss that you feel. We do feel, truly sickened by what happened. Those of us who were bypassed, this time, were incredibly lucky, and we each know we could be next.
Pray for RAIN! And keep your bug out bags packed!
It's far from over, but we are home at least.
We are among the lucky ones.
The Bastrop Complex Fire of Sept. 4, 2011 is the largest of many that broke out around Central Texas on Labor Day Weekend. It came during a horrendous drought that still continues. Following months of daily temperatures of 100 plus degrees F, (as high as 112 near us), and constant southerly winds, the weekend brought strong northerly winds and a break in the temperature. This felt wonderful. However, the gusty winds also apparently brought down dead limbs onto power lines and sparked this fire Sunday afternoon. It started east of us and traveled fairly straight to the south, missing us by only two miles or so. There was a huge wave of boiling smoke high in the sky all afternoon as the firestorm raced through dry grass and dry pine trees into the Bastrop State Park and through wooded neighborhoods. Everything was bone dry, and the winds pushed the fire farther and farther.
We were finally evacuated Sunday evening at about 8. We grabbed our four cats and stuffed them into carriers, grabbed food and clothing and left, taking both cars and my motorcycle. Not sure where to go, we rendezvoused at the Bastrop Library. Cat had been in touch with a good friend, Amanda, in Austin, who has a vacation rental that was vacant. Amanda immediately put it at our disposal at no charge, so we headed into town. It looked as if all the world near Bastrop was on fire.
There we were, evacuating EarthSong Retreat, our new home, and on our way to Austin, not knowing if we would lose everything or not. As an added incongruity, Cat witnessed a motorist tossing a lit cigarette out of a window onto the pavement, sparks flying. It made her very angry, as it did me when she told me about it later. What an IDIOT! In the next couple of days fires broke out all around Austin and another in Bastrop. Some of those fires were accidental, others were apparently arson. In the midst of all of this, other instances of smokers tossing lit cigarettes out of windows were witnessed by friends. The stupidity was mind boggling.
Amanda and her family welcomed us to their home and rental unit, we moved in and started the wait. It was very comfortable, a beautiful place just off of Barton Springs and Zilker Park in Austin.
We used the wifi to follow the news and updates on the fire. More and more people were pouring into the evacuee shelters in Bastrop, making us glad that we had come on into Austin. It took us several days to get through the busy phone lines and register ourselves as evacuees so that we might be notified of changes.
More and more businesses in Bastrop and Austin were helping out the folks who were waiting. We were treated to a free dinner at La Fonda San Miguel in Austin, free to evacuees. It was a fabulous meal, in a place we would normally dress up to go to. The staff was wonderful, the food was great, and they offered us the full menu. Our server, David, had been an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina. That meal was such a bright spot in a dreary waiting game! We were also constantly getting calls and messages from friends and relatives who were checking on us. That meant a lot as well!
We were constantly watching updates and monitoring the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Services page on Facebook for news. KXAN News was a good source, as were the Facebook pages of "Texas Storm Chasers" and "We Are Okay in Bastrop", and others. Several pages had sprung up on Facebook for groups monitoring the fire, most had some good information. A lot of it was also on Twitter.
Finally, on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, the news came out that folks in some areas were being allowed to re-enter. Ours was one of those areas. Another good friend, Maria, and her family, who live North of us had already returned. They had gone by our place and reported to us that all was well. The fire maps we had seen all indicated that the fire hadn't come as far west as us, but it was great to have confirmation. Of course, we also had concerns about looters. A few weeks before the fire we had already suffered some vandalism. When we got the news about re-entry we were ecstatic, we couldn't get loaded fast enough. It was great on another level, as the rental we were using was booked for the weekend. We needed to be out anyway. We had received offers from other friends of places to stay, but going home is SO much better!
Everything at home was okay, other than some wind damage from the blustery norther. It seemed very quiet in our area. A lot of people have not returned. Just a couple of miles away families have lost everything. My cousin lives four miles away and was burned out. At this moment the count is nearly 1400 structures burned. Most of those are homes, with a few barns, offices, and other buildings. I believe there have been only four human fatalities so far, but innumerable animal casualties. The fire is still only 30% contained now, but it has moved further south. At latest count close to 35,000 acres has burned. This includes almost all of Bastrop State Park, parts of other parks, and so many neighborhoods. A huge blackened area is visible by satellite.
This is the satellite picture. We are located just above Lake Bastrop seen on the left side of the map. This is a shot from a French satellite, processed by UT.
In our area, however, the continuing northerly winds carry the smoke away from us. We smell very little of it here. Air quality is down, but not too bad. The smoke is not even visible from here.
We were so lucky!
For those who may be interested. Check out the beautiful vacation rental we stayed at. It is called "Wren's Nest" in Austin, Tx. It can be seen on www.homeaway.com , listing #293833. Phone 512-788-1044. Tell Amanda that William RainCrow sent you!
I just got back from the first Teacher Training Course at the Permaculture Institute site at Pojoaque, New Mexico. (Pronounced, I learned, as "Po-acky" according to the shuttle driver.) Close to Santa Fe, the trip requires flying in to Albuquerque and a 90 minute or so shuttle ride. Since I arrived at night, lugging my tent which I turned out not to need, I really didn't see my surroundings till the next morning. It was a delight to the senses! Just outside the property was arid desert land. Inside was a completely different story. Green everywhere!
I came there from my home near Bastrop, Texas. When I made my trip the Austin/Bastrop area had been through 69 consecutive days of "above 100 degree" temperatures, as well as way too many months of drought. In short, everything at home was frying and drying out. Casa Las Barrancas, on the other hand, was verdant and blossoming.
The Permaculture Institute was founded in North America by Bill Mollison and Scott Pittman in 1997 to be a sister organization to the original Institute in Australia. Since then, Scott and Arina Pittman, Larry Santoyo and many others have worked to uphold the standards of Permaculture, teach Permaculture classes, show by example the Ethics and Principles that Bill Mollison and David Holmgren originally set forth.
The class surroundings were wonderful. So were the assembled classmates who came from New Mexico, Nevada, California, Colorado, Bermuda, Texas, and Venezuela. They were quite an interesting group of 22 students. The teachers, Larry Santoyo and Scott Pittman, have an enormous amount of experience between them of teaching and using Permaculture. Arina Pittman, Scott's lovely wife, is another invaluable resource of knowledge of Permaculture, gardening, and life in general.
Most of the members of the new Teacher Training class were previous Permaculture Design Certificate (or PDC) students of Larry and Scott. I may have been the only exception. I came across the class by accident. I made a lot of great friends and contacts, though, as well as learning a lot about teaching and living Permaculture. I owe a lot of thanks to my friend Merry Henderson and my partner Cat Dancing for their support in my taking this class.
Thanks!
The Austin Permaculture Guild is now accepting registrations for its Fall/Winter 2011 Permaculture Design Certificate Course, which starts September 24 and runs for 10 Saturdays. To register and reserve your space right now for the Fall course send me an email, or simply visit the Austin Permaculture Guild Website. The class will take place at 5604 Manor Rd., headquarters of Third Coast Activist.
Our new place has a name! We're calling it EarthSong Retreat! This is in keeping with our plans, both ours and Merry's (the owner), to do workshops, retreats, classes, etc. out here. Plus, with my flutes, and her teaching music, and the Permaculture and Magickal elements, EarthSong seemed a natural! We are also in negotiation to become a cooperative project with the Vajra Azaya community. All to the good!
As for our moving here, we are almost done. The portable buildings are finally here, we have only cleanup to do at the old place. It is proceeding a bit slowly, as the heat has been a roadblock. For more than a month we've had temperatures of 107 degrees or so. Cat has begun doing some of her woodwork out of the carport until our studio is finally leveled and wired. That should happen soon. My office trailer is here and leveled, so I can get back to finishing out the interior. No more wasps to deal with! Finally we'll be able to put stuff back where it goes instead of stepping over it!
A bit of great news! I'm traveling again! I'm leaving August 19th to go to a Permaculture Teacher Training Course with Scott Pittman and Larry Santoyo with the Permaculture Institute. The class is being held near Santa Fe, NM. A friend paid for my tuition and Cat paid for my flight. I am so grateful to both! Another giant step toward my being able to teach Permaculture.
There's a lot to do before I go, so, back to work!
It's been a busy week or so. We are in the middle of moving to our new digs. Plus, I just got back from the weekend in Oregon. My daughter Melanie got married a month ago, and we had the reception last weekend. It was great spending time with my kids. Oregon is really nice. The weather was perfect while I was there. I went up and visited Mt. Hood, with the assistance of Ine Boekee, my daughter's new mother-in-law. Ine was nice enough to ferry me to the mountain from their house. I took pix like the one above to aggravate my partner who I left home packing up the old house in the 104 F heat! Love ya honey!
I've barely had time to read my email lately, much less post a blog. Here's hoping I can catch up!
Stay cool!
