Farm news

We lost a turkey this past week. Two days in its new yard and gone over night. Taken by a coyote, I'm pretty sure. A fox would be too small to carry it off, I think. And I found a couple of piles of coyote scat and foot prints. I tried to track the coyote, but lost it in the big field north of our house.Not sure what I thought I would find. Maybe the carcass of the turkey, but I didn't find anything. As I followed the trail of feathers and occasional foot print, I came to a place of peace within myself over the loss of the turkey. The coyote was feeding itself and its pack, doing what a coyote does. Too bad the turkeys weren't smart enough to get inside their house.They go inside at night now and we close them in, just like the chickens.

I believe this is where the turkey took its last breath.

In happier news, this week for home school we made rainbow fish based upon the book Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. It's a great story and we made a couple of versions of rainbow fish with tissue paper and oil pastels.

We also went out to Our Place, our Taos land, to collect the glass windows we have stored down there, plus the poles for the windmill. Sad news...the wind blew down my coyote fence I built a couple of summers ago, and the adobe plaster is all but weathered off the shed. Shows what happens when you don't stay on top of it.

downed coyote fence

adobe plaster coming off pallet shed

We will have to get back out there to repair that plaster. We are thinking of taking it off and putting on cement instead, which will work better over paper and chicken wire. It may last longer too, if we aren't there to maintain it.

This Saturday we are headed north to our new land outside of Alamosa to watch a landscape company put in a driveway. That is exciting. Then we can get in there and decide where to build what. We need to get an office space up for Richard, and then we can move the RV up there and live in it while we build. We also need to get some batteries for our wind generator and an invertor. Plus some source of water, whether that is a cistern or we try to come up with money to drill the well.

Now we are taking stuff down on our rented farm. One of the landlords showed up and wants to renew our lease. They all decided they didn't want to do a month to month, which makes it hard for us. They came back with a five month lease, which is odd. I'd like a three month lease at most. We need to get out to the land and start building while the weather is warm, and we just can't dedicate the time to it if we are living here. Plus, we'd like to plant some hemp up there and get that project going too. So, it remains to be seen what will happen. The landlord is checking with his co landlords to see how they all feel about a three month lease. It seems it hampers their travel schedules. Must be nice to spend so many months abroad. Not good for the environment though...all that flying.

Next week we are taking the camper to an RV dealer/repair facility to have them check out the systems. We may need to replace some things. I hope it turns out that most of the appliances work and the water lines work. That'd be great news.

SLV Hemp Project

Hemp is the Future:

Ever since the forward thinking voters in our state thought to give farmers and citizens the legal right to once again cultivate the non-drug, industrial hemp Cannabis species, we have been trying to figure out a way to get involved. As stewards of this planet and this special protected spot in the Valley, we have been talking about supporting the Hemp future. And as an organization -- as a center for the new agriculture and evolving eco-spirituality -- Green Desert Sanctuary is a match for the future economy that Hemp represents for all of us. Carbon negative, Hemp generally requires no support in the form of pesticides or herbicides, and only normally fertile soil. The fiber varieties can grow from 6-12 feet in height, producing massive amounts of a sustainable fiber, and the seed varieties can yield more than 1500 lbs of oil-seed per acre. The seed can be pressed to create a very nutritious oil rich in Omega's and nutrient dense, while leaving behind a "seed-cake" or meal that is very high protein.

The industrial version of hemp even provides the basis for eco-scaled forms of our modern production economy contributing raw materials to everything from paper and fiber based products like textiles to bio-plastic composite materials that are comparable to carbon-fiber or fiberglass. It can be used for creating bio-fuels and has shown great promise as a tool for phytoremediation of contaminants in everything from waste-water to the soil itself. Hemp combines with lime to make hemcrete- a superior building material which offers both structural and insulative benefits and is better in every respect than regular cement/concrete, and much much Greener!

So it has been apparent to us for a while that Hemp should be part of the future, and now we are working on a way to make it literally part of our future. We talked in the past about sending money to support people that are working to make US hemp production a reality, and now we can BE some of those people. The Colorado department of Agriculture began taking registrations on March 1 for those wanting to grow industrial hemp for this year, and we are working to figure out a way to grow hemp, as legally as possible, and as soon as possible. We've already registered our intention with the state, now we just have to find a way to actualize our vision!

So in the next week or so, we will be putting together an opportunity to help support Local hemp through a crowd-funding, slow money type project. As the state Ag folks are quick to point out, this is all (relatively speaking) brand new to everyone. One obligation of growing the hemp is committing to processing the hemp within Colorado, and it is not yet known how many, if any, processing facilities will be in existence this fall. There may not be any, so we may be working on that aspect of this project in a few months.

In the meantime, we need to get the seed in the ground, which means we need to get seed (from mysterious sources unknown, as it is still federally illegal to ship viable hemp seed across state lines) and we need to have a seed strain that can do well in our cold short growing season. Good news is that we have some good leads on a variety, which hopefully will make it safely to the farm. Even better news is that now, as recently detailed in the previous post, we have access to land, without the looming threat of bank mortgages or absentee landlords. Land which we can feel comfortable using to grow hemp. We just need some infrastructure, in terms of water resources, probably a large hoop house, that kind of thing.

Which is where you come in!

We'll be calling on you to help spread the word in the next few days, as we finalize our start-up plan and get the crowd-funding system set up. We'll be asking you to post and repost, share with your friends and twitter out to all your peeps so that we can get maximum exposure of our effort, so that we can have the most success getting the necessary funding to take advantage of this opportunity NOW! We'll also be asking you to show that you support a greener hemp-fueled future for ourselves and our communities through your contribution. And we're working to have cute, fun, and useful thank-you's for those that care about that sort of thing.

This is your chance to support the future of hemp. 
This year it is all about learning, about contributing energy to the growing hemp revolution, about being the change we want to see in the world.

Be the change! Join the Hemp revolution and contribute to the evolution of humanity and the healing of our Mother Earth.

Future temporary home

In one day, we payed cash for 37 acres and bought our temporary home. We found this beauty in Del Norte and payed $700 for it.

It does need some work, but it has so much potential. It drives nice, but sways a lot in the incredible wind we are having these days. For it's age, it is a wonderful find.

sofa, which turns into a nice size bed, there is also a bunk above

chairs across from sofa

half of kitchen, stove is directly across

bathroom

We are not sure if any of the systems work, but we cleaned it up today, plugged it in and found that all of the lights work. The fan above the stove works, and the air conditioner comes on, but it remains to be determined if it is blowing cold air.

There is some work that needs to be done to the shower walls...like replace them with something waterproof. It could use a new toilet, and possibly a stove and fridge too. And the over the cab bed area needs some work too. Apparently there was an incident with a bear....? Anyway, there was some leaking and some water damage, but it is sealed up now, we hope.

We also met with a man about putting in a driveway onto our new land. We need a culvert installed. The estimate should come in this next week.

I kind of like this cash only economy. Not that we have a choice with our current credit situation and the current bank lending practices.

For around seven grand, we bought our land and our temporary shelter. The adventure is underway now!
Homesteading in an RV? Only while we build some really cool earthen home.

Pet rocks and new dreams in new places

This week we are making pet rocks. Why not? For two little kids who make pets out of paper, this seemed like a good project.






We are also learning about insects and pollinators. I am eager to finally land and really begin to build a flower garden. And bees...I have wanted to get bees for about four years now.

7 yr old daughter's pollinators

5 yr old son's pollinator

On Tuesday we are going to close on a piece of land near Alamosa. 37 acres of sand, salt bush, rabbit brush and cactus. Plus wide open blue skies, the towering protection of Mt Blanca, mountains in every direction you look, and pure silence. Until we get there with the kids anyway.

Mt Blanca

Land near Alamosa

Let the plan be reborn in a new place. We are planning on building an Earthbag house. The benefits of this location are the shallow water table under our feet, the close proximity to town, passable roads, and the affordability of such a large piece of land. Plus, we can grow hemp here, if we figure it out. Hemp is supposed to help marginal soils, which is definitely what we have on this new piece of property. Hemp, in my opinion, has the potential to save the planet. Hemp can replace petroleum in every way, and then some. It will replenish the soils, can be used in building materials, can be used as medicine (hemp seed is powerfully nutritious) and grows fast. Cannabis is good too and has its benefits as well, but industrial grade hemp is the answer to a lot of the problems facing the planet and humanity right now.

I have been scouting out rvs, trying to decide between a trailer and a motor home. Some of the trailers are really big and will be hard to tow, even with our old van. But, depending on what we choose, I'd like to be able to use it in the future to travel around a bit. I still want to go to Mexico, even if only for a visit. We are debating the rv as a potential living space as we build. As we have learned, it is too hard to build if you are not living there too. There just isn't the time, and so much energy is lost in commuting. Plus, it's just easier to stay home if the motivation is waning.

We will hold onto our Taos land for a while and perhaps we will build there too in the future. I can collect sage there and maybe the energy of the NM mountains. It is a beautiful place, but so hard to get too. I think maybe the road is seasonal, and not passable in the Taos mud seasons. Or maybe we will sell it and let someone else carry on the dream. It is a nice, peaceful place.

The wind is back. It is spring, isn't it? Everything not tied down or inside is blowing away. Wind season has just begun. I need to make my peace with the wind. Still, there is excitement in the air and so much potential blowing around. I welcome change and new opportunities.

Home school projects, spiritual school lessons

 This week we finished up our home school unit on volcanoes by making paper mache volcanoes that we "errupted" with baking soda and vinegar (and some elderberries for color).

paper mache volcano erupts

We then began a unit on weather, which allowed us to make windmills.

paper windmill

But the most interesting was (or is, ongoing) our arts and crafts project on dream catchers. This was a little more time consuming. We gathered willow reeds from down by the Hondo River, tied them in a circle, let them dry for a few days, and have been wrapping them with some yarn I've had for years. We garnished with some beads resurrected from a homemade bead curtain from many years ago. We have an abundance of feathers...chicken, turkey, duck, guinea and some found feathers, which added the finishing touches.

craft dreamcatcher

my son's dream catcher

The kids were looking forward to hanging them above their beds. Legend has it the dream catcher allows good dreams to pass through, but catches the bad dreams in the web. The morning's light takes the bad dreams away, clearing the dream catcher for the next night.

So we hung the dream catchers. And my five year old son was up early into the night with some weird night terror thing...angry outbursts, non-responsive, and I was up with him, wondering if we had angered the spirits with our crafty dream catchers?

This comes at an interesting time as I am beginning a Shamanism training course, so naturally I am thinking in more spiritual ways. Perhaps our dream catchers are a mockery to the spirit world and the Native American Traditions. Perhaps people should not mess with things they do not fully understand. I suppose we can re-make our dream catchers in ceremony, following specific rituals, with all natural materials, which might appease the spirits. Of course taking down the current dream catchers will cause my kids a lot of strife and me a lot of stress, so we will see how the rest of the week goes.

I think I will ask the spirits for forgiveness in a sage cleansing ritual, and hope last night was a one time event. We had so much fun making the dream catchers...surely this is all an innocent misunderstanding. Maybe I need to reconsider. As a student of magic, perhaps I no longer have the luxury of making psuedo spiritual tools. Consider my hands slapped, and now I will have to learn the true and honorable way to make a dream catcher......Or something like that......

Volcanoes

We are working on a science unit with the kids on volcanoes. So, being in the land of dormant volcanoes, we decided to take a field trip.

First we tried to find a road to Ute Mountain, a large shield volcano, which is behind our house. That proved more complicated than we anticipated, so we headed deep into the southern San Luis Valley to explore other neighborhood volcanoes.

The first dormant volcano we visited was Mesita Volcano, which was turned into a quarry for scoria and volcanic rock, but has been abandoned for some time. It was fun. We got to walk around and pick up the super light lava rocks.

Scoria pile at Mesita quarry/volcano

The center of the volcano and mined area

Collecting lava rocks. In the background on the left is Ute Mtn, and on the right is San Antonio Mtn (shield volcanoes).

We found another small dormant volcano up near highway 142 and the Rio Grande river called Culebra Volcano. We did not explore the remnants of the blown volcano though as my ears were too cold from our last expedition. (Beautiful day with a cold wind.)  We plan to return when the weather warms a little more.

We headed over to Antonito to pick up some locally made tamales and drove around in the valley near San Antonio Mountain, another very large shield volcano.

At home we are working on paper mache volcanoes that we can "explode" with baking soda and vinegar.

paper mache volcanoes

I think we are all enjoying these home school field trips. School without walls...is awesome!

Monte Vista Crane Festival 2014

Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday we went to see the cranes. In Monte Vista, they have an annual Crane Festival to celebrate the arrival of the Sand Hill Cranes to the San Luis Valley, and more specifically to the Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge.

Cranes in the sky

The cranes come twice a year to the area...in the early spring (or mid February to mid March) and again in the fall (October, November). They stop over on their way north as the weather begins to warm, and they stop again on their way back south as winter closes in.

Cranes in a field on the refuge

The cranes will fill the farmers' fields from Monte Vista, through Alamosa and even over into Blanca on the eastern side of the valley. They come to eat the Barley seed heads from the fields. They will plant the fields in the Monte Vista refuge as food for the cranes, but the cranes will pick through fields throughout the area.

They are amazing creatures. They have been migrating through the area for centuries, before people came to the San Luis Valley. Now, there is fear of taking the water that is funneled through the wildlife refuge because water has become so scarce in Colorado. That seems wrong, doesn't it? We can find water to frack and poison our planet, but we can't let the water continue to run through the wetlands of the San Luis Valley?

Humanity has reached the point of absurdity. Without the diverse ecosystems that inhabit our planet, we will begin to lose all life as we know it, including human life that is ultimately just as dependent on the natural ecology of this planet as every other living creature. And, although the Wildlife refuge has created a massive wetland system by using the irrigation systems of the San Luis Valley, already the area is wet as the water runs from mountains and down into the basin of the valley. Drive around and you can sit standing water in a lot of fields. This water seeps into the aquifer at some point, but I imagine the birds have used these "wetlands" for centuries before humans stepped in to help them out.

The issues arise when we use the water foolishly, like to grow alfalfa for cows living in the deserts of NM. Maybe we could all eat a little less meat. Maybe we could raise cows in areas that don't require supplemental feeding (if that's even possible). Or, let's all stop flushing our drinking water down the toilet, shall we? There are alternatives (gray water, composting toilets). Or, and here's a big one....stop fracking!!!!! That is an enormous use of water that all life forms need to survive. Yes, let's all cut back on our energy consumption. Turn off the TV for a few days. Make one less shopping trip. Take one less traveling vacation. Whatever. Most people won't give it up, will they? We have to change our lifestyles, and we have to change our minds if we want to change the world.

Great Horned Owl

As part of the Crane Festival, there was a presentation on owls and also on raptors. We missed the raptor talk, but made it to the owl talk. Unfortunately the kids could only sit through about half of it and so we went to another building to see the live birds, which included some raptors and a few owls. It was pretty cool to see the birds up close, although it's always better to see them in their natural setting.

Home school was fun for all of us yesterday. We definitely need more field trips!

Searching, searching...

I feel like I have been around the world and back and still with no place to land and call home.

Abandoned adobe south of the farm

We spent yesterday driving by properties around Alamosa and north of, hoping to find something that felt right and that offers owner financing. As we look and look, at least our options narrow down to a small handful that is easier to deal with.

It turns out we still can't qualify for financing due to our foreclosure not being two years out yet. As you may know from previous posts, we abandoned our house in Fremont County, Colorado because of the fracking happening around there. Recent research has shown me 16 fracked oil wells around that house now. 16. Within 3 miles or so.

I'm not sad we left, but rather relieved. I hear there is a woman my sister (a nurse) works with who lives in that town we fled. Her four year old has cancer. Yeah, I'm glad we chose life over our credit.

But still, it makes things challenging, or more interesting, as it may be. I just think it gives the Universe more opportunities to create miracles for us. It sure steers me in the right direction as the choices are few and far between.

We have some ideas, still, and are working on them, as far as land ideas. It seems a house is out of the question for a while, unless we can find an owner finance house on land. Those don't happen very often, and they usually want so much money down...money we just don't have access to. So, we can continue to save, or we can buy another piece of raw land a little closer in to a bigger town, which is why we are looking around Alamosa.

Yeah, it's cold here, but it seems it was cold everywhere this winter. Really, really cold. Welcome to reality and the new climate. In this high desert, arid, frigid winter environment, I think we have to be smart and adapt to what is happening. We are reconsidering building an Earthship style house with Earthbags to fight the cold and to utilize the sun. The building codes around here are more open to experimental housing (Kelly Hart built his Earthbag house in Crestone, just one county over from Alamosa). At least the building department knows what an Earthship is, which is a bonus and a step in the right direction. There is no time limit on building either. We just need an engineer stamped set of plans to work from. Fine. We can do that. We can build it. We can even live in a camper while we do it. (Yep, searching for a camper again.)

Isn't life interesting? And even entertaining as we bounce around like a ball in a pinball machine. Where will we end up? In the unknown lies the excitement and the adventure.