What a Week:
Another eventful week down! Most of the time was spent letting the chicks run around outside and tilling. Two days were rough rainy weather so we worked inside and I am almost done writing a new article about COVID and the need to grow your own food. I even gave myself a haircut which turned out pretty good. I just can’t justify paying someone $25 to cut my hair when I can do it for free.
Strangers be Strange:
Tuesday evening, we had a stressful situation when a drug addict from next door appeared on the border of our neighbors and our property, tried striking up an incoherent conversation with CM as he was putting the birds to bed, and then I showed up and yelled: “Hey, what are you doing?” He didn’t reply, just turned around and kept walking. I responded with “Oh you don't know how to talk?” Still nothing (keep in mind this is the same piece of shit that screams at his kids outside saying he’s a good father to them because he didn’t go to jail at 11 at night), then I said “Get the fuck off our property” and called 911. My voice was super deep and booming in the valley, teehee! The police came and we explained the situation and they went over there to talk to them. The guy admitted he was trespassing to look for “deer.” As the officers were talking to him we could hear them laughing, one of the cops said goodbye buddy, and off they went. Since I did not properly describe the color of his hoodie, Officer Williams declined to arrest him. I shit you not, that was the excuse. When Officer Willy called to inform me of what had happened over there I gave him a piece of my mind that he is not used to receiving. I said “you’re seriously not going to arrest this guy because he was wearing a different shade of blue than what I could see at dusk 50 yards away?” I then asked what was so funny that they were laughing about. Officer Willy asked how did I hear anyone laughing and I responded “with my ears.” I asked him if this guy was trespassing on his land would he think it was funny? To say that he was not used to being questioned in his omnipotent sociopathic position is an understatement.
The cops here are pathetic, lazy, incompetent, and most likely drug trafficking along with our neighbors. When Chris Martenson says the third time is enemy action—it's the truth. Time and time again the police have ignored the neighbors and our calls to action and when they do show up the pretend to care but then do nothing. At this point I hope they get investigated because I just have a gut feeling something nefarious is going on with them.
Law Enforcement Racket:
I think this shows just how much we need each other as communities/neighbors to be our own first responders. The police in this country are so thoroughly corrupt at this point that all they are is another racket stealing from the citizens. In many ways they are actually hindrances to our public health and safety. Here, they sure love to catch speeders but when it comes to actual crime that matters, they couldn’t care less. One day, I hope justice catches up to them.
When it comes to social cohesion some groups of people require you to adjust ideologies in order to handle the threats they present. In the case of the low class drug addicts next door, we did our best to keep to ourselves, putting no trespassing signs up and minding our own business. This will be the 4th time someone from over there has come onto our property or walked right through it. Now our policy is to project strength. This comes in several forms.
1) Get a guard dog
2) Begin target practicing outside to increase our personal safety skills while making it very clear we are not fucking around.
3) Out crazy these crazies
This last part will be something I may go into in another post but suffice to say it involves creeping them out. Make these types of people (who are only capable of understanding force, they use guilt and manipulation to evade consequences) feel uncomfortable and creeped out by you. They find behaving like savages as a badge of honor so out crazy them and they will most likely leave you the hell alone. Within the law of course!
Starting Seeds & Grafts:
Due to the truck issues from the last two weeks, we were unable to start vegetable seeds indoors using seed starting mix until Wednesday. I am using recycled soda bottles from when we get dominoes every week or two. It’s our “at home” date night in a way. We are trialing several types of tomatoes and peppers which are shown in the pic below. Hot peppers will be a nice treat to enjoy with meals during the winter so I am really praying they germinate well and grow even better. I had planted Ozark everbearing strawberries (our favorite variety by far) in the vegetable garden along the paths. Their prolific nature meant that the runners spread out all over the beds so this year we need to dig out as many as we can and transplant them to a better location. They would work at the ends of the rows to prevent grass or weed encroachment but not along the row paths themselves.
Many of the grafts are growing strong. I was hoping I would have near 100% success but I guess 70% is more reasonable. I also planted a Potomac pear next to the house along with a wild mulberry to grow up and provide shade along the south side of the tiny house. I really enjoy walking down the path flanked by productive trees. Makes for a fun stroll and looks pretty. Here we have a Reliance peach, Whitney crabapple, Potomac pear, and Mulberry seedling from right to left.
Chicks:
The chicks are 3 weeks old tomorrow and man have they grown. One little lady somehow had a cut under her beak and the other chicks were pecking at it so we have her separated until it heals. It’s so sad and if we did not remove her the others would continue to peck until she died. A sad fact of chicken husbandry but somehow the blood really gets their attention. She is safe with a screen in between her side and the others so she can still be a part of the flock but be at a safe distance.
Thoughts:
I’m not sure why if feels like we do not do a lot when I write these updates but my worn-out body suggests otherwise. Today was a nice day to clean, do the chores, let the chicks play outside, and plant some tree seeds (several pear rootstock seeds, Russian apple rootstock seeds, and some deer resistant exotic tree species as well). The weather app called for strong gusty storms today but as usual, they are wrong. How do meteorologists make money? They are just as inaccurate as economists!
For the week ahead, we are pretty much done with late frosts here so we will be cleaning up, broad forking, and getting the home garden beds ready for planting. We need to move some garlic chives around in addition to the strawberries. I will be doing more tilling and planting of nitrogen-fixing support species, like black locust in the food forest rows. Look forward to showing y’all the progress this next weekend! For now, get growing and have a wonderful week.
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