Gully Washer!

Today we had what we Texans call a gully washer. LOL! Rainfall was nearly .75 inches in about 2 hours.  Most of it came in about a 45-minute period.  This had me in a panic. You see, I had sown grass seed in my game lawn area. It hasn't sprouted yet, so I worried that the seed would wash away, and it would be $75 literally flushed. God guarded those seed for me, though! They are still there. Some washed away, but many remain.

God also showed me a serious problem in my garden area: storm water runoff pools. The wind blew back a tarp that I had placed to cover the grass to kill it. Had this tarp not blown back, I would not have seen this problem.

Here the tarp is back. Water is standing, not draining.

Rivulet of water runoff coming from the above "pond."

Now I have to figure out how to manage this runoff. It seems God has me on an express track for learning all things gardening. Last summer, I followed His lead every day. I wondered sometimes what in the world He had me doing. I will do the same this summer. So, He has prioritized storm water runoff management. 

I drove past this dry river rock bed today. It was flowing with storm water runoff. I drive past this house every day. I have never noticed this bed before today. Thank you for giving me eyes, God! This is a great idea to base my plan around.

 

Next I asked on a local homesteading group for ideas on what to do. One person gave me the idea of a rain garden. I had never heard of a rain garden, so I googled it. I found several interesting articles, which I will link to at the end of this post.

I discovered that rain gardens are flower/garden beds that are designed using plants that will tolerate both standing water and drought. They have deep roots in order to survive these conditions. Important information! The area I will need to work with will skirt the perimeter of our septic leach field. I will have to plant the rain garden away from that since I cannot plant deep rooted plants over a leach field. 

The picture above does not seem to utilize a rain garden. It is merely a dry rock bed edged by grass. Ours will need to terminate near the game lawn. So, we will have that "look" also. 

OR! I could terminate it near the chicken coop and make it duck friendly. My daughter would love to get ducks! I need to investigate good rain garden plants that chickens like to eat. May be a good forage area for them as well. I imagine all sorts of insects will like this area.

First is an article on dry stream beds:

http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/garden-design/capture-and-direct-runoff-with-a-dry-stream

Second are articles on rain gardens:

http://www.cleanwateratlanta.org/environmentaleducation/reclaim.htm

http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Watershed/growgreen/raingarden_factsheet.pdf  (This is a great how-to booklet.)

Third is an article from Washington on the safety of collecting toxic runoff.

http://daily.sightline.org/2013/01/22/are-rain-gardens-mini-toxic-cleanup-sites/

Fourth is the permit requirements for our city building code. Note: no permit required for retaining walls shorter than 4 ft.

http://www.cityofkeller.com/index.aspx?page=1002

Catching Up After A Year of Employment

I had a job this year for the first time in 12 years. My working really messed up this family. So little was accomplished our first year in our new house. We ate poorly. I barely managed to keep the yard going while getting a "little extra" done, like a few raised beds.

Fortunately for us, I will NOT be working again next year. We ALL decided that it was too soon for Mommy to re-enter the work force. Managing an acre homestead takes a lot of work. Completing all the deferred maintenance this house had takes time and management. I am needed to take care of those things.

I really, really want to blog. I hope to have more time now. This is an activity I enjoy. I hope God provides the time and inspiration to make it happen. :D

God's Plan - Expanding the garden area

I have never had this much land and space to garden. Hence, I have no clue, really, just how many plants to grow for a full harvest. I know from past gardens that one raised bed will grow quite a few strawberries - plenty for fresh eating but not enough to put up as jam or freeze for smoothies.

Last fall, I created five raised beds for veggie beds. It was simply the beginning. One has to start somewhere. These are the beds before I put soil and compost in them.

Cardboard lining the bottom.

Last week, I watched a wonderful movie, "Back To Eden," which is about God's plan for managing the soil. The author of the video discusses scripture where humans were cursed to till the soil and work hard. However, he also discusses his observations of how God manages the soil. Where nature is allowed to work as designed, there is a natural composting that occurs. The video calls it a covering. The Back To Eden garden is one designed to maximize natural composting and covering using God's plan, not man's.

I have been inspired by this movie to attempt a larger scale of composting beds. I had thought to till my yard, but I have changed my mind.

I still have lots of cardboard boxes from our move. I put those down to kill the grass. I am layering topsoil, manure, leaves and straw. These will compost in place. The goal is to essentially convert a whole side yard of lawn and weeds (mostly weeds) into a large garden. The area is about 50 x 100 so 5,000 sq. ft.

Here you can see the expansion. This is only about one-fifth of the area that will eventually become the garden. I have laid out cardboard. On that, I will dump the bags of topsoil (which has peat moss in it). I bought bags of manure to add to the topsoil. I will add leaves, as well as straw and chicken poop from my coop.As I expand the garden area, I will remove the framing for the raised beds. Right now, I need a "place holder" for the existing beds while the other area composts in place. The space between the beds is about the size of another bed.

Laying out the cardboard and bags took about an hour. When I made my first raised beds, mixing the topsoil and compost materials took about an hour per bed. It really doesn't take much time at all.

I Understand Tumbleweeds Now

The weather warmed nicely last week. Being the opportunistic gardener I am, I decided to cut back the green briar that was growing from the neighbor's cow pasture into my trees. It has been clear since we moved in that no one at our property had cared about the yard. Neither has the owner of the cow pasture cared for his. So, the vines had really overtaken the back fence and trees.

I have nothing nice to say about green briar vines! Those vines have thorns bigger than needles. They are awful. I spent two full afternoons cutting them back and pulling the vines down out of the trees. After I was done, I had a nice view of the pasture. I'm pretty sure the trees will be thankful as well.

Now I have piles and piles of green briar refuse. I have bundled it like a good little trash regulation follower. We'll see if the garbage folks take the bundles. Have I said recently that we have the worst trash service ever? We do. Pretty sure that's in a large number of my posts. sigh.

I don't know if green briar is the source of tumbleweeds. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are not. But, look at those piles! They give tumbleweeds a stiff competition.

Hot Zone Xeriscape

The front of our house faces due west, so the front yard gets blasted with the summer furnace, er, sun in the hottest part of the day. There is no shade at all. I do not want to water it either. Whatever I plant there will need to be tough as nails!

Having lived in New Mexico near Santa Fe, I am familiar with High Country Gardens. We used to shop there all the time. They are experts at xeriscaping, and you can tour their gardens. One of my all-time favorite garden centers!

I used their catalog to plan my hot zone out front. I am planting a "zone 3 xeric" area along the street where my garden hoses won't reach well and where the sun blasts it all day and evening. Most of my choices are rated for 15 inches or less of annual rain, which should suffice for summer here. :-D They are all also rabbit resistant. (I doubt they are dog trampling resistant, though. Sigh. The neighbors let their dogs run free. GRRR.)

My choices: Russian sage, Jupiter's beard, rudebeckia, artemesia silver sage, catmint, munro's globemallow, lantana, veronica speedwell, gaillardia Arizona red, perky Sue, Alamo canyon penstemon, prairie zinnia, mirabilis, oxeye daisy, blackfoot daisy, and red yucca.

Having said I used High Country Gardens' catalog, I actually ordered the seeds from someone else. HCG does not sell seeds for what I want, The area is so large that I cannot afford to buy plants for everything. I need most to grow from seed.

I will buy some plants from them, but not everything. I bought seeds online for: prairie zinnia, blackfoot daisy, gaillardia Arizona red, perky Sue, and mirabilis. I will buy seeds locally for Jupiter's beard, oxeye daisy, lavender, and rudebeckia. I can buy red yucca, artemesia, russian Sage, catmint, and lantana locally. That leaves purchasing Alamo canyon penstemon, veronica speedwell, and munro's globemallow from HCG.

Still trying to figure out what to do about the lawn. Sigh. Baby steps. Baby steps.

This Week's Goal Setting

Hoping the weather will cooperate with my schedule this week. It is supposed to rain this week. I really only have Monday and Wednesday afternoons to get much done. I'm away from home all day on Tuesday and Thursday. And, we have a park day on Friday afternoons.

Personal/Family:
Write two blog posts.
Apply to summer camps

• Download all application forms
• Give recommendation forms to teachers
• Fill out app for the camp dd automatically qualified for
• Fill out all other apps and create a folder for each
• Get dd to finish writing essays (outlines done)
• Fax applications then mail

Household:
Continue to follow morning routine
Continue to follow cleaning routine
Try new bread recipe
Schedule ONE contractor
Schedule dentist appointment

Homestead (Weather Permitting):
Build compost bin area
Finalize seed listing
Order plants for "hell zone"
Go to Plant Shed and North Haven Gardens to see fruit trees
Rake leaves to middle of yard for mower

Teaching:
Read Beorn the Proud
Read Bedouin's Gazelle
Grade Papers

Spiritual:
Continue to keep the Sabbath
Begin research on Purim
Continue to pray at night with daughter


Below is last week's goal list. I did pretty well on following my plan! I didn't get the reading done. The humanities class changed books and direction on me, so I've added a new book this week. I also had to read some short fiction to quickly find a story to use for a literary analysis lesson.


Personal/Spiritual:
Take a Sabbath rest every week. Think of a restful family activity and execute.
Pray every night with my daughter.
Write two blog posts.

Household:
Follow my weekly morning routine all week.
Try to follow my new cleaning schedule.
Record the time it takes to do household work.
Can a second batch of Hoppin' John.
Call to schedule ONE contractor to complete maintenance.
Return all items in car to the stores.

Homestead:
Begin work on the compost area.

1. Research design requirements
2. Inventory materials currently owned
3. Clear out/rake planned area
4. Create a design/plan

Continue to create my seed order list.

Teaching:
Read "Beorn the Proud."
Grade Papers.

This Week's Goals - Jan. 21, 2013

I am still trying to get a rhythm with goal setting. I spent the first whole week just working on forms that I have since tweaked a bit. However, just the IDEA of setting goals and tracking what I'm doing/supposed to do has already helped me greatly.

I know I should back up and post my goals for the year. Instead I am going to take advantage of the opportunity to post a link to Money Saving Mom's blog link party. Maybe this will help me stay accountable. I wanted to do this a couple of weeks ago when she posted, so I really don't want to miss the boat again!

Personal/Spiritual:
Take a Sabbath rest every week. Think of a restful family activity and execute.
Pray every night with my daughter.
Write two blog posts.

Household:
Follow my weekly morning routine all week.
Try to follow my new cleaning schedule.
Record the time it takes to do household work.
Can a second batch of Hoppin' John.
Call to schedule ONE contractor to complete maintenance.
Return all items in car to the stores.

Homestead:
Begin work on the compost area.

1. Research design requirements
2. Inventory materials currently owned
3. Clear out/rake planned area
4. Create a design/plan

Continue to create my seed order list.

Teaching:
Read "Beorn the Proud."
Grade Papers.