Garden Update for April 2012

Spring has finally sprung in Northern Idaho. While downtown has been clear of snow for a few weeks now, the snow in our neck of the woods has just recently begun to melt. It took temperatures in the 50s and 60s recently to get it going. And go it did. The quick snow melt almost washed away our driveway and the road. A few days of digging ditches in the mud and flowing water saved both.

The growing season is short here--our last frost is usually in early June. And summer nights are pretty cool. It may be in the 80s during the day, but nights can still be in the 40s. Many plants don't like this large temperature swing, so you have to take measures to keep them growing.

Last year, we had problems with deer eating our food. So this year I plan to put in a seven foot fence. I'm hoping it will also deter the moose, but as big as they are, it would take a pretty strong fence to keep them back if they really want something.

I plan on planting some root vegetables this year, including carrots and beets. We have plenty of rabbits around here, so I wanted to make sure they didn't eat my carrots. While attending some meetings organized by our local gardener's association, I learned that a lot of people have problems with gophers and such, too. The solution, I'm told, is to create a fully enclosed garden, including the bottom.

So my first project this season was to build a permanent garden bed that will prevent any digging or burrowing animal from getting in. Aside from the wire fencing, all materials were scrap that was lying around waiting to be used. The wood frame was made using the crating for the roof installed last year and left over from the solar panel installation. To "seal" the bed, the fencing is stapled to the wood along seams, and the bottom is stitched shut with wire used to hold the fencing in a roll. The finished size is ten feet by four feet.

The enclosed bed before it is filled with dirt.
From the ground to the top is about two feet.

This bed is about two feet deep. The location is slightly inclined so I leveled the bed by leaving more exposed above ground at the bottom of the hill from where these pictures were taken. I basically just dug until I hit the orange clay and then dug a little more, moving some dirt from the top of the hill to the bottom so that the bed would have roughly the same usable depth all the way across. We'll have to wait and see how well this actually holds up.

The finished bed backfilled with dirt. The sides will probably have to
be reinforced before it is filled to the top.

I'll try and get some organic compost this week to mix in with our soil. The soil around here has quite a bit of clay, although being in the forest there is a bit of organic matter on top. This particular spot is disturbed soil and the hill was probably created when the area for the house was cleared. I'll probably make two more beds in this hill, but probably not fully enclosed like this one. This box will be solely for plants needing protection from diggers.

Hopefully by next week we can start planting.

Faster Internet - Is It Possible?

When we came back from our Christmas 2011 vacation, I discovered that Verizon's 4G LTE service had come to town. In town, I measured the connection speeds at 20Mbps down and 7Mbps up. That was really good news! The real question, though, was whether or not I could receive a 4G signal at the house. When I got home, I checked several locations around the house and was unable to receive a signal anywhere. It turns out, if I wait long enough, I can get a 4G connection at our bedroom window.  It was weak and would disconnect and reconnect all the time, but it was there. On a warm (above freezing) day, I stuck the modem outside the window and noticed a tripling of connection speeds. This got me thinking.

How could I bring this stronger outside signal indoors to my router? My 3G cellular repeater works great, but doesn't repeat 4G signals which are on a different frequency. A quick search of the web told me there weren't any 4G repeaters on the market--yet. What about an external antenna? At first, I didn't see any external antenna ports, but upon further inspection, I saw that they were covered with little black stickers. So I ordered a full-band outdoor antenna that works with Verizon's 4G frequencies along with some cabling and an antenna adapter for my modem.

For the last week or so, I've been trying to get this to work. If I put the outdoor antenna in the same spot outside the window where my modem worked, the modem will not connect. Strangely, the RSSI (received signal strength indicator) indicates a slightly stronger signal, but just will not connect. When the snow finally stopped falling and it was safe to go out on the roof, I tried raising the antenna about six feet above the roof. I was able to get a good RSSI along with a decent download speed, but a down right horrible upload speed of about 20Kbps. That's slower than a dial-up connection on the uplink and not suitable for the work I do. I moved the antenna to several locations around the house, and no matter what I did, I could not get a suitable upload speed.

I called the 3G Store, the vendor from whom I purchased the antenna kit, and we talked through everything I tried and they confirmed, I tried everything possible.  They suggested I try pinching the connector on the antenna adapter to create a more solid connection between the antenna and the modem. Back outside I went, trying all my tests again. At best, performance with the outdoor antenna was about equal to using the modem without an external antenna while it was placed inside the house in our upstairs bedroom window.

Based on all this experimenting, I suspect that while the antenna helps me receive a stronger signal, it doesn't help and in fact may hinder my transmit ability. Wilson electronics does make a direct connect 4G signal amplifier. I'm considering trying it, as if it can increase my uplink speed, I will get a significant performance increase. For me, this means two people in the house can each use the Internet without interfering with the other's work.

So until I consult with the 3G Store again and decide whether or not the amplifier will help me, I'm going to try leaving my modem in the upstairs bedroom window and seeing how it works out for me. Just for comparison's sake, here are some Internet speed test results from speedtest.net showing my 4G connection speeds (when it is actually working).

4G speed test results from indoor window location.

Winter Chores

Throughout the summer, I thought that winters here would require less work since there is so much less daylight and we'd be stuck inside. Well it turns out there is still quite a bit to do even if it is dark outside.

Whenever it snows more than a couple inches, which is more often than I expected, I have to run the snow blower down the driveway and to all the locations I walk regularly--the generator shed, the solar panels, the wood pile, etc. I have the routine down to under an hour if it isn't a blizzard, but when we get a foot of snow all at once it can take twice as long or more, depending on how wet the snow is. I always try to clear as much snow as possible before it rains, because the watered down snow will inevitably freeze in fairly short order making walking up and down our driveway quite treacherous and delaying the day that we can actually drive up it. Since I work during the day, and because the snow blower has a light on it, I usually end up doing this chore at night if it's a work day.


Maintaining clear walkways makes daily chores much easier, especially
when the snow gets deep like it is now. These solar panels were installed
with summer use only in mind. They will probably get raised or even
moved to a less shaded (in winter) location this summer.


I chop wood about every other day. I do it manually, because I didn't want to spend money on a wood splitter this year after all the money we've spent on home improvements, and because I really wanted to make sure I can split wood without power tools if I have to. I've discovered that it only takes a few minutes a day to split wood once you get the hang of it. I spend 15 to 30 minutes to produce about a two day's supply of firewood. Our wood pile contains mostly pine, fir, larch, and birch. The birch is the hardest to split, but even birch rarely takes more than a few good whacks before it splits. I've actually come to enjoy the chore of splitting wood!

I use a six pound maul with a fiberglass handle. A friend back east who has chopped more wood than I had at the beginning of the year told me what to get. He told me an eight pound maul can be more than light skinny guys like us can comfortably control. I'd have to say I agree with him. The six pounder that I have feels like a good match for me.  After the incident last November, I try to split the wood so that logs are no longer than six inches wide. To ease stress on my back, I use a large diameter short log to lift the piece I'm splitting about a foot off of the ground. Next year, I might try putting this setup inside a tire, so that when the log splits, the parts don't fall into the snow. If that turns out to not be very safe, I'll abandon the idea. Feel free to comment on this idea or if you have a better idea for solving this problem.

And of course, there is the never-ending chore of feeding the wood stove. It's necessary to stay warm, and we've gotten used to it. But there are times when we are just so involved with what we are doing that neither of us wants to. We do it anyway because we have to. Such is life.

The one winter chore I really don't enjoy is changing the oil in the generator. The old generator just wasn't designed for maintenance. The Honda generator looks much easier and cleaner, so maybe I can finish changing the oil before my fingers freeze. Time will tell, I guess.

Generator Troubles

When we came back home after being away for about a month for the Christmas and New Year holidays, our generator was giving us troubles. It refused to start. Eventually, the starter cord broke and I had to give up for the time being. I went to the local Honda dealer because the local small engine repair shop was closed. While there I checked out their line of generators and as it turned out they were able to repair the spring and cord for my broken generator while I waited. How nice! I replaced the spark plug and the generator started right up, although occasionally, it would stop every once in a while for no apparent reason.

Well, here it is a little over a month after that incident, and now the generator doesn't run for longer than about a half hour at best. That's enough time to pump some water out of the well, but not long enough to do a load of laundry, and certainly not long enough to charge our batteries. During our cloudy winters, I usually need to run the generator about two to three hours per day to charge the batteries. It's time to get the generator repaired, but due to all the snow we've had I can't get the generator from the generator shed to my SUV parked at the bottom of the driveway. My neighbors tell me they have backup generators for just these occasions since they have been in the same situation as me before. In fact, their primary generator was in the shop. It was time to pay another visit to the Honda dealer.

Honda generators have a reputation for reliability. Also, Honda has a nice line of super quiet generators which are also very fuel efficient and don't require ethanol-free gasoline.  Each of these features appeal to me. I just wish Honda generators didn't cost so much.

We rarely use anywhere near the full capacity of the 8KW Generac generator that came with the house. I wanted an efficient generator that could charge our batteries or run an 1800 watt appliance, or charge our batteries and run a smaller appliance at the same time.  I ended up buying the largest Honda super-quiet inverter-based generator they offered--the EU3000is. The weight, at 134 lbs plus about 25 lbs of fuel and oil, was just manageable by my wife and me on our steep icy driveway. It took two days to get it hooked up because the NEMA L5-30 receptacle did not mate with any NEMA L5 plugs I could find at Home Depot. So after another trip back to the Honda dealer to get the special L5-30 plug, I was able to fabricate my cable and wire the generator to the house.

I fired it up and admired the fact that I could actually talk to my wife on a 2-way radio even as I stood over the generator. I was impressed when I came inside and inspected the charger and noticed that it was charging at a full 100 Amps (at 12 volts). I had never been able to achieve that with the old generator; at best I got 80 amps and more typically 40 to 60. I can now charge batteries in about half the time and burn less than half the gasoline at a lower cost because it doesn't have to be premium ethanol-free gasoline. I used to go through five gallons in two to three days. I now get three days on 3.4 gallons. That's really nice! And there is a wireless remote start kit that I will probably install later. That would come in handy if I need to start the generator at night and don't feel like getting all dressed up to go hiking through the snow just to get a small burst of power.

The new 3KW 120V Honda generator with the
broken 8KW 240V Generac generator behind it in
our generator shed about 120 feet from the house.

When the snow melts and I can get my SUV up to the house, I do plan on repairing the old generator. After all, it is capable of providing over twice the power, even if it isn't super-quiet or fuel efficient. And it's always good to have a backup, although, I think the backup will be the bigger, noisier generator from now on.


Resources:
Honda Generators: http://powerequipment.honda.com/generators

Close Call

We are expecting our first winter storm later today. Accumulation up to ten inches is forecast for elevations above 2500 feet. We are right around 2500 feet so we may get rain or snow. But our road is already getting slick from the frost and snow flurries that come on most nights. So I had a lot to do today:

• Finish stacking and cover the two cords of wood that were delivered yesterday
• Stock up on gasoline for the generator and snow blower
• Get the brakes fixed beacause the brake light recently came on on the dashboard and hasn't extinguished.
• Get tire chains. Did I mention that the road has gotten pretty slick?

I got up early, so I could get a head start before going to work. I began by starting a fire in the woodstove so the house would be warm when the family woke up. Fortunately for me, my wife and child woke up earlier than I had planned. I had put a large log on the fire so I wouldn't have to tend the fire while stacking wood outside.

This normally works for me. But this time, the fire quickly became intense. The log started burning almost before it got through the door of the stove. Since the heat was quickly building I shoved it in and shut the door. The flue temperature kept rising. 400°, 450°, 500°. Usually it stops around there. 550°, 600°, I closed the draft all the way down. The temperature stopped rising for a few seconds, but then it started climbing again. I let my wife know I might need some help in a minute because the stove was hotter than I've ever seen it. 650°, 700°. I opened the door and closed it again to see what would happen. Fire came out the door and the smoke detector went off in the bedroom upstairs. I wondered if there was some sort of petroleum-based fuel in this log. I briefly considered using a chimney fire suppressant stick. But since I hadn't actually used one before and the fire was still more or less under control I decided lets just remove the log. It was a big log and not easily manageable using our fireplace tools. It's a good thing I had a shovel on the porch recently used to remove some ice. I grabbed it and together we carried the flaming log across the living room and threw it into a pile of snow and ice after briefly dropping it on the porch. The stove thermometer was now reading 800°--the highest temperature on the scale.

Our stove thermometer. Without this, we might have not known anything
was awry until it was too late.

The blaze has been extinguished

Whew! The house was full of smoke, but fortunately not itself smoking! But what happened? Would the temperature have come back down if I would have just waited longer, or would the chimney have caught fire? Would the stove have cracked from the heat? Who knows. One thing I learned is to not use logs that are too large to manage with your tools, even if it means feeding this stove more frequently. Also, don't burn logs with a lot of sap or pitch. One person I spoke with today suggested that might have been the cause of my problem as it's not common to experience what I did from an ordinary log.

This story may not seem so dramatic, but let me tell you, it sure got my adrenaline pumping. We don't have a fire hydrant outside to hook up to and put out the forest fire that would start if this situation would have gone out of control. By the time a tanker truck could get up the mountain, it would be a pretty big problem to deal with.

Our stove came with the house and had a few problems which were fixed before we started using it. Now it has another one, not the result of this episode. The draft control handle has separated from the draft control, so to control the draft, one must internally capture the draft control with the rod extending from the handle. This method works but is a bit of a hassle. If it were summer, I'd try to take the stove apart and fix it. But it gets cold in here pretty quickly when the temp outside is barely above freezing during the day.

We are thinking of replacing the stove. We could also replace the stone work around it which was an amateur job and looks it. The stone is nice, but the finish is awful, it doesn't extend far enough from the stove and we don't have additional matching stone. So while out getting ready for the storm, I visited a stove store in town. We have heard good things about Blaze King stoves. The dealer told me they are the Cadillac of stoves. They will burn for up to 15 hours which sure beats the three or so we get now. They also burn much less wood than our current stove. It's too bad they cost as much as they do. I'm almost convinced it's worth it, though. We are trying to figure out how to fit it into our budget after all the other home improvements we've paid for this year. We bought seven cords of wood to make it through this winter which we weren't intending to stay for. If we were to buy just five cords instead of seven every year, then this stove would pay for itself in seven years--less if we have to replace our stove anyway. Something to ponder. The other stove the dealer recommended was a Lopi stove. It can burn up to ten hours, but more typically about six hours. That's better than what we have now, but it's not all night.

Resources:
Blaze King stoves: http://www.blazeking.com/
Lopi stoves: http://www.lopistoves.com/

Chimfex fire suppressant: http://www.chimfex.com/

Garden Update for October 2011

Well, we have finally had our first frost. To save the tomatoes, I picked them green. We, and by we I mean primarily our darling toddler, have enjoyed the grape tomatoes we picked every other day. And we were able to let two of our larger heirloom tomatoes ripen on the vine. The green tomatoes we put in a large paper bag from the grocery store to ripen. Those that have ripened, just havent' tasted as good as the ones tht ripened on the vine, but at least they haven't gone completely to waste.

I'm happy to say that the kale we were able to harvest before the deer finished it off was quite good. And so was the cabbage. Apparently we have the right soil for them. The tomatoes did ok, but I expected better. I recently learned that the cool nights that we have here prevent the tomato plants from getting as big as you would see further south. Next year, I'd like to try building a hoop house. That should extend future growing seasons and keep plants warmer at night.

To prepare our garden for next year, I planted a cover crop of winter rye. I hear it's supposed to help add nutrients to the soil. I've never done this before, so we'll see next year how much it helps. I would love to be composting, but since we don't want to attract certain wildlife, we haven't been doing that. I hope to come up with a solution by next summer. If anyone has some experience composting without attracting nosey animals like bears, please let me know what works for you.

I've also taken a few classes offered by the gardener's association in our county. I've learned about growing berries and keeping an orchard. I look forward to planting rasberries and blueberries. Both grow well here and it turns out that now that I know what a rasberry plant looks like, I see wild rasberries all over our property. They just aren't producing many (if any) berries. I also want to plant some fruit trees next year. I'm thinking of two apple trees of different varieties, an apricot tree, a plum tree, two cherry trees, and maybe a hazelnut tree. To pull this off, I'll probably have to cut down a few trees so they can get their "full sun." Since our well doesn't produce quickly enough to irrigate, I would like to site the orchard so that it is near one of the seasonal springs on our property. That pretty much narrows it down to one site, relatively near the house. I hope the soil is workable in that area. We'll find out next spring. Stay tuned.

Garden Update for September 2011

The wildlife is still making their presence known. Last Friday morning we were awakened at about four o'clock in the morning by what sounded like a bunch of loud yapping dogs. We happen to know there is a pack of five wolves on our mountain so we knew what the sound was. I got up to look around the house to see if I could actually see them--they sounded so close. But after opening a window, I realized I was hearing echos off the nearby ridge. They were probably much less than a mile away, though.

Recently, we had our first near frost. Yes, in September. The forecast overnight temperature was 33°F. We hurriedly threw a cover over the tomatoes and hoped for the best. I picked the one heirloom tomato that was turning yellow so we could at least taste one should the rest freeze. A few days later, the tomato was a nice orange with red stripes--the way it's supposed to look when ready to eat. That was the fleshiest tomato I've ever had--delicious! We were going to try to save it's seeds, but we could only find three! We figured we'd wait until some of the other tomatoes ripened since this one was not the best of the bunch.

I was really annoyed when I checked on our garden this morning. There are usually four or five grape tomatoes ripe enough to pick on any given day. My one year old daughter has eaten about 95% of the tomatoes I've picked this year. Then I noticed something strange. Half of the heirloom tomatoes, including the ripest one that I've been waiting to pick was missing! Then I noticed that the cherry tomato plants had been knocked down to the ground. I went and told my wife the deer had eaten our tomatoes. When I came back out, I realized they had also eaten all of our kale! All of it! I'm glad I got at least one cutting of kale earlier in the month or I would be even more upset. As it is, I have half I mind to go find the deer that ate my kale and eat it!

I can no longer recommend the deer netting that comes with a 100% money-back gaurantee. I don't want more netting--I want my kale! It looks like we'll have to build a fence for next year. We have extremely rocky soil (with very large rocks), so I'm not looking forward to digging holes for the fence posts. But I'm determined to keep the deer out next year. Oh, and keep the bears out of the compost pile, too. And just for good measure, it must keep the moose out, too. A future post will have all the details on our garden fence. Look for it next year.

Our garden after the deer attack: Kale completely gone, and
several heirloom tomatoes eaten. Some sweet 100 tomato
plants were knocked over, too.

Exploring

Every now and then, I like to look around the property and see if I find anything interesting. Usually I find another car part, or a fresh pile of moose dung or such. There is a tree next to the drive that looks like it has been laying there for a few years. I thought it might be good for firewood. As I was looking for a way to support it while I cut it, I noticed something I hadn't seen before.

The entrance to a hidden room that I found on our property

Could this be what I think it is? Or is it something totally different? One of the things I would like to do when I get the chance is to build a root cellar. One of the few places I could do this relatively easily is in the side of the hill created when the earth was moved to put in the driveway. So in this general vicinity is where I would have tried to put in a root cellar. Maybe the hard work was already done for me! Or better yet, maybe it's a secret vault filled with treasure. I knew the chances were slim, but wouldn't that be nice?

Upon taking a peek inside, I saw some glass jars and jumped to the conclusion that my first impression was correct: this is probably a root cellar. After sticking my helmeted head inside and taking a look around, I found reason for disappointment. There were more paint cans than there were food jars. Perhaps this is a toxic waste dump of some sort. (It's probably not that bad.) Furthermore, the roof had collapsed. I figure that it probably collapsed when the tree I was about to cut up fell on it.

This is not exactly what I was hoping to find

In the near future, I plan to investigate further whether this cellar can be safely repaired and used. If the roof hadn't collapsed, it would be about three to four feet above the floor. The room was probably about six feet or so by about four feet or so. It's certainly not a large area, but it is a start. I can't wait to see what the possibilities are.

We have an unfinished pole barn on our property. A robin has been trying to build a nest at various inappropriate places on our house, and after being harassed by us, finally built a nest in the barn. As I was retrieving something from the barn, I heard a whole lot of tweeting going on. I looked up to see three mouths expecting food.

Some robins nesting in our barn

I can't imagine ever having this kind of fun in the city. With every new day at our country home, I am enjoying it more and more.

Garden Update for August 2011

Our garden is coming along nicely. Over the last few weeks, we've tilled another area (by hand) in preparation for next year. Since it is slightly inclined, I'm thinking about leveling it a bit. But I've seen plenty of fields that aren't perfectly flat, so I'll try planting it the way it is and see how it works out. I tried planting some quickly maturing tomato and eggplant seeds that are a few years old in the new garden area, as well as some pickling cucumber plants I picked up at a local farmers market. Unfortunately, a deer came, removed the netting, which was held down by rocks, and ate an entire cucumber plant the next night. So I went and got some tent stakes and haven't had any more problems...yet.

I'm impressed with the kale plants. The plants that were eaten by an animal a while back have regrown and are almost ready for harvesting again. We should have plenty of kale in another month or so. Our cabbage is just about ready to harvest, too. The temperature is consistently in the 80s during the day now and in the low 50s at night. I've recently learned that cabbage plants like a steady soil temperature. I should have used mulch to help with that. When the temperature fluctuates so much, the cabbage growth bursts and the heads will split. Mine haven't split too much, but I see that some of the leaves have cracked. I'll keep that in mind for next year. The way the grass grows around here, it shouldn't be hard to make mulch, once we get a gas powered lawn mower instead of the reel mower we've been using.


Cabbage is almost ready and notice how pretty the kale is.
The largest kale plants are the ones that were completely
eaten before.

And finally our cherry tomatoes are producing nicely. I'm sure once we amend the soil properly we'll get an even higher yield. One or two of them have a tinge of yellow on them, so I'm getting excited! Super Sweet 100 is probably my favorite variety of grape tomato so far as taste goes. I'm very happy with what we're seeing for having put so little work into it. We've weeded three times now.



Super Sweet 100. My mouth waters just
thinking about them.



What in Tarnation?

About two weeks ago, my wife noticed a plant on our property that looked, well, suspicious. If it were just the one, that would be easy, dig it up, throw it away, and nobody would know any better. But maybe there were others. We started looking around our yard and found there were probably hundreds of these plants. We started to get worried. How do we discreetly rid ourselves of hundreds of these plants. And can we possibly find and destroy all of them? Burning might not be such a good idea. This is the plant I'm talking about:


I hope this plant isn't what it looks like

After a not so restful night we decided to study this plant further. Maybe it wasn't what we thought it was. Maybe it was a look-alike. Then we found several flowering plants. This should help us to positively identify the plant. The flower looked like this:

It turns out that it is illgal to not remove this plant if it is on your property in certain counties in Montana. Fortunately, we don't live in Montana, as getting this many plants under control quickly would be a real chore. I checked our state's list of weeds that homesteaders are required to control, and this plant was not on the list. However, it is an invasive and noxious weed brought to the northwestern United States from Europe about a century ago that is quite prevalent in the area. It is spread by seed which can number over 1000 per plant, which can be transported throughout the region in hay. The plant is called sulphur cinquefoil. It is a type of rose and has a woody root that should be removed along with the plant to prevent it from growing back.

We are so relieved that this plant isn't what we though it was. This stuff is growing along side the road going through our property, not just by the house. This situation also got us thinking about what we would do if we were to find an illegal plant, or worse, a whole field or forest full of them. I guess self-reporting might bring a lighter penalty than if your neighbor makes a report to the police. But if the police started visiting all the neighbors on our account, it might not make a good impression, considering we haven't met all of them yet. Becoming more independent is making me learn a lot more and think a lot more than I used to.