Quick update -- and a new addition to the kitchen

© 2017 Joshua Stark

Back here for a quick update:

Still raining.

No joke, the rain is not letting up here in California.  As a result, many critters are accessing habitat they'd been locked out of for a decade, including our amazing King salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).  Here's a great Capitol Public Radio report on the floodplain known as the Yolo Bypass.

I was blessed to get to hunt this stretch of water on the final weekend of duck season with a good friend.  It made for a great adventure -- canoeing in with dog and decoys, the sky full of birds (most of them juuuust out of reach), and the weather perfect California -- 50 degrees and sunny, with 40 degree water.

My friend managed three ducks, and I, one, but we had more opportunities than just these -- including a great chance at a pair of mallards (I whiffed), a pair of canvasbacks (I whiffed, and still kick myself for it), and Canada geese (they must have been wearing kevlar).  He was kind enough to give me his birds (I think he was done cleaning birds for the year).

It wasn't fast shooting, but it kept on and on, and it varied.  A flight of pintail drakes came ripping overhead.  My pal reeled in a pair of geese with a call like he had 'em on a line. A few times, we'd be watching flocks of wigeons, pintails, or flights of diver ducks three or four hundred yards out, when suddenly six or eight teal would come screaming in about two feet off the water to land right in our decoys.  

It was a great, great day, especially for this river rat who loves the marsh, and who got to be a part of it. We even saw a mink. Thanks, Ryan!

Back home and a week later, I'm still reflecting on that wonderful day.

Oh, I also picked up a new item for the kitchen:

An extraordinary deal!  It's a whole new world for me...

 I've never, ever owned a stand mixer before.  It's a dream long-deferred, because these suckers ain't cheap.  But it was a great deal, on the 575 watt model, which is what I'd been holding out for.

Tonight I'm breaking it in, probably with either a soda bread, gingerbread, or maybe an acorn cake. 

Let me know your ideas for using a stand mixer -- what should I do? What accessories? Any interesting tip and tricks, send 'em my way.  

The Ducks are leaving us - what will we get next?

© 2011 Joshua Stark

We've decided to give the ducks to Phillip Farms in Lodi.  They stopped laying about six months ago, and after a conversation with the decisionmaker in these matters (hint:  she is four years old), we will send them off, take a little time to be with Irma (our old dog), and then think about a new pet (probably a cat or a dog; I refuse to take in something that won't also benefit the house, and if we won't eat the rabbits, then we won't raise the rabbits... and, who are we kidding?  We won't eat the rabbits).

Considering the squirrel and rat problem created by the gigantic walnut tree, I've thought about a four-pet commando team:  A ferret (under-house), a cat (yard, water-heater room, shed), an owl (nighttime tree-rats), and a martin (daytime squirrels).  Whaddaya think?

More seriously, if we do look for a dog, it'll have to be happy-go-lucky, and medium build (no smaller than ~20lbs., no bigger than ~40lbs.)  Also, I won't buy a dog.  And, it needs to hunt.  And love kids.

So, if you know of any kind of rescue group for some hunting dog breeds, or if you know of a good pound, let us know. 

And yes, the ducks are actually going someplace to really live on a farm.  This may be the first time that's ever happened.

Update: Around the garden and yard (tip!), pickling, and looking for ideas

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Well, it looks as if my latest attempt to keep the ducks out of the raised bed (give 'em one bed, and fence the other with five-foot bamboo trellis) is proving successful, but I wonder if it's only because they are getting older and care less about thwarting me.  Whatever the reason, I'm getting a late batch of corn, beans and possibly okra - I'm especially excited about the beans.  I wish I had pictures for you all, but our camera was stolen from our car a couple of weeks back (along with my fly rod)...

The potato patch (described here) isn't working as I'd hoped - I only see one potato trying to grow, and it doesn't look like it can work its leaves through the bamboo sun-shade I'm using.  However, I'm still hopeful, and the plants I put in on top are still coming up, too.  They aren't looking too healthy, but this is a learning process, and next time I plan to layer some good soil from the worm bin in-between layers of straw.

My lawn experiment is also coming along nicely.  When I built our little duck pond last year, I inadvertently killed the majority of our lawn.  You see, I used the dirt from the pond to in-fill the lower sections of the yard, but I didn't really believe that the dirt below the topsoil was sterile.  Boy, was I wrong on that one.

Gratefully, the ducks have been fertilizing that dirt for the past year.  However, our very hard rains this year turned much of it into durn-near cement (if you put the emphasis on the first "e" in cement, you will pronounce that properly), and I, having no intention of renting a roto-tiller just to find out where my sprinkler lines are, started looking for a short-cut.  This time, to my surprise, I found one:

First, I mowed down the straw used by the ducks.  Then, I soaked the yard really good.  Next, I spread grass seed (by hand, of course - if I'm not renting a rototiller, I'm sure as heck not buying a seeder!), then covered them in a layer of mulched straw, and watered that down.  Every day for the first few days I sprayed the patch, and now, two weeks later, my test patch looks nice and green! A couple of days back, when I saw that the grass had established, I raked up the larger straw, and I'll be danged if it doesn't look like we have grass on our lawn. 

Of course, the ducks couldn't leave it alone, and there are a couple of holes (especially right where the sprinkler pops up), but those can be fixed with extra seed or a patch of sod.  Overall, I'm tickled pink at how well this worked. 

I also finally got around to dealing with my ketchup walnuts.  Instead of the nine days soaking in vinegar, I actually soaked them for over two weeks, and I must say that the vinegar became even darker than I'd remembered.  I wasn't too worried, though, since vinegar just gets better with age, and nothing was going to start growing in that acidic and tannic concoction.

Yesterday, I drained out the vinegar into a stock pot, put in some ingredients (drat! I forgot the horseradish), and about 30 minutes later, I canned four pints of green walnut ketchup. 

I then crushed the walnut chunks (I had a lot), added four apples and a cup of raisins, then some surgar and spices, and made up four pints of chutney, with a little left over for last night's dinner.

Both recipes can be found at my "Green Walnuts & You" page.  I added allspice and cinnamon to the chutney, and it is something special.  If you've ever had store-bought chutney, homemade blows it away - so long as you use good vinegar.  It is smoother, much less sharp, yet still vinegary in a good way.  I could have added some more heat in the form of more cayenne, but then my wife wouldn't have liked it nearly as much.  For dinner last night, the chutney and some yogurt made wonderful fillips for a split pea soup. 

On with the fight! Duckproofing the garden

© 2011 Joshua Stark

In my attempts at urban homesteading, I'd come upon a small problem:  My laying ducks eat everything we humans might, especially those things that come from plants.  I've since also discovered that domestic ducks can jump high, that they can fly, and that they don't mind throwing their weight around to get what they want. 

Basically, I'd reached the conclusion that, if I wanted both free-ranging ducks and a garden, I was going to have to build something like the key-hole raised beds I'd seen - at considerable cost.  If you know me, you understand that the end of that last sentence rendered the concept out-of-bounds (although I am toying with a design that would include a first level of wall stones, then the next three or four levels of doubled-up cedar fenceboards...)

But earlier this year, I was inspired by two new ideas, and yesterday I put them to work.

The first idea was that one didn't necessarily need dirt to garden.  A.G. commented on a post about rained-on straw bales, and mentioned bale gardens, a very interesting idea. 

Next, at Little Master House's 1st birthday party, we noticed some interesting "raised" beds in the front yard of the Littlest Master's aunt and uncle's place.  At first, we took little notice - both the front and back yards were beautiful, and there was so much from which to take inspiration.  But as we were leaving, I noticed what appeared to be bamboo beach mats standing on their sides, shaped into cylinders, and filled with straw.  From between the bamboo slats, I saw plants growing... wait, those are potatos! 

Genius.

What I liked about the idea (in theory) is that my ducks could pick some leaves, and the rest could grow above their grasp.  Then, when the potatoes were done, I could just remove the mat, "dig" the potatoes from the straw, and leave the pile for the happy ducks.

Well, a couple of weeks back, I walked into Big Lots and found bamboo mini-blinds for 50% off.  Yesterday, I pulled off the hardware and used zip ties and river reed poles to form a cylinder, filled it with some ducked-up straw, and added potatoes. 

My twist?  On top, I put some worm compost, then planted some potato companion plants:  Nasturtium, swiss chard, radishes, and a couple of bush beans.  As part of the experiment, I put some of the seeds straight into the straw, and others into a little bit of compost. 

Now I sit back and wait to see how the ducks will ruin this one.

Just try it!

© 2011 Joshua Stark

We are lucky to have some adventurous kids, and though we don't know how far, culinarily, this will go with our 8-month old, our four-year old is doing just fine. 

I've watched many kids balk at something out of their ordinary, no matter how ordinary it may be in the real world (see:  broccoli), and I've watched parents buckle under and just give 'em what they want.  Pick your battles, I'm told.  My response (in my head, of course), "sure, but that infers that you will actually pick a battle at some point".

With our daughter, food has almost never been a "battle".  She'll try anything once, and that's the only rule at our house.  She doesn't have to like it, and if she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it, but she does "have" to try it, and she happily obliges, even when she gives a face upon smelling it.  To even my surprise, she once asked for the eye of a whole-fried mackerel.  Most kids, or grown-ups for that matter, just don't tap that spirit within humanity; we are being homogenized, just like our foods.

At a great party the other day, for example (which she didn't want to attend, it being a zombie-themed party for a 60-year old), I brought along this year's nocino, from last year's squirrel harvest.  I didn't mention that they were knocked out of the tree by squirrels, but I did mention that it is made out of green walnuts, and with that, I'm fairly certain I lost most of my audience. 

This is too bad, because even my nocino is a good, sweet, slightly bitter (but in a good way) and potent cordial with a lot of complexity. 

I catch the same flak about my duck eggs.  It shocks me that people won't try duck eggs just because they come from not-a-chicken.  Our yard ducks live great lives, way better than cage-free, even - a guard dog, 24-hour free roaming, a pond! - but, it doesn't matter.

What amazes me is that these same people grab the Safeway wraps that arrived encasted in plastic and containing who-knows-what. 

Maybe that's my problem.  Perhaps I should have just said, "here's a new liqueur from BevMo.  And try this fritata made fresh at Raley's." 

Now, if I can only figure out how to market squirrel...

Again with the quick comments

© 2011 Joshua Stark

Man-oh-man, it is hard to get back on the blogging horse.  I'm trying, though.

A quick update on my urban agrarian "stuff" (that's my articulate English for you right now):

Last week, we lost a duck.  Our first loss, she was found lying in the duck run, not a scratch on her.  Not naming them doesn't make it any easier - and, our 4-year old daughter named her posthumously, anyway.  So, we said good-bye to Sarah.  I still miss her.

Just prior to that, our dog, Irma, suffered what I was sure to be a life-ending stroke - but which the vet described as "old-dog vestibular syndrome."  Basically, they get extremely dizzy for a couple of weeks, but get better.  the sweetheart is slowly recovering.

I've built a first iteration of a fence for the raised beds, which the two remaining ducks quickly overcame.  I will now build something more robust - more river reed!  Working with round pieces, though free, is more cumbersome than working with flat or squared pieces.  Perhaps I should split the reed... I knew I wrote in this blog for a reason (that just came to me)!

And last Saturday, we bought a used Toyota Prius, which will save us a significant amount of gas money.  It was also fun to calculate our new carbon footprint over at coolcalifornia.org.

Chilaquiles done right

© 2011 Joshua Stark

It occurred to me the other day, as I was accidentally making the best chilaquiles I've ever made, that although I have three laying ducks, I haven't posted any egg recipes on my blog.

So, here goes:

CHILAQUILES
Chilaquiles is a typical Latino staple, basically chorizo and eggs with the addition of fried tortilla strips.

Four eggs (duck, although you can use chicken eggs, if you must)
1/4 C milk
Three or four T butter
6 oz. or so chorizo (we use...SACRILEGE... Soyriso)
1/2 medium onion
Two or three tortillas, sliced to about 1/4" by 1 inch strips
Maybe a 1/4 C or more of cheese

Get butter sizzling at medium-high heat in a pan, and cook your onions for about a minute or two.

Scramble your eggs with the milk.

Squeeze in the chorizo, and cook it for as long as the directions say (with soy chorizo, of course, you don't have to worry about undercooking)

When the chorizo is browned nicely, remove it and the onions, and fry the tortilla strips (we use whole wheat tortillas, but it doesn't matter).

When the tortillas are just crisping, dump the chorizo and onions back in, and add the scrambled eggs.

After the eggs cook and start browning, turn off the heat and fold/scramble the cheese into the mix.

Serve with a bottle of Tapatio.

If you try it, let me know.  In the meantime, I'll try to think of other recipes for the gazillions of eggs we get from our three amazing Welsh Harlequins.

Reviewing the year

© 2010 Joshua Stark

This blog began as a series of notes regarding my attempts at gardening, and then raising ducks, in the back yard, and so it's only fitting to do a review, occasionally, to consider what has been working, what hasn't, and how I should prepare next year's Spring garden.  Of course, this being California, the gardening never really takes a break, but since all the harvest festivals have just taken place, it feels like a good time for a review.

First things first:  What did we like to eat?  The pear tomatoes did well, as did the bigger heirlooms (I've got to look up the name!).  The zucchinis were very good (duh!), as were the green beans.  Some bell peppers were okay, and the first hot peppers were great.  The boysenberries and pomegranates, of course, are in a class by themselves.  The Swiss chard was terrific. 

Next:  What didn't we like to eat?  The mild jalapeños, for sure (they tasted like bitter, fleshless bell peppers), and the hot peppers after the bell peppers took off (I think cross-pollination is the culprit).  Come to think of it, many of the bell peppers had thin walls, and little flavor, themselves.  We just didn't like the tomatillos all that much - we had a couple of salsa verdes, but not a ton.  I think we just prefer pico de gallo.  The radishes were violently bitter.

For me, the next step is to consider what grew and what didn't grow.  None of the squashes grew strong enough to make much of a showing, nor did the cucumbers; they were constantly trying to stay ahead of the wilt I'd tried to eliminate by bringing in all new soil.  Now in their defense, the birdhouse gourds and butternuts didn't have a chance to show me much, because they were clipped clean by the ducks.  But, what leaves I saw on them did get the same wilt as the other squashes.

In fact, the duck raids early on really distort the success of the garden this year.  I just didn't build high enough beds, and very early, the ducks flew in and ate almost all the greens.

The corn also came up stunted, the green beans just didn't produce, and the tomatoes and peppers took a long time to ripen, but this I attribute to last year's weather (cool all Summer).

So what, then, grew well?  Of course, the Swiss chard that survived the duck-tastrophe, the bell peppers (though later), and the pear tomatoes and tomatillos.  Also, it looks like the onions will do nicely.  The orange tree has grown some, now that I pump the duck pond under it, and the pomegranate and boysenberry are taking off.  The walnut continues to reign supreme in the yard, but our harvest was severely curtailed this year by squirrels, rats, and codling moths.  Our roses, too, grew well this year, and I plan to harvest hips for rose syrup this week.  And it goes without saying that the ducks grew well, too - two eggs per day.

At the end of my reviews I like to list proposals for next year's garden.  In my case, some bamboo fencing around the raised beds are in order, to keep out the marauders, and another attempt at greens (spinach to collards).  Also, I will only try to grow one squash this year, out of a pot, and trellised almost immediately.  Tomatoes will again make the cut, as will corn and green beans.  I also plan to dedicate a good chunk of land to potatoes, yams, and alliums (onions, garlic, and leeks).  Peppers I will grow, but separating the hot ones and the bells.  And with my successful worm bins, I plan to provide soil amendments in the form of 'casings' (worm poop) in addition to the pondwater from the oh-so-generous ducks. 

What of your gardens?  Do you have any tips or tricks from your reviews to share?  Let's hear 'em!

Keeping chickens in Sacramento

© 2010 Joshua Stark

Well, the Sacramento Bee didn't accept my op-ed offering over the City of Sacramento's backwards concerns over urban chickens.  I thought, however, that you all might be interested in it.  By the way, the Sacramento City Council will be voting on this at their next meeting, so if you are interested, contact your councilmember.

Without further ado, my op-ed:
--------------------------------------

Every six weeks or so, you may find me in line at the feed store in East Sacramento, buying a 50 lb. bag of pellets and maybe a straw bale.  I might be there next to a lady with a dog in a sweater, under her arm.  Perhaps behind me will be someone with an overeager boxer, or a man with a parrot on his shoulder.  A quick calculation of my costs makes me happy to be there because my pets are happy, too.  More importantly, they make themselves useful in other ways, by eating pests and turning them into eggs at less than $2/doz.  What else do their pets do?

My first year raising backyard ducks (that’s right, ducks), I’ve begun a way of life that is quickly regaining popularity across the country: raising animals that also provide food.  People hoping to lower their carbon footprint, eat more local and seasonally appropriate foods, ensure the welfare of the animals that provide some of their meals, and take responsibility for their impacts have realized the myriad benefits of backyard flocks to nutrition, soil, and their lives.  Meanwhile, communities still well rooted in their cultures’ food traditions have long recognized the value and beauty of raising a few animals that provide more than eye candy and flout noise ordinances with impunity.

But, our legal system evolves slowly, and although that's usually a good thing, many communities now find themselves stuck in early- and mid-20th Century city ordinances that tried to strictly delineate rural, suburban, and urban living. Sacramento the Cow Town, for example, doesn't allow backyard chicken keeping, much less actual cows.  Luckily, there is a ray of hope:  This November, after postponing its decision, the Sacramento City Council will again consider a change in its ordinances to allow people to keep birds that do more than make a lot of noise and look cute, but actually produce local food.  Many good folks around Sacramento are now trying to allay their city council's fear of chickens, that they may keep birds that also lay eggs for food. 

Lucky for me, I live in the more civilized West Sacramento, over the river and in the 21st century. While the once-chic Capitol City remains stuck in the Tyson Age, where all meat and animal products must come from hundreds of miles away, double-sealed and processed so as to eliminate any living thing's desire to eat it, West Sacramento follows the progressive path, supporting local food, sustainability, cultural traditions and community enterprise. 

What the Sacramento City Council can realize is that, not only do their adjacent, civilized communities like West Sacramento allow backyard poultry, such holes-in-the-wall as San Francisco, Denver, and Portland allow laying hens.  If Sacramento can’t be as hip as West Sacramento, it should at least strive to be as accommodating as Portland.
 
Times change.  In the previous century, our society mirrored industrial processes and workplaces, with compartmentalization and specialization as norms.  From school schedules to city planning, we attempted to separate every aspect of our lives into neat, little boxes.  But, we learned that boxes are anathema, and interconnectedness vital, to active, living organisms, ourselves included.  From this understanding, and from a broader acceptance of diverse traditions and cultures, many communities began to understand the importance of food, its production and impacts.  

So now comes the time to change laws in those backward podunks still not recognizing the value of local foods and animals to a community’s health, wealth, well-being, and future. 

A city's acceptance of local food, diverse cultural traditions, and self-reliance among its residents are the new symbols of progress. After many years trying to sterilize our urban environs, and with the results being super-resistant bacteria, obesity, and instilling an unnatural fear of the outdoors in our children, this one small step is just what we need.

Force molting or no?

© 2010 Joshua Stark

I have done almost all of my duck raisin' by Dave Holderread's wonderful book, "Raising the Home Duck Flock".  The fact that ducks are easy to husband does not lessen the amount of confidence and nuanced information that this book provides, especially when raising birds from day-old chicks, like us (if you are interested, please visit his farm's website). 

Really, the only other source I've used has been the Back Yard Chickens' ducks forum, full of folks with much experience. But when I posted a question about molting, I received advice, from the couple of folks who responded, that was very different from Mr. Holderread's.

Mr. Holderread writes a section on what he calls "force molting", where the ducks are kept caged for a couple of days, and their light and food regimens are dramatically altered.  He states that this will start ducks molting, which will stop egg-laying, but will let them get a new set of feathers in preparation for next year's weather. 

When I asked at the BYC duck forum, however, the few folks who responded said that I didn't have to do anything, and that the ducks would most likely molt on their own.

My ducks get a lot of light.  I live in a city, and lights are everywhere.  It is pretty dark at night, but it's nowhere nearly as dark as in the wild.  For this reason (and that I left my porchlight on for a few hours after dark), my ducks have laid very regularly.  Typically, two or three eggs each day from my ducks is the norm.

I've read and been told that both the laying and the forced molting may have an impact on their health, so I opted for letting nature take its course.  In the back of my mind, however, I was well aware that nature didn't produce these prolific egg-layers or the lighting they'd been given. 

Well, this morning, after a couple of months of worrying, it looks like at least one of the three sisters just might have started molting...

Here's another sister, for comparison:

 Ain't Welsh Harlequins just beautiful birds?

It's not too noticeable, but the first bird is lacking the prominent wing bars.  In fact, I found a number of paired wing feathers in the yard today, which I've kept in hopes of making some nice flies out of them for fishing. 

I sure hope this is molting, because I'd like for them to get a nice set of feathers for winter.  We don't have the worst winters, but still, I'd like them to be comfortable. 

If you have any thoughts/suggestions/questions about ducks, please let me know!

It's the Green Walnut time of the year - and a duck-update

© 2010 Joshua Stark

I quick update on the aftermath of the ducktastrophe.  All my greens were eaten down, and only the swiss chard, hardy as ever, is showing any signs of coming back.

However, much of the corn and squash and beans, though getting squashed by web-footed fiends, have sprung back well, as well as one cucumber.

I'll plant something else now in the big empty spot... any suggestions for an early-summer planting?

Of course, it is also time for green walnuts.  Last year, I made nocino (and Frugal Italian), as well as green walnut ketchup.  All were wildly popular, so I planned on repeating the endeavours, but the walnut crop looks much different this year.

First, I have fewer squirrels, so that's a plus.  Also, I've noticed that it looks like walnuts produce on 2nd year growth, so this year I expect a ton more walnuts, as we'd had the tree pruned when we first moved here.  However, the tree is dropping a very, very large number of walnuts early, and with the rains we've had, they are bigger than last year, and they are dropping on dirt instead of grass, too - so they are cracking when they land.  No bueno.  Also, I've seen a lot of walnuts with damage on them.  So, I have no idea how well the ripe crop will be, but the green crop of dropped walnuts isn't doing too hot.

Thus, I've had to use walnuts that were a bit more beat-up than last year, so we'll see how that turns out.

Anyhoo, I've got a batch for nocino ala a recipe sent to me by the Erratic Sewer and Crafter, Kari, and also my first attempt at my own recipe with brandy rather than vodka.  Plus, I've got a double-batch worth soaking in salt water for the green walnut ketchup:

Brandy nocino on the left, vodka in the middle, and green walnut ketchup

Catastrophe

© 2010 Joshua Stark

My ducks raided my raised bed... reports to follow.

Duck claws + cheap plastic = you guessed it

© 2010 Joshua Stark

Just when I saw it all come together, one little hole somewhere changed my plans.

Now, I'm looking for a good, solid liner for the pond.  I'm still holding out for a soft liner, but if we must, we'll buy a hard one.  I've been told to cement it in, and we are considering this option.

Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures because I left my camera at my sister's house.  Tomorrow, I hope to fill bring pics.

Also, if any of you have built ponds, tell me how to make the edges/waterfall look nice - as in, tell me how to hide the soft plastic.

A budding photographer, and an update on the pond

© 2010 Joshua Stark


A great picture of our new pond, partly installed.  The great part of this photo isn't the picture, it's who took it... my three-year old daughter!

I'm only a little bummed that she takes better pictures than I.

I laid down the double-over plastic liner after fitting in some shelves.  As you can see, the ducks are happy I put in shelves, as they sit up on it and preen.

We are very excited with this, especially considering exactly what it replaces:

I still need to add a hard plastic piece to the bottom of the new pond, so I can use my sump pump to drain it, and I also need to surround it with rocks and purty stuff, and adjust the water line out so that it will water our raised beds.  However, it is coming along nicely.

Update on this update:  The cheapie pond liner I bought lasted about 8 hours with duck claws.  Currently looking for a better liner.  If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Spring cleaning! and building, and digging and...

© 2010 Joshua Stark


Well, one week later than I'd hoped to start, I was able to get into the back yard and work on some issues I'd put off during the weather.

The biggest task was cleaning out the ducks' run, which I accomplished although both ducks and children are extremely interested in digging, and constantly jockeyed to get right in front of me.

I'd read in Dave Holderread's amazing book, "Raising the Home Duck Flock", to leave the run over winter, adding hay every couple of weeks, instead of cleaning it out.  I did so, and beneath a half-inch or so of slimy hay, I found the wonderful humus he'd promised:

Over in the garden section, I placed that stuff, along with the old hay from inside their house, into the new raised bed I'd built.  Here are the two 8x4 raised beds:

Next, I hope to finish my duck pond, and install a potato bed using only hay.

Duck supplements and green manure?

© 2010 Joshua Stark

No, this isn't about the next weight-loss miracle. I'm actually wondering if anybody grows any food to supplement their ducks' feed. I'm considering taking a bucket to a friend's ditch and bringing home some duckweed to grow for them, as I hear it grows fast and easy, and can supplement up to about one-quarter of their food. In addition, I'm going to start herding my ducks to my neighbor's place across the street, to pick up snails and slugs and all the other things they love and completely wiped out at our place.

I've also added common nettles to the backyard (see my post over at Lands on the Margin about gathering wild nettles), in hopes of harvesting some of the great nettle-tips for a variety of recipes, and also in turning them for green manure. Being a weed, I'm taking a little risk, but we'll see how it goes...

One last duck problem we discovered last year was house flies. This year, I want to kill them quickly, and I'm going to try diatomaceous earth to do it. If anybody has any other 'green' methods, please let me know. I believe they grow in the duck poop in the grass yard.

A new garden

© 2010 Joshua Stark

I've been shoveling and shoveling the past few weeks, a bit at a time, working on new raised beds and a duck pond, and things are starting to come together. It makes for a muddy time, exacerbated by three mud-loving critters roaming around the yard, but hopefully we'll get some grass seed put down and they won't make such a mess in their pond.

Here's a pic:

The bed in the background is a 4' x 8' raised bed, to keep out the ducks. The flat spot next to it will be another one of the same dimensions. The big hole in the foreground will be the place for the pond. Hopefully, on the left side, there will be a water feature (maybe a wooden bucket with a little waterfall). The runoff will flow toward the big raised bed on the right, with (hopefully) some water plants in there.

Between the two sections I plan to have a few more, smaller, raised beds, and perhaps a little hill of native plants and flowers.

It's not a gigantic space, but I do hope to get good food out of this.

My ducks at (ahem!) the Grange

Okay, so it wasn't my ducks, but my duck eggs, and they weren't featured or anything, but they were an ingredient in the barley pasta for the sugo at the Grange Restaurant's wild duck cook-off against my friend, Hank Shaw, and their chef Tuohy.

It so happens that the sugo was the most-asked-for dish of the night, and so I'm a bit proud, or at least relieved that there was no epidemic in Sacramento the next day from some rare duck bacterium.

It's a pretty neat feeling to know that your stuff has the stuff. Of course, all I do is make sure they have food, water, and shelter, but it's nice to know they live in my back yard.

What a night... mapaches.

Never underestimate the power of a plate of pork chop hash and the thought of two raccoons sitting in the walnut tree directly above your duck house to keep you awake and thoughtful all night. About 2:30 in the morning Alka-Seltzer felt pretty good in reigning in the former, but the latter... let's just say, me and my great dog Irma took turns peering into the tree at four flashing eyes, and barking.

Update, a picture... don't let the cuteness fool you.

Happy as ducks in a storm!

© 2009 Joshua Stark

California is currently being hit with the leftovers from a tropical storm from East Asia. As of this writing, I've heard that our old home in the Santa Cruz mountains has received one foot of rain in less than 24 hours. We've had a few inches, plus some winds gusting over 50 mph.

This is my ducks' first storm, and I was worried (yeah, now I know). I storm-proofed their house as best I could, and this morning, about 7, I expected to see three wet, miserable, and maybe sickly ducks.

What I found were three wet, active, excited ducks anxiously wanting to be set free into the wonderful weather! They were home at last!

Over the course of the day, I watched them, and never saw them leave the weather. They swam, they preened and washed and oiled, but mostly they ate worm after worm after worm, and when they were done with that, they picked other bugs hiding out from the weather under the wood on the fence. They are in duck heaven.