Author: Richard

the end to our chicken keeping

This is a post I have been delaying.  And if sad topics upset you, read no further. We cooped the chickens Monday evening 6pm and left the property.  At 9.45 am Tues morning (April 12) the coop door opened automatically.  When I later reviewed the security cameras I saw Wanda (one of the two hens which can fly over the paddock fences) pass the security camera at 10am and head for the compost heap.  So all was normal at 10am. We returned at 12.20pm and the place was quiet.  Normally Buffy, Read more [...]

BJC (the Beauty and Joy of Computing) online course completed – Tower of Hanoi

I just completed the 4th and final semester of BJC MOOC via edX hosted by Berkeley, San Francisco.  What a great course!  And I learned so much about basic programming, computer science and technology trends.  All for free if you wish, though I contributed some.  For teaching purposes it uses blocks which you re-arrange called Snap! which is based on Scratch developed by MIT.  A fun exercise was the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. The rules are simple.  There are 3 pegs labelled left to right "From", Read more [...]

planning simplifies my growing

My tomatoes having progressed from 0.7" soil blocks to 2.3" soil blocks are now ready for transplanting to pots.  In early years I used 0.5 gal (64ozs) nursery pots but they took up too much space and needed too much soil.  Now I transplant to  1qt (32 ozs) yogurt pots with holes drilled in their base.  Later I will transplant to their final destination, except for a handful which I will hold in 0.5 gal or 1 gal pots as a reserve for failing tomatoes. I have compost but am short soil for the Read more [...]

epsom salts bath recovers Ameraucana

I mentioned in my Jan 20 post the passing of Gimpie.  She and the Ameraucana were the two elders in the flock.  The Ameraucana observed a period of mourning and then began associating with the flock at a wary distance, cautious always of the rooster who had dispatched her comrade.  She is over 5 years old and in her waning years and at feeding time she is driven away by the younger hens, some of whom are her offspring.  So much so that I have a routine for her at evening time to eat separated Read more [...]

quick water pump repair; seedlings doing well

With the beginning of winter I now always ensure that I have disconnected my water pumps and drained the water.  My carport pump (moves 2,400 storage gals) started fine, but my 1hp Water Ace (moves 2,800 storage gals) just made a humming sound when I tried pumping today.  Another challenge! Probably bad brushes I thought but usually there is warning - a lot of spluttering and starting in fits.  Not this time and why should it fail to start after the winter break? I moved it to the workshop Read more [...]

my bees and “Guns, Germs and Steel”

I just finished reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" by J. Diamond.  A well documented and persuasively argued book with the main conclusion  that peoples in different continents and in different areas in the same continent developed differently, not because of race/genetic/biology differences, but because of differences in their physical environments.  Food for thought. Last year I installed 2 packages of bees on the same day in very similar spots.  Both had Hawaiian queens.  I watched the development Read more [...]

spring time catchup

My recent visit to the west coast set me back on my spring schedule and I have been catching up. Foremost was to get my tomato seeds going.  Last year I collected seed from good heirloom tomato plants and this year, for the first time, I did not purchase any tomato seed.  Though I did buy "Surround" (Kaolin clay) which I will spray on my apple trees when the blossoms have set fruit, and the supplier included gratis, seeds for  Rainbow and Cherry tomatoes.  Plus I had some 2014 and 2015 packets Read more [...]

visit to the west coast

One of the big life events occurred for me in February - I became a grandfather (for the 1st time) and this occasioned a visit to San Francisco.  Actually South San Francisco which is a town south of San Francisco, fairly close to the airport and really close to Pacifica.  Pacifica is a small town on the Pacific with great walking/running trails and views of the ocean. There is one bookstore to which we make our annual pilgrimage.  This time for $1 I purchased "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Read more [...]

fruit tree workers

Ever since I trapped and relocated a feral cat (see post 12/9/2015) which I believe killed one hen and mauled another, confidence has returned - to the flock and me.  They now are truly free roaming - after the coop door opens in the morning and they spend awhile in the paddocks, I release them to roam the yard.  First stop for them is below the deck to gather seed scattered from the bird feeder, then a visit to the compost heaps and then hang out in the woodland area. Except today with temps Read more [...]

my Irrigation Adviser

Recent bad weather discouraged outdoor activity.  So I used my time indoors to tackle a BJC.3 (Beauty and Joy of Computing - Berkeley, CA) project.  We were recently instructed on web scraping which means using Snap! (a block programming language derived from Scratch) to go to the internet and scrape selected data from websites. From Spring to Fall a daily decision is whether to water my crops and, if so, how much.  To make this analysis I need to know current soil moisture, expected precipitation Read more [...]