How can I title any post anything but "Another Amazing Day on Honeymoon Bay!"?

Every day has been so full and so fun that by night I am exhausted, and by morning I am ready for more! Last night, we got motivated to do some pickling. We pickled cucumbers and Thai peppers from the public market and half the garlic from our garden. We grew plenty of garlic this year and it is good to have something successful in abundance. The second half of the garlic still needs to be harvested, but the fridge is now full of hot water bath canned goodies. Our recipe was a ratio of one cup water to one cup vinegar and 1 1/2 tablespoons salt multiplied to fill all our jars, with a pit of pickling spices in the bottom of each jar, then boiled them for about 5 minutes. Pickling was about all we had the energy for after driving to Seattle and back to return our visitor, Zac, to his house and get our major grocery shopping trip of the summer done. 

Today has been a day to avoid any more driving and enjoying our ever more awesome home. At the thrift store nearest to our house, Tim found a score on perhaps the best speakers ever to come out of the 1970's and was thus inspired to spend his afternoon in the shop building me a proper hamper from the extra stakes left over from the fence building project - I assume. There were boxes of sticks in the barn when I set about cleaning, and now they are rearranged into a lovely item of functional furniture.

While Tim was building, Nancy and I headed down the road to milk another half gallon from the Alpine and Nubian goats while their regular milkers are away. It really is a two person job to milk these goats as they eat faster than I milk and so someone has to keep them happy and distracted so they don't get board and try to leave with goat-like determination. For the second goat, I believe Nancy slowly fed her grain by hand, intermittent with petting and kind words. Goat Miah was not particularly thrilled about going through the gait with me to get milked by a stranger again tonight, but my persistence won out.

Oh! And this morning, I continued with the clean-up from chicken killing - removing blood stains from all our clothes and collecting lost feathers from the yard. I attempted to wash the feathers today in large lingerie bags, though without a proper bin to soak and wash them in, the hose did little good and they are beginning to smell rather 'fowl'. I also recruited Tim to help me finish cutting the window opening in the barn and do a little brainstorming for how best to clean and remodel the barn to be ready in under a week. The decision was made to not make things impossible on myself and to get it inhabitable before worrying about turning it into Ruminant Disney Land. I've been banned from plumbing the barn any time soon, but have made good progress on sweeping the loft, walls, and ceiling. I try to avoid publicly making projections about what might happen tomorrow, but I hope to be putting up the siding and getting busy whitewashing soon. I am optimistic about getting (working names: Petunia and Violet) in there next week. 

Flock reduction

Well, here it is! The long awaited and anticipated blog post reporting on our first experiences killing our livestock and Ariel eating meat once again. 

But first: We grew a potato! Tim checked on the garden and went about tending the potatoes to find 3 or 4 large golden potatoes in from the first early potato we planted, resulting in the most delicious french fries and baked potatoes we've had. In the regular potato patch, we pulled up a plant and found a few red fingerlings. Hopefully there will be more and larger potatoes to come. Half the garlics are pulled up and awaiting pickling, as well as some pickling cucumbers from a farm stand. 

We've been busy cleaning up the shop, turning the compost, and I cleaned out the chicken coop and run so the roosters would be extra clean for their last night on the farm. 

Oliver the Pig continues to be a happy and friendly part of our farm. He found a good spot on a blanket in the sun and has been enjoying eating the fresh fruits and veggies that are meant to be shared with the chickens. He's been getting along very well with the chickens and is just the right size for them. Tilly continues to be enthusiastic about seeing him, though she seems to be calming down a bit, slowly.

While waiting for more space in the chicken coop, Oliver and his barn-within-a-barn and his heat lamp spread out in the main section of the barn. Even with the run open, he seemed to enjoy curling up in his shavings for a good nap. But, it's hard to get the barn set up for goats with a pig in the way, so off we went to off the roosters and make room for the pig.

Friday night we took one last look at the whole flock together, then took away the food and locked the flock in the coop.

Saturday morning, I spent some time sorting the hens from the roosters so those girls could get some food and have some free time, plus sorting is one less thing to have to do late at night when it's chicken killing time. Separating the chickens and chasing them through the proper doors out of the runs without any mix-ups was a bit of a process, but eventually all the roosters were locked in the house and the girls (with their faithful stud of a rooster) had free range of the big yard.

 With that done, we could enjoy the day of farmers markets and sunshine with our dog and our truck. I found an excellent dresser at the Habitat for Humanity store to add to my weaving/sewing/art room which is beginning to resemble a pleasant place to be. Really, those fiber arts and such are best done in the winter when there is less to do outside on the farm and being outside is a little less appealing. For now, it's mostly managing the animals and vegetables and thinking about jobs.

Tim and I stopped by a farm down the road to milk a pair of goats while the owners are gone for the weekend, then brought our half gallon of fresh whole milk over to Nancy's for dinner. Hopefully the goat milking will be perhaps a weekly thing to give the owners a break and give us some excellent milk and milking practice. 

With everything set and the crew briefed, we were ready to start the chicken killing. Our friend Zac, son of Nancy, is visiting for the weekend and turned out to be a huge help with the process. We took a picture before spilling any blood to help with an explanation of the process without setting anyone ill at ease. 

We waited until dark to start partly because we had a busy day, partly so it would be cool and help cool the meat, but mostly so the chickens would be subdued and easy to catch. Grandpa had planned to watch, but it kept getting later and later as he asked if we were ready to start yet and we kept saying, 'Just a few more things to do! Almost there!' and finally he gave up and went to bed as he didn't want nightmares from watching the inexperienced attempt to butcher. 

The description of the gentle process:

I led the procession of Tim and Zac down to the chicken house and opened the door to find Lavender Chicken, number 22, perched on the partition sleeping and waiting for us. I picked him up and carried him to our work station and he continued to be nearly asleep in my arms. Gently, I wrapped him in the lower part of my apron, forming a cone with his head poking out by my knees and his feet pointing towards my body. I held him with my legs and stroked his neck as he relaxed, still nearly asleep, and let me poke around for the vein in his neck. 

After working up to it for a while, I cut the vein and let him bleed out into a bucket at my feet, still holding him and talking to him. He was the model chicken for us and stayed calm and relaxed throughout the process. Once the blood slowed and he was nearly gone, I broke his neck and Tim helped me cut off his head and Zac put it into a covered separate bucket. 

Once the nerves in the body stopped firing, and the movements stopped, we took a moment to look at each other and take a deep breath at what we had done. It wasn't so hard or so foreign as we feared. I have held many chickens in my arms, lovingly stroking them as they went through the throws of death before. We have all watched the way fish continue to have reflexes after their heads are off and they are long gone. 

The next step was to swish the body about in 160f water for about 30 seconds until the feathers loosened up, then hang him by a foot and brush all the feathers off into buckets. We found even working together with all three of this, it was a time consuming step. A few feathers required pliers, but most could be wiped, pulled, or squeezed out easily until all that remained was the fine hair-like feathers which we used the torch to remove and sanitize the skin. We also took the opportunity to peel the outer skin and nails off his feet. 

The bird quickly transformed from looking like a chicken to looking like familiar food. We took him to the table and I set about trying to separate the trachea from neck meat and cut around the vent without puncturing the intestines. No luck. Indeed, animals are better built than I was up for disassembling. Tim stepped in and set about perfecting his process of cleaning out the bird; separating the trachea, lungs, heart, liver, and gizzards from the rest of the intestines, and rinsing out the carcass. 

We moved the meat over to the far end of the table and stared. Zac jumped in with his professional chef experienced and pieced out the drumsticks, wings, and breasts from the rest of the bones and meat. The first wishbone he pulled out as well and broke with me, granting me the best wishes for all my good chickens giving themselves for our food. 

The process continued like that, with me catching, killing, and bleeding; Tim heating water, cutting necks, helping me pluck, and cleaning the innards; and Zac piecing out the meat. Once the many labeled bowls were filled with edible pieces, I took a break from my chicken catching and killing to vacuum pack and label bags of meat for the freezer. The labeled freezer bags then went in labeled brown paper bags and once the last chicken was finished, all the bags went into the freezer except the last beautiful breast piece which was kept out in the fridge for today's lunch. 

Tim killed his favorite chicken, 'Big Chicken', and the last two which were the black and gold Maran (#25) and good ole' Dicky (#13). After putting Big Chicken in the kill cone briefly and finding it unsatisfactory, Big Chicken and the others went the way of the rest of the chickens, being held in Tim's lap and wrapped in my apron while they bled. Zac took Number Two (#2) to try his hand at the killing. After trying to wrap Number Two in the apron with little success, and having me wrap and help hold Number Two, also with little success, we decided to give the cone another try and Number Two relaxed right into it, much happier with it than the lap and much happier with the cone than Big Chicken had been. 

We finally finished the process around 4:30 am, and heard #24 - one of our two remaining roosters - start crowing just as we were crawling into bed. Today has been a sleepy pajama day to recover with watermelon on Nancy's porch in the sun and a trip to the Langley movie theater. 

Shiny, beautiful, smooth, round, hard, full of 'hens teeth' gizzard in top left bowl

I know holding the chickens in our laps and talking to them while we did the killing might seem unusual and difficult, and naming most of the chickens while waiting to kill them might also seem like it would make it harder, but this is the process that worked for us. Today, we had Dicky sandwiches for lunch and appreciated what a good chicken he was and is. I had a chicken sandwich for the first time since I gave up chicken in about third grade and found that after all this time, it's just another food, and it is a wonderful food that my birds can give to me. Like the woman in our chicken killing instructional video says: a carrot and a chicken are both living things we kill to eat because that is the way the world seems to work and it is our vertebrate bias that can make the later more difficult. It feels really good to be beginning to eat the things we grow. I saw Grandpa coming out of the garden today with pockets full of kale leaves.  

Crabbing

Since Tim got home a mere two days ago, we have been busy! It feels like what happened yesterday must have been a week ago. I am getting tired! But life is so happy and good here, and all the busy is the fulfilling and fun and interesting kind of busy and not stressful or wearing.

This morning (was it only this morning?) we drove to Ace with Tilly, picked up the buoy to comply with local crabbing laws, then set out 200 feet of line from the high water mark to low tide and threw the pot in. Hopefully tomorrow we will be having crab for lunch! Also this morning at Ace, I picked up some curved cinder blocks to outline my brick work for the goat doorway. The concrete bricks should also help wear their hooves down a little.

A little later, our family headed up to Oak Harbor for some shopping: plastic roofing to continue improving on our pig habitat, a plastic folding table for chicken killing, and a second battery for the screw gun. We stopped in at the fro-yo parlor to meet up with the friend I met on my way up to Bristol Bay nearly a month ago, then made the rounds at all the thrift stores looking for particular picture frames, speakers for the 1970's radio transceiver Tim has been working on, and drawers for my crafting room.

Heading home, we dropped off Tilly, checked on the other critters, than headed out again to meet up with our friend Fritz from Juneau, his son, Joe, Fritz's girl friend, Joe's band, and our new neighbor and long time friend Nancy. Joe and his band have been touring across the country playing bluegrass music all spring and summer.

As dinner wrapped up, I got a call from Tadd from the Unity church who has goats in need of milking. Tim and I headed over for a tutorial on the goat care to be their temporary milkers over the weekend. I figure the more practice we can get before taking on our own goats, the better.

Happy Birthday Tilly! (And meet the goats!)

Tilly, wonderful puppy Tilly, turned one today! And at least today was better for her than the last two days. On Monday, it was the vet, vacuum, shower, and shave day, and Tuesday I left early in the morning (to pick up Tim) and didn't come home until the middle of the afternoon and she was so neglected, poor thing! Today we played outside, went to the dog park and played with friends in the woods, went to a few of her favorite stores where all her favorite employees wished her a happy birthday and she got a little popcorn, then went to a farm and again got to play with a bunch of other friendly dogs and run wild and free while us humans looked at the goats, then came home and had a visit from Nancy and her dog Bailey. I'd say that's a pretty good amount of fun for a little puppy! We bought a crab pot today and while out and about and some rotten fish heads. After walking around the yard past the chickens and the pig, Tilly sat patiently by next to me as I held the ladder for Tim while he used the meat grinder attached to the ladder to make pink slime from some of the fish heads. While we were working, Oliver The Pig walked right under Tilly's legs to see if we were going to share any of those stinky fish heads. I feel it was a Defining Moment for Tilly as she was so patient and relaxed with so many temptations around her. 

The farm we went to today was a small goat farm on the south end of the island with Mini Nubian (Nigerian Dwarf/Nubian cross) goats. We've decided on these two lovely ladies. The brown goat above is a year old, ready to be bred any time, and so very sweet and friendly. The black girl below is only four months old and still getting used to people, but her mother was producing a gallon of milk a day! The woman running the farm has been in the goat business (hobby) for the last 20 years and has three little girls who have grown up with goaty-4H projects. She was very friendly and offered to help us learn the goating basics and vet care, as well as providing stud services when the time is right.

This evening, Nancy came by on her walk with Bailey (below) to see the Farm Transformed, having not seen our place since it was first listed for sale two years ago. Nancy was delighted by the pig, saying how adorable he is, and Bailey Dog was friendly and gentle, though curious, with Oliver. Oliver has been so happy here, following me around as I work on projects, following the chickens about, sharing corn cobs and heads of lettuce with the chickens, pointing out any deficiencies in our fence and running back to us from wherever he's gotten off to as soon as we call his name. We've set him up with a 'barn within a barn' and heat lamp. His now completed little run attaches to his miniature barn and nest box area, and the whole unit fits inside the main section of the barn while it's not in use for extra warmth and dryness. Our plan is to butcher the roosters this weekend, then move Oliver in with the much smaller flock of chickens with his own barn and a little plastic roof. Right now, it's a little too crowded with 25 chickens to be moving a pig in, especially with all those great big roosters, but soon we will be needing that barn for goats! During the day, everyone has free run of the yard for much of the time, so it's only night time accommodations that we are still toying with. The chicken coop should be nice and warm with all those hens, and as long as no one lays an egg in Oliver's bed, I think they'll get along just fine.

Three boys, 14 girls, and 12 chicken dinners

Tim is home! What a delight! Back to napping and dinners together. After some napping, perhaps some work on the lawn mower or truck, perhaps some tours of goat farms, perhaps some chicken butchering. 

And with Tim came this little guy, formerly referred to as "The Pig" but now affectionately called Oliver. My dear brother Daniel made the big decision that perhaps his little guy would be better off in the sunshine on a farm for a while than in an apartment and Oliver is so grateful! So far the biggest problem with having a little pig is trying to take pictures since he likes to crawl in my lap and get too close to the camera. Also, Tilly is a little too excited about The Pig to be ready for a proper introduction, but we'll get there. The chickens are also exciting for a puppy but they don't compete for lap space in quite the same way. Oliver and the chickens, however, seem like a fine match. This Sunday is going to be the big "Back to Bristol Bay" chicken butchering extravaganza, which will make sharing space between 12 chickens and a pig a little more reasonable.

Oliver and the mini barn. (One quarter is a little nest box full of bedding which he seems quite happy about. Nice and warm and cozy. Also, a special port for a heat lamp. He has an almost finished run that will clip on to the outside in a secure sort of state, though sharing the chicken run and the big yard also seem pretty good. 

Both today and Saturday, we have appointments to go look at some goats so I better get busy finishing up the barn! I've framed in two doors and a new wall for the barn, and the next step is to finish cutting the windows, whitewash the inside, and maybe change out some of the compacted manure for fresh sand - it looks like the previous critters made use of the sand floor idea too so that's good to see. 

Ready for homecoming

So today, from Tilly's perspective, could probably be summed up by "Not Stoked". Vet, vacuum, shower, shave, then washing the sheets which means no jumping on the bed! Really, it was a bit like all day torture with intermittent car rides and short walks. All too short of walks for the torture forced upon such a sweet creature! (Again, no pictures until Tim gets home - tomorrow morning!)

From Ariel's perspective, today was one of those more or less productive days where nothing got finished but a lot of things got closer to being finished... And nearly ready for Tim to come home, though with just one more day I could really get the house looking good! Oh well, I'd rather have my husband than a clean house.

Currently, I am doing something I have never seen anyone else do, even in a YouTube video, and that I haven't done since high school, and which I first did when I was about 12. (Again, pictures to come tomorrow). The difference between this time doing this activity, and the previous times I've done it make me really appreciate the difference age makes - beyond experience or practice or knowledge, I can do something much better now having not so much as thought of it in over 5 years, despite having once done it on a regular basis and always struggling. And perception also changes so much! Like how walking Tilly on the Oak Harbor docks always strikes me how much she has grown and changed, this activity elicits the same feelings about myself. [Coloring my hair with henna]

In addition to Tim arriving early tomorrow morning, I will also be picking up a certain 15lb pig from the same flight who is to be our farm guest for a while. I made three trips nearly in a row to Ace Hardware today, each time buying one small item - first the hinges for the pig pen roof, something I knew I didn't have. As soon as those were on, I set about attaching the latches only to find the idea I had wasn't going to work, so back again I went to Ace! The third trip, I was stapling chicken wire over the heat lamp hole and could have sworn I had the right staples! But no, so back again I went. Hopefully with a little pixy magic, everything will be ready in the morning.

Murders and walls.

I heard a murder of crows make the most dreadfully murderous noises today, enough that I looked up to see what was killing what as they flew over the house.

My pitch fork sounded a beautiful pitch as it knocked against something on the way out of the shed as I went to pull up half the garlic (33) before any rain might come down tonight.

I built a wall! I am most proud of my wall. I've built plenty of pet housing in my day, generally single quail or gerbil or such sized, but never a human sized wall, with framed in doors and everything! I've watched quite a lot of walls be built, generally by my dad, but my role was usually "watching is helping" with occasionally holding an end of the tape measure or something. To build a wall entirely on my own with no advice, no help, no supervision (except Grandpa from his porch, and Tilly and the Chickens taking turns with the yard)!!! I am so very proud. And to make myself extra proud, nothing on the barn is square or level - nothing except my wall! My wall which fit into a six-sided hole perfectly, and is square and level despite the surrounding barn being neither. My oh so beautiful wall. Currently it is framed and in place but not covered in plywood or siding and no hung doors yet, but it will almost be a shame to cover such beautiful 2x4s! I am reserving pictures until after Tim comes home so as to not give away that moment of reveal.

In other news, Nancy has arrived! Nancy and Bailey (dog) have arrived as Tilly was most excited to have a new dog playmate. So excited, in fact, that she fell right off the dock and into the lake. Surprised wet puppy! It is so very easy to get sidetracked by my Tilly, but really we are so excited to have our lifelong friend, officiator of our wedding, mom-extraordinaire Nancy as our new neighbor! After a year of anticipation, the day has finally come where I can walk over for tea and pie in the evenings. Her husband, Butch, and their snake will be joining the neighborhood a little later.

Meanwhile, in Juneau Alaska, Tim took Brother Daniel and Amanda out in Dad's boat to pick up the crab and shrimp pots. It looks like they brought a good catch home and had a feast with the parents. Dad just had surgery on his ankle and is thus banished from the boat or any other bumpy rocky excitement for a while. Tim only has a couple days left in Alaska and then he will be back home with me for the first time in two months. Tilly and I are greatly looking forward to his return, though Tilly's probably going to lose her good spot on the bed when there are three of us again. While we wait for Tim to come home, Tilly has been perfecting her trick of leaping into my arms on command so when Tim comes in she can leap into his arms and cover him with kisses, though she'll have to wait her turn.

Goats!

"The miniature Nubian dairy goat produces on average, 2/3 of the volume of milk on 1/2 of the feed of a full size goat." - Soaring Hearts Farm

"My does average around 5-6 lbs of milk per day (1 pound = 1 pint, or half a quart)  First time milkers will give less than experienced does.  My first fresheners usually milk 3-5 lbs a day.  My best milkers give about 7-8 lbs (1 gallon) each day.  The most milk I have had one doe give me in a single day was nearly 11 lbs!!!" - Green Gables Mini Nubians

"Just A Goat": From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a goat" or "that's a lot of money for "just a goat." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a goat." Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a goat." Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a goat" but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my ......saddest moments have been brought about by "just a goat," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a goat" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a goat," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise." "Just a goat" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a goat" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a goat" I will rise early, take long walks, and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a goat" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a goat" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a goat" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a goat" just smile, because they "just" don't understand." - Slate Creek Farm

Pictures added to previous post!

And perhaps more pictures still to come. We'll see.

Currently I am sitting in the lawn, another beautiful evening with the chickens and Tilly. I've been continuing to labor away on my barn projet: yesterday it was cleaning out all the garbage from the barn, including tearing the insulation (aka rat nesting material - heavily used) out of the walls and sweeping cobwebs from the ceiling. I filled the truck entirely with the large chunks of stuff from this barn cleaning project, plus filled a garbage can with the small stuff. This morning I took it easy, focusing on digging the doorway level - instead of indulging in the slope of the hill like it has been. I also got the "barn broom" out and started going after some of those cobwebs on the walls and ceiling. While cleaning out the loft of the barn, I finally figured out why there is a strange little window cut between the chicken barn and main barn! There were two windsurfing sails in the loft there which are nearly as long as the barn, and the only way to get them down was to carefully thread them through the opening into the chicken house and over the heads of all the confused hens, then feed in back out into the main barn section and out the door! With that, the last odds and ends should be out of the barn, though I'm thinking that whole loft either has to go, or has to be relocated about 6 feet. Where it is now makes no sense and blocks light and is inaccessible. Unfortunately, everything on this property was built with nails, so disassembly is a bit of a pain. After staring at the loft and disassembling with my mind for a good long while, I gave up and headed to Oak Harbor to dump the dump load at the dump and pick up five large bags of mixed alpaca fleece from the woman I helped with her loom this winter. I am thinking there will be a very long alpaca rug running down our hallway when Tim comes home and helps me set up my loom, after the goats are (hopefully) settled in the barn.

More on the Bay after still not enough rest

Bristol Bay! Everything about my trip was beautiful and wonderful! For years, Tim has been telling me about Bristol Bay, trying to get me ready for the day I would go along, and I was bracing myself for a dusty, dirty, scary, windy, ugly place and stormy weather. When I got the call this summer to pack my bags and get on the soonest flight I could, I didn't have time to worry and was only delighted to be on my way to see my husband and do something exciting for the summer.

After ice cream in the sun with my parents in front of the Greenbank store and racing to meet the shuttle at the ferry terminal, I met a lovely Whidbey girl who also lives with her grandpa, who also has a dog, who also loves hiking, and who is also a Star Trek fan. Her and I and two other young folks camped out at a table at SeaTac all night laughing and telling stories waiting for our early morning flights. On my flights, my seatmates were terrific, and even the TSA agents were superb and friendly. On arrival in Naknek, I was met by a taxi full of friendly, chatty, courteous gentlemen and was brought to my temporary home for the second night of my journey. On the porch of the Leader Creek Fisheries office, I ate my canned oysters and watched the tide come in and go out. Two of us lost crew members took turns napping on the comfy couch and waiting for any news of a tender (large boat) coming by to drop off the fleets catch and pick us up to be brought out to the fishing grounds. Early the next morning, my fellow crasher took off for a tender and left me with the couch to myself. I walked to town and got some amazing pizza, visited with all the lovely office ladies, knit a hat, read, and then stayed up late again the next night listening for the radio to announce the arrival of a tender dropping off fish and heading out to Nushigak. While I waited, the lone office drone on the late night shift and I did xtra-tuff ballet and decorated binder covers for all those important forms and such. Finally, the call came and I made my way down the wobbly line of floats and on to the tender with my backpack and rain gear and pizza.

My oyster-eating spot on the Leader Creek porch and a view of low tide in the creek.

The tender boat I found myself on turned out to be a man and his daughter (my age), his son, and one other crew member. The daughter kindly gave me the top bunk in her room, and in the morning the captain explained things about the boats and Bristol Bay and such as we radioed the m/v Whiskey Creek looking to meet up and drop me off. My anticipation and excitement grew as that wooden top house came into view and the m/v/ Whiskey Creek tied up to my tender in rough seas. Waiting for a pause between swells, I jumped from the large, stable boat onto the small rocky one with my backpack, pizza, and fishing gear. The guys tossed my bag into the cabin and I slipped on my rain pants and gloves as we got busy changing the nets on the boat with fresh nets off the tender. As soon as we cast off from the big boat, we dropped our net in the water and made a quick but huge set, drifting towards other boats and the boundary line and having to quickly real the net in. As the guys picked fish, they tossed them to me and I kneeled on the deck ripping gills and counting fish, sliding hatches open and closed, to keep the same number of fish floating in each of the 14 refrigeration bags.

As soon as one set was picked (the gill net back on the reel, out of the water, and fishless), we made another set (put the net back in the water to catch more fish), or ran to another area to set again. Between each set, I hosed off the deck to remove all the scales, slime, blood and guts. Around midnight, we took the boat load of fish back to the tender to unload and clean up for the night. Once all the bags were emptied, washed, and rehung in the clean fish holds and the deck was given a last rinse, we anchored up for the night, feasted on potatoes or rice and fresh salmon, then slept for a few hours before waking early to get back at the fishing. Eventually I made time between sets (while the net was hanging in the water soaking up fish) to actually unpack my bag and say hello to Tim, Joe, and Woody. I also cut up some old foam and made myself some very awesome knee pads which made my job much more pleasant.

Another important fishing skill is napping between sets. My favorite in-rain-gear napping spot was behind the captains chair until I was banished for being the stinkiest crew member in the fleet with fish blood soaked into the linings of all my gear and rotting. The price of having a job that involves sitting around in pools of blood and occasionally spraying yourself in the face with more blood. The boat was properly pink and glittery after a good set.

While Tim and I were busy in the far north, life went on for our farm. Grandpa and Tilly walked the beach, the first rooster began to crow, and Mom and Dad built a beautiful, sturdy fence around our lower yard. When I finally got home from fishing at 2am on the 11th, I couldn't fall asleep until I had walked the perimeter of the fence, running my fingers along it in the dark with delight.

Since getting home, I had every intention of relaxing and recovering, but there is simply too much to do! First off, I had to let the deer into the garden for some midnight snacking by forgetting the gate after all Grandpa's careful care. Luckily they didn't nibble it all up, but we may be short a few beets. I had just been thinning and weeding and making us some lovely beet greens (which turned out rather badly the first time and then not enough the second time) when I forgot the gate. Fortunately my nest box building went a little better.

Since coming home to my wonderful fence, Tilly and I have been spending an hour or so every evening sitting in the grass and watching the chickens as they have a little time in the newly expanded yard. Each day they are getting less timid and coming closer to our cozy spot where Tilly chews bones and I read about chicken butchering. After continuing my research, I think I have settled on a new method for my butchering which is more like how I took care of all those thousands of fish in Bristol Bay - holding them and talking to them and gently petting them as they bleed out (well, maybe a couple of those fish went that way...). I will link my favorite demonstration video here: Part 1 - Butchering and Part 2 - Dressing. So far, one of my three Marans (dark egg laying) is happily crowing but not too loud or too often, and none of the other chickens are! Surely there are more roosters in the bunch, but even a week after he showed his true colors and tune, the rest are still clucking. I am wondering if his shear masculinity is putting the others off. If there is no rooster, one of the hens generally steps up to fill the role, so perhaps if there are bunches of roosters and one is clearly filling the role already, the others remain more androgynous? Like the honey bees and ants and such with their queens? Hmm, from my very brief research, it looks like roosters can live together as long as it's not coed, or else they fight over the ladies and harass the ladies to no end. Expected I suppose. When the hens start getting harassed, or more roosters start to crow, or Tim gets home, it will be time to freeze the birds.

If there were other things I thought of mentioning, I am now far too tired to remember. Sunsets are still glorious here. The days are sunny and hot... Oh! In that hot sun of the day, I have been working hard trying to clean out the barns. The barn here has three sections: Main Barn (to be Goat Barn), Chicken Barn, and Shed Barn. The Chicken Barn is still in good shape, I removed some garbage, empty feed bags, odds and ends. When it gets time for chicken killing, I will give it a good cleaning before the roosters 24-hour lock in pre-butchering (to hydrate and starve them to empty their digestive systems. Hopefully it won't be so hot when the day comes! But also not too cold or wet as the girls will have to be locked out...). So with the Chicken Barn done, I moved on to the Shed Barn. It was rather gross and cluttered. By gross I mean spider webs, smells of rats of the past, garbage, toxic things... So I removed everything, raked the gravel and such about to make it level and clean and fill in the gaps leading suspiciously to the chicken run. Then I followed some of the wisdom of the internet and got about organizing everything back into there, with good wood and power tools going back to the shop, and piles of empty garbage badness going into the back of the truck. It is now looking quite nice in there, and by my measurements there will be a cozy spot for the 'lawn tractor' to just fit to the inch, and a convenient place for the wheelbarrow. All the shovels and axes and gas cans are also living there now. So with the two smaller barn segments clean and orderly, I opened up the main compartment and took a look behind door number three. I took a few items out that needed to go to the shop or shed, and then thought about what a pain it will be to drag all that garbage out of there. I gave up quickly and decided to take measurements and draw plans for its finished glory and get back to the dragging of garbage uphill tomorrow some time. My plans for the finished thing include installing about three windows, building a little milking parlor/storage area section and turning the front wall into a wall with two (smaller) doors instead of a falling apart mess that doesn't currently reach the ground thus provide much security for locking critters in. I am quite pleased with my plans, though I may still have to think a little on the installing doors on a hill bit... There are options!

Sunsets like paintings, turning my room pink.

Back home

It took Tilly about 20 seconds to curl up next to me and fall asleep once I picked her up and brought her home from the puppy sitter. It is good to be home! We have a lovely new fence built by Mom and Dad around the yard here, ready for Tilly, goats, or chickens. I had an excellent time fishing. We caught plenty of poundage, and now I am ready for a nap. Pictures and details to come.