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we bought the next-door house. formerly Mr Hill’s house. Tristan bought it outright, from his trust. closing was yesterday. it’s all official now, so we can talk about it. :) it’s a hell of a project, but it’s ours. it’ll turn out to be a really good move, once we’re working on it. (Alan said, “we didn’t have enough work around here, so we bought this house.” ha!) more on that in a separate post.

so yesterday was celebrating that, and then also irrigating our field. that was exciting! i called the ditch rider (who is the person whose job it is to schedule water) and he said, “sure, i’m sending water down to Isleta Pueblo today and tomorrow, so just go ahead and open the gate.” so we walked down to the west acequia to do that– and found that it has been blocked by a new turn-out kind of thing. interesting. hopefully nothing to do with us, though it felt un-neighborly. as long as it’s there, we can’t get water from that side, unless we dismantle it. so we went the other way, up to the gate at the acequia madre on the east side. this involved crossing the street, jumping down into the ditch, and following the ditch back to the next big ditch. there we found the right gate — and no way to open it. we decided that, since we had to talk to the Hunsikers across the street anyway, to get the keys for Mahazda (Hill House), we’d ask them how to open it.

So Jenny and I walked over there. George was extremely friendly. We talked over the fence for a while. He gave us the keys, and said several times how happy he is that we have bought that house. He was a good friend of the late Mr Hill. He talked about how he knows we are hard workers (“I see you out here, and I get tired just watching you work! Truth be told, you remind me of myself when I was young.”) and that we will treat that old house right. “It’s a bit run down,” he says, expressing the understatement of the century, “but it’s a good, well-built house.” Then we asked about the irrigation. It took a few tries to make it clear where my problem was, but once we were communicating, he said “oh–you don’t have a wheel. well. will you wait here while i go put my shoes on?” and we did, and he came back with an irrigation wheel, a giant heavy cast-iron thing that fits over the bolt on top of the gate, and lets you screw the gate open or closed. awesome. so we headed back there right that very minute and opened the gate higher than the water line.

two hours later, the water made it all the way to our field. molasses.

here comes the water!

Alan, myself, Jenny and our intern Caden went outside with drinks (hey, we just bought a house! might as well celebrate!) to watch it reach the field. when it made it from the dirt ditch to the concreted ditch, it immediately doubled its speed. no more soaking in! of course, that soaking-in recharges the river, so there are pros and cons on both sides, there. but it sure got faster. then it reached the field.

is that water? i think it’s water!

(or: what to do in Abq on a Monday Night.)

we got all excited. it took it another 20 minutes to fully reach the end of the divot. Jenny said, “it’s like we’re watching paint dry.” we rescued a beetle from the water, and got another round of drinks.

there were bullfrogs (or possibly B-movie monsters) creaking off in the distance, so we made an expedition down the ditch to find them. that worked; Jenny got a photo. they were, in fact, bullfrogs. we came back. water had reached the field. we got very silly.

maybe if i get really close to the water, it’ll look bigger.

we probably hung out there another hour, watching the water seep slowly into the field, appreciating the cool night air, the incredibly fertile scent of the freshly-watered earth. by the time we went to bed, it was clear that the water would still be slowly seeping when everybody got up the next morning.

when Alan checked on it at 4:30 this morning, it was still chugging slowly along. Tristan checked on it a couple hours later; same story. He went back out a half hour after that, and suddenly, water *everywhere.* The ditch rider had released more water upstream, and the main ditch was suddenly a third again as high as it had been. in that half hour, our field went from modestly complete (with several dry spots), to completely flooding the small ritual ground, breaking through the north and west berms, and *completely* filling the root cellar hole. This was at about 6:30 a.m.

all the water!

Tristan and Jenny got the gates closed, on our property and at the main gate, and grabbed shovels and filled the breach on the west towards the root cellar. that allowed the water in the field to level out a bit and begin to really soak in. the “road” (it’s a proto-road) is flooded, and we got all the trees along the main ritual ground, as well as the dye beds (and half the ritual ground itself, oops). exciting morning!

ritual ground:

west berm:

that’s the root cellar. oops.

starting to come down:

newly-repaired berm near the root cellar, where the water broke through.

east side, starting to dry out:

small ritual ground:

we’re going to have an elm or two in here.

We were trying to flood the field, the fruit trees, flowerbeds & grapes around the main ritual ground, and the whole of the small ritual ground, while NOT flooding the main ritual ground itself, the fire circle, or the road. Or the root cellar, for that matter, though i don’t think it was on anybody’s radar specifically, because we had awesome berms on that side. uh huh. we did flood everything we wanted to. and then some!

grapes & a peach tree:

flowerbeds:

the high water line in the ritual ground.

cherry tree

drying out a bit, 8 a.m.

it’s a good thing that “root cellar” presently consists only of a hole in the ground. it’s going to take days (at least) to subside. the road is a muddy wash; we’ll be mincing carefully along the north fenceline, or walking along the south berm path, to get to the back for a week or so.

now we get to watch the grasses & weeds come up in the field, build up the sides of our cut-out from the ditch, fix the berms that broke loose and reinforce areas that look like they might go next, remove the drip system from the trees & dye beds, weed the dye beds (guarantee this brought in a thousand million weed seeds) — and schedule our next irrigation day!

also, when i went out this morning, there were ducks in the field. we have wanted to irrigate to make pasture, to water our trees & grapes & flowerbeds better, to change the ecology of the field, and also to create more wildlife habitat. and now, instant ducks! so that was really awesome, too.

spring cleaning includes having the eight gorgeous huge Rio Grande Cottonwood trees that surround our house pruned to remove deadwood. these trees are part of why we bought this property. they shade the house and shelter us, and they are absolutely stunning, with enormous calm presences. the house and yurts nest around them in sanctuary.

so we are careful to take good care of them. this year, we had a friend who is an arborist come down to prune deadwood out, and remove some branches that were dangerously overhanging the house & power lines. the resulting canopy is light, airy, and feels far healthier. freed from dead weight, the live branches lift up higher and reach for the wind and sun.

here’s the tree over Kat’s yurt:

my favorite view, straight up from the yurt’s front step:

the furthest tree, here, the one past the wall, was a mess of deadwood that was near the power lines. now it is free and clear, and oh, how lovely.

if the rest of the patio is a mess of sticks and construction projects, well, that’s nothing new. we’ll deal with it in good time.

Masala, our wild little jungle kitty, also enjoys the treetops.

and a close up:

i’m a few weeks behind on this, in consequence of which, you get more flowers, all at once!

this is the first year i’ve allowed myself the indulgence of a flowerbed, just for flowers, just for beauty — not food, not medicinal herbs. enough of those things are established now that i felt good about devoting the time and space for a patch of early spring bulbs. we got them into the ground in October, and here they are, first blush of springtime:

hyacinths!

my forsythia bloomed this year, as well, though a little bit late (i think because it didn’t get much water this winter).

cherry blossoms (in March, i might note):

which are certainly gorgeous, even if they are nearly two months early.

especially in front of that plowed field.

lots going on this spring. Jeremy came down to trim the trees:

doing a superb job, as always. the cottonwood canopy is lighter, healthier and more brilliant (and less dangerous to the house) than ever.

we planted a new globe willow tree by the chicken coop, for barnyard shade:

Alan has been installing an aquaponics system between the patio and the garden, with Rev’s help:

and the most important part: gratuitous kitty pic.

we’ve had plans since we moved here of turning our first field into a pasture suitable for raising livestock on. like most folks in this area, we are on the acequia (ditch) irrgation system.

at long last, after a very great many planning conversations, some experiments with flooding it the way it was (too high for the water to get all the way across), we tackled the project this weekend. our friends Don & Leiah at Johnny’s Garden brought their tractor down, and plowed, disked and then levelled the field.

here’s the field before we started:

we began the day by moving a giant pile of barnyard compost. in the 4+ years we’ve been here, the barnyard compost “system” had gotten completely out of hand, and become a giant sprawling pile of straw and manure, too close to the chicken pens for comfort — providing a prime habitat for rats. so we started by moving it, and spreading it all out in the field prior to tilling.

Leiah & Alan loosening the packed compost:

Don pulling it out of the pile with the tractor’s box:

our sense of accomplishment at the end of THAT project is nearly boundless!

the whole pile gone:

just a little cleanup left to do. which is now something that can be easily managed with shovels and wheelbarrows.

then Don hitched the plow to the tractor, and began to till the field.

he and Leiah traded off driving the tractor over the course of the day.

Alan removed some scrubby little elm trees once the tractor had ripped through their roots.

the field turned out to be very good soil, overall.

downright beautiful.

once the whole field was plowed, Don began the process of disking it. this breaks up the large clumps of soil into soft, crumbly soil.

that was enough for one day. this morning’s work started here:

and included tilling the edges, disking the whole thing, and then using the box to begin to level the field.

the west side of the field is now wholly levelled.

the extra dirt, pulled up along the north edge there, will become the first layer of what will be the road running along the north side of the property. we’re essentially extending the driveway so that we have access to the back.

the east side is not quite done. Don will be back later in the week to finish this up. the dirt along the south and east will become berms, to hold the water in when we irrigate.

meanwhile, all this removed our old walking path through the field. Alan and I made a new path, lining the edges with sticks to keep people on the path (rather than compacting soil everywhere with our feet).

all in all, a fantastic weekend’s work! i’m very excited to finish this job and flood the field. by the end of next month, we’ll have a green pasture out there!

Sunflower River will be offering a Drip Irrigation class on Saturday, March 3rd, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

The class will cover how drip systems work, types of drip systems, why one might choose drip irrigation, how to design and install drip irrigation (including a tour of Sunflower’s system, and hands-on practice with the materials), and time to engage in the design process for your own yard.

Class taught by Jenny Rice.

Cost, $40 per person (covers materials). Work-trade scholarships are available!

Questions, directions, or more information? Contact Jenny at jenny@sunflowerriver.org.

Hope to see you there! Feel free to invite friends!

baby lettuces:

borage, much beloved of honeybees:

dill, with chinese kale in the background, and what i suspect is a rouge amaranth in front:

more dill:

chinese kale, already big enough to eat!

beets! these are golden beets.

onions & leeks:

turnips, chard, rat-tailed radishes:

turnips:

the whole array:

and in the garden — our new bulb bed, near the back door of the house. Crocus are blooming, and daffodils and hyacinth coming up already!

and in the early light, Tattersall peeks out from between the raised beds:

i spent winter break working on the new shelving in the greenhouse. the place had degenerated into a mouse-ridden wreck over the chaos of summer 2011, and needed to be gutted, flooded, de-moused, and rebuilt.

this is what we started with:

Madeline and I emptied it all out, and I sorted out the functional and non-functional milk jugs for the modular thermal mass system. we dumped all the compost out (much of which had begun life as an amaranth harvest, and then been spoiled by mice when we did not get the dried amaranth out of the greenhouse fast enough), sorted all the drip system parts, frost-cloth and shadecloth into their new permanent homes in the Shed of Holding, sorted out all the pots, dumped a ton of trash, dumped all the over-baked soil (which had sat in there all summer, roasting in the amplified desert heat) into the garden where it can grow new microbes, and then flooded the greenhouse until we had forced all the mice to evict their tunnels. the greenhouse floor is pavers with sand between, so water sinks in rapidly. i truly am a cat; i captured 5 mice (in a cup, on at a time, the way you catch a spider) in that first flooding. the next day, i did it again, and caught the one remaining mouse, the large grandmother mouse. a third day of flooding, and no mice emerged. i think we got them all.

having caught the mice and aired the place out, i found some scrap wood recycled from a friend’s carport (thanks, Dave!) and built some shelves.

the shelves are sized to a one-gallon milk jug, for maximum space efficiency in storing water. the purpose of the water in the greenhouse is thermal mass — it soaks up the sun’s heat during the day, and lets it out again, gradually cooling, through the night. in this way it flattens out the extreme temperature highs and lows into a steadier middle ground, better for growing things. it’s not quite there yet — the south and east shelves are not yet stocked with jugs, and the greenhouse is still experiencing temperature extremes, although not as badly as it was before we did this. still — it’s getting below freezing in there. my goal is to reduce instances of freezing temperatures to an absolute minimum — and to reduce summer greenhouse daytime highs, as well; we really don’t need it to be 130 in there, and it really can do that when it’s 105 outside. more water mass is the solution to both extremes. we discovered a couple years ago that water is 30% more effective than adobe as thermal mass, which is why we have gone this route rather than building an adobe trom wall.

Madeline and I spent a week polyurethaning them, and then we filled up the jugs and installed them on the shelves.

note the seed trays on the left, the northern (and sunny) shelf. my picture-taking hasn’t kept up with the sprouting — here’s a turnip sprout from last week:

and now we have radishes & turnips putting out secondary leaves, while beets, kale, chard, chinese cabbage, lettuces, and several herbs sprout in other trays. they’ll be ready for transplant outside in March, at which time we’ll start our tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and other warm-season crops in the greenhouse, for outdoor planting in May (after our annual, dependable, severe Beltane freeze).

it is traditional here to line walkways with luminarias (more accurately called farolitos) on the 24th of December, by way of illuminating the path home. Since we finished building (and mostly plastering) our east wall this year, Jenny put up farolitos along the top of the serpentine wall, to honor the beauty of the structure and it’s place in our lives, between the world within and the world outside.

my camera is not that great at low-light shots, so these pictures are both a bit photoshopped and a bit dim in what i hope turned out to be an arty kind of way.

the line of the east wall, topped with lights, seen from the top of the north wall:

further illuminated by oncoming traffic:

from across the street:

inside the gaps:

film noir wall:

close-up, inside one of the window circles:

hey folks! we migrated!

Sunflower River’s blog will now be available exclusively on https://www.sunflowerriver.org/blog . You can add it to your RSS reader from there. if you use LJ as your reader, here is an LJ feed for the new blog: http://sunflower-river.livejournal.com/ you can just add it to your friends list.

we believe this will be far more functional, enable us to reach a wider audience, and will eliminate the awful little advertisement problem that plauges the LJ of today.

new friends, welcome!