Where did Spring go?

It's been a while. In all honesty, working a job full-time, two young kids in school part-time, and trying to start a farm do not necessarily fit together seamlessly. I see parents who seem to manage it all, but I'm realizing it's pretty much a façade or they openly own up to the struggles of parenting and what it does to everything else you try to accomplish. The question is, what is your first priority?

For us, it's the kids. I think for many parents, this is the case. Foremost, is their well-being, development and experiences exploring the world around them. We love being on this land. Airmid and Cashel run, play, climb, scavenger hunt for rocks or anything we suggest. They plant seeds. They find bugs and frogs. They learn the names of plants and birds and how to be safe while having fun in a unpredictable natural environment. Having a wild outdoor playground or access to one, has become an essential element in their childhood.

Our kids go to a hybrid program school in SLO, where they spend three days a week on campus and the other days with us following the curriculum in home school. We drive almost an hour each way to get them to campus. For two days, we sit with them reading, doing math, practicing writing, doing science experiments. It takes more time away from other things, like cleaning the house, but we really think it's worth it.

So, now we get to the farm. Last year, the floods created so many issues and left us without plumbing or electrical for most of the season. This year, we dusted ourselves off, and tried again. I was able to raise about 45 varieties of heirloom seedlings, half of which are tomatoes, from seeds started in February. I highly recommend marysheirloomseeds.com and Peaceful Valley at www.groworganic.com for an excellent selection of seeds and growing tips. Woodprairie.com is our go-to for amazing potato and sweet potato varieties. I learned so much from growing seeds this season. Not least of which was that growing wasn't the time suck I thought it would be, it was getting those little plants in the ground before they stunted that was the stressor. I recommend only starting with the size pots you want to transplant from. You may not have the time to re-pot plug trays, even if they are space savers initially.

It's the end of May, and the growing and planting season is finally done. Admittedly, we opted for fast solutions to run the irrigation which we're planning to fix next year and some plants got in the ground a bit late, but we're calling it staggered planting and hoping the summer sun doesn't burn them off too soon.

In addition to the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, cucumbers, and melons, we have two new lovely chicks joining our flock this year. Our neighbors were kind enough to raise a lavender orpington, "Sweetie" and a cream legbar, "Caramel", until they were coop ready. Airmid is bonding with a chick below and Cashel is holding "Sweetie".

It's starting to heat up. Summer is kicking in the door and our cool mornings and evenings are departing. Pruning, setting up weaves for the tomatoes, planting pumpkin seeds for the fall, and generally keeping everything alive are all on the farm agenda. Putting up a pool on the farm, getting Blippi fully functioning as retro camper van to hang out in, and spending many fine warm evenings watching the sunsets are on the family agenda. Welcome to summer in Paso. ~ The Murrays

The Aftermath of the Flood

Admittedly, just about everyone in California prays for rain at some point, we just hope that it doesn't come all at once. When the ground has been so consistently dry, a hard rain can swell the rivers and culverts, sweep away large debris, topple old trees whose roots can't hang on to the ground, and make small lakes where the course of drainage gets stopped. There was a lot of damage and some local tragedies of the January 2023 storm, and although Broken Branch was not unaffected, we count ourselves lucky.

During the January storms, we had almost 4.5" of rain in two days. With this much water, we learned a few things...

The mud is no joke...this was just the beginning of the vehicles that got stuck.

We have a seasonal lake - Lake Branch, right in our entryway!

Our creek can sometimes be a river.

A storm can bring uncommon visitors. It's not the best picture, but a bald eagle was hanging out on the high point.

Kids will always love mud. I think we all already knew that, but she had a great time.

Of the damages, we lost both our well pumps, some fencing, a couple wood tables, but all in all, these can fixed. The storm also perfectly illustrated where NOT to plant, NOT to build, and washed all the leaves and deadfall of the last few years away, leaving a bright white sandy creek with new courses, beaches, and wash outs. The land was transformed, and we're thankful we get to witness it's new face.

Next up, this weekend, we get to pick up our trees from Trees of Antiquity! They are an amazing family run farm offering many heirloom varieties of bare root fruit trees. Let the planting begin!

Building with Straw?

Kevin and I have been wanted to build a straw bale home for about 15 years. We're really hoping we can muster the resources to make it happen on this land. We also know we haven't the slightest idea as to where to begin, short of articles and some books. Flash forward to October, and finding an awesome contracting group, that does hands on workshops for anyone who wants to learn what's involved with straw bale building. So we took our whole family on a "vacation" to build a house! We arrived at a construction site with a fully framed 1200 sq. ft. home just waiting for straw.

For seven days, we camped out, were fed good food and enjoyed good company. We used chainsaws and twine to cut and re-tie bales to fit the walls. We ran electrical, allowed for plumbing, sewed bales together and compressed them into the framing, and felted and lathed any exposed beams.

On the last day, we finally got to mix and trowel plaster on the exterior walls. It was an incredible feat of logistics and teamwork, and we are forever grateful for the experience. We walked away with a wealth of knowledge and a little bit more confidence in our pockets about being our own contractors and doing this ourselves.

So many thanks to Andrew and Timbo at www.strawbale.com.