It's been a busy few weeks here lately. We had Ella's 1st birthday party a couple weekends ago so a lot of tidying up was needed before that and my parents visited us as well. Several projects were started and/or completed during that time.
First up, my dad and I got the perimeter electric fencing cleaned up, tightened, straightened and reinforced following a winter filled with deer traffic over and through the fence. We also buried live and ground wires under the gates so they are more easily passed through. A new deep-cycle battery hooked up to the solar panel and fencer and we're all set. I haven't seen any deer in the pasture since flicking the switch for the first time.
Here's the solar setup:
And here's inside the tub. On the right is a little gizmo meant to regulate the charge the solar panel gives the battery, a new addition this year.
In addition to the perimeter fencing we're trying something new this year with the intention of having the sheep and Esther intensively graze the pastures better. We bought some moveable fencing that hooks right into the perimeter fencing with which we can break up the pasture into smaller sections. This way, we hope, the animals will eat all the grass in the given section and not just the best stuff all over the whole property. By moving the fence daily the sheep will have fresh grass to graze each day and should eat not only the dessert but also the main course. This should keep things like thistles down as well. All we need now are some more animals for this to actually work well!! Lambs should be here in June.
It's worth noting how well the garlic and rhubarb is growing! The garlic has been growing up slowly but surely and the rhubarb was just suddenly there, pow! It's delicious and abundant so Beth has been freezing lots of it for the winter. Regrettably we'll have to soon turn on the second freezer in the basement to accommodate everything. Boo to higher electricity bills, yay for produce in the winter.
And last but certainly not least we've started a rather ambitious project of covering the deck with a rooftop. While my folks were up my dad and I started this and I'm really hoping to get it done quickly. We love our deck but haven't used it at all since moving here because it's way too hot to sit out on. This will help. We hope.
