Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

The first half of March was sunny, and hot, even.  I got cement poured
for the first new raised bed of the season (for strawberries, of
course).  It was convenient that the weather was nice when the workmen
came to tear down the shed.  I even dried a batch of laundry outside.
The weather turned normal right around the ides of March, just before
Lee's arrival for Spring Break.

The good weather made it possible for calves to survive the ordeal they
went through after arriving.  Two out of three had chronic diarrhea, and
from the symptoms I suspected a bacterial etiology.  The fact that the
medicated milk replacer worked so well proved that hypothesis correct.
A problem arose when the runt calf was to go back on a regular diet.
Even though I switched to thrice-daily feedings, the very same bacterial
scours returned after resumption of the regular formula.  If it had not
been warm and sunny that day, I might have lost the calf (unless I took
it indoors).  After going on line to see what others had to say about
the idea of using yogurt to treat scours, I decided to add 1 cup of
yogurt with active cultures for each peck of formula (one 2-qt. calf
serving): a 1:8 ratio.  I put the runt back on antibiotics for two more
days, then promptly began the yogurt treatment.  It was like a miracle
when the runt had its first normal stool, virtually since birth.  After
that everything was normal.

A couple weeks ago the medium calf started making strange teeth grinding
sounds and missing meals.  Frequently it would make a grunting noise,
and seemed to be trying to dislodge something from its first stomach
(glass and wire can often get caught in the reticulum, or tripe).  It
would seem hungry, and then drink only 1/4 peck (also consistent with
reticular peritonitis).  The only remedy is surgery, but usually the
problem gets better on its own.  Sunday night the calf expired.  I
should have slaughtered it long ago, especially since it was the only
one not to receive antibiotics.

Now the runt calf has gigantic abscess on its right lower jaw.  Again,
medical care is out at these prices, but I can take solace in the fact
that lower jaw infections don't usually lead to cranial septicemia as
upper jaw infections do, and the fact that the lump is slightly smaller
today, while the calf remains vigorous.

It annoys me that the probable cause in both these instances was eating
berry vines.  We really need a sunny corral with a small shack for
protection, but nothing is ever what it should be here, so now calves
just roam the upper area during daylight hours.  I think I'll build a
little pen out of panels tomorrow.

As I was dragging the dead calf down to the woods, I noticed dozens of
catfish that had washed downstream when the creek overflowed its banks
Sunday night.  I went up to the lower greenhouse and found a watering
can to gather them in.  Cats had eaten off the heads of many of them,
but I found a dozen good live ones of various sizes.  Last night I
cleaned them and fried up some.  There was enough for three meals, so I
made a big batch of baked catfish parmesan.

My friend made a chevre culture the other day, so I was there to get
some inoculant.  I cultured it in about 1/4 cup of microwave-sterilized
and cooled skim milk.  Yesterday I gathered volunteer mustard greens and
combined them with green onions to make Vietnamese-style sour mustard
greens.  It's perhaps the most perfect brined pickle I've ever made.
It's in a big gallon jar.  I've really perfected the art of sealing the
top of the jar with a brine-filled pouch laid on its side.  I added the
whey from the cultured skim milk right before sealing.  If only the
local shops around here carried Organic Valley buttermilk like the ones
in Eugene, then I could do this any time.  It has a live mesophilic
culture equivalent to the thermophilic ones found in yogurt.

Workmen came and demolished the old shed.  I really enjoy the view.  The
new shed will be shorter and further west, with a concrete floor, and
have a sunny wing protruding southward from the southwest corner.  They
also changed the rest of the front porch roof over to clear
polycarbonate.  It's great to sit out there and look up into the giant
redwood.

Lee's trip was a lot of fun.  We had a chance to do some repotting of
Chop Suey trees and Andean tubers, and fill the new bed a little, but
mostly we had to take care of disasters, as usual.  One night rainwater
flowed into the primitive calf box, and the heat lamp shattered.  So
between that and the usual cooking, we didn't make much progress on
software development.

But we did have an opportunity to discuss how the user will interact
with the "algebra helper" software, and how best to implement tree
structures computationally.  I'm not at liberty to disclose much info
about our product; let's just say that it will virtually eliminate
algebra teachers.  I can reveal, in general terms, that things have
really gone our way in these planning phases.  I'm especially happy that
several design decisions based on sound pedagogy have lead to
programming simplifications.  To summarize, I'd say that whereas I once
was faced with something that I truly wasn't sure how to do, now I can
see exactly how to do it, and even a time table for finishing it.  I'd
like to have the software for representing equations as tree structures
finished this summer, so that I can begin the long process of
incorporating the rules of algebra one by one next winter.  The final
step is to be able to "pretty print" the equation with nice exponents
and fraction bars.  This is pretty simple; it's just as word processors
do it.  In future versions, we might incorporate direct manipulation of
ForTran-style algebraic expressions, for advanced students and
mathematicians, and possibly even mouse-driven handwriting recognition
(in version 3.0).  Add to this our software for trigonometry and
advanced algebra, and we'll have a whole product line.

I succeeded in getting beds of the 3 P's started (potatoes, peas, and
parsnips).  The carrots I started with a hotbox in January are growing
by leaps and bounds, and are almost ready.  Everything has sprouted up
so early; I regret that I didn't dig some Chinese artichoke tubers
before they came up.  We also planted 2 'Franquette' walnuts and 3
'Hall's Hardy' almonds during Spring Break.  It looks as if our fruit
set on plums has again been a complete success.  The apples have bloomed
over a month early, but I still don't think a freeze will damage them.

Thank goodness our weather has been nice and rainy.  The river flooded
the other night, so the drought is now only a memory.  The only thing
that matters now is long it goes on raining into spring.  I like to see
a nice deluge in mid-May, followed by an abrupt cessation for the sake
of cherries and haymakers.

Have a happy April; no foolin'!

Bill