On Thursday, my bud Tammie and I set off to a friends farm to get more tree branches and vines to make more garden oblisques. I was a gorgeous sunny day and almost 70, a perfect day to be outside. We set off around 11am, got there, talked to my friends wife while she was walking around with two young sheep that she was caring for, and walked off into the woods. It was a perfect day to be out, mid 70's and sunny. We couldn't have picked it better.
We decided to hit the vines first, which were in the far back of their 14 acres, and started walking. I was carrying my fully loaded ALICE pack, just so I could get used to the weight, and she was carrying her saw and some drinks. We got to the spot we wanted, and before long, had a good sized pile of wound vines ready to haul out. We sat down for a few minutes and took a break, just sitting and talking a little while we spent more time just looking around and enjoying the scenery. We heard some deer walking off in the distance, and saw a hawk fly low within 50 feet of it. This is why I still love this place that I have known for my entire life. It's beautiful, peaceful, and quiet being so far from any roads and people. That hillside and all that property around it has always been my escape. I have many great memories there.
We talk quite a bit while we are gathering there, in between the long bouts of total silence while we work and enjoy the quiet. In my world of few friends, Tammie is one of the best I have ever known. Few people I have known understand what Lisa and I do here at home and what we want for the future. Tammie gets it because she wants the same things. I have never had another friend that I could talk to about living off grid, gardening, self sufficiency, and all the other endless topics that we chat about, all of my others think I'm insane, she doesn't. We talked about a lot of things there in the woods the same as we do when she comes to the house for coffee on random days when I am home. (which Lisa loves to joke about, saying we sit around and talk about our cramps and our feelings, LOL) It's somewhat funny to think that I met her through the online group she started, never imagining her place was 5 minutes away. I can truly say that in the 2 years since we met over an e-mail and a bucket of horseradish from our garden, she has become one of the best friends I have ever had. I have to thank her for that, it means more than she knows from someone who has not had very many.
We were able to find one spot that had vines as far as the eye could see, and gathered a LOT of vines to bring back, twisting them into rings like christmas wreaths to be easier to carry...which was a real bonus considering I was wearing that fully loaded pack already, lol. We both had two armloads, and headed for the truck so we could drop them off and get another drink since we had both already finished the large vitamin waters we carried in just 2 hours earlier. We tossed the vines in the truck, grabbed a quick drink, and set off once again to get branches for the legs. Luckily, there are plenty of piles of branches left from the loggers about halfway to where we gathered the vines. We picked through the piles, tossing out the straighter ones, cutting off the small branches, and tossed them in piles. After 3-4 areas of gathering, we bundled them up with some rope and decided to call it a day. We got them in the truck, headed home, then divided them up for her to head home to start more of her own projects. I was tired, hot, sweaty, and covered with scratches since I was silly enough to wear a sleeveless t-shirt. Remind me NOT to do that again!! My right shoulder looks like I was wrestling with a 6 foot raccoon.
I came in the house, got the dogs outside, grabbed a giant iced tea, and headed to the garage to start my own. I decided to go with a tripod design for my first rather than a 4 legged one like we watched Rick Pratt make for the video. I made this one around 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, which went really quick. Wrapping the vines around it however, took a little more time. The vine I grabbed to wrap around the frame ended up being close to 20 feet long, and I didn't want to cut it quite yet. I started on the bottom of one leg, turning the frame instead of trying to wrap 20 feet of vine around it over and over. Yea....lol...not as easy as I thought. The vines are stiff and don't bend quite so easily. It took me about 20 minutes or more to get it wrapped around once from bottom to top. My plan for this one is to roll the vines at the top to make a sturdy wreath that will stand straight up, then wrap it around the frame again in the opposite direction back to the bottom. I had just started the wreath part when Lisa came home, and I stopped.
Lisa had quite a surprise for me when she got home, she had bought us a new mattress. WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!! We've had that same one since before we moved in this house 11 years ago, and it was getting really uncomfortable and had springs starting to pop up so much that you could feel them. We were wayyyy overdue for this. They had told her it would be delivered on Thursday, and since I have NO patience, I asked her to call and see if I could just pick it up. Of course, the store doesn't even stock the mattresses, and their warehouse is in Cleveland. The best we could do was up the delivery date to Monday, so that will have to do. I hate paying for something and not having it in my hand right then. I hate waiting for something to be mailed, shipped, or delivered. It makes me crazy, lol. Ah well, at least I know it's on the way.
The weather here is starting to make me insane, even though I know it's the typical Ohio spring. 75 one day and 50 the next. Sunny one day, rain the next. Arrrgghhhhhhh. On Monday, Tammie and I were supposed to go film one of her blog videos of someone who plows with draft horses. The forecast on Friday called for rain and storms on Monday, so she cancelled for now, which was really disappointing. We were really looking forward to that one. She'll just have to talk to the people and re-schedule sometime when the weather is more stable.
While we were at the farm gathering the materials, the owner, who I have known most of my life, asked me if I was still out of work. He is bidding a job that he is pretty sure he has, clearing out a pretty large warehouse not far away, and would take 3-4 months. He wants to hire someone to oversee the demo crew, letting them in and locking up every day, while watching them and making sure no one gets hurt. Kind of a job supervisor/safety/security guy. I told him I would be VERY interested, thanked him for thinking of me, and told him I would be gladly waiting for the call. Keep your fingers crossed for me folks.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Survival/Camping trip plans-Summer 2010
Yesterday I took my uncle to the local gun show just to get us both out of the house. Of course, I am in no situation to buy much of anything, but it was something to do, and my uncle has been talking about it since I mentioned it to him 2 months ago. So...as much as it killed me to go practically broke, I picked him up and we went. I haven't been to this particular one in 10-12 years, but for him it was more like 25 years. WOW were we both in for a shock!
The place was absolutely packed, even though we didn't get there till after 1pm. We were at the very first booth when my uncle spotted a rifle he has wanted for years, a genuine COLT civil war era musket. For me, the $3k price tag is far out of reach, but for him it isn't. He took the guys card so he could think about it for a few days, but called me today to say he wants to make the call and go get it if I drive him to this mans house, lol. Good for him. We were talking on the way back, and the conversation somehow went to a great uncle of mine who had passed away several years ago. After he died, the family found over $250k in savings and cash that no one knew about, and my uncle was telling me how sad it was that he saved it for all those years for nothing. I told him it was the perfect example of why he should go ahead and get the rifle. He saw the point...so we'll be making that trip later this week to go get it. I'm happy for him.
Anyhoo....back to the show. Both of us were absolutely floored by the prices of everything. It's been some time since I've had to buy any ammo since I have so much here, at the folks, and ready to reload. Prices are nearly double what they were the last time I had to buy any 45acp or 9mm, I was honestly in shock. Gun prices were insane, of course making me sick to my stomach about what I sold when I divorced 13 years ago, and what I sold them for...not to mention remembering what the prices were in the early 80's when I worked at that Woolworth store. Those chinese AK47's I had bought there, (and sold later) for $195 were selling for over $600. Everything I had owned at one time was 2-3x what I had paid for it back then. I spent most of the day walking around and looking, all the while wanting to kick myself in the ass for selling everything I used to own. That stickershock is still with me.
My uncle got 2 boxes of ammo, a few small things, and some beef jerky that he loves. I ended up finding a large ALICE pack for $20 on my way out. It's a complete military surplus backpack with the metal frame, shoulder straps, and waist belt...a GREAT deal for the price. I wanted an XL pack, but I can make a large do for what I need. I had a fully set and rigged XL, stuffed full of gear, but it was one of many things I left at the house when I left my ex wife, and of course, she made no effort to make sure I got it back. Ah well,lesson learned. I have this one now, and spent some time last night and a little tonight packing it with some essentials that I want/need in it.
Years ago when I was in my teens, I used to "escape" to the woods behind mom and dads place all the time. Sometimes it would just be for a few hours, sometimes for a day, and other times for a few days. I had a cheap nylon backpack that I would fill with gear I thought I would need, grab a .22 rifle, and dissappear. Sure, it wasn't like walking into the Amazon jungle, but still I used only what I had on my person and on my back with roughly 1000 acres around ms. I ate wild berries, wild greens, drank from a stream, and ate squirrel and rabbit. Not many people knew what I did, simply because most would have thought I was insane, and my dad would have flipped at me shooting game out of season. I never took anyone with me, and no one ever knew when I was going. Usually I made something up about spending the night at someones house, or later spending a few days with the current girlfriend at the time. It was a bit different later in my 20's when I had to ditch my car somewhere that no one knew about, but I always managed to find a spot. With my car well hidden, and no one knowing where I was, it was all too easy to disappear without a trace.
I loved those times. I had a small one man tent that I would pitch and cover with limbs and brush somewhere it wouldn't be found. I used a sleeping bag inside, though most nights I didn't need it. Body heat and the thick cover kept the inside of the tent very warm. I'd spend the mornings enjoying the surroundings and watching nature. Sometimes I took a book to read, other times I took a notebook to write my thoughts, and sometimes I had both. I always managed to find berries for breakfast, and had TANG to drink with spring water, though later that of course turned to coffee, lol. I'd set off mid afternoon to find greens and game, and sometimes snatch an ear of sweet corn from one of the nearby cornfields. I always ate well. I had an abundance of grapes, blackberries, raspberries, greens, apples, and many other wild edibles to choose from. I never took anything but salt and pepper to spice my game with, but I knew early on to toss some apple or other leaves on the fire for a wonderful smoked flavor. Back then I used matches or a lighter for starting fires, though once or twice I used a magnifying glass. I always came back from these little outings feeling totally refreshed, and almost always regretting having to come back. I quit those trips when I was married the first time, somewhere around 1994. I missed those trips and still do. So that brings me back around to getting that ALICE pack.
I'm going to do one of these trips again later this spring. I have a little bit more extensive of a supply list than I did back then, which is pretty funny considering the minimal amount that I got by with before. Now with reading so many articles, websites, forums and books on survival, I tend to lean toward a more extensive list, and a few fancy little gadgets, which make me laugh considering I normally "shun" modern gadgets. More than likely, I'll take a gadget and and old alternative and test one versus the other, like a magnesium firestarter vs a magnifying glass or flint & steel. When I first started thinking about getting back into these little treks away from the world, I had no consideration of using the experience for anything other than for myself, but I plan to take plenty of notes and possibly pictures to use here and on the facebook group I started as a sister site to this blog.
I have most of the gear I want or need for this trip, but there are a few small things I will need to get. I don't have any date set yet of course, but it could be next weekend or it could be in August...who knows. Thinking about it has gotten me pretty excited, even more on the way home yesterday with the new pack. Sitting here putting gear in the pack at the same time I write this post gets me even more giddy to plan it out and set a date. I'll figure it out sooner or later as always.
I know that I have a majority of readers that will not understand at all why I would want to do this, afterall, most of you are gardeners or homestead types. Thats me too, but as I said in a post a while back, I am much more. I miss those little getaways I had years ago. I miss the serenity. I miss the peace. I miss nature. Spending a weekend or a week alone in the woods is so much more rewarding than an afternoon stroll, or even a weekend at a campground. It's heavenly to me. I want to see and experience that again, and of course, I want to be able to make sure I still have what it takes to survive with just the basics. If I could do it 16 years ago, why not now??????? I guess we'll all find out.
Since I'm writing this over the course of 3 days, I can say that the pack is nearly complete. I made a list a few months ago when I first planned on doing this little trip, and listed everything I thought I would need. It contains: a tarp, sleeping bag,flashlight with spare batteries, 2 good hunting knives, hatchet, compass, water filter and purification tablets, first aid kit, book, notebook & pen, raingear, spare wool socks, toiletry kit, folding shovel, simple cook & eating set, 2 canteens, 2 firestarters, pack of matches, tinder, rope, paracord, Gerber multi-tool, insect repellant, folding camp saw, handwarmers, trash bag, superglue, spare boot laces, jacket, binoculars, and a few small odds & ends that I can't think of. I need to get a smaller tent somewhere since my smallest one is a 4 man dome, and I need to get the sling installed on my Marlin 25 .22 rifle. I have a small list of non-necessities that I may or may not grab also: MRE's, small campstove, small perculator, a lantern, and a radio. I doubt I will grab any of those, but I listed them just in case. More than likely I won't take a radio, but I will have my cell phone for emergencies and just so anyone can reach me if need be. (with my parents and uncle being older, I don't want to lose that option) I'll probably take the HI Point .45 with me, just on the very very off chance I get coyotes wandering around camp at night. The .22 would work just fine, but the .45 would be easier in case I was inside the tent. Yea I know, coyotes aren't vicious lol but I'm taking it anyway.Maybe there's an Ohio Yetti that I have never seen before...hey ya never know, hahaha.
I'm considering bringing a friend along since he's taken an interest in the idea, but I'm not sure. On one hand I would like the company, but on the other it would be a great opportunity for me to head out and clear my head in nature for a few days by myself. I'm still kicking that around. Enough for now, this is far longer than I intended.
The place was absolutely packed, even though we didn't get there till after 1pm. We were at the very first booth when my uncle spotted a rifle he has wanted for years, a genuine COLT civil war era musket. For me, the $3k price tag is far out of reach, but for him it isn't. He took the guys card so he could think about it for a few days, but called me today to say he wants to make the call and go get it if I drive him to this mans house, lol. Good for him. We were talking on the way back, and the conversation somehow went to a great uncle of mine who had passed away several years ago. After he died, the family found over $250k in savings and cash that no one knew about, and my uncle was telling me how sad it was that he saved it for all those years for nothing. I told him it was the perfect example of why he should go ahead and get the rifle. He saw the point...so we'll be making that trip later this week to go get it. I'm happy for him.
Anyhoo....back to the show. Both of us were absolutely floored by the prices of everything. It's been some time since I've had to buy any ammo since I have so much here, at the folks, and ready to reload. Prices are nearly double what they were the last time I had to buy any 45acp or 9mm, I was honestly in shock. Gun prices were insane, of course making me sick to my stomach about what I sold when I divorced 13 years ago, and what I sold them for...not to mention remembering what the prices were in the early 80's when I worked at that Woolworth store. Those chinese AK47's I had bought there, (and sold later) for $195 were selling for over $600. Everything I had owned at one time was 2-3x what I had paid for it back then. I spent most of the day walking around and looking, all the while wanting to kick myself in the ass for selling everything I used to own. That stickershock is still with me.
My uncle got 2 boxes of ammo, a few small things, and some beef jerky that he loves. I ended up finding a large ALICE pack for $20 on my way out. It's a complete military surplus backpack with the metal frame, shoulder straps, and waist belt...a GREAT deal for the price. I wanted an XL pack, but I can make a large do for what I need. I had a fully set and rigged XL, stuffed full of gear, but it was one of many things I left at the house when I left my ex wife, and of course, she made no effort to make sure I got it back. Ah well,lesson learned. I have this one now, and spent some time last night and a little tonight packing it with some essentials that I want/need in it.
Years ago when I was in my teens, I used to "escape" to the woods behind mom and dads place all the time. Sometimes it would just be for a few hours, sometimes for a day, and other times for a few days. I had a cheap nylon backpack that I would fill with gear I thought I would need, grab a .22 rifle, and dissappear. Sure, it wasn't like walking into the Amazon jungle, but still I used only what I had on my person and on my back with roughly 1000 acres around ms. I ate wild berries, wild greens, drank from a stream, and ate squirrel and rabbit. Not many people knew what I did, simply because most would have thought I was insane, and my dad would have flipped at me shooting game out of season. I never took anyone with me, and no one ever knew when I was going. Usually I made something up about spending the night at someones house, or later spending a few days with the current girlfriend at the time. It was a bit different later in my 20's when I had to ditch my car somewhere that no one knew about, but I always managed to find a spot. With my car well hidden, and no one knowing where I was, it was all too easy to disappear without a trace.
I loved those times. I had a small one man tent that I would pitch and cover with limbs and brush somewhere it wouldn't be found. I used a sleeping bag inside, though most nights I didn't need it. Body heat and the thick cover kept the inside of the tent very warm. I'd spend the mornings enjoying the surroundings and watching nature. Sometimes I took a book to read, other times I took a notebook to write my thoughts, and sometimes I had both. I always managed to find berries for breakfast, and had TANG to drink with spring water, though later that of course turned to coffee, lol. I'd set off mid afternoon to find greens and game, and sometimes snatch an ear of sweet corn from one of the nearby cornfields. I always ate well. I had an abundance of grapes, blackberries, raspberries, greens, apples, and many other wild edibles to choose from. I never took anything but salt and pepper to spice my game with, but I knew early on to toss some apple or other leaves on the fire for a wonderful smoked flavor. Back then I used matches or a lighter for starting fires, though once or twice I used a magnifying glass. I always came back from these little outings feeling totally refreshed, and almost always regretting having to come back. I quit those trips when I was married the first time, somewhere around 1994. I missed those trips and still do. So that brings me back around to getting that ALICE pack.
I'm going to do one of these trips again later this spring. I have a little bit more extensive of a supply list than I did back then, which is pretty funny considering the minimal amount that I got by with before. Now with reading so many articles, websites, forums and books on survival, I tend to lean toward a more extensive list, and a few fancy little gadgets, which make me laugh considering I normally "shun" modern gadgets. More than likely, I'll take a gadget and and old alternative and test one versus the other, like a magnesium firestarter vs a magnifying glass or flint & steel. When I first started thinking about getting back into these little treks away from the world, I had no consideration of using the experience for anything other than for myself, but I plan to take plenty of notes and possibly pictures to use here and on the facebook group I started as a sister site to this blog.
I have most of the gear I want or need for this trip, but there are a few small things I will need to get. I don't have any date set yet of course, but it could be next weekend or it could be in August...who knows. Thinking about it has gotten me pretty excited, even more on the way home yesterday with the new pack. Sitting here putting gear in the pack at the same time I write this post gets me even more giddy to plan it out and set a date. I'll figure it out sooner or later as always.
I know that I have a majority of readers that will not understand at all why I would want to do this, afterall, most of you are gardeners or homestead types. Thats me too, but as I said in a post a while back, I am much more. I miss those little getaways I had years ago. I miss the serenity. I miss the peace. I miss nature. Spending a weekend or a week alone in the woods is so much more rewarding than an afternoon stroll, or even a weekend at a campground. It's heavenly to me. I want to see and experience that again, and of course, I want to be able to make sure I still have what it takes to survive with just the basics. If I could do it 16 years ago, why not now??????? I guess we'll all find out.
Since I'm writing this over the course of 3 days, I can say that the pack is nearly complete. I made a list a few months ago when I first planned on doing this little trip, and listed everything I thought I would need. It contains: a tarp, sleeping bag,flashlight with spare batteries, 2 good hunting knives, hatchet, compass, water filter and purification tablets, first aid kit, book, notebook & pen, raingear, spare wool socks, toiletry kit, folding shovel, simple cook & eating set, 2 canteens, 2 firestarters, pack of matches, tinder, rope, paracord, Gerber multi-tool, insect repellant, folding camp saw, handwarmers, trash bag, superglue, spare boot laces, jacket, binoculars, and a few small odds & ends that I can't think of. I need to get a smaller tent somewhere since my smallest one is a 4 man dome, and I need to get the sling installed on my Marlin 25 .22 rifle. I have a small list of non-necessities that I may or may not grab also: MRE's, small campstove, small perculator, a lantern, and a radio. I doubt I will grab any of those, but I listed them just in case. More than likely I won't take a radio, but I will have my cell phone for emergencies and just so anyone can reach me if need be. (with my parents and uncle being older, I don't want to lose that option) I'll probably take the HI Point .45 with me, just on the very very off chance I get coyotes wandering around camp at night. The .22 would work just fine, but the .45 would be easier in case I was inside the tent. Yea I know, coyotes aren't vicious lol but I'm taking it anyway.Maybe there's an Ohio Yetti that I have never seen before...hey ya never know, hahaha.
I'm considering bringing a friend along since he's taken an interest in the idea, but I'm not sure. On one hand I would like the company, but on the other it would be a great opportunity for me to head out and clear my head in nature for a few days by myself. I'm still kicking that around. Enough for now, this is far longer than I intended.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
So You Want to Start a Garden
This was intended to be my first audio presentation, but when I figured out that a PC capable digital voice recorder was well over $100, I put the idea on hold for a while. Rather than let this script sit in a file waiting, I'm just gonna use it for a blog post. Sometime down the road I'll get a recorder, but for now I'll just stick with writing. It's an unedited script I wrote on Wordpad, so I tried my best to write it like I was talking. Hopefully it comes out that way. It's intent was for people new to vegetable gardening from my viewpoint and our methods we use here.....enjoy. (i hope lol)
SO YOU WANT TO START A GARDEN
When we moved here 11 years ago this coming May, we decided that we both wanted a small backyard garden. Both of us had watched our parents and others garden over the years, learned from their sucess's and mistakes, and decided that this one would be done our way. My dad always plowed a plot, disced it, and then planted. The grass that was turned under by the plow eventually worked it's way back to the top over the season, and weeding turned into a daily chore. Even years later when my parents got a rototiller, they did the same thing, and we still had the same weed problem. I decided to take a different approach. I marked off the origional 10x10 area with stakes and a string, and pulled the sod by hand with a shovel. At the time I had a small front tine tiller, and I used it to turn the soil for planting. The sod pulled from the area was used to fill low spots in the yard simply by shoveling it out of the trailer or wheelbarrow, and running over it with the lawn tractor. After a few good rains and mowings, the low spots were gone. In later years I made a screen from 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire fencing that mounted on the garden trailer. I simply screened out the soil from the grass, and the grass leftover went to either our compost pile, or to our chickens. Two years ago I just piled the sod in a sunny spot behind the garage, letting it sit for a year. The top grew into a big hump of grass while the heat and mass caused all the grass inside to die. Last spring when I made the first of the 8x8 beds for greens, I pulled the top layer of sod from the pile, and used the soil underneath to fill the bed. It doesn't get much easier than that. With our garden being lower than the rest of the yard, it gets more water and less runoff. Water runs toward our garden naturally now, so we don't have to rely on watering unless it's very hot and dry. With the top layer of grass and weeds completely gone, weeding our garden was very minimal. Now with mulching and the same sod removal, weeds are nearly non existant.
After the first garden area was tilled, we used stakes and string to mark out the rows and also the paths. I always take the size of the plant into consideration when marking new rows. Rather than just figure a two foot spacing between plants, I look at how wide each plant will be when fully grown. Sure, leaf lettuce in a single row may only grow 6-8 inches wide, but tomatos can go to nearly 3 feet wide, and green beans to 2 feet. I start with a 12" minimum space from the yard at the beginning, mark it, then mark the 2nd side of the row, then again mark a path. So....if I start at 12 inches, make a 24 inch row for green beans, I make a 24" path before the next row, giving plenty of room for walking and kneeling along with plant growth. At the time of the first spring planting, our garden appears to have 300 yards of bright yellow masons twine ran through it from end to end, but it works great for us. When plants are all above ground and recognisable, I remove the string and stakes. If you are going in straight rows, plant things together that will grow wider or more narrow in the same rows to save or utilize more space.
That first year we weren't sure what we could grow in our soil. It appeared to be rich, but you can never tell for sure. With that small 10x10 area, we grew tomatos, green beans, squash, and some simple leaf lettuce. We knew the soil was fertile, so we planned on bigger the next year. I am not a beliver in soil testing. . Well taken care of soil with compost added will produce food for you year after year. I have yet to have any tests made, and more than likely never will. We experiment with plants from time to time and see if certain things will grow here or not. For instance, we had horrible luck with brussel sprouts, but year after year get bumper crops of green beans. Our answer to the brussel sprouts dilemma is simple-we don't grow them. We continue to try different plants here, and the sucesses have far outweighted the failures. I refuse to amend my soil to grow one thing, when something else will grow just fine in it's place. The entire garden gets compost and grass clippings all season long. In the fall, the entire area is covered in leaves from the yard that not only continue to break down and feed the soil, but mulch over the entire area to prevent any weed growth after we are finished harvesting. I rake our leaves and get some from next door. I'm sure any neighbor would be more than happy to get rid of that pile of leaves in their yard or at the curb.
Each year since that first garden, it has grown. That first 10x10 garden now sits at 45x65 feet and is getting a 4 foot extension this year, We use the same methods I have already mentioned and have bumper crops of nearly everything we plant each year. Sure, some things may not do as well as they did the previous year, but that's gardening. It simply doesn't always work. We have to plan on crop failures and disease, just as you will. It's frustrating, it's disappointing, but that's just the way it is. Vegetable gardening is a learning experience from year to year. We're still learning after 11 years, and will continue to learn.
Now I know, someone out there is listening and thinking "but this book said to do that", and "that guy at the garden center said to do this" Well.....most modern books I see concentrate more on soil amendments and science than simply producing food. And that guy at the graden center? It's his job to say you need fertilizer X and spray Z, afterall, he sells them, just like the guy at the car dealership says you need that extra option on your new vehicle. He may have your best interest at heart, but he is still selling product, and most of them as with the authors I mentioned, are more prone to turn to modern methods of chemicals to fix your problems, which we avoid at all costs.
My parents grew a succesful, though weedy, garden every year as did my grandparents. They never had their soil tested or added fertilizers or soil additives. A hundred years ago, everyone had a garden of some kind, and they had no idea what pH was. Native Americans grew some of their own food with sucess for hundreds of years, and they never had to run to the local hardware store for herbicides.Neither did our early settlers. Keep it simple folks. Don't over think your garden. Don't over plan it. Don't add this and that if your soil appears to be fertile. If it's too much clay, add some sand and compost. If it's too thin, add some clay or mulch and compost INTO the soil. And one thing to always remember with compost. Add it to your rows or beds only! I have seen far too many people add compost to their entire garden area, adding nutrients to the areas they walk on. You aren't feeding the soil for your shoes, you're feeding the soil for your plants.
For the first 10 years, our garden had no hard border. It was simply a square hole dug 4" in the backyard. My concentration was on production, not aesthetics. Our garden grew HUGE amounts of food, so I didn't really care if it had the pretty border or the painted white picket fence around it. This is where I see way too many people making the same choices. They are so concentrated on how their garden will look, they will spend $400 on picket fence and posts to grow $125 worth of vegetables. I'm not saying to not care at all what it looks like, but don't worry as much about looks as you do what it can yield. In my opinion,even the smallest 10x10 plot in the ground full of vegetables looks more beautiful than a manicured lawn and bed of worthless flowers. Our garden now has a border at ground level made from untreated landscape timbers simply because I had a free supply of them. Otherwise, it still wouldn't. If parts of the yard happened to roll over into the garden, I got out that fancy grass removal tool from the garage that hangs on an area marked SHOVEL and removed it. It was really no hassle.Mission accomplished. I have other areas that are enclosed, and all are done totally with free materials. Our greens beds are bordered with 20+ year old railroad ties that I am confident are long dried of creosote. Lisa's small herb bed is surrounded by concrete parking bumpers from a jobsite. Fancy edging and borders are unnecessary, try your best to avoid using them. Find suitable materials for free or for far less, and use the savings on garden tools, or other seeds and plants.
How much you want to grow depends on the space you have available to set aside for your garden. In our case, we didn't have small kids and had no use for the big open backyard of grass. We have slowly utilized the entire area for growing food, with the lone exception of one area for our clothelines. Within any given space, how much to plant in it is soley up to you. Take into consideration how much you or your family eat in fresh vegetables, and if you plan to somehow preserve produce from your garden. If you have that big open area you can turn totally into a garden, learn to can, freeze,dehydrate, or otherwise store your harvest and use as much as possible. If your family loves green beans, plant plenty and can some every week or two. If you like salsa or pasta sauces, learn to make and can them yourself. Even if you just grow a typical summer garden, preserving can let you enjoy the same beans, corn, and tomato's in the other seasons while saving money on buying the same thing at the grocery store. None of the preservation methods are extremely hard to learn, and they're well worth the effort to do so.
Before I end this, I feel I have to go in one other direction. I have talked to many people over the years about growing their own food. Some get it, some don't. Some try, and some don't. The most frequent answer I hear is "I don't have the time". I know that some people have busy work schedules, and I know some families have both parents jobs and kids to juggle, but here is my point. Anyone making the decision to grow their own food should make it a priority. Not necessarily top priority like we do, but still a priority. If you have taken the time to make a garden area, take the time to take care of it. Don't let those weeds go, or let ripe vegetables sit on the plant while you watch something on tv or go to the mall. Spend some time outside. Look at your plants. Pick and enjoy the harvest. Feel the freedom you have given yourself from the grocery store, even if it's just those 6 tomato's or bowl of fresh lettuce. You don't have to go buy it, you grew it yourself. Growing your own food is rewarding in many ways. Enjoy it, embrace it, and reap the rewards.
SO YOU WANT TO START A GARDEN
When we moved here 11 years ago this coming May, we decided that we both wanted a small backyard garden. Both of us had watched our parents and others garden over the years, learned from their sucess's and mistakes, and decided that this one would be done our way. My dad always plowed a plot, disced it, and then planted. The grass that was turned under by the plow eventually worked it's way back to the top over the season, and weeding turned into a daily chore. Even years later when my parents got a rototiller, they did the same thing, and we still had the same weed problem. I decided to take a different approach. I marked off the origional 10x10 area with stakes and a string, and pulled the sod by hand with a shovel. At the time I had a small front tine tiller, and I used it to turn the soil for planting. The sod pulled from the area was used to fill low spots in the yard simply by shoveling it out of the trailer or wheelbarrow, and running over it with the lawn tractor. After a few good rains and mowings, the low spots were gone. In later years I made a screen from 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire fencing that mounted on the garden trailer. I simply screened out the soil from the grass, and the grass leftover went to either our compost pile, or to our chickens. Two years ago I just piled the sod in a sunny spot behind the garage, letting it sit for a year. The top grew into a big hump of grass while the heat and mass caused all the grass inside to die. Last spring when I made the first of the 8x8 beds for greens, I pulled the top layer of sod from the pile, and used the soil underneath to fill the bed. It doesn't get much easier than that. With our garden being lower than the rest of the yard, it gets more water and less runoff. Water runs toward our garden naturally now, so we don't have to rely on watering unless it's very hot and dry. With the top layer of grass and weeds completely gone, weeding our garden was very minimal. Now with mulching and the same sod removal, weeds are nearly non existant.
After the first garden area was tilled, we used stakes and string to mark out the rows and also the paths. I always take the size of the plant into consideration when marking new rows. Rather than just figure a two foot spacing between plants, I look at how wide each plant will be when fully grown. Sure, leaf lettuce in a single row may only grow 6-8 inches wide, but tomatos can go to nearly 3 feet wide, and green beans to 2 feet. I start with a 12" minimum space from the yard at the beginning, mark it, then mark the 2nd side of the row, then again mark a path. So....if I start at 12 inches, make a 24 inch row for green beans, I make a 24" path before the next row, giving plenty of room for walking and kneeling along with plant growth. At the time of the first spring planting, our garden appears to have 300 yards of bright yellow masons twine ran through it from end to end, but it works great for us. When plants are all above ground and recognisable, I remove the string and stakes. If you are going in straight rows, plant things together that will grow wider or more narrow in the same rows to save or utilize more space.
That first year we weren't sure what we could grow in our soil. It appeared to be rich, but you can never tell for sure. With that small 10x10 area, we grew tomatos, green beans, squash, and some simple leaf lettuce. We knew the soil was fertile, so we planned on bigger the next year. I am not a beliver in soil testing. . Well taken care of soil with compost added will produce food for you year after year. I have yet to have any tests made, and more than likely never will. We experiment with plants from time to time and see if certain things will grow here or not. For instance, we had horrible luck with brussel sprouts, but year after year get bumper crops of green beans. Our answer to the brussel sprouts dilemma is simple-we don't grow them. We continue to try different plants here, and the sucesses have far outweighted the failures. I refuse to amend my soil to grow one thing, when something else will grow just fine in it's place. The entire garden gets compost and grass clippings all season long. In the fall, the entire area is covered in leaves from the yard that not only continue to break down and feed the soil, but mulch over the entire area to prevent any weed growth after we are finished harvesting. I rake our leaves and get some from next door. I'm sure any neighbor would be more than happy to get rid of that pile of leaves in their yard or at the curb.
Each year since that first garden, it has grown. That first 10x10 garden now sits at 45x65 feet and is getting a 4 foot extension this year, We use the same methods I have already mentioned and have bumper crops of nearly everything we plant each year. Sure, some things may not do as well as they did the previous year, but that's gardening. It simply doesn't always work. We have to plan on crop failures and disease, just as you will. It's frustrating, it's disappointing, but that's just the way it is. Vegetable gardening is a learning experience from year to year. We're still learning after 11 years, and will continue to learn.
Now I know, someone out there is listening and thinking "but this book said to do that", and "that guy at the garden center said to do this" Well.....most modern books I see concentrate more on soil amendments and science than simply producing food. And that guy at the graden center? It's his job to say you need fertilizer X and spray Z, afterall, he sells them, just like the guy at the car dealership says you need that extra option on your new vehicle. He may have your best interest at heart, but he is still selling product, and most of them as with the authors I mentioned, are more prone to turn to modern methods of chemicals to fix your problems, which we avoid at all costs.
My parents grew a succesful, though weedy, garden every year as did my grandparents. They never had their soil tested or added fertilizers or soil additives. A hundred years ago, everyone had a garden of some kind, and they had no idea what pH was. Native Americans grew some of their own food with sucess for hundreds of years, and they never had to run to the local hardware store for herbicides.Neither did our early settlers. Keep it simple folks. Don't over think your garden. Don't over plan it. Don't add this and that if your soil appears to be fertile. If it's too much clay, add some sand and compost. If it's too thin, add some clay or mulch and compost INTO the soil. And one thing to always remember with compost. Add it to your rows or beds only! I have seen far too many people add compost to their entire garden area, adding nutrients to the areas they walk on. You aren't feeding the soil for your shoes, you're feeding the soil for your plants.
For the first 10 years, our garden had no hard border. It was simply a square hole dug 4" in the backyard. My concentration was on production, not aesthetics. Our garden grew HUGE amounts of food, so I didn't really care if it had the pretty border or the painted white picket fence around it. This is where I see way too many people making the same choices. They are so concentrated on how their garden will look, they will spend $400 on picket fence and posts to grow $125 worth of vegetables. I'm not saying to not care at all what it looks like, but don't worry as much about looks as you do what it can yield. In my opinion,even the smallest 10x10 plot in the ground full of vegetables looks more beautiful than a manicured lawn and bed of worthless flowers. Our garden now has a border at ground level made from untreated landscape timbers simply because I had a free supply of them. Otherwise, it still wouldn't. If parts of the yard happened to roll over into the garden, I got out that fancy grass removal tool from the garage that hangs on an area marked SHOVEL and removed it. It was really no hassle.Mission accomplished. I have other areas that are enclosed, and all are done totally with free materials. Our greens beds are bordered with 20+ year old railroad ties that I am confident are long dried of creosote. Lisa's small herb bed is surrounded by concrete parking bumpers from a jobsite. Fancy edging and borders are unnecessary, try your best to avoid using them. Find suitable materials for free or for far less, and use the savings on garden tools, or other seeds and plants.
How much you want to grow depends on the space you have available to set aside for your garden. In our case, we didn't have small kids and had no use for the big open backyard of grass. We have slowly utilized the entire area for growing food, with the lone exception of one area for our clothelines. Within any given space, how much to plant in it is soley up to you. Take into consideration how much you or your family eat in fresh vegetables, and if you plan to somehow preserve produce from your garden. If you have that big open area you can turn totally into a garden, learn to can, freeze,dehydrate, or otherwise store your harvest and use as much as possible. If your family loves green beans, plant plenty and can some every week or two. If you like salsa or pasta sauces, learn to make and can them yourself. Even if you just grow a typical summer garden, preserving can let you enjoy the same beans, corn, and tomato's in the other seasons while saving money on buying the same thing at the grocery store. None of the preservation methods are extremely hard to learn, and they're well worth the effort to do so.
Before I end this, I feel I have to go in one other direction. I have talked to many people over the years about growing their own food. Some get it, some don't. Some try, and some don't. The most frequent answer I hear is "I don't have the time". I know that some people have busy work schedules, and I know some families have both parents jobs and kids to juggle, but here is my point. Anyone making the decision to grow their own food should make it a priority. Not necessarily top priority like we do, but still a priority. If you have taken the time to make a garden area, take the time to take care of it. Don't let those weeds go, or let ripe vegetables sit on the plant while you watch something on tv or go to the mall. Spend some time outside. Look at your plants. Pick and enjoy the harvest. Feel the freedom you have given yourself from the grocery store, even if it's just those 6 tomato's or bowl of fresh lettuce. You don't have to go buy it, you grew it yourself. Growing your own food is rewarding in many ways. Enjoy it, embrace it, and reap the rewards.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Rainy days ahead
Last week and the weekend was a beautiful break from our typical spring weather. Temps were in the upper 60's and sunny. I spent as much time outside as I could, preparing things for spring planting. I've yet to do anything with the main garden, but most everything else is either been cleaned or prepped for planting. I got rid of seven hens to save on feed...we REALLY didn't need 19. I'm happy with a flock of 12 now, just enough. I'm gathering material to rebuild the first half of the run that I made 2 years ago with the top from the carport frame. It will be 4 foot tall chain link with a gate, same as the second half I made when the neighbor told me I could have his hens last fall. I would like to have it taller so my big ogre a$$ could actually walk inside, but I don't want it taller than the dogs fence and draw more attention to the place more than we already are. Four feet isn't too bad, do I can deal with that. I'd like to sometime down the road cover the outside with four foot privacy fence, but that's not a big concern right now.
I have to visit my folks Wednsday morning to help get a couch out so dads new daybed can be delivered. I'll be counting the good RR ties and concrete bumpers that I need to haul off, so I can plot them here for the new greens beds. I'm hoping to have enough for one more 8x8 bed, which I don't think will be a problem. I like the idea of having salad greens closer to the house in them rather than in the main garden. Granted it's not a 1/2 mile hike to the garden, but 10 feet outside the gate makes it a lot more convenient. I'll be doing away with the idea of rows in these and going to square foot gardening, probably just dividing the 8x8 into four 2x2 area for lettuce varieties, spinach, and trying celery for the first time here.
When this weather decides to break again, I'll stake out the two new strawberry beds I want and get them started. I just need to pull the sod as I always do and give it just one good tilling before I transplant starts from the overgrown existing bed. Like I've said many times before, there is no such thing as too many strawberries!! We both love to eat them fresh, so even though we added the larger bed 3 years ago, we rarely end up with enough to make into jam. I'm hoping that tripling the large area will do away with that problem. I'm also going to transplant some starts from the blackberries and increase their area another 8-10 feet, and also get some more wild ones from my folks place to add out front. Blackberries for me are as bad as strawberries, I can just stand there and eat off the plant, so...more is always better.
Along with the other projects, I have to finish the 30 foot round bed I made out front just for herbs. I'll be adding a small four foot garden pond to that area that I am getting from a friend, and filling it with whatever Lisa decides she wants. My vote is for tons of lavender, but she says I'll just go lay out there and sleep, lol. I like the idea of having all the fresh herbs for cooking and medicinal use, and as always, eliminating more worthless grass. I'd love to find a few area to plant some mint and lemon balm just to let them fill it and enjoy the scent, but thats just a thought right now too. I'll do just about anything to get rid of more grass.
I drew up a sketch of the whole place to plot some areas and get new ideas about what we can plant where. Keep in mind I am no artist by any means, and the scale is way off,but it still gives me a good idea of open space versus what is already filled. There are 3 pines in the front that I'd like to take down, one I can do myself but the other 2 are near or in the power lines and I won't attempt it without a boom lift or something to make sure I don't drop anything on them. All 3 are dying, so there are dead limbs almost halfway up. I'll need to borrow a chainsaw larger than my 18" before I even think about getting started on any of them.
The three small green circles that are unlabeled in the drawing are the areas I made in the post a few days ago. As of right now, Lisa wants them for gourds. I'd prefer something edible, but she likes to paint gourds and they always overtake the garden. I considered cherry tomato's, but since I don't care for them myself, it would be a waste to let one climb a 6 foot trellis and produce more than Lisa can eat. Two of the strawberry beds will be the new ones, you can see the line in the blackberries where I will add another section, and the yellow area marked corn will be new. The small area above that is where I have HOPEFULLY contained the horseradish, though there are no guarantees with that stuff. It's more invasive than mint.
Today is a total bust on getting anything done outside. It's in the 30's and raining. I'll use the day to catch up on cleaning and things around here I have been meaning to get to. I just hope the forecast is wrong and this weather doesn't last a week!
I have to visit my folks Wednsday morning to help get a couch out so dads new daybed can be delivered. I'll be counting the good RR ties and concrete bumpers that I need to haul off, so I can plot them here for the new greens beds. I'm hoping to have enough for one more 8x8 bed, which I don't think will be a problem. I like the idea of having salad greens closer to the house in them rather than in the main garden. Granted it's not a 1/2 mile hike to the garden, but 10 feet outside the gate makes it a lot more convenient. I'll be doing away with the idea of rows in these and going to square foot gardening, probably just dividing the 8x8 into four 2x2 area for lettuce varieties, spinach, and trying celery for the first time here.
When this weather decides to break again, I'll stake out the two new strawberry beds I want and get them started. I just need to pull the sod as I always do and give it just one good tilling before I transplant starts from the overgrown existing bed. Like I've said many times before, there is no such thing as too many strawberries!! We both love to eat them fresh, so even though we added the larger bed 3 years ago, we rarely end up with enough to make into jam. I'm hoping that tripling the large area will do away with that problem. I'm also going to transplant some starts from the blackberries and increase their area another 8-10 feet, and also get some more wild ones from my folks place to add out front. Blackberries for me are as bad as strawberries, I can just stand there and eat off the plant, so...more is always better.
Along with the other projects, I have to finish the 30 foot round bed I made out front just for herbs. I'll be adding a small four foot garden pond to that area that I am getting from a friend, and filling it with whatever Lisa decides she wants. My vote is for tons of lavender, but she says I'll just go lay out there and sleep, lol. I like the idea of having all the fresh herbs for cooking and medicinal use, and as always, eliminating more worthless grass. I'd love to find a few area to plant some mint and lemon balm just to let them fill it and enjoy the scent, but thats just a thought right now too. I'll do just about anything to get rid of more grass.
I drew up a sketch of the whole place to plot some areas and get new ideas about what we can plant where. Keep in mind I am no artist by any means, and the scale is way off,but it still gives me a good idea of open space versus what is already filled. There are 3 pines in the front that I'd like to take down, one I can do myself but the other 2 are near or in the power lines and I won't attempt it without a boom lift or something to make sure I don't drop anything on them. All 3 are dying, so there are dead limbs almost halfway up. I'll need to borrow a chainsaw larger than my 18" before I even think about getting started on any of them.
The three small green circles that are unlabeled in the drawing are the areas I made in the post a few days ago. As of right now, Lisa wants them for gourds. I'd prefer something edible, but she likes to paint gourds and they always overtake the garden. I considered cherry tomato's, but since I don't care for them myself, it would be a waste to let one climb a 6 foot trellis and produce more than Lisa can eat. Two of the strawberry beds will be the new ones, you can see the line in the blackberries where I will add another section, and the yellow area marked corn will be new. The small area above that is where I have HOPEFULLY contained the horseradish, though there are no guarantees with that stuff. It's more invasive than mint.
Today is a total bust on getting anything done outside. It's in the 30's and raining. I'll use the day to catch up on cleaning and things around here I have been meaning to get to. I just hope the forecast is wrong and this weather doesn't last a week!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Front yard trellis project
Since we are nearly out of backyard, we have decided to move some things to the front. I already have a 30ft round herb bed plotted out and ready for planting, and we have the 2 drarf apples and 1 blueberry we put in last year. After spending some time with my friend Tammie playing cameraman for her blog and watching Rick Pratt make a garden oblesque/trellis, I've decided to make my own and incorperate them in the front yard to plant Lisa's gourds on, along with cucumbers and possibly cherry tomato's.
First I marked the drum (top already cut off) into 6 inch rings and used a sawzall with a wood blade to cut them. A metal blade tends to hang up more with plastic.
Then I used my grinder to take the burrs off the edges of the cuts, which you can see on the left side of the grinder. (clean on the right)
I set the rings where I wanted them, cut the edges with the shovel and removed the ring.
I took out the soil, putting the sod on the compost pile,and mixed the soil with fresh compost.
After mixing the soil and compost, I filled the holes and covered them with 8" or so of leaves as a mulch until we can put in seed or plants.
This is the one I watched Rick Pratt make last weekend from all willow. I haven't found a source for willow yet, but I'll be making some from birch and doing the winding part with grape vines. Tammie and I went on a search for willow earlier this week, and though we didn't have any luck finding any, we found an area being logged that was laying full of birch branches and grapevines as far as the eye can see. We gathered enough for her to start some of her own, so I'll have to make another trek to get some for myself. I'm hoping to start them this week so they're out of the way, but the weather is supposed to get cold and rain again...ugh. Ah well, plenty of time since we won't be frost-free until mid-end May. I'll probably make some for the tomatos and cucumbers in the main garden too. Hopefully this isn't a really boring post, but I'm going to start posting more things I do as a sort-of tutorial/picture log step by step. If I'm happy with the way these turn out, I'm going to make a few extra's and put them in the yard with a for sale sign and give it a shot. I'm hoping with us being on a busy road and a popular garden center less than 1/4 mile away, they'll get some attention. What the heck, it's worth a shot, and I can get all the materials I want for free. I have an idea to make one with large vines in a circle at the top and hang a small windchime from it.....can't wait to see how it turns out!!
If you are interested in these, go to my friend Tammie's blog and watch the video of the one in the picture being made...and admire my FINE camera work, LOL. She had to make it a 2 parter, so she should get the second half up soon. http://unusuallyunusualfarmchick.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-first-video-segment.html
To see what Rick REALLY makes, visit him at www.aroundthebendwillowfurniture.com His work is amazing....Lisa really really wants me to make the stars & moons bed...guess I better find that source for willow!!!
Anytime I make a new area or bed, I always edge it with something for weed control, usually stones, timbers, or plastic edging. This time, since the area didn't need to be very big, I chose something I had on hand to use. I used a plastic 55 gallon drum.
First I marked the drum (top already cut off) into 6 inch rings and used a sawzall with a wood blade to cut them. A metal blade tends to hang up more with plastic.
Then I used my grinder to take the burrs off the edges of the cuts, which you can see on the left side of the grinder. (clean on the right)
I set the rings where I wanted them, cut the edges with the shovel and removed the ring.
I took out the soil, putting the sod on the compost pile,and mixed the soil with fresh compost.
After mixing the soil and compost, I filled the holes and covered them with 8" or so of leaves as a mulch until we can put in seed or plants.
This is the one I watched Rick Pratt make last weekend from all willow. I haven't found a source for willow yet, but I'll be making some from birch and doing the winding part with grape vines. Tammie and I went on a search for willow earlier this week, and though we didn't have any luck finding any, we found an area being logged that was laying full of birch branches and grapevines as far as the eye can see. We gathered enough for her to start some of her own, so I'll have to make another trek to get some for myself. I'm hoping to start them this week so they're out of the way, but the weather is supposed to get cold and rain again...ugh. Ah well, plenty of time since we won't be frost-free until mid-end May. I'll probably make some for the tomatos and cucumbers in the main garden too. Hopefully this isn't a really boring post, but I'm going to start posting more things I do as a sort-of tutorial/picture log step by step. If I'm happy with the way these turn out, I'm going to make a few extra's and put them in the yard with a for sale sign and give it a shot. I'm hoping with us being on a busy road and a popular garden center less than 1/4 mile away, they'll get some attention. What the heck, it's worth a shot, and I can get all the materials I want for free. I have an idea to make one with large vines in a circle at the top and hang a small windchime from it.....can't wait to see how it turns out!!
If you are interested in these, go to my friend Tammie's blog and watch the video of the one in the picture being made...and admire my FINE camera work, LOL. She had to make it a 2 parter, so she should get the second half up soon. http://unusuallyunusualfarmchick.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-first-video-segment.html
To see what Rick REALLY makes, visit him at www.aroundthebendwillowfurniture.com His work is amazing....Lisa really really wants me to make the stars & moons bed...guess I better find that source for willow!!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Someone's been a busy girl....
Ladies and Gentleman, meet EGGZILLA!!! LOL I found this one yesterday along with the other 15. Yea....umm......16 eggs a day, time to scale back a bit on the hens.
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Monday, March 15, 2010
FINALLY!!!
Finally...........after over 4 months of reminding people and waiting, I have ONE picture of me from Halloween. YODARR the Barbarian lives!!!!!!
I loved the platform boots that I made. You can easily tell how big the things made me by realizing that Mike (on my left) is 6 feet tall. hahaha I stood over 6'8" with those things added to my normal 6'3". Hopefully I'll get more since they just now got around to uploading these on their computer. Mike's costume was awesome. That's not a mask, it's latex applied (glued) to his face! He won the best costume prize of a bottle of Vampire wine.
Enjoy...and laugh a bit.
I loved the platform boots that I made. You can easily tell how big the things made me by realizing that Mike (on my left) is 6 feet tall. hahaha I stood over 6'8" with those things added to my normal 6'3". Hopefully I'll get more since they just now got around to uploading these on their computer. Mike's costume was awesome. That's not a mask, it's latex applied (glued) to his face! He won the best costume prize of a bottle of Vampire wine.
Enjoy...and laugh a bit.
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