Homesteader News

My original plan for this month’s column was to talk about my favorite
seed catalog.  However, winter in our area gave me a curve ball,
reminding me that so much of homesteading is dealing with nature’s
curve balls.

We live in the San Diego area and had some pretty significant storms
last week.  I’ve lived in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia and
the storms I encountered here in San Diego were more severe than any I
can remember in these other states.  San Diego as well as Los Angeles
had at least one tornado, almost unheard of for this area.  We had
hail, very strong winds (ranging from 45 mph in my area to 90 mph
about 40 miles away).  And of course we had an enormous amount of rain
– a handful of inches in just a couple of days.  In southern
California, that is a mixed blessing:  we are in a level 2 drought so
of course we need the water, but our grounds are bare with barely any
grasses to hold the soil in place under the rain.  Most of the area is
just dirt (unless it’s irrigated and landscaped) because our last
rains were last spring; the majority of grasses have dried up.  And so
when we receive a torrential rainfall, we get mudslides and erosion
damage.

At my homestead, the wind did a significant amount of damage.  It blew
over a euphorbia succulent that was about 14’ tall, and blew some very
large limbs off of one of our trees.  These limbs were major limbs of
the tree, essentially all of the limbs on that side of the tree are
gone so we may have to remove the tree.  We lost several branches off
our tall ash tree despite having had it trimmed recently.  Worst of
all, it very nearly blew over our very large tangelo tree right into
the corner of our house.

When the storms were over, it was time for us to do damage control.
We used our tractor and a chain to hoist the tangelo tree upright.  We
put three stakes in the ground with rope going to the tree, but the
ground was so saturated the stakes came right up.  We got stronger,
corkscrew stakes and they too want to pull out of the ground.  We’ve
left the tractor and chain anchoring the tree upright and picked about
100 pounds of tangelos off the leaning side of the tree to remove some
of the weight load.  If we can keep the tree upright (without the
tractor) we’ll probably save the tree – but finding a way to keep the
stakes in the ground without the tractor as anchor is challenging.  In
the meantime, we’re juicing the tangelos and freezing the juice for
later.

The storm also blew part of our chicken run askew, causing the door to
fail to latch and also resulting in us discovering an exposed wire:
it was sparking against the wire of the chicken run.  The coop we use
is old and came with the house when we bought it.  Building a new coop
has been on our list but now has been bumped up significantly.

We are lucky to not have had further damage.  We didn’t lose any
animals or garden plants.

Having this storm pass through, in an area that very rarely receives
hard rain, was a good lesson in preparedness.  It is critical to know
where the circuit breakers are (and to have the switches well marked).
I learned how to test a live wire and to repair a broken wire – a
skill I was sorely lacking before.

Encountering a storm such as this also underscores the value and
importance of having the right tools for the job:  a tractor and
chains, chainsaw, stakes and rope, barrels to gather water, a
generator, emergency supplies, and a well-stocked pantry.

It makes for a lot of excitement around the homestead during this time
when there is not a lot of gardening action.

--
Shannon
www.midnightmoondreams.blogspot.com
twitter:  moonrisefm

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