One of the things we most love about this rural lifestyle is being surrounded by nature- immersed completely in its beauty and its bounty. Due to recent events, though, we were also reminded how fickle and fragile nature can be. The other morning as we went to bring the chickens breakfast, we found the heavy, old floorboards in the barn above the coop had been torn up…. and down by the coop there was even more destruction. A bear had torn through the hardware cloth mesh window in the run door, peeled open the metal hinges and lock of the coop door, and killed six of our flock of eleven. Ginger, Frankie, Ruth, Georgie, Stevie, and Daisy- all torn apart. These are not just egg machines for us- they’re truly pets, so this was a traumatic shock and terribly heartbreaking. We think there may have been more loss if it weren’t for Jenny, who happened to be up with some random insomnia, slamming the barn door around midnight to shut off the barn light for better star viewing. In hindsight, she thought she heard something move through the woods, but who knows. After reporting the loss to Fish and Game (this was most likely the same “nuisance bear” that has also broken into two nearby homes, and attacked other nearby coops), we set about rebuilding and fortifying the coop, and adding some electric fence wire surrounding the coop and run. Working on the coop with the five remaining hens wandering around (two two-year-old layers and three chicks from this past spring), seemed so eerie and quiet- normally, the coop area is a noisy racket of clucks and squawks. The bear did return the following morning, but to our relief, was turned away by the jolt of the electric fencing- he just left us his profile on our game camera. We hope he stays away. Our intent is to do our best to protect our five remaining hens, and decide if we will add to the flock next spring.
We’ve also experienced frustration and loss in the gardens due to critters- woodchucks, chipmunks, and deer. Jenny watched a chipmunk pull an entire stalk of barley into its little hole; we lost our entire crops of fennel and dill to woodchucks; and something had gotten into the orchard to eat the blueberries, boysenberries, and some raspberries. There’s also beetles, moths, and other insects trying to eat the leaves, stems, and fruit of shrubs and trees. It requires constant vigilance, and lots of attention to stay ahead of them all. And yet, even still, there are no guarantees- crops can be wiped out in a single hailstorm, insects can decimate swaths of the garden, frost can kill everything, or any number of other things. Another thing we’ve recently been dealing with has been the loss of all our ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer- three were very large. Their loss will leave a big hole in our woods, but an opportunity for others to grow.
And yet, there is still treasure everywhere: beauty in the blossoms, in the crystal-clear blue skies, in the smell of a summer evening’s rain, in the glistening of fireflies, the croaks of bull frogs or the songs of a choir of birds. There is balance. We still love this life, and are so thankful for the opportunity to experience it.
Aside from the gardening and homesteading, the other part of this whole experience for us is the saving of this old farmhouse and farm. Earlier this spring we took some time to address the rotted floors in the barn- starting with the old tack room. The back wall opposes the ell workshop, and wasn’t insulated at all, leaving the ell a challenge to heat. This room’s floors were also in the worst condition- three layers of rotted wood deep, separated by literally inches of “organic matter” AKA un-mucked poop. When we moved here, we laid down some solid boards so that we could at least use the room for storage, but it seemed time to make it right. So after removing the old rotted wood (what was left of it), we found the reason for the “bouncy” floor- one of the timber joints had rotted away and was actually resting on a piece of electrical conduit! Once we cleaned everything up and patched all the structure, we laid in new 2″ thick hemlock floorboards. We also insulated the back wall, and covered it with old barn boards salvaged from a previous project, and treated them to some linseed oil. This room will be storage for our firewood tools and lawn equipment, and has the only workbench high enough to actually sit at (for now).
Having that room solid gave us the momentum to tackle another room, so we moved on to the “auto shop” next door.
We then decided to go ahead and take care of the next room down the side of the barn- this one being separated into two horse stalls, but we decided to open it up. This room had some large floorboards that were still solid from being covered, thankfully, so only half the room needed replacement.
There is still so much more to do around here- between the necessary restoration and the everyday labor surrounding homesteading, we keep plenty busy, but we absolutely love it, and have no regrets. We really love this house, and love learning more about its past- Daniel and Abigail’s lives, the time they lived here, and the times since.
Thanks for stopping by- we enjoy the visits, and look forward to the next. Please feel free to share, and as always, be well and God bless!
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