Your Sheep Are Out...

We got sheep...and goats. Two of each-all girls. They are sooo adorable. We found them at a farm that was going out of business at the other end of the state (2 hours away). The sheep are merino (imagine a soft and beautiful merino wool sweater or afghan) and the goats are angora (premium fiber there too).

Mark built this ghetto a** fence! It wasn't what I wanted, but he insisted it would work. It's about 100 feet long by 30-50 feet wide (it's not exactly plumb). It was an inexpensive option to what I wanted. Oh well.

So the other day, I gave him a shopping list for Thanksgiving dinner. He had the day off, I didn't. While he's roaming the aisles frantically searching for the items on the list a man walks up to him and says "you're Mark, right". Mark responds in the affirmative and the man (of course Mark doesn't remember his name) introduces himself as one of our neighbors around the way (our road is several miles long). Then the man tells Mark "your sheep are out". Mark says something like "excuse me" and the man repeats, "your sheep are out" then tells Mark to have a nice Thanksgiving.

Then Mark heads for the checkout line and is stopped again by another neighbor. This neighbor knows our address, but not the name. He also tells Mark "the sheep are out". Mark then stops at the corner store to get cancer sticks and guess what, the owner says, "hey Mark, I heard your sheep are out". When he finally gets home guess what, the sheep are out... They had challenged the fence and were able to squeeze their way under it. They were just grazing, all morning. They stayed on our land but grazed up field, down field, in the wooded area near the road. The had plenty of food, but no water. The goats were still inside the fence.

Mark spent the next several hours chasing the sheep, trying to guide them back into the fence without letting the goats out. He called me a number of times cussing and spitting and threatening to shoot them. He said they were "slick". He even called Carlton to help him. They almost got them in. He finally just let them be until he could get a third person. I was the third. We used the quad to guide them up the fenceline, Mark and I to keep them on the fenceline, with the truck angled by the door to force them toward the entry. That didn't work. Then we cornered them with the quad on the fenceline. Mark got a hold of one and popped her over the fence. I was scared they hurt her, but she seemed fine. The other one got away. We cornered that one near the wooded are, while the one inside the fence was butting the fence trying to get to the other one. Carlton tackled the sheep and plopped her over the fence.

It was all quite exciting. In the end, Mark reinforced the bottom of the fence the next day and they've been happy as clams inside the fence ever since. It's all good.

SolarFest Follow-up

It has been suggested that we cut down trees to accommodate solar paneling on our roof.

This is what the front of our house (the part that faces south) looks like from the top of our driveway. This picture was taken at the beginning of summer.

This is gorgeous (to us) and we wouldn't think of cutting down these trees. Time to think of alternatives. Any other suggestions?

Pitch Black Follow-up & Getting Hot Water

Bart and his girlfriend came and helped us fix our hot water heater (that is a long story*) so we went and helped them stack wood. It was great exercise. OK, so it wasn't fun, but we were happy to help out. Besides, they are way cool.

Any way, on the way home, at twilight I noticed that the long dark road that felt 10 miles long was actually 2 miles long and had quite a few houses on the road. Glad I was able to get a better perspective. Still wouldn't want to have car trouble there in the middle of the night...


*Living in a rural area requires quite a bit of adjustments. Actually moving to a new community is always an adjustment. When I moved into a condo back in CT, we had just had a major snow storm. It was cold. I adjusted the thremostat so we could warm up. Although the blower came on, it was blowing cold air. I called the previous owners who said they had no problem with the heat. The husband even came over to make sure I was using the thermostat correctly. Guess what, I never called the gas company. Previously, heat and hot water were included in the rent, who knew I had to call someone for heat and hot water!!! Of course the gas company didn't consider it an emergency. Fortunately I had a place to take a shower and had a portable heater so the bedroom was toasty because the earliest appointment I could get was two days later between 6pm and midnight. Guess who showed up at 11:55pm, the gas company! I was tired and irritable.

Fast forward several years later when we run out of kerosene. We have kerosene for the water heater, gas for the heat and cooking, and electricity for everything else. So guess what, no hot water. It's a pain to lug pots full of hot water to fill up the tub so you can take a warm bath. And guess what, the oil companies don't consider it an emergency. If you want them to deviate from their normal route, its an additional $100!!! Plus, the minimum is approximately $300 worth of fuel!!! (so you can't have them come out for $50 worth...) Thank goodness it's not yet the dead of winter. Thank goodness it was just the hot water. Thank goodness we resolved the issue quickly!

Vermont Women's Conference

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

So I decided to go to this conference to get feedback on my ideas for being a farmer/rancher (more about that in a future post). I had no idea how many women would attend, but I had a pretty good idea that I would be the only person of color. I was wrong! When I walked in there was actually another Black woman there - I immediately introduced myself. She was a dear! We attended the same workshops and had lunch together. She invited up to her home. Later I saw two other women who were ambiguously ethnic (unknown ethnic origin). I was strangely encouraged. And everyone else I met in the workshops and at the organization tables were very nice.

The keynote speaker was Lilly Ledbetter of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - the first Act President Obama signed into law. She was fabulous! She was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy who was joined by his spouse. The President of Vermont Technical College, where the even was held, was a pretty good speaker as well. I completed bogarded (is that a racial slur?)my way to the front of the line and took a picture with them.










Senator Leahy's office sponsored this conference. He chatted with me about the picture he took of President Obama (I just love writing that) signing the act. He stood behind President Obama and took the only picture from behind. Leahy and his wife presented the picture to Ms. Ledbetter. Leahy also advised me he had a Black son (in law?) and several Black grandchildren. Apparently his son is now one of the photojournalists on President Obama's staff. Then he had his assistant take my name. Not sure why, maybe he wants this picture...?

The workshops I attended were pretty good - very informative and encouraging. The other women had some fabulous, eco-friendly, interesting ideas, all in various stages of development. Stuff I never would have thought of. Although everyone was pretty friendly, I was hesitant to share my business ideas. I wasn't sure it was a safe space. But a wise friend of mine once told me that we create our own safe spaces. So I shared my ideas and was very encouraged by the feedback.

The inspirational speaker at the conclusion was good. She said if we always have to witness something before we can do it, we will never be the first (like President Obama) and we will be limited to what others have already done. I liked that.

SolarFest

When we moved up here, we decided we were going to go as green as possible. The first thing we did was get a small plastic container to start composting. I had read and heard lots of different ways (with and without meat products for example). We were pretty good about putting our table scraps, paper towels, egg shells, etc into the pail. We felt pretty good about it, until it began to smell. Badly. We had neglected to prepare for the next step - having an outside container to mix the leaves and grass and indoor stuff with. We abandoned te idea until we could get it together. Then I saw and advertisement for SolarFest. SolarFest boasted seminars, vendors, and general information about green living. We just had to go! It was over an hour away in the Green Mountains of Southern Vermont. The drive was beautiful through back roads and some highways. Some of the signs were obscure or downright missing. When we crossed the border into upstae New York we knew we were lost, but some nice folks gave us a map (mine was in the other car) and redirected us.

It stormed the night before, so we were glad we decided to go on Sunday.

It was alittle muddy but my Jeep handled it very well. :) Some people got stuck in the mud.

Although this festival was over 10 years old, this new locatio was only a couple of years old. Someone had donated their hundreds of acres for the festival to use. People had camped overnight. It was kind of wierd watching people (OK a bunch of white people) walking around barefoot. It wasn't the cleanest environment (muddy) and it wasn't the easiest terrain (very hilly) and there were branches and rocks all over the place. It was pretty odd, but we ran with it.

We were impressed with the effort to make this event as green as possible using solar energy. We attended one seminar and Mark was ready to go. But I dragged him around to the vendors so we would discuss possibilities for our home. Did you know that approximately 30% of heating costs are from heating water? We found a cool solar system with tubes that mounts to the roof and connects directly to your hot water heater. Very efficient, guaranteed to reduce your bills.

They had great food too. I even got Mark to try some vegeterian food. OK, I tricked him into trying it. But he grudgingly agreed that it was good.

This is a solar powered car. They also had the next generation of solar powered full sized cars as well

It was a beautiful venue.

Yeah, we had to use port a lets. At least they had hand sanitizer, which makes it alittle less gross.

Separately, I was filling up my water bottle at a faucet they had set up when a woman walks up, turns the faucet off, pulls my bottle up to the spout and turns the water back on. She says that I was wasting water by not holding my bottle way up to the faucet. I thought I was not getting other peoples germs by holding my bottle away...

We saw a representative from the State of Vermont who explained the different programs and incentives for converting to solar, wind or geothermal power. Apparently wind isn't an option unless you're in a very windy area. The poles have to be about sixty feet high which some communities consider unsightly. He gave us a list of approved vendors and schooled us on going green. He was cool.

They had events for families with kids. I think this guy was doing puppets.

The orange thing is a portable hot tub. You heat the water by burning wood which heats up the coils. Very cool, but very expensive. I think it looks like a giant tea cup.

Back home, we called a local name on the list of approved vendors. He was very nice. But, when he came by, he told us our roof needed to have southern exposure. The south facing part of our roof doesn't get sun since our front yard is FULL of trees!!! I did a little research just to make sure he wasn't shining us on and he is correct. So what do you do, cut down trees so you can have solar power? That doesn't make sense. What we can do for electricity is mount solar panels on poles in the back of our property (how ugly is that!) but tht doesn't work for the water. So we have to investigate other options. Does that suck or what!?!?

Where’s the Rap Station? & Pitch Black!

So Mark has been working in Montpelier (the state capitol) the past couple of weeks renovating a 1700s two family house. He walks to the main drag to get lunch from one of the food carts. One day, he sees this Black guy shuffling along toward him. This guy has his hat on backwards and is wearing slouchy pants (that's all the description I could get from Mark). So this guy looks up, sees Mark, starts grinning, and jogs toward him. He greets Mark warmly and says "Hey man! You are the first Black person I've seen in months!" Apparently this guy is in some kind of program (that's all the information Mark got). Mark advises him there are a couple of Black folks around, but not many. This guy had never been to the Northeast before and hates it. He then asks Mark "where can I find the Rap station?" Mark laughs and says, not around here. If he was a little closer to Burlington he would get a mixed station that occasionally plays top 40 hip hop. The guy was deflated after this news. He was from California and was familiar with my home town in the Central Valley (which is very small). So I told Mark we should invite him over for dinner, or go meet him for drinks or something. But Mark didn't get his name or number or give the guy our contact info. Mark just shrugs and says "I know where to find him". We'll see…

 

Then last Friday night, Mark takes me to his friend's house. I've been hearing about this friend Bart for a couple of months. I've only met him and his girlfriend once. They seem like a nice young couple. Yes, they are white. The stories Mark tells about them are very interesting. Apparently Bart modified a truck by taking the back and sides off the bed of the truck. They bolted a couch (yes a sofa/couch) to the bed of the truck with seat belts. They go up further in the mountains, gleefully going through mud and rocks, with the truck and someone strapped to the couch in the bed. One time they flipped the truck. Fortunately, because the guy was strapped in, he didn't get hurt. Another time he and Mark went quadding in the mountains. The truck stalled and wouldn't start so they had to walk back. Mark said it was pitch black and Bart just said "follow me, my house is right over there" while he points into the pitch black. Mark was doubtful but had no choice but to follow Bart. Guess what, Bart was right, thankfully.

So, we went over Bart's for homemade chili that he and his girlfriend made. I wasn't sure what to expect with all the stories Mark told me. Plus Mark warns on the way over, that they are very county. I had seen the outside of the house only. I saw two cats and two dogs inside the house when we got there. They interacted with the animals a lot. I decided if they didn't wash their hands that I wasn't going to eat. Well, they washed their hands before serving us. And the chili - It was pretty good. Bart's brother and several friends stopped by after dinner. We had a great time chatting. Bart's brother entertained us with stories of his cows getting into the college cornfield and raising and butchering 400 chickens this past summer. He's about to start milking cows on a farm this fall. Every morning at 4am… I can't imagine.

So when we left it was pitch black (no street lights in the country). Got me thinking about those scary movies where for someone unknown or obscure reason people are in the middle of nowhere driving in the dark and get attacked by some alien/monster/maniac. Guess who's always the first to die… Black people! I don't think I spoke on the way home because I was praying to the good Lord not to let us have some mysterious car trouble. There is no way I would walk the several miles home or the several miles back to Bart's or the several miles to the nearest gas station. Plus there was no way I was staying in the truck in the pitch black by myself. Thank goodness we made it home without incident. I was not interested in being in the headlines as the petrified Black woman who perished under mysterious (or not so mysterious) circumstances on a pitch black country road in Vermont…

OMG! It's been 4 months in Vermont!!!

“Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change Or how we thought those days would never end” I can't believe it's Autumn next week. Over the past four months I've taken a bunch of pictures in Vermont. We've been all over the state courtesy of craigslist (for those great deals on stuff I just have to have) or riding around on the bike. Check them out:

4th of July Part 2

The highlight of the weekednd was on Sunday, when we went up to Burlington which is on Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain is celebrating its quadracentennial (400 years). As part of that celebration, The Roots performed in Waterfront Park. It was a fabulous performance. "I push my seed in her bush for life. It's gonna work because I'm pushin' it right. And if Mary dropped my baby girl tonight, I would name her rock'n'roll."

4th of July in Vermont

Vermont was beautiful for Independence Day. Mark and I went downtown and watched a small town parade. I thought it was going to be a small town turnout. But there was a bunch of people. Did the whole state turn out? We found that the parade was sponsored by the "Area" Chamber of Commerce. That explained why there was so much more people than I thought there would be since at least 5 towns were participating. It was huge. We rode the dirt bike into town, thankfully, and were able to bypass a lot of traffic (what there is up here) and park behind a building on Main Street. The atmosphere was very festive, even though rain was threatening all morning. It finally poured later in the day. I have never seen so many tractors in my life. Big, small, old, and new. A farmer's dream, I'm sure. The funniest was the Amtrak train that comes through town stops right in the middle of Main Street, in the middle of the parade. But that didn't dissuade folks from keeping their perch right on the tracks… I think I caught the spirit of the day.

I’ve Got Worms! Mom’s Got Jokes…

My garden has been working well for me, despite my poor watering skills. The consultants came to check on the garden last week, so right before they came, guess what Mark and I were doing…WEEDING! And we found lots of worms. According to several websites "Worms are so important to the health and vitality of your soil. They help increase the amounts of air and water in the soil, they help with the decomposition of organic matter and they leave behind fertilizer in the form of castings. They're kind of like little tillers in your garden." Although they are super yucky ( I almost screamed when I flung the first couple of my fingers), they are nutrient rich and important to the health of the garden.

The garden was pronounced doing well by the consultants. In spite of the moderate climate in Vermont, and the regular rain we get, I do need to do more watering (OK I need to water period!). And more weeding… The Mizuna and Curly Cress are sprouting like mad. The squash is growing nicely, the Rhubarb is overdue for cutting, and the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower are growing nicely. The corn, onions and peppers need alittle help. The spinach isn't doing so well, but the collards look great. We got lucky.

Then we go to visit my family in Central California. It was in the mid 70s when we left Vermont. In Southern Cali, it was 90! Then we went up to the Central Valley to see the parents. It was triple digits there! I forgot about all this heat. I wilted. And so did my Mom's potted flowers she bought for an event. We watered them and spritzed them and some revived. It reminded me of my garden, which wouldn't have stood a chance in this climate. I would just have a pile of dirt.

So while we're visiting my mother is making jokes. She asked if they checked our passports at the airport. Now that we live in Vermont, we're foreigners. Ha ha ha. If the population in Vermont was 600,000, it's now 600, 002 with the addition of Mark and I. Ha ha ha. Mark and I just doubled the Black population in the state of Vermont. Of course we said we've seen/met several Blacks, but Mom doesn't believe it. And when they visit next month she and Joy (my sister) are going to be doing their own census of Blacks. I told her traffic was light during my commute to and from volunteering in Burlington. Mom's response was, how could there be traffic with only 300 people in the state.

We had a lovely visit. We had a catered family dinner which was superb. And my parents hosted a Summer Salad Celebration. Although it was hotter than Hades, we had a blast.

My parents and one of my sisters will be visiting us in Vermont in a few weeksw. Their visit will surely offer comic relief. It might be a good time to invite our neighbors over for an introduction.

Lions & Tigers & Bears & Snakes!

Mark and I have been in Vermont for about two months now. One would think we would be used to or at least prepared for all types of critters. Well… although there may not be any lions and tigers (at least I don't think so) there are other things of which we should be aware. I've had multiple close encounters with bugs, but I won't bore you with that. One night Mark is getting ready to go out on the deck to smoke. This is one of the few nights he hasn't made a fire (did I mention he's a pyro). He looks down as he's opening the sliding glass door and sees eyes. He flips on the switch and low and behold there is an animal that resembles a cat on steroids. The thing hissed at him.

He was of course startled and went for a large stick to chase it away. The thing disappeared. I told him that's what he gets for smoking! Come to find out it's a fisher cat. Vermont imported these things to take care of the overgrowing porcupine population a few years ago. Apparently they are natural predators of porcupines (who knew!) and now these fisher cats are overpopulated. Will we ever learn? I pray that I never see one of those up close.

So then Mark is out building the fence for the bison (that we moved up to Vermont to raise) when a horn beeps. A state trooper (another one) had pulled into our driveway. The trooper was going house to house in our area to alert residents that there had been a black bear citing. The trooper asked Mark to call in if we saw the bear, but if it was on our property we had the right to shoot it! Why would we want to shoot a bear? Apparently shoot bear is common in Vermont… The trooper said that their preference is to trap the bear and relocate it, but some people want to shoot them. Poor bear. Mark is down at the corner store one morning, which also happens to be a gathering spot for old-timers (men) who gossip about the goings on in the area. Mark tries to be there a couple of times a week. They were talking about when a young man had shot a bear and put it in the bed of his truck to go around and show all his friends. Well, two weeks later when this young man was done showing off, he went to take the bear out of his bed and it came apart. The bear had decomposed so much in the two weeks he was showing off that he couldn't use any of it (for food, or for it's fur). Yuck! We just received word that the bear sited in our area had been trapped and relocated. Go Bear!

A week or so ago, Mark was having a happy time on his riding tractor, mowing the vast lawn that we have. The grass, weeds and stuff had grown pretty tall (at least 3 to 4 feet). All the sudden something slides across his lap under his shirt and out through his shirt sleeve. It was a snake! Now as you can imagine, he jumped off the tractor and ran. I know he screamed too. He smoked several cigarettes after that encounter. I guess I can't blame him there. It took him awhile (several days) to go get his mower… So maybe there are no lions and tigers, but there are definitely bears and snakes. I swear, Mark has all the fun.

To Till Or Be Tilled

My homework for this darn garden was till, put manure down, then till again. Sounds simple, right? Well, where the heck do you find a till (on craigslist they are $200-$400 used) and where the heck do I find manure. Mark knew where we could rent a till. It was $75 for 24 hours! Seemed like a lot to me. I wanted the smaller one which was only $45 for 24 hours. But Mark insisted we needed the bigger one, so we went for it. I hit pay dirt on craigslist for the manure. I found someone with free sheep shit north of Burlington (more than one hour away). I had a meeting in Burlington anyway, so we went. We LOVED Burlington. Actually, I'd been there twice before. Mark wandered around while I was in my meeting. It's the biggest city in Vermont. No other state has it's biggest city as small as Burlington… It has a nice vibe, like a small San Francisco. Burlington is situated on the Lake Champlain which separates Vermont from upstate New York. It's beautiful up there. And guess what, there is some cultural diversity. I think the majority of the 5,000 Blacks who live in Vermont live in and around Burlington.

The sheep shit was in the Champlain Islands which is just north of Burlington. Another beautiful area. The farm is situated on 10 acres and has lakefront property. We had a moment of second thoughts about where we bought our house - there is no way we could afford that, but it was a pretty nice spread. The gentleman we met was very nice.

He runs an angora sheep farm – the sheep are bred for fiber, not for meat. The sheep are so darn cute. Especially the kids. And they are so gentle. He showed us his whole operation which was pretty simple. So guess what I want to do… So the sheep shit is in a big pile just waiting for someone to take it. Some of the shit spilled out of the bucket from the tractor thingy while the gentleman was loading it on the truck, so the guy pushed it back on (with his bare hands!!!) then declared "the manure sure is hot!" I don't think those would have been my words. He invited us back anytime and especially for the Open Studio weekend in mid-July. It's the same weekend as the SolarFest (we want to get off the grid), so it will be a busy weekend.

So we drive back home with a pile of sheep shit in the back of the truck and no one gives us a second glance. Guess it's normal to drive around with a pile of shit in Vermont.

So when we get back home I tilled (ok Mark helped but I did 80-90% of it) then spread the sheep shit around (It didn't smell as bad as I thought it would) then tilled again.

What the heck made me want the garden plot so darn big. In the middle of tilling, a light bulb illuminates in my head. I scream for Mark to throw me his phone so I can call my father. It's Monday and I think I missed Father's Day. Well, thankfully I didn't. We still had another week. My parents think I'm a weirdo.

Anyway, I have a new-found respect for farmers after tilling. It's not easy work. In fact its very hard work. And the only real bug I saw was a beetle (it was kind of big) that I took pleasure in tilling over... And I wanted to get the smaller, less expensive tiller… In the end, I was so proud of myself. I'm sore and tired from tilling, I thought calluses would appear on my hands any minute, maybe I'll lose weight doing this. Can't wait to plant next weekend.

The garden plot is fairly big. The consultants told me to till however big I wanted the garden to eventually be, and we would cover what we didn't use for next year. The plot measures approximately 30 feet by 60 feet. If you get an angora sweater or blanket from us in a couple of years…you'll know that we have a well fertilized, well tilled, plentiful garden.

Gardening 101

So, I’ve decided to plant a garden. I have this idea of living from the land and taking advantage of being in this beautiful place. I want to eliminate the need of going to the grocery store. I’d like to can, freeze or eat fresh fruits and vegetables from my garden and eat fresh eggs that I collected from my hens. I haven’t figured out the meat thing yet, but I will. Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian… I’m starting out with a 10X12 foot plot and will grow from there. What I don’t use in some form or another I can sell or use to barter, maybe for meat. I went to the local farmer’s market and it was somewhat disappointing. There were only a few vendors with fresh vegetables, mostly lettuce and spinach. I called the State and the local organizer and found that if I bake it, make it, or grow it, I can sell it there. I'm about to be a real farmer… There are only a few requirements like for grading eggs or weighed merchandise.

Back to the garden - I hired someone to help me plan it, plant it, and provide general advice. (yeah, I know-how bourgeois) I knew it was late in the season and wanted to get a jump on planting something, like collard greens (mucho yummy). These ladies came out to check out the spot. I found the perfect spot on the side of the house on a small hill that faces east. This spot

gets sun from sunrise to 4 or 5pm. It was perfect. They walked around and kicked and pulled and tasted the weeds. Then they said, what’s this? I responded what do you mean (I didn’t go that far down with them because of bugs). They asked if something was our water well. I said no, our well is in the front somewhere. ( I later was reminded that it was actually in the back) They stomped on the surface and then asked if it was the sewage cap. Well we had the sewage system tested before we bought the house. They had to replace some thingamajig because it eroded. The sewage folks said that garbage disposals were evil. So I knew the sewage was several yards away. So I confidently replied no. Then I called Mark over to see if he knew what is was. Guess what, it was the sewage cap. Apparently the sewage container is long and wide and runs right through the middle of my “spot”.

(sewage inspection/repair)

The ladies started looking around and suggested another spot, not too far away. Right where Mark suggested we put a pool… Well I don’t want a pool, so I thought it was perfect. And Mark doesn’t think this gardening thing is going to last so he said, no problem. Then they told me that a plant that Mark had identified as skunk cabbage (we are some dumb city folk) was actually rhubarb. Rhubarb is very tart, so I wrinkled my nose. They told me to keep the rhubarb, it was an expensive plant and fruit and I could always sell it.
(This tree outside the kitchen winow, and coincindently near where the sewage system was repaired, blossomed so nicely I just had to share a picture)

The first thing I had to do was cut the overgrown grass on this new spot. No problem, Mark and Poochy love playing on the tractor. Then we need to till it. Then we can plant. So I had homework. I asked Poochy(visiting again) who was on the tractor at the time, to mow it for me at some point. I warned him not to mow over the rhubarb. He said no problem. Well guess what, I went inside to do something and when I came out, guess who was mowing over the rhubarb… Mark! Poochy hadn’t relayed the message. Oh well. I guess there’s always next year. So till... Stay tuned!