The trip was 12 hours more or less, with occasional stops for rest and to refuel. On the drive, we listened to the audio-book Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, by Michael Pollan. Audio-books, and podcasts, are both good ways of putting your daily commute, or a long drive, to productive or entertaining use; this book by Pollan was both entertaining and educational. Pollan has written several other books, the most well know of which might be, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals; you can check out Michael's author's page on Amazon at this link. If you are in need of a laugh, listen to A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson, though you will be laughing so hard you may not want to be operating heavy equipment at the time!
Geri had researched nearby campgrounds ("nearby" is a relative term in the expanse that is northern Minnesota), and we decided to stay the nights in McCarthy Beach State Park. We arrived in the area Thursday night, and set up camp, which did not require a whole lot more that parking the RV and plugging it in, and that was about all we were up for after the long drive. The mosquito population was impressive to say the least, both at the park and on Jackie and Will's homestead, the worst they had seen in years. We regularly slathered on Deep Woods Off, and did not have too much trouble.
On arrival at the homestead Friday morning, we were greeted warmly by Jackie, and were made to feel like long lost friends. Aside from Geri and me, there were only five other seminar participants, Troy, Margie, Jessi, and Richard and Patty, which made for a great learning environment, and fostered friendships we hope to enjoy for years to come. Included in the seminar agenda were:
- Using carpentry tools and chainsaws safely
- Basic homestead building skills
- Slip-form concrete work
- Growing more challenging garden vegetables; getting more out of your garden
- Veterinary care for homestead animals and poultry
- Raising baby animals and poultry
- Grafting fruit trees and fruit tree varieties for your orchard, and
- Self-reliant living on a shoestring
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Jackie showing us one of her Victoria rhubarb plants. In the background on
the left is the structure of one of their hoop houses. The green cone shapes in the left of the frame are "Walls-O-Water" around tomato plants, these allow
planting up to six weeks earlier than otherwise.
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I definitely learned new things, and things I already knew were reinforced, chief among them that I can succumb to making things a lot more involved than they need to be. Sometimes it is more productive to just "go," be done with the planning, "just do it," and learn by the doing. For example, I was struck by how close Jackie and Will were to satisfying all of their electric power needs with only a small (400W as I recall) wind generator, and an even smaller (about 200W if memory serves) photovoltaic array. This system was a prime example of "self-reliant living on a shoestring." Is the system perfect? No, and as has often been said, "perfect is the enemy of good enough." Jackie and Will are learning by experimenting, while most others are still thinking about it. They were running a generator for a couple of hours a day, though with a little more "green" energy generation and storage, they will leave behind the need for regular use of the gasoline-powered generator.
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Left: Will describing the design and build of the hoop houses; dimensional treated lumber, "1 in. S40 Rigid PVC Conduit Max 90 deg C Sunlight Resistant," and greenhouse plastic, are its primary constituents. Just at Will's right shoulder, in
the background, is one of their Boer/Nubian-cross goats for milk production. Right: Will demonstrates the use of a Oscar 121 wood mill, as Troy looks on. The base for the mill makes use of a re-purposed mobile home base-frame. |
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One of the trees in the orchard. See the trunk
protector. What appears to be hay around the
base of the tree is in fact hay mixed with
manure. The orchard is protected from deer
by 2 in. by 4 in. mesh, 6 ft high fencing, on
8 ft. posts that were placed 15 ft. apart.
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The group asked many questions during the tour, and we had a lot of conversation about many of the productive plants growing on the homestead, including asparagus, onions, cherries, tomatoes, apples, and so on. Invariably the following phrase was heard when on the subject of creating fertile soil, "mo' pooh pooh." We heard this so often that I believe it can be said to have become the class motto!
On Saturday we learned about canning, cheese-making, dehydrating, seed saving, and chicken-keeping, among other things. At the end of the day, I wrote the following in my notebook:
"Day 2 take-aways
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Jackie in the canning process, Patty in the
background. Note the All American 921 on
the front left burner.
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- canning meat is no big deal
- dehydration, no problem..."
Does that sound familiar? Of course it is a big deal, to the uninitiated, as was the grafting we had learned about on Friday. It became much less intimidating after working with Jackie in the kitchen. I was especially interested in the process of canning meats, like chicken for example. You can read all about canning in Jackie's books on the subject, which you can find on my references page; look under the "Gardening / Food Preservation / Cooking" heading. And, this is also the day that Jackie bailed me out, because one of other gifts I had given Geri on her birthday was an All American 921 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner. When I gave her the canner, Gina and Peter agreed that the only thing less appropriate that I could possibly have given would have been the proverbial vacuum cleaner! From my point of view, as an engineer, this piece of equipment is a masterpiece of engineering, a simple yet elegant solution, beautiful to look upon, and functional, not to mention bulletproof; it will literally last a lifetime, and more. Seeing Jackie in action with her own 921 was thankfully enough to redeem Geri's respect for my gift-giving abilities. |
Jackie adding milk to the pot in the making of
lemon cheese. She's working on a propane-
fired range, check out the old wood burning stove to the left of the frame. |
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Jackie separating the whey
from the lemon cheese curds
using the old t-shirt.
|
cheese-making, in perhaps one of its simplest incarnations, so-called lemon cheese. This cheese takes no more than a large pot, a spoon, a thermometer, milk (in this case raw milk provided by Troy), lemon juice, and a cheese cloth, or, when living on a shoe string, an old t-shirt. The result is a ricotta-like cheese of very mild flavor. There are also all sorts of uses for the whey, so that by-product of the process can be saved.
Throughout the weekend, our food needs were well met by two of Jackie's close friends, Jeri, not to be confused with my Geri, and Linda. As Jackie had assured me in an email leading up to the workshop, "We provide a huge country-style meal around noon each day...nobody ever leaves the table hungry!!" Jeri and Linda delivered on that promise. These two were just a hoot, and being homesteaders themselves, brought a lot to the seminar aside from the delicious meals. We were all impressed when Linda pulled out her homemade electric spinning wheel and began to spin wool yarn from washed fleece. It is truly humbling to see how things were done by so many just a few short decades ago, and are still being done by a few today. I think we all had fun watching, and listening to Linda describe the process.
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Linda spinning wool and teaching, while Geri
listens and learns. |
We split up later on Sunday, I and a few others went with Will to learn about slip form concrete work. Will is building a barn, and is including a concrete and stone knee-wall on the perimeter. One or more slip-forms is built, and then used as a form into which the concrete is poured. When a section has been poured and set, the form is then removed and re-positioned to create the next section of the wall. It is customary to coat the form with some sort of releasing agent, such as used motor oil, to make it easier to remove the form from the wall after it has set. Several of us worked with Will to pour two sections of the wall. Will had already poured the footing and put the slip forms in place, so we selected stones and positioned them in the form, and then mixed and poured the concrete.
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Looking down into a slip form, the footing
is visible; reinforcing bar (re-bar) strength-
ens the structure. Also, note the twisted wire,
which prevents the sides of the form from
bowing out when the form is filled with
concrete.
|
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| Stones positioned in the form |
During the seminar I had collected the email addresses of the participants, and promised to share those after we returned home. It is hard to describe how good we felt then, so I will simply quote from my email to Jackie and Will, and our fellow seminar-goers: "There were some wet eyes as we departed Jackie and Will's homestead. We learned so much, and it was so comfortable to be among kindred spirits. We felt like we were leaving old friends. I have not even begun to review and take action on all the notes I made during the seminar. So, to Jackie and Will, our heartfelt thanks, for both a great education, and a great time, on your homestead. I miss the conversations the most. And please extend our thanks to Jeri and Linda; the food was simply amazing, and they also introduced us to a number of other skills."
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| Will and Troy preparing the concrete |
Perhaps we will have a chance to repeat the experience in the future, or maybe even to host our own seminar. It would be almost impossible to match either the homesteading experiences, or the hospitality, that we enjoyed at the hands of our hosts, Jackie and Will.
Thank you for reading and commenting on the blog. Your comments and criticisms, your inputs and acknowledgements, are welcomed, and will help me to improve my posts.
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-- John, 11 August 2014
www.swmichiganhomestead.blogspot.com
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| Jackie Clay-Atkinson and Will Atkinson's Homesteading Class of June 2014 L-R: Jessi, John, Geri, Jackie, Troy, Will, Margie Not Pictured: Richard, Patty |
