We have a lot to be thankful for this year! Hacking an existence out of the desert is no easy task, so it makes us appreciate all the more the little wins along the way that add up to something significant. I want to highlight some of the simple things that are paying dividends.
Now that I raise chickens I hear this all the time: “Chickens are little dinosaurs!” Really? It never ceases to amaze me how many tall tales evolutionists invent and propagate. But because they captured government schools and other influential institutions so long ago, they are able to get away with it. Most Americans were taught …
After acquiring eight acres in the middle of the San Pedro River Valley, we arrived to start building Sabbatical Ranch one year ago today. It has been an incredible adventure! A cynic could have told us, “You’re just a bunch of starry-eyed dreamers about to get slapped in the face with reality!” Someone did tell …
We have all kinds of learning opportunities to share with you! There are local and online classes (a free webinar next week on 7 Steps to a Healing Garden) and we have a variety of ranch projects that are a great opportunity if you’d like to volunteer to learn. I explain some of our progress …
The idea of using animals to grow abundant plants is a bit counter-intuitive because almost everyone has probably witnessed the effects of overgrazing. Imagine any kind of fenced-in animals and it doesn’t take very long for the ground to become barren of vegetation and start looking like a desert. There has also been a lot …
That sounds like a ridiculous question. But rumors abound. Hmmm. Let’s get to the bottom of this. Our alpha hen, Java, goes around crowing like a rooster, but gets all the privileges of being a hen. For example, I mentioned in a previous post how I had thrown a big grub to Old Whitey and …
We’re looking forward to restarting our Superadobe building projects, but the winter break has allowed us to get a lot of other stuff done. One of the most important is installing many water-harvesting earthworks that will help stop erosion of our topsoil and will help build living soil which will enable abundant food production. Rainwater …
We got snow last night and the picture shows it on the mobile chicken coop. Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. (Proverbs 6:6-8) Can you learn from ants and …
A year ago next week we drove from our winter sabbatical spot in southern Texas to Arizona. We arrived with windy snow and freezing weather at Thunder Mountain Alpaca Ranch, a very hospitable working ranch near Coronado National Memorial. We stayed and helped out for a few months while scoping out properties for Sabbatical Ranch. …
Many the projects we work on here at Sabbatical Ranch are experimental as a demonstration site for the benefit of everyone. We’ve been developing a variety of experimental gardens in the last month or so and I suppose it’s about time I report on them. Here’s the list so far:
– Rain garden
– Hugelkultur
– Critter gardens
– Caliche gardens
– Chicken garden
– Greenhouse garden
– Courtyard food forest
– Chicken jungle
– Sunken garden
– Shady place
– And there are more in the works!
