What’s been happening at the farm, you ask? Oh, you don’t? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. No, we don’t have our alpacas here yet. And soon you’ll understand why. There were just a few little details we needed to take care of before the place would be ‘paca-ready. Such as… MANURE REMOVAL: The 16’x10’ horse shelter/barn floor was completely covered in 3’ of compacted horse manure. That’s 480 cubic feet of rock solid manure. None of the barn doors could be opened or closed, they were completely encased. I mucked it out with a pitchfork, one small chunk at a time. This task alone probably took over six hours. I broke it up over a couple of weeks to save wear on my back, but still managed to strain a muscle which hurt for three weeks.

After that experience I decided we needed to hire a Bobcat to come and move the manure away from the barn. Where I chucked it out the north door, there now stands a heap about 4’ high. And in the front pen where the horses were fed and corralled close to the barn, the entire paddock is built up about 2’ with hay and manure. The Bobcat is coming this week. I can’t wait! MOUSE REMOVAL: In the very last corner I mucked out of the barn, where the manure wasn’t so solid and was mixed with old hay, just as the sun was setting and I was losing all light in the barn, I discovered a nest of mice. They were itty bitty things, I could barely feel them when I picked them up (with leather gloves on). I grabbed one in each hand and marched them down the driveway, across the busy highway, and tossed them into the cornfield. I went back two more times, finding four total. I doubt they were big enough to survive. But I just couldn’t bring myself to squash them. I found this full-sized mouse hanging out in the tack room of the barn a few days earlier. It wasn’t the least bit concerned about my presence, even posing while I snapped several photos. I brought Zoey & Kali out to the tack room but the mouse escaped before they could catch it. I suspect it was related to the clutch I found in the barn. TACK ROOM CLEANOUT: Like most things around the property, the tack room needed work. I hauled out the horse trough, wooden pallets, rotting bales of hay and all of the gear that was left behind, then took a shovel and scooped out the sand and dirt that had piled in on top of the cement floor. Within that 2” mixture of dirt and sand on the floor I found: • Two screwdrivers • A rusty hammer • A tool for cleaning horse hooves • Numerous rusty horseshoe nails • Numerous rusty horseshoes • Dozens upon dozens of hay bale twine strands • Nails from the plastic insulator clips for the electric fence • Two blue tarps almost completely covered in dirt • Pieces of broken window It is now ready to be used for hay storage and tack again. HORSE TROUGH: There was a full-sized horse trough near the barn with about 2-4” of slimy green water in the bottom of it. The drain plug was rusted shut, I don’t think it had been drained all summer. Or maybe, ever. The trough was too heavy to push over to drain, so I got out my shovel and dug a trench along the front, moving the manure away from the front edge, then went around to the other side and using my shovel again, levered it up enough that I could then push it over and dump out the remaining water, which pooled around in divots of horse manure making a wonderfully slimy mess for me to walk around while yanking the now empty trough out of the paddock.

It now rests beside the barn, on its side, and when I rinsed it out today, I saw at least a couple of tiny holes in its rusty bottom. Therefore, I might use it as a hay feeder instead. There is a much smaller horse trough and heated water bucket that I should be able to put to use for water that will be much easier to move around and clean. WEED REMOVAL/PASTURE REFURBISH: I have pulled a lot of weeds in my life. I love to garden actually. But I have never seen so many weeds. Ever. Anywhere. In my life. I decided I could pull the majority of the big ones along the electric ribbon fence line (see the white electric ribbon below? Oh, you don’t? That’s because the weeds are SIX FEET TALL), but for the brushy areas of the northwest corner, we’re going to have to rent a brush mower. Or some goats.

After the Bobcat comes to move the manure and spread some of it around the front pasture, we plan on renting a harrow to break up the compacted mud/dirt/manure and then reseeding, but perhaps not until spring, since it's late to be reseeding. We'll "seed" how it goes. Along with the weeds, several errant tree saplings had been left to grow in very undesirable places. Like next to the house. In various garden beds. In the dog kennel. Another back-breaking chore, getting those things out. They don’t just pull out nicely like the weeds in the pasture. It takes a shovel and a lot of jumping up and down. I have not yet finished weeding her garden beds on the west side of the house, which, for all intents and purposes looks like a field of grass. But that won’t deter the alpacas, so we let it be for now. FENCE REPAIR: The fence was in various stages of disrepair like most of the rest of the property. I secured a quantity of used 1”x6” boards that we repurposed for fixing fence rails that were broken or missing altogether. In some spots the owner had tied twine across the gaps, I guess to trick the horses into thinking the fence still existed. In many areas the boards had warped and pulled out of their posts completely. After repairing what was loose or missing, I was able to get the front of the fence (facing Highway 7) primed and painted in a nice new coat of white. What a difference that made! Now whenever I am driving home I smile as I am greeted by a complete fence (no gaps!) all in a nice shiny white. There are many many strings of white Christmas lights wrapping the front and driveway side of the fence. I had to remove them to paint, and we tested the strings and replaced the bad bulbs and are putting them all back up again so we can light up the fence for special occasions (like our upcoming Fall Festival/Open House Bonfire on Sat. Oct. 23). In addition to fixing the rails of the fence, we also felt we needed to add electric fencing below the lowest rail, which at some parts was a good 24” above ground level - high enough for a curious alpaca seeking greener grass to crawl right under.

We spent a couple of weekends visiting area farm supply stores pricing out the various types of insulators and electric fencing supplies, finally settling on lightweight polywire. We hammered in over 200 plastic insulator clips in 2 lines below the lowest rail, and ran two lines of polywire around the entire perimeter. We are going to add another line of polywire between the bottom and second rail also. It’s not dog-proof, that’s for sure, but hopefully it will convince a critter there are easier targets elsewhere. I have spoken to several farmers in the area that raise sheep and alpacas – none have ever had a coyote in their pasture. But there is always a chance. We have a bright light on the garage all night long, and will consider getting a dog &/or llama if circumstances require it. I may also have to learn how to shoot with Pappa Bear’s 22. PANELS: In addition to fixing up the rail fence, we decided to purchase a quantity of 5’x9’ light livestock corral panels. These come in handy in so many ways. We can use them to build pens inside the barn, we can use them as “catch pens” to funnel animals into when we need to work with them, we can make a large corral along the fenceline to keep 'pacas in when we have farm visitors, and we can build temporary corrals to graze the animals around the yard… no gasoline or electric cord required! (Plus, extra fertilizer for the lawn!). We don’t yet have a pickup truck here in MN (PB’s 1962 Int’l 3/4 ton pickup is still in WY) so we did what any inventive soul would do – used what we had available to move the panels home. That’s 6 panels and a 16’ hog panel tied onto the roof racks of my ’95 Geo Prizm. I would call it my “redneck pickup” but my sister reminded me most rednecks drive real pickup trucks so I guess it’s my ghetto pickup. Or pseudo pickup? I still like redneck pickup personally. Like anyone who owns property (even though we don’t), the list of little (and big) jobs is a long one. So yes, we’ve been staying busy these days, although it might be hard to notice the progress we’ve made so far. And yes, I miss my girls, and Monet, desperately. We may not move the girls here this fall, but our hopes are to move Monet here for sure, along with some more fiber boys as buddies. I dream of one day very soon, looking out the windows in the morning as the sun is rising over the pastures, and seeing, rather than weeds and manure piles, grass growing and my boys grazing happily. Until then, I pull weeds, repair fences, price out feed and supplies, and count my many blessings. Cheers –

After much deliberation, Pappa Bear and I have decided we needed a tractor. We can’t always be hiring Bobcats to move poop and weed piles, or hiring somebody to harrow or brush mow our little acreage, at this place or the next one. Alas, tractors are pretty expensive, even used. So we settled on this multi-purpose tool – a 300cc Honda ATV 4x4, 2000 model.

The young fellow who delivered this afternoon (Josh, who looked to be no older than C-baby) drove a new looking big white pickup truck pulling a very long trailer, with only our little bitty ATV on it. For a minute I wished we had purchased the big red Arctic Cat 650 behind me in the picture above. For a minute I wished we had a big pickup truck and a long trailer. But I got over that when Josh drove our machine off the trailer and into my driveway. He was handing over the paperwork and keys, and I was smiling like a Cheshire cat, nearly giddy at our first major farm purchase other than Brigid, when he asked if I wanted to drive it before he left. Um… no? I’ve never driven an ATV before. Josh assured me it was very easy, he’d explain it all to me. I still didn’t really want to, but I didn’t want to lose face in front of a kid half my age, either. Besides, if I can move 480 cubic feet of manure all by myself, I should be able to move an ATV from one end of the driveway to the other. So I agreed, with some trepidation. Josh started explaining everything – “Push the shifter down for Neutral. Push in the red button and pull back the lever to put it into reverse. You will pull up with your foot to shift up into each gear – there are five gears.” Easy for you to say there Josh – you’ve probably been riding one of these since before you could walk. We managed to get it into reverse (and by “we” I mean Josh) and I backed very very slowly up the driveway. Then he showed me again how to shift it into gear. I was really confused between the handbrakes, foot brake, and shifter, but somehow I managed to drive it forward around and up the other side of the driveway without running into anything, like his very large pickup and trailer filling my driveway. Once again we practiced ‘reverse’ and I backed it up to the garage. That was about all of the lesson I could handle at this point, and I asked him how to turn it off.

To his credit, he was exceedingly polite the entire time. I didn’t once catch him snickering at my driving inadequacies. Once again he reassured me if we had any questions or problems help was only a phone call away. Then he left. I thought about firing it up again, before I forgot everything, but I had a pressing phone call to make for work, so I left it until this evening, when I got out there and tried it again. It took a few tries to get it started, but then I got it going and into gear and drove it into the pasture, over the manure and hay piles, and around the front where it's just dried mud and manure. I even shifted into first gear! I drove it back to the garage (without having to put it into reverse) and chalked up another new life (and farm) experience.

So now we have our first farm equipment. I can't wait to check out the farm implement auctions around here. Anyone got an ATV-sized snowplow blade, brush mower and harrow they’d like to sell me? Or possibly a manure spreader, aerator or seeder? Happy Trails –

IF... this 1967 Ford 250 wasn't just a 2-wheel drive... and IF it wasn't $10,900... I would totally buy it. Wouldn't it just look cool pulling my 'paca trailer (which of course I don't own yet), or this 1966 Coachmen Travel Trailer? IF Pappa Bear didn't just barely hit his head inside this camper, I'd buy it, too. On second thought, wouldn't this camper be perfect being pulled by Pappa Bear's 1962 International 3/4 ton 4WD pickup? It's like they were made for each other. This camper, and this truck. IF... this truck weren't still in Sheridan, WY. Anyone wanna pull it home for us?

An ultra-early work related wake up time for Pappa Bear prompted me to get up and take advantage of the opportunity by getting my kayak loaded onto my car and visiting Lake Auburn in Carver Park Reserve for a sunrise paddle. It was still very dark when I left the house at 6:00am. Stars were twinkling. A chill was in the air that I hoped I would be able to shake once I was on the water. I was the only car in the parking lot at the boat launch when I arrived. I positioned my old Prizm so that her headlights shone down on the boat ramp and dock while I unloaded. The sky was just beginning to lighten as I slipped into the kayak off the dock (no wet feet entry for me!). The water was like glass and my ultralight boat responded to the slightest signals from the paddle. I was still chilly, but unwilling to paddle too fast, as my intention was to absorb as many of the sights and sounds as I could on this journey. I stopped mid-way around the small bay I was paddling when I heard a beaver smack its tail on the water. I turned my boat around and looked for the telltail sign of its presence - a small object moving along the water leaving a v-wake behind. I sat still for a long time watching the beaver collecting aquatic plants and munching them - at least one of us was getting breakfast! This lake is divided into two sections, connected by a small break in the cattails. The section I was on was easily paddled in less than 30 minutes, just in time to arrive back near the dock when the sun was just peeping over the trees. I sat there in awe, soaking up the sun and its warmth, grateful for neoprene gloves and socks and wishing for a mug of hot chocolate to warm me from the inside. After tearing my eyes away from the newly risen sun, I looked around and watched the light kiss the colorful trees on the shoreline. Putting the boat away was a much easier task in the daylight, especially when surrounded by trees like this. The next time sleep eludes you in the early morning hours, skip the TV morning shows. Put on your long underwear and warm wool jacket and mittens, and head over to the nearest lake. I guarantee the show God puts on for you will far surpass anything that the Today Show has to offer. Blessings -

Kelly and I got a chance to visit Miss Grace and all of the other babies (and mamas) at Spirit Song last weekend. This it the first chance I've had to post pics. Amazing how much time pulling weeds and mucking the barn have been taking lately.

Here's the newest little guy, who we had not met before - a little male out of Calista who has not yet been named. He appears to be fawn but has a very interesting color and fleece style, and also a grey smudge on his face. His sire is grey. We think he's quite beautiful. And he came right up to me and greeted me, too. And then there is the group of look-alikes, all beige or very light fawn. The little one in the middle is a baby girl, as yet unnamed, out of Brussaria. Here's Calista's little guy again. So much cuteness in one little package. On Sunday, since it was National Alpaca Farm Days, we stopped by one of our neighboring farms, Litte Gidding Farm Suris and fell in love with this little guy, Joe. Perhaps we need a suri in our field of huacayas?? We love the light fawn color, in both suris and huacayas!

A delightful weekend all around, and gorgeous weather. I can only hope the weather holds out a bit longer until our barn is mucked and the pastures tilled... but alas, you never can depend on the weather in MN this time of the year. Just enjoy it while it lasts.

Cheers -

As both of you know you read my post Barn Love, I have a great love of barns, especially round barns like this one, The Round Barn Potting Company in Andover, MN. Round barns were designed for making life easier for the farmers and ranchers who used them, facilitating feeding chores from the center of the structure. This one has obviously been repurposed into a gift shop. Which facilitates shopping in a circle while the owners watch you from the center. Or something like that.

I also love vintage "canned-ham" style travel trailers. This little cutie was parked at an RV place in Rogers, MN, across from the Cabela's this weekend. The salesman said it had been parked at another RV place since 1960 - when it was brand new. It was their very first purchase and it stayed on the lot, never driven, never used, it has never even been titled (how utterly wastefully sad I say!). These campers speak to me of a time when "camping" wasn't equated with 35' quad-slide motorcoaches complete with fireplaces and satellite dishes, units that cost in the upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, parked in an RV 'Park' complete with bingo halls, swimming pools, motorized golf carts and full-sized wrap-around screen decks. RV Parks equipped with everything to suit your needs except trees and solitude. Camping was a much simpler event back when the Shasta entered the scene, with hardly enough room inside to cook and eat a meal. Which meant, when you were camping, you were mainly living outside. And isn't that supposed to be where you spend your time when you're in the woods? Pappa Bear loves a good Airstream camper. I admit, they're shiny, they're flashy, they're probably roomier than this Shasta, and they hold their value well. But there's just something utterly adorable about a little canned-ham. It's like having your own playhouse when you were a kid. They are so small, there isn't room to take along your extra baggage and gear. When you escape with a Shasta in tow behind you, life gets pretty simple. And isn't that what many of us long for, experiences that simplify our lives, reduce our decisions, and help us leave our baggage behind? Happy Trails -

Southerly 50’ of lots 114 & 116 Block 23 Duluth Proper Third Division St. Louis County

For twelve years I have been the owner and caretaker of a very small piece of Duluth history, a three-story brick house that sits tucked away just off of 7th Avenue West. The house was built between 1885 and 1887 by George W. and Louisa J. Goldsmith, after which the value of the property increased from $675 to $4000. They didn’t own it very long, less than two years, as the next item logged in the abstract was the sale to Henry G. Noble in March of 1887. One can only wonder what caused their hasty departure. Their original stained glass window complete with two star of David motifs still resides above the dining room window, casting rainbows on the dining room walls whenever the sun shines through it. The view from the front of our house has changed many times over the last century. Visitors to our house often comment on the steepness of the short piece of avenue that runs from Second Street down to our house. We laugh and explain that at one point in history 7th Avenue West was actually a part of the Incline Railray, which shuttled passengers between Superior Street and Skyline Parkway between 1891 and 1939. The abstract for my house shows the owners of the property, Josiah B. & Naomi E. Scovell, deeded access to the Duluth Street Railway Co. for $1.00 on 6/12/1889. You can see our house, before its white-wash paint job, outlined in red in the picture below.

I have to wonder if the residents of the house were watching on May 28, 1901, when a fire started in the engine room of the powerhouse and was swept to the pavilion at the top of the railway, completely destroying the pavilion and sending an (empty) 27 ton burning car careening a half mile down the hill, crashing into the Superior Street station. Amazingly, nobody was injured, but a great centerpiece of Duluth civic pride and entertainment, the pavilion, was gone, never to be rebuilt. In 1939, with ridership dropping and maintenance costs increasing, the Duluth Transit Company discovered the main cable would have to be replaced to the tune of $4,000, an exhorbitant cost and one they could not justify. This, in the end, would mark the final demise of the railway. With scrap metal prices being high the railway was scrapped and the pieces sold to West End Scrap Company. Another piece of Duluth history vanished into memories and history books.

Along with a changing view, our house has changed owners many times over the last century, as most 125-year old houses would have, and sadly I know very little about most of its history. A neighbor once told me it had been a boys’ home at one point in time. I suppose that could explain the shadow of the numbers still showing on the bedroom doors on the second level. I am not even sure at what point in time it was turned into a duplex. The back third of the second floor plus the top level and itty-bitty servant’s staircase which accesses the upper floors from the first floor kitchen was turned into a separate apartment before I ever purchased the building.

I do know that when I walked into the meeting room to close on the purchase of my new house back on Dec. 31, 1998, I was startled to see a familiar face – Lisa (Lukken) Bruer, a gal I had gone to high school with! We swapped stories, she told me how they had begun to refurbish the house little by little, including refinishing some of the hardwood floors in the bedrooms and painting the kids room blue with Care Bears wallpaper in the closet. That wallpaper remains in that closet to this day – when we moved in my then 8-year-old wanted to keep it, and it has remained there ever since. I always get a chuckle out of showing that room to a group of prospective tenants when they are college-age males! Along with the changing views and changing owners over the years, the rooms inside the house have also gone through many transitions. When Pappa Bear and I remodeled the upper unit bathroom, I was using a "safe" stripper to remove layers of paint off the beadboard trim. This non-caustic stripper could only remove about 1-2 layers of paint per coat. I counted over 17 different colors of paint I removed from some of this trim! We removed wallpaper from hallways that was sometimes three layers thick. The walls and ceilings were all plaster-lathe, many of which had cracked and had to be replaced with drywall. There isn’t a room in this house we haven’t touched in one way or another in the twelve years I’ve owned it, ten of those years with Pappa Bear by my side playing a major part in every update and repair. From refinishing floors to brand new floors to rebuilding walls and ceilings, reroofing to redecking to un-wallpapering to painting to trim-work, we have touched every room in one way or another. The entire upper unit was completely remodeled from 2005-2006 as we shuttled back and forth from Mpls to Duluth every weekend for an entire year. We never did live in the unit once it was refurbished. But we did get to enjoy many a 4th of July celebration, watching the fireworks over the harbor from our perch on the the 3rd floor deck of this hillside house. Our blood, sweat and tears (not to mention a pile of money) has gone into this home. My first home. Our first home together. The only one of many homes C-baby has lived that has ever felt like a “real" home to her. It is not without some emotion and sorrow that I face turning her over to a new owner this month. (The house, not C-baby). Will the new owner love it as much as I have? Will she continue to remodel it, leaving it in better shape than she found it, as we have tried to do? Will she tend my carefully planted perennial beds? Will she snip some lilac blooms in June and place them on her windowsills? Will she admire the forget-me-nots that take over the backyard in the spring? Will she leave the Bluejay nest on the back porch and witness the miracle of babies taking flight? Will she feed the chickadees and laugh at the antics of the bushy-tailed grey squirrels that call her backyard their home? Will she stand by the kitchen sink with the back porch door open, breezes playing joyfully through her hair, watching sunlight filter through the lush green canopy of vines draping elegantly over the neighbor’s wall, and hold her breath as the light hits the day lilies like fire? Will she put down her dish cloth and towel and walk out onto the new boards on the old deck, being held up with a piece of our history, and pause in her day just to admire the beauty contained in her hidden, tiny back yard, offering up a prayer of gratitude to the universe for this good, solid house that is now her very own? I pray that she does, and when she does, she feels my spirit there beside her, and the spirit of all those who have enjoyed this backyard before her, breathing in the beauty and the stillness. Blessings - Victoria