There really are turtles here

Here is our name sake, the turtle! We also call the ranch Turtle Ranch because things seem to really slow down here. There seems to be a pause and slow movement. It is hard to get into high gear, although there are times we really need to push to get stuff done. But we figure: what is the race anyway: isn't the journey more important than the goal?

The fence is up and the planting begins

We started putting more furniture in the island to set our living room decor. It also established the turn around circle drive which we are so glad we planned the driveway this way. It really helps to have options !









Richard made some pillars that define the gate. He used the cardboard like forms you can buy at Home Depot and used the extra cement form the floor pour.












We decided we wanted a fish pond with a fountain and placed it in the corner so it would not be so conspicuous.













When the electric company cleared the easement for a neihbors electical line, they shreded the trees and dumped the mulch at our place for us to use. This mulch is what we used to define the walk ways of the back yard.


It was still a little cool but everthing was starting to grow. It was a cool spring and the soil was still pretty cold for anything to really take off.

Setting up a temporary garden

I was getting the garden bug and we hadn't decided where to put the permanent garden yet, so we bought these tubs for $2.00 each that farmers in the area receive salt licks in . They are the perfect size for container growing. We made a mix of the native sand with compost , filled the tubs and had instant portable gardens. The fig trees Richard grafted from an old fig tree where we were renting are on the far right. My vegetables are on the left rows: corn, tomatoes,squash, bell peppers and asparagus from seed. Normally we can start planting the middle of march, I was definitely late this year.
For the fence we just put up t-bars and used the left over fencing from the office fence . Then we put up tie wire above that to discourage deer from jumping in. Because the area was so small the deer never tried to jump, its because there are to many levels and obstacles for them to see the depth of field.
In the background we had a 1500 gallon water tank in which we bought water from our neighbor.
We ran 500 ft of hose from their house and filled up the tank. Because it was such a wet spring, we only had to fill it up about once a month. We used the water for the kitchen, shower and garden watering.
We used a submersible pump to deliver the water. As a side note we would put the hose through the top lid and if we did not remove the hose after we were done watering, all the water would siphon out after the pump was turned off. It was quite a shock to think we had 3/4s of a tank left when all the water had drained out!

Birds Nest in the kitchen

This was so amazing!
Since we had such an open kitchen a smart little wren decided to build her nest up on a wardrobe we set up to keep my city work clothes safe and sound. The pictures with the eggs was taken on 4/1/07 and the picture with the little beaks sticking up was taken on 5/24/07. They were gone within a week after that.