Paca Pride in Progress!

Well with all this nice June weather we’ve been having, and the chicken coop and chicken tractor sitting there waiting to be put into operation, we decided to turn our attention to finding Paca Pride a Paca Flock.  If you recall from last year, we used the chicken tractor for a round of 25 meat birds that ended up living mostly in the garden space.  That was due to the chicken tractor being especially difficult to move around.  The main reason it is called a chicken “Tractor” is because it has no floor and you move it around from grassy space to grassy space where the chickens do the work of a tractor to essentially rake, till, and fertilize, of course, the soil.  But that’s the clinch pin: you have to be able to move it easily from spot to spot.  Since I had used 2x4 pressure treated wood as the base frame, the weight of the entire tractor ended up enough to make it a burden.  So, we stripped off the wood components, replaced them with some old car port metal poles as skids that would be able to slide over the grass when pulled along.  Initial tests look like Chicken Tractor V 2.0 will do the job and I’ll be able to take it out to the pasture areas and slide it over the llama poop piles so the fowl can do the foul job of scratching through the poop to eat bugs and weed seeds and basically help to organically control our fly population (because flies love to lay their eggs in poop, if you don’t already know this).

In addition to the chicken tractor, which raises the birds destined for the freezer, we needed to figure out our solution for farm fresh eggs.  That’s where our new coop comes into play.  Built out of scrap lumber from the construction of our log home, it matches the rustic setting perfectly!  The lucky birds that live here will be getting nice little nest boxes and roosting poles with a lovely view of the ranch.  The coop itself was designed around the most frequently overlooked aspect of having chickens: cleaning up their poop.  Low maintenance is key for how we design everything at the ranch for operation.  If it can’t be automated, it better be equipped to go for some good period of time before needing attention.  After all, we want our time to be spent giving our attention to our guests and not our chickens.   Looking around the ranch at my burgeoning recycle pile stash I  found an old cargo container used for luggage on top of cars and basically took it apart to act as catch trays for the entire coop.  That defined the coop’s footprint.  In the wintertime we’ll be able to add our wood ash from the wood stove in those trays to help keep their poop neutralized and not smelly.  In the summer when they start filling up, we’ll drag the trays over to the compost bin to empty them… Recently one of my more popular sayings has been “It’s all a grand experiment until you have to clean up the mess.” We’ll see how the chicken poop solution works!

Thus, the only remaining tidbit to this equation was introducing the chickens!   Last year we ordered a round of 25 meat birds from a hatchery online.  They were a specific breed that grew quite rapidly and were ready for butchering within 10 weeks.  We came to realize what it meant when you read the label on the whole chicken at the store that says “Young chicken”.  Those birds were white and were a Rock Cornish cross.  This year, in order to save money and leap ahead a bit with the brooding aspect of early chicken raising, we found a more local source for chickens via a chicken aficionado who was advertising on good ol’ Craigslist!  After a visit with him on Sunday, we came back with some really colorful birds for both the chicken tractor and the coop. 

The coop will feature birds that are already slightly older than those in the tractor and need no brooding.  At 3 months old already, they got popped right into their new home with some feed and water and stray in the nest boxes.  They will begin to lay at around 6 months of age.   Well, at least six of the seven in there will be laying eggs as one of them is a Barred Rock rooster.  A Barred Rock is basically a black stripped white chicken that looks like, well, a jail bird!  The other six hens are Rhode Island Reds and Black Sexlinks.   The rooster will allow us to try and become a bit self sustaining with new chicks for next year’s chicken tractor.  But, if he gets to be too loud, it’s into the stew pot! Rhode Island Reds and Black Sexlinks will lay nice big brown eggs.

The 20 birds in the chicken tractor are a mix of several breeds of chickens. Most of them would become roosters since it’s the boys who get bigger, and meatier, than the girls.  These guys are only one month old and still need a heat lamp for another couple of weeks until they can keep themselves warm.  However, since that aren’t day-old chicks any longer, it meant we had to reconfigure the brooding space to be in the main portion of the tractor rather than the smaller nesting/roosting cage that makes up the back part of the tractor.  Instead, I simply used the larger feeder and waterer that they would be getting and set them up right on to the grass with some straw to keep them dry.  They were all happy chickens when we last checked in on them for the night.

We You Tube Video clipped the release of the younger chicks into the chicken tractor.  As you watch the video, listen for the rain hitting the outside of the chicken tractor.  Also, as we take each chick out, we dip there beaks in the water source to show them where the water is.   Enjoy the video!

With our business partner, Tim, recovering from his final chemo treatment and battle with cancer, we find ourselves a bit shorthanded with this year’s shearing festivities.  But, that only gives us a reason to through a party!  Tim will be home and done with his treatments and our animals are needing their shearing in preparation for the summertime weather.  We’ll be hosting two Saturday events, these first two Saturdays in June: 6th and 13th, from 10-5pm.  We are looking for a small group of volunteers to join us on those two days to assist with the job of shearing our herd.  It’s not difficult work, and you get an up close and personal experience with the fuzzy critters.  We need able bodied individuals to assist us.

We are also going to be having a summer BBQ with our ranch raised chicken for all the volunteers who RSVP to this event.  If you also desire to turn a day event into a campout weekend, we’ll give all our volunteers free lodging (but it’s limited to a small group and on a first-come, first-serve basis).  This is the perfect opportunity to plan a visit the ranch if you haven’t yet been out, or it has been a while since your last visit.  Be sure to RSVP ahead of time so we can properly plan for our guests and volunteers. 

If you’d like to come just to view the action, you are also welcome to attend.  Bring a lawn chair and some cold drinks in a cooler and enjoy the scene.  Again, please RSVP ahead of time with your intentions to allow us to plan properly.  (the post-shearing BBQ will be for volunteers only).

WHEN:  Saturday June 6th, and Saturday June 13th  from 10am – 5pm both days.

WHERE: Paca Pride Guest Ranch (directions available on our website: www.pacapride.com)

RSVP is required for volunteers wishing to camp overnight.  Space is limited, be sure to call us first if you are considering staying!

Ah, the trials and tribulations of starting a small business in America these days.  It is virtually an impossibility.  On the one hand we hear how small business is the backbone of our economy, so you would think that there would be support in every quarter of our government to encourage its success.  On the other hand, going from something that is private to something to be offered as a public and commercial enterprise brings forth challenges that the everyday person cannot begin to imagine…until they try to go into business for themselves.

We are currently at the mercy and whim of a county rezoning and permitting process, a necessity if we are to offer a campground to the public.  However, during this economic meltdown affecting America, local governmental agencies have been experiencing cutback after cutback and layoff after layoff.  So, while our normal permit process should have taken a matter of weeks, we now have been going about it for literally over a year.  The current staff at the county Planning Department has been forced to double and triple their workloads to compensate for those who were let go.  This means that those county experts who’s job it was to review permits are now also staffing the customer service counters and answering the phones. It also means a lot of waiting on our part.  While we have literally bent over backward to address county concerns regarding our project, we have no end in sight for when they will finish their part so that we can move to the next step of going in front of the Hearing Examiner.

So, we wait…and wait…and wait… When you hear of all the help that is available out there for supporting small business, it’s natural to think you can find some backing to assist in either funding or simply navigating the policy waters.  It’s much more difficult than that. Recently I attended an “Economic Stimulus Workshop for Small Business” sponsored by our Congressman Jay Inslee of WA.  There was a lot of talk from the Small Business Assoc. (SBA) about the great changes in loan structures and the supportive stuff they were doing.  The IRS was even there talking about tax code implications.  Business Support Centers and Economic Development Council representatives were there touting what’s available.  All seem to express the importance of business planning and getting your cash flows down on paper and understanding your finances through and through before seeking your funding. Good points to be made.

However, once a business has done its planning and is executing its plan, what’s available to assist it through the regulatory waters with their local governmental agencies?  When asked this question, there were many nods from the audience of small business owners, some of whom stopped me afterwards to share similar pains. However, not one of the panel representatives could offer advice.  It seems everyone was well equipped to talk about how to secure loans and signup for assistance at “extremely low rates”, but as for funding say to help us with paving our front entrance to meet a county requirement for a commercially viable front to the road…nothing. 

With our business partner and housemate battling cancer right now, and the sluggishness we are experiencing trying to expedite matters with the county, we realize that the universe is certainly at work tempering our resolve.  Despite these delays upon delays and the stress of living with a battle with lymphoma, we stride to remain steadfast in our Zen outlook.  We seek to remain calm with eyes open and ears perked up that we gain the broader perspective these experiences are bringing forth upon our path.  We let the feeling of frustration act as a spiritual guide to look out of the box for the message that we may be missing.  We work in the garden to connect with the ebb and flow of the natural pace of life; to tune us to the season of growth that is nature-made rather than the pace of process that is human-made. 

Yesterday we had visitors to the ranch drop by unexpectedly who had last stopped by during the construction of the log ranch house.  They were simply amazed at how far we had managed to travel in the space of so short a timeframe.  They noted progress everywhere.  They saw a blank piece of land being brought fully to life.  They commented upon potential being manifested into reality. We were reminded just how far we had come.  Sometimes, when we feel stagnation setting in and are ready to throw in the towel, it is amazing that the universe sets teachers to cross your path and give you the perspective uplift you need at the time.  We were thankful for their visit yesterday.  It reminded us to remain mindful that to manifest something good in our currently societal reality, to strike a course that demands patience and courage, takes the resolve to remain present to the abundance that is all around us and to rise above the seemingly chaotic churn that is par for the course when giving birth to a dream.

Tucked up in the Pacific Northwest on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, the Puget Sound and its lowlands are nestled in a marine climate. That’s where you’ll find the metropolis which is uniquely Seattle.  Coffee, creativity, style and a class of its own, the locals are outdoorsy and love the natural settings that abound everywhere.  They can be found at play on the many hiking trails and campgrounds located in their own backyard.  When the winter chill has left the air, and the sun seems to visibly be tilting higher in the sky, the beauty of Springtime beckons.  Though the weather is robust and varied, its easy to tune into its rhythms and take advantage of sunny days for some exploring.

Paca Pride Guest Ranch is located in one of those getaway spots.  Only an hour drive north of downtown is the hidden gem of Snohomish County known as the Mountain Loop Highway.  Trails to the ice caves, the old Goldrush Days railroad tunnels, mountain lakes, or beautiful vistas are some of the attractions which can be found amongst the numerous campgrounds that fill up during the summertime.  Without much effort you can have your Sound of Music moment in the fresh air.

Springtime starts in the lowest elevations first, typically when the rains are abundant.  Cherry tree blossoms turn the city into a Dr. Seuss storybook land.  Slowly, Spring creeps upwards in elevation taking almost a month to work

When the daffodils and tulips are already past their prime in the city, Paca Pride is presenting its Spring colors in full bloom.  The meadow grasses: fescues, ryes, clover, exhibit lush greens that only a llama or alpaca can eye with a deep appreciation as they wait in eager anticipation of grazing on such resplendent, and tasty, new growth. Meadow flowers are getting ready to blossom as the threat of morning frosts are now past.  Protected by a barrier of evergreens on all sides, the plateau that is Paca Pride is a pocket of warmth that offers an earlier start to gardening. 

While our neighbors next to the river still feel the icy chill of the melting runoff, we are already planting our summer crops.  This micro-climate head start gives us a nice growing season that rivals some lowland areas.  We still make use of plastic row covers to give our new plantings the benefit of extra warmth and protection from excessive rains, windy gusts, and chilly morning dew points.  These season extenders create mini greenhouses and warm the soil for those sun lovers like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash.  The month of May is all about revving up the garden engine and getting the plants that we started inside, under lights, into the ground with their drip irrigation. 

Already we can see the bracken fern shoots coming up from their winter slumber, a good sign that Winter is assuredly gone for the year and Spring is completely in charge of nature’s story now.  Soon our attention will turn to those meadow grasses for some harvesting as fresh feed for the herd.  We don’t own a lawn mower here at the ranch. While that makes a golf course look neat and conforming, we prefer to let grasses grow into their natural form.  Some of them we’ll even let go to seed and help further populate what the herd has eaten down.  Visitors may even find that what are considered weeds on a homeowner’s lawn, are welcomed into the pastoral scene as adding diversity to the ecology. 

It was the first truly warm day of the year.  73 degrees outside, clear skies, sun shining, warming up the mountains for Springtime.  This will be the second growing season for the main garden beds which have been covered to warm them up earlier this year.

Here is what they were looking like on March 9th, when we had a foot of snow...

and here they are only 2 weeks later on March 24th...

Now we get to see what it is actually looking like inside since this lovely weather allows us to open up the row covers!

I've uploaded a new photo album, "First Warm Day of the Year"

Enjoy the tour of the garden and stay tuned for what's to come!