Laughing Duck Permaculture

Laughing Duck Permaculture is a home-scale permaculture site and design cooperative located in Southwestern Idaho.

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7 October 2015 -- A neighbor could no longer care for their ducks, so we’ve taken them in. They’ve adapted very easily to their new home and the other ducks! Say hello to these friendly five-year-olds: Beaker (female Pekin), Ya (female Buff), Smittiana (female Rouen), and Scooter (male Rouen).

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October 20th post-harvest meal cooked by Cara and Nick using food grown in our gardens: potato gnocchi, roasted tomato sauce, bruschetta topped with roasted sweet peppers and olive oil, and fried white eggplant.

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On October 20th we helped Nick harvest the last of the summer vegetables from his garden before the temperatures drop. We brought home ‘Nyagous’, ’Siletz’, and ’Violet Jasper’ tomatoes, sweet red and bell peppers, white eggplants, bunching onions, rainbow carrots, Lacinato kale, amaranth seedlings, ‘Prescott Fond Blanc’ cantaloupe, cured ‘Queensland Blue’ and ‘Winter Luxury’ squash, marigolds, and overripe tomatoes, melon, and cucumber for the ducks. 

We halved the ripe ‘Violet Jasper’ tomatoes and put them in the dehydrator for dishes all winter, and the rest of the green tomatoes will be turned into salsa or canned diced as they ripen. The rest of the afternoon was spent turning some of the harvest into an Italian feast.

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(Photos from 18 August + 20 October)

This season our friend Nick created a beautiful and productive organic garden in his family’s yard, starting from scratch. We helped out with some fertilizer, some seeds (with extras from a seed swap), and advice and he got fresh produce all summer -- more than our garden yielded this year, actually, and we took extras from his garden to fill some of our losses.

The garden included: marigolds; ‘Nyagous’, ‘Siletz’, ‘Violet Jasper’, and ‘Yellow Pear’ tomatoes, white eggplants, sweet red pepper, bell pepper, and garden huckleberry; lemon cucumbers, ‘Prescott Fond Blanc’ cantaloupe, and 'Cotton Candy’, ‘Sweet Meat’, ‘Winter Luxury’ and ‘Queensland Blue’ for our Squash Landraces Project; mixed Lacinato and Siberian kales; ‘Four Stars Explorer Mix’ amaranth; mixed rainbow carrots; bunching onions; mixed lettuce; and sweet corn.

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On August 6th, Crumpet -- a stray who shows up here annually, starving and pregnant -- reached out to us and decided that we were trustworthy. We housed her overnight and the next day she gave birth to five kittens. Since then we’ve helped her care for the kittens... It’s much easier than bottle feeding babies like we did last year. Crumpet has to be the friendliest stray we’ve taken in, up to letting us watch her give birth and handle the newborns. Her kittens are just as beautiful and friendly as she is. We’ve been calling them Creambean, Willa, Andouille, Pyewacket, and Chococat.

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Corn harvesting time! This season we decided to prioritize two flour corns from Siskiyou Seeds: ‘Apache Red’ and ‘Hopi Blue Star’ (breeder’s selection). We’d also received seeds for a few exciting landraces from Joseph Lofthouse, but we weren’t able to prepare enough growing space by planting time.

The corn was planted on June 21st (with replanting on July 10th to fill in empty spots) in mounds with beans, and with squash, sunflowers, and an insectary strip nearby in the same area. Lofthouse’s tepary bean was paired with the ‘Apache Red’, his dry bush bean mix with the ‘Hopi Blue Star’, and later replants were a gamble -- an unknown heirloom variety bought at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market in 2010. Other details about this polyculture will be posted separately.

Overall the corn did very well! We planted 75 plants in 15 mounds and the survivors (after irregular water, no hilling, competition from bindweed, pillbug predation, etc.) yielded 37 ears. A few ears grew huitlacoche, but interestingly only one large ear grew the fungus and it primarily targeted the small, immature, secondary ears lower down on the plants, as did the earwigs. We also saved a large pile of corn silk -- some of it burgundy! -- to use in teas for cystitis. 

The ears are gorgeous and some of them have fascinating variations. We plan on either borrowing or buying a small hand mill and tasting the flour this winter, and we look forward to planting these varieties again in the future.

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Where have we been?

You may have noticed that we haven’t been posting on our social media pages the past few months. We’re still here, we’ve just been dealing with a cluster of bad circumstances that fed into each other throughout the growing season. Things are bad for us as we approach winter. Life isn’t always glamorous, and we try to present a balanced view of our projects rather than just sharing the positive results and the pretty photos.

Our problems almost always result from interactions of the following: having low income in a capitalist society; chronic mental and physical illnesses; misinvestment of limited time, energy, and resources; and unexpected emergencies plus a lack of a safety net. Short musings on a few of these realities as applied to our 2015 season follow.

School

Our resident teenager finished high school in May, and our focus during the last school year was on her: making sure she was well-fed and healthy and had any resources she needed to successfully graduate. We also spent a chunk of our time and funds acquiring, organizing, and assembling her home-away-from home and driving her to The Evergreen State College, where she’s now in her second week of classes. (Any Greeners following our blog? Send us a message and we can connect you to some free seeds and a new friend!)

Caldwell Farmers Market & Idaho Press-Tribune Column

We had to very suddenly drop out of the farmers market and quit writing our fortnightly column before the season ended. Sales were poor, which wasn’t unexpected considering the size of the market and the interests of people in the valley; but they were so poor that we weren’t earning enough to justify the hours spent on preparation, public interaction, and the accompanying anxieties, and the fact that the market ended up dominating our week and preventing us from completing even the most minor gardening tasks. Pulling out of the market took a huge weight off of our shoulders, but those weeks were essentially wasted and have taken a huge toll on our garden and finances. 

Garden

Because we chose to focus our energies on potentially bringing in a little cash flow from the farmers market, we didn’t end up giving our garden the attention it needed and as a result had almost no fresh produce all summer. Technical difficulties made it worse: our pump broke and we couldn’t afford to replace it, so we’ve been relying solely on well water rather than doing our broadscale watering from the canal. 

Last year we preserved almost our entire year’s supply of tomatoes, but this year we’ll be lucky to can a dozen jars; last year we harvested 85 winter squash, this year we might harvest five. We’ve tightened our food budget to what it was our first year in Idaho, approximately $1-3/person/day.

We did manage to finally get all of our winter vegetable starts in the ground this past week, so we’ll have some greens, Alliums, herbs, and roots very early next spring... but it’s a small comfort. 

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op

We saved a little money this past winter by participating in a food co-op: the local grocery stores we can afford to shop at stock nasty-looking produce all winter. This weekly or fortnightly produce box helped during the darkest months. In March the Caldwell site coordinator had to step down, and since no one else would step forward C took on the work. It ended up creating more problems than benefits. Part of the reason for our participation was to create connections with others within our community... Which didn’t happen, as the participants were just as cliquey and church-oriented as the general Idaho population. The work was taking a huge toll on mental health and morale in our household. As spring wore on the boxes stopped saving us money because fresh produce was easier to find locally, and C eventually passed on her site coordinator duties to another person.

$$$

Money has always been an issue, but 2015 brought complications: someone tried to commit tax fraud against us, and because the IRS takes so long to clear these things up we still haven’t received our tax return -- money we were relying on to fund basic necessities. Along with the misjudged investment into the farmers market, extra school-related expenses, and lack of money-saving homegrown food mentioned above, we also have another ongoing expense: we signed up for health insurance. 

Because our primary money-earner has shitty insurance available from his employer we can’t buy the slightly cheaper plans available on our state’s insurance marketplace; because our new health insurance plan is so expensive we no longer have a little extra money available each month and we struggle to pay the bills; because our plan has a ridiculous co-pay before we’re covered by the insurance, and the monthly payment is using up all our money, we can’t afford to actually access any healthcare. So it goes.

Health

Between the five human members of our household we have a variety of chronic illnesses and divergences. We tend to celebrate our differences and are actually quite glad not to be “normal”, but the reality is that these things do take a toll on our abilities to Get Shit Done. 

Some of us have spent months during 2015 without our medications, which in one of our cases is necessary for homeostasis, and without which the body will eventually shut down and die. (And no, there are no herbal remedies for it; it’s not physically possible.) We’ve been relying on what herbs we can grow ourselves or trade with others for minor ailments, and actually managed to get all five of us through a horrible antibiotic-resistant sore throat / cough / ear infection in the spring, only taking our resident teenager to the doctor. She was still sick with a persistent ear infection for almost five weeks our of her senior year, but the rest of us managed to intercede early and never got as bad for quite as long.

Animals

To wrap this up, a check-in with our animals:

Annie, the Welsh Harlequin duck who formerly appeared in our icon, is alive. She still has egg peritonitis, and should have died a year ago... But she’s still hanging on, and is amazingly happy with life, and drags herself around the duckyard doing her usual ducky things. We’ll keep her going as long as she’s happy.

Bromios (Indian Runner) and Ianto (Welsh Harlequin) were sick earlier this spring but we nursed them both through it, and we’re doing the same with Sibylla (”brown” duck) now.

Speeders continue to frequent our street, leading to a consistent and heartrending amount of deaths: three kittens hit at once, several adult cats, untold squirrels, a wild mallard. Princess Kitty died of what looked like chronic health problems stemming from an old car-related injury; Sister Kitty miscarried most of a litter and brought the kittens to our back door.

Besides these misfortunes, business continues as usual in Duck Land.

We have another litter of kittens! And four more adopted ducks! Posts about them are forthcoming.

All that aside, we’ll try to catch this blog up with the happens of the past few months over the coming weeks. None of the problems mentioned above are completely resolved, and we’re in a precarious financial situation, but if we do drop off the face of the earth again you can keep in touch with us through our private social media -- message us if we’ve talked before or we’re mutual followers on Tumblr or Facebook.

Requisite Plug: we still have herbal products for sale and can talk duck eggs; we don’t have enough money to ship elsewhere, but locals are welcome to meet up with us and buy, trade, swap, or gift.

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Our ‘Red Lake’ Currants have started bearing small amounts! Last night we harvested just enough to make two batches of scones, which we topped with homemade rose petal sugar.

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A teaser for the dried herb bundles that will be available at the market next week... These are tied and drying. From left to right: English Thyme, Juniper, Juniper + Common Mugwort, Yomogi + Catmint, three Artemisia blend, Wormwood, and Common Mugwort.

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Shots from our table at the Caldwell Farmers Market this afternoon!

Our other offerings today included: Duck Eggs; Winter Hardy Kale, 'Wild Garden' Chicory, Feverfew, and Yarrow plants; fresh Yarrow and Feverfew for medicinal use; Samhain Salve; dried Juniper bundles for incense or recaning; and, back for this week by popular demand, homemade Cranberry Bagels, Sesame Bagels, and Gingersnaps.

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Pictures from yesterday at the Caldwell Farmers Market!  

 Our offerings for this week included: Duck Eggs; Winter Hardy Kale and Yarrow Starts; Fresh Yarrow, Feverfew, and English Thyme; Samhain Salve; and Dried Juniper Bundles for incense or recaning. 

As always, we had free educational / DIY handouts available for anyone who wanted them. This week we had info on sourdough starter and bread baking, lacto-fermented pickles, kefir, polycultures, and duck eggs. As the season progresses we’ll be adding more fliers, so keep checking back and feel free to ask us questions!

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Yesterday was our first day at the Caldwell Farmers Market! We brought: Duck Eggs; Winter Hardy Kale, 'Wild Garden Chicory', 'Osaka Purple' Mustard, and Yarrow starts; Cranberry, Jalapeño, and Sesame Bagels; Gingersnaps, Sugar Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookies; fresh cut Wormwood and Japanese Mugwort; dried Juniper Bundles for burning; and Samhain Salve.

The chicory and yarrow sold out before the market officially opened, and the dried juniper and salves also did well! We’ll be sure to have more starts for next week, because after having several people inquire about the sold out stock it looks like our community has a need for chicory.

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We have a box out for this month's global Food is Free Day! Our address is 3716 S Florida Ave Caldwell, ID 83605, and the free food is by the mailbox. Please limit harvesting and wandering to the sheet mulched front lawn area, or ask for a tour.

Our main garden still isn't producing surpluses yet this year, but we shared some extra produce from our organic Bountiful Baskets purchases (Junami apples and rainbow carrots), our own duck eggs, and free herb and vegetable seeds with growing information. Dandelion greens are ready to harvest in the front yard garden so help yourself. There are also other herbs available; knock on our side sliding glass door if interested.

Free Garden Update: The peas and Jerusalem artichokes planted by student volunteers are up and growing; we’ve transplanted in a mother of thyme plant and an onion (to reseed); reseeded/overwintered Nigella, ‘All Blue’ potato, Comrade W’s sunflowers, and mystery clover have appeared; and the bird-planted mulberry is leafing out.

Like the page Food Is Free Project- Boise area to keep up with local projects and free boxes.

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Weekly Flower Report, April 16-April 29, for Laughing Duck Permaculture in Caldwell, Idaho:

Shown above: Bachelor’s Button, Mâche, Kale, Dandelion.

Not shown: Arugula, Black Currant, Chervil, Clove Currant, Crampbark, Deadnettle, Descurainia, Goji, Grape Hyacinth, Mustard, Onion, Pea, Purple Mustard, Red Currant, Scilla, Shepherd’s Purse, Strawberry, Sweet Woodruff, Tulip.

It’s the busy season and we’re having a hard time sticking to any schedule, so here’s two weeks of flowers!

If you would like to participate, post your photos in the #Weekly Flower Report tag.

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Yesterday around sunset (duck o’clock) we spotted a bumblebee on an onion blossom! This is the first we’ve seen on the property since we’ve been here, and it’s exciting. There must be a nest somewhere nearby. Hopefully this one will be a repeat visitor.

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Do you live in or near Caldwell? Do you want a steady source of duck eggs from a small, local permaculture site?

We're looking for long-term customers to participate in our new egg-centric CSA, and extra eggs will be available every Wednesday at the Caldwell Farmers Market! More details here: http://goo.gl/6fPkiX

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Weekly Flower Report, March 27--April 15, for Laughing Duck Permaculture in Caldwell, Idaho:

Shown above: Deadnettle, Goji, ? Currant.

Not shown: Arugula, Black Currant, Chervil, Clove Currant, Dandelion, Descurainia, Forsythia, Grape Hyacinth, Kale, Mâche, Mustard, Purple Mustard, Red Currant, Scilla, Shepherd’s Purse, Snowdrop, Strawberry, Sweet Woodruff, Tulips, Violet.

Your bloggers were struck down by a nasty cold... This “week” of flowers is actually three weeks. 

If you would like to participate, post your photos in the #Weekly Flower Report tag.