Rabbit Proof Fence

For the past few weeks we have been in Northeastern Arizona, at the home of Lou's parents, enjoying a (modified) wwoofing arrangement where - for the first time in our wwoofer career - we will be taking care of all the processes behind planting, weeding, and harvesting a garden. That is to say, we will get to personally reap the benefits of our labor! Life in the country has been treating us well: the land is beautiful, the weather cool, and the free time plentiful.

In order to transform Steph and Vince's back yard into a full, productive garden, our first task was to set up defenses against the wild beasts roaming the countryside with a taste for the rare green leaves that can only be found in cultivation.

That's right, this guy:

He looks so innocent, doesn't he?

In addition to putting up this four-foot fence, we spent many hot hours digging an 8-inch deep by 10 inch wide trench at the base to bury more chicken wire. We were advised that this would be the only way to keep out Peter Rabbit and friends.

Cutting chicken wire to be laid:

Of course, it will be worth all the effort to protect our little plant babies! Sean started dozens of seedlings of tomatoes, basil, beans, watermelon, sunflowers, amaranth, etc., to plant as soon as the weather allows. Meanwhile, we've transformed the windowsills in the house into mini-greenhouses.

This picture is from about a week ago. Now all of the seeds have sprouted and grown at least 4 more inches.

Once the weather is more consistently summery and less windy, we'll put these babies in the ground in the two beds we've prepared. The first is a raised bed that Vince constructed before we got back and the other is a sunken bed that began as an anthill excavation/evacuation and turned into a 4x9 (by 2 ft deep) keyhole bed.

Lou sorting the rocks out of the fill-soil

Sean with a load of composted manure to add to the mix

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In addition to working on the property, we have also been visiting the organic gardens of family friends in the neighborhood, to get their advice and learn as much as we can from their many years of experience farming in the high desert. Our goal is to not have to reinvent the wheel when in comes to overcoming the challenges of growing in this unique environment.

Lunch with the Barkers, followed by a tour of their amazing garden. Here Louisa is getting a mini lesson in pill-bug management from Don Barker, longtime gardener and friend.

Other community outings have included a May Day celebration (Beltaine) at a friend's house. They built a beautiful maypole and had all 25 of us wind the ribbons around it in such a way as to create this amazing woven pattern.

It was pretty cold and windy that evening, but that didn't deter most of us from staying late into the night to play music by the fire.

Larry, the greatest accordion player you'll meet, accompanied by Lou, Vince, and Sean (among others) on the drums.

...Speaking of the weather, we had a couple of wild storms recently, delivering snow twice in one week!

What a sky.


It wasn't much, but it was enough to stun a few of the trees, and the lilies in the yard. Everything seems to be recovering fine now after several days of lovely sunshine and seventy degree weather.

Those wintry days were great for providing just the right conditions for serious baking. In addition to sourdough bread every few days (now made with a cup or two of rye flour for extra flavor), we've also made banana bread, cornbread, soups, stews, homemade pizza, lemon ricotta pie and brownies. Buttermilk is my new favorite ingredient for desserts, adding just the right tang to balance most sweet concoctions.

Vince working on his pizza. We decided to have smaller, design-your-own pizzas (notice the initials on these two for post-oven identification). The dough recipe was out of Alice Waters' cookbook and turned out delicious.

Lemon Ricotta Cake from Moosewood Cafe -- light, fluffy, and gorgeous with a fresh blackberry reduction