Author: peter@chicohomes.com

Road and Trail Grooming

Today Dec. 21st, 2022 ( Winter Solstice ) Michelle and I took a morning walk with Togo ( dog sitting for a few days ).   We walked on the main road to  Bear Lake.  It had been about a month since I had been down that road and it was clear then.  Today we encountered several treefalls that will require some chainsaw work.  Also, I noticed many baby bushes popping up in the road that will need pulling up before they become adults and are much more difficult to remove.  I call it road and trail grooming, and it is best practice to groom all roads and trails several times a year. 

Pruning Fruit Trees

So far this year 2022 I have pruned the Fuyu persimmon tree by the shop side door and the Hachiya persimmon by the YAHB side door.  Now I’m starting on the main orchard trees ( Dec. 17th 2022).  I’m working slowly and carefully on the tall orchard ladder, taking about two hours to prune a full-size tree like the apple tree in the photo below. I will be replacing a few of the old peach trees this year.

Asparagus, Garlic, Artichoke

On December 15th I spent a couple of hours in the garden pruning down the asparagus, adding some nutrient mix, and topping it with straw mulch.  Also added straw mulch to the garlic bed and the last surviving. artichoke.

The asparagus beds are a mix of varieties.  The upper bed was planted a view years before the lower bed and has a variety that produces some very large spears. 

e Dec. 2022 Asparagus beds before being cut down and mulched.
The garlic bed was planted in late Oct. 2022 after the first light frost. Photo ( Dec. 15th) shows garlic shoots just coming up. I will now mulch. with straw.
Dec. 15th. 2022 – Asparagus beds cut down to the ground, mineralized, and mulched.

Turning Off The Water

To turn the water off at the source of the Big Pipeline you need to. use two wrenches to remove a bolt from the plate that covers the end of the pipe coming. out of the side of the stream bank.  Twist the plate so the water streams out of the pipe and into the stream.  Next, take a towel and reach into the pipe and use the towel to plug the lateral pipe which is the start of the Big Pipeline. Leave a tail of the towel coming out of the pipe so the towel can be pulled out to unplug the pipe. 

Use a towel to plug the lateral pipe.

Big Pipeline Break

Today ( Monday, Dec. 12th 2022) I walked up the little pipeline and down the big pipeline looking for a water leak.  The storage tanks were not filling even after I cleaned the filter so the water was going somewhere.   The winter storm over the weekend had strong wind gusts and snapped off a big dead branch from an oak tree that fell on the pipe and cracked it.Here is a photo of the break after I removed the branch and shoveled a bit of earth away from the break.  Also, I turned off the water at the source to make working on the pipe easier.

2022 Fall Garden Starts

 It’s Sunday now, August 28th, I think it was Wednesday that I bought some starts and seeds at the Chico Food Coop to start the fall garden.  I planted in the raised bed (bed 19 ).  It has the “nicest” soil. Good tilth. I planted broccoli, Brussel. Sprouts, bok choi, asian greens as starts.  As seeds  I planted Tokyo Market Turnips, Scarlet Ohno Revival Turnip, Lutz Green Leaf Beets.  I set up micro sprinklers and covered with a shade tunnel.

Winter of 2021

 We got snow! As usual after a good snow storm there are several trees or branches that fall across the road, so getting in and out to town is best done with extra time, a chainsaw, shovel, rubber boots and gloves, and extra time.  Last year and the year before it was  REALLY big trees that fell across the road and they took all day to get a small passage through.  This year ( so far ) the tree and branch falls have been smaller but more numerous.  

 

Dec. 15th Weds, 2021

 

This morning Juan and I went to inspect the broken water pipe that runs from the storage tanks to the homestsead. Yesterday Juan had done his routine inspection – every 5 to 10 days depending on the time of year – of the filter and storge tanks.  He found the tanks completely empty but plenty of water coming from the spring.  Checking the pipe below the tanks he found a broken pipe at a place in the line where I had placed a shut off valve some years ago.  

It is both raining and snowing right now.  The break is such that we have enough water at the homestead for domestic use so I plan to wait for dryer warmer weather to repair the broken pipe.  After repairing the pipe I will add a valve cover box to protect the valve, and cover the rest of the pipe.  I’m not sure why or how the pipe broke. Could have been a bear stepping on it, or a person stepping on it.  We do get people messing with the water sytem, but it is rare. 

 

Rock Towers

Nice and cool in the winter. A bit like Hades in the summer.

There is a rock formation like a tower which you can hike to from the homestead. You can look way across the Chico Creek Canyon and see a similar rock formation as a really large cliff wall. I think this must be the Tuscan formation. I would like to establish a narrow trail from the house to this “tower” and then farther up the ridge and around to connect with the “High Road” where it merges with ” The Middle Path”. We could all this trail The Higher Trail. I walked the general area this morning and can see that it will pass through some very nice forested areas.