a part of my will

this is an excerp i think. from my will. be sorry for those who have to sit through it... cause.. geez. how many funerals do they have to attend?
maybe you're bored already. well, feel free to not read.


I want to be cremated. A funeral is fine, a viewing, or whatever, but that’s just going to make it more expensive.
I realize our government doesn't like ashes spread.
But I would like mine spread anyway. The government means nothing to me on this point.

Spread some at the canal up the dirt road from the Peterson's on 4oo south in Wellsville. That’s where we used to spend the summers swimming. I floated down that canal countless times. We picnicked there as kids. My soda exploded on the way up from the vibration of the bicycle on the gravel. It made a hole in the paper sack, but didn’t ruin my sandwich.

Go up the road a little farther, to the kerrs gate. Spread a little there. It’s where Gideon poked my eye pretending to be a werewolf so we could both ride faster down that hill as scared kids. That’s a day or two after lucky showed up, panting on a Friday, hiding in the shade under the truck.


Spread some at the Wellsville dam. That’s where sarah and I had our wedding party. I wore a holed up shirt. She wore a dress. I grilled on the bbq my friend josh made for me out of a barrel. It’s also the first place… well, I won’t finish that sentence. It’s the place we used to fish as kids. Power bait is supposed to work well there, or worms. As kids we used salmon eggs. the fish always knew which ones were on a hook. Caleb sunk up to his thighs there, and we had to ride home in the back of the station wagon with the back door open. It’s the place I learned how to skip a rock.

Spread some on top of the wellsvilles. Where my and my friends always camped. Clear at the top. In that little bowl with the pine tree’s. put the ash where, if it were a person, it would have a view of the whole valley.
Go to tony grove in logan canyon. Hike up it, like you’re going to white pine lake. Hike over a hill to your right, and walk until you find the end of the stream. It’ll be a watering hole in the canyon called bunchgrass. Spread a little ash there. It’s the place sarah scared off that moose that walked feet from her. We sat there together, in the first year of our marriage, while she was pregnant with Charlie during the archery elk season.


Put some more in the wellsvilles. Right under the first bowl, where the juniper and apple tree grows. We had picnics on easter there, as a family.
Sprinkle just a touch on maple rise. The place we would go on the fourth of july to watch all the fireworks in the valley.


Put a little on the banks of these bodies of water: Cutler dam. Newton dam. Porcupine. (someone go to the silver mine on the church property, and see if that little wood building is still there. Finish carving my name if you can find it). Mantua lake, benson marina. And a little on that little river called clay slough where we shoot carp. don’t put a speck on Hyrum dam. There are some good memories there. Most of them make me sick to think about.


Drop some at willow park. Actually, across the street. One or two tree’s in. that’s where Liz and I went, and ate on our brand new quilts. We ate Arby’s. that’s a place I’ll never forget. I’ll watch over that spot, if someone could please make sure there’s ash of mine there.


Someone will have to leave cache valley at some point. Throw a little ash at rendevouz beach in bear lake. Where we used to have a family reunion every year. My fondest memories of most of my family are there. I remember riding in the back of the old blue ford ranger f250 lariat under a camper shell, that was stuffed with supplies we would need.


Go to the place I used to live. Where my dad left home the last time. It’s where I started my family. It’s the place I lived when Charlie was born. I had my most intimate moments there. I failed at my first shed there, and built my first chicken coop. they’ve replaced that now though, with their own chicken coop, made from my failed shed.


Go to boise, out to eagle, and get lost on some back road going nowhere. My dad an I rode there together I’m sure. Sprinkle a little bit of me out the window. And think of me riding there, with my dad before we’d go back to my apartment and sit in the hot tub while salmon cooked on the grill. I’ve never felt more free.


Some of the most miserable time I’ve ever had was at a place called pebble beach. It’s out in the dessert in the outskirts of boise. There are a couple hooch’s there. Put a little… but only a little of me there.


Just off the freeway, there’s an exit that is blacks creek road. Pull off there, go across the railroad tracks, and where they dump a bunch of trash a couple yards later, put some of me there. We used to shoot whistle pigs there. And rabbits all hours of the night. That’s the first time I ever did anything with Nate, really. Lila got mad at me, because nate couldn’t hear for a couple days.


Put a little in the hay loft at grandma’s house. And some at the swimming hole behind uncle toms. Throw a little in the fields that used to belong to uncle Limon, Kay murray, and vern Anderson. My first job was moving sprinkler pipe for them. Put some in the swamp in uncle toms field, where we got the back hoe stuck.


Go out to Clarkston. To vandells property. That’s where I camp sometimes, where I was camping when I shot my first buck. I’ve made a lot of memories there. While you’re at it, put some across the street from tony’s grove turn off. Where we camp during the elk hunt. That’s the same place Josh, and Gid, and I took Josh’s kids camping for the first time. Where he introduced me to those eggs you hardboil, wrap in sausage, roll in crumbs, and fry.


Find where the disc golf course used to start at usu. Put some there. We used to work off a lot of hangover, and talk out a lot of problems, and shoot a lot of shit around there.


To montpeliar. Anywhere really. Mont is Boop. If you go there, drive through, and go to Afton. It’s a beautiful place where I really enjoy my time when we visit sarah’s grandparents.


San angelo? Yes. Put some there. Across the street where that building burned down. We walked on glass, and jumped from trailor to trailer. We found tadpoles behind that place, and caught them. We put them in the bird bath so we could watch them grow. Birds ate them. We used to think that house was haunted. Gids fault really. He would tell us he woke up and saw ghosts here or there. A headless one walks through the grandfather clock. One with chains did this or that here or there. We would vacation there every summer for the hottest two weeks of the year. We would swim a lot of the time. I have a lot of very fond memories of everyone in my family down there.

If you have ash left… bake into a cake, and eat it.

Devin

What were the images that danced in your head?
what did you see that was so unbearable?
your brother told us how you became his hero. You saved his life during a hunting trip with your red riders.
i carried the table that held your ashes, before those seven rifles made three reports to heaven. I remembered when we were kids. remember wrestling on my front lawn? we pretended like that fiberglass was money, we shot play guns at each other. We didn't know we were practicing.
how did you feel in Haiti?
what did you do in Korea?
the wounds you got in Iraq were too much.
the load you had to carry was heavy.
you were a hero to more than just your brother.
I'm glad you loved life so much, I'm sorry it killed you to take another.
I'm glad you lived. I'm glad you were family.
Good luck.

permaculture.

so, permaculture has become fascinating to me.
for those who don't know, the name is derived from "permanent" and "agriculture"
created by bill mollison, and another guy i never remember the name of.
another huge player in the permaculture movement is Geoff lawton. google his name, and "greening the desert".

anyway. i've decided to incorporate the idea's of permaculture into my mothers yard.

the idea is that the property is designed after a forest. with every level, and everything acting as something beneficial to the forest. the catch though, is that it's an edible forest. or a "food forest"


this has made me think of everything differently. i've realized that you don't need to till, or mow your lawn as much as one might have you believe (watch out neighbors, for fire hazards coming your way) i've also realized that insectacides, and herbacides of any type are unnecessary.

i will post the steps i'm taking as i take them. and the information i get as i obtain it.

plans for this year:
1 add grapes, strawberries, and raspberries to the existing perrenials around the yard.
2 propagate some apples tree's from my existing tree's to plant in the field.
3. plant legumes, maybe an oak tree, and some different nitrogen fixing plants around the property.
4. turn the apple tree's into guilds, by killing the grass (which competes with the tree's) and replacing it with comfrey, and other deep root plants that will bring up nutrition to help apple production, rather than hinder it.
5. i have 5 chickens. i plan to expand the chicken population. this property has a grasshopper problem. which really means a grain-bird deficiency.
6. fence of a portion of the yard to keep rabbits.

this year my goal is to harvest as much of the food that is already here as i can.
including
garlic chives
chives
horseradish
rhubarb
lemon balm
wild mint
berries
apples.
plums
also, i will expand my operations into the mountains as a sort of "guerilla gardening" situation.
i will also harvest as much as those foods as i can.
including
sego lily bulbs
choke cherries
elder berries
black berries.

i realize this is a boring post for most everyone who decides to read it.
i'm sorry.

i'm also interested in starting a group for permaculture in cache valley. i'm interested enough that i've started a group in face book called "cache permaculture"
though it say's "cache" anyone can join. my plans are to start a real group that actually meets in person to talk about it, exchange idea's, and exchange surplus.

sour dough continued

it's a success! (so far... kind of)

two days ago i made pancakes with sour dough. they turned out perfectly.
theni tried bread. "huh, i think i'll cook this bread before it'd done rising. it can rise in the oven while it bakes" bad idea. i just got a brick of cooked dough.
so i made another. i waited patiently, allll night for the sour dough to be ready, then alllll day for the bread to rise. i didn't let it rise twice, like i'm supposed to... not enough time in a week for that! so i had sarah cook it. she didn't taste it, but i think it's delicious. she yells at me "clean up after your experiments"
experiments! sour dough was used by people who thought the world was flat! the recipe i used for bread is the same age probably
(2 cups sour dough,
3 cups flour,
2 tbls oil or butter,
2tsp salt
4 tsp sugar,
bake at 350 for 30 minutes, don't preheat the oven)

it was a delicious success. and a loaf of bread for less than 75cents

today i made cookies. the same cookies my dad has made since i was a kid. i don't know how he made all of his cookies the exact same looking. none of them deviated from the mold. but he used a spoon to put them on the cookie sheet... so i dont' get it.

success again. delicious, when dad made them, you couldn't taste them the next day, because there were never any left!

i gave a taste to sarah "is there supposed to be that much baking soda?" what a taster. I can taste what she's talking about if i really strain. but two bites from a gallon of cookie dough! ridiculous!
last night i cooked for grandma... stuffed green pepper casserole. this dish has become my favorite dish ever. it's tied with shepards pie actually.

sarah has never tasted it. i cook it once a month about. she never tastes it at all. doesn't like how it looks.
doesn't think burger should ever be mixed with rice.
her biggest reason in the past, is that she doesn't like green peppers. well, sarah, explain then why the next day (last time) you prepared sausage and peppers for three meals in a row!

well, i've had the suspicion for a while now that it's simply because i cooked it, and not how it tastes, or looks. sarah's blog confirmed this. now she openly accuses me of "experimenting" even when my measurements are precise, and the recipe is old, tried, and true.
(oh, hi honey. i see you're reading this, and yelling at me. well, go eat some cookies)

Sour Dough

I've been making sour dough. i'm excited to make bread out of it.
here's how you make sour dough.

1 cup flour
1 cup water
mix it, and let it sit for a while. at least once per day, feed it. discard half of it, and add one cup water, and one half cup flour.

when it froths all the way through, cover it (but not too well, let it breathe) and put it in the fridge. feed it once per week.

when it's time to cook with it, take it out, add one cup flour, one cup water, and let it foam up real well,
this is called proofing, the result is called sponge.

take two cups of sponge
three cups flour
three teaspoons sugar
one teaspoon salt
one tablespoon softened butter, or olive oil, and mix it.
let it rise, pound it down, form it into a bread pan, let it rise, then bake it.

i will do this with pancakes, waffles, etc. the best part is, it's cheap.


this has resulted in me doing a little more research for a drink my dad called 'hooch'
i'm not sure what kind of yeast he made it with, or anything. i doubt he did either. he usually just got a start for it.
well, so i think what he was making was kvass. it's a russian drink made with yeast and juice. it's commonly consumed like soda, even with the small amounts of alcohol in it. (it's not enough to be considered alcoholic)

poor water through wheat, or rye bread.
the water will be brown. mix it with some dissolved sugar, and 100% juice. let it ferment a couple days (let it breath sometimes, so it doesn't explode)
i haven't done this one yet.
i'm trying the bread right now.
if the bread isn't that great, because of how i did it, maybe i'll use it for kvass... who knows.

Bee's

trapping bees:

there are different ways to trap bee's mainly 3
1. lure a swarm into your box. this is the approach i use. it's worked twice. set up your hive above the natural fenceline. bee's will fly above fences. using a box that already has bee's in it is preferable, but not necessary. there are other scents you can use to lure them. this can take years to finally lure in bee's.
2. catch a swarm. this is the easiest way to do it. post adds in local places that if they find a swarm of bee's to call you. describe it. it's usually a football sized group of bee's resting on a branch. if you find it, simply cut the branch off, or shake the bee's off into a cardboard box. then transfer it to their future home. i like to seal up their home for two or three days, so they can't get out, and get used to the place. when you finally open the box, make sure it's in a good position for them. high up, no blockage to the opening etc etc etc.
3. transfer an existing hive. sometimes bee's root themselves in places nobody wants them. like in a house, in an old tree, etc etc etc. there are a few ways to lure them out, first, simply cut them out, and repair the thing. if it's a tree, just kill the tree. or you can set up a box outside their opening so they have to fly through it to get anywhere, make sure it's set up for bee's. eventually the queen will make her way into the box, and start laying there. when this happens, and there is enough brood in there, take the box, kill the bee's in the hive (or, if you don't mind, let them live, maybe they will reproduce a queen, and you will have another hive next year when they regain their health)
it's best to do this in the spring. the reason is, you will severely weaken the hive. stimulate growth of new bees by feeding them sugar water. the spring is the best time for this. the first year with your bee's, you may harvest honey, but be careful not to harvest too much, or they will starve throughout the winter. i think this is what happened to mine.

this is not even close to even half of what there is to know about bee's. but is all i will post right now.

Donkeys

Donkeys.

wild donkeys can be trained very easily.

step one: isolate them.

if they're lonely, they will seek company. the donkey is a social animal. don't ALWAYS isolate them. only at the beginning, or when it's necessary.

approaching them. if you can approach them, don't touch their face first. touch a less offensive place, like the shoulder. scratch. never pat.

it's not a good idea to get them to come to you based on food or treats. instead.

step 2. walk up to the donkey slowly. do not let it run. before it runs, walk away from it. do this as many times as it takes. you walk closer to it every time. walking away from the donkey rewards him for his courage. do this the first and/or second time you approach him.

step 3. after that, walk up to him, if he runs, walk up to him until he stops running. it is in his nature to stop at some time to look at you. when he stops you stop for about fifteen seconds, then continue. note: you are NOT chasing him. walk calmly up to him.
usually you will only have to do this once. after this, it will be easy to approach even a donkey that was a few days ago from the blm. if it does take a few times, it's ok. sometimes walk around the whole field for hours just to scratch him on the withers.

this throws him off... he thought you were a threat, he'd avoided you as a threat for a long time... now you just scratch him?

spend time with him, talk to him. everyday go out and at least scratch his withers.

donkey do not need shoes. however, his hoofs do need trimmed, every 9 months.

donkeys can sense intentions to a degree, so do not get angry. have perfect patience.

when you trim his hooves: first, make him comfortable with you grabbing and lifting his leg. do this while on your daily visits. it's simple. while you're scratching or brushing him, brush down his leg a little. just as much as he's comfortable with. eventually, get all the way down. when he's comfortable with you grabbing his leg, squeeze gently on his calf, and lift. brush his hooves, and clean it out a little, and drop it. reward him with love and praise. if it comes time to trim his hooves, and you have not got him used to it yet. make sure the man you hire to trim them does NOT just throw a rope around him, tie him down, and trim the hooves. it's important they just use drugs. the reason is this: then they remember the last time they were trimmed, they just stood there, they do not remember they were drugged. though, this usually costs more.

donkey's love praise. conversely if you punish him, he will remember it. so punishments must not be harsh. example, if he bites you, leave for the day. that's it. do not hit unless he does something dangerous. if he kicks or shoves, i hit. it has to be immediately, never too hard, and leave him before he runs from you.

this is important: always leave him. NEVER let him leave you. even after a walk, when you release him, before he realizes he's loose, walk away.

a donkey is often thought to be stubborn. this is always the case when there is some degree of mistrust. a donkey will NEVER do ANYTHING that he thinks will hurt him.
i shouldn't say never. or anything i guess, because if he trusts you. and you always protect him, never hurt him, and lead him around enough, he will trust you to the degree that he will walk right up to anything.