Author Archives: krista hansen

Fostering Kittens

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Okay, so my whole life I’ve wanted to foster kittens.  Maybe it was growing up with a babysitter who had about twenty cats running around her family farmhouse.  Those cats were always having kittens and as a kid I just could not wait to get out of school to see them.  Playing with those little bundles of sweet cuteness always seemed so magical to me.  I mean really, how could something be so cute?
When my roomie told me about the city shelters needing people to take care of kitties and suggested fostering, how could I say no?  The City of Albuquerque has declared June, “Animal Foster Month,” because so many moms and kittens come into the shelters at this time.

kittens nursing on mom

kittens nursing on mom

So, here they are, our foster kitties!  There’s a black kitten in there, too; she (or he) is just hard to see in the pictures because she blends in.  The mom is really sweet.  The flash on the camera kept making her blink, so I’ll try to get some pictures without it later.  At first we were worried she’d be a little hyper because she really wanted out of the cat carrier, but when we got home we fed her, and she was hungry!  She ate so much and so fast, I was a little worried she’d make herself sick.   She’s very thin, and very sweet and friendly.  She has settled into the laundry basket with the babies and has been there a while.  Jeez, she’s already won my heart.  And the kittens, of course, are so cute! The shelter staff says we have to keep them in a room with the door shut since sometimes we keep the windows open and there are so many ways out of the house. They don’t want the mom to run away.  I don’t think the kitties mind; I think they are enjoying the peace and quiet.  It must be a nice change from the shelter.

Our dog has licked the kittens, and really wants to play.  One of our cats smelled under the door & seems calm about it so far.

The shelter said we can look for people who might want to adopt if we want.  I think the kittens should have no problem finding a home, and I’m hoping the same for mommy.  She’s so young.  Well, we will know after their vet appointment in two weeks about how long we get to keep them, right now I’m just so happy they’re here.

Cleopatra and Sweetheart

UPDATE: Our beautiful kitties are so fun to play with.  We found out they are all girls!  We have named them all, Elphaba for the black kitty, Gwenevieve for the grey one, Cleo for the white one with Egyptian looking lines around her eyes, and Sweetheart for the other white kitty because she actually has a patch of grey fur on her back that looks like a heart!  We have named the mom Sweet Pea because she is so gentle and sweet.  We seal up our house and let her out of the laundry room for part of the day because she likes to be around us. She lets us carry her all over the place and never complains.  It took some squirting with the water bottle for her to realize that she is not allowed on the counter, and not supposed to be eating our butter, but she learned quickly.  And it’s hard to blame her considering how skinny & starving she was.  They are all gaining weight quickly though, so we’re not worried.  One of my favorite things to do is sit in the laundry room with them and let them run all over me.  This is not only fun, but it helps to get them used to people- and that helps them get adopted.   It’s gonna be hard to give them up, but they will be going to Lucky Paws in the mall, which is run buy the city of Albuquerque and looks like any other pet shop.  They have the best chances of being adopted there and that is a big relief.  We get to speak to the vet directly when we have problems, and that’s actually pretty amazing. So far, I’m really impressed with the program they have going here.

Guienevieve

Elphaba

2nd UPDATE: Okay, well as a follow up, all of our wonderful kitties got adopted, including the Mommy! We were worried about Sweet Pea, being that she was older, but the shelter assured us that she would get adopted at Lucky Paws; it just would take a lot longer.  I wanted to keep her actually, but my other cats weren’t really having that. So, I thought we’d give the mall a chance.
It was hard dropping them off at the mall.  It seemed surreal walking by all the stores with such precious life held in our hands -sweet, furry life that we cared so deeply about.  I fought back tears the whole time. And it’s not the easiest thing to do, to watch them get put back in cages.  You just want so much for things to go well, and it’s hard knowing so much of it is out of your control.
But they weren’t there very long. Even Sweet Pea was adopted after a few weeks. We gave special thanks to our doggie, as he really helped get them used to dogs, and this is a big plus for adoptable cats and kittens. The house is so quiet without them, and it was a whole lot of poop, but I would do it again in a heartbeat… just not till next year because our cats didn’t appreciate the visitors too much! Since summer is the big time for kittens, I’m thinking once a summer will be my goal!

Sweetheart

Guienevere

Cleo and Elphaba

Cleo- they grow so much in 5 weeks

Sweet Pea

For anyone thinking of fostering animals, I highly recommend it.  It’s a bit of a commitment, but it only lasts a few weeks and it felt so good to really make a difference.  The city people told us they couldn’t do it without the foster parents; there simply wouldn’t be enough room. So, if you love animals, and you have the time and the room, give it a try!
See our dog enjoying his celebratory custard…

An Experiment in Sheet Mulching with Permaculture

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a lot of horse poop!

a lot of horse poop!

Okay, so last year had many failed attempts to convert the small acreage of usable land on our property to a lush gardening paradise. A brief list of the culprits would be: the dog that lived here before us (left an inch of poop on the dirt), our laziness (in not cleaning up that poop and rebuilding the soil), our newness to Southwest Gardening (very hot, very dry… xeriscape, alkaline soils- we are in Pennsylvania no more), and then there is of course, our dog (more poop, more urine, and he is a digger).  Almost every plant we tried either died or got dug up, none of our seeds sprouted.  Our garden was looking rather morbid this spring, read: patch of baked dirt.

Gardening Efforts Gone to Waste

Gardening Efforts Gone to Waste

Very depressing after all that time & money! So we decided to try again this year, but we were going to do things a little bit differently.  So we tackled, first, our front lawn with the renewed gusto of spring.

Building Our Fence

Building Our Fence

First on our priority list, a fence: a good, inexpensive, dog proof fence. Thank goodness we are in the southwest.  All it took was some latillas (those are the round poles), some screws, some effort, oh, and some wire after the dog quiet easily soared over the top, and we were all set.  Kevin hopes to add some solar lanterns, and we will trim the taller poles for aesthetic purposes.

Next we had to work on the soil.  I had seen some amazing videos about Permaculture: permanent agriculture.  It is a method of gardening Wikipedia describes as “an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.” I had fallen in love with its principles, mainly “work with nature, not against it.” Gaia’s Garden is a great book and resource.  A much more intense book is Bill Mollison’s Permaculture: a designer’s manual.

To begin we dug swales throughout our garden. Swales are long level ditches with a berm on one side, designed to catch and retain water in your landscape, crucial in the southwest.  Since we had such limited space, our swales were thin and narrower than recommended. They ran through the garden, were filled with small rocks and stuffed with straw to hide their presence from the world.  Given more space, I would have just fit them visually into the larger landscape, but we have less than a hundred square feet out front.  The swales are designed to hold and deliver water where needed- important in the southwest. I would love to show you some pictures, but for some absurd reason, I forgot to take them at this point.

testing the soil- you can determine a lot by how the soil settles

testing the soil- you can determine a lot by how the soil settles

Ph test for soil

Ph test for soil

Next, we really wanted to improve our soil.  Healthy soil retains a lot of water, and can even be the equivalent of a two inch lake.  After some testing we determined our soil had okay levels of almost everything but was off the charts on nitrogen (was anyone surprised?).  At this point we decided sheet mulching over our soil would give the best long term results… So here’s a simple breakdown of what we did.  I recommend Gaia’s Garden for a detailed explanation. 
Step one: Get poop, and cover ground with thin layer.  We found a neighboring horse stable on Craig’s List giving away free horse manure that had been aged two years. We also added some not quite ready compost full of chunks of veggies.

It helps to have a willing shoveler when on takes on a pile of horse manure!

It helps to have a willing shoveler when on takes on a pile of horse manure!

that's what in your trunk?

that’s what in your trunk?

dog meet horse

dog meet horse

Step two:  Cover that with layer of cardboard or thick newspaper, overlapping edges by six inches (to kill weeds).

layer of cardboard and newspaper for sheet mulch

layer of cardboard and newspaper for sheet mulch

Step three: Another layer of poop.

Step four: Get straw bales and rip into one to two inch chunks, lay on ground in three layers.  Mix in a little composted manure.

Step five: Add a layer of topsoil.  Soilutions near our house had some organic topsoil and it’s not too expensive to load up your vehicle.
adding layers

adding layers

Step six:  A layer of mulch… we used shredded bark. This layer helps keep moisture in.

It is best to do this in fall and let it break down over winter, but since we had a late start, we will have to plant using
Step seven: Dig a hole, add topsoil and plant your seeds or plant there.

Well, our garden looks very different already.  And there is a whole new feel to our yard.  When we go outside, it feels warm and comforting, in a way that wasn’t there before.  So, how will planting go?  I’m hoping for the best, but anything is better than last year!

tidied up nice & neat

tidied up nice & neat

ready to settle in for a while and wait for bacteria to form

ready to settle in for a while and wait for bacteria to form

UPDATE:  So, end of the summer, how did our garden do?  You tell me.

Here’s a picture from the first year we planted our garden with no soil amendments. (sad looking, I know…) We had to water constantly to keep those plants happy in that parched ground.

garden end of first year

garden end of first year

And below is our garden at the end of our 2nd year. Much better water retention!! We put sheet mulch down beginning of April and I took this picture in October- so it had over 6 months for the straw to break down and the bacteria to develop.  We had a lot of green and an overabundance of cherry tomatoes. Not as much of the bigger tomatoes- but it was a hard summer for them anyway.  The soil was probably still very nitrogen rich.  We didn’t really plant too much in the front- time & budget reasons. Best sheet mulching results are seen in two years, when the soil has had time to break down more, but we’ve already moved to a new place.  I envy the new people who move in because it’s only gonna get better! I hope they’re gardeners.  As for me, well, I just need a new property to start on.

Permaculture After 6 months

Permaculture After 6 months

Garden After Permaculture

Garden After Permaculture

Coral Castle, Homestead Florida – Genius and Mystery

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Hollywood Beach, Florida

Hollywood Beach, Florida

Each year in March my family and family friends make the sojourn down to Hollywood Beach, Florida, where we enjoy our spring break amongst the elderly.  Let me repeat for any future spring breakers who might decide to join our ranks next year: as some poor University of Virginia students have now learned- the pace is slow here in Hollywood, not because people are spritzing Coronas with limes under the sun in tiny bikinis all day, but because the average age in this seaside town is way over sixty-five.  Just a friendly public advisory for those really intent on the full spring break Florida party experience.

lifeguard stand, Hollywood, Florida

lifeguard stand, Hollywood, Florida

broadwalk, Hollywood, FL

broadwalk, Hollywood, FL

We decided to change the formula this week and instead of spending every waking moment by the pool next to the beach (some in the family wouldn’t want to get too uncomfortable about all that pesky sand by the ocean), we hopped on the turnpike and drove several miles south to Homestead, Florida, home of Coral Castle.  A friend had recommended it, speaking of an odd castle constructed out of coral in the 1920s.
on the road in Florida

on the road in Florida

Coral Castle entrance

Coral Castle entrance

Just a turn off of Route 1 led us into a small parking lot next to a quaint castle topped with towers, planets and moons, all carved out of coral and surrounded, almost surreally, by the modern world. After paying the modest entrance fee, we passed a small pit with a sign reading, “Ed’s Stone Quarry, Where He Acquired the Coral for the Castle.”   I immediately felt relieved to realize the coral had not been dragged out of the ocean, but rather quarried right out of the ground.
Coral Castle quarry

Coral Castle quarry

inside Coral Castle, FL

inside Coral Castle, FL

Inside, a quick glance showed tables of different shapes were surrounded by chairs, all carved out of the coral, not a bright peach pink but aged and grey as rock.  Fountains lay filled with water and trees grew out of coral.  The coral rocks making up the surrounding walls were gigantic and heavy, some weighing up to twenty-nine tons.   We quickly jumped in with a group beginning their guided tour.
Leedskalnin's tools

Leedskalnin’s tools

It was not the castle that was intriguing so much as the story of its creation.  For all this had been done by one man, in the dark of night, with no explanation of how he had moved the giant rocks, cutting and lifting them out of the ground with simple tools without leaving any marks, other than the cryptic, “I used the secrets the Egyptians used to create the pyramids.”
Leedskalnin's magnetic current

Leedskalnin’s magnetic current

What that secret was, was up to great debate because Edward Leedskalnin was not your average person.  Sure he had a career in masonry, but he also played around with magnetic currents and electricity.  He wrote a pamphlet entitled “Magnetic Current,” where he swore that everything we thought about natural sciences was wrong.  He claimed everything had a north and south pole and interconnected that way.  He also claimed he had patented a perpetual motion device, that would be capable of providing free energy to all, which the government wanted badly to make go away, as it would have conflicted greatly with major oil and power interests.  I found this particular aspect of the tour quite interesting, as Kevin had been up all night reading about perpetual motion devices just the other week.
repentance corner... not really his best idea...

repentance corner… not really his best idea…

Through a small box with speakers “Edward” told a story of a lost love, and a desire to win her back through the building of the castle.  Maybe fate had worked in her favor.  In one corner of the castle, Ed had designed a “Repentance Corner”, where two long open slats in the boulder had round holes at the top, similar to a keyhole.  If his potential future children or wife did wrong, Ed imagined having them slide their necks through the hole and down.  Then, after he had put a wooden board on top to keep them in, Ed would sit on his nearby bench to deliver them a lecture.

on the throne!

on the throne!

bathtub made of coral

bathtub made of coral

He had constructed coral thrones, coral rocking chairs, coral beds and a coral bathtub and shaving pond, coral chairs around coral tables, one in the shape of Florida in case the governor might want to visit and discuss the future of the state.

the Tower

the Tower

Ed’s interest in astronomy was reflected everywhere, with stars and moons and planets carved all over, and a tall pointed rock called the telescope, where one could gaze up at the north star any time of the year.   His fascination with Egypt was everywhere too; even a mighty obelisk devoted to Ed and the castle stood near the Repentance corner.
obelisk

obelisk

More unusual was the 9-ton gate. Edward had somehow lifted a nine-ton rock out of the ground, found the center of balance (not easy to do on porous coral), and placed it within a quarter inch of the surrounding walls, so that with just the touch of a finger even a child could swing the gate open and shut. When eventually the bearings broke, modern engineers were only able to fix it for a while.  It took a team of men and a crane to do it, and in the long run they broke it more than fixed it.  At one time a team of scientists came down, scanned the rocks, did all sorts of measurements, and concluded that they could not explain how Edward Leedskalnin was able to do it.  Did I mention that he was littler than me, five foot tall and about a hundred pounds?
He led a life like a hermit with grandiose plans and aims, compared himself to Tesla, and whatever his strengths or weaknesses, was undeniably genius in his ability with the rocks.
Leedskalnin's bed

Leedskalnin’s bed

inside the castle/garden

inside the castle/gardens

It’s not a huge property, and maybe one has seen bigger and better castles, most of it is an open garden after all.  But it’s one of those places that becomes more intriguing the more you look into it, the more you look at the boulders and wonder.  When you flex your thoughts and try to imagine how on earth it was done, then the true awe and mystery of the place opens up to you.
Only in staring at the giant masses of the coral can you get a feel for the accomplishment it was for one man to be able to construct what some call the “American Stonehedge.”
some of Coral Castle's planets and moons

some of Coral Castle’s planets and moons