A Champion juicer

Today in a country junk shop in Yadkin County, I came across a Champion juicer for $50. That’s a much better price than one can get on eBay. New, Champion juicers sell for over $200. This one is the current model (G5-NG-853-S) and is in excellent condition.

I’ve thought about buying a Champion juicer for a long time, but the price put me off. Not only are they useful, but they’re also a classic piece of engineering. Replacement parts and accessories are available on the Champion web site for a surprisingly reasonable price. They have a grain mill attachment for less than $75. I’ve wanted a grain mill anyway, and that would get double duty out of that beautiful motor.

The garden path

Ken finished a project yesterday that had been needed for a long time. He made a garden path from the side porch to the garden gate, using stones from a local quarry and granite sand as the base.


Ken kept an eye on the baby chickens while he worked.


Not that they had any interest in running away.


The hens, always nosy, want to know what this highway is that’s appeared at their back door.


Can you espy the baby chicken?

Going all organic


Ken spreads soybean meal.

Originally, my plan for Acorn Abbey was to have an all-organic garden but to use chemical fertilizers for the lawn. I have changed my mind. All organic is the way to go.

Reading more books about organic gardening, and Googling for more information on earthworms, is what convinced me to go all organic. Previously my reasoning was that there wasn’t much downside to using chemical fertilizers on the grass as long as I didn’t use any herbicides or pesticides. But more reading has convinced me that it’s all about earthworms. Chemical fertilizers are just plain bad for the biology of the soil. Regular use of chemical fertilizers causes organic matter in the soil to be burned up. This starves the earthworms. Actually it’s a double whammy for the earthworms, because not only is their food source burned away, the chemicals also are toxic to the worms.

I learned that the benefits provided by earthworms go far beyond their ability to digest organic matter in the soil and convert the organic matter to forms more suitable for plants to use. Earthworms also dig burrows (largely vertical, and much deeper than I can till) in the soil. These burrows “till” the soil and provide channels that improve the ability of soil to deeply absorb rainwater. Plant roots also tend to follow the burrows downward, so plants can root more deeply in soil that has been tilled by earthworms.

That seals the deal for me — deep tilling and better absorption of rainwater. Earthworms help soil catch more water, channel the water deeper, and improve plants’ access to water, not to mention plants’ drought resistance.

Soybean meal is said to be the equivalent of a 7-2-1 fertilizer. That’s more nitrogen than the 5-4-3 fertilizer based on chicken manure that I’ve been using in the garden. The 7-2-1 fertilizer alone is probably fine for the grass. For the garden I’ll probably start concocting my own organic fertilizer with soybean meal, lime, and an organic phosphate source.

Soybean meal is also easy to get. I have to drive 60 miles each way to get commercial organic fertilizers in 50 pounds bags. But the local mill in Walnut Cove always has soybean meal. The price is about the same as the 5-4-3 organic fertilizer.

I think this is particularly important in my orchard, where the earthworms will help get nutrients to the roots of the fruit trees.

Today Ken spread 500 pounds of soybean meal everywhere — grass, orchard, garden and wildflower patches. From this day forward, Acorn Abbey is all organic.

Cabbage report

The weather for the past week has been perfect cabbage-growing weather — frequent rain, sunny days in the 70s, and warm nights. The cabbages are going crazy.


This, I believe, is not a cabbage but one of its brethren — broccoli, brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. I have quite a few of each.


I’m disappointed at how few apple blossoms I have this year.

Update on the chicken children

The baby chickens have been with us for six days now. They’re thriving. They live in the warmest spot in the house — inside the south-facing bay window in Ken’s room.

Keeping them in cardboard boxes just doesn’t work very well. It’s hard to keep things clean, and the babies can’t see out. So I splurged on a bird cage at Pet Smart. It was on sale, but still the cost of it is something that will have to be justified over many years. All future generations of baby chickens will be able to use it. I’ll just wash it and put it in the attic between generations.

The new chickens are Golden Comets, like Ruth. Ruth is a better layer than the two Barred Rock hens, and laying is what it’s all about.

Baby chickens

Yesterday was baby chicken day, a day we’d been waiting for since the note appeared on the bulletin board at the roller mill giving the date — April 4 — when this year’s spring chickens would arrive from the hatchery.

We had talked a great deal about how to encourage one of the hens to adopt the two chicks. But no one was interested. Patience and Chastity were curious but aloof, and Ruth even got hostile at one point and pecked at one of the chicks. Nobody got hurt, but nobody got adopted. We’ve fallen back on Plan B — raising the chicks indoors in a box with a heat lamp until they’re big enough to take care of themselves.


Chastity is not sure she approves.


The big girls show the little girls how to drink.


Yum. Well water.


At the roller mill. Photos by Ken Ilgunas

Why I'll never have a B&B license

Not that I’d ever want Acorn Abbey to be a bed and breakfast, but even if I did, the health department would never give me a license. Cats are not allowed in B&B kitchens.

Lily is almost as nosy as Ruth, one of the chickens. I easily convinced her that she doesn’t like spinach, but she still wanted to watch and get in the way.


Photos by Ken Ilgunas