The Chores

Anatomy of an Acreage
Matthew Miller

The unit known as 2470 Old Cheney Road

consists, for legal purposes, of an approximately 10. -acre property a little 5 south of Milford, Seward County, Nebraska. For longtime residents of the area, it may simply be referred to as the old Conklin place. Its human inhabitants and their friends know it simply as The Depot. Each of these designations assumes to a greater or lesser degree that the unit receives its unity and its identity from human actors. The address is a legal code signifying human location and ownership; the Conklin place ties the land to its former human inhabitants; and the Depot, though perhaps the least purely human appelation, still identifies the whole of the land simply with the house--a converted railroad depot. In fact, however, the unit considered here is made up of much more than legal designation, human inhabitants, or the human dwelling. The Depot (for so I will stubbornly call it, finding that the most convenient and warmest name) is made up not just of human laws and human dwellings, but of a wide range of entities, from the land itself to plants, animals, and technologies. The 10. acres of the property find their practical unity not so much in 5 the fact that all the land has one owner as in the work and dwelling of all the numerous entities which inhabit it. The Depot with its many inhabitants is maintained daily by the work of human inhabitants--by their chores--but also and equally by the work of minerals, animals, plants, and energies. Just as a city is sustained by its sewers and its public transit and its power lines, so the acreage is sustained by the work of these many actors. These entities create The Depot in their work together, in their relating. The following will explore these constituative chores undertaken by all inhabitants of The Depot and its grounds.

Getting a grasp on The Depot

Windbreak: rows of trees and bushes Woodlot: trees planted for fuel Sewage lagoon Duck coop (under tree) House and garage Manmade runoff pond Concrete driveway Here we trace the major features of The Depots landscape in order to help the reader get a grasp on the totality of the unit. Land, plants, animals, human infrastructure and elemental features all interact in this image. Steel barn

The Chores

Chicken coop and yard

Gardens

The Depots bounds encompass approximately 10. acres of land, most of it covered 5 with grass; four buildings and a treehouse; two bodies of water and a seasonal swimming pool; a concrete driveway totaling a city block in length; hundreds of trees, most of them planted over the last ten years; electric lines, water and sewage pipes, and culverts; and thousans of other plants.

Orchard F ront windbreak

Transforming The Depot

The known history of The Depot goes back to the mid-1970s, when a retired train conductor named Conklin moved Milfords unused train depot onto land south of town and converted it into a house. After his death, his widow lived on the property until 2001, when the current occupants moved in. In this undated photo from early in the propertys known history, several outbuildings can be seen that are no longer in existence, and the pond has not yet been dug. It is also noteable how many trees have been added: a few before 2001, but the vast majority by the current owners.

The Depot is situated just on the top of a slope down from a plateau which crosses most of a mile. The acreage continues this slope, but interrupts it in places: the ridge built up to contain the pond, the elevation under the house, and the ridge for the driveway. The soil is clayey and thus poor for most plants--but in key places it is being transformed: the garden patch at the top of the slope has been cultivated to produce better vegetables through a combination of human tilling, animal waste, and vegetable compost. (See the next page for an analysis of this process.)A strip along This image highlights places where the the back of the property, slope of the land has been transformed which holds the windbreak, within recent memory and in significant was once commercial farm- ways by human and nonhuman labor: blue land and has thus also been lines highlight ridges built up, yellow blocks cultivated. The land in ques- show cultivated patches, and the green tion is surrounded on most patch shows sewage treatment. of three sides by farmland that alternates year to year between corn and soybeans. The land is not merely the neutral location of much of The Depots various chores-in fact its care and maintenance make up many of those chores (cultivation), and its strengths and limits shape what must and can be done on the acreage. In its slope and its chemical composition it is a vital actor in the ongoing labor This image shows the view facing west from the actor in the ongoing chores. garden into the orchard, giving a sense of the slope of the land from east to west as well as showing the ridge built up for the driveway.

Land

Land

The Chores

Land

Land

The Chores

The topographical map above shows The Depots positioning at the top of a slope down from the nearby plateau. If one drives across the plateau on Old Cheney Road (at the bottom of the map), approaching The Depot from the east, only the houses television antenna can be seen above the rise of land. Standing in The Depots garden at the tip of the plateau and facing west affords one an excellent view of the lands gentle roll down to Coon Creek and the bottomland, and the ensuing sharp hill back up to prairie. This topographical position allowed for the creation of The Depots runoff pond by the creation of a small ridge or dam, and it also requires the house to be built up somewhat. Moreover, it affords The Depots inhabitants an excellent view of the sunset.

Treating the Garden Soil

In the spring, both a large tractor and rototiller are used to till the ground. The animals of the acreage are periodically allowed to till the ground as well. Manure from the chicken coop is added to the soil in the spring. Straw and/or hay, often harvested from the acreages own brome grass, are spring additions.

The land in the garden is treated extensively by the human inhabitants in order to provide better nutrients for plants that will provide food. Although the most labor-intensive elements of this process take place in the spring, ongoing work throughout the year continually improves the garden soil as an environment for growing vegetable plants. Actors involved in this labor include not just the human caretakers, but machines (a tractor, a rototiller, shovels, rakes), animals (chickens, ducks, geese, guineas), and materials such as vegetable compost, leaves, hay, straw, and chicken manure.

F allen leaves are added in the spring. Compost produced from vegetable waste is a continual addition. Ash from The Depots woodburning stoves is added throughout the winter.

The majority of The Depot is covered with brome grass, a hardy grass which only grows to about two feet tall and therefore does not require the human residents to cut grass over the entire 10 acres. Numerous trees are also present. A few of these trees have been on the property for years. The current residents, however, have added hundreds. The acre-and-a-half strip of land added to the back of the property was purchased specifically to add a windbreak--several rows of large trees and bushes to block the areas intense winds. Another stretch was added along the This image highlights the current inhabfront (south) side of the propitants addition of plants to The Depots erty. Intense technohuman landscape: yellow blocks show areas with labor has been required to a high concentration of garden plants and/ keep these young and growor flowers, and brown lines mark trees ing trees alive through the and bushes that have been planted since intense and drought-ridden 2001. summers of recent years: a custom-built water pump and tank are loaded into a trailer pulled by an old Ford tractor. Three people are required to run this operation: one to drive the tractor, and two to manage the hoses. The location of the most dense and diverse population of plant life, however, is the garden--three large beds (200 feet by 40 feet) which hold an ever-changing array of plant life, catalogued on the next page. These plants provide a good portion of the food for the lands human and avian inhabitants.

Plants

Plants

The Chores

The watering system at work: tractor, trailer with water tank and pump, and two children handling the hoses to water bushes.

Plants

Plants

The Chores

A Sampling of The Depots Plants

Peach trees

Volunteer cauliflower

Snow-covered spruce

Cherry peppers

Redbor kale

Jelly bean cherry tomato vine

Queen Lime zinnia

Milkweed

Ripe peppers off the vine

Orange-glo watermelon

Fennel gone to seed

Snow-covered swamp willow

Cherry tree

Other Plants

Mulberry (left) & cottonwood (right) trees

Ripe tomatoes off the vine

Blueberry bush

Trees: apple, pear, apricot, pluot, plum, ponderosa pine, Jack pine, Burr oak, hazelnut, ash, thornless locust, Russian olive, scotch pine, linden, catalpa, weeping willow, decorative plum, silver maple, poplar, cedar. Others: raspberry bushes, summer squash, blackberry bushes, Swiss chard, dewberry bushes, potatoes, honeysuckle, sweet potatoes, elderberry bushes, dandelions, chokecherry bushes, thistles, lilac bushes, sweet corn, wild plum bushes, onions, radishes, rhubarb, pumpkins, brome grass, gooseneck gourds, zoysia grass, bell peppers, irises, habenero peppers, clover, jalapenos, butternut squash, canteloupe, honeydew melon, horseradish, moon-and-stars watermelon, strawberry bushes, acorn squash, jicama, basil, snap peas, peonies, string beans, day lilies, carrots, okra, cucumbers, red lettuce, garlic, arugula, oak leaf lettuce, bleeding hearts, beets, phlox, bush beans, forsythia bush, peppermint, grape tomatoes, catnip, Queen Annes lace, zucchini, asparagus, wild hemp, Creeping Charlie, pansies, alfalfa.

Key: perennial, annual.

The acreage plays home to a wide variety of animal and insect life, both those which dwell with the humans and those who do not. Currently, the largest populations on the land are the chickens and the bees: around 50 chickens and approximately 40-50,000 bees in two hives. The human inhabitants of the acreage harvest eggs, meat, honey, and joy from these co-dwellers. Other dwellers include 2 dogs (an Australian shepherd and a lab mix), 5 cats, 5 pearl guineas, 2 ducks, and a goose. Most of the animals are provided for by the humans, although the This image highlights the primary habitats birds forage for some of their of The Depots domestic animals: blue areas feed, and the bees for all of it. for cats and dogs, yellow for ducks and Other animals dwell on the geese, and rose for chickens. Any one of the land despite human puranimals is liable to be found in other places poses. Particularly in years in the property, but the map shown here where the surrounding land marks their habitual rounds. Humans, bees, is covered with tall corn, and guineas range over the entire property predators such as foxes, on a regular basis. coyotes, skunks, hawks, and the occasional mountain lion are always interested in a chicken or duck for dinner. F rogs large and small sing from the pond and the sewage lagoon on summer nightsm and grasshoppers swarm the yard. Wild birds dwelling in the area include barn swallows, cardinals, orioles, bluebirds, eastern The chicken coop, shown here in a meadowlarks, sparrows, and perspective from the west, includes starlings. Squirrels never two doors (one human, one chicken), show up on the property: the and a yard with an eight-foot-tall tree cover is too young and fence for times when the chickens provides little food, so they need to be confined. keep their habitat down by Coon Creek.

Animals

Animals

The Chores

How The Depots Animals Relate

Animals

Animals

The Chores

The Depots animals interact in a variety of ways, mostly friendly--although the dogs and cats sometimes menace the chickens, peace is more common. Indeed, as the previous pages diagram shows, the primary territories of the animals often do not overlap. On the relatively rare occasion when the goose encounters a chicken, her interest is mild, as pictured above. The Depots human inhabitants maintain a higher level of engagement with most of the animals, feeding and caring for them. The chickens require the most care, as evidenced by their larger domicile. Interactions with non-domestic animals can be less friendly: skunks and foxes are chased by both humans and dogs, and grasshoppers are tolerated at best.

Caring for the Chickens: the Caretakerss Report

In this excerpt from personal correspondance, the chickens main caretaker describes her daily routine in providing for the acreages largest animal group. I go out in the morning, approximately 8:00 a.m., carrying kitchen scraps. I refill waterers, fill feeder with cracked corn/commercial feed mixture, and let Little Red into the yard. (She sleeps in the vine on the house, near my bedroom window.) I let the chickens out of the coop, into their yard, and secure the gate. . . . I pick up eggs usually two times--once in the morning, and later in the afternoon, when I let the chickens out of their yard. The chickens stay in the yard until late afternoon to keep them safe from predators, and to keep them from scratching my gardens up completely, which theyd do if I gave them free reign (so to speak) all day long. I keep a timer hooked up to a light in the chicken coop to keep the chickens from sleeping too much, thereby keeping them from going into a molt. At dusk, the chickens (and the goose, Lucy) go into the coop voluntarily, and I walk out and secure their doors, and bolt the gate against predators. About once a week, Ill grab a pitchfork and fork up the chicken litter in the coop, to keep it composting nicely. I add a fresh bale of straw every month or two, or hay, or leaves. In the winter, I provide a heated water bucket in the coop, and feed if the chickens get snowed in (they hate the snow).

Dogs, humans, and chickens interacting near the chicken coop.

Although the human inhabitants of The Depot are highly self-sufficient, they are not without dependence on the world outside their 10. acres. 5 And indeed, what we often think of as the infrastructure which supports human life turns out in this case to support animal and plant life as well: electricity and running water are necessary in this location for the sustenance of chickens and trees as well as humans. Two water pumps have been installed near the garden and the pond to provide for plant and animal needs, and an electric line has been run out to the chicken coop to power a heat This image marks the infrastructure which lamp. All inhabitants of The supports human needs in the house as well Depot benefit from an excel- as providing support for animal and plant life: blue lines and dots mark the well plus lent well in the backyard with 50 feet of water. Electric- water lines and pumps, yellow lines and dots ity is provided by the Seward trace electrical lines and light poles, and County Public Power District, green lines show sewage pipes. Internet and phone service come through Windstream, and trash pickup by Rons Refuse.

People

People

The Chores

Sewage Treatment
Like many homes outside the reach of municipal sewers, The Depot treats its own sewage on-site. Sewage is piped into a square lagoon, lined with material to prevent seepage. Wind, air, and bacteria evaporate and decompose the waste. The Depots lagoon is unnecessarily large because it was built for the houses original six bathrooms. F rogs love the lagoon and grow to great size in it.

Weather
Sun

Weather

The Chores

Wind

Summer sun and drought cause cracks in the backyard. The sun is both a vital source of energy and pleasure for The Depots inhabitants and a source of danger--combined with the areas frequent droughts, it kills plants and causes the cracks in the earth you see above. Temperatures in the area range from -10 to 110 F ahrenheit.

F unnel-cloud-like tufts form in a stormcloud above The Depot. Constant prairie wind is the most ubiquitous climate influence on The Depot. Even when it does not form tornados (which have not hit The Depot) or dust devils (which have), the constant blowing dries out the ground and tires the inhabitants. Average yearly windspeed for the area is 10.1 mpg.

Rain

Snow

A rare (double) rainbow. Rain is always welcomed at The Depot. In its absence, plants must be watered with a great amount of effort, the pond shrinks to a puddle, and the earth cracks. Although the months of May and June are often wet, July and August are typically very dry. Average annual rainfall in the area is only between 25 and 30 inches.

The snowy yard and garden as seen from the house. Snow is an important source of moisture as well as pleasure at The Depot--as the picture above shows, it does not stay untrampled for long. However, it also requires work in plowing the lands block-long driveway--work for which the Ford tractor is a big help. Average annual snowfall is 27.8 inches.

On Sources
All images, unless otherwise noted, come from Amy Young Miller and her intrepid team of assistants, Timothy Miller and Amalia Miller. Some were sent to me directly; others were found on her F acebook page or her blog, vomitingchicken.com. The historical aerial image of The Depot was provided to the Millers by their one-time neighbors the Knesses--the photographer is unknown. The contemporary aerial image of The Depot was obtained from Google Earth. The map compass is a public domain image entitled Route map compass.png, created by Wikimedia Commons user Northwest-historian. The topographical map was downloaded from the U.S. Geographical Surveys website nationalmap.gov. The straw included in the soil treatment graphic was drawn from the image Wurfnest Wildschweinbache mit F rischlingen Ketsch, by Wikimedia Commons user 4028mdk09. The rotoiller included in the soil treatment graphic was drawn from the image TroyBiltHorse by Wikimedia Commons user Nwdata. The image of a sewage lagoon came from the University of Nebraska-Lincolns extension website, lancaster.unl.edu, and was taken by V Jedlicka. Most images were . edited somewhat by myself. Information for the project was mostly gathered from my memories of having lived at The Depot from 2001-2006 and visiting there ever since, as well as from correspondance with Amy Young Miller and perusal of her websites. Temperature and precipitation data was drawn from the National Weather Services Climate Prediction Center at cpc.ncep.noaa.gov. Windspeed and snowfall data were provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Climactic Data Center at ncdc.noaa.gov. Information about acreage sewage lagoons came from the University of NebraskaLincolns extension website, lancaster.unl.edu. Rachel Miller provided creative consultation. Timothy Miller provided technical support. Nathaniel Rivers and the Saint Louis University Department of English provided printing and access to a MacBook with Photoshop and InDesign. The text is set in Spatha Sans, created by The Chocolate Serif (headings), and Jura, created by Ed Merritt of tenbytwenty.com (body).

The Chores by Matthew Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, permitting noncommercial sharing and adaptation of the work with proper attribution and licensing. See creativecommons.org for details.