Well, that didn't take long now did it? Yesterday the husband and I put together a compost pile. We had some left over fence material from where we planted the peas. We staked it on a 4 ft. radius. We wrapped the fence around the stakes and then tie strapped the fence together. It seriously only took 20 minutes and we were done. The husband started laughing at me as I was dumping all of the kitchen scraps and leaf piles into it. Look, it doesn't take much to please me these days. Any progress made is making me happy.
We had my father over for dinner last night. He was very excited for us with all of the progress we have made since the last time he was here. He even got into the spirit of homesteading... he kept walking around the yard mentally planning where he would put several things. (OH, over here you should put some fruit trees and here you could put the rain barrels and oh, I've been thinking about the chicken coop design...) I just smiled. I love him. He is leaving for 4 months next week for work. So, I will definatly be excited for him to return to see the garden at harvest time.
I've been looking on craig's list for fence material and wood to build the coop with. I emailed several people that had privacy fence for sale pretty cheap. I am really hoping that someone answeres my emails soon. You never know, someone might even say "come get it, I am tired of looking at it"... well, one can hope right?
Alright, I need to move on to my organizing of the house this week. I have several piles of laundry to do and get put away... the never ending saga. The children's rooms need to be put back together too. I did get the kitchen done, somewhat yesterday. We'll see what kind of progress is made this week. I am determined, finally.
Bess ya'll,
Jamie
About Me
- Jamie Allen
- Newington, GA, United States
- I am a stay at home mother with 3 children. I have a very loving husband and I love my life... most days, lol. We live in a small country house in a very small country town in Georgia.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Homestead pictures... Finally!
The garden.
The peas.
The peas have a fence to vine up as they grow.
We have 2 trees out front that we didn't know what they were. We think, after much research on the internet, that they are some kind of pear tree. Hopefully they are not Bradford pears. We want them to be common pear trees that we can eat the fruit of. See the little pear like fruit starting to take shape?
My garden goodies, this is carrots and turnips, cabbage, and lettuce. The leaves have just started to change shape.
My garden from the front. Every row has it's own plant. The kids helped me make the row markers. We used popsicle sticks and foam sheets and just wrote on them with sharpie markers. They are holding up well.
My tomato sprouts. They have just stated to show through the dirt.
The tomato bed.
The onion bed.
And of course our little chicks. Jacob, Lucy (aka Lulu) and Rainbow. The kids named them, can't you tell. They are Golden comets. Jacob, the cockrel will be white as a rooster and the girls will be a copper/penny color as hens. According to my research, these are fast maturing chickens and we should have eggs within 3-4 months. I can't wait. We are starting to plan the coop and will start building that soon. The children are most excited over having the job of collecting the eggs.
We have done a lot around here in the last few weeks. As you can see we have a lot more to do. We only have about 10 weeks to get the coop built. I have been calling all of our family and friends to see if they have any spare scrap wood that we can use to help cut down the cost of building materials. We want to build this as "green" as possible. And let's face it, it doesn't hurt to save a little money either.
I am striving to fill my freezer and pantry with "reserve" food by the end of summer. Also, we want to start a compost pile. We walked the yard this morning to plan where everything will go. We are getting an old moving truck body from my dad for storage. We have been using it at his house for almost a year anyway. He wants to clean up the yard, so he is planning on having it brought to us via tow truck soon. We can really use the storage too. Here is my list of things to do in the next 10 weeks. It looks like a lot, but really some of these things won't take much time to get done.
1. Fill freezer/pantry with reserve food.
2. Build coop for chickens.
3. Get truck body moved here and looking decent. Needs to be painted.
4. Get compost pile started.**DONE!! Yeah!
5. Harvest garden and put up veggies- canning or freezing.
6. Plan the fall garden, get seeds.
7. Have house organized and keep cleaned.
8. Get something done about getting electrical done in kitchen so that I can get a dishwasher installed, finally.
9. Somehow keep my sanity during all of this.
10.rework the family budget- We want to be living on only 70% income by the end of summer. We want to save 30% for future.
11. Change the way we think about money. We want our money to work for us, not us work for our money. If the money we spend doesn't come back to us in one form or another, we won't buy it. (ie: I would rather buy a fruit tree for $15 instead of going to the grocery store and spending $15 on 10 apples. Why do that when you can have all the apples you want from your $15 tree?)
12. Get the list ready for what fruit trees we will be adding to the property this year. Start setting aside money to purchase them.
13. Get rain barrels and have plumbed to water the garden with.
14. Change the way I run our kitchen... (ie: make sure that I keep all food scraps for the compost pile, and not let the children raid the food whenever they want.)
So, as you can see the next 10 weeks or longer will be full of hard work and lots of determination on our part. We (I) want to be as close to self sufficient as we can be by the end of the year. So these next several weeks will mean a lot to that goal.
I would love to know if anyone out there has any other ideas about being more self sufficient on a small scale. I'll keep updating the garden pictures as it grows.
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
The peas.
The peas have a fence to vine up as they grow.
We have 2 trees out front that we didn't know what they were. We think, after much research on the internet, that they are some kind of pear tree. Hopefully they are not Bradford pears. We want them to be common pear trees that we can eat the fruit of. See the little pear like fruit starting to take shape?
My garden goodies, this is carrots and turnips, cabbage, and lettuce. The leaves have just started to change shape.
My garden from the front. Every row has it's own plant. The kids helped me make the row markers. We used popsicle sticks and foam sheets and just wrote on them with sharpie markers. They are holding up well.
My tomato sprouts. They have just stated to show through the dirt.
The tomato bed.
The onion bed.
And of course our little chicks. Jacob, Lucy (aka Lulu) and Rainbow. The kids named them, can't you tell. They are Golden comets. Jacob, the cockrel will be white as a rooster and the girls will be a copper/penny color as hens. According to my research, these are fast maturing chickens and we should have eggs within 3-4 months. I can't wait. We are starting to plan the coop and will start building that soon. The children are most excited over having the job of collecting the eggs.We have done a lot around here in the last few weeks. As you can see we have a lot more to do. We only have about 10 weeks to get the coop built. I have been calling all of our family and friends to see if they have any spare scrap wood that we can use to help cut down the cost of building materials. We want to build this as "green" as possible. And let's face it, it doesn't hurt to save a little money either.
I am striving to fill my freezer and pantry with "reserve" food by the end of summer. Also, we want to start a compost pile. We walked the yard this morning to plan where everything will go. We are getting an old moving truck body from my dad for storage. We have been using it at his house for almost a year anyway. He wants to clean up the yard, so he is planning on having it brought to us via tow truck soon. We can really use the storage too. Here is my list of things to do in the next 10 weeks. It looks like a lot, but really some of these things won't take much time to get done.
1. Fill freezer/pantry with reserve food.
2. Build coop for chickens.
3. Get truck body moved here and looking decent. Needs to be painted.
4. Get compost pile started.**DONE!! Yeah!
5. Harvest garden and put up veggies- canning or freezing.
6. Plan the fall garden, get seeds.
7. Have house organized and keep cleaned.
8. Get something done about getting electrical done in kitchen so that I can get a dishwasher installed, finally.
9. Somehow keep my sanity during all of this.
10.rework the family budget- We want to be living on only 70% income by the end of summer. We want to save 30% for future.
11. Change the way we think about money. We want our money to work for us, not us work for our money. If the money we spend doesn't come back to us in one form or another, we won't buy it. (ie: I would rather buy a fruit tree for $15 instead of going to the grocery store and spending $15 on 10 apples. Why do that when you can have all the apples you want from your $15 tree?)
12. Get the list ready for what fruit trees we will be adding to the property this year. Start setting aside money to purchase them.
13. Get rain barrels and have plumbed to water the garden with.
14. Change the way I run our kitchen... (ie: make sure that I keep all food scraps for the compost pile, and not let the children raid the food whenever they want.)
So, as you can see the next 10 weeks or longer will be full of hard work and lots of determination on our part. We (I) want to be as close to self sufficient as we can be by the end of the year. So these next several weeks will mean a lot to that goal.
I would love to know if anyone out there has any other ideas about being more self sufficient on a small scale. I'll keep updating the garden pictures as it grows.
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Goings on around the Homestead.
Well, I haven't had time to think let alone take any pictures. The kids went back to school this week. They were on Spring break last week. They are doing a lot of work this week, getting ready for their yearly standardized testing (CRCT). They come home so tired, but still have homework to get done.
We went strawberry picking yesterday after school. We came home with quite the bounty... 23 lbs of berries. I have frozen 5 gallons and we have a big bowl of them in the fridge for the kids to snack on. It's a good thing that they don't charge us for the ones that get eaten in the field.
We got the garden planted and looking nice. I am getting imapatient. I guess that is normal for newbies to gardening. I am anxious to harvest already. The kids are getting antsy too. They helped me tremendously getting it ready to plant. They all argue over who gets to water it. What is it about a water hose with children?
The baby chicks are doing great. My son and I went yesterday morning to get them a feeder and a waterer. We also picked up a 25 lb bag of starter scratch. We also got a dog kennel from my dad to put them in. They seem to like having more space. The kids ask to take them out every afternoon and I let them for a few minutes. The chicks have started trying out their wings. They are also very fast. When we let them out, they run around so fast, the kids get a kick out of watching them.
We had a death on the homestead this morning. My husband went outside this morning to go to work and the cat was laying outside the door, stiff. We don't know what happened to her, but there was no blood. I wonder if she didn't get bitten by a snake or something. Hubby took her to work with him in a box to bury her there. We didn't want the children to see her and he didn't have time to bury her here this morning. I was also worried about vultures coming to perch. We are sad to lose her. We haven't had her that long. She was a stray that took up here, and we loved her. She was a cuddly thing, never had a cat that liked her belly rubbed. I wonder if she didn't think she was a dog.
So, that is all that has happened here lately. Hope everything is going great where you are (Becky, seems you are the only one that reads this) and have a great day/week/month.
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
We went strawberry picking yesterday after school. We came home with quite the bounty... 23 lbs of berries. I have frozen 5 gallons and we have a big bowl of them in the fridge for the kids to snack on. It's a good thing that they don't charge us for the ones that get eaten in the field.
We got the garden planted and looking nice. I am getting imapatient. I guess that is normal for newbies to gardening. I am anxious to harvest already. The kids are getting antsy too. They helped me tremendously getting it ready to plant. They all argue over who gets to water it. What is it about a water hose with children?
The baby chicks are doing great. My son and I went yesterday morning to get them a feeder and a waterer. We also picked up a 25 lb bag of starter scratch. We also got a dog kennel from my dad to put them in. They seem to like having more space. The kids ask to take them out every afternoon and I let them for a few minutes. The chicks have started trying out their wings. They are also very fast. When we let them out, they run around so fast, the kids get a kick out of watching them.
We had a death on the homestead this morning. My husband went outside this morning to go to work and the cat was laying outside the door, stiff. We don't know what happened to her, but there was no blood. I wonder if she didn't get bitten by a snake or something. Hubby took her to work with him in a box to bury her there. We didn't want the children to see her and he didn't have time to bury her here this morning. I was also worried about vultures coming to perch. We are sad to lose her. We haven't had her that long. She was a stray that took up here, and we loved her. She was a cuddly thing, never had a cat that liked her belly rubbed. I wonder if she didn't think she was a dog.
So, that is all that has happened here lately. Hope everything is going great where you are (Becky, seems you are the only one that reads this) and have a great day/week/month.
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Giveaway notice... I love these!
So, as you know, we received a gift of 3 baby chicks last night. I read a lot of farming blogs so I knew right where to go to seek help with them. I went to the "Life on a Southern Farm" blog, and she graciously answered my questions for me. She is having a giveaway this week. Chicken nest boxes that her husband (aka Farm man) builds himself. The giveaway is for a double nest box. I am really hoping I win, but I wanted to let you know about it too. Even if you or I don't win, they have great prices for these nest boxes, so go check them out.
(I am not so bloggy inclined, so I hope that this link works, if not, go to www.georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com)
Good luck
Jamie
(I am not so bloggy inclined, so I hope that this link works, if not, go to www.georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com)
Good luck
Jamie
Monday, April 13, 2009
Baby Chicks!!
EEK!!! I have been after my husband for several months about us getting some chickens. We only have a half an acre with our house, and we also live within the city limits, but there is no rule against chickens. And think of all of the free eggs honey... This has been my arguement. His arguement was that we really don't have the room, or the money to build a coop. Well, our neighbors don't seem to have a problem with us having chickens. Actually, they surprised us this afternoon with 3 baby chicks for the children to raise. We got 2 hens and 1 rooster baby. Right now they are in a box in our laundry room, all cozy with a lamp for extra warmth and chicken scratch and water. We'll have a couple of weeks to figure out the coop, but until then, the kids and I are in baby chick heaven. As soon as I take some good pictures of our new babies, I'll post it. Until then, I will be surfing the net to figure out what type of chickens they are.
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
Bless ya'll,
Jamie
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I have planted my garden and I am getting antsy for it to be grown already. I hope I am not the only one that gets this way. I started my seeds 3 weeks ago, and they took off. My sweet bell peppers and my jalepino peppers haven't been planted yet, they are still sprouting. I also want to succession plant, so I have just started my squash and zucchini and green beans. I should be able to plant them in a couple of weeks. I have't taken any pictures of them or the garden yet, but I will soon and post them. Keep in mind that this is my first garden, so don't be too excited. It isn't a professional garden by far.
The kids have been out of school this past week for Spring break, it went by so quickly. They helped me out alot in the garden, digging the rows. They aren't ready to go back to school. They only have another week until they take the CRCT tests, and I am a little worried. I just get nervous, this is Hannah's first time taking them and she doesnt' do well on timed tests. She gets that from me.
Any who... I only had a minute to get this post done, so now I have to get dinner started.
Bless ya,
Jamie
The kids have been out of school this past week for Spring break, it went by so quickly. They helped me out alot in the garden, digging the rows. They aren't ready to go back to school. They only have another week until they take the CRCT tests, and I am a little worried. I just get nervous, this is Hannah's first time taking them and she doesnt' do well on timed tests. She gets that from me.
Any who... I only had a minute to get this post done, so now I have to get dinner started.
Bless ya,
Jamie
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Give away notice!!
Hey, just wanted to let you all know about this great site called "Food Storage Made Easy". I have fallen in love with this site/blog and hope you do to. Right now, they are having a give away for a binder with all of the baby steps to starting food storage. Check them out and let me know what you think.http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/04/06/food-storage-binder-giveaway/
Jamie
Jamie
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