I have been lurking along watching your progress but I felt I really should tell you how impressed I am at the job you have done. Wow kudos to you for even taking on this project . I hope you don't burn yourself out working and remodeling. I don't see how you can think about gardening with all these projects to do to get finished, plus the shelters for critters. You are a determined person so I'm sure you will manage all of it. I couldn't ,since I retired I can't seem to multitask anymore. Best of Luck Cindy
planning to make the move to self-sufficiency
Riverland, thanks for the boost :)
I am fortunate to have a very good friend who is out there with me nearly every time I go to work. She has been amazing to keep me positive and help. My dad and brother are helping me on weekends with the heavy stuff. I am lucky to have some gr8 ppl in my life who are wicked smart! I am being careful not to burn out. I tell myself daily, I have a lifetime to finish these projects I am not on a timeline, but this is the life I have dreamed of for for so long and I can't wait to be living my dream!
Angi... how did you lose your DH? Don't reply if it's too painful.
Darius, He was in a car accident 6 years ago.
Darius, it's ok. I'm fine about it. He was in a car accident 6 years ago. The irony of the thing is that 2 months before he had been declared cancer free after battling colon cancer.
So sorry. You sound young enough that I wondered if he had been military. We've lost so many young men in the Middle East wars.
Yes Darius we have lost too many. I married very young and unfortunately, was widowed at 26. But I have never been in a hurry to replace him and now I just feel comfortable with being alone. This is a dream that we shared... Living off the land and being debt free. A few acres and some critters for company.
How lovely that you can pursue the dream you and he shared!
Ok, an update on progress...
I have insulation and drywall on my west wall in living room and kitchen! And I learned how to tape and mud! Very exciting. Painting is progressing in other aareas as well. I also now have cabinets (my parents bought them for me as a surprise!) They will be installed in the next few weeks.
This weekend I cleared my west slope end of my driveway. It is my future strawberry patch. Also have started moving some rotting trees t my future hugelkultur bed. My garden patch at my neighbors is tilled and I am looking forward to working on it and getting things planted there.
My friend and I bought chicks and ducklings and out of 21 have lost 1 polish. They are a hoot! They are staying in a coop her husband built for her until I move then some or most will movewith me.
I also have found an abundance of wild strawberries growing on my place. Lets hope they produce! Along with all the blackberries and. Raspberries I should have plenty of jelly and pie filling this year.
I will post pics, or at least try to.
Looks like you are knocking out those jobs pretty fast. Looks great. Love the chicks.
Cute babies, esp. the duckling.
Congrats on getting some walls up! :) Can I give you a tip without sounding critical? If you hang sheetrock with the long seams horizontal instead of vertical, they won't show nearly as much when light hits them. It might mean a tad more waste but worth it in the long run.
Darius, thanks for the tip. The reason I hung them vertical is my sidewalls are 7 foot tall. I know there will be flaws in them bc the studs are bowed and the trailer is so not even close to being square. I did opt for convenience on this, I admit.
I also have an all black duck, but didn't get a pic of it by itself. Not surr what breed ducks they are or even what they will end up looking like when grown. And don't know how to sex a duckling. So.... Between my 2 and my friend's 2,we will sort them when grown so that 1 of us doesn't have all males. Same with the chicks.
Didn't I read somewhere that only the female ducks quack? Or something like that...
I have about decided that if I can ever get some fowl to raise, it will be ducks, not chickens... and maybe some caged quail.
Cool. That may be idk. But none sre quacking yet. Just peep peep peep.
So I am curious why Quail? I'm also looking for guineas. The ticks are already terrible here!
Oh I forgot a couple of guinea hens for the ticks!
Bobwhite Quail because they are edible, and quick to reach meat size. I said caged but I think a large, fully enclosed pen if I get quail (because they can fly) other than Bobwhite. That's real iffy for a year or two.
Here's what a little research brought up:
- They are native to a little more than half of the US, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico
- Their habitat has been decreasing in many parts of the country
- Their eggs are said to be more nutritious than chicken eggs, and even medicinal
- They thrive on early to mid succession, so could be great for rotational grazing of a patch mozaic style forest garden.
- They're readily available for purchase from many breeders across the country.
Right now I'm working hard to convert from row gardening to establishing edible self-maintaining food forests, and then I can incorporate some ducks. I could use them right now to control the slugs, but not ready with housing, pond, etc. for at least another year.
I should add (again, I think) that I have started some rare (perennial) Babington's Leek, more than I need, if anyone is interested in trying a few. Will trade for fruit scions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/21/alys-fowler-alliums
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/144501/
http://quosac.blogspot.com/2006/12/babington-leeks.html
The food forest idea interests me. I would be interested in which plants work best in this style of growing. I grew up listening to the bobwhites at night. I have heard that as cedar trees spread the quail leave, not sure how accurate but sounds good.
Angi, there's a whole mountain of information available about edible food forest gardening. Best thing (in my opinion) is to go to the library and check out Toby Hemenway's "Gaia's Garden" (pref. 2nd edition). Go to YouTube and search for videos; Toby's book is MUCH better but the videos do show some working projects. I've been reading and studying everything I can get my hands on for over a year (including some University text books via inter/intra-library loans) and I barely know much. It can be almost like a crash course in everything about Mother Nature!
There's also a lot of information on http://permies.com scattered about on the permaculture forum there. It's free; the guy who runs it is an autocratic jerk (his words) but the information both from him and all the members is wonderful. Check out their other forums too, like Homesteading.
There's also a free University Course, Introduction to Permaculture online from NC State University. You don't even have to register. I'm only watching about 1 class a week, 'cause I'm almost as busy as you are. Here's the link:
http://mediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=1ec0688b-568a-4a47-a8ca-8926e7b4ef1b
It makes the most sense of anything I've ever learned about gardening (and more). Hugelkultur can (and should) be a part of it, but it goes far deeper than that, into what plants together nourish each other so we don't need to buy/add chemical fertilizers. This year, like last year, I'm integrating annual vegetables with the perennial foods, and hopefully starting a few more guilds. In 5 years they all should be 90%-95% self-sustaining.
Thanks for all that. I have tons to study now. I think combining some hugelkultur beds with some other methods will make the most sense for me till I get it figured out.
I got more of my yard cleared out today, and without all the briars and brush I actually have a really nice backyard:) it was very exciting to sit on my back step and picture it next year and the years after as i get projects done.
The chicks and ducks are getting sooooo big. Except for what we think are polish. I need to look up their growth bc those little things are dwarfed by the others lol. They are quickly outgrowing the brooder pen we have them in now. And we got a small kiddie pool for the ducks @ dollar general today. Much better idea than scrubbing out the bathtub everytime we let the ducks go for a swim. My friends kids were NOT real thrilled with sharing their tub with livestock. I just don't get kids these days lol.
I did get some of my walls sanded so I think that will be fairly easy to do and slap a 2nd coat of mud on. We'll see this weekend.
Since I have some drain pipes to replace I am considering aand plotting a gray water usage system. Routing my bathtub, washing machine, and possibly bathroom sink to graywater tanks. I will have rainbarrels separate but trying to figure out the logistics of my plan. Any ideas? I figure this is the best time before I get my bottom of my trailer all insulated and covered aand sealed up tight.
I am obsessed with this remodel aand I know my friends aand family and co workers must think I am crazy because it's all that's on my mind. Either building or painting or gardening or critters, my brain is on overload. And i love it hehehehehe. I can't wait to be livingthe life:)
Planning for greywater NOW is a great idea! I took off just the line from the washing machine this year, and plan on a series of small shallow ponds soon, like Toby Hemenway describes in Gaia's Garden, to filter the water before it reaches my veggie garden and my creek. Of course, that means changing to a better detergent for washing clothes, too.
I make my own detergent using fels naptha, its the duggar family recipe. My husband and I used our washing machine water to water flowers by accident. For some reason the washer ran str8 to the sewer ditch instead of the septic. Anyway it got crushed over time andleaked into flowerbeds. We always had the prettiest flowers!!! Lol. I am thinking bath water would be good to use as well. Seems a waste to send it to septic. I mean, I paid for it and all. Might as well get my full dollars worth;)
I need to check into the filtration ponds I guess, I just figured the gray water was ok running through soaker hose or via buckets to water garden and flowers.
Lots of progress on the place... Inside anyway. The wall in my living room that I have been stressing over is done!!!!! Almost. The rotten parts are replaced, and tomorrow the insulation aand sheetrock goes up. I am blessed with amazing friends and parents. A friend and her brother came overtoday and ripped out the closet floor where the water heater had leaked and rotted the floor. He is also an electrician so he set me up with plenty of gfi outlets, added some outlets, and traced out all my wires. All I have left to do on my first waall of drywall is a skim coat. I'm getting the hang of mudding now. My mom helped me scrub my ceilings so tomorrow I primer and paint ceilings.
Outside, I have made some more progress pulling the briars and brush.
Also, I was GIVEN 16 yards of creek gravel, thousands of daffodills, about 100 landscape timbers, a bunch of stepping stones and boulders, birdfeeders and shepherd hooks, and decking from a porch. My brother has a friend who just bought a house and is redoing the entire yard. One mans trash is definitely this girls treasure!
Yup, sounds like lots of progress on the house... and the yard gifts are fantastic!
My sheetrock is all hung!!! Yay!
Ok, I have a confession to make: I didn't get much done today. Instead I went to the lake and dipped my feet in the water. And took a long walk and enjoyed the beautiful day after church.
That being said, I should be moving in sometime in April :)
I scored big time today! I got a heaping full cart load of plants for less than 5 bucks! The plants are all rootbound and are in rough shape but I know over half of them at least will do well. There was close to 50 phlox plants alone. And a bunch of pansies and more lemon basil than I have ever seen in my life lol.
I almost couldn'tfit it all in my backseat of my car.yep life is good:)
Good news on the plants... and the sheetrock hung!
It is amazing the progress you are making. I am impressed.
Ok, so I started d a flowerbed and will finish it later this week. I have a whole lot more plants than I had envisioned when I bought my compost and peat moss. But i had to get the plants in theground as they were so rootbound and sime weren't even in pots.
Will you be growing the flowers and veggies together?
The plants I got are all flowers that I put in the ground yesterday. My vegetables will be separate.
So we are pretty sure that of the 5 ducks my friend and I got, 2 of hers are male and female mallards, her daughters duckzilla is a female muscovy, I have a female possibly mallard, and a something else we aren't sure of.
I have several pictures to post but am having a hard time getting them to post grrr.
I have had a hard time trying to post pics too. That muscovey should be a good layer and they don't quack, just hiss.
It's been awhile since I checked in so I thought I would update. Because of money issues I have slowed down progress on the place but I am picking the pace back up. We built a nice big coop at my friends since the store bought one has been outgrown. Then we installed new fence to keep the wolves and dogs from feasting on the little tasty morsels. Which brings me to a question. Whats the easiest way to dispatch of excess roos for a firsttimer? I dont doubt I can do it but I don't want to mess up aand drag out the process forthem. We ended up with 4 roosters. 1 is a polish we will keep. 1 is what we believe is a brown leghorn. Hes the pperfect roo and is a joy to watch him escort his ladies into the new coop every evening 1 at a time. The 2 others are huge white monsters. And they fight with the roo and he wins sooooooo..... They are sentenced to the freezer.
I have more flooring to work on and some more drywall.... Eeek I see drywall joints in my sleep these days.
I HATE plucking feathers so this is what I do. I tie their wings next to their bodies so they can't flop around. I lay them on a stump and chop their heads off with a very sharp hatchet. Then I hang them from a low limb on a tree, cut off the eings and skin them. Even though wings are my favorite part of the chicken I am glad to sacrifice them to save plucking. Then I gut them.
I enjoyed every minute of reading this! You are amazing and living MY dream. I've been gardening reading and dreaming for several years now. My hubby is not 100% on board yet but my Brooklyn boy is getting there. He grows more confident in our abilities every year that we waste in this expensive run down house on 1/3 acre! I try new things every year and this hear is about food preservation including a root cellar in the crawl space. If I can get this down and he os eating fresh organic carrotss all Winter I may finally have him hooked on the idea!
I could totally relate to the post where you said friends and fam must think you're crazy because it's all you talk about! Keep up the good work and updates. You give me confidence!
Thank you for your vote of confidence. The past month has been quite slow going. Sorta..... I feel like all I seem to do is mud drywall and weedeat to try to tame some semblance of a yard.
I have plumbed for the first time in my life, and it wasn't as bad as I would have thought. My laundry room is totally finished, linoleum, paneling, trim, everything. Yay!!! My bedroom only needs linoleum to be finished. Living room needs paint and flooring, and kitchen is still bare and empty.
My dad and brother built me a beautiful front porch
which I will try to post pictures soon.
This week I replaced my living room windows with double pane thermal type. I am very excited about that. Tomorrow I am planning to lay flooring in my bathroom, replace my toilet, finish painting my cabinets in bathroom, and experiment with painting my bathroom counter. Its currently blue formica and I am going to use the stone texture spray paint to paint it a tan/sand looking mixture. I also plan on taking my plastic shutters down tomorrow and spray painting them to breathe new life into them and squeeze a few more years outof them.
You are SO ambitious... puts me to shame! (Of course, I'm almost 72... which might make a difference, LOL.)
Oh Darius, I hardly feel like I am getting anything done most days. You are amazing in what you accomplish. You run circles around me.
Today, however, was a good day. :) Well, after my brother and I killed a big copperhead. Let me just say that I am petrified of snakes. But I didn't panic. I grabbed a shop broom and an old straw broom and a hand miter saw and ran outside where he was standing just a couple feet from the beast. We pinned it with the brooms and I held them while he sawed its head off. So after that we felt as if weedeating could be finished another day, lol.
My living room and kitchen are primed and painted just need to finish some trimming. And we leveled some flooring. Its to fill any gaps in the subfloor. I am terrible with it but my brother did very good at it. Then, we experimented with my countertop in my bathroom. I bought a can of stone effect spray paint and we sanded the formica, sponged on some bullseye primer (I didn't have a brush with me grrr) and sprayed it on. Well so far so good. I plan on doing a 2nd coat tomorrow but it looked fabulous!
It is really coming together and that is such a gr8 feeling after the last 6 months!
So glad things are moving along well.
I have been trying to upload pics but can't seem to. Grrr. Well, my cabinets are assembled for my kitchen, I finally decided on amd bought my kitchen counter, and backsplash. My bathroom counter is done! And it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I am almost done painting my bathroom cabinets, I am painting them a white enamel. I need to lay the linoleum in my bathroom, living room and kitchen, and my peel n stick tile in my bedroom. Its very exciting!
Also the chickens have started laying!!!!!