Searching for Land

After much discussion over the past few weeks, Andrew and I have agreed it's time to seriously start looking for more space. By more space I mean more land. We have a pretty good size yard now, and it has amazing possibilties, but it is still surrounded by neighbors and doesn't really work well for our personal goals. Just what are those goals? Well, ultimately we'd like to be as self suffiecent as possible. Being able to live with what have, and maybe producing just enough income for things that are unavoidable like property taxes. Right now we garden and preserve to help supplament our food....which has been invaluable as the cost of food has skyrocketed, while our salary has not. Not to mention the food industry in this country leaves much to be desired. We do our best to buy other foods directly from thier sources (love the farmers market!), and make staples like bread from scratch. But we'd really love to have some animals of our own. Goats and chickens mostly. I would love to have not only milk goats, but goats for fiber too! Now we have enough space in our yard for some miniatures, and this was something we seriously considered, but then the new neighbors and their chickens came. Now when they first arrived, as you can tell from the post I wrote about it, I was thrilled! And really, they still don't bother me that much. But the rest of the neighbors...well they are not too pleased. Not only are there chickens, but they have turkeys too, and these birds are loud. All day long the turkeys gobble and the roosters crow like they are in a competition for who is king bird around the yard. Not to mention that everyone else around the neighborhood has dogs, including us, and dogs really send those birds into a frenzy! The roosters start crowing well before the sun is up. It doesn't wake me up, but I've heard other people complain, and it can make it hard to fall back asleep if I've woken up for another reason. The point is, while goats don't crow, I'm sure they must make noises of their own, and obviously we are just too populated for farm animals. It's okay to not care if the neighbors think your crazy for talking to your tomato plants, or shake their heads because you grass is knee high before you mow, but you still need to consider them when your choices will affect them too. So we search. We would like at least five acres, and something more rural than where we are. Truth be told if we are going to afford five acres with a house on it it's going to have to be way out in the boonies anyway, but that's just fine with us. The only complication is the house we have now. What to do with it? It's in a very desirable location, close to the best schools and only ten minutes from the most popular shopping areas, but still outside city limits, but that is the best it has going for it. Our neighborhood is one that was built in the 70's, when the lot sizes were big and houses were small. (As opposed to the current trend of building three thousand squre foot houses that are ten feet from the property line so all you see is a good view of your neighbors bathroom). Our house has only 1027 squre feet and one bathroom, and by today's standards, that's a closet. I think it will be hard to sell. We are toying with the idea of renting it, but that's a scary venture in it's own as I know nothing about being a landlord. Either way, it needs a few things like new carpet and kitchen cabinets, all of which cost money. So we figure this whole buying land and moving on thing is probably going to take us a while, but we are ready!

Changes

              It has been quite a while since I posted anything, and so much has happened since!! I had intended to get right back into regular postings with the arrival of spring, and all the activities that usually go with it. A couple of months ago we started preparing the garden beds and Andrew even spent several weekends building me a greenhouse. (Pictures to come soon!) The garlic I planted last fall has come up and is growing strong as are the onions. Again we decided on doing potatoes in the containers like last year, except this year we added a purple variety. I started from seed bell peppers and tomatoes as well as hot peppers this year, and all are doing really well. I have started the hardening off process and they should be ready for planting in the first weeks of May. With the virtually non-existent winter and really warm march, it was so tempting to doing things too early, and I am glad I didn't, because last night we had a late freeze....well, not really late as it is not unusual in April, just out of sync with what the weather has been like this year.
          The biggest thing in our lives right now, is that we are expecting another baby, and this pregnancy has brought the most changes to our lives. Last July I had a chemical pregnancy, and so when in march the test was positive I was anxious to get to the doctor and have it confirmed. Then, a week before my scheduled doctor's appointment I started have heaving bleeding and spent the night in the hospital. The baby was fine, and I was sent home and told I may still miscarry. A few days later the bleeding returned, and this time on an ultrasound they saw that I have a tear in the placenta. This means that I have been on virtual bed rest as to keep any more damage from happening, and to allow the tear to heal itself, I've been restricted from anything strenuous at all. This means no picking up Isabelle, who at two and a half doesn't quite understand why I can't hold her, no doing household chores (except I still wash dishes) and to my horror, no gardening. No digging out that new bed I wanted, no pulling weeds (okay really I'm not that sad bout that), nothing. This has been really hard for me. Andrew is doing his best to keep up with everything, and really his is superman. He works full time, plus does side work on weekends, and he's still going to school. What has really amazed me about him through this whole thing is even with all that, and having to do laundry and carpets and scrubbing the tub, and pulling the weeds and mowing the lawn, he still finds time every night to spend with Isabelle. Those two are inseparable. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but sometimes when I see them playing together I get a little teary eyed. But, it's been a couple of weeks and I haven't had any bleeding, and I have an ultra sound later today. Hopefully some of these restrictions will be lifted and maybe I will be able to do more, otherwise it's going to be a long nine months. By the way, baby is due November 11th!

I'm Still Here

I just wanted to say to anyone who may still be reading that even though I haven't posted in quite some time I am still here. Winter is in full swing, officially we had our first snow last night, though it was minimal and gone by mid-day. My days are filled with the usual routine of taking care of house, husband, and child and nothing spectacularly interesting and blog-worthy. When spring rolls back around and our days once again are seemingly stretched out with more sunlight hours, I will resume blogging more frequently, with hopefully lots of interesting garden pictures. Until then, I am still enjoying reading all of your interesting blogs.

No Time - Not Even for Blogging

Some may have noticed that my posts have become few and far between recently. I used to take time to write a little something and catch up on the blogs I enjoy reading while Isabelle was taking her naps. Well in the past few weeks, she has really quit taking her naps. (sniff sniff). Occasionally if we've been having a really busy day or she got up really early (like this morning) than she will fall asleep and I jump on the computer for a few, but other than that, blogging has been bumped to the bottom of my priority list. Fall is finally in full swing and every second possible we are outside enjoying the wonderful weather. We've been getting the garden prepared for winter, and doing a few other minor projects around the house. We've cleaned out one section of the basement and hopefully by this time next year it will be our root cellar. Our neighbor with the chickens got himself a couple of turkeys and one interesting evening was spent chasing the thing around our yard. It had gotten out of their coop and over the fence to our side. Our dog was going crazy trying to escape out the back door to help us chase it. I think the whole scene would have made a good cartoon. But I expect things will start winding down a bit soon, as it starts getting colder, and then hopefully I will have more time to blog.

Duhhh! I had a Moment.

So this time of year sometimes presents a conundrum at our house. First off let me explain that in my not too distant past before I knew better, I was the type of person who always either ran the heat or air. I loathe being hot. That is when I am my crankiest, and so I often set the thermostat really low. Now over the years I have really worked at acclimating myself to being comfortable in warmer temperatures. Each year we are able to put off turning the air on longer and longer. Other than being environmental conscious, with the rising cost of electricity, I haven't really had a choice. But I have to admit that this is hardest for me at night. Ever since I had my daughter two years ago, I have found that I sweat horrible at night. Maybe from hormonal changes? I don't know, but I do know it makes me miserable! This time of year is usually great because It's really cool at night and I can leave the windows open and I sleep great. Last night, however, we had torrential rains, strong winds, and thunder and lighting. (So of course Andrew slept like a rock). On nights like this I can't leave the window open and it gets really really stuffy in our house if the windows are closed and the air is off. And I was laying there in be, staring up at the ceiling fan, thinking about how it stays so much cooler in my daughters room, and seriously considering going to sleep on her floor when it happened. Duh! In the entire time we have lived in our house we have never switched the direction of the ceiling fans. If they turn clockwise, they push warm air down (so this is the direction they should go in the winter) and when they turn counterclockwise, they keep the warm air up at the ceiling ( for summer). I've know all this for a while, but for some reason never actually put my knowledge into practice. So I climbed on top of the bed and when I still couldn't reach, woke up Andrew and had him switch the fan. Let me tell you the cool down was immediate. I finally fell asleep and didn't wake up hot once.

Regina...You Talked Me into It

Okay, so someone named Regina left a comment on my post Radishes Again. I don't get very many comments, and so anytime someone leaves one I go check out their blog if they have one. Well, upon visiting Regina at her blog, Regina's Cottage, I saw she was the proud owner of a new dehydrator. And she had dehydrated some carrots and they looked lovely. And I really really wanted one. Andrew and I have been discussing this purchase for about a year now, but we always decide to wait. I especially wish for one when I am drying something in my oven like apple rings that takes several hours. I know that it is a big part of my energy usage. Well, after seeing Regina's post I went out (not immediately, but a few days later) and purchased one of my own. I don't have too many kitchen gadgets, but this is one that I really have enjoyed. My dehydrator uses 500 watts, which in comparison most electric ovens use between 2000 and 4000. Also, it doesn't heat up the house like drying with the oven does. It came with this tray to make fruit rolls with. I am really excited about this, because that is a great way to preserve fruits and you can use overripe and damaged fruits you usually wouldn't can with. As I type I have my first batch going. I mixed up some organic raspberries, overripe organic strawberries, and one soft pear. I will report back on how it turned out.

Radishes Again

Radishes are such a quick crop, and we really like them, so we grow them twice a year. In the early spring and late summer/early fall. This weekend we harvested them along with some other garden goodies. The weather was so so beautiful. Also good for attacking some weeds and mowing the yard (obviously done after the pics were taken.) The best part was seeing what fun Isabelle had helping. Each Radish I pulled was handed to her and gently placed in the basket. Then she carried the basket to the back porch. She also halped me gather a bunch of collard greens to have with dinner that night. I was also really surprised to see how many peppers we had still growing. They quit for a while, probably because it was so hot, but have recently started cranking them out again. Isabelle had fun carrying them one at at time and placing them in a chair we have sitting on the back porch. It is such a pleasure having her help, even if it is a little slow going. I can't wait to let her help me in the spring!