Alas, I don't think I'll be able to do chickens in the greenhouse. The plastic is too thin. I think they'd rip right through it. Rabbits would work though. We are thinking of raising them for meat and then using the pelts to start our own line of fly tieing materials for fly fishermen. (My DH is an avid fly fisher. He also ties his own flies. When we get acreage he wants to raise pheasants for their meat and feathers.)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Spring in the garden
I think the danger of snow in our area has past, though it can frost through the end of May.
I get all excited going out each morning and looking at what is growing on its own. (I haven't planted anything in the ground yet as I should have protective row covers in case of frost and haven't procured them yet.)
I have lemon balm...
Rhubarb...
A surprise little spinach plant growing in the box on our porch where we had it planted last year.
A carrot that we missed harvesting last year in our vege garden. (Currently more of a grass garden... NEVER TILL YOUR GRASS INTO THE GROUND... remove it!)
We also missed this onion in last year's garden.
My greenhouse is "growing" too! The DH should finish it up Saturday.
I get all excited going out each morning and looking at what is growing on its own. (I haven't planted anything in the ground yet as I should have protective row covers in case of frost and haven't procured them yet.)
I have lemon balm...
Rhubarb...
A surprise little spinach plant growing in the box on our porch where we had it planted last year. 
A carrot that we missed harvesting last year in our vege garden. (Currently more of a grass garden... NEVER TILL YOUR GRASS INTO THE GROUND... remove it!)
We also missed this onion in last year's garden.
My greenhouse is "growing" too! The DH should finish it up Saturday. I love spring!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
A little glimpse of this "homestead"
I really am lucky. My husband works as a senior manager for Costco and likes to not have to commute more than 25 minutes to work. In our current area of Grand Rapids, MI, that puts us just on the suburban/country line.
I must explain that my husband is climbing the management ladder and with every promotion (usually) a move is involved. Not just small moves but big ones like: Idaho to Texas or Texas to Michigan. So because of this we have chosen to rent rather then buy a home. In the general Grand Rapids area there are not a lot of single homes to rent. Duplexes abound. So we live on a street, on the last vestiges of suburbia, lined with rental duplexes. But the yard is big and we have a huge field behind us and woods at the edge of the field and we can leave suburbia behind by going for a less than mile walk.
We are also blessed to live right next door to very kind landlords who let us do many things. We have a herb garden and garden (some people on our street our not allowed this), we built our own shed, we are building a greenhouse off the shed, my son built a top bar bee hive for "dad" for a Christmas present so we will start keeping some bees this year. And, Lord willing, with the addition of the greenhouse we will have an area to overwinter some chickens and rabbits. We also are allowed to put up a clothes line for drying clothes. (Another thing some on our street would be prohibited to do. It just depends on the landlord and most of the houses have different ones.)
We don't have "acreage" but we have room and no fences. (Though sometimes fences do make good neighbors.) We would love to do more but since we could move at any time Costco deems and we are just renting, it is enough.
Hopefully with any upcoming moves we can keep in a country setting but I am prepared to farm/homestead in a suburban or urban area too, if that is where God puts us.
This is where I have strawberries planted, but you can't see them because I haven't weeded them yet this spring. The bed is about as big as the shadow from the shed. A little tip for all you readers starting a new garden area. DIG OUT AND REMOVE THE GRASS! DO NOT MERELY TILL IT IN. If you do not remove the grass/weeds totally, you will fight a never ending weeding fight. We learned our lesson good!
Here is my sad looking little herb patch. Six of the nine beds have been weeded. I still have to free my peppermint and my lavender and clear out the parsley/cilantro section from last year. The three sections on the left I weeded, cleared/transplanted so that my DH can build me a greenhouse using part of that space. So my little bed shrinks even more... sigh.
This is the back yard as viewed from our deck. Our "part" is from the left of the picture to shed on the right. The first tree line in the picture is the back of the yard. Behind that is a huge empty field. (Our tent trailer is stored out there.) Our vege garden is on the left in front of the swing set. We plan on enlarging it this year. My DH wants to experiment with growing some wheat.
Here is the shed my DH and son built AND the start of my greenhouse addition!
I must explain that my husband is climbing the management ladder and with every promotion (usually) a move is involved. Not just small moves but big ones like: Idaho to Texas or Texas to Michigan. So because of this we have chosen to rent rather then buy a home. In the general Grand Rapids area there are not a lot of single homes to rent. Duplexes abound. So we live on a street, on the last vestiges of suburbia, lined with rental duplexes. But the yard is big and we have a huge field behind us and woods at the edge of the field and we can leave suburbia behind by going for a less than mile walk.
We are also blessed to live right next door to very kind landlords who let us do many things. We have a herb garden and garden (some people on our street our not allowed this), we built our own shed, we are building a greenhouse off the shed, my son built a top bar bee hive for "dad" for a Christmas present so we will start keeping some bees this year. And, Lord willing, with the addition of the greenhouse we will have an area to overwinter some chickens and rabbits. We also are allowed to put up a clothes line for drying clothes. (Another thing some on our street would be prohibited to do. It just depends on the landlord and most of the houses have different ones.)
We don't have "acreage" but we have room and no fences. (Though sometimes fences do make good neighbors.) We would love to do more but since we could move at any time Costco deems and we are just renting, it is enough.
Hopefully with any upcoming moves we can keep in a country setting but I am prepared to farm/homestead in a suburban or urban area too, if that is where God puts us.
This is where I have strawberries planted, but you can't see them because I haven't weeded them yet this spring. The bed is about as big as the shadow from the shed. A little tip for all you readers starting a new garden area. DIG OUT AND REMOVE THE GRASS! DO NOT MERELY TILL IT IN. If you do not remove the grass/weeds totally, you will fight a never ending weeding fight. We learned our lesson good!
Here is my sad looking little herb patch. Six of the nine beds have been weeded. I still have to free my peppermint and my lavender and clear out the parsley/cilantro section from last year. The three sections on the left I weeded, cleared/transplanted so that my DH can build me a greenhouse using part of that space. So my little bed shrinks even more... sigh.
This is the back yard as viewed from our deck. Our "part" is from the left of the picture to shed on the right. The first tree line in the picture is the back of the yard. Behind that is a huge empty field. (Our tent trailer is stored out there.) Our vege garden is on the left in front of the swing set. We plan on enlarging it this year. My DH wants to experiment with growing some wheat.
Here is the shed my DH and son built AND the start of my greenhouse addition!Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Dreaming of Property...still!
I'm the type of person who while on her way to a city vacation, makes the family detour to an off beat place like Leman's in the Ohio countryside.
This was a great place to see...
But my heart desires this...
Not cement and stairs and streets...While on a bike ride the other day, I found ten wooded acres for sale only a couple of miles from where we live now. I love it. I told my DH that I could live in a compound of wall tents until we had funds to build a house. I don't think he believed me. He fears the Michigan winter would be our undoing. We could put a wood burning stove in the outhouse. :)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Taylor's new shoes... she's such a ham!
Video for the Grandma's of Taylor w/ special appearances by Reagan and Andi. Directed, filmed and narrated by Seven.
Oreo/Cream Cheese Truffles
These little treats are easy to whip up and ohhh... so good. The recipe calls for one package (18 ounce) of Oreo cookies (We prefer the Double Stuff), 8 ounces softened cream cheese and 16 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate (melted). This makes around 42 truffles, approx. 1 inch each.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper, crush up the cookies, mix 3 cups of the crushed cookies with the cream cheese, roll/shape the mix into balls, dip the balls into the melted chocolate. (You can do this with your hands, a regular fork or a candy dipping fork.) Place the balls onto your sheet, sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs, refrigerate for one hour and then enjoy!
You can store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge.
Mixing the cream cheese and Oreo crumbs
My favorite industrial processed food!
Crushing the cookies. We use a cutting board, Ziploc gallon freezer bag and a meat tenderizer mallet. The kids love participating in this step the most.
The finished product.
Melted chocolate... We use the stove top, double boiler method. We prefer this to the microwave as the chocolate doesn't get as hot. Becareful when dipping- the chocolate can burn you. I recommend using a dipping fork.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper, crush up the cookies, mix 3 cups of the crushed cookies with the cream cheese, roll/shape the mix into balls, dip the balls into the melted chocolate. (You can do this with your hands, a regular fork or a candy dipping fork.) Place the balls onto your sheet, sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs, refrigerate for one hour and then enjoy!
You can store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge.
Mixing the cream cheese and Oreo crumbs
My favorite industrial processed food!
Crushing the cookies. We use a cutting board, Ziploc gallon freezer bag and a meat tenderizer mallet. The kids love participating in this step the most.
The finished product.
Melted chocolate... We use the stove top, double boiler method. We prefer this to the microwave as the chocolate doesn't get as hot. Becareful when dipping- the chocolate can burn you. I recommend using a dipping fork.Monday, April 12, 2010
Should have done this a long time ago...
My babies
My oldest makes fleece blankets. Want one?
Pies from our National Pie Day celebration
Costco toilet paper makes great frugal building blocks
Crazy Momma
Sometimes life just takes over. I have wanted to blog almost every day. But life just took over. So Mother Hen tells me, "It just takes 10 minutes." Okay, Okay... So here is my I'm back post. Short and sweet with some pictures. Then the first post is done and I can actually post more interesting stuff that requires a bit more thought.
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