Big changes

It certainly has been a long time since either of us have been on here.  There have been SO many changes - I'm not even sure where to begin.  I guess I'll just dive right in.  In addition to our chickens from the last post, we also acquired a puppy in April.  She has been a handful, as puppies are - but surprisingly well behaved.  She rarely barks or whines.  We named her Kali - the goddess of creation and destruction.  This morning, she wreaked destruction on the shoes I wore at our wedding.  Sigh. 

We also decided to move.  And by move, I don't just mean we packed up and moved down the street.  We moved over 2500 miles away.  To the hottest place on Earth.  Ok, maybe not the hottest, but certainly close.  The week we chose to move just happened to have temperatures in the high 90's, low 100's.  We are now living just outside San Antonio, TX.  We are still waiting for our house to sell in the beautiful state of Washington which means our rather large family is temporarily staying with the family of my husband's army buddy. 

Selling the house was a big decision.  The location was great - just 1 block from the Elementary and Middle Schools and a few blocks from the High School.  The street was quiet and the neighbors were AMAZING!  But - we honestly didn't have enough room.  Both in the house and outside.  We had 6 humans, 2 cats, 1 fish and 1 dog crammed into 1297 square feet - and most of that was the living room.  The house was poorly laid out and seeing as it only had 3 bedrooms, we had a 14-year-old and a 7-year-old in the same room which led to a lot of arguments and headaches.

The last week of June I ended up putting in my last day at my job and worked full time on the house.  We painted, cleaned, painted more, sanded, installed trim, tile, painted...if you can imagine it, I'm sure we did it.  

 Before and after of house.

 Kitchen

 Bathroom

By the time we got done, the house was completely different - and beautiful.  We didn't want to leave.  But we had already made the decision so we woke up early on the 19th of August, packed up our few remaining items, said goodbye to our awesome neighbors and hit the road.  For 5 days, we drove; from the time we all got up and had breakfast until we couldn't focus on the road anymore and needed a break.  We made it down to Texas on Sunday and school started on Tuesday which left us one day to finish registering and buy school supplies.  Whew!

Now comes the hard part.  We both need to have proof of steady income before we can buy another house.  We also have a few bills we would like to have paid off before we buy again - which means we need our house to sell first.  So for the moment we are just waiting, going bit stir crazy and questioning our decision to come down here.  I know in the long run we will not regret haven taken this leap - but right now I have to keep reminding myself of that fact.  It has made me realize more than ever before how very fortunate to have my husband by my side.  If I had made this crazy decision by myself, I think I would have had a mental break down already.  Fortunately my husband is patient, kind and loving - and most important has a great sense of humor which is invaluable during stressful times.  Even though things are tough right now, together we will get through this, find a beautiful house and have a great time building a wonderful memory.

And hopefully we will remember to keep this blog updated on regular basis....

Chickens!

We just recently were given 4 Americauna chickens (all hens) at no cost to us. Now we just need to find a place to put them (and I need learn how to care for them). They're chickens, how hard could it be? I ask because I've never in my life cared for a chicken prior to it going into my grocery cart at the store. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there experiencing this.

Like I said, we have a fairly small piece of property, with lots of kids, and available space is at a premium. So, It's time to get creative and try to make the space we do have available pull double duty.

What does it take to raise and care for a chicken? 
I'm not sure, but if you find out will you let me know? The basics (outside of food and water) are... shelter/protection with plenty of ventilation, a place to roost, a place to nest, and a place to scratch. A properly built shelter should take care of most of these.

Planning...
I started taking a look around at what I had to work with. A dilapidated garage on the edge of our property and a somewhat unusable space full of sticker bushes in between it and the property line. Since Liz needs ample room in the rest of the yard for her gardening ambitions, this spot will be perfect. I'll build the roosting and nesting spot inside the garage and the run can be outside. Perfect!

First we have to clear some space though.... One of the biggest hurdles we faced- other than the abundance of sticker bushes, was the soil. Previous owners of the property treated it like a junkyard and we were constantly pulling car parts out of the dirt. Windshields, CV Shafts, Master Cylinders, tires, ammunition, roofing material, tarps, etc... we've found it all. It's like our own personal Hanford waste facility!

So after we (by we- I mean Liz) pulled out the sticker bushes, I got busy cleaning out the inside of the garage and building a sifter for the outside dirt (which by the way has come in very handy since then).

Once all of that was cleaned up and cleaned out, it was time for the coop build.

The Build...

This was a little scary... I actually bought some pretty elaborate plans, but since I was working on a pretty meager budget (as close to free as possible), I decided to forgo the plans and create something with all of my scrap wood-which I had a lot of. There was various sizes and thicknesses of plywood and plenty of random 2x4's cut to different lengths. None of which were very long.

When it comes to the build, I knew there were a few design features that it needed:

Roosting poles - This is where the chickens sleep.
Nesting boxes - Where they lay those delicious eggs.

Since I knew I was getting 4 hens, I decided to make two nesting boxes and try to squeeze in two roosting poles. It took a lot of trial an error, but I got it done.... I even added a little flood light to keep them warm and add a little bit of light to the inside.

Where did the time go!?

I swear we are still in the middle of winter.  But a few days ago I started counting back from our last frost date and realized that I need to start seeds 2 weeks ago.  So this last weekend I scrambled to get all the seeds in order by the date they needed to be started and then pulled out the soil and planted away.  I don't have much yet...but next weekend I will have quite a bit more.  Here's what I started:

4 Goji Berry
6 Fig
12 Mint
9 Yellow Pepper
9 Orange Pepper
9 Chocolate Pepper
18 Sweet Spanish Onion
9 Copra Onion
4 Cayenne
4 Rhubarb
9 Leek
4 Dill
4 Black Beauty Eggplant
4 Early Long Eggplant
4 Toothache Plant
36 Cabbage
9 Shady Lady Tomato
9 Beefsteak Tomato
9 Cherry Tomato
9 Black Krim Tomato
20 Lavender

As mentioned in a previous post, we are planning on growing all of our own food. Looking at this list, I am guessing that I probably started more peppers than we need - but I am not sure we will have enough onions, leek or cabbage.  However, the kids are not big on those so who knows - maybe my estimate will be perfect.

On a side note, a few weeks go we also got 4 Americana chickens.  We didn't expect them to start laying yet - seeing as how it was 30 degrees outside this morning at 8:30 am.  But I was surprised when I went to give them a few snacks after work and found two pretty blue eggs.  I'm egg-cited to see if they continue producing this winter!  ;)

Influx of seed catalogs

This time of year is a gardeners dream.  At least this gardeners dream.  I love looking through the hundreds (literally) of catalogs at all the different varieties...the tips and tricks for each.  The colors are so amazingly vivid.  I have been known to spend weeks dreaming what the upcoming seed purchase was going to include.  This year has been no different - except this year we are taking it a bit more seriously.

In the past I have limited the amount of seeds that I purchase to common vegetables (corn, carrots, tomatoes, etc.).  However, this year I am going all out - for a few reasons.  

1.  We have a HUGE family.  Our average daily family size is 9 plus a newborn.  

2.  Most of our family has allergies or intolerances to one or more of the following foods:  processed corn, sugar, dairy, grains, fish, soy, peanuts, and a few other items that I am drawing a blank on.

3.  We would like to be self-sufficient.  Why rely on the grocery store if we don't have to?

4.  Money.  In order to get produce and meats to the grocery stores, the stores have to jack up their prices to pay for employees and transportation.  We can grow most of our produce for the price of a few seeds (if we don't get them for free) and the cost of water (wishing we had a well!).

5.  Variety.  Ok, this is probably one that only I would consider a valid reason.  There are hundreds if not thousands of different varieties of all plants out there - including some that have a much better flavor than what you could ever find in the store.  Most grocery stores in American have dumbed down the produce - only selling what people readily recognize.  You rarely will find Lilac Bell Peppers or Cherokee Tomatoes at your local store.  Let alone one of my favorites...the Kiwano Horned Melon.  Yum!

Unfortunately we have limited space (roughly 2500 square feet according to the planner I use) and not so great soil.  What all this comes down to is a lot of research on my end to plants that do well in our area, produce high yields, store well and (hopefully) will continue to produce year after year to save some moolah.  I also have to ensure I don't pick plants that are hard to grow - at least not until we get our soil up to par.

So I have ordered a lot of seed catalogs this year.  My favorites so far?  Glad you asked!  I have always been a fan of Pinetree Garden Seeds.  They have a good variety and great prices.  Their customer service has always been excellent and their shipping is decent.  I also like the look of their site.  It has a clean, crisp feeling to it.

Raintree Nursery is one of my favorite's as well. They are not far from us (a few hours drive) and they have a lot of plants native to the northwest.  I am very excited to try their paw paws which is high on my list this year.

This year I also checked out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I LOVE that they are GMO free and that they have varieties that no one else offers.  Don't tell anyone, but I actually paid for their 2015 Whole Seed Catalog - the first time I have ever paid for a catalog.  I sometimes wish I had not because a similar (albeit smaller) catalog came in the mail for free a week or two later.  However, as soon as I open up the larger catalog, I am so impressed with what they offer that I forget that I ever thought I shouldn't have wasted the money.  It is beautiful and well worth the small amount I paid.

I have quite few other catalogs to look through, but I bet you that my seeds this year will come from some combination of those three companies.

On a side note, if you need help planning your garden, I highly recommend Smart Gardener.  It's an easy to use program that helps you lay out your garden.  It even sends weekly "to-do" emails to help you take care of your garden.

I still have a lot of planning to do though - so I'm off to do some more research!

-Liz

In The Beginning...

We have always had an interest in becoming more self-sufficient and now we are going to start putting our feet to the fire and put our words into actions. Lucky for you, you get to sit back in relative safety and enjoy the ride as we aim to achieve our dreams of setting a great example to our children while attempting to create a self sustaining, off the grid, micro-homestead in the middle of a city.

Is this even possible? We certainly hope so! And we hope to give you the inspiration to do it yourselves!

To learn more about who we are, please see our about pages.

Thanks for stopping by!