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Published On: Feb 14, 2009 08:30 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Feb 14, 2009 08:30 PM
Sat - February 14, 2009
Heating Things Up...
Over the past few days, E finally got his new
baby installed - a Vermont Castings Defiant wood-stove we were given by a
friend. It's been a long process, but it's finally done. Supposedly this thing
will keep the whole house toasty if we can get the air circulating right - we
fire it up tomorrow. Here are some pics of the progress, before and
after....
Posted at 08:30 PM Read More
Mon - January 26, 2009
Cold and Colder
Every time we think it can't get colder...it does! We had a one day thaw last week, which was much needed - everyone had their buckets emptied of huge bucket-shaped ice cubes, the chicken barn waterer was re-filled and the barn received a good airing out. Even with the heat lamps the pullets still piled up, and we lost a few to smothering, but they seem to be adapting to the cold a bit better now, though all the hens gave up on laying for now. Still working on wrapping up the taxes and then it will be time to inventory the seed and put in this year's order.
With this weather, we've been spending lots of time inside, playing and sewing... I've started digging into the great pile of fabric I bought at reprodepot's remnant table at the BUST craftacular - Frida Kahlo! Tattoos! :) I can't wait for spring though - we're all getting cabin fever!
Posted at 04:46 PM Read More
Fri - February 22, 2008
Snow Day
Snow days are a rarity around here, with our huge school system much preferring to delay opening for an hour or two and hoping the plows catch up by then. We already have a good 5 or 6 inches though, so I guess they decided this might not be a great wait and see day. Gi doesn't have pre-school either, and while I'm glad E doesn't have to make an additional trek on the bad roads, I was hoping she would have a school day before next week's craziness, since she hasn't seen her friends in a few weeks due to school holidays.
I bound Gi's quilt today - she loves it, but is still just as attached to the Elmo blanket that came with her "big girl bed"... after her nap I'll get the quilt from her room and take a "finished" picture. I love the colors in it and will probably make a crib/baby size one using the same fabrics, though a red and white simple design is next up on the project list.
E also was able to come home relatively early from court since his afternoon meetings were canceled. When he got home, he and Gi headed out to play in the snow and make a snowman. Over and out till tomorrow. Stay warm! :)
Posted at 08:45 AM Read More
Mon - February 26, 2007
What a Monday
We had a bomb threat today at school - hours
and hours in the cold, in the rain, in the ice and in the snow. It was a very
long day!!! I'm just starting to warm up and dry off now.
We've had to re-think our goat plans, as both does came back into heat this weekend, and the Togg buck we were planning on using has been sold in the meantime. The buck's owners were more then happy for us to come over when they get back from TN to use another stud, but with the end of the season nearing, we decided to go with Karen's Nigerian instead. Hopefully we'll have two sets of "mini-Toggs" in the near future. :) We left them there overnight so we didn't actually see any romance, but they were obviously interested, so hopefully he was tall enough for our big girls! We'll see in 19 days. Esme's kids should be going to their new home in a week or so, and Delia is still waiting for her ride to TX. Goats, goats everywhere.
March is creeping up on us, and I need to get the cold weather transplants started by the end of the week. My spring vacation is the first week in April, so we'll put them in the ground then, as well as spending time with A and L's new wee girl, who should be arriving just about then as well. Wish I had more tonight - my brain still hasn't thawed out!
We've had to re-think our goat plans, as both does came back into heat this weekend, and the Togg buck we were planning on using has been sold in the meantime. The buck's owners were more then happy for us to come over when they get back from TN to use another stud, but with the end of the season nearing, we decided to go with Karen's Nigerian instead. Hopefully we'll have two sets of "mini-Toggs" in the near future. :) We left them there overnight so we didn't actually see any romance, but they were obviously interested, so hopefully he was tall enough for our big girls! We'll see in 19 days. Esme's kids should be going to their new home in a week or so, and Delia is still waiting for her ride to TX. Goats, goats everywhere.
March is creeping up on us, and I need to get the cold weather transplants started by the end of the week. My spring vacation is the first week in April, so we'll put them in the ground then, as well as spending time with A and L's new wee girl, who should be arriving just about then as well. Wish I had more tonight - my brain still hasn't thawed out!
Posted at 06:49 PM Read More
Sat - June 25, 2005
Sorry Lorax...
The tree removal process is going on day 3 now. We will certainly have plenty of firewood this winter, and probably next winter too!!! E is out there in the 90 degree heat hauling logs around with the pick up and the utility tractor. It'll take a while to stack everything in one place, but an hour or so every night should do it. It is much brighter around the front of the house but we still have a nice hedgerow, many of the large trees, and the dogwoods and hollies which will no doubt take off now that they have more sun without the heavy canopy. The goats are the most affected - they never were ones to sit in the shade of the maples by their pasture, but we'll see if they seem hot without it. I'm going to check out the clearance prices at Agway on their big potted fruit trees - maybe plant one now next to their pasture. Knowing baby could literally arrive any second makes me wary of tackling anything too involved!
We also have mountains of wood-chips too, so those will go to mulch the landscaped area out front, which has really suffered this summer....since we don't use herbicides, the weeds have really gotten out of control since there's nothing there but mulch. My plan is to have E mow really close to the ground, then haul over massive loads of the mulch and spread a foot or so over everything, then later this summer my mom and I will fill in the area with decent size perennials so that there's less room for weeds next year. I'd love to have it more defined then just seed it over with grass, maybe even add a boxwood shrub border but we'll have to see. OK, I promised E I would wash and package eggs before we go food shopping. Ciao!
Posted at 06:05 PM Read More
Sun - December 26, 2004
Aftermath
Looking off towards the highway - is that West???
X-Mas was crazy - but it worked out ok amid the craziness. We saw everyone, got everywhere safely, got back home - and promptly ran out of heating oil - guess we WEREN'T good till this week when we were going to sign up for service. I'm more concerned about the pipes freezing then how freezing we all are, but with the fireplace going 24/7, and a space heater plugged in, the basement seems warm enough. We just plugged in the other heater up here too. So if we get through till tomorrow, and they fill up the tank before the pipes freeze, I'll be a happy homeowner.
E, my dad, and brother were all over, wiring over the top of the dog pen so we can keep Daphne in there closer to the house - she's due the 29th. My mom was headed over when her car broke, complete with pieces falling all over the road so I guess the rest of their afternoon will be dedicated to car repair. It looks like we have enough wood at least till we leave for the mall down the road - going to see "The Life Aquatic" and warm up - but we'll need more to get through the night (sleeping arrangements are all four of us, dogs included, on the futon in front of the fireplace, covered in four blankets.) I don't think either of us is ready to brave the cold, or the snow that's started, so I think E is arranging his lair in the basement for a while (the basement is as big as our living quarters upstairs - HUGE!) so it'll be random craft/record stuff now, and probably morph into bedrooms and a playroom once our kids are old enough to sleep on a separate floor...
Signing off - and hoping my seed catalogs come soon!!!!!!! -Shannon
Posted at 04:15 PM Read More
Tue - December 21, 2004
Seen my camera?
That's still missing, but after another bout of
Exorcist style sickness last night combined with much car drama, today was a
much better day. E didn't have to be at work till 10:30, and then he even got to
leave early, so he picked up D and they brought over the bees and went over the
house with landlord J. He's gotten so odd - but was happy enough with the way
the house looked - good thing with all the work we put into it! That place looks
so much better then when we moved in a year ago.
Shotzee - one of the outside cats we "inherited" - now named Kiwi/Old Testament/Starsky (we haven't agreed on one yet) is still here, curled up in her straw filled box. She came running over as soon as I filled the food dish, but who knows where her son went too. He came to the sliding doors the night we moved in, I fed both of them, but he's been nowhere to be seen since. He can also run out of sight a lot faster when he hears me coming, so he might still be around.
I finally felt calm enough to enjoy the scenery today when I went out to feed and water the chooks - no eggs since the move, but can you blame them? So much stress for already nervous birds! Their egg production should pick up as we move away from the Solstice, even if we don't get artificial lighting out there again till next winter. The corn fields just look so nice this time of year - love all that space! We have a few neighbors, but corn fields surround us on most sides. Our land is just rough mown hay, cut short, with a more "manicured" lawn area around the house and by the dirveway.
I had E and D move the last boxes into the living room - on the far end of the house - ahhh, so much better. I think we're going to set up the tree tonight - move on from this move already!!! Maybe even a fire?? We just need to start fresh - we've been so wrapped up in moving, packing, scheduling - Gah! Neither of us has even thought about the holidays, really. I don't even have E's presents yet... I think I'll have E help me with macaroons tonight - then I'll at least have cookies made if I feel well enough for the cookie exchange.
Shotzee - one of the outside cats we "inherited" - now named Kiwi/Old Testament/Starsky (we haven't agreed on one yet) is still here, curled up in her straw filled box. She came running over as soon as I filled the food dish, but who knows where her son went too. He came to the sliding doors the night we moved in, I fed both of them, but he's been nowhere to be seen since. He can also run out of sight a lot faster when he hears me coming, so he might still be around.
I finally felt calm enough to enjoy the scenery today when I went out to feed and water the chooks - no eggs since the move, but can you blame them? So much stress for already nervous birds! Their egg production should pick up as we move away from the Solstice, even if we don't get artificial lighting out there again till next winter. The corn fields just look so nice this time of year - love all that space! We have a few neighbors, but corn fields surround us on most sides. Our land is just rough mown hay, cut short, with a more "manicured" lawn area around the house and by the dirveway.
I had E and D move the last boxes into the living room - on the far end of the house - ahhh, so much better. I think we're going to set up the tree tonight - move on from this move already!!! Maybe even a fire?? We just need to start fresh - we've been so wrapped up in moving, packing, scheduling - Gah! Neither of us has even thought about the holidays, really. I don't even have E's presents yet... I think I'll have E help me with macaroons tonight - then I'll at least have cookies made if I feel well enough for the cookie exchange.
Posted at 05:47 PM Read More
Sun - December 19, 2004
Settling In....
First snow of the year is falling outside...and
we're... almost...moved. E is still at the old place with his dad, they're
cleaning and packing up one last load of odds n' ends. The bees will have to
wait till tomorrow due to the change in the weather and there's a whole load of
trash that we'll need to take to the dump tomorrow too. But as for things
here...
Only some boxes left, most of the furniture is where it's supposed to be. The dogs are settling in, they spend all day on the deck/patio since people have been in and out, but they seem to like it :) The goat is also back there, unfortunately - we haven't found a single thing that can hold her after she figured out how to jump the six foot fence that surrounds the dog pen we had planned to keep her in while we finish the pasture fence. The hens love their new, temporary digs - they are in the fenced in garden area that was already here. They took dust baths in the dirt all morning. We do have a barn that needs to be divided into stalls, and posts up where the pasture will be, but moving everything else has taken precedence so far.
I have the tree-in-a-bag and ornament box out, with high hopes to decorate a little tomorrow - we still have a pile of boxes where I'd like to set it up, but we may be able to dig into those tomorrow. I'm exhausted - we all are - and I'm more excited about the four day week then the holidays this year - it'll be very low key. Lots of invites - a cookie exchange Wednesday, a X-mas Eve party before we celebrate with E's folks, and then a long drive to my extended family's X-mas shin-dig. But first we'll be able to sleep in, at least a little bit!!!
I'm sure I'll locate the digi-cam eventually - it's in a box, somewhere. Have a great holiday, everyone - I'll be checking in.
Only some boxes left, most of the furniture is where it's supposed to be. The dogs are settling in, they spend all day on the deck/patio since people have been in and out, but they seem to like it :) The goat is also back there, unfortunately - we haven't found a single thing that can hold her after she figured out how to jump the six foot fence that surrounds the dog pen we had planned to keep her in while we finish the pasture fence. The hens love their new, temporary digs - they are in the fenced in garden area that was already here. They took dust baths in the dirt all morning. We do have a barn that needs to be divided into stalls, and posts up where the pasture will be, but moving everything else has taken precedence so far.
I have the tree-in-a-bag and ornament box out, with high hopes to decorate a little tomorrow - we still have a pile of boxes where I'd like to set it up, but we may be able to dig into those tomorrow. I'm exhausted - we all are - and I'm more excited about the four day week then the holidays this year - it'll be very low key. Lots of invites - a cookie exchange Wednesday, a X-mas Eve party before we celebrate with E's folks, and then a long drive to my extended family's X-mas shin-dig. But first we'll be able to sleep in, at least a little bit!!!
I'm sure I'll locate the digi-cam eventually - it's in a box, somewhere. Have a great holiday, everyone - I'll be checking in.
Posted at 08:53 PM Read More
Sun - December 12, 2004
Back from the Bathroom....
Whew - a wild week around here. My morning
sickness took a turn for the "severe" sometime around Wednesday night - by
Thursday morning I couldn't keep down anything - solid or liquid - for more then
20 minutes. We tried, with my midwives brainstorming, everything from nux vomica
to hot water filled with different herbs for aromatherapy... homeopathics proves
a dead end and I was still vomiting every 20 minutes, 24/7. Ugh - I am working
on blanking out that 48 hour period. As I got more and more dehydrated and "out
of it", we finally tried a medication - the antihistamine in Unisom and Vitamin
B6 in combination - this is sold as Dilectin in Canada, but not marketed here.
Hallelujah! I'm 10 pounds lighter and have 2 less sick days, and a bit tired and
dizzy from the anti-histamine, but I'm eating and drinking (although my poor
parched cells still scream at me to gulp down huge quantities of liquid - not
such a good idea for my still trembling stomach) and on my
feet.
Tomorrow is moving day, so I'll leave work at noon - a good way to ease back into it I think - and go to the closing with a car full of boxes, compliments of E. I'd like to sleep there tomorrow - living in box world is even harder when you're knocked up - but I guess it depends if we have all our kitchen/bed/bathroom essentials in. The livestock might have to stay here overnight on Monday, but E and D are putting up the fence, etc. all day Tuesday and I fully expect the chickens and goats to be ensconced by nightfall. The bees will wait till Saturday, when we close the hive, strap it together, and bring it over in A's pick up. Cable, and hopefully internet, comes on Tuesday so I should be back online by then. I'll be setting up command central at a cool built in cherry desk in the kitchen/family room. Wait till you see the kitchen - it's so fabulous! Pics to come once I get re-established.
Tomorrow is moving day, so I'll leave work at noon - a good way to ease back into it I think - and go to the closing with a car full of boxes, compliments of E. I'd like to sleep there tomorrow - living in box world is even harder when you're knocked up - but I guess it depends if we have all our kitchen/bed/bathroom essentials in. The livestock might have to stay here overnight on Monday, but E and D are putting up the fence, etc. all day Tuesday and I fully expect the chickens and goats to be ensconced by nightfall. The bees will wait till Saturday, when we close the hive, strap it together, and bring it over in A's pick up. Cable, and hopefully internet, comes on Tuesday so I should be back online by then. I'll be setting up command central at a cool built in cherry desk in the kitchen/family room. Wait till you see the kitchen - it's so fabulous! Pics to come once I get re-established.
Posted at 07:38 PM Read More
Mon - October 25, 2004
All Good Things in Time...
Hey all - E has been bugging me about not
posting as often here, but with house status constantly changing, I feel like I
can't put anything up till I know where we're moving *grin*. In sad news, we
lost the cottage in the cool neighborhood, but, in much better news, made a bid
on a big beautiful place that was accepted this am. This deal feels much more
solid, and the sellers seem much more trustworthy then the other two. I think we
may have found a home at last.
More house, and land, then we could have afforded were it not for a power line across one acre of the six acre property...after researching and finding no credible health risks - and many, many studies showing absolutely no health risks at all living near power lines - we feel good about taking this "not for everyone" house and farm and making it our own! The big weathered pair of steel beams rising 100 feet up may be an eyesore to some - we call it modern art :)
Everything from the fancy pants big open kitchen/family room/hearth area to the hot tub for poor E's sciatica just made our hearts sing so here's to our, hopefully, new home! (We are set to close on Dec. 6th - moving in before Christmas!) Farm-wise, we may build a "Real" barn come spring, but there's a hoop house ready to be glazed for spring planting, and 3 to 4 cleared acres of lush, beautiful grass just waiting to be plowed and planted...
More house, and land, then we could have afforded were it not for a power line across one acre of the six acre property...after researching and finding no credible health risks - and many, many studies showing absolutely no health risks at all living near power lines - we feel good about taking this "not for everyone" house and farm and making it our own! The big weathered pair of steel beams rising 100 feet up may be an eyesore to some - we call it modern art :)
Everything from the fancy pants big open kitchen/family room/hearth area to the hot tub for poor E's sciatica just made our hearts sing so here's to our, hopefully, new home! (We are set to close on Dec. 6th - moving in before Christmas!) Farm-wise, we may build a "Real" barn come spring, but there's a hoop house ready to be glazed for spring planting, and 3 to 4 cleared acres of lush, beautiful grass just waiting to be plowed and planted...
The double dipped fudge-caramel apples I just made
are setting up a bit more tonight, then tomorrow I'll package each one up in
cellophane, tie them off with orange ribbon, and attach one of my halloween
pysanka eggs to each treat. :) Certainly TASTIER then the gingerbread haunted
houses of halloween past! OK, CSI calls, g'night all - I'll post when we're out
of attorney review (our new lawyer is apparently one of the fastest in town - no
more losing houses during a lonnnnggggg attorney review process!)
Posted at 10:12 PM Read More
Mon - October 18, 2004
October
Fall is finally being felt here - leaves have
started to fall, and we cut down the tomatoes and tomatillos in the garden. The
peppers and maybe even the potatoes should grow for another few weeks till frost
hits. I threw together a wreath after school today while E was cutting back some
bittersweet vines (the chicken run is covered in oriental bittersweet with some
orange trumpet vine thrown in for good
measure).
And, yes, I'm already spending way too much time plotting and planning about a new house - this one is a 1940's bungalow. While not next to a state park, this cupcake is in a great neighborhood, and close to the reservoir, which makes up for its size (tiny house!) and the limitations on about half of the land - preserved wetland, There's still clear acreage to grow the veggies on, and room for smallish pens for both the goats and chooks. Maybe growing mushrooms on the back 2 acres (shitake and oyster), inspired by the STLF , could bring in some income? The bees would be content to be nestled in along the tree line too, and I think we should be able to harvest dead and fallen wood to burn. There's another offer we're competing against - we even offered 3K MORE then the asking price. We'll see what happens.
And, yes, I'm already spending way too much time plotting and planning about a new house - this one is a 1940's bungalow. While not next to a state park, this cupcake is in a great neighborhood, and close to the reservoir, which makes up for its size (tiny house!) and the limitations on about half of the land - preserved wetland, There's still clear acreage to grow the veggies on, and room for smallish pens for both the goats and chooks. Maybe growing mushrooms on the back 2 acres (shitake and oyster), inspired by the STLF , could bring in some income? The bees would be content to be nestled in along the tree line too, and I think we should be able to harvest dead and fallen wood to burn. There's another offer we're competing against - we even offered 3K MORE then the asking price. We'll see what happens.
Posted at 08:44 PM Read More
Fri - October 15, 2004
Rainy days....
I came home to find Daphne huddled under the
rabbit hutch (currently host to Renegade and her babies). She hates the rain,
but every time the rain slows, leaps over the fence in search of a snack - the
eternal optimist.
We're trying to be as optimistic - we lost the house we had hoped to move into due to a combo of lying and scheming on both the seller's part, and her attorney's. I never even KNEW you could take other offers while you were in attorney review. Lesson learned. We're headed out tomorrow afternoon to look at 5 houses - maybe our future home is out there, you never know....
We're trying to be as optimistic - we lost the house we had hoped to move into due to a combo of lying and scheming on both the seller's part, and her attorney's. I never even KNEW you could take other offers while you were in attorney review. Lesson learned. We're headed out tomorrow afternoon to look at 5 houses - maybe our future home is out there, you never know....
Posted at 09:09 PM Read More
Sat - September 25, 2004
Green eggs and Seitan
Exciting news all around! Yesterday when I went
out to collect the day's eggs, I was thrilled to find this wonderful color
combo:
Our oldest Americauna just started laying, and her eggs are a gorgeous blue-green. How fun! We also got the house, again, thrilled. Hopefully Silver Forge Farm will be settled in (I don't think we'll "open for business" till the spring, *grin*, although I'll start recruiting customers for the CSA by December) by the end of November - our proposed closing is a day or too after Thanksgiving. Now to trim the fat off the bills around here ~ every little bit helps! ~ and start inspections - well, survey, cesspool, and the house all need to be scheduled.
Posted at 11:11 PM Read More
Tue - September 21, 2004
Settling In...
Frost hasn't even hit here yet, but we're all settling into the autumn mindset. I've been out picking tomatoes every other day - blanching and peeling them till the bowl in the fridge is full, then canning them. I have a batch of oven dried San Marzanos ready to pull from the oven too. We certainly planted enough tomatoes! One of my favorite things about the fall garden is how little seedlings I totally forgot about suddenly appear as the tomatoes and other big vines die back - we actually have, joy of joy, hot peppers - one of our "for sure" failures this year - one of the aji coloradoes is taking off - two ready to pick, but I'll wait till frost and see how many others develop. We should have enough to dry and get throughtill the spring if they're hot enough. We should be able to harvest kale, leeks, and broccoli well into the next month or two as well.
We never use parsley, and there's a ton out there, so I trimmed it all tonight, and combined that with some of the other herbs to make a mixed herb pesto with garlic for the freezer - a massive batch indeed! Hope E likes it as a variation on the usual. To make my room look more like a biology classroom (it's pretty sterile, as is the whole school) I've been meaning to bring in more plants, so today I was inspired to pull up some of the chives, basil, rosemary, and oregano to pot up. I don't know how much more time I'll get out of the basil. but the perennials should love my hot, sunny windowsills.
We have reached a standstill with the house negotiations - super frustrating, but we just keep reminding ourselves we're in no rush. If this doesn't work out, or if it takes a long time, we'll land on our feet. I just have to take a break from all of my farm management research before I have the whole 5 acres planted in my head :) Fall has also brought a mad cleaning and purging rush to the house - me, I'm always up for it, but the real surprise has been E! Egads, I think he gets it! He went through his drawers - with no prompting from me! - and got rid of two big grocery sacks full of clothes, and then he even cleaned the barn yesterday! When questioned, he said that he is starting to realize he's going to have to move all this stuff again in the not so distant future, so he might as well get rid of what he doesn't want. *grin*
Inspired, I tackled learning how to sell on Amazon, since E-Bay takes forever and a day (which I don't have now that school's back in full swing) and most of what we had to give away or sell was books. I'm so glad I did it! I've listed almost all the books, and already, two days later, we've made 40 bucks. Every little bit helps!
p.s. I just have to say I always feel a little bit famous when Kira leaves a comment here - thanks mama.
Posted at 09:28 PM Read More
Wed - September 15, 2004
Busy, Busy, Busy
Remember Renegade chicken? The one hen we couldn't keep in for the life of us? Well, she was very busy elsewhere - she came out of the woods yesterday followed by 5 very cute surprises! I feel so bad for all those times I tried to catch her and put her back in the coop! Our last rooster must be the dad - I hope these new girls grow up to be colored egg layers! Since mom is not very popular with the rest of the flock, she and babies are shacked up in the rabbit hutch for the time being...
The ketchup turned out well, and the one half filled jar is quickly being consumed, mostly on eggs :). If you go ahead and make it (recipe is here - I used all granulated sugar since that's all we had on had, and of course, instead of the tomato paste I used about a gallon of crushed tomatoes from the garden, cooked down forever!), I would go light on the onion and garlic powder - just a pinch. I wanted a really "plain" sweet-sour type ketchup, and this one is a tad too oniony for me - just personal taste though, it is very good! Definitely use a crock pot - I simmered it down (you have to reduce the tomato puree by at least 50 percent) for literally days, b/c whenever I was in the kitchen I would turn it on to reduce for an hour or two. Crockpot cooking this one is definitely a better idea.
We went ahead and made an offer on the house/farm below - nerve-wracking indeed! We're in the middle of negotiating the offer - making progress, but I'll be happy when we know we've come to a final compromise and it's ours (if it passes inspections of course :) Everything is in place now with money and mortgage, so if the hunt resumes, we'll be ready! I know Silver Forge Farm will find a permanent home this year.... exciting changes afoot. I want to post this pic too, as I just love it, especially how the feather texture stands out against that downy baby head!
Posted at 10:15 PM Read More