This and That

Woo Hoo! The high speed internet was installed and we're finally blazing along at lightning speeds. So, if you see something speeding across your screen, it's just me bouncing from site to site. I keep imagining scenes like Yosemite Sam skidding down a dirt road with his britches on fire, yelling "My buns are burning! My buns are burning!" ;0)

The tomato seedlings are doing fine. My walking garden encyclopedia (A.K.A Mom) told me to keep the light down close to the plant to make sturdier seedlings. If you move the light too far away then they can become spindly. My pepper plants haven't sprouted yet, but I'm keeping them moist, so hopefully they'll come up.

I'm hoping that the sun stays out for a few days to dry up our ground. Right now it's too wet to take the tractor out in the pasture to keep bringing up my "horse fertilizer". I need to get the ground ready for my potatoes, but more rain is forcasted.

I've been thinking about starting a home business, but I'm not sure what actually works. I've thought about making things to sell, but I would like to here from other people to see if they're actually selling enough to make it worth my while. So, if you have any ideas, please let me know.

Pepper Seeds

I planted my pepper seeds today. I planted 36 bell peppers and 6 jalapeno peppers. Some of the tomato plants have their second sets of leaves coming in.

The hubby went and got hay today, also. He bought a round bale and 13 square bales, so I helped him put the square bales away in the barn, after he fixed a water pipe that froze a couple of days ago.

Here's a picture of our "chicken tree". Some of our chickens insist on roosting in a tree we have in our yard. It was a funny sight last winter when we had an ice storm and the branches were iced over. The chickens flew up there, but couldn't get any traction on the ice.

the weather

Even the horses think it's a good day to lay around. I did manage to move some of the "horse fertilizer" yesterday during a break in the weather. It's going to make awesome soil for the garden. The chickens are already scratching through it to see if there are any tasty bits in it that they might enjoy. I bought my potatoes to plant, but we're only going to plant russets because the red potatoes were just so expensive. I also bought my sweet potato to try and get slips off of.

Also, I mentioned in a previous post about the online photography course. I found out later that it's not a current course, but the information is still online. I'm still going to post the "assignments" here just to have someplace to chronicle my progress. So, the first assignment was "Assignment 1: Take at least one abstract photo based entirely on some of the compositional rules we talked about. Subjects should not be recognizable."

Ok, in this photo I used the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Mean. I also used the Triangle concept and negative space. The eye is in the center third of the photo, and also centered within the center third. The sky and the bridle create the triangles. The sky is also the negative space.

Little Sprouts

I finally braved the elements to get the camera out of the car. Supposedly it's going to clear off this weekend, but right now it's just nasty outside.

So as promised, here are the pictures of the tomato sprouts.

The spaces in the back are reserved for peppers.

They're about 3 days old here.

Feeling Out of Sorts

I haven't really posted in a few days because when I started this, I decided that if I couldn't post something positive, or put a positive spin on things, then I wouldn't post at all. I can be very negative at times and I don't know what's wrong lately, but I just don't feel positive.

Maybe it's the weather. We've had more of a winter this year than we have in a long time. It's already dropped into the 20's here which is rather unusual for us until February, which is usually our worst month. The weather has been especially yucky the past few days. Rain and mist, mist and rain. I know it's good for the ground and eventually the plants, but it sure makes for a yucky, muddy mess.

Maybe it's the finances. They're really off-kilter. The upside is that we don't have credit debt, so it's not like someone's knocking on our door to take our stuff. The positive thing about our personal situation is that we own our own home, even if it's a little old and needs some repairs (sorry, there's that negative again.) so we don't have to worry about losing our home. As the hubby said this weekend, we do great for a while, then we get into this sense of entitlement and we fall off the spending wagon. It's like "I've been so good for so long that I deserve this." We don't make huge purchases, but $50 here and there adds up very quickly.

At any rate, at least I'm able to recognize that I'm out of sorts and I don't poison other people with my bad moods. I could rant and rave here and people years from now could read it and say, "voluntary simplicity, BAH! Look how much she hates her situation." It's not that way at all, it's just that this is a hard life to choose. Life is never always easy and we're going through a rough patch. This is usually the time that I give to a deserving charity just to remind myself that there is always a WORSE. Maybe the girls and I will do that Friday. We could take some things that they had picked out, toys and clothes and such to a local assistance ministry.

Ok, on to something more productive. My tomato plants are up, as I mentioned. We are so lucky to live in an area that we can start planting outside in about April, although we have to watch out for late frosts. It looks as if every seed that I put in there, including the ones that my youngest and I dropped down past the little dirt pods, came up. I should have plenty of plants to share with my friends here in the neighborhood. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I see it, it just amazes me how there's nothing, nothing, then WHAMO! All of these little green things are poking their little heads above the soil. I promise to take a picture, but my camera is in the car and it's cold out there. ;o)

The youngest and I went on a little walk today, even though the weather is so yucky. OHHHH...I have wonderful news. I stepped on the scale today and I've lost at least 5 lbs. I guess all of the walks that the girls and I have been taking, plus the hiking I've done in the last couple of weeks are starting to pay off. I've also given up soft drinks, for the most part, and am drinking more water and tea.

Taking a Break

We decided to take a bit of break this weekend. (Well, part of the weekend anyway.) A neighbor came and wanted to know if we wanted to go horseback riding. Never passing up a chance to saddle up, the hubby quickly agreed.

My tomatoes seeds have sprouted. I'll have to take a picture of them tomorrow. I'm really excited because this is the first time that I've sprouted them from seed.

New Yard For the Chickens

I guess I should've kept my big mouth shut when I said there aren't many chores to do this time of year. ;o) Right after I said that, the hubby came along with a list.

1. fix the water trough---done


2. take down the old fence behind the house so we can brush hog this weekend--done


3. brush hog this weekend (including the path to the back)


4. start the new chicken fence--done


5. start the tomato seeds (Ok I added that one.)--done

So, he welded the water trough up. We took down the old fence, and I 'm going to put it around my small beds in the front to keep the dogs out of my lettuce seeds. We started the new chicken fence, well, it's partly finished. We used wire and posts that we already had. We were so close to having enough hardware cloth, but we didn't want to buy anything we didn't have to so we used what we had. We're going to put sturdier wire on the "patch" when we take another part of the old fence down. That's the barn in the background. I'd like to paint it, but paint is kinda frivolous, so it stays how it is for now. The open part of the barn in the chicken fence is actually the chicken house (Its the black hole the other side of that tree.) It's where I have their laying boxes which is actually a set of old gym lockers that my dad gave me.

We're going to top the whole thing so the chickens can't get out as much. They are something else on my tomatoes! ;o) If you were standing at the fence looking at the chickens, my garden would be behind you. We are moving the chickens to a whole new spot, so the old spot is going to be part of my garden. Can we say wonderful fertilizer? ;o) Part of this whole plan is to cultivate as much grass in the front as possible for the horses to mow. I had part of my garden up there last year, but it doesn't get as much sun and it cuts into the grazing.

Part of what I'm doing for Mother Earth is that I don't have a lawnmower, not even a push mower, or weed eater. We have 3 ecological friendly ones who take turn mowing and weeding. We don't have to buy gas for them, and their "emissions" fertilize the grass they're mowing.

I put the tomato seeds under the grow light last night. It doesn't look like much now, but I planted three varieties of tomatoes. I planted Ace (a large tomato), cherry tomatoes and Roma tomatoes. I've never tried them from seeds before, and I've never tried the Ace or Roma varieties, even from a plant. There is a lady who lives in our neighborhood who is having some hard times. I planted enough seed to share plants with her. (Remember when I said that I was living my grandmother's life? ;o) That's exactly something that she would (and has) do.) I'm going to add pepper seeds, also but I still have to get them.

Planning the Garden

Last year was the first time for us to plant a garden. Some things did ok, others were a total flop. My mom said not to get discouraged or to give up on any one thing yet because the weather here was unusual. Besides all that, our soil is really awful! Here is what we planted last year:

1. red potatoes
2. russet potatoes
3. zucchini squash
4. yellow squash
5. green beans
6. foot long green beans
7. sweet corn (different varieties)
8. tomato plants
9. bell pepper plants
10. green onions
11. carrots
12. radishes
13. okra
14. pumpkins
15. watermelons
16. cantaloupe
17. lettuce
18. broccoli
19. cucumbers
20. a few varieties of flowers

This is what I want to plant this year. I'm pretty proud of my plans this year because most of the seeds that I'm planting are either seed I saved from last year or seed that I bought on clearance for 6 cents a pack.

1. a lot more russets than I did last year
2. a lot more red potatoes than I did last year
3. zucchini
4. yellow squash
5. green beans
6. field corn
7. 3 varieties of tomatoes from seed
8. bell peppers from seed
9. jalapeno from seed
10. onions
11. carrots
12. okra from seed I saved from my plants last year
13. pumpkins
14. watermelons
15. cantaloupe
16. garlic
17. lettuce
18. broccoli
19. cucumbers
20. sweet potatoes
21. peach tree (from peach pits)
22. pecan tree (from pecans I picked up)

I've never done garlic, tomatoes or peppers from seed, or field corn. I'm interested to see what new things they have in the store also. The only thing that did well last year were the potatoes and zucchini, so I can't wait to see what happens this year. The lettuce did ok, but I waited too long to plant it and it turned bitter before we really were able to enjoy much of it. Nothing went to waste though, because I fed the flops to the chickens. (At least the flops the chickens didn't help themselves to first.) ;o)

Today on the Farm

During the winter, there usually isn't much to do around here on the farm. It's too early to work the garden, at least for another month when I plant my potatoes. The chickens aren't laying, so we just have to throw them some feed everyday. Chores are just the basic day-to-day maintenance, for the most part.
Today is the day the farrier comes. We only have the horses trimmed. It won't be a while yet before we put shoes back on them. For the most part, the horses are only ridden around the farm, and we're lucky enough to not have too many rocks or other things that would hurt the horses' hooves.
So, since things are so slow, the hubby and I decided to do a little weekend getaway for our 12 th anniversary. We went to a really nice state park a few hours away and did some hiking and sightseeing. We has some beautiful weather, so we took advantage of that and got some much needed exercise, am I sore today, though. I have muscles that hurt that I was unaware that I even had! It was a wonderful weekend and we've decided that we need to get out more often and to take the girls when we go. I need to get into better hiking shape before my mother-in-law and I go to see the rock art in west Texas.
Well, I better go, the hubbs and the farrier should be here any time.

A Bit of a Break

I took some time off this weekend. The hubby was going to be gone this week, so I wanted to spend some time with him before he left. Then, after he left, I went to go a visit a dear friend and distant cousin who will be 95 this year. All I can say is that I hope I'm half as sharp and spry as she is if I live that long. She lives about 3 hours away, so I spent the night. At my cousin's house, the neighborhood feeds the deer, mostly to keep them from eating all of their flowers. I had this amazing experience of being about 3 feet from about 5 or 6 deer.







My cousin lives on a lake that is absolutely incredible! Her house is on a pretty steep hill, so they use this trolley system to go down to the water.

I saw this the next morning as I was leaving. There was this fog rolling across the lake and it was so beautiful that I had to stop and take a picture.



On the way back, I stopped at an incredible state park. I only spent an hour there, but I took some great shots.





So, back to the farm. Not much happens around here this time of year. Seed catalogs have started to arrive in the mail, but, my favorite catalog is the chicken catalog. (My nickname from the kids is the Chicken Lady.) The hubs and I want to update the flock this spring. We never seem to have enough eggs to meet demand, so we're going to go with some production reds this year. I also need to start getting my potato bed ready. My pops always said that bare root roses and potatoes need to be in the ground by Valentine's Day (at least in our area). The few potatoes I planted last year did so well, the hubs and I want to plant a lot more.


This spring I also want to plant some fruit trees and pecan trees. I might buy a couple of trees, to get a head start on the fruit, but I want to plant some from seed to see if I can do it.

So, the final thing is that I've opened a site on Etsy. I was trying to think of crafts to sell, and I might do that eventually, but something that I have now is photos. So, I'm going to see how that does. The address is http://www.shutterbugs.etsy.com/ I'd really appreciate you looking at it and telling me what you think.

How We Got Started...part 2

Sorry that things got rushed towards the end of part 1. It was actually close to 11 pm when I crawled in bed, and the hubby was getting rather impatient. ; ) That is one thing that we agreed on when we got married, that we would go to bed at the same time, at least as close as possible.

Anyway, I was talking about the animals... At the time, the house was our major "homesteading" thing we did. We gave up a "big fancy house" to move into the neighborhood "crack house". After we moved it to the 15 acres, we added a hallway and a portable building that my dad bought for $50. The portable building became our bedroom. People still had comments to make about how we lived, but for the most part, we ignored them.

There were times that we both got so frustrated what the amount of things that needed to be done that we almost gave up and went and bought a new house. Luckily for us, I'd get frustrated at different times than he did, so we'd be able to talk the other one out of rushing out and signing our lives away.

New people who met us and came to our house commented on how much love was here and how comfortable they felt in our home. Those were the kind of people that we wanted to be friends with, not the ones thinking that we needed a big, fancy home.

I had never even heard of "homesteading" until we went to visit a Haflinger ranch that was owned by a husband and wife. We stayed for the day, thoroughly enjoying ourselves with these neat people we had just met. Their ranch was run on horse power. The horses were their tractors, they tilled their garden, pulled logs, etc. We had been having a wonderful day, when the wife asked me if I had heard about the Homesteading Movement. Of course, I thought about "homesteading" your house to lower your property taxes. She kinda laughed, then explained what it was about. Hmmm...could it be that we had been homesteading all this time and didn't even know it? I thought we were just living like my grandparents and parents.

We came home, and I did a web search on homesteading. The hubby walked past me, saw what I was looking at and said, "you're not serious, right? I like air conditioning and TV." You see, he's been married to me long enough to know that when I'm interested, I tend to jump in with both feet. I assured him that I wasn't going to take away all of his toys, that I was just looking for ideas to lower our grocery bill, maybe raise a garden, and farm fresh eggs are much better! He gave me a half hearted "ok" but he was still suspicious. The poor dear, he knows me too well for his own good. ; )

Well, after a while, even he was interested in some of the topics I was reading up on. He hates writing that check out to the light company every month, and it seems to get higher and higher, but when we got serious about looking about going off grid...well, lets just say that it's not in the budget. Shoot! I have managed to ease him into a few other things. He loves fresh homemade bread and the fresh veggies from the garden cut our grocery bill quite a bit. We discussed raising animals for meat for the freezer, but neither of us have the stomach for butchering and butcher shops around here charge so much just to butcher the animal, that it's cheaper to buy meat on sale in the store. And he certainly doesn't mind me cleaning the barn out to put in the garden!

So, I say all of this, and I've probably forgotten a few things, because the thing about homesteading is that you can pick and choose the aspects that work for you. You don't have to jump in with both feet, like I would have, at least until the 100+ temps of August. You can pick and choose things that work for you in your current circumstances. The things we have accomplished have been over years, and things that we want to accomplish will take even more years. Our farm has a life of it's own, and sometimes it's just like watching a child grow and develop.

The Beginning of How We Started Homesteading

The hubby's parents and grandparents bought the land we're living on in the 70's. The grandparents changed their minds before the first payment was made, and his parents took over the notes. His parents got a divorce when he was a teen, but kept the place. His dad decided he wanted out, so his mom bought out his share.

Despite the fact that the hubby grew up in a big city, he knew that the country was where he belonged. He desperately wanted horses, but having less noise and being able to see the stars were an added bonus.

We put in a well and septic, then had our first mobile home delivered in 1995. Despite the fact that there's 15 acres here, we lived on about 1/2 acre because that was all that was cleared. We gradually cleared a path to the well, then expanded a bit more. We lived here for a couple of years when he was transfered to another town. We sold the house, bought another one in another town. We lived there for a couple of years when the hubby was transferred back. This time, we decided that we didn't want a house note.

We made a deal with my parents to "buy" a 1980 single-wide mobile home for what they had in it....about $400. The house was in deplorable condition, and we took quite a bit of ribbing from neighbors about moving into the "crack house". Some of them changed their tunes when we tore all of the old siding off and put up new vinyl siding. Then we weren't so crazy, but they started to see what we had seen all along. I say "buy" because we ended up taking it out in trade. My parents decided after an unexpected medical retirement, to follow our lead and build their own and get rid of their housenote. The hubby helped and my parents canceled our debt. Thanks Mom and Dad! The hubby's mom helped us out with more than just the land, she wrote us a check to help buy building materials. We are truly blessed with wonderful parents on both sides!

We moved the house to the 15 acres, after clearing more land. The hubby wanted the house further off the road. We didn't get it where we wanted because we were trying to clear land in 100+ degree weather. We cleared just enough to get it in, the back yard came later. ; ) We still didn't have horses, at least not for a few more years.

The first horse we got was also our first rescue. This poor old starved horse showed up in our front yard, eating the dog food. Come to find out, this horse was about 30 years old and belonged to a lady who didn't know what she was doing. We stabled him at a friend's house who had pasture. Our 13 year old (who wasn't 13 at the time) was down there every day, brushing him, talking to him, and just generally taking care of him. He only lived 6 months, but it was probably the best 6 months he'd had in a very long time!

This earned the 13 year old the right to own a horse of her own. We decided that if took that good of care for a horse she'd never be able to ride, then she'd do a good job for one she could. We found an ad in the newspaper for a Haflinger. We had no idea what a Haflinger was, so we did some research and fell in love with the breed.

The hubby's horse came next. He was a surprise for his birthday. A neighbor was in serious danger of losing his job and was worried about feeding 2 horses. He decided to sell Buck, as he was just a pasture mate. I worked out a deal with the neighbor and surprised the hubby with the for sale sign. I marked in big red letters "SOLD". It's the first time that I've brought tears to his eyes with a gift. Most of the riding that Buck had done was with the hubby in his saddle.

The third horse (technically 4th) was another rescue. I found out about 2 horses in the neighborhood that weren't being taken care of. I basically informed the owner that he could either give me the horses or I could kick his rear-end and then he could give me the horses. (The hubby says that I'm a rather fiesty little German woman, especially when animals or children are involved.) He finally agreed to give me one of the horses and he would take the other to someone else. Dollar is a thoroughbred/quarter horse mix, and now that he's put on some weight, he's quite a looker.

We also have chickens, and we sell the eggs at the hubby's work. We never seem to have enough eggs for the demand, so this spring we're getting more chickens.

I'll finish this story tomorrow....the hubby keeps looking my way, sending a silent message that it's bedtime. ;)

Happy 2008

Happy New Year everyone!

Now that Christmas is over with, I'm already thinking about what I want to plant in my spring garden. I bought a bunch of seeds on clearance at the end of the season last year. I think I paid about six cents a package for most of them. We had a lot of luck with squash, potatoes, green beans, and okra. This year I'm going to try and raise my own tomato seedlings, as my mom gave me my grandma's grow light. I'm also going to try to raise some fruit trees from seeds. A friend gave me a huge lemon off of her tree, and I read an article about how to start your own. My other grandmother had a lot of luck planting peach pits from peaches that she bought in the produce section.

The hubby and I were walking around outside this morning and we've decided to try and get some goats. We have 15 acres, but about 12 of them are heavily, heavily wooded. I eventually want to get some of the Spanish goats, because from what I've read, they make good pets. I want to be able to milk them to make soap. But, for now, we're going with miniature goats because they'll be easier to contain.

While we were walking around, checking things out, we discovered that our water trough has a hole in the bottom. He's going to fix that today. He wants to move it so that our Haflinger can't chase the other horses and knock the auto waterer off.

I've added some new things on the side under my profile. I finally was able to post some pictures that are permanent. I also joined a homesteading blogger group, and the link for that is a little further down.

Well, that's about it for now. It's a beautiful day outside and I really want to get some things done today. I may fire up the old tractor and start hauling "horse compost" into the gardens. Yep, I compost the easy way....let the horses do it ; ) !

Everyone have a blessed New Year! As my middle daughter said at 12:03 am last night, it's going to be a much better year this year, I promise! ;)