Ohhh, my back!

So, today, I got up and just wanted to get SOMETHING done!  And, of course, as I hate housework and the weather has turned beautiful - I went outside!  I ordered some blocks for our firepit from Lowes.com so that i could take advantage of the 2% cashback at fatwallet.com.  Then went and picked that up.  I had to make two trips because the blocks weigh 25 lbs each!

I've been considering putting box hedges along our front walk as a barrier between kids playing in the front yard and the road.  So, I checked those out at Lowes - $7 each.  Yikes.  I needed 7 of them, so I called Home Depot and asked how much their were - $2.50 each.  Nice :)  So, I also got out the whole clan at Home Depot after two trips to Lowes.  Then, with fresh, new plants, and a van full of blocks, I set to work!

I dug up a 30' x 32" section of lawn.  Which was pretty back breaking!  I still haven't bought a wheelbarrow, so I hauled my gigantic city trash can along with me to put all my yard waste in.  What do people without compost piles usually do with yard waste?  I've been contemplating a compost pile, but I'm afraid it'll be more work and take up more space than it's worth.  Thoughts?

Anyways, I dug up the lawn, dug some holes, put down weed barrier and planted my mini-shrubs.  It'll be sometime before THESE prevent my children from running headlong into the road ;)

One really nice thing about working outside in the front yard is that I got to talk to all three neighbors on my street at one point in time during today!

After I finished up front, I was EXHAUSTED!  But... I had a van full of heavy blocks that needed to be unloaded.  So, instead of just piling them up, I figured I'd put them where they belonged!  So, I dug out a hole in the back yard, cleared the middle and laid down 48 twenty-five lb. blocks.  Yeeeeeesh!  Needless to say, I'm good and worn out.

Afterwards I hopped in the shower with Kate to rinse all the dirt off.  I didn't realize I'd been exclaiming until Kate started copying me.  "mmm.  oh, man, that feels so nice."  and whatnot.  Lol, after that I made a conscious effort to not sigh every time I thought about how in love I was with that hot shower.  When John put Kate to bed tonight she was telling him all about all the cool things I'd done and how hard I'd worked, and I could tell she was just beaming.  Who says being a mom is a thankless job :)

It felt so good to work outside, but now I think I'm going to go collapse.  Again.

Garden Ramblings

I went to Atwoods today and they have individual potted strawberry plants with lots of flowers on them for $.99 each!  I've been debating on how to plant my strawberries after hearing from a friend long ago that snakes liked to live in their plants.  How do you guys keep your plants?  I thought about getting one of those 'strawberry pots' with the holes in the side, but can't rationalize spending $25 each for such a little container, and then I looked at the hanging strawberry baskets, but kept reading that the bottom plants die out from lack of water while the top ones thrive.  I'm half inclined to go all hillbilly and plant them in our old gutters and fasten the gutters up on our chain link fence.  Bad idea?

After Atwoods, I went to Tractor Supply and found GOLDEN RASPBERRIES!  I LOVE these, so excited!  I forgot to mention in my last gardening role call that I have 2 red raspberry plants, 2 thornless blackberries, and 2 different seedless grape varieties to plant as well.

I've been plugging along on my Mini-Farming book.  I'm a little intimidated by the science of good soil, but I'm hoping it's less complex than it seems once you get into it.  It's like reading the trouble shooting section of a manual before you have any problems with it.  Also, trying to decide if I should try composting at home, or just buying compost.  It takes so long to develop and takes up precious yard space, and buying compost is SO CHEAP.  Thoughts?

Also, I've been looking for Etsy people who have things I want to trade with and just found one :)  She makes homemade jams and marmalades and lives in Tulsa.  So we're going to start bartering delicious things like meyer lemon vanilla bean marmalade or blood orange fennel marmalade for coffee.  Yay!  Plus, I make it to Tulsa once a month or so, so I can just meet up with her and we can both save on shipping :)

Urban Homesteading

I'm a wee bit of a compulsive researcher.  I know, I'm a rare breed.  But, once I get my mind on something I can spend hours every day trying to figure out how to get what I want.  But this can't actually be manipulated, to say, something my husband wants, because unless I'm interested I get bored out of my mind.

So, my latest endeavor is to use the 1/5 acre lot our house is on to it's fullest advantage.  I've ordered two books, one on Homesteading, Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre and one on gardening, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener. I grew up on 24 acres in the NE corner of Washington State, and being outside and using the resources on the land was just part of our life. We added new planters every year, had an orchard, canned our produce, and built a 2200 square foot house out of the trees grown on our land.

When I was younger we had a couple of sheep and goats, but I really don't know anything about raising them and am not really what one might call an 'animal person'.  But I LOVE to be outside and work with my hands, I'm really rather useless indoors ;)

So, back to this year.  I've been perusing the  Botanical Interests and Baker Creek Seeds websites and have put together an order that may need some serious paring back.  $80-100 worth of seed might be a little excessive...  Fortunately I've found two other families to split the packets with which will afford me the fruit trees I want to plant :)

I'm also considering Silkie chickens, just two, but still contemplating the cute and egg production to poop ratio.  But, come on, they're like big fluffy cotton balls running around on two little chicken feet!  And they still produce eggs, and are considered the best 'pet' chicken.  When looking at a site where we could order the baby chicks, it actually warned against rubbing the baby chicks on your face.  How did they know?!  That was my exact intention!