When my husband was in the Marine Corps, we bought a house in a cul-de-sac to avoid rent gouging and sketchy neighborhoods, and the outrageously long waiting list (2 years!) for on-base housing. When we bought it, we purchased by owner and the previous homeowners had put time and effort into landscaping it to give … Continue reading Functional vs. Ornamental Landscaping
Today was a milestone for me. It marks the first day I've had both the time and energy for a decent workout. My daughter is 4 months old and I'm feeling really good- better than I did at this stage after my son was born. So, since both Bambinos decided to take a long late … Continue reading First Post-second-baby Workout!
We started work on the chicken coop . Actually, we re-started it. For some reason, our corners weren't coming out square so we unscrewed the entire base frame and checked that the cuts were straight. The 2nd try was better. The lesson in this is that a tiny mistake can cause big problems that compound … Continue reading Coop, Sowing, and Trees
Ugh. Lumber is expensive. I know there are ways to get it cheap or scavenged. But I didn't do that. In fact, we've spent a stupid amount of money on this daggone chicken coop and run. But ya know what? I would rather it be done the right way with quality materials and only have … Continue reading Chicken Coop Building Materials List
We're in the Smokey Mountain region of this great nation and we were promised some brutal storms. Well, we ended up just getting a ton of rain. Which on one hand is great, because of the drought conditions this past summer/fall. On the other hand, we had quite a bit of water damage to our … Continue reading The Not-so-perfect Storm
So we're going to have to terrace our hillside in order to be able to garden in it. A useable slope is about 2%, or 1 foot of rise for every 50 feet of run. Our slope is about 8%. To find that, I used a simple equation from Algebra 1 I never thought I'd … Continue reading Finding the Slope
Busy day! We picked up our last two chicks at the co-op this morning- Black Cuckoo Marans. They're doing fine with the others and we now have our full flock of 9. I have a suspicion that one of our Buff Orpingtons is a rooster, based on size and wing sexing, but I've also never … Continue reading Terracing, Burning, and Grooming
Lots going on here lately! 7 of our 9 baby chicks come tomorrow, the other two will be here Friday. The brooder is set up, but we're debating using a bigger box. We'll see once they get here. Finally got the temp to settle at about 95°F under the heat lamp, until about 3:00pm when … Continue reading Homestead Update: Chicks, Beds, and Veggies
It hit 73°F today... Weird winter we're having... In any case, we've been able to get a good bit of work done. Here's how the swale is coming along: My husband dug a lot of holes in his devil dog days. The skill and experience is paying off. And he thought he'd never use his … Continue reading Swale Progress
My son heard the words, "work outside" and he decided he was ready to go. On the docket for today is swale digging! I marked out the land contour last weekend so this weekend my husband is taking the opportunity to begin digging. I have to admit, when I put time and effort into researching … Continue reading Outside Day
Wholly Holy Living 
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