The Shed, Slowly but Surely

Radiation barrier insulation is now blocking the view of our neighbors in the rear. We almost have a private backyard.

Yay, White Oak!

Jason got his wood in last week to do his board and batting walls of the shed-ma-hall. Why white oak and not pressure treated pine? Cheaper (60 cents a board foot, no chemicals, and it is somewhat naturally rot resistant.

Picked my first potatoes. We ate some for lunch today. Yum! To know they came from my backyard gives me much pleasure. And now, to know how simple they are to produce, I will definitely grow them every year... In fact, I believe I have time to go at it again. I just need to prepare a spot for them. We already put in the sweet potatoes... I put cucumbers where the white potatoes were... and I want to plant more green beans... Yikes, my brain is starting to overload... My energies are not up for what my mind would like to do yet, so I must constantly remind myself that it is okay to take it easy and enjoy some slow time with Zachary.

So Zach and I have started going outside in the mornings. He naps in his jogger, and I piddle around in the garden... And each day is a new day.

Zachary is here!

Zachary was born June 1, at 2:02am Sunday morning... in my bathroom! This was not the romantic homebirth I had envisioned, but is was at home nonetheless. My contractions started at 11:30pm Saturday, I hit minute long contractions around 1:30 am, and at 2am I was squatting and Jason was ready to catch! What a miracle! Zachary came out and cried immediately. Jason put him on my chest, and the ambulance arrived moments later. They cut the cord and we were transported to our local hospital.
Zach came at 36 weeks, so he was premature. 5lbs 3oz., 18.5 inches long.

So, now, he is 2 weeks old, breastfeeding like the boobie monster he is, and is over 5 and half pounds!

Our life has been completely revamped, but for the better. Who knows what will come about. Major "life" issues are in the forefront of our discussions, of course. What's important, what are our goals, etc...? Exciting and scary! After paying off our mortgage last month, anything is possible.

Blue Roof

Well, I haven't been home lately, but I did happen to stop by my house on my way up North. So, Jason got the blue metal roof on! This shed is HUGE! When we get back home, he'll order the wood for the board and batten walls. He thinks he'll be "bug tight" in a month (even if it's plastic windows).

One Month at The Farm, and 3 Weeks Visiting Family

Well, before I decide to dive into a thorough report of my experiences at the EcoVillage Training Center on The Farm, I want to just take a brief look at things.

I learned about:
organic gardening
permaculture
world political issues
natural building techniques
bamboo
vegetarian cooking
community living
interdependence
chickens
solar power
grey water systems
humanure
ticks and deer
straw


It was so easy to make friends, and good ones too! I was surprised with all the open minds and hearts. There must be so many people who care and love Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. I am very excited and reinvigorated to pursue with my husband our dreams.

More to come!

Jason Puts Up a Wall

Our Library is on its way to completion. Jason put up a wall near the entryway just before he came down with the stomach flu, Yuck! Poor thing... So, now I just need to put together the final bookshelf for the living room to finish our library.

Other things:

J built the compost bin higher

I am sewing more and more, mostly baby stuff and maternity items

Composting Toilet is still working out great, although J did switch to the city toilet during his illness. We are about to store the peat moss in a covered trash can to protect it from rain (not necessary, just something to make me feel better--I don't like the wet peat moss at the bottom of the bag)

The Garden is going pitifully well. There is still mesclun to pick. Turnips survived without any protection, although I didn't eat too many. J pruned the fruit trees a couple weeks back. I have started my Spring/Summer garden plans. They will be nice a simple to accomodate my pregnant state. I'm thinking, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, radish, and beans, lots of marigolds and cosmos, and, if I feel up to it, some other things.

I've started started laundering my baby stuff. We are starting to implement a greywater environment, meaning, switching to greywater friendly soaps. First is the laundry detergeant. We found a recipe to base a liquid soap made from our bio-deisel supplies. We need to do a couple of experiments, but it looks easy enough.

Bio-Deisel, by the way, is going fine. Production is much slower in the wintertime, saved for warm weekends. We use 70% bio-deisel, 30% regular deisel in the winter, but we drive less too (summer we use 100% bio-D).
So, still, overall, throughout the year, we emit 10% of what we were with our old Nissan gasoline Stanza.

Well, I can't think of any other homesteading updates. I'm just taking it day by day with this pregnancy thing, and nesting when I feel like it. Housecleaning is kept to a minimum, but I am having bouts of deep cleaning too, which is always fun. "J, can I get rid of this? or J, can I build this?"

Oh, forgot to say, drying laundry outside on the clothesline still going fine. I just have to remember, watch the weather, although rain-washed baby clothes are great! (We've had our line for 2 years, now? and probably for the last year I have been using is regularly. I've only used the dryer 4 times in the past year...)