Ok – so this is a first!!! We are showing our faces – finally! Up til now, this has been an “anonymous” blog! Feel privilaged… just kidding… but REALLY! This is big.

Here are some pictures of the progression:

Removing Stumps & Drilling Post Holes

Post Holes - That was a tricky one!

Deck & Floor Joists

Deck

Truss Beam Construction Detail

3 Trusses Standing

Looking up at the Trusses - 3 more to go!

These things are everywhere! They’ve become wise to our traps, and bait. They’ve chewed holes through our carpets, and decide it’s much fun to run up the angle of the tipi between the liner & cover. It’s especially fun when they get a pounding on the liner from the “intruders” inside the tipi…

But not fun for the “Intruders”…

For the past couple months, we’ve decided kittens/ cats were necessary. We’ve caused this huge population explosion of rodents, and it’s the responsible thing to do to keep it in order – not to mention to remain sane!!

We’ve been patiently waiting for the kittens at the main farm to be born and ready for weaning. Finally the day came yesterday, and we catnapped 3 little ones!!

The kitties were abducted by huge aliens, and teleported by loud, bumpy thing, to a world no one’s visited before. A world where these huge aliens make lots of noise, and try to touch them!!

“If you’re going to kill us, just get it over with already!! Stop tormenting US!!!”

We have new ducks! They’re about 3 mo. old, and are just getting their adult feathers and wings. We’re really impressed with their bug control!

Now- for rodent control! The end of this week, we’re getting a handful of barn kittens to help with that. They’re WILD, and need some mothering…

Right when I was getting up to speed, and starting to trust my instincts with my night job – I hurt my knee! Very frustrating. I’ll be able to go back in the next month or so. In the mean time, we’re back to the bare minimum to keep the savings we’ve earned… and it’s frustrating! I’m very thankful for my part-time job with the boat dealership! Hubby got a job as a shop hand for the local blacksmith.. He loves it! I’m proud of him!

It has been so excruciatingly cold and rainy that we haven’t been able to do much at all with the cabin. We were hoping to be half way done with it by now… Cross your fingers that we’ll get it done by early October! We’re ready for the change…

Our garden is coming along – SLOWLY!! Our lettuce bed, peas, and potatoes are coming along famously! The rest is slow.. Gotta say, though- we have the largest spinach leaves I’ve ever seen!

(I’m sorry hubby)

I’m unsure of how to approach this. Each month, we have a certain financial goal to meet, and so far, I’ve done well. This month is a touch different, though. I’m spending more evening time with my hubby, and daytime at work, but evening time is when I make the most money.

I just feel bad, because I LOVE spending time with my husband. He is the most wonderful man I’ve ever met! He knows my needs before I can state them. I hate him feeling like I’m shorting him precious time with me.

If I don’t work my night job, we won’t be able to continue to put aside money for our property, cabin and our future family.

What a catch 22!

People said we couldn’t, but we did! We’re very tired now, and ready for a dry spot. Thankfully we’re able to stay where we’re at and have one! Our land owner’s have approved a design for A-Frame style cabin. A 16′ x 20′ with deck, greenhouse & porch.

We are very thankful- now how to fund this great project? We’ve both been solely working on the farm for the past 4 months and that pays the rent, but doesn’t add to savings.

I was offered a position for the company my father works for as Admin Asst. which has helped immensly. I’m also waitressing during the evening/ night shift for a local bar. The combination has equalled out to a killer combo financially.

It has really eaten into homelife though. I’m away 6 days a week, some days pulling 18 hr. days. It will accomplish our goals, though.

On other news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCFPzoEVdMo

Our dog, Sadie has grown immensly- and isn’t done either… And… the Pig. Who will be dinner in another 6 months. It’s been interesting learning how to discipline one who eats more than its weight every day…

Cheers!

It all FROZE! Well, we didn’t really have a way to keep it all thawed, and we figured that once it all froze, we should leave the goods frozen instead of thawing and refreezing over and over again.

Thankfully, I left enough headspace in the tops of the jars between the food and the lid that we had only one or two jars break due to pressure. i.e.: Minimal mess! YAY!

What happened that neither of us expected: the starches of the food turned into sugar! So thankfully- in all the recipe’s I used, I added 1/2 the amount of sugar called for. So NOW- things are sweeter than if I had used the amount of sugar called for.

It also had the reverse effect on salted things like our green beans! They became extraordinarily salty. So much so, that they can only be used in stews and pot pies. The pickled items- had no flavor effect… the texture was not as crisp.

I just thought I’d share that little tid-bit should someone else be put in a similar situation, they’ll know what to expect.

PS- It is snowing yesterday & today… Our new Chinchilla rabbit pulled her hair today and should have her kindle (litter, babies) today. She’s a week late, and we’re relieved!

Good ol’ Beatle’s said it best. “All I have to do is Dream.”

Oh, so true. The trick is- making your dreams reality. I’ve dreamed about the certain animals I’d like to handle, and am educating myself about each one. “Story’s guides” are very informative, along with John Seymore’s “Guide to Self-Sufficient Living”, and Carla Emry’s “Country Living Encyclopedia”.

I pet one of the cows yesterday, and got cud on my cute pink sweater… That’s farmlife for you! Nothing stays clean, and the more stained it gets- the better. THEN- you don’t have to worry about it getting dirty! Mind you- there are certain articles of clothing I am VERY protective over- my 1 pair of nice 2nd hand jeans that I can go out in…

Our crocus’ are up- a couple blooming. Our Tipi Crawler flower bed is coming together nicely with starts of snap dragon and pansies coming up along with tulips. One of the roses died, but the other is going strong.

I’m still digging on our garden beds. I keep thinking I’m running behind… but then I remind myself of last year, and how we had just started digging in MAY!!! We didn’t even put our garden in until after FATHER’S DAY! We’ll see how it goes this year.

It looks as though I’ll have my first spinning lesson here in the next couple weeks. I finally made contact with the local instructor, and it is exciting!

I was hoping to use the wool harvested from the sheep on the farm- Purebred Icelandic. It turns out that they have never been sheered, and the resulting fleece is full of “vegetable matter”, burrs, matts & felting, etc. SOOO- that is unfortunately out of the question. We’re hoping to have them sheered soon, and put coats on a couple of them to experiment with as far as the cleanliness of their fleece.

This is a direction we’re hoping to turn our farm to, and am doing everything possible to educate ourselves accordingly.

In the meantime, I’m knitting leg-warmers.PS- Our Champagne De’Argent Doe gave birth to 2 healthy buns. They have yet to open their eyes. They’re now 2 weeks old. We’re expecting another batch to come out from our Chinchilla doe that we crossed with the Champagne De’Argent Buck. We’re hoping for more buns… Lets pray we’ll be blessed.

We’ve decided to triple our garden space for this year!!! We’ve added tire tomatoes- which (we think) that the tires will help hold in the moisture and heat, along with better spacing for the tomatoes; potato trenches, a small brassica bed, cucumber and pickle bed and a large squash bed.

Last year, our garden was limited to the confines of the fenced in portion beside the patio and below the stump planter. We are thrilled at the opportunity that this year will hopefully allow: more canning of food we grew, and also better yields, and variety of foods. 

Last month, we worked our rabbit barn matter into the greens bed, and the tomato tires. We still need to clean out the land-owners’ barn. Once we have that done, we can plant potatoes. Then, focus on digging up our squash, cucumber and brassica bed.

It’s all so exciting! I KNOW!!