Garden and Home Life by Lori Seaborg

Introduction

It's my first day back online after two months of no Internet access at home.  We have had such a run of "bad luck" with our computer, that I was starting to wonder if it was a God-decision that our house be computerless.  I mean, would He really ask such a thing of me?  Well, apparently not, as just when I started to question, the computer was fixed.  Whew! 

And on Day One of having a computer, here I am creating yet another blog!  But just one more won't hurt....and on my favorite subject, too...homesteading.  Just the word gets me all happy!

I named this blog "Garden and Home Life" because that's what I'll write on, and because I am launching a new website at http://www.GardenandHomeLife.com for you to visit in the future (you can go there now, but there isn't much on it yet, thanks to my broken computer!). 

As an introduction, I'll let you know who our family is in the way of homesteading:  Two years ago this month, we moved from a lot in a small city to an acre next to a wooded acre on a river (fishable and canoeable).  Our house sits at the very front of the acre, so we have most of the land available to us in the rear of the house. 

There, we have the river at the far end.  It is clear and moves lazily-yet-steadily.  An otter family leaves just upstream from our riverfront.  Along the river is a pure white sand (90% silica) beach.  We live in the Emerald Coast area of the Florida-Alabama Gulf Coast, so we get to enjoy such perfect sand at the  beach, and now here on this riverfront.  Thanks to Hurricane Ivan last year, we have a very large beach of sand (and the river is now deeper). 

Near the beach is our chicken pen.  I prefer to call it our Aviary, as we have an open-air pen for our chickens.  With our warm weather year-round, we don't have to have a hen "house."  The chickens perch on some logs that fell during the various hurricanes and tropical storms we've had this past year.  The lay eggs on a shelf made of chicken wire onto which we lay pine straw.  We have about 13 chickens continually residing in this pen, and about 7-8 that run loose.  We have 2 roosters, so we let one be the outside king and one rules the Aviary. 

Adjoining the chicken pen is our goat pen.  I prefer to call their roofed area the Stable.  Again, because of our subtropical weather, the goats do not have a normal goat house.  They just have a roofed area to get out of the rain.  Their fence is mostly made of natural logs that we found in the wooded acre next to ours after the hurricanes.  It makes for a very pretty fence and was absolutely free except for the nails which we already had on hand.  Mary and April are two Angora goat does.  I just love these dolls!

Closer to the house is the organic vegetable/fruit garden, the citrus trees (Lemon, tangerine, and Kumquat), the Bay tree, azaleas, and a bulb garden.  Right next to the house, outside of the laundry room door, off of the kitchen, is the organic herb garden where rosemary and oregano currently reside.  In pots, I also have thyme and lemon grass and aloe vera. 

The rabbits cage - I call it the .... well, I don't have a great name for it yet, maybe the Hutch, but it's really just a cage to be honest ... is right up near the house for now.  Soon, they will go live in the goat pen (still in their Hutch), so they can enjoy some company with the goats and chickens.  The rabbits are Californians, kept strictly for their cuteness and their droppings which make my plants grow beyond imagination.

A disclaimer:  All of the above sounds so grand in writing, but it's really nothing more than you could rig up, too.  

My plan for this blog is to post photos and write how-to articles and lessons learned.  If any of you are not homesteading, I encourage you to start.  You can start right now, even in a city apartment.  I'll help you learn how from my limited knowledge as best I can.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Lori Seaborg

(also of the Keeping the Home blog )

Wonderful to see you here!

04:01, Tuesday, January 10, 2006 .. Posted by KingsCastleFarm

I am looking forward to reading your entries and articles :)

We just started our homesteading adventure early Nov. and while I know a bit about animals, gardening, harvesting and canning will be a whole new world to me.

Blessings,
Tam

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04:20, Tuesday, January 10, 2006 .. Posted by DonnaJoy

Welcome - looking forward to getting to know you - looked the "look" at your homestead!! Will be visiting your website!!
Donna

Hi Lori

05:09, Tuesday, January 10, 2006 .. Posted by JoyceFamily

So glad you're here..looking forward to visiting your blog, and your website!
In His Peace
Eleanor

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11:04, Tuesday, January 10, 2006 .. Posted by OurLittleHomestead

Lori

So glad you're here! WELCOME!

Lisa

How Awesome

02:29, Thursday, January 12, 2006 .. Posted by Colleen

I so enjoyed reading about where you live. How awesome and wonderful to be able to live in the country - something I so long for, but here in South Africa it is not always safe or advisable to live in the country....