At Home in Georgia

My Little Garden...

I did take pictures, but haven't had time to post them.  But sad news, we had a hard freeze last weekend, and I lost my peppers and some transplanted things.  My broccoli, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and cabbage did fine, but even covering everything couldn't save it all.  I heard from more expert gardeners that planting before April 1 or even April 15 is pretty risky.  So I"m happy to have my broccoli and peas doing as well as they are.  I replanted carrots, some peas, and started some beans today.  I like the idea of staggering the planting for a steady crop through the summer.  I also planted moss roses and phlox inside, and all the moss roses have come up and ONE phlox (must have had a crummy batch of seeds). 

My mom is here from KY for the week, and we have been having lots of fun and doing pretty much nothing as far as school, housework, or anything like that.  We went to Stone Mountain one day, had a big shopping day, and today just kind of took it easy.  Monday, we leave for KY to take her home and to visit with her and my dad (who had to return for work) for a few more days.  We have been discussing life with children and homeschooling and planning and organizing.  She has such great ideas, and it's so nice to have someone actually BE around us to see how things go and give advice that is so personalized to US.  I realize how blessed I am to have been homeschooled for a while... not only do I know what it's like to BE homeschooled, I can get help and advice from my own mom as a seasoned homeschool mom looking back.  Can't beat that! 

~Michelle

My Little Garden!

I love living in GA.  While my Michigan family and friends are still plowing their driveways, I'm watching broccoli and peas appearing in my garden!   But I'm not really gloating, I'm really just amazed that I can have a little garden started already in mid-March.  I have lettuce, tomatoes, and more broccoli started indoors, and we planted some spring flower bulbs outside today. 

Now... the real test will be if I can keep them all alive until there's something worthy of eating. 

~Michelle

Another Busy Week

We're still working toward our garden and chickens.  We've had another busy week.  Carter took yesterday off from work to work on these things.  We borrowed a big truck (boy, are they nice!) and we all headed out to get topsoil, peat moss, railroad ties, fencing, fence posts, a new shovel and rake, wood chips, pine straw, and more.  I felt like a farm girl.  Hee, hee!

It took ALL day running around trying to get everything.  Of course, a few places didn't have what they'd advertised, and one trip in particular was a wasted trip.  Oh, well, it was VERY cold (for here), about 35 degrees, so we didn't really spend a lot of time outside anyway.  Carter set up one of my 4X4 (really more like 3.5X3.5) garden spots, and we have one more to go. 

Today, the children and I decided to do some work outside to help Daddy, who is coaching a golf game tonight and won't be home until late.  He's been realy focused on getting the garden ready for me and he's also really trying to get ready so we can start our chickens this spring instead of next year.  So we spread all the pine straw up by the house and all the wood chips in their two places in the yard.  Those are the things Carter likes to see done.  Cassandra, my 7 year old, has been an enormous help.  She comes alive working outside.  Who'd have thought?  Emma was much more of a help today, and even Garrett helped for a while.  His help is not exactly... ummm... help, so when he's ready to give up, I am too.  :)

The biggest project left for us is figuring out what to do about a chicken coop / hen house.  We'll probably build something simple, I guess.

I did come up with an idea for conserving water, today.  I get so tired of running the dishwasher every day.  We use a lot of bowls (for cereal and for popcorn and for... ice cream!) so we're often out even when the DW isn't full.  And it just seems like we should be able to go longer between running it.  We don't use a lot of paper... although when you're in a severe drough, it seems that using disposable is wiser than running the dishwasher all the time.  Anyway, I set the children to washing, rinsing, and drying their own cups and bowls and spoons.  They think it's cool because they get to wash (no one wants to dry, they all want to play in warm soapy water), and I just fill up the sink part way with hot soapy water and they can do it as soon as they're through and go on to the next thing. And another way to incorporate Garrett into the chore world.

Oh, we're also on a waiting list for $20 rain barrels that attach to the downspouts and are adapted with a spigot at the bottom for hooking up a hose for watering.  That will be important with our garden as well this year, esp. if we have a year as dry as last year.

And that's it... all updated for now!  :)

~Michelle

Ps. In my album is a picture of the front pine straw and you can see just a glimpse of my first garden section on the side, dwarfed by the huge brush pile!

A Day's Work

I'm so very tired tonight!  But it's that wonderful, we-had-a-hard-day-of-work kind of feeling.  We all worked outside today clearing out a wooded section of our lot that has just been taken over by nasty vines and briers.  I took before and after pictures, but they do NOT do it justice!  Cassandra stuck with Carter and me and worked with us the whole 3 1/2 hours we were out there.  Which is especially great since she'd been helping me with housework all morning before we'd gone to work outside.  The other two little ones gave up fairly quickly (Garrett wanted to use the chainsaw and wasn't happy that he wasn't allowed to, and Emma wanted to hand saw the swing set apart and wasn't happy when SHE wasn't allowed to) and played outside for a while, then got a little cold and went inside.  That's another story... 

Anyway.  We cleared a corner section that was just old dead, cut down trees and junk covered in vines.  And then we worked our way into the rest of the area cutting and pulling stuff out of the way.  I love that kind of work (once in a while!).  It was so good to be outside.  It was about 58 degrees and I stayed plenty warm in a sweatshirt and headband to keep my ears warm.  It was pretty windy, so we couldn't burn the "ginormous" pile of stuff we cleared out.  We'll have to do that another day.  The wood will burn well, but all the thorny stuff usually smolders.  And thankfully.... no one got hurt except for a few thorn-holes in hands and scratches on legs and faces and arms.  :)  Whenever the chain saw is out, I get nervous!

This is the area we will be having our chickens, and it will be a great place for them to find lots of bugs!  We talked to our neighbors and they think it's great that we're going to get chickens.  That was good... you always wonder if your neighbors will disapprove when you live in a subdivision!

And I was reminded today by Robyn (www.lentilsandrice.blogspot.com) of square-foot gardening.  I'd read the book a few years ago and decided that was the way to go if we ever tried a garden again.  We know we want to do "raised" garden sections, so that is already the first step to square-foot gardening.  The idea is that you plant in square sections instead of rows.  You can plant more, harvest more, and water less, plus you start out with a special mix that doesn't involve (in our case) planting seeds in brick (hard, dry GA red clay).  So we're excited about this, and hope to get this going pretty soon, too.  If Carter just didn't have to work, we could probably get everything done!  :)

Well, it's an early-to-bed evening.  I probably won't be able to get out of bed in the morning....

~Michelle

Opportunity to Learn to Spin

I'm going to get a chance to learn something new!  I have a friend who has sheep and she's going to let me help her and learn with her to spin it into yarn!  

This is something that's been in the back of my mind for a while.  I went to Berea, KY a few years ago and saw a "Learn to Spin" kit.  I picked it up and looked it over, thinking..."Hmmmmmm....!"  Then I dropped it as quickly as I could... I didn't need ANYTHING else to spend my money on.  But I've continued to be intrigued by hand spinning wool into yarn.  And since I knit, how neat to learn how to "make" yarn!! 

Ahem... so... anyway... I'm not excited about this or anything.  :)

~Michelle

An Afternoon on a Homestead

I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday.  Through just "chance" I was directed to a homeschooling family 6 miles from us.  I knew they had goats and chickens and that their youngest daughter is my oldest daughter's age.  Other than that, I didn't know anything about them.  Well... when we got there, we were greeted by 3 of the 6 children and welcomed by 2 dogs and a cat.  The girls whisked my three children off to see the goats and chickens, and I had 2 hours to visit with a "real life" mom with so many of the same ideas as I have.  AND she is a true, true, true homesteader.

It took 2 hours to tour their home and "grounds".  It could have been in "Homesteader Magazine" if there is such a thing.  My younger daughter got to collect a just-laid, still-warm egg, ride a shetland pony, pet goats and ride a tire swing.   My older daughter made an instant friend, and my son was mothered and taken care of by everyone.  He got to ride the pony too. 

This woman has learned it all in 5 years.  She has a complete garden, divided into raised beds.  Herbs, divided into medicinal, Italian and poultry to make it easy for children to collect herbs.  They have two calves, bought from a dairy (they don't want the "boys" of course) for $60 that they can sell for beef and keep enough for themselves.  They have several goats and 2 sheep.  She has bags of wool in her basement, waiting to have "something" done with them... spinning is the ONLY thing she hasn't done yet!  They have a horse and a pony, raise a pig or two for their own meat, and have started a small orchard.  Oh, and she keeps bees! 

The reason it all works is that each of her children have an area that they enjoy.  The 17 year old pretty much takes care of the chickens, the 11 year old loves horses, etc.  Her husband works from home, so he's available.  At least three of the children also have begun or are in the process of beginning a business.

Anyway, it was just amazing.  I felt like I was absorbing so much information.  When the 17 year old daughter found out that I know how to knit, she was sooo excited.  There's ONE thing I can teach them!  :)  I was pretty excited too, to know that there's something I can contribute to this already self-sufficient family. 

So, it's possible that we may be able to learn together how to turn all this wool into yarn! 

~Michelle