Clean up, clean up.

We were given the okay to clean up on Thursday. There are piles of beams to be burned. Hay that still needs to be sorted through and a bunch of scrap was taken away today. Along with the clean up we have been working on making various lists of equipment and tools that were lost. I am not sure how many pages we have but I’d venture to say upwards around fifty (correct me if  am wrong).

 

On a brighter note my seeds came in the mail on Monday. Now I have little broccolis, cabbages, fenugreeks, and sorrels popping up. I also have started all of my peppers and celery. If my celery doesn’t turn out in the summer I am going to give it a shot in the greenhouse. In the ideal scene of things I want to grow broccoli, celery, onions and see if I can keep a rosemary bush in there.

I keep finding all of these little niches. I love my little house. I have plans of the yard, gardens, and flower beds. I enjoy working and weeding outside. I find it therapeutic and i know that Aaron would like nice flower beds so both of us are happy.

Broadening Horizons

Composting/Repurposing/Recycling

I started a compost pile. It is mostly pine needles and dead rhubarb. Through the winter and into the spring I wish to deversify the contents. My Mom has a wooden bin that she says I could use. After the coming snow melts and it is nice to work outside, I am taking that bin and using it for the pile. So now I have two garbage piles. One for the chickens which contains pastas, meats, dairy and other products that cannot be composted. The other will contain spent coffee grounds, untreated paper/cardboard, produce/garden scraps, peelings etc. Then whatever paper we cannot compost we will use in our woodstove.  

Other ways I conserve/repurpose are 

• Using glass jars (alfredo/beans) to store pantry staples, herbs and spices
• Using cottage cheese and sour cream containers for tupperware
• Using old juice containers for next years cider pressing
• Using old lundry detergent jugs for my (future) homemade laundry detergent
• And finely recycling anything I have no use for or have too much of
• And what can’t be recycled I throw away in the trash

Green House

My mom plans on buying me a greenhouse as a very early birthday present. I am so stoked about this because now I have a place to start my seeds and keep my starts while it is still cold out. And who knows maybe I can experiment and try avacadoes or artichokes. Hmm.

Cape Dress

On Thursday I cut out my first cape dress with Libby. The fabric is 100% cotton, and the print is a calico- medium mauve with black sprigs everywhere. I am very excited. I bought enough material to make six dresses, which I need desparately. With each dress I make I want to get rid of at least one article of clothing I have.

 

That’s all for now! I will post more when I get back from Kentucky!