Roberts' Woods (pending a better name!)

[mousebandit]

We're getting ready to close on our new place! If you've read our previous posts, you know my hubby just got laid off after 6 years on the road doing civil construction jobs, and we're back home in SW Oregon. We've been living in a travel trailer for the last year to get out of debt (with 2 babies!) and when we got back home in July, we were blessed to have a gorgeous ranch to put our trailer on and were very excited about homesteading up here. Then, out of nowhere, the Lord blessed us with our own place, that we can actually afford, and in 3 days we will close on it. Just under 6 acres, lots of trees (mostly madrone, some pine and fir and oak), quite a few outbuildings in various states of disrepair, a 10x50 mobile home (from 1960!) with an add-on (about the same size, maybe just a little wider).

Here is a shot of the pumphouse (with Bekah heading my way) - this is from the driveway near the SW corner of the house. I hope to make all that area from the house to the pumphouse and a little ways beyond into grass for the kids.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00277.jpg

Here is the front of the house (this is the add-on side) from almost the same location. The add-on runs the whole length of the mobile and is just a little wider - maybe 12 feet. The siding and roof enclose the entire trailer so you don't realize it's in there until you're inside.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00275.jpg

Next thread will have another picture. Hope I did these right!

[mousebandit]

And this is just a little further out than the other two and facing the opposite direction from the pumphouse - further into the property. THe house is along the right side, and the structure you can see behind it was maybe a shop or something, but it will become my garden shed.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00276.jpg

And here is a shot of the tree house. They made the sides out of a cut-up tent and some tin roofing, LOL! We will be doing some upgrades before the kids get anywhere near it, LOL! It does have a cool play area underneath, though.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00279.jpg

So, here's the rundown on the outbuildings:
1. Pumphouse - good sized, about 12 x 12 or so. We'll put sturdy shelves in there and it will be food storage until we can dig a root cellar. With all the tree cover, both the pump house and the house were very cool even when it was over 100 degrees outside. Nice!

2. Future Garden Shed - probably used to be a shop - there is a ramp leading into it (like for a car) but then no floor inside and a good drop off. This will house all my gardening equipment and eventually stuff like rototiller, lawnmower, weed whackers, chain saws, etc.

3. Treehouse - Jeff (hubby) will get that fixed up for the kids. It is huge!

4. Carport - this is pretty big and tall - two wide bays and pretty deep. Jeff is going to change up the support so he can remove the center post and then finish enclosing it and pour a concrete slab floor and it will be his shop.

5. The goat house - I haven't been in this one yet, but Jeff says it must have been for a goat because there is a small stanchion built in at the back, and it has some fencing for a little pasture around it! We will eventually make the shelter quite a bit bigger to allow for a couple of goats plus a kidding area and a milking area with concrete floor.

6. Chicken house - this is just a tiny little thing, but I could fit maybe 3 nests in there and a roost. It had a very small run outside it that's been knocked down. I haven't got it all figured out yet, but for sure we will be making a much bigger chicken house. My thinking right now is of doing the chicken house with fenced in areas on both sides, and alternating the chickens and the garden between the two each year. I forget where I read about that (probably BWH!) but it sounded great at the time. Gonna get the Joel S. book about chickens and go over all his ideas, too. But, this little building will do for a start.

7. Storage shed- one of those metal ones. Right now it's filled with trash. Maybe it will become the bigger chicken house?

8. Outhouse- yep, we got one! It will be spruced up a little and available for use, LOL!

One of my first projects will be to get the front "yard" between the house and the pumphouse all raked up (totally covered in leaves) and figure out some grass that will grow there. I don't need a park, but I really want a little bit of lawn to play on with the kids. Concurrently, I will be making some very good sized compost piles. I LOVE the "extreme composting" thread over on the other forum! There are a ton of leaves all over this property, but I will probably leave most of them in place and only compost the ones from my project areas, and get my mom's and other friend's leaves if I want more. (Plus all the other usual compost stuff). I'm gonna have to figure out where I want my garden area so I can get it going. I really want raised beds - had those when we were leasing a big place (70+ acres) and it's hard to imagine anything else now. THey were great. Also going to make a good sized rabbit hutch with worm beds underneath (I do have wormies now, but they're in rubbermaid, LOL!).

TONS of other projects and ideas, and of course, the first thing will just be to clean the place up and get moved in. It's TOTALLY trashed - literally nasty milk jugs and plates and phones and purses and people's clothes hanging up and EVERYTHING, everwhere. Icky, but that's why it was cheap, LOL! Thankfully, we can just hook the travel trailer up and stay in that right there next to the house until we get it all banged out. I think I've got hubby talked into pulling the carpet out of the mobile home before we move in. No sense in trying to shampoo it when I KNOW it's gotta go. 50 years of who-knows-what with crawling babies - no way, LOL! Don't know when we will be able to afford new flooring, but anything is better than what's there! And painting, and more windows on the dungeon side (the mobile home side), and a sliding glass door on that side. LOTS to do!

[mousebandit]

I keep thinking of all the blessings of a "normal" house (vs. the travel trailer) - a real hot water heater - no more washing my (very long) hair at my moms! Trash cans in the kids' room and the bathroom! KITCHEN COUNTER! A real fridge! My bookcases and books! (We have literally hundreds of books and in the trailer I have been limited to about a dozen and it is excruciating!!) A nursing chair (rocker/recliner)!! A dining room table AND separate desk! Woo hoo! My sewing machine. The list just goes on and on!! Washer and dryer, bathtub, getting my food storage out of mini storage, my canners and canning supplies, etc!!

We are so blessed, it's incredible. It's been really hard to do the trailer thing this last year, especially with the kids, but it's SOOO worth it. We figure we will improve on this property over the next 5-6 years, pull the mobile home out and get permits and add on to the add-on to make a normal house, and then sell it (this is assuming the country goes back to normal enough in that time period, and we know that's a big 'if') and use the profits to pay cash for our "forever" homestead - 80 acres, in the mountains, off-grid. By then we'll be in a better position to start from scratch and it will be paid for free and clear. If the dookie hits the fan before we can make that happen, then we'll just hunker down and do what we've got to do on this piece.

I will keep this thread posted with our progress and lots of pictures!

Mouse Bandit

[debidoodle]

How wonderful for you! Good luck and keep us updated!!

[Aamylf]

What an incredibly gorgeous place! You truly are blessed by finding it. But you also did the work to be able to have it when it showed up and are willing to do the work now to make it what you want. Does it have some sunlight area for a garden (i.e. no trees). And if you find out what grass grows well in the shade, let me know! Good luck and keep us informed. It's exciting.

[sissy]

Congrats on the new place, looks promising. Thanks for sharing, look forward to your progress.
sissy

[Dave]

Congrats on the homestead!

Having experience with replacing mobile home flooring, I would highly recommend you look in to wood laminate as a possible replacement. We found some VERY affordable products that have held up good for the past 9 months. No sign of wear and easy to cleanup. Plus it seems to add a little more stability/strength to the floor.

We simply place throw rugs about to soak up sand and dirt and of course to provide a soft place for crawling babies :)

It looks great!

Dave

[Aamylf]

If you have a lumber liquidator type place near you, you can pick up leftovers for a little bit of nothing. We got a 3/4" solid wood, oak flooring for $.59 because it was short pieces (tavern oak he called it). With furniture, no one notices. And I love solid wood rather than laminate because I can sand it down, refinish it and make it look like new if I need to.

[Dave]

If you have a lumber liquidator type place near you, you can pick up leftovers for a little bit of nothing. We got a 3/4" solid wood, oak flooring for $.59 because it was short pieces (tavern oak he called it). With furniture, no one notices. And I love solid wood rather than laminate because I can sand it down, refinish it and make it look like new if I need to.

If you can find those sort of prices on hard wood floors then by all means go for it! However, a lot of laminate made now a days is pretty darn hard and great with kids and animals. On the end go with what is most cost effect and of course highest quality. With kids you want to stay away from soft woods are you will be breaking out the sander quite a bit!

One last thing, if you go with a free floating floor make sure you spend a little extra on the padding, it will make the difference in sound and is something we did and were happy we did it!

Dave

[mousebandit]

In the mobile home side, where we plan to pull out the 50-year-old carpet and pad, we will probably just throw down whatever. Since we intend to completely pull out the mobile in its entirety eventually, we probably won't spend a penny more on the flooring in there than we have to. Probably roll out some vinyl and throw down area rugs. Went and got the down payment money out of the bank today, just to have the cash in hand and know that nothing can go wrong on that end, LOL! Waiting to hear from the realtor for the appointment time on Wednesday to sign.

[BigOBear]

So happy for yall. Can't wait to "hear" and see more as it progresses. Man... look at that tire swing :)

[TNDadx4]

Sounds very nice! Congratulations!

[mousebandit]

Well, heard from the title company yesterday and there may be delays. Seems that the owner had gotten a divorce and failed to declare this property on his assets, which means that by state law, the ex-wife could re-open the divorce case and assert a claim to it. So, they have to find her and get her to sign a deed before they will issue the title insurance. I don't know the details of it, but I do know that he purchased the place in his name only. She may be deceased (I know he's an elderly gent, that's part of the story on why it was so cheap), who knows.

The sellers also had to have paperwork signed by a prior conservator for the the elderly owner, which they failed to mail off until last Friday. WHY is there such poor professionalism these days? Escrow has been open for over 2 weeks now - WHY are they just now sending off these papers and starting the title search process?

Must say I am disappointed with all their performance. And, if we fail to close in a timely manner, that means we incur another months' worth of living expenses here and with the mini-storage. Not to mention that I now have to call the utilities and un-do all the transfers. And the impending rain that will make clean up around the property much yuckier.

Don't get me wrong, I am still SUPER, DUPER excited about the property. Just really saddened by these people that we're paying money to get a job done, but they procrastinate it until the last minute, leaving us holding the bag, with absolutely zero penalty or accountability on their part. Very indicative of our society as a whole, I think, and just another reason we need to be self-sufficient. Can't count on the "professionals" to get the job done right, LOL!

Well, off to do more schoolwork, so I can graduate, get working, and buy some animal feed and critters! First on the list - chickens and rabbits and a dog!

[Aamylf]

Very disappointing, but you don't want to find out AFTER you close that someone else has a claim on your land, so better to find out now.

I was actually sitting AT the closing table one time when a potential issue came up that the title company had failed to tell anyone about (this is 20 years ago at least) and I simply had to get up and walk out and leave the deal on the table. It was heart breaking. But about 2 days later, the company I'd been working with called to say they had cleared everything up, they were cutting their fee for the inconvenience and wouldn't I please come back and close!

So, deep breathe....in.....out....in...out...Think of it like childbirth! No fun and then divine.

[mousebandit]

Amy, that's a great analogy, LOL! That helps put it in perspective! And, I figure this gives me more time to for the plums here where we're at to ripen and maybe time to harvest them before the move.

[esh]

Chin up! There is always a reason. When it is right it will happen! Deep breathe, and trust that (whatever higher power) has a reason.

[mousebandit]

Don't worry, I know that God is in control, and He is all over this!

I did find out some funny (pathetic-funny) stuff tonight. The title company lady told our real estate agent that they had tried and were totally unable to find this ex-wife. I spent 10 minutes (if that) on the internet, and have a phone number in Missouri, plus the names of her daughter and grandson.

So, now I am gonna get totally involved with this and have sent an email to both the seller's agent and the title company lady (cc to my agent) to find out exactly what still needs to be done to close the deal, and exactly where we are on each item. I also gave them the lady's phone number, LOL! I think a little more accountability on these ladies will help speed things up tremendously!

Will update as soon as there is progress!

[mousebandit]

Okay, things are moving again! Got the water test done, results should be in Monday or Tuesday at the latest. We have an appointment to sign!! Tuesday at 10am!! If there is a problem with the water, we will probably have the seller sign off on enough cash to do a treatment system, and that would come out of escrow at the close, so that would work fine. It's probably okay, but just in case, that is the plan, and that way there are no more delays.

So, my little mouse brain is in overdrive now thinking and planning!

We went out and walked the property lines (best we could). It is SUCH thick scrubby STICKERY underbrush. I am looking forward to seeing the survey, because the guy behind us has built his shop and driveway (and brand-new electric fence) RIGHT along what must be the line. We found the south line fence posts, which were supposedly put in by the south neighbor as he followed the surveyor around (no reason to doubt it - they look right and these are nice people). The ravine has a pretty wide creek bed in the bottom of it as it winds through our parcel (just under 6 acres).

Here is Jeff (and Bekah) down in the creekbed:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00301b.jpg

I am really getting stumped on clearing any land. The trees are so tall that we would have to clear a much bigger area than just what we want to get full sunlight. THey're probably at least 40 ft. tall and putting out a lot of shade! We absolutely for sure want to leave a very good perimeter of woods and scrubby underbrush around the property lines - probably supplement that with blackberry bushes. Hubby is saying mostly leave the trees but let the goats clear out underbrush for us in a lot of the rest. There are some ferns growing naturally in a few places (high water table, right?) so we might encourage more of that. There is an area across the ravine/creek that is already somewhat cleared of trees, just a lot of bushes and scrub, but we're figuring on that for an orchard - not a ton of hands-on maintenance so across the ravine won't matter as much. I don't see a bridge going across the ravine, at least not near the house as it would have to be super long.

I had it stuck in my mind that the ravine banks by the house were more cleared, and that there was more southern exposure, and kind of thinking of that area for my greenhouse, but looking at it more, EVERYTHING seems to be shaded, LOL! I see 2 potential areas for garden - first is very close to house and existing water faucets, and I could appropriate probably 15' x 25' maybe a little more, without too much hacking. Still not full sun, but maybe the best there is at the moment. Second is further back, and bigger but still going to get a lot of shade. I will really have to contemplate on this when we get there and wander around a lot checking out how the sun crosses over and such. Any good websites to integrate with google earth and help you figure out where the sun goes at what time of year?

My next big dilemma (poor me, LOL!) is how to do the chickens and compost. I have been reading a bunch of my old magazines, and I read one article that really sounded cool. Instead of having the typical compost pile and having to turn it all the time, these people hucked all their compost stuff into the chicken run, and as it broke down, the bugs came to assist, and then the chickens came in to eat the bugs and did all the turning. They did this over the winter and by spring they had nice compost. I am thinking that sounds pretty good! Anyone done this? I am going to have TONS (maybe literally!) of these leaves that I'm going to be raking up from around the property. And I will do my best to get my hands on more stuff for the compost - horse poop is going to be most likely my easiest find. Depending on what they do with it, there are 2 small public farms nearby that would probably give me their refuse if they aren't already doing something with it. My best friend also owns the restaurant in town, so I could most likely get anything that she would normally toss.

Compost and chicken suggestions welcome! I am also liking the idea of putting my worm bed in a trench in the greenhouse and really getting a lot (feed them horse poo) to supplement the chicken feed. And soldier fly grubs - wanna try that! (icky - but cool!)

Gonna have a few rabbits for the poop - initially put wormie beds under the bunnies, and then once the greenhouse is set up, put bunny poop directly on/in the garden.

Garden will almost certainly be raised beds. Jeff is pretty sure that we're gonna have dismal soil under all these madrones.

And then there's the goats. Not sure when we will get them. Very tempted to do it right off the bat, but I don't think I want to start milking until spring, so that would require more planning than I'm capable of at the minute, LOL! It would be nice to have them eating all the brush and poison oak all winter to help get me ready for spring, but I just am afraid I will have more than I can keep track of with a new job (from home, part time), plus the babies and just in general getting the place up to snuff.

Here's a picture of what will one day be Jeff's big shop:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00296b-1.jpg

And here is looking down into a lower area between the main elevation and the ravine. I haven't explored down here yet:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00298b.jpg

I will get more pictures next week, but will try to keep up with replies over the weekend!

Mouse Bandit

[mousebandit]

Greenhouse suggestions also welcome. On the place we leased, we had a 10' x 50' greenhouse and it was amazing. I don't really think I NEED that much space, but it sure was fun, LOL! How big are your greenhouses, and would you go bigger if you could start over? What do you do in there during the summer? We're Zone 8 (very SW corner of Oregon, almost to the coast range, on the CA border) so it gets pretty hot and dry in the summer and rains like crazy all winter, with very little snow and avg. winter lows in the 20's and 30's with an occasional teens or below.

THANK YOU ALL!!

Mouse Bandit

[Anon001]

And then there's the goats. Not sure when we will get them. Very tempted to do it right off the bat, but I don't think I want to start milking until spring, so that would require more planning than I'm capable of at the minute, LOL!

Just because you have goats, doesn't mean that you have to milk them. lol You can always let the kids have the milk and then start milking after the next batch of kids. That would allow you to start getting the brush and undergrowth under control now.

I like the pics.

Paul

[BigOBear]

Me too... love the pics and big trees. That's one thing I sure miss about back home.

[mousebandit]

Got the water report back today and apparently total coliforms ares bad, although e-coli (fecal coliforms) was fine. Seller started talking about doing a shock treatment and waiting ANOTHER week then do another water test, and we just said no. Been enough delays already (all due to the selling agent's procrastination) and we're not doing any more. We offered for them to give us $1100 for a UV treatment system, and we close tomorrow, done deal. Thankfully they accepted, and we're still on to close tomorrow! Of course, we will do our own shock treatment and repeat on the well test before we shell out that money for a UV system, but if needed, we can make it happen.

LOL, I just about had a hissy fit when our agent called this morning! I was so stinking mad! Thankfully hubby went to town and got me ice cream to help me "chill out" ha ha.

Okay, back to school. I can't wait to finish and only work a set amount of hours per day so I can spend the rest of the time homesteading and playing with my babies! it is like pulling teeth the last week to concentrate on school when I want to be planning out worm beds and greenhouses and goat barns!!

Mouse Bandit

[Aamylf]

MB -- I will be thinking about you at 10 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow as you sign your name to your new homestead.

[paqcrewmama]

Very nice!

I agree about the goats. We raised quite a few and they ARE great for clearing out low brush. You'd be ahead on the herd without the time and effort of milking the first year. Depending on what you doe gives you for kids, you'd either have additional animals for breeding or eating the next year, as well.

Excited to watch the progress in the coming years!

[Aamylf]

Well, Mrs. Mousebandit -- are you the proud new owner of a brand new homestead? I was thinking about you around 1 my time, which would be 11 yours. Are you doing the celebration dance?

[mousebandit]

Yes - we have been doing happy dances while we cleaned junk, and hauled trash, and vacuumed and shampooed and shock treated the well. About 8 hours of work, and it looks SO much better!! I am SOOOOO happy! It's gonna be great. AND I think we figured out where to put the greenhouse and it's gonna be perfect! I am wasted, and still have to feed hubby and get the babies ready for bed.

THank you everyone for the happy thoughts! There is lots to tell, I'm just too tired, LOL!

Mouse Bandit

[Aamylf]

WOO HOO! I am so happy for you. Could only be happier if it were my homestead! Really. I can't wait to see the progress over the next years. Thanks for sharing. There is so much bad/sad/unhappy/scary news these days, that coming here and reading some happier things is a nice balance.

[sissy]

CONGRATS!!!
Look for to see your adventures.
sissy

[debidoodle]

Woohoo!!
Doing a happy dance for you!
Congratulations on finally getting it closed. Hope the shock treatment works!!

[BigOBear]

:) Congratulations yall :)

[sinzitu]

Congrats on your new place! Looks fantastic. I'm sure you and the family will really appreciate it.

[mousebandit]

Whew - it's been a crazy week! Got the closing done and started cleaning on Tuesday, even though it wasn't gong to be recorded and "officially" ours until the next day. My in-laws came out every day this week to help with everything and worked like crazy and yesterday the ones that have outside jobs even took off early and came and worked until like 9 or 10pm for the final push. I have amazing in-laws!

So, the house is clean, although apparently there are some serious mice issues in the trailer half. Brazen little suckers and lots of them. Hubby says the kids don't sleep in that side (which is where their bedroom is) until the mice are history. MIL set some traps with peanut butter last night before we left, and we'll be retrieving my cat from my mom's house and supplying him with a litter box and free roaming of the place. He's always been a good hunter, so hopefully the last years' worth of city-living hasn't ruined him, LOL! Any suggestions on the all-time, #1 foolproof, best mouse bait? I haven't seen them yet (been cranking out schoolwork and dealing with crisis this week, LOL!) but hubby is pretty concerned and wants them gone.

So, on the crisis front, we have had 2 this week, one being much worse than the other. All week my little guy has been fussing, acting listless, just weird. Figured it was teething, and finally bought a bottle of those homeopathic teething tablets. Wednesday I got them out and gave him a few then went to put him to bed. About 20 minutes later, big sister (2 yrs old) came to me with an empty bottle, minus the childproof lid, and told me "all gone". She ate THE WHOLE BOTTLE. Over 100 tablets. I was thinking it would be okay, since it's homeopathic, but I wasn't sure. Called poison control and they said she would be fine. So that was a pretty scary 15 minutes!

Then, that night, my little guy (6 months old) refused his bottle and started throwing up. I should mention that we've had lots of nursing troubles with him, and despite herbs and tinctures and pumping, we're down to 1 bottle from mama about every 3 days and the rest has been formula since about 2-3 months old. Anyway, so we had heard late Wednesday afternoon about a recall on the formula that he'd been taking because they had beetles in the powder. Yeah, nice. So, all night Wednesday was vomiting, stomach pains, fever, and general misery. Yesterday seemed better, but last night he was getting feverish again and now has diarrhea, so we're watching for dehydration. I knew we needed to get off the commercial formula when we got back home and off the road, and get him on raw goat milk, but I just had been so busy with school I hadn't made it happen. But it's happening now!!

And, on that note - I can't believe the difference between different goat milks. I've heard that you can't tell the difference between goat milk and cow milk, but I always have. Some has been more goat-y than others, and it's not like it was ever rank or anything, but I could always tell. And I did prefer cow milk because of that. Yesterday I got some from a different place, they raise show Nubians. DANG - that stuff is so freaking good. I seriously cannot tell the difference between it and cow milk, and even my mom couldn't (and she's a goat-milk phobic, LOL!). I don't know if it's the breed thing or just different handling techniques, but WOW. I'm a believer!

But, back to the homestead itself. Everything is out of mini-storage. We had that sucker literally packed to the ceilings. It was only like 10x10 or 10x15 but it filled up a 26' Uhaul and 2 cars!! They got it all in one trip, which was a huge blessing because the mini storage is in "town" and that's 30 miles away, and the family was heading out of town this morning (pre arranged plans - we all thought we were closing LAST week) so they pushed to make it happen. The house is packed full, plus i know tons of stuff went into the shop and shed, and all the food storage when into the pumphouse. I think there will be a major purging. Local freecyclers should be happy! AFter living in a trailer for a year, my concept of what is really needed and how much stuff I want to look after and keep track of is very different, LOL! (In terms of household stuff - homesteading project stuff is different!)

Phone (and INTERNET!) should be switched over today, so I suspect we'll be pulling the trailer down there this afternoon, LOL! Jeff still has to finish flushing out the bleach from the well (ran it for a long time yesterday, but then had to leave to do the mini storage), and he has to fix the drain pipes on most of the sinks. We won't be drinking any of the water until we get it tested again, but once the chlorine is out, we can at least bathe in it. I will start the rough sorting of the boxes. Last night when everything was getting hauled in, the dining room (the front room of the mobile which will be our "dining room") carpet was still wet from shampooing, so we couldn't put any boxes in there. And, a huge portion of what came from storage was the library that we inherited when my father in law passed away 2 years ago. So, the entire front room of the addition is full of books. We already had a TON, but he seriously had a whole library. There will be a LOT of sorting with that. I think there are 5 or 6 large double-bookcases and then we still had a couple of our little cheapies, too. I am a major book lover, so I can't wait to go through and start sorting! All my homesteading books, our christian books, the homeschooling books, my midwifery books - WOO HOO!!

(continued)

[mousebandit]

I don't know if I posted this, I've been so tired every night, but we figured out where we're going to put the greenhouse and it's going to be way cool! The pumphouse sits probably 30+ feet from the house, towards the west. To the south of the pumphouse the ravine and creekbed run in a roughly east-west line, and right about that area is where the trees are the thinnest, running down to the creekbed. We were thinking about making that area down below on the other side of the creek an orchard, and so we will do that, then go ahead and thin some more trees on the side of the ravine, and put the greenhouse in at the top, but sink it down about 4 feet into the hillside. We don't get majorly long cold snaps here (zone 8-something) but this will help moderate even that little bit. Plus, it won't be as much of a "feature" when we look out the big picture windows in the front room, and it will be oriented east-west with the long side facing out south that way. Woo hoo! And, hubby is going to run all the sinks and laundry water down the hillside there to the orchard to help with watering. I don't know if we'll do the shower and tub, because I don't think I'm dedicated enough to switch my shampoo and conditioner over and give up my bath salts and stuff. Would those products be hugely damaging to an orchard??

Another cool thing we're thinking about is that back behind the house (heading further into the woods towards the east) there is a large area that sits lower than the main elevation, but not as low as the creekbed, and once you're down there it's level. I haven't explored yet, just spotted it from the dirt road that cuts through the property. My first thought was to start playing around with the "$50 and up underground house" book, and maybe even eventually build a new house, partially underground, there. Hubby says we need to figure out what the creek does in winter though, as it's probably a flood plain for the creek. Details, details, LOL! But, I will figure out something fun to do with it! Maybe a good spot for the pond!

I will try to get more pictures taken and uploaded today and over the weekend. I have spent way too much time with the house and on the goat-milk thing, and am like 2 days behind on my schoolwork. With the schedule I have to keep to graduate now (because I procrastinated for nearly 2 years while we were on the road) that is going to take about 20 hours to catch up, plus I have to keep up with the "usual" 10-hr day schedule. And unpack. And plan. YIKES!

Oh, one sad thing is that someone came the day before we signed and stole one of the trailers on the property. We pretty much know that it was a family member of mine (drug user), and it just totally sucks. The worst part was that we were giving the trailer to one of my other brothers (NOT a drug user!) who was going to make it into a motorcycle trailer to haul his bikes around. Such a disappointment, but we didn't feel like we could lock the gate down before we signed. There may still be some consequences to that - depends on if we can get some proof that it was him, then there will be a confrontation and some longer-term consequences. This all has been a long time coming. Not the first time he's stolen from us. Really put a damper on things the day we found out.

Okay, I had better get some schoolwork knocked out before these little ones wake up, then I have to go to the property and unlock the gate and start on boxes and wait for the phone guy!

Pictures coming soon!!
And THANK YOU everyone for the happy thoughts and congratulations! It really means a lot to us!

Jeff & Tracey aka Blue Bandit and Mouse Bandit

[BigOBear]

Zooooom!!! That's what I picture as I read your words Mouse :) But it's a good zoom :)

That's scary about the babies huh. I never minded the blood and bruises... ie cuts, scrapes, gashes, broken bones, etc because I knew they were ok or would be shortly. It was the things that happened on the insides when they were too little to tell me what was going on that drove me nuts with the wee ones. So many nights up rocking/walking/soothing and wishing I could just patch up whatever was wrong.

I have no idea where you would start, but I'm guessing the county might have some idea of a 100yr flood plain that might be a help to you on deciding about building on that flat shelf headed to the creek? I know the insurance agencies around here sure know where those flood lines are... they have to get that data from somewhere. Bet someone around the boards would know who to call too.

[MotherCharlotte]

Congratulations on your new home, Mouse Bandit...keep on with the updates, we're all enjoying them! :)

[mousebandit]

Hey everyone! Sorry I'm so MIA! After taking nearly a week to help with the move, I am now way behind on schoolwork, LOL! I promise i will get some pictures uploaded soon!

We are in the house now, sleeping and everything! We still aren't using the water much until we get the 2nd set of tests (post well-shock) back, and that will hopefully be Friday. Then we can be normal (assuming it comes out okay). Until then, we're still bathing and washing bottles at my moms.

Jeff has done a lot of work on the electrical. It was pretty hairy. They had disconnected the ground, there were huge holes in the electrical boxes where the rain was just running down into it, and most of the wall switches had bare wires hanging around inside them! His latest discovery is that nearly every circuit in the mobile is running off the same 20amp (20V?) breaker in the main box, LOL! And they have rigged the dryer outlet in some crazy way that is totally not safe - I guess that's why they have masking tape on the dryer they left here that says "DANGEROUS - DO NOT USE", LOL! So, we will be getting the proper gauge wire and more breakers and he will do it right. But, it's safe for now (just don't use the dryer, ha ha).

We've caught 12 mice so far. Still haven't gotten our cat over here, I'm sure he'll get the rest in 1 day. He's the major hunter.

Hubby has most of the boxes shoved around so we can get through the house, and our bedroom is actually starting to look normal. The kids are sleeping in there with us until we're sure all the mice are out of their room.

My mother in law came over again to help, and today she cleaned up the whole kitchen (washed all the windows too!) and put away all my kitchen boxes. We all just figure that I'll put stuff where I want it when I'm done with school and can be a mommy/wife again, LOL! At least it's out of boxes now. And the kitchen looks amazing!

We also found the shelf pegs for the bookcases, thank goodness! We were going to have to buy 160 shelf pegs, LOL! I cannot wait to have all my books up and start diving into the books we inherited from my FIL. Bliss, rapture, joy!! (I am a total book junkie!)

There is still a lot of outside work for hubby to get done. Some patching on various roofs, and I don't even know what else. He did get the travel trailer (37 footer) backed around where he wanted it so it's mostly out of the way but can still hook up to power and water and septic (and open the slide and put out the awning!). He's a master at backing up trailers! It was especially hard with all the trees and he's got a Hensley hitch on it which makes it back up and turn a little differently than trailers usually do. But he got it!

Okay, gotta hit the sack so I can get up at 4am and get on my schoolwork!

Pictures tomorrow hopefully!

[Aamylf]

Glad it was just schoolwork keeping you off here, I was hoping not a sick child. 12 mice caught 100 still lurking! With food in the kitchen they will probably move from the kids bedroom to the kitchen. I am living vicariously through your adventure, so more pictures are welcome. I'm so glad you're enjoying the experience and not just 'getting through' it. I think a lot of people miss the journey.

[BigOBear]

Hang in there bandit family :) Sounds like yall are making a ton of progress. Can't wait to see pics. Watch out for the mice when you put the books in there. Like Amy, am living vicariously too. Always figured Oregon would be a pretty place to settle.

[mousebandit]

Okay, I'm playing hookey from schoolwork, don't tell my hubby, LOL! He's went to town with the water sample, so I've got a little bit, ha ha!

First, here's a few pictures to show you what we're up against in the house:

BOOKS -

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00361.jpg


BOOKS -

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00363.jpg


AND MORE BOOKS!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00362.jpg


Yep - those are all books, except for maybe 3 or 4 boxes! Thankfully we found the bookshelf pegs and won't have to go buy 160 of them (only 1 bookcase had the pegs in it)!!

I don't dare start putting them away or the next thing ya know, I'll be reading 6 at once and NEVER get back to schoolwork!

So, besides books, hubby took the water sample into town and hopefully we will know tomorrow if shocking the well did the trick and if all the coliforms are gone. I sure hope so! I really am looking forward to long, hot baths! If it's still horrible, then we do have the option of city water, which would be about $30/month, is piped up the yard near the pump house (so easy to tie into), and is chlorinated (yuck) but not flouridated (which would be a deal breaker). I doubt we will have to do that. What kind of homestead runs off city water, LOL! (Yeah, I know, urban homesteads! No offense to anyone!)

[mousebandit]

And here are some pictures of where the greenhouse will go. I am re-thinking the digging into the ground thing, because #1 - I cannot put it at the top of the hill which would require cutting down perfectly good, big trees. Just can't do it. And #2 - if I sit it down the hillside a little, I don't think it would work to dig back into the hill because of the roots of aforementioned, big, beautiful trees. So, it will probably just nestle in that little hollow as best I can without disturbing the trees or their roots!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00345greenhouse2.jpg

And almost the same view, you can see the little trail heading down in the left side and those 3 decent sized trees on the right will stay and the greenhouse will sit just below them:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00346greenhouse3.jpg

I don't know if the elevation change comes out very well in pictures - I can see it but I already know it's there! There is probably a 10-15 ft. drop there, and there is more of a drop before you get all the way to the bottom where the creekbed is. Before you get to the actual creekbed, there is an area that's mostly level that will be where we put the orchard. (Ah, cash investment for trees, that might take some time!) We will eventually run the graywater from the house down to the orchard for sure, and maybe the greenhouse, but I'm more inclined to use freshwater for the greenhouse.

I am so curious to see how big that creek gets in the wintertime! The bed is pretty serious looking, but if it was that serious, how would it dry up in the summertime? (I'm from the land of tonsawater, so I don't understand seasonal creekage too well, LOL!)

Here's a shot of everyone's favorite outbuilding:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00349b.jpg

Yep - the outhouse! I haven't ventured in yet, but hubby says it looks functional and, well, maintained! Is that a good thing or a scary thing, LOL!?!

More later - gotta do some schoolwork!

MouseBandit

[BigOBear]

Thanks for the pics! :) Man... look at all those books! So jealous :) Looking good :happy:

[MotherCharlotte]

Nice to see another bibliophile...when we eventually move from here we're probably going to have that many boxes of books, too. It doesn't help that we homeschool now, so our book collection grows in leaps and bounds every year.

Once all your books are safely nestled into their cases, your house will really start to feel like home! :)

[Anon001]

I like the pics. You'll have things looking like a real homestead in no time at all.

Just one thing... where you're putting the greenhouse... will it have too much shade and not enough sun? Just a thought.

I like the place. It will be "home" in no time.

Paul

[mousebandit]

Paul - I'm hoping that by putting it down on that slope (that's south-facing) and clearing out the trees below it (more southerly) it will do okay. In the winter, the sun will be low on that horizon, coming in darn near horizontally, and in the summer, when it's hot anyways, the trees up on the flat will probably shade it a little (as the sun will be higher in the sky in that direction), but I think that would be okay. We are definitely gonna have to clear out below it, though.

MotherCharlotte - yeah, we're homeschoolers too. We have little ones now, but our big boys graduated in the last few years, plus we have all my hubbies homeschooling materials (he was homeschooled all the way through) so we have LOTS of materials, LOL!

Big Bear - if you ever relocate to So. Oregon, you're welcome to come over and borrow from the library!

Mouse Bandit

[NCLee]

I'm playing catchup here, too. So I sure do understand the problem you have working getting on line in with everything else. :)

Sounds like you're really making great progress!! Love the pix of the johnny house, BTW. Put a roll of TP on a piece of twine or hang a catalog over a clothes line type arrangement and you're all set. You may be surprised at just how convenient that little house out back can be when you're working on the place. It may save you a lot of steps, if it's closer to where you're working than a conventional bathroom. :wink:

A little advice, if you don't mind. Check with your county extension service about siting your greenhouse. Part of your plan will be the types of plants that you're planning to grow. Some will need full sun. Some may need partial shade. And, you have temperatures to consider, too. In my neck of the woods (zone 7) my rough guideline for what I grew was to keep the temp in 50-85 degree range.

To do this year round, I had to supply supplemental heat in the winter and use a big window fan in the summer. This was with a huge tree shading the west side from summer afternoon sun. It's a juggling act when planning to locate a greenhouse. Here, the guideline is to shade the west side from afternoon sun, north side from winter winds. Maximum exposure to the east for morning sun and the south to take advantage of the winter lower sun.

Your extension agent should be able to give you details that'll more closely fit your growing conditions.

On another note. Take the expense and labor of installing running water and power in your greenhouse. The further you are from the sources of those, the more expensive and labor intensive it will be. As you mentioned, you'll probably want drinking quality water in your greenhouse. If you're growing vegetables, you can also use the sink in the greenhouse to wash the veggies before bringing them into the kitchen. Using good quality water will aid in preventing some plant diseases, especially when starting seeds.

Next, if you're like me, you'll want to have some lighting in your greenhouse. There'll be times when you want to work out there after dark. While this can be done with lanterns and such, it'll be nice to flip a switch,even if you plan to go off grid in the future. A fan or 2 will make a big difference when you're working in it during hot weather. If it's way too hot for you, it's likely it's way too hot for some of your plants.

Long winded way of saying, check into the expense of running both water and electric lines from there sources to your greenhouse location. Especially for electricity. The further from the source the larger the line will have to be to carry the expected load. The more heavy duty the wire, the more it cost per foot. Sounds like your hubby is experienced with electricity. Talk to him about estimated cost to get power to the greenhouse location you've chosen.

One other note: It's GOOD advice to know what that creek is going to do, during floods, before making any plans for the land around it. We have 2 small ones in our backyard. They are about 50-75' apart. During the summer the one nearest the house is TINY. Between the 2 there appears to be a nice meadow that would be perfect for a garden, site for a greenhouse, etc.

However, many times I've seen that area covered will water from side to side. The two small creeks become more large one. The water comes up to the edge of our backyard proper. Looking at the lay of the land, it doesn't seem possible that much water could come through the back of our property. But it does, usually a couple of times a year. (Severe thunderstorms and hurricane/tropical storm rains.)

Looking forward to seeing your library once it's unpacked. So, I can drool over it. I've got books stashed everywhere I can find a spot to stack them. One of these days, when I'm rich, I'll have a "library" with enough shelves for all of them. LOL

Lee

[Aamylf]

We put our library in our dinngroom, it gives the room far more utility and it's actually comfy to sit at the table and read.

[mousebandit]

Ah, Lee, so much good food for thought (as usual!). THANK YOU! Yep, those are all good considerations. It's probably silly, but it never really occurred to me that I could use a greenhouse through the summer - just figured it would get too hot in there. I was thinking of primarily starting off seeds for a jump start on spring, and working my way into winter gardening. I will have to read up LOTS more! This site will hopefully be good - long axis facing south on a slope and will be clear in front of it for max winter sun, the north side will be up against the bank and have big trees up above that to further protect from winter winds, etc. I will have to look at the east and west angles more, but I'm thinking they'll both probably be fairly shaded, so that's definitely something to consider.

And, thankfully the site is quite close to the pumphouse, and we can just run our water and power from there. I absolutely want power, LOL! Lights and maybe a fan -that's a good idea! And maybe music for the plants - I've always heard that makes a difference! (I do have greenhouse books, just haven't gotten them read yet!)

We had another idea yesterday for some of that flat-land down towards the creek - maybe it would work to put in a small hay field? Hubby is open to clearing part of it, and if it floods in the winter, that won't matter for hay (right?), plus if it is a flood plain, there might be some decent soil down there. We want to produce as much of animals feed as possible, and hay is freaking expensive!! So, maybe grain and hay down there if that works out.

And, we have figured out a location for the garden! Just to the east of Jeff's big shop, where the itty-bitty chicken house (more like a studio apartment!) is now. We'll set me up some raised beds there (shooting for 6 beds 4x8 each) and as long as that goes well, we can clear trees for the following year and extend it further to east. Chicken house will get moved (and very soon rebuilt to a bigger setup).

Still working on a site for a small barn. Re-read the Have-More plan the other day and I can't for the life of me figure out how he got all those animals in a 16 x 30 barn!! Plus some hay?! And what's the touchy-feely-poor-little-chicken thoughts on keeping broilers confined for their whole 8 weeks? We had one of those broiler set ups (didn't realize exactly how it was to be used) at the big place we leased a few years ago, but as soon as the little suckers were big enough to defend themselves from the layers, we put them in the regular house and yard. (And we weren't very good about butchering at 8 weeks, or 12, or - well, we never butchered a single one, LOL!) Anyway, I totally understand how it makes the meat more tender and that it's WAY more efficient (maybe, probably), but it feels kind of mean to keep them caged up all the way until butchering time. What are your thoughts on that? What do you guys do with broilers?

Here's a double question for ya'll. How do you handle your kitchen compost and your burnables? I have a bucket (3 gallon - used to be my pickle bucket) in the kitchen right now to gather compost scraps. I'm trying to figure out how best to distribute those. My end goal is a WHOLE lotta compost by March to fill in those raised beds. I love the idea of throwing kitchen scraps and other compost materials in the chicken run and letting the chickens mix it up as they grub around for the bugs, and adding in their contributions, but I'm not sure that will give me finished bedding by spring. I am thinking that hot composting is what I need. I can probably get plenty of raw materials (horse poop, cow poop, chicken poop, veggie scraps, tons of leaves and wood chips) and I have lots of areas to put stuff, just not sure if I would be able to do the physical work by hand that it would take. I also have my wormies to think about. They're gonna want some food too, although once we get a couple of rabbits, they will help with that. (How many worms can survive and reproduce off of 1 rabbits' poopie?) So, lots of places to put the kitchen scraps - which do ya think would be the best for my end needs? And, what size container do you use in the kitchen? I'm afraid it might take me a while to fill up 3 gallons and we'd have a lot of buggies in the kitchen.

And the second part of that question - how to you deal with your burnables, prior to burning? Do you have a 2nd trash can in the kitchen, do you bag it up in plastic bags and burn them too? Do you store it somewhere to keep it dry until burn day? How often do you burn? My dad always had a burn barrel, but I don't remember any details about how he managed the whole process. I just remember some gas and a big fire now and then, LOL!

Okay, back to the schoolwork! More pictures later if I get lots done!

MouseBandit

[NCLee]

Yikes, Mouse!

Slow down a bit! You have my head spinning with all the plans you're putting into place so quickly. LOL

Seriously, do slow down a bit. Give yourself time to settle in and let the land start talking to you. I was where you were one time. When we moved out here, I'm sure I was much like you. Wanting to get everything on our wish-list done ASAP. So......... I planted trees in the wrong place, using the wrong methods. They died after a couple of years. We put the driveway in the wrong place. That was a rough do-over, BTW. We cut trees that we shouldn't have cut, and left ones that should have come down before they cost us big bucks to take out.

First compost pile wasn't anything I'd brag about, because it was located in exactly the worst place I could have put it. (Under some big trees on the opposite side of the house from the garden.)

That's just a few of many examples, because we didn't take the time to listen to the land. And, I didn't take time to study new-to-me subjects before jumping right into them. For example, learned we are in a frost pocket, so we get hit before our neighbors who are on higher ground. The land told us that. Studing about peaches told me that to have any chance of success with them here, they have to be planted at the highest points of our land, not where our first thoughts were to put them.

Re: Greenhouses in summer. If you're set up with good ventilation and can provide some shade (shade cloth, annual vines on a trellis or wire system, etc.), they can provide a whole new aspect to gardening. No better place to grow many types of houseplants, especially the ones who can't take pounding rains and wind of summer storms. With hand pollination, you can have tomatoes grown in buckets year round. An herb garden year round. No need to lug those big pots outdoors. Hydroponics are another possibility.

Re: Compost. That's an on-going long term activity on a homestead. And, each homestead has to adapt to their circumstances. Take the time to learn about the ratios of green and brown, if you don't aleady know them. Learn how to speed up the process in a cold pile by inoculating it. Learn about the work and techniques needed to use the hot process to break down components quickly. You may find that letting nature take it's course with a little help from you is equally as effective as the work involved to maintain a hot pile, over the long haul. Other than being faster, the other advantage of running hot is to kill disease agents and weed seeds. These may not be a material factor in your location.

Re: Burnables - Here we don't have a burn barrel anymore. If it can't go into the woodstove or the compost pile, it goes to the land fill. Newspapers and cardboard can become compost or used as weed barriers under a thinner layer of mulch to hide them. Because household trash contains so much plastic today, there isn't much that can be burned. That is after everything has been pulled out that can be composted, used as mulch, or recycled.

Also check your local regulations. Burn barrels have been banned in many places. Greatly suspect your area is one of them!!!!

Now back to my "yikes". :wink: Many of your questions have "just depends" answers right now. Too many unknown variables, for which we'd need more specific info to give anything more than a general answer. For example, during the next few weeks, just dump the contents of your kitchen scrap bucket where you intend to have your garden. Bury anything that can attract animals, such as meat scraps. It will improve the soil there, so it won't go to waste. Later, after you've finished your school work, dive into the subject of making and using compost when you have chickens involved.

We'll be glad to help with the how-to, don't-do, why-not, etc. when you reach that point. Ready for red wigglers? Yep, we can help, then, too. And, dem, rabbits, too. By then, you'll be ready with specifics and we'll give you fewer, "just depends" answers. :)

Just some advice from an old-timer who's been there done that. Just trying to get you to avoid some of the mistakes we made by not slowing down. Taking time to smell the roses really does work!! That doesn't mean that you have to curb your excitement at being on your own place. Just slow down enough so you can direct that excitement (and energy!!!) towards the best long term solutions for you.

Hope these thoughts make sense. Over the coming months and years I looking forward to your reports of all your successes. Hoping that I don't see many OPPS! ("I planted fruit trees in the wrong place.", as I did).

Lee

[Aamylf]

Boy can I related! I planted some wonderful trees to give me some shade, not thinking they'd get as big as they did and shade part of the yard where I had planned a garden...built a wonderfu deck that doesn't allow me to have a fence where I now need it. I think taking a year to do a lot of the big decisions is probably the hardest piece of advice I could ever give anyone, but the best. That stream could be a raging torrent once a year. The trees that are moderately bare now could end up giving you fabulous shade -- way too much of it --. With our newer place, I made a list of everything I wanted to do, prioritized and studied before doing. Much better. I LOVE your enthusiastic can do attitude, though!

[Anon001]

Wow... LOL I have to agree. Slow down. Don't try to do it all at once.

We had another idea yesterday for some of that flat-land down towards the creek - maybe it would work to put in a small hay field? Hubby is open to clearing part of it, and if it floods in the winter, that won't matter for hay (right?), plus if it is a flood plain, there might be some decent soil down there. We want to produce as much of animals feed as possible, and hay is freaking expensive!! So, maybe grain and hay down there if that works out.

Before doing that, you would need to consider a couple things. If it is covered in trees, and you remove them, do you remove the stability of the soil? Will it erode?

If it is already clear, then grain and hay would work well.

Chicken house will get moved (and very soon rebuilt to a bigger setup). How many chickens do you plan to have and how big is this shed? You may not need anything bigger. If chickens free range, they don't need much space for a chicken house since they will be inside only to lay and roost.

Still working on a site for a small barn. Re-read the Have-More plan the other day and I can't for the life of me figure out how he got all those animals in a 16 x 30 barn!!Most people go overboard. Most animals don't need a barn. Goats need a shed to protect the from the rain and wind, but it can be 4 ft high and just 3 sided. Cattle do best if they are not in a barn, except at milking. Rabbits could be in a barn provided there's a lot of light. 16 x 30 for a small homestead barn is larger than you think. lol.

How much hay do you plan to store at one time?

Anyway, I totally understand how it makes the meat more tender and that it's WAY more efficient (maybe, probably), but it feels kind of mean to keep them caged up all the way until butchering time. What are your thoughts on that? What do you guys do with broilers?The point of broilers is to get them to butcher as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do that is confinement. I don't raise "broilers". When I have chicks hatch, they run out with the other chickens and the momma hen. When they are big enough to butcher, I take the roosters and butcher them. I don't raise "broilers" or "fryers". I just raise chickens and butcher the excess roosters.

Here's a double question for ya'll. How do you handle your kitchen compost and your burnables?I burn outside. I have an old stock tank that had the bottom rusted out. I burn in it. Anything not burnable goes to town.

I love the idea of throwing kitchen scraps and other compost materials in the chicken run and letting the chickens mix it up as they grub around for the bugs, and adding in their contributions, but I'm not sure that will give me finished bedding by spring. If you put food scraps in for the chickens to compost, it won't get composted like you think. They will consume most of it. You are much better off having a compost pile or bin.

As someone else stated, burning has been outlawed in many areas of the country. You need to check with your county before you do any burning.

I think you need to take more time and plan one project at a time. Sketch out where you think you may want things, but if you try to get everything started at one, you will get burned out very quickly and frustrated. The more you try to do at the first, the higher your chance of failure. Slow down, enjoy, and study the land more.

Good luck,
Paul

[mousebandit]

Thanks guys for the tips. And yeah, I don't think I'll be tackling everything at once, LOL! I'm just thinking like crazy because it's all I can do until I finish up school in a few more weeks, ha ha! I am loving all the ideas and food for thought, though!!

Quick question - I posted this on the hands on/repair board as well.

The mobile has the original propane wall oven (sort of a double oven with one temperature setting and a second good sized "oven" below the burner - like a giant broiler. Plus the surface cook stove with burners. I haven't yet messed with the oven(s), but the stove won't get hot enough. THe flames on all 4 burners are uniformly very low (blue, though) and I can't even get a quart of water to really boil good. We tried to make spaghetti the other night and gave up and went out to the travel trailer. How can I make these burn hotter / higher? I believe the outside regulator and stuff is fine because hot water heater and furnace are working good.

Help! I can't take much more microwave food, LOL!

Mouse Bandit

[NCLee]

Mouse, first, if you or hubby don't have experience with working with propane, PLEASE get someone with experience to check things out.

Without actually seeing your equipment and how it's setup, this is just speculation on my part, for now.

First thing to check is to see if the cut off valve to your cooktop is wide open. Someone, for some reason, may have partly closed it. Thus, you aren't getting enough fuel to your burners.

Next, your burners have something called an orifice in them. This is a fitting with a tiny hole in it. The size of the hole determines the amount of propane that reaches the combustion point. A service man can check these and replace, if they are the wrong size for the BTU rating of your burners. The hole may be partly clogged. This can be cleared, but it isn't a job for someone with no experience with this type repair. If you damage the orifice, it will have to be replaced. If you enlarge the hole too much, it becomes a safety issue.

How much propane do you have in your tank? If you're getting low you may not have enough pressure to handle the stove and the other items, too.

Lastly, your cooktop may be working as designed. Some have low BTU burner ratings for some reason. It may be the rating demanded by builder codes at the time your home was manufactured. It may be an inexpensive cooktop that meets minimum requirements.

FWIW, I have a propane stove in my workshop that used to be in the kitchen. It was a barter for something else. Anyway, while I used it for a lot of cooking, didn't use it for pressure canning because it was so slow. Kept my electric cooktop and was able to make timed comparisons between the two of them. Because the propane stove was so slow to heat water, it took almost an hour longer to process a canner load.

When I replaced the electric cooktop and the propane range, went with a propane stove with high output burners.

These are just some random thoughts, that may be helpful. However, this may be the time to pay for a service call from your propane supplier to get things checked out. There may be something entirely different from what I've mentioned coming into play. It's worth a lot to have peace of mind that everything is working as it should. Especially when it comes to gas (natural or propane) appliances.

Lee

[mousebandit]

Hey everyone! Been jammin' out the schoolwork. SHould be a graduate in about 2 weeks, woo hoo!

Jeff got the stove fixed. THere was an adjustment nut that could be turned to regulate the amount of propane going to the burner (like Lee said) and he just fiddled with those a little bit and we're in business! Oatmeal and spaghetti - ah!! (Hubby's still doing the microwave stuff, but at least I can get in there and do a little real food now and then!)

Have done very little except for schoolwork, but I did get the wormies transferred to a bigger rubbermaid bin yesterday. I think most of them died off between the 1st bin being too small, and not enough bedding/air circulation. They had tons of food stuff, but it was all caked together and really soggy. Anyway, when I transferred everything over, I doubt I saw more than 50-100 worms - certainly not the 2000 I started with. Bummer, but they'll do better now. I ripped up a bunch of old newspaper, didn't have a shredder, but I think it will do fine, and added some leaves and good dirt from one of my old lettuce pots. aerated things a bit. Gave them more food, LOL! They went from one of the little bins (about 12" x 12" x 24") to a big one (about 18" x 24" x 36") and I think they'll be much happier. I'll make sure to keep them in bedding, too! I'll get pictures of that up soon.

On all the other stuff, don't worry - I couldn't as fast as my brain can come up with stuff even if I wanted to, LOL! And, we have done a lot of this before, to an extent. We were home for 2 years a few years ago while hubby was on a jobsite about an hour from here. We leased 70 acres and decided to jump in whole hog on everything at once (versus taking one new project at a time and getting good at it). We knew we'd only have 1-2 years before we'd be on the road again, so we figured we'd just go for it and chalk it all up to a learning experience. SO, we did goats (didn't milk them though) and kids, chickens, gardening in raised beds, huge greenhouse, rabbits, brooders, lots of stuff. We failed at tons of things, learned a bunch from everything, and generally had a rip-roaring time and sunk a small fortune into it all, LOL! BUT - it was the most valuable education we could have gotten! So, while I'm not an expert at any of this, probably not even very good at a lot of it ha ha, I have at least a little idea of what's going on!

Well, it's back to schoolwork for me. End of the month is my final date although they've given me a little extra padding if I need it. But I am ready to be done! When I'm finished, I'll be a medical transcriptionist and will be able to work part-time from home on a very flexible schedule. Already told hubby that for my graduation present I want a batch of the white mega brooder chickens (were they cornish cross?), and a couple bags of feed. He loves it, LOL!

Talk to ya'll soon and will get wormie pictures up soon too!

Keep the advice coming! I love it!! And thank you!!


Mouse Bandit

[mousebandit]

Yippee! I finished school! I am now a work-at-home medical transcriptionist! (Well, I will be as soon as I get a contract and get it signed, but plenty is in the works, so it's looking good.) I should be able to work early in the morning (4-8am) and then have the rest of the day and evening for real life!

Things have moved very slowly since my last post, due to the crazy push to finish school, but we've made a little progress. Hubby got all the faucets and pipes set for winter (a-la duct tape!) and he got the travel trailer plumbing hooked into the septic, so it's fully functional. Our 19-yo ds moved back here with us (he had just returned from a missions trip to Africa and had been staying with our oldest son about 60 miles away), although we never see him between work, friends, and church projects, LOL! At least he sleeps here and makes an occasional appearance. The big boys are around so seldom, though, that our 2-yo dd thinks they're are one person, and calls them both "CoreyJustin" or "JustinCorey", LOL!

We made an incredible score on freecycle. A lady in the next "city" over advertised a couple of broken dresses, and since broken is better than none, we went on over. She was apparently just using those to check people out, and once she decided that she liked us, she let us know that she was moving out of state and wanted to give us pretty much all her outdoor stuff! We got yard tools (including a great stand to hold them all), a beautiful yard swing, a 20-foot weather station that tells you EVERYTHING, even a forecast! TONS of pots and planters, a very nice library of gardening books and magazines (mostly landscaping and flowers, which is perfect because I didn't have much on those) and 2 bookcases, and just tons and tons more. We ended up pretty much totally organizing her move (she is older and had no one to help and it was really too much for her to coordinate by herself) and my husband packed her U-haul and drove it down to California for her yesterday.

She also gave us 2 beautiful HUGE rose bushes. THey were taller than me before I pruned them back. And some really great lavender plants, and a few others that I don't know what they are. Here's some pictures:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00447b.jpg



http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00448b.jpg



Will post more with more pictures!

[mousebandit]

OKay, here are some pictures of the plants. This is by the front door:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00465b.jpg

That's a rose bush (more like a sturdy tree!) and the lavender next to it, although it's kind of flopped over.

And these are by our bedroom door:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00467b.jpg


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00466b.jpg


Another rose bush, another lavender, and a couple that I don't know what they are. Figure it out in the spring, LOL!


We also have gotten all the bookshelves filled up. THere are still TONS of books in boxes, but we have a lot out, and I think we have all the homesteading ones out, and all my midwifery ones, which makes me VERY happy!

Here's a couple of the bookcase pictures. I'll do more in more posts (there's a lot of bookcases, LOL!)

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00440b.jpg

The first shelf that went up, of course!! (And I have lots of books that I bought from libraries, just in case you were wondering!)

[mousebandit]

Okay, here are some bookcase pictures:

The main wall of books in the front room:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00438b.jpg


The new bookcases our friend gave us:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00437b.jpg


Mommy's Bedroom Bookcase:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00441b.jpg


And I do have another shorty bookcase in the dining room with regular recipe books (not the homesteading, food preservation ones, though) and some of the health/diet books.

[mousebandit]

And the motherload - Daddy's Books!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00442b.jpg

Note the 3-percenter flag on the wall by the door!


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00443b.jpg


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00444b.jpg

And the stacks of books on the floor in front of this one.

And some of the books are still in boxes in the front room, probably 15 banana boxes (there is a whole storage area that I can't get to that is filled with probably another 10-20 banana boxes of books, I'm guessing.)

I think we're doing good on books!! It is so freaking AWESOME to read again, LOL! I went through and pull all my BHM and other magazines from their various haunts (ie bedroom and bathrooms) and put them in magazine holders and organized them by magazine and date. Discovered that 2 of my anthologies are missing (vaguely remember loaning them to someone), so I will have to reorder those pronto. The rest of the books aren't even remotely organized - that will be a project for later in the winter.

We still haven't set up the chicken house or chicken run, even though chickens are supposed to be my graduation present. There's still been a lot of computer time sending out resumes and applications for work, and testing for jobs. Hopefully next week we will start on that, and then can get some chickies. There were some free laying hens on craigslist, and we almost got them, but we were just a little too late and they were gone.

I really want to get some broiler chicks, but I'm thinking it's just too late in the season and I don't have a good setup to handle them in the winter yet, so I will probably wait for February or March. We'll get the little existing coop fixed up and string up some fencing for a yard right where it sits (next year's garden zone) and just keep our eyes out for a few free ones locally.

There's more progress, but also more pictures to go along with so I'll do another post for that!

[mousebandit]

So, the night we were hoping to get the free chickens, we ended up with free bunnies!!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00445b.jpg

Here are the bunnies in the cage, sitting on top of the worm bin. We have an old blanket to throw over them at night so they don't get rain blown in on them, or get scared from any critters that might come up close. They also came with a wood hutch, and we have something here that I think was or could be a cool hutch, so soon I will get one or both of those set up and determine a better location for them and get them all squared away. They are currently under the carport, right by the front door, which is convenient, but not permanent! I would like to have a bunny run for them, so I will see about how to make that work, too. That will require some thought though.

We're told that these are both boys, but the guy we got them from only had them a week or so himself, and didn't know much about them. I think he's probably right, but we'll check when Jeff gets back from the U-haul trip just to be sure. No names until then, either. There are 2 of them, 1 small chocolate, and 1 larger lop:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00462b.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00430b.jpg


And here is our deal-finding machine - Mad Max:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00454b.jpg

Started off as a typical blue soccer mom suburban, but once it got paid off, the boys fixed it up good, LOL! Now it has a solar panel on the roof, hummer tires with run-flats, painted with rhino-lining (truck bed lining), an on-board air compressor, a snorkel (to go through deeper creeks and streams), and lots of other cool add-ons!

[mousebandit]

And speaking of creeks, ours has water in it! Plenty! Here's a shot we took up by the house, where a trail goes down (where I wanted to build a greenhouse into the south-facing hillside):

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00449b.jpg

I haven't ventured further back on the property to see how big it is back there, but I'm guessing it's filling up the deep channel we walked through when we first moved in. My brain will no doubt start conjuring up plans for ram pumps and mini hydro units, LOL! We also will go down at the trail and put stakes in the bank where the water level is (we'll do this multiple times over the winter) so we can build a little bridge next summer and make sure it starts up high enough on the bank. Probably will have to wade through to put stakes on the other side, LOL!

We'll also be heading down onto what I'm calling the "back flat" to ascertain the water levels (if it's coming up out of the stream bed, and what it does when the river floods) and check out potential for clearing. Jeff and I both agreed that we love the thick woods, but we need to clear some productive pasture as well. The woods will stay in place around the borders of the property, and will be added to along the property lines with more trees and blackberry bushes, but we will make at least 1 pasture area, maybe more and build a small barn and a couple of other outbuildings.

And, as always, God provided a good start for us last week when the power company sent their contractors to clear the tree limbs away from the power lines on our property. Jeff talked with the guys and the dropped a few trees for us, cut them into rounds, cleared out some brushy areas, and left us all the shavings as well (all for free!). Two days of work with a crew and professional equipment, all for free. Praise God!!

Here's the sawdust pile - it's huge. At least 6-8 feet tall in the center and probably 10 feet plus across:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00452b.jpg

One of the areas they cleared, right at the base of our main power pole, ended up having a water faucet (with multiple heads on it) and a power outlet there. The power outlet was scary - Jeff checked it out and the guy had 2 independent 110 lines running to each of the "prong" receptors with no ground!!! Freaky 220 I guess. Of course, Jeff had disabled the breakers on the main box that he couldn't identify. Now we know!! We are thinking of turning this into a garage area, maybe.

Well, that's all the updates for now. I'm sure there's more news, but babies need snacks and naps! Gotta run! I will be posting much more regularly now.

Mouse Bandit

[Aamylf]

Woo hoo on finishing school and thanks for the updates. I was wondering!

[BigOBear]

Was wondering too. Thanks for the update. Congrats on the deal with the elderly lady. Was really nice of yall to help her out too :) Really starting to look like home and feeling like it more and more I bet :)

[sissy]

Cragratet on finishing school. And congrates on all the finds. That was very nice you boyh helping that lady out. Look foward to your next update. Thanks
sissy

[mousebandit]

YIPPEE! My hubby is awesome! He went to pick up our woodstoves today and came home with 2 woodstoves plus the wood cookstove!! And, he thinks he can fabricate me some warming ovens for the top of it!! Here's a picture:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00481b.jpg

It's full of dog food and pack rat yuck and some rust right now, but we'll get it right as rain. I am SOOO excited!

And I got a job, so that is amazing. Started today, it's from home, just like I wanted, and once I'm up to speed, I'll be able to work early morning hours only, and have the rest of the day free. And the pay is well above average, so woo hoo!!! God is blessing us left and right!!

I don't know exactly when he'll put the woodstove in the house, and I know we're not ready to start messing with the cookstove yet, maybe later in the winter, but most likely after that, and then maybe hook it up for next winter. We'll see. But we have it, we own it!!! I have always wanted one and never thought we'd be able to make it happen. The guy gave it to us for $100!!!! Praise God!!! He is the BEST bargain hunter, ever!!

The other woodstoves:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00478b.jpg


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00479b.jpg


Okay, back to figuring out the stuff for work!!


Tracey

[MotherCharlotte]

Thank you for all the updates and pictures, Tracey...it's wonderful to see, and your happiness and enthusiasm for everything that's happening in your life really shines through. I hope that a few years from now I'll be posting pictures of my new homestead, too!

I gotta say, I love to see all your bookcases too...I'm very much a book lover too, although we don't have as many books as you do. I try to keep the collection pared down to my favourites for now...someday when we have a permanent abode I'll let my collection grow. We dream of building our own house with a small room on the back just for a library! :)

[mousebandit]

Well, the blessings just keep coming, but this one is by far the VERY best! I hope this picture comes out clear:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00486.jpg

We're expecting again!! WOO HOO!!!

Looking like an August due date! God is so good!


Mouse Bandit

[sissy]

Congrats:dance3::dance3::dance3:
So happy for ya
sissy

[BigOBear]

Congratulations :)

[mousebandit]

Thank you guys!!! We are just over the moon!! I'm not getting any younger (hitting my big 4-0 next month) and we were a little afraid that the next one might take some extra work! This is will be kiddo #5 total, although it will only be #3 little ones (first two boys went and grew up on us!). Unless we were to get a 2-for-1 deal, that would be even better, LOL!

We'll be looking to go full-term (all the others have been early-birds), and getting our home-sweet-homebirth this time!

Mouse Bandit

[Aamylf]

Happy happy news! Five is a lot but 2 then 3 now sounds about right. Congratulations.:p

[mousebandit]

Hey everyone! Thank you all for the congrats! Things are going great, no morning sickness yet, so that is good! Just exhausted all the time, which is totally normal.

Things are moving along around here little by little. Jeff fixed up the 2 wood stoves, and brought ours in the house. He still needs to get a couple hundred worth of pipe and such to hook it up and make the hole in the roof, etc., but we're closer! Here's how it looks now:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/woodstove4.jpg

And, here is the ratty old "shop stove", which he will be able to sell for enough to almost pay for all 3 of the stoves:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/woodstove3.jpg

He is so awesome at fixing stuff and making it good as new!

And, tomorrow we will be getting a special delivery - our goat! She is a registered Nubian, with some good lineage, and has been a good mama and milker. She will be bred on her next cycle, so come late spring, we will be in milk! We will also be getting a buddy for her later in the week, another registered Nubian who is probably sterile. We were going to wait until spring to get the goats, but since I'll only be getting more and more pregnant, we thought it best to get a routine worked out now.

We had quite a bit of snow here the last couple of days (well quite a bit for us!) - probably a foot total in two batches of 6" or so. Mostly melting and slushy tonight.

I will get pictures of the goat pen and shed and our new sweetie tomorrow and post them!

Gotta hit the sack! 5am comes early for me!

Pictures tomorrow!

[mousebandit]

Okay, finally got photobucket to work!

Here's some pictures of our new little friend (we haven't decided upon a name yet). I'll get more pictures of her pen and shelter later today, since the camera decided to die on me once we got out there!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/100_0066b.jpg


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/100_0065b.jpg

That's my honey in the baseball hat holding the goat's lead.

Couple more in the next post...

[mousebandit]

And a couple more:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/100_0067b.jpg


http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/100_0068b.jpg


We are so excited! This morning will be our first milking, although they said she's not putting much out right now. She should be in the kid-making mood in a couple of weeks, and we have some friends with nice Nubian bucks who will help us out, LOL! So by late spring, we'll be getting lots of milk!

Okay, gotta start my MT work now, and make some hay money!

Oh, but that reminds me, hay is going for $12-$14 per bale around here right now, and we just scored probably 40 bales for $3 a bale from a nearby ranch!! Not moldy, this years' stuff, they just have to make room in the barn right freaking now, so Jeff and the boys are going over to load it up in a couple of hours once the sun is up. Yippee!!!

MouseBandit

[Aamylf]

The pictures of your child and her goat are so precious. I love the trust that is obviously already there. What a wonderful blessing to grow up like your children are going to.

[JonChristina]

Wow, I feel like I found another woman who is on the same path...even in the same state,lol.

My husband and I are in Eastern Oregon and are only 3 months in. We are doing only a very small homestead but it is a right fit for us. I have big plans though,lol.

Fixer upper properties do have their hurdles, maybe we can learn from each other. I will definitely follow your thread and be an emotional cheerleader encouraging your family.

Stay strong and enjoy the journey..... your amazing.

[mousebandit]

Thanks everyone! And welcome Cristina! Yep, sounds like we're on the same track!

We still don't have a buddy for Bertha the nubian goat, but maybe tomorrow or the next day. She's been milking good, between 1 cup and 1-1/4 cups every day, only one milking per day. The last couple of days I've been sick and my hubby has done the milking and he says he is getting some pink tinged milk from the smaller teat (the side that gives less). I hope it's not mastitis. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be well enough to go out there with her myself and check it out, too.

Yesterday was my birthday (40, ugh), but I was sick so we'll do something fun later in the week.

We are getting a couple of LGDs in a few weeks. Great Pyr with Maremma. One will be a female puppy and the other a 4-year old female. Woo hoo! We are getting them from a great freecycle / Ron Paul buddy who is letting us pay what we can, when we can and barter for some of it too. What a blessing!

Got some kefir grains and made our first batch of raw goat milk kefir today. It's been brewing for a few days, and today it seemed right, so we ran it though the vitamix with freeze-dried strawberries and some sweetener, and it was SOOO good!

The sourdough starter died for some reason, so I started over and will be hopefully making some skillet pancakes with it this weekend. You start them off in cast iron skillet on the stove, then finish the top under the broiler. I guess they get about 2" high because they climb right up the sides of the skillet. Yumm!

OH, and we have some rabbits. Not the final mix, but 2 bucks, one of whom is just cute and little, but the other is a decent sized lop, and 2 awesome Californian does. Haven't bred yet, was getting ready to get their area in the barn set up, and then got sick. Next week probably. And soon we will get a really big studly buck, LOL!

And, joy of joys, we now have a washing machine and a dryer. I am in heaven. After a trip to town tonight for some non-toxic laundry soap (we are utilizing the drain water for the future orchard, so for now it's running into the creek), I will fire up for a test run!

God is awesome! The blessings keep coming, and the homestead keeps expanding!

More pictures after I get well and can get rolling outside again!
Oh, and Jeff's chainsaw is fixed and we're going to start tagging trees for the garden areas and the future pasture. Woo hoo!!

Do you know if you have to peel the small logs before you use them in pole buildings? I'm figuring you do, but hoping that it's optional, LOL!

Bye for now!!

Mouse Bandit

[mousebandit]

Here's our new little girl:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/IMG00508.jpg

Her name is Liberty Belle, but we're just calling her Belle.

She's 8 weeks old, and already getting to be a big girl! So excited!!

[mousebandit]

Hey everyone! Whew - been working like crazy, but it's paying off! Got done with a big account that I had for my medical transcription (doc was writing a book and had a ton of stuff dictated that needed to be typed up). Glad that's over with, it was a lot of time!

We also sold our travel trailer (that we were living in before we got this place) and hubby did such a good job advertising it that we made a little money over and above what we owed on it.

We were able to get stuff for the raised bed gardens, and a metal shed ($50 on craigslist) for a temporary woodshed, and some stuff for the solar hot water system!

For the garden area, hubby decided to put it right next to the house, as that was the easiest place to clear trees for good lighting, and it's close since I will be hugely pregnant this summer, LOL! But, he fell a couple of the trees in such a way that he will be able to use them to make a beautiful bridge from right by the house, over the creek and ravine, down into the little bit of field that we do have (it was already cleared at some point). Next year, we will move the garden stuff over there and enlarge everything and make that the garden and orchard.

So far, he got cedar boards for the raised beds, and posts and fencing for the perimeter deer fence.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00574.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00573.jpg

This year things won't be big. 2 raised beds 4x10, and one smaller one. It is what it is. I will have an in-the-ground overflow area by the barn for melons, squashes, taters, and such. We'll see how the lighting does there. I am hoping that by May the sun will be high enough to give it plenty of light, but no guarantees. Just have to see how it goes.

Hubby is also setting up a solar hot water system for us. He got 2 solar collector panels 4x8 each, off craigslist for $150. We thought that was a steal, and are super excited. He also got a solar hot water storage tank, that is huge and super insulated. It's 125 gallons and is supposed to keep 170 degree hot water at that temp for 3 days, even when installed outside! Dang!! Priced them new, and they start about $2000, but we got this (off craigslist of course) for $125. (I give prices because I always wonder when I read other people's projects how much stuff costs!) So, he will need some misc. materials to mount everything and plumbing between the components, but we have the basics for our hot water system to be independent of outside inputs. And, we also have the woodstove water heating system, that I think he intends to plumb into this one, as well, as a winter backup.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00578.jpg

(Continued in next post!)

[mousebandit]

Here is the solar hot water storage tank and another hot water heater he picked up:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00580.jpg

And a bunch of food-grade 5-gallon buckets for the extra foodstuffs we've been picking up lately.

We've also bred the rabbits (hopefully) and are looking at the organic / raw pet food market for those. Seems to be a popular thing around here, and could be pretty lucrative if we market things right and get our systems set up.

I've got one of the rabbits (our breeding buck) on top of the worm bin, so all his stuff just drops down in there. my worms from last year froze to death, so I restocked with 2000 new ones. I'm thinking the bunny poop and pee and bits of hay would be enough food for the worms right? Or should I still be adding kitchen scraps? I did put in more shredded paper when I added the new worms to the old (half-composted) bed. I read that the bunny poop itself can act as bedding, but I don't want them to be too packed down.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00581.jpg

That's Charlie Boy off to the left of the feed bags.

We'll be using some of the bunny poop, and mixing with a bunch of old chicken manure that someone is giving us (55-gallon drum full of 9 month old chicken poo), and then all the leaf mold that I can dig up around here to fill the raised beds for the garden. If we have to add in any more stuff, we should be able to scrape together the cash, since it won't be such a large volume.

Hubby also got us a trailer load of free pallets so I can make a proper compost bin and stop having the animals scatter my kitchen scraps all over the place. I'll also be raking up a bunch of leaves (gotta get the leaf mold underneath anyways) and mix them in there, plus the rabbit poo from the other rabbits who aren't over worm beds. If I work at it, I'm hoping to have decent compost in a couple of months. We'll see!

Oh, hubby's $50 craigslist shed means that I get our old metal shed (currently housing trash which is going to the dump next week):

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00579.jpg

I will probably turn it into a garden shed / personal mommy storage items! I can put all my canning stuff in there, the garden stuff, etc. :-)

We are also having a large chicken house given to us! Jeff will get it on the trailer and get it over here soon. It has about 30 nests in it, so I'm guessing it's big! Yippee! Ordered our baby chicks and they will arrive in May. THe breed that I'm in love with (Buff Brahma's) weren't available until then since they're so popular. We're also getting meat chickens and some auracanas. Love those blue and green eggs, LOL! We're still hoping to find some free or really cheap on craigslist that are already laying, but we'll see.

Our goats are doing good, but no one seems to be going into heat. We're going to try the buck rag next, as someone suggested that it can actually help to trigger heat when the cycle is weak. Hope it works!! We need someone on this ranch to produce something, instead of just eat us out of house and home, LOL!

Here's a shot of the new girl, Lacey. SHe's such a sweetie:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/The%20Woods/IMG00525.jpg

Well, there's leaves to rake, and goats to visit, and stuff to do, LOL! Better get to it before the afternoon gets away from me!

Mouse Bandit

[squeaky]

In the mobile home side, where we plan to pull out the 50-year-old carpet and pad, we will probably just throw down whatever. Since we intend to completely pull out the mobile in its entirety eventually, we probably won't spend a penny more on the flooring in there than we have to. Probably roll out some vinyl and throw down area rugs. Went and got the down payment money out of the bank today, just to have the cash in hand and know that nothing can go wrong on that end, LOL! Waiting to hear from the realtor for the appointment time on Wednesday to sign.

Congratulations on your Wonderful Blessing!!
We lived in a 40 foot fifth wheel for two years in the beautiful state of Mo. back in the 90's when DH was still working. We knew we would move back here eventually so living in a small unit was fun at the same time you had to be very organized. I salute you because we only had our two small pets in tow with us.

I was wondering why you would want to get rid of the mobile when it can provide a nice income for you in the future as a rental piece? Just a thought! We have rental property and it can be a nice cushion, especially when you get older. If you and DH are good at DIY stuff and I bet you are, it is something to consider for your future, and it can pay you back in a very short time.:)

[mousebandit]

Hey everyone! Sorry I dropped the ball on updating. Between the pregnancy and figuring out how to manage babies, the homestead, and the working-from-home thing, I have been really overwhelmed, LOL!

New baby is still cooking, although we're expecting him or her any day now. The working from home is good, although I'm still not super good at scheduling the time, nor fast enough to make what I want in the time frame I want. I'm doing medical transcription, and it is definitely the best work-from-home job that I've seen, but I need to get a lot faster and a lot more diligent about scheduling me and the kids to be able to meet my income goals without spending half the day doing it, LOL!

Big news lately was that hubby got called back to work! It's been more than a year since he got laid off, and we really thought it wasn't going to happen. Seemed like all the other guys got called back months ago, so we thought for some reason they weren't going to call him. Turns out they had a big project that they specifically wanted him for, and were holding him out just for that. So, today he has gone up to the head office to do the paperwork, and Sunday night he leaves. :-( The job site is about 4 hours away, and we are in a good amount of debt again with all this time off work and buying the house. So, we will wait until the baby comes and we get some of the debt paid off, then the kids and I will move up there with him and rent a place, and have my nephew homestead-sit for us. We'll still be able to come home on weekends and stuff, and have all our things here and the animals, but we're also going to try very hard to rent a rural place up there where we can have at least some chickens and rabbits. Can't turn the little ones into city kids just for the sake of a job! This jobsite will run about 18 months, and if the big crash doesn't come before that, he should be able to keep working steady, just move on to another jobsite. We'll be putting together the "5-year" plan to get the property paid off, and we also have a few high-priority upgrades to make asap as well. Then he should be able to quit for good and just homestead.

The first thing we will do, probably with the first or second paycheck, will be to get the hand-pump for the well. No electricity means no water at this point, and that is not something we can take a chance on. Then we follow up with a solar well pump that is a trickle pump (I don't know all the terms, but hubby has it figured out - it will slowly fill a big holding tank, which will be gravity fed to the house). After that, all the plumbing and fittings to hook all this up, and to hook up the solar hot water and woodstove hot water systems. He probably won't get them hooked up until Christmas when he has a week off, but at least we'll have the needed supplies. And I'll be starting to figure out a rain-collection system. We used to have about 20 plastic barrels for water storage, but had to give them away when we went on the road a few years ago. Got to start all over!

Our garden is going pretty good. Got way-laid by pre-term labor and the crazy wet spring, so not nearly as much got planted as we expected. Here's a shot when we first started getting things in the ground (end of April!):

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00694.jpg

And here it is the other day with my little girl out there munching on peas:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00731.jpg

We also have a potato patch over by the barn, but we never did get the trees cleared so it doesn't get nearly as much sun as it should. Hubby wasn't able to get much tilling done back there either, so it's just potatoes, not all the other big stuff we wanted. He's got someone lined up to clear that part of the woods this winter, and we'll put plastic down until spring, so it will be much quicker to till up next spring and then that area will be for taters, squashes, melons - all the big stuff!

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00645.jpg

That was when he was tilling it up. You can see how big our Great Pyr puppy is getting! She's now a full-time goat guardian, and stays in the goat pen. Had to put up a hotwire electric fence and train her for a few weeks with the collar, but she is doing good now. Growing up, too, and maturing into her adult personality - that helps a lot!

Will do another post with more pictures!

Mouse Bandit

[mousebandit]

Another big project this winter or probably next spring will be to put an addition onto the house. Hubby figured it all out, and he can just add one big room to the front side of the house, which will be a large kitchen and front room, and then pull out the old mobile, and finish off where that was, and we will end up with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a decent sized pantry/laundry room, dining room, and the new kitchen and front room!! And probably a root cellar under the new addition!!!!

He doesn't know if we can get the mobile out without demo'ing it - it's so old, put in place here in 1950!!! Not sure if we can even get axles under it without totally destroying the exterior around it (they built all the way around the mobile home when they built the first add-on). If we can, we will definitely just park it out back and possibly rent it out or just use it for guests. If we have to demo it though, we will. The way he's planning to do this, we get the maximum remodel out of a pretty minimal cash outlay. He'll do all the work (with our sons and his brothers probably) so it will just be materials. While he's doing that, he will also add some decking, and the shed roof on the south side of the house for the solar collectors. It will MASSIVELY make our house bigger and nicer, plus I'll have a root cellar!! It will also be very good because it's going to be hard to fit 3 little ones in the tiny 2nd bedroom, ha ha!

The rabbits are coming along. We found that one of our does has wolf teeth, and since this is a hereditary condition, we will be culling her. That leaves us one doe, and basically one buck. We have 2 other bucks, but they were freebies, and aren't really meat breeds. We had our first 2 litters (one from each doe) but none survived. It was during the last week or so of freezing weather, and the does kept peeing on the kits, and it really sucked. We just had another round of kits, and one doe is a good mama (thankfully the one who has normal teeth, LOL!) but the other one did the same thing as the first time. We still lost quite a few kits - they were going missing from the cage. Very weird because hubby re-did a very large hutch just for them, and we can't figure out how they got out - thrown by mama or even pulled by a predator - the wire just isn't that big. But, nevertheless, we found a few on the ground in the first few days after kindling, and lost one and never did find it like a week later! We have 3 survivors now, almost 3 weeks old. Oh, another very odd thing was the the wolf-teeth mama had 6 babies the first night, 2 more the next night, and 2 more the NEXT night!! Crazy, huh?!

Here's the survivor babies on day 2 or 3, and then earlier this week:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00724.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00728.jpg

We also got a chicken house moved over here that a buddy gave us, and got some adult buff brahmas who are cute as can be and laying well. We also got a couple dozen baby chicks from mail order, but lost most of them to a raccoon one night. Hubby got the coon, but we've only got 10 of the chicks left. THey're doing good now - in with the big chickens. One that survived was the "extra" chick they always send, and it's a Polish chicken. It is HILARIOUS looking!! We call it Corey Chicken after our 22-yo son who had one of those crazy curly hairstyles for a while, LOL!

We plan to get one of the 3-tier metal brooder/grow out things for meat chickens once we get up north to the new job. There is one on craigslist that is pretty much exactly like what they have in the "Have-More Plan" book, for $250 and it hasn't sold yet. If it's still available in October, we'll hopefully be able to get it. Then we at least raise our own chicken meat up there. (We'll have rabbits too, but we don't eat rabbit meat - biblical food laws. They are mostly for fun and poopy and worms!)

Oh, and hubby cleaned up the wood cookstove and fixed it all up and it's awesome! Still outside, but we test-fired it and made some chili. So cool!

Here's the before and after of the cookstove:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00660.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/Summer%202011/IMG00675.jpg



Well, my little guy is down for a nap, so this is a good time to get some stuff done! I will do better about updating more often, I promise!!

MouseBandit

[BonnyLake]

I love your cookstove - what a gem! Nice job on cleaning and fixing it up too!

[kfander]

That's a terrific job on the cookstove!

[warriorwolf47]

Good to see plans come together like this , congrat's !

[Txanne]

My goodness.

What a beautiful place.
And the roof on the MH was the first thing I saw.
It seems to be in pretty good shape.
In a MH that is a blessing as it seems that is the first ti go--from experienced I learned this.

Out buildings--lots of growing room for the babies--What a wonderful blessing!!

I wish all the best on your adventure.

Txanne

[GentleLady]

Awesome cook stove, you guys are really coming along. Congrats on your hard work!

[mousebandit]

Thanks about the cookstove. My honey did that - he's a genius with this stuff!

And the roof you see is actually not the original mobile roof. The previous owners built a pole barn around the entire mobile and twice as wide, with an entirely new roof over the whole thing - trusses and all. Then they later enclosed the pole barn around the mobile, and finished off the inside like an addition, so now from the outside it looks like one building, appx. 20' wide x 50' long. You go inside, and it looks good, but you can tell when you're stepping up into the mobile (through the sliding glass door, LOL!) from the addition. It was pretty well done, and is definitely structural, although my hubby had to redo most of the plumbing and electrical when we moved in.

It's a good setup, and I'm sure that is why the mobile is in the shape it is, even after 60 years!

Well, hubby leaves tomorrow to go back to work out of town, so we are gonna hang out tonight and watch movies.

MouseBandit

[rwwoodcock]

Gratz on all you have got done. hang in there and keep after it and enjoy the journey. I enjoyed your photos and all the updates you've done thank you.

[mousebandit]

Hi! Wanted to update with the best news ever:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c167/MouseBandit/100_0469.jpg
Rachel Mae Roberts, 4 lb. 14 oz.

We had a very scary delivery. At the birth center and water had broken, small contractions had started. Once heavy contractions came on, we started seeing way too much blood. Not an obvious hemorrhage, but scary. This quickly combined with very slow fetal heart tones.

We ended up transporting to the hospital. DIscovered that mama had a placental abruption (which means the placenta came off inside, before the baby delivered, and most of the blood loss was unseen) which was the bleeding we saw before we went to the hospital. As they were doing an emergency c-section, they discovered the baby had vasa previa, which means that the umbilical cord, which covers the baby's blood vessels, only covered the vessels for a short ways. Then the cord itself disappears and the blood vessels went down over the cervix and into the amniotic sac, with no protective covering over them. This condition has a 95% fatality rate if not discovered prior to labor. These blood vessels had ruptured as well.

By the grace of God, we are both fine now. It was very scary, but He brought us through and we are now home. Baby is very small, possibly related to the vasa previa, but not sure, but she is doing well and learning to nurse.

I have to go get some sleep while I can, but I wanted to share our blessing! Praise God!!

MouseBandit