end of the buy nothing challenge

April is over and with it goes Crunchy’s Buy Nothing Challenge. We didn’t do too badly. We had a few purchases that weren’t planned for.

The second week I was painting the kitchen (with pre-purchased paint) and ran out with just one wall left to go. Now I suppose I could have left it that way, but — well, no I really could not have left it that way. So I went to the very local hardware store and purchased enough to finish the job.

We also had some major car repairs come up. Things like brakes, wheel bearings, tie-rodes, and tires. It was on the only vehicle that can safely transport my entire family at one time.

Let’s see . . . oh, yes. Three out of the four of us needed new sandals. Needed as in didn’t have any for this year. I got them buy one get one for a dollar. Good deal!

Kim

food independence

They’re all saying it.  Now Sharon’s challenging us to do it.

You all know that I am a huge believer in personal responsibility in food production.  We do our best.   Each year we try to do better.  We learn new skills that allow us to remove ourselves just a little further from the industrial food supply.

I’ve been keeping up with Sharon’s food group.  Each week there is a check-in.  We do planted, harvested, preserved, stored, and prepped.  It is a great way to encourage one another to keep up the good work.  Now Sharon is inviting the world-at-large to participate.  So come on, join the fun, and free yourself from the tyranny of the supermarket shelves.

A few quotes from some of my favorite authors/thinkers.

Carla Emery:

All spring I try to plant something every day – from late February, when the early peas and spinach and garlic can go in, on up to midsummer, when the main potato crop and the late beans and lettuce go in.  Then I switch over and make it my rule to try and get something put away for the winter every single day.  That lasts until the pumpkins and sunflowers and late squash and green tomatoes are in.  Then comes the struggle to get the most out of the stored food – all winter long.  It has to be checked regularly, and you’ll need to add to that day’s menu anything that’s on the verge of spoiling, wilting or otherwise becoming useless.

People have to choose what they are going to struggle for.  Life is always a struggle, whether or not you’re struggling for anything worthwhile, so it might as well be for something worthwhile.  Independence days are worth struggling for.  they’re good for me, good for the country and good for growing children.

Sharon Astyk

Now there’s a Declaration of Independence for you.  Or perhaps the Constitution of the United Food Sovereign People of the World.  It is so desperately needed that we do declare our independence from the globalizing, totalitarian, destructive, toxic, dangerous agriculture that destroys our future and our power and pays to destroy democracy.  And so, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for people to divorce themselves from a system that has become destructive, and thus:

We the people, in order to form a more perfect union of human and nature, establish justice and ensure food sovreignty, provide for the common nutrition, promote the general welfare and ensure the blessings of liberty, for ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the United Food Sovereign People of the World.

Wendell Berry

Most urban shoppers would tell you that food is produced on farms.  But most of them do not know what farms, or what kind of farms, or where farms are, or what knowledge and skills are involved in farming. . . The industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines teh connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical — in short, a victim. . . . There is, then, a politics of fod that, like any politics, involves our freedom.  We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else.  But we  have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else.  The condition of the passive consumer of food isnot a democratic condition.  One reason to eat responsibly is to live free.

What can we one do?

1. Participate in food production
2. Prepare your own food
3. Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that is produced closest to your home
4. Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener, or orchardist
5. Learn, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and technology of industrial food production
6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening
7. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if possible, of the life histories of the food species.

Michael Pollan:

But the act I want to talk about is growing some — even just a little — of your own food. Rip out your lawn, if you have one, and if you don’t — if you live in a high-rise, or have a yard shrouded in shade — look into getting a plot in a community garden. Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do — to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind.

Yet the sun still shines down on your yard, and photosynthesis still works so abundantly that in a thoughtfully organized vegetable garden (one planted from seed, nourished by compost from the kitchen and involving not too many drives to the garden center), you can grow the proverbial free lunch — CO2-free and dollar-free.

lambs

Abby and Elsy.

Lizzy, Livy and, Betty.

More pictures of the lambs because they really make me happy.   They are getting quite big.  All three are eating pasture and chewing cud.  Big steps for such little ruminants.  They are also learning that alfalfa pellets and oats are good eatin’.

Kim

ta-da!

Hey, the internet connection is still strong. So . . . I give you the chicken coop!

The Balfour yard.

The interior feeding station. I can open a gate and get to the food and water quite easily. The chicks are on a combination of chicken mash, cracked grains, and greens. The water is still getting a dose of apple cider vinegar.

Here we have a close up of a nest box. These are accessible from outside the chicken area. CK rigged up a hinge that opens up the back of all the boxes for easy access.

Now you can see the row of nest boxes and the ingenious hinged door!

And finally an exterior shot. We still have to finish the sides where the roof meets the wall, and put plywood on the interior, hinge the wood pieces above the windows (for ventilation), put the front door on permanently, and then the gutters! That should all be done soon. The chicks don’t mind living in a construction zone and the important thing is the chicks are not in the house, they are safe, warm, and dry!

Oh yes, we also need to clean up the construction mess.

Kim

our simple life

A collection of posts and pictures for Rhonda Jean about our simple life here on the Hedges Homestead.

I’m headed outside right now to take pictures of the chicks and chicken coop.  I’ll have them up tomorrow — God willing and the internet connection stays up!

A riotous day

Getting the work done.

Pictures from our life, and here, and here.

abby’s turn

Abby finally had her lamb. Lamb. Just one. As big as she was I figured she had 3 or 4, but no just one.

That one is as big as out 2 week old lambs though. Not as tubby, but every bit as tall.  This little girl will be called Elsy.

I have no idea about lamb gender percentages, but we had 3 lambs and they are all girls.  Whoohoo!

In other news: The chicks have moved out of the house and into their coop. They really seem to appreciate the extra room. They moved in Saturday. Yesterday was their first day in the Balfour yard. It was a smashing success.  I’ll have some pictures of the completed chicken coop by the weekend.

Kim

I did it

I did it. I finally used my new pressure canner. I didn’t blow up the house, set the kitchen on fire, or have a panic attack.

I almost did though. I was walking into the kitchen from the living room to check the pressure and heard a loud “pop.” I jumped, yelled, and squeaked. Then I noticed that it was the ginger beer popping its cork, not the pressure canner exploding.

So now I have 7 pints of canned beans.   The next time I forget to get the beans started early in the day, we’ll have a back-up plan.

Kim

why bother

Why bother?

My sister sent me the link above.  It is from one of my favorite authors — Michael Pollan.  And guess who he quotes in his article.  One of my other very favorite authors — Wendell Berry!

Great Quote from the Article:  Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will.

If  you haven’t read Michael Pollan’s books you are missing a real treat.  If you haven’t read Wendell Berry you are missing a real meal.  He is a great thinker, a great writer, and a great man.

Kim

shaky start to the day

Interesting morning here on the homestead. At 5:37 a.m. we had an earthquake. The dogs whined a little beforehand and snuggled in close. I was just about to fuss at Ginny for waking me up when the shaking started. It lasted quite a while. News reports say 30 seconds, but it felt like at least 2 minutes.

Illinois basin-Ozark dome region (New Madrid Fault Line); New Salem, Illinois (160 miles from us); 5.4 on the Richter Scale.

Back to my day, which hopefully will hopefully turn out to be far less interesting than its start!

Kim

april on the homestead–2

The strawberry bed is 400 square feet.  Right now it has 50 strawberry plants in it.  They are filling out nicely, but we noticed we really need about 30 more in there.

Here they are.  Lizzy and Livy at 10 days.  They are so fun to watch.  They bounce all over the pasture.  Frolic and play all day, except for the serious business of nursing and napping.  These little bundles of energy have also discovered that they are small enough to sip through the fence for some fun in the garden, on the lumber pile by the chicken coop, and on some old hay.  HM is constantly putting them back in the fence.   Soon they’ll be too big to fit through the holes.

I tried to take a picture of the orchard, but all you could see were the blue flags that show us where we planted or where to plant the last order.  There are 5 apple trees, 1 peach, 2 plum, 2 cherry, 6 blueberry, 6 currant, 2 elderberry, 2 gooseberry, and 3 grapes already planted.  Coming in today will be 4 elderberry, 4 gooseberry, and 6 blackberry, and 6 grape.

Kim

April on the Homestead

I am posting a collection of pictures from this morning on the homestead. I’ll probably do a couple of posts instead of one HUGE post!

Here is Abby. Still waiting on babies, but you can see how big she is getting. Abby is 50% Shetland and 50% Finn. Her babies will be 5/8 Shetland and 3/8 Finn. If she EVER has them.

Betty nursing Lizzy and Livy Giselle. Betty is 50% Shetland/25% Finn/25% NC. The babies are 10 days old today. They are 5/8 Shetland, 2/8 Finn, and 1/8 NC. There will be another picture of them in just a minute. I absolutely love my sheep.

Bantam chicks at 7 weeks. 13 pullets and 2 roosters. We’re naming them after Audrey Hepburn roles (plus David and Linus from Sabrina). That is Eliza standing right in the center of the picture. They are spending the days outside in a “playpen” and the come in for the night.

The chicken coop that is still being built. Really we are almost done. You can see the windows for letting in light. The chicken door on the left (by the window). Still to be added: the front siding, the front door, the metal roof, and the fencing.

The front flower bed that also has chocolate mint and lemon mint. We have baby’s breath, borage, cornflowers, cosmos, lantana, iris, zinnia and violets planted there.

Here is the garden. It isn’t completely fenced in yet since we are still building beds and hauling dirt into it. You can kind of see that we have some goats picketed in the back of the garden. They are keeping the grass short until we can get it sheet mulched and covered. We have two dairy does and one wether. They aren’t producing milk because we didn’t breed them. The Garden tab above tells you what is currently happening in my garden.

Moving on the herb/flower bed. This is 1200 square feet. We have hosta, quince, burning bush, forsythia, daisy, spiderwort, chamomile, monarda, spearmint, peppermint, horehound, wormwood, St. John’s wort, flax, lupines, viola, scabiosa, pansy, forget-me-nots, delphinium, foxglove, hollyhock, butterfly flower, cardoon, parsley, echinacea, calendula, anise, hyssop, alyssum, thyme, oregano, chives, lilac and basil planted in there. It is a mass of green when everything is up.

Kim H

living on current sunlight

In The 11th Hour, Thom Hartmann brought up the idea that until 150 years ago (steam engines, industrial revolution, agricultural revolution) man lived on current sunlight. Then we found “pockets of ancient sunlight stored in the earth.” These pockets are not renewable.

Since we watched the film I have found myself thinking about this comment. A lot. While I should be thinking about something else.

What would it be like to live on current sunlight?

I don’t think it means a return to the past. I’ve fought that impression even doing the Riot. Technology isn’t the enemy. For instance my pressure canner allows me to eat a much wider variety of foods year-round than Ma Ingalls could ever have imagined. My wood stove is a huge improvement (both in efficiency and total burning which releases much less particulates into the atmosphere than slow burning stoves) over fireplaces and the old single-walled stoves.

I do think it means a more deliberate approach to daily living. Today’s sunshine is captured in the leaves of the grape vine. I can harvest that sunshine in a few months and have grapes, raisins and wine. But I have to be thoughtful. Planting, pruning, weeding, waiting, and then action to preserve all take commitment. I’d have to manage the woodlot efficiently. No burning wood just because its chilly. While taking the chill off the air have some bread ready to bake in the embers, some soup cooking on top, and maybe some potatoes ready to roast. The animals care would only be slightly different. Today’s sunshine can be gathered as hay to see them through the “dark days.” The hay making is what would be different. Scything is more work than calling Hay Bob to bring his tractor, but it could be done.

More about this later because I’m still thinking. A lot.

Kim

what’s in my garden now

As part of the 100 foot challenge I am keeping a running tab of what I am planting, watching grow, harvesting and preserving up in the tab called Garden and Pantry. My goal is to plant something everyday from mid-April through June and to put back something everyday from June to October.

Can it be done? How much will we end up with? We’ll see.

March 20–Yellow onion sets (80) and red onion sets (80) went into the garden today. Indoor seeds are doing well.

April 5 — potatoes (3 beds), arugula, artichokes, brussels sprouts. Rhubarb is up and looking pretty good. No asparagus yet (wondering if it didn’t survive the winter), onion set shoots barely above ground. Finished topping up all garden beds, filled 5×30 bed, built and filled 10×10 bed

April 8 — viola, pansy, scabiosa, alyssum, butterfly flower, forget-me-not, flax, foxglove, delphinium, hollyhock.

April 9– dill, cardoon, parsley, chives, oregano, hyssop, echinacea, thyme, anise, calendula, sweet basil. Coming up from last year: 3 kinds of mints, chamomile, horehound, mondara, comfrey, boneset, wormwood, mullein, rhubarb,

April 10– kale, broccoli, fava beans

April 11– lettuce, chard, spinach

the 11th hour

We watched The 11th Hour yesterday afternoon. There were many great things about the production. It was well done, interesting to watch, and appropriately “scary.” I’m glad we had it on our Netflix list. It is something I may purchase in order to lend to others. Of course, I won’t purchase it until after the Buy Nothing Challenge!

Coming soon . . . lessons I learned from watching The 11th Hour! There were a couple of doozies!

Kim

Lambs!

Brown Betty had her babies! Two beautiful little lambs–and they are both girls. Introducing Miss Lizzy (black with white on her head) and Miss Livy Giselle (white). Betty did great. We didn’t know she was in labor until we heard Abby screaming her head off. So I sent HM back to see what the problem was. Babies! By the time we got back there Betty had them clean, dry, and nursing.

This morning they are scampering all about.

Oh yes, you can click on the picture to make it larger.

Kim

weekend of work

This past Saturday we got a lot of garden work done. We planted 3 beds of potatoes (245 square feet), one bed (32 square feet) of arugula, artichokes, and brussels sprouts. The rhubarb is up and looking pretty good. We’ll probably have enough to can a few jars. I need to add more to that bed since I have finally found some good recipes. The horseradish isn’t up yet, no asparagus yet either. I’m wondering if it didn’t survive the winter. The onion set shoots are barely above ground. We finished topping up all garden beds, filled 5×30 bed, built and filled 10×10 bed. So far we have moved 8 cubic yards of compost into the garden.

I still need to build 2 10×10 beds for vegetables, and several 2×2 beds for sweet potatoes. We also need a 20×30 bed for our grain patch. The sweet potato beds will be done by the end of this month. The garden beds by the middle of May. The grain patch bed will probably be built this summer, filled as we can afford to haul in dirt, and planted in the fall with wheat. I hoped to start with hull-less oats, but I don’t think we can get the bed done in time. Shoot!

The fruit and berry orchard is looking pretty good. Most of the plants already show some growth. The strawberry bed is really starting to look good. We moved 8 cubic yards of compost to create the strawberry bed so it is really rich. The sets are beginning to get leaves and I have hopes that they will all survive. We still have one fairly large order coming in this month.

We’ll get started on the herb/flower bed this week. We’ve been doing a little weeding out there, but not much in the way of preparing the bed for planting. We’re also planting some greens this week. Lettuce, chard, spinach, and kale!

The chicken coop roof will be delivered on Thursday. The framework in finished and the siding is up on the back. We still have to place the windows, build storm shutters, put up the fencing, plus the roof and guttering system. I think it is going to be a pretty building.

CK agreed with my plan to also build a bunny barn that matches the chicken coop. In fact he had the brilliant idea of fencing an area around the two buildings for a dog. That way predators will be kept at bay. I think it is a great idea. Maybe by early fall this will all be done. Maybe.

Kim

time flies?

It seems like I never get everything done. I mean, I get a lot done, but there is always something that gets left behind. I know I’m not the only one who struggles through the day, collapses into bed, and then remembers something important that didn’t get done (or finished).

I’ve had some guests ask how we get it all done. The very simple answer is that we don’t. Homesteading is a time intensive endeavor. Never let anyone tell you differently. April and October seem to be the worst months. Never ending tasks, gardens going in, gardens coming out, food preservation, firewood collection and chopping, and on and on and on.

So enough rambling, back to the topic. How do we get done what we get done? Our homestead has been evolving over the past ten years. At first it was Momma and 2 little ones trying to pound poles, stretch fence, dig gardens, and taking care of the animals. Those were great years. We worked together and it took all three of us to just get through the day. Later MA became a teen and with that came muscles. Teenage boys can go forever. They might be a trifle slow, but they just don’t wear out! He did the majority of the heavy work for the past 6 years.

Now that he is working full-time (and loving every minute of his job) we are trying to find “less muscular” ways of doing things. That’s why the chicken coop is being built. Shortly after its completion I have plans for a bunny barn! Ideally these animals enclosures will allow me to handle day-to-day operations by myself. The last of the garden beds are being built and filled this year. All the big stuff should be in place by September.

HM is the best helper. She works hard. She isn’t strong, but she’s stubborn. If sheer will power alone could get it all done we’d be set. We have a household routine (see A Riotous Day) that works well for us. It doesn’t change much from day to day. But it doesn’t tell us how much time we actually spend taking care of our home and homestead. So I’ve been wearing a watch and noticing where the time actually goes.

We spend about 5 hours on indoor chores. These get done during “school hours.” And they break down like this:

• Riot related tasks (meter reading, stat recording, etc) — 30 minutes daily
• Housekeeping (includes hand washing dishes) — 1 1/2 hour daily
• Laundry — 1 hour daily
• Meal preparation – - 1 hour daily
• Food storage, menu planning, grocery list, coop list, supply storage check) — 30 minutes twice a week
• Bread making and baking — 1 hour three times a week
• Dog, cat and parakeet care — 1 hour (includes walking the dog) daily

Homestead Chores get done first thing in the morning and in the afternoon. As the days warm up more and more time will be spent in the garden and in food preservation. I try to plant something every day mid-April to June and then preserve something everyday from June to October. Of course, some preservation begins earlier — strawberries and greens don’t wait until June!

• Chicks — 30 minutes daily
• Sheep and Goats — 30 minutes daily
• Rabbits — 10 minutes daily
• Yard and Flower Gardens — 1 hour daily
• Orchard and Berry Gardens — 1 hour daily
• Vegetable Gardens — 1 hour daily (steadily rising to 2 hours daily by June)

Then there are those BIG homesteading tasks. Things like barn cleaning. That gets a whole weekend to itself because it is 12 hour job to get all the bedding (3 feet deep by April) out of the barn and carried to the compost pile. Sheep shearing takes all morning, hoof trimming takes and hour to do all 6 adults, cleaning ground cages and moving them takes 3 hours. Firewood has its own timetable too. Our guys try to spend one Saturday morning a month, April through November, putting up our supply of firewood. Fencing repair takes 2 hours a month. Putting in a new fence takes 10 minutes a foot (as best as I can calculate) on average.

I’m still keeping track of chicken coop construction time. I’ll post that with the completed picture as soon as it gets finished. Which I hope is soon. Weather has been a real issue. It has rained almost non-stop since MA put in the first post! The good news is the ponds, lakes, water table, and creeks are full. Bad news . . . I still have chicks in the house!

Kim

March Riot Numbers

My numbers this month are way off from normal. We’ve had chicks brooding in the house (250 watt bulb going 24/7). We’ve been building a chicken coop, building a food storage closet, and my grain mill is smoking so we bought a new one. Yikes.

• Gasoline: 25% including our commuters.
• Electricity: 15% (and that is after our renewable energy credit!)
• Heating and Cooking: n/a
• Garbage: 7%
• Water: 11.5%
• Consumer Goods: 6% normal household goods, 25% f0r chicken coop, and 15% for the grain mill (It gets a 50% reduction since it will be for long-term sustainablity)

• Food: 25% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 35% supermarket. We’re still purchasing fruits and veggies from the supermarket and now we’ve added yogurt.

Kim H