Garden Friday

It's Garden Friday once again.
The veggie garden is moving right along.
I just had to show you my maters.
Hopefully, these will end up in our kitchen.
I had one, solitary Cherokee Purple growing,
and wouldn't you know it,
I found it near the garden with bite marks on it.
Ugh.
I put some white sheets around the remaining tomatoes,
hoping to scare off whatever critters are feasting on my veg.
I haven't yet found a resource for shade cloth,

but that will be something I will try to have at the ready come spring.

The straw bale garden idea is coming together.
I recently shared that the straw I bought from a big box store
turned out not to be organic
(it hadn't occurred to me to ask ahead of time),
so I temporarily scrapped the idea.
Then something wonderful happened.

I used these feed sacks that I got from a fellow vendor at the farmers' market.
I knew I wouldn't be making daisy totes out of them
(it's hard to get the dog food smell out of the bags),
but they could still be repurposed to help me with my new project.

I split them open and laid them out, side by side.

The non-organic straw could still be used as mulch over the top of these sacks.

It should do a great job of killing the grass in the area
and be the perfect foundation for my straw bale garden.

I'm not a grass fan (unless you count fountain grasses),

so I have absolutely no qualms about getting rid of it any way I can.

Why take care of grass when you can plant things

 that take care of you?

Ready to add the organic straw bales.

 It only took two of the four bales I had bought to cover the sacks.
With the remaining straw,
I'll either add another row for planting,
or use it as mulch around the property.

This area of our side yard (our backyard is unusable for growing),
gets sun almost all day, so we're hoping the garden thrives.
Eventually, I hope to fence it to keep out the critters.

Ginger is quite the mess!

 Here's the something wonderful!
 Miriam, over at Cookspride Wilfong Farm, sold me some organic straw.
She sells organic produce and plants at the Mooresville Farmers' Market
where I hawk my daisy totes.
She and her son David were kind enough to set me up with 6 organic bales
so that I could get started with my new endeavor.

 Knowing that rain was expected,
the bales were placed on top of the mulch
so that they could soak up the showers.
Once they get wet, they are difficult to move.

This is the formation I decided to use.
I've read that it can be problematic to place them right next to each other,
so I opted for keeping a bit of space between them.
Since this is just an experiment,
I know I will be tweaking my next design in the springtime.
I plan to put some rebar at both ends 
so that I can string baling twine along the side for my snap peas.
I'll also add shorter rebar next to the insides of each bale for support.
If you use the traditional straw bale design, these steps aren't necessary.

I'll be conditioning the bales soon 
so that I still have time to get some fall and winter crops in.
Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Kale and Snap Peas will be sown here.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it does.
It's always fun to experiment in the garden.

~~~~

This is our compost pile.
It was started before we bought the place,
and we've just continued to use the same spot.
It needed a bit of cleaning up,
so I spent an afternoon working on that.

I raked up quite a nice leaf pile
so that I could easily add leaves to the kitchen scraps that get added here.



I'd noticed the bin on the left when we were originally looking at the house.
How thrilled was I to discover what it was?
A compost bin.

Doesn't look like it was used at all,
but I planned to change that.

 

I wasn't too happy with having to climb under all the tree branches

to get to it.

It definitely needed to be relocted.

I found a sweet spot near the established pile,

but easier to access. 

Easy peasy.

A compost bin has always been something I've wanted,

but seemed to be on the bottom of the purchasing list.

Too many other things took precedence.

What a fabulous surprise to discover it came with the house!

I'm curious to see how quickly it turns our additions into black gold.

I'm still considering constructing a 3-pile system in the spring.

We'll see how ambitious I am feeling by then.

The homestead is coming together.

We feel so blessed to be living here.

We are praying for all those affected by the approaching storm.

We may get some of the effects,

but being inland, we are hoping for the best.

Please keep our friends and neighbors in Florida in your prayers.

Blessings...

Allergy-Friendly Party Mix (gf,sf,df)

 

With C's many sensitivities,

it's commonplace for us to come up with

our own versions of just about everything.

We have recently been working on putting some weight on him,

so snacks were a welcome addition to his diet.

The nutritionist we see suggests that 

some sort of protein always be included.

Nuts serve that purpose here.

The nuts could be omitted if sensitivities are an issue,

or you could add some Sunbutter in its place.

(Sunbutter is made from sunflower seeds,

but tastes similar to nut butters.) 

We use olive oil,

but you could use butter or coconut oil if allergies are not a problem.

This snack is highly transportable,

so it's great for taking on hikes, bike rides, or just munching on the porch.

With the inclusion of a few allergy-friendly chocolate chips,

what's not to love?

Allergy-Friendly Party Mix

 2 C Chex cereal 

(any combination depending on allergies)

1 C Cheerios

3/4 C chopped roasted, salted cashews 

(or any other nut of choice)

3-4 T light olive oil

1/4-1/2 C Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Place first 4 ingredients in mixing bowl

and toss until ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Spread mix out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for an hour at 250 degrees,

stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool.

Add chips and toss again.

Store in a sealed glass jar.

Enjoy!

Organized Downsizing

A couple of weeks ago, 
we moved into our new cozy shack.
We love the home, the property
and the neighborhood,
but the house is about 400 square feet smaller 
than our last home in Florida.
This has required some serious paring down.
I wish we were completely unpacked and
had the house in order,
but we are taking our time in completing projects
and making this a welcoming and comfortable retreat.

 Fortunately, I embrace the minimalist lifestyle,
so it was easy for me to let go of things.
I find the process freeing,
knowing that I am making room in my life
for all the good things that God has in store for me.
Although we did rid ourselves of many household items and furniture
before we made the big move,
there was still more than we could comfortably situate in this 1400 square foot space.
We have listed quite a few things on Craig's List
and one other local forum for sale or giveaway.
We are also considering having a yard sale,
so that we can clear out many items at once.
So satisfying.

To begin, we started sorting items according to the rooms 
in which they are used.

Several of our larger moving boxes were put to the task.
One box contains things that will be given away or taken to thrift stores.
Any leftover blankets or other bedding will be donated
to the local Humane Society.
They can always use towels and blankets for the animals there.

 Any items that hadn't been used on a regular basis in the last year
(popcorn popper), are put into the kitchen box.
I had a few extra casserole dishes and storage bins
that we could do without, so they got tossed in.
We also had quite a few shelves and other things
that were here from the previous owners,
so we are dealing with those as well. 
There was another box for decorative items,
garage items and bathroom items.
I'm not one for sentimental attachments,
as I choose to focus on the memories instead of the physical object.

Giveaway box

Even if we decide to go the yard sale route,
it's always good to have a giveaway box.
Kids especially love getting something for free.

With the yard sale in mind,
it's important to have great signage.
Using a bright colored background (the same color on all signs)
and bold black letters will help folks find your sale.
Advertising on free sites is also helpful.
We like to price everything ahead of time,
 so that there is no question about how much items cost.
You can use individual stickers,
or place single-priced items on a table with signs
(all items $1).
Of course, you should expect some haggling,
and be prepared to take less than you are asking,
except for high-ticket items.
Any money made at the sale can be used for 
a multitude of ideas:

1.  holiday fund
2.  vacation fund
3.  emergency fund
4.  new furniture fund
5.  donated to a worthy cause

This process has helped me appreciate all that we have
and this new life that we are living
in our wonderful neighborhood.
Organizing just makes me feel empowered.
Keeping material items to a minimum
truly helps one focus on the important things in life.

"Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~Melody Beattie

Moving Toward Bliss

This was the rental house we leased for 6 months

while we did our house hunting.

We moved up to North Carolina in December,

relocating from Central Florida.

We moved into our house last week

and bid adieu to this 100-year old home.

I can't say we'll miss it.

There were a number of issues in renting a place that old,

but we made the best of it and muddled through.

The bad thing about leaving,

is that my tomatoes were coming along quite nicely.

 The Romas were growing well and will probably be ready

for picking in a couple of weeks.

I may just sneak by there and pilfer a few in the dark of night

and hope the new renters don't call authorities should I get caught.

 One thing that I've learned is that if you move to get away from something,

you'll never be content in your new surroundings.

It's more advantageous to move toward something,

something that will grow your spirit

and help you appreciate every single day here on this earth.

So,when the first movers never showed on moving day,

we went to plan B and found The Bellhops.

They did a smashing job, working over 6 hours to get our household relocated,

despite the fact that the lift gate on their truck was not working.

This meant that they had to lift lots of heavy stuff up and over the truck threshold.

A second truck with a working lift gate was called into action,

so that we could move our refrigerator, tool box, and lawn mower. 

 This is what we woke up to on Friday morning.

Even though we had purged many items

and sold off or gave away some of our furniture in Winter Haven,

we still had all this stuff with which to contend.

Our new home, at 1400 square feet,

has about four hundred less square footage.

More paring down will be necessary.

We are embracing simplicity and minimalism.

Truth be told, I am welcoming it,

the boys are still wrestling with the idea of parting with some things.

With cool mornings still lingering,

I decided to tackle as much of the chaos as I could get done before lunch.

I set up my tent as a staging area,

so that I could easily define where items would go.

This is a great way to go through items when organizing spaces.

It gives you a boundary, so that you can visualize the amount of room you will have.

 Always focused on recycling and reusing,

I set up empty boxes to house packing paper, foam and bubble wrap.

These can easily be sorted.

 Some boxes were broken down and folded flat.

Larger boxes, like the wardrobe size, are left intact.

All the boxes and materials were offered on Craig's List for free

so that others can reuse them and then pass them on. 

After all, there is always someone moving.

 We'll have a lot of materials to give away,

and the boxes are not yet all unpacked.

This process will be repeated until everything is where it should be.

I'm pleased with this morning's work.

We can now get to the mower

and the stash of items we took down from the walls

to sell on Craig's List.

Let the posting begin.

Slowly but surely, it's coming together

and I am really enjoying the process of simplifying our homestead.

More organizing posts will be coming in the next few weeks

as we refashion this home to be our very own.

It's a humbling and appealing procedure.

This neighborhood is quiet and secluded.

This is what greeted me yesterday morning.

She found the apple tree.

Yes, we are moving toward bliss with every step.

Hope you are feeling your blessings today.

New House series:
The New Homestead
Organized Downsizing
Fan-TASTIC
A Fresh Look
Under the Spell of IKEA
Closet Project