A Growing Season

The blog has been a little quiet because my to-do list is singing lately. Every weekend we make more progress on my house and it feels a little more like home. I say "we" because Mom and Dad have been a HUGE help. Huge.  I figure I'll use this post to catch y'all up and let you see what we've been up to.

My house is made by a company called Deer Valley and while there's nothing all that special about the floorplan, and the exterior looks pretty much like any other mobile home, there are details I really appreciate that you don't find with every manufacturer.  Better building materials, energy efficiency, etc.  That said, they run a little higher than average for mobile, so I bought a model.

Home

 

I figured the only thing that would have really gotten worn during the time on display at the lot would be the flooring, so I thought it would be worth it.  (Because I would be replacing the flooring at my earliest opportunity anyway, since I'm not a carpet fan.) I got a great deal by going with the model, and I am so glad I did. One thing I didn't think about, though, is that they've improved the way they texture their ceilings since my home was built.  The older style really bothered me, and that's what I ended up with. Not popcorn - there were strange goopy-looking globs of texture hanging like stalagtites from the ceiling... yuck. 

So first order of business was knocking off some of the texture. Dad did most of the work while Mom and I moved tarps under him and vacuumed up what missed the tarp. He just ran a floor scraper lightly over the ceiling and the gloopies came right off.  We managed to get the whole house done in one day with Dad manning the scraper.  Had I been doing this myself, it would have easily taken several days, and my arms would likely have fallen completely off.

Dad being a really good sport and scraping the ceiling for me.

 

Before & After.  Not easy to see in 2D pictures, but trust me, it's much better.

Once that was done and the mess contained, we started painting.  The walls were beige just like my last house, and I wanted something different to start my new life.   Home Depot has a Zero VOC paint (Behr Premium Plus, and their tints are also VOC free!) that is self-priming, so I had them match some Benjamin Moore colors for me in the healthier paint, and it was on rebate, even. Heck yeah. I chose to paint almost everything Revere Pewter, with the exception of the bathrooms (both Palladian Blue) and my bedroom (TBD).

 Revere Pewter

Palladian Blue

We used EZ Twist Paint Rollers which I think are worth their weight in gold and cost less than $30. They worked great and made things go so much faster. My only complaint is that the nozzle to load the paint into the roller doesn't work well near the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. We made it work by tipping the bucket, but refilling the rollers became a 2 person job once the bucket was half empty.

Painting finished, we started bringing over loads of my stuff. Heavens, I have so much stuff.  I had stuff stored at my parents house, at the barn, in the neighbour's basement... basically spread out all over. So collecting it all and moving in was quite the experience. Once again, I'm really grateful to my folks for their help. I ended up hiring someone to just bring the heaviest things over (washer and dryer, couch, etc) because we had no other volunteers, and there are limits to what an out of shape 32 year old woman and her middle-aged parents can handle without injury.

After we got everything in, Dad replaced & moved a ton of light fixtures for me. I have nothing against the lights that were in the house... but they were fairly standard, builder-grade, cookie cutter lights and I just wanted the place to feel like it was mine (which means it's got to be a little quirky!). So I got new fans for my room and the living room, a new dining room light, island light, and vanity lights for the master bath. (Thankfully I got all of them on sale or clearance!) I moved the existing fans into the guest rooms, and one of the existing vanity lights from the master into the hall bath, to replace the fixture with the giant exposed bulbs (a la 1980). I also found some battery operated under-cabinet lights at Sam's for a very reasonable price and we installed those to give me more task lighting in the kitchen.

 The new island light (I love the Edison bulbs!)

 

 New light for over the dining room table

(must buy dimmer - 18 bulbs is bright)

(no that's not my house, this is a stock picture)

 

 New vanity lights for the master. 

Then came the furniture.  My ex got the dining room set in the divorce, so I had to buy a new table and chairs. "Some assembly required." Short of cutting down the trees and weaving the upholstery ourselves, ALL assembly was required.  Maybe that's an exaggeration, but seriously it was a big job.  It took up most of a weekend, assembling the table, 8 chairs and fighting to cover them with the tightest slipcovers imaginable.

Once the house was livable and the necessities were unpacked and/or built, we built a ramp for Esme the wonder-doxie to get to a pen I set up in the back for her. The pen is temporary until I can put up a fence, but the ramp is a permanent fixture that will be accessible by the doggie-door (coming soon). Is she spoiled? Well... maybe a little. ha.

Yeah, Mom is badass.

Other than that, my free time has mostly been spent unpacking and organizing. This weekend I worked on organizing my business supplies in my craft room.  Permanent shelving is the plan, but for now the utility shelving works just fine.  Next weekend I'll add peg-board beside the shelves to store my actual Paparazzi inventory - for now it's all packed away in the closet.

 

Also organized the utility closet - my folks helped me hang brackets for shelving, where I'm storing Esme's things, and on the other wall I put in lightweight plastic shelves for cleaning supplies, that can be removed when access is needed to the water heater behind.  Not bad for a coat closet.

Esme's corner of the utility closet.

 

...aaaaand I just realized I didn't paint the inside of the closet.  Ugh.

Not important, right?

 

The more I get done, the more it feels like home. It's still not quite finished, and until the boxes are gone I refuse to share "after" pictures... but they'll be coming soon. In the meantime, this post is plenty long enough!

Turning over a new leaf

This post was actually from last week, but I've been having blogspot issues. As it is, I still can't include any pictures... sorry.

Pretty much all my friends have kids. Back when I was married and trying to have a baby, I’d go to my friends’ houses with all their noise and chaos, and I'd be so heartbroken when I got home, by the quiet in my house. I so wanted to hear the pitter-patter of little feet, of giggles and cartoons and playfulness.

Back then, I thought our home was quiet with the absence of little ones. But there was still the sound of my (now ex-) husband’s office chair, occasionally creaking as he worked on the computer. Of him clomping down the stairs with a “hey baby, what’s shakin?” or a joke or a story. The crack of his pop can being opened. Even just the companionable sound of him turning a page in his book.

These are all sounds I almost ignored at the time for want of something different. Back then, I thought our home was quiet.

At first I thought my new house was completely silent. I was nostalgic for what little noise existed in my old life. I thought the place was going to feel empty and I’d eventually go crazy. But I don’t want to make the mistake again, of listening so hard for what I want my home to sound like, that I miss the preciousness of what’s really there.

I’m just getting to know my new house, but I’ve heard the sound of rain on the roof. Of the birds chirping at the feeder. Of hundreds of trees sighing as the wind blows through. Tires crunching on the dirt road, announcing a visitor. And of course, Esme the wonder-doxie, padding softly behind me from room to room, or thundering through the house on a wild hare.

These are the sounds of home, now. And maybe most of those sounds aren’t made by people, but I am not alone. There is life here, all around me, and I’ll listen because I’m part of it now… and because it’s pretty incredible here, at home.

Groundwork

I still haven’t moved in.  Still.  Because almost nothing could be done simultaneously in this whole process – the skirting guy was waiting on the trim crew, the trim crew was waiting on the electrician, the electrician was waiting on the power company, the power company was waiting on the water company, the water company was waiting on me to pay them, and I was waiting on the disbursement from my construction loan in order to do that.

A lot of people have mentioned that they’re surprised this has taken so long, and let me tell you, me too.  But I will say this much – it probably goes a lot faster if you aren’t moving out to unimproved, sloped land with no utilities on site.  I had to have trees cleared, fill dirt brought in, trenches dug, poles set, septic installed and pipe laid, in addition to the normal tasks associated with mobile homes.  (pouring footers, connecting water/sewer, connecting electrical, setting a/c, trim-out and skirting)

So, once I finally got the check from my construction loan to give to the water folks, they bored under the street and put in my water meter…

 

Once the water meter was in, then we could schedule the electric company.  They sent out an engineer and then a couple days later, a crew arrived with a bunch of trucks to set the poles and run the lines near the house, so the electrician could then put in the meter and connect power to the actual house.   Yay!  It was really rewarding to be able to turn on a ceiling fan inside, let me tell ya. 

 

Then, once I could confirm that the house really had power, I could schedule the a/c and the factory trim-out crew.  As of Saturday, my home is cool inside, all the siding is on, and it is all in one piece!  You can still see a bit of the seam inside where the carpet was folded back, but I think once it relaxes a bit and I vacuum, it’ll blend in better. 

Just a peek at the seam!  More interior pictures later...

Now that all that’s done, the skirting can be done, and then the inspector can sign off on it… so next weekend I should be all squared away!!!   

A few things I’ve learned:

·       Despite the fact that they even go so far as to provide a (ugly) shower curtain in the guest bathroom, mobile home places don’t provide towel bars or toilet paper holders.  Hmm, this can add up quickly. 

·       No lightbulbs!  ZERO.  (Gee, all those recessed lights seemed like such a good idea at the time!)  I got the contractor value packs at Lowe’s for now, and will replace with decent bulbs as these burn out.  I just wish I’d known to budget for them.

·      The trim-out crew leaves behind a big ol’ pile of garbage.  It was unpleasant to sort through.  I could have set up a tarp or a bagster on an open trailer and left instructions to use it, and to keep the food garbage separate, but I had no idea this was the way it would be handled.  So after the crew left, we waded through and sorted.  Burn pile, trash, construction debris, burn pile, trash, construction debris, eenie meenie mynie mo…  (Shout-out to my folks for the help, and for killing the enormous spider that was hiding in the pile and almost touched me.)

·      There aren’t any cable TV hookups.  At all.  Even if you aren’t going to use traditional cable or satellite - even just to use an antenna - you gotta have coax in the walls.  I figured it’d be easier before the skirting is on, to maneuver and see under the house, but it was still a pain.  And again, I didn’t know to budget for extra cable and splitters and wall plates.  I should have known – I mean, I walked through the house before I bought it, but there are so many things to look for, it just slipped my mind.

·      There is a hole in the subfloor for the dryer vent, but it is necessary to cut through the insulation and vapor barrier underneath that, and install a little ducting under the house to vent the dryer outside.  Again, I’m really glad I have my Dad, because this is something that I wouldn’t know how to do, and would end up either hiring out or slowly and inefficiently learning to do myself. 

Putting Down Roots

I’ve started many blog posts and finished none lately… lots of heavy stuff has been happening, and as cathartic as it is to write, these are also not topics I feel I can hurriedly slap together and upload.  So for now, just an update on the house!

I really thought most of the details of the construction phase would be handled by the mobile home dealer, who is acting as General Contractor (at least on paper).  As it was, we had to find each of these folks, get quotes, coordinate schedules, and meet them out there to open the gate, show them where things go, and answer any questions (thank goodness Mom has some flexibility with her schedule and is just around the corner, with a camera phone).

So the first crew took down some trees, leveled the land, and brought in some fill dirt where necessary.  They also put in the septic system. 

Levelling

 Bringing in fill dirt

  When they were finished, it looked like this.

Then, the concrete folks came out to pour the footers.  Because my house is so heavy (being built with the same products as a site-built house instead of the much lighter standard trailer-fare) I also have a concrete perimeter around the outside of the footers, which has the added bonus of letting me add masonry underpinning later if I’d like to – otherwise, it would be vinyl skirting for better or worse.

Almost done...

We gave the concrete a few days to set, and then the dealer delivered the house!  It’s a double-wide, so it came in two pieces.  I won't bore you with the play-by-play, but it was really cool to watch.

 

Wahoo!

Yeah, it was hot - I watched from the car!

Once both halves were in position, one guy gets up on the roof to shingle the ridgeline between the pieces, and more guys scramble underneath to start spreading black plastic (I guess to keep stuff from growing under the house???), and stacking the concrete blocks that will support everything, along with these metal ties so the house doesn’t blow away.

Under the house - ok, not tornado proof, but it's solid, for what it is....

Thankfully, after a quick, efficient cleanup, they took off and (intentionally) left it unlocked for me.  I got to go inside and peek around!  It was hot as hades without any a/c, but I had a huge thrill finally being in my home on my land.

In case you're wondering, this is what a dream-come-true looks like…

Ok, so I need to do some landscaping and build a decent porch.  And I can’t live in it yet, because I have no utilities, no heat pump, and no underpinning.  But this is the start of the rest of my life!  This is solid proof that putting down roots doesn’t have to be done in tandem with a spouse.  This is where I belong now.  This is home.  It might be a little too quiet inside, it might stretch my salary a bit and it might suffer a little under the care of a single woman who doesn’t know much about home maintenance… but it’s home.  It’s MY home.

 

Buying the Farm

I did it!  I’m officially a landowner!  Wahoo!!!

Me, with my giant set of the closing documents

Today was closing day, and although things did not go as smoothly as I would have liked them to, the deed is done and the land is mine.  It won’t be too long before I can move in and really get settled.  I think we’re in the home stretch!!!

I must thank (and would confidently recommend) Jim Stecker at Countryplace Mortgage.  If you’re looking to buy a mobile home in AR, MO or OK, then you just can’t do any better than Jim.  He did an outstanding job throughout the process, and displayed an attention to detail and a sense of patience that just never quit.  So.very.impressive.  On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, my appraiser was a piece of work; although my home appraised well, it took 5 weeks and listening to umpteen lies to actually get the report.  So if you’re looking to have an appraisal done and move in sometime this century, please comment or message me if you’d like to know who NOT to hire. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Mom and Dad got the main gate installed on the driveway, we did a test run on the security system and we worked on getting the spot ready for the home and septic.  Mom bush-hogged with the tractor (I’m telling you, she loves driving that thing – there’s no getting the keys away from her!) and I followed on foot with the little one, getting in closer to trees and the marker stakes.  The big milestone for me this weekend was seeing a snake on the land for the first time – a decent size black one moving quickly through the long grass.  *shudder*  I’m sure it won’t be the last one I see slithering about, but I didn’t panic and run away screaming, so I claim victory.  Also, yuck!

Cheap Like Me… on Nails

I live on a budget, but I don’t want to look like I’m living on a budget.  Whether we like it or not, those who have a tidy appearance tend to make a better impression... and good impressions can sometimes give you the benefit of the doubt when you need it, give you leverage when negotiating, or even make people trust you more at work.   I read an article in the NY Times last year that said something as superficial as makeup can actually make others see you as more competent!  Bizarre and annoying, but there you go.  Regardless, I do think there’s something to be said for the confidence level you project when you aren’t embarrassed by your appearance – and confidence is key!

So what’s a budget savvy gal to do?  I tend to think there are 5 main areas to concentrate on when it comes to appearance (beyond good basic hygiene, which should go without saying):

1.       Hair

2.       Skin

3.       Nails

4.       Teeth

5.       Wardrobe

Rather than spending a fortune and driving myself crazy trying to look like I stepped out of a magazine (which is frankly never going to happen anyway), my personal philosophy is to target my time and money by investing in the 5 things above, which helps me feel pulled together and confident.   I use money-saving techniques in each of these areas, but today I’d like to start in the middle and talk nails.

Everybody loves a mani-pedi, but they’re costly and don’t last nearly long enough to justify the expense very often for most of us.  If you absolutely must go to the nail salon, I recommend squeezing every possible ounce of enjoyment out of it and considering it entertainment.  Bring coffee with you, put on your earbuds with your favorite relaxing playlist, make sure you have plenty of time, and just revel in it! 

Even splurging on salon nails, you still can save a few pennies:

1.     Buy a bottle of good OPI nail polish, write your initials on it and bring it to the salon for your technician to use on your nails.  Besides being more hygienic, this way as your nails grow out you can fill in the growth above your cuticles, as well as any chips in the polish. Lots of people bring their own polish for their own reasons, so don't be embarassed - your tech has seen it before, guaranteed.  (Just don't forget to bring your polish home with you!)

2.     If you get a French manicure, ask your tech to make the tips fairly wide.  As your nails grow between mani's, you can file them down yourself without filing off the pretty white tips, and you won't see the line where your nailbed ends. 

3.     Add a coat of clear polish periodically.  Nail polish dulls the longer it’s on; clear polish adds shine so your manicure always looks fresh, and it’ll help protect any weak spots in your polish that might be ready to chip.

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Thrifty Tip

Use SensatioNail Instead

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To get the best bang for your buck, though, I have to recommend SensatioNail.  (There are other similar products to use at home, but I wasn't thrilled with them so I wouldn't feel right recommending.) 

While the cost of a shellac manicure at the salon is at least $30 (plus gratuity), you  can buy the SensatioNail starter kit at Target for less than $50, including the LED lamp, and enough product for at least 10 manicures (and I've done more than 10 with mine).  Even with the initial expense of the kit, you're paying less than $5 per use.  Extra product kits, minus the lamp, are less than $20, and nail colors are about $10-12 each depending where you buy them.  Yes, they are slightly more than OPI, but each bottle goes further and you spend a lot less time doing maintenance on your nails - our time is worth something too...

Gel nails are surprisingly easy to do, and handily last 1-2 weeks without chipping... plus it is so strong and smooth that it really helps keep your nails from breaking or snagging.  The best part for me is that as soon as I'm done and have set the polish under the LED lamp, my nails are totally dry.  I’ve folded laundry seconds after giving myself a manicure without a single smudge!

You can even do your own French manicure using SensatioNail  - they have a white polish to use for the tips sold separately from the kit.  I try to do exactly as they do in the salon – I paint my tips white without worrying much about the shape, then I use a small brush dipped in acetone/remover to clean up the tips instead of trying to get it perfect when painting.  The polish does not dry until you set it under the light, so you have plenty of time to work with it.  (I do 1 base coat, 2 coats of the white, 1 clear coat over the whole nail, and then the top coat.)  Where the salon would charge an extra $5 for a French Manicure, you can do it at home for just the cost of the polish, which is much, much less expensive per use.  It takes a little practice, but don’t lose heart! 

My imperfect, yet perfectly fine, French Manicure

For me, I think a somewhat imperfect manicure is still better for my confidence than my natural snarly nails (and snarly they would be, from working on the farm) so I find this to be one area worth a little investment.

Germinating

Well, I took a week off.  Last weekend was rainy and cold, so I didn’t go out to the land.  I didn’t need to spend much time out there this weekend either, but I did take a couple pictures, because I’m so proud of my little seedlings! 

 

I had to improvise with the pvc pipes to keep the bird netting off the plants for now.  Hopefully I'll get to take those out and the netting off soon.  I thinned out the cucumbers (in the first row on the left) this weekend so there are only 2 per square foot now.  The peppers and lettuce seem to be growing pretty well, but some of my kale leaves are yellowing.  =( I’ll have to do a little research on why...

My grape tomatoes are getting so big, and they’re already blooming!  I pinched off the suckers on all the tomato plants while I was there admiring them, and in the other beds, I thinned out all the seedlings so they aren’t overcrowded.  It was just a lovely, relaxing time in the garden!

I can’t wait to be out there full time.  My appraisal finally came in last week, so I *should* finally get to close on the construction loan sometime this week.  (fingers crossed!)  Once we’re able to get started out there, they’ll have to put in my septic, level the land, pour my foundation, deliver the house, hook up the utilities, and finish the inside (so you can’t see the seam).  Hopefully it’ll just be another couple weeks after closing before I can move in, but we’ll see… So far every step of the process has taken much longer than anticipated.  It's all a waiting game - I'm waiting for seeds to grow in more ways than one!

In the meantime, I’m trying to condition myself for living on (much, much) less.  I’ve been so blessed to have been able to live with my parents this past year while I went through the divorce and got back on my feet, but real life begins again soon, with real bills.  My goal is to pay my car payment with the side businesses (I sell Paparazzi Accessories, Scentsy, and Scentsy’s new ‘Velata’ fondue line in my spare time) and get most of my groceries from the farm.  I may be living on eggs and tomatoes for the foreseeable future, though!  Ha. 

I don’t often miss being married, but when it comes to paying the bills… Well, it was nice having 2 salaries to draw from.  My expenses weren’t halved after the divorce, but the available income sure was.  Yet another adjustment.

Cheap Like Me...on Gas

I'm thrifty.  Frugal.  Ok, you might call me cheap...

The bottom line is, I like to get the best bang for my buck, and my friends have encouraged me to share some of my tips.  So I figure I'll occasionally spotlight a way I pinch pennies, just for fun.

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I live 45-60 minutes away from 'town' where I work, depending on traffic.  So I drive a lot more than most - usually at least 600 miles per week.  Even though I drive a fairly efficient vehicle, my gas budget is still tiiiiight.

$$

Thrifty tip:

Download the app:

Gas Buddy

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It's an app, available for the low, low price of FREE!  It pulls up prices from gas stations all over the area, and sorts them by price or by distance (you pick).  You can even specify what grade of gas you want, or have the results displayed on a map.  It's amazing what a price range you'll find in the same area. 

For instance, the other day I stopped for gas on the way home from work.  Instead of just automatically pulling into the place closest to the office, I checked Gas Buddy, and realized that if I drove a little ways towards home and stopped to fill up at a station along the highway, I'd pay 30 cents per gallon less!  If I put 12 gallons in my car, that's $3.60 savings!  Even if the spread isn't that wide, it's still money in my pocket, and every little bit adds up.

Here's what the app looks like.  I took the screen shots while I was actually filling up this last time, so that's why it shows the Pilot is the closest.  ;) 

 

Things to remember:

1.  The app doesn't show the discounts you'd get with loyalty cards, so factor that in.  You know you'll automatically have a $0.03 discount (at a minimum) for using your Kroger card at a Kroger gas station. 

 

2.  Don't forget you can use your Kroger card at Shell gas stations too!

 

3.  Don't forget to USE the app!  Don't just download it, check it before you fill up.  :)

Sowing Bountifully

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 

2 Corinthians 9:6

Yet another busy weekend.  I’m worn out, and a little overwhelmed when I realize that the more I do on the farm, the less I seem to be getting done in other areas.  I have more than a few balls in the air, and I certainly don’t want to drop them. 

Sunday evening when we quit around suppertime, the muscles in my legs were quivering, my back was aching, my sunburn was throbbing and I was tired.  All I wanted to do was take a long bath, slather my sunburn in aloe vera and relax.  But instead, I took a shower, picked up my hamper, limped down the stairs with it and started the laundry.  Between loads, we worked on my display cases for one of my 2 side businesses, and then I put my clothes away and turned in.

I’d be proud of myself for not leaving the laundry to pile up, but my living area is still a disaster, and we won’t even talk about how long it has been since I’ve actually scrubbed the shower or run the vacuum.  I need to figure out a schedule to balance chores around the house and work on the farm. 

…And somewhere in there, I need time to work on my Scentsy business.

…And time to work on my Paparazzi business. 

…And time to go to the gym.

…And church. 

…And a little time for fun. 

 ...And of course, all this must fit into the small window of time between getting home from my full-time job and losing consciousness. 

I hope getting more organized about time management in my personal life is all I need. 

I truly believe hard work pays off, and if I put in my time now, I’ll be able to enjoy it all the more later on.  So here’s to powering through and sowing bountifully!

Oh, and an update on the garden:

The ever-evolving plan. 

We don't have the second berry bed constructed yet, and I haven't planted the berries or root veggies yet either... So it looks more like this, in reality:

The pvc pipe is a temporary fix, allowing us to drape bird-netting over the plants to keep the critters out for now.  (There is a long-term fix in the works that I'm pretty excited about)

Beans & Squash  (and soaker hose)

My little seedlings are growing up so fast!  *sniff *sniff

Cheap Like Me

I'm thrifty.  Frugal.  Ok, you might call me cheap...

The bottom line is, I like to get the best bang for my buck, and my friends have encouraged me to share some of my tips.  So I figure I'll occasionally spotlight a way I pinch pennies, just for fun.

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Americans are estimated to waste about 40% of the food we buy. (33 million tons every year!)  Even if you're clipping coupons and shopping the sales, that translates into a lot of cash.  Part of the problem is buying more than we need and not storing it properly.  Freeze it, can it, dehydrate it, ziploc it... just don't leave it sitting to rot or go stale. 

But what if you aren't sure if your food is already spoiled?  Rather than just tossing it straightaway, take a minute to check.  For example, a friend recently shared that her brand new ground beef was a little brownish in the middle and she thought that meant it had gone bad.  Not necessarily! 

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Thrifty Tip: 

Bookmark  www.stilltasty.com 

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Just type in the name of the food in question and it will tell you what's normal, what's rotten, the best way to store it, and how soon you need to do something with it.  The site has thousands of different foods (raw & cooked, open packages & unopened packages) so you'll usually find what you need.

On the site, you'll find that in most cases, ground beef that's brown in the middle is just fine, as long as it isn't showing other signs of spoilage.  It's just a lack of air that causes the color change in the middle.  So by checking www.stilltasty.com, you can save the $15 you paid for the meat... and whatever you might spend eating out because you thought your ingredients were "bad."

Down to Earth

My vision, with help from www.faceinhole.com 

(Originally a publicity photo for The Simple Life)

I had visions of being a semi-glamorous homesteader.  In my vanity and naivete, I saw no reason why I couldn't look like a lady, even if I was working like a serf.  But after this weekend, I think that ship has sailed.

1.  First of all, I now have the weirdest "farmer tan" ever.  Far, far away from my perfectly even, cultivated and maintained golden tanning-bed tan of years past, I now have a section of each arm that is burned in a blotchy strip from a defined line above my wrist (where my gloves stopped) to the middle of my upper arm where my shirt sleeve ended.  Add to that, the bright red V on my chest (why did I not wear a crew neck?!) and the red blotches on my chin, nose and the tops of my cheeks. 

2.  My legs and arms are covered in scabby scratches from the briars and thorny vines I was ripping out of trees.  (Ok, perhaps capri pants weren't the best option for outdoor work, but I was hot.  Who knew?!)

3.  I have snaggle-tooth nails, and my cuticles are beyond repair.  I don't even want to go into how long it took to get the dirt out from under my nails...  I thought the point of wearing gloves was to protect your hands!  How did the dirt even get in there???

4.  It wasn't until after the neighbors left from their visit, that I realized I had rubbed my nose while wearing my dirty gloves, so I had a very visible line of dirt on my upper lip, looking exactly like a mustache!  Quel horror! 


At work today, I've already received a variety of helpful and not-so-helpful suggestions.  For example, a suggestion from one of my male coworkers: avoid the farmer tan by just gardening in the nude... =/ Um, no.  Not likely. 

On the flip side, one friend did suggest that I affix a hook to the end of an extension pole in order to hook the vines in the trees without having to get so close to grab them and risk all the cuts.  Now that one, I think I might actually try.

In the meantime, I guess I'm in the market for some tank tops, cuticle oil, neosporin and maybe some facial cleansing cloths to keep handy in case company stops by again...


This weekend:

• Planted (most of) the beds!  Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, kale, squash, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions... Woohoo!
• Rigged up a watering system with soaker hoses.  More on that later.
• Marked the pretty flowering trees so we don't damage them by accident.
• Cut the (thorny, #$%@#*) vines out of the trees nearest my house site, and trimmed the lower tree branches (because I kept walking into them, and was afraid of losing an eye)

Breaking Ground

Another weekend is over, and I am exhausted.  And sore.  And sun-burnt.  But it was wonderful!

Though I don't live on our land yet, I should be there within the month, so we decided to go ahead and put in the vegetable garden.  I didn't want to wait and be sweating over my tomatoes in the worst heat of summer, if I had a choice.  So even though Saturday was my birthday (32!) and I woke up with an ugly migraine, we set to work.  And I do mean "we" since I have absolutely no abilities when it comes to construction projects or tools, and both were necessary for raised garden beds.  Thank God for Mom and Dad coming to the rescue yet again!

I read a book last year called "All New Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew.  It made sense to me - maybe because of my OCD or maybe just because I've never had a vegetable garden before and this seemed a good, logical way to start.  Yes, you read right – I’ve never even had a little veggie garden, and here I am moving out to the country… I’m just going to figure it out as I go along.  ;)  Feel free to point and laugh. 

Mom and Dad got started early making boxes, and I arrived mid-morning and picked out our spot.  We set to work using the tractor to level the land as much as possible.  The whole leveling process took a lot longer than I’d expected, but it was so important to get these started properly that it was a necessary investment in time.  Besides, I don’t think Mom minded, since she loves driving the tractor!  I did start to worry at that point that we wouldn’t be able to finish by Sunday evening though…

Once the immediate area was level, we laid out the boxes, and half-hammered nails at 12" intervals on each side, so they were sticking out a bit.  These would be used to string our gridline later.  We also laid landscape fabric underneath… and then it was suppertime.  Yes, the levelling took that.long.  My head was still pounding and it was my birthday, so we called it quits for the day.  Here’s how we left it on Saturday evening:

Sunday, we started out by attaching vertical pieces of 1" pvc pipe cut into 6" lengths onto the sides of each bed, so we could easily bend long pieces of 1/2" pvc and slide them inside the fixed larger pieces, to act as a frame for cover or netting if needed later.  (I found that idea on Pinterest and followed the link to Sunset where it was originally posted with instructions)

The book calls for the beds to be filled with "Mel's mix," which is just 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 mixed compost, and 1/3 vermiculite (by volume, not weight).  I definitely underestimated exactly how much of this mix would be required!  What an undertaking!!! 

I used a 15 liter pail to measure, putting one pail of each product in the wheelbarrow at a time, mixing it together, dumping it in a bed, and starting over.  Times about a MILLION!  (Ok, maybe not a million)  This part of the process would be easier if you could work with a team approach, or if you were strong enough to mix and wheel around 6 pails of mix instead of 3.  Alas, this weak-armed single gal had to do it the long way to begin with (I got help towards the end).  Each of the 4x4’ beds took about 6 wheelbarrow loads of Mel’s Mix, and I lost count on the larger / deeper beds.  Here's a picture of one of the many, many wheelbarrow loads involved.

As I got the boxes nearly full of mix, Dad started stringing twine in the grid pattern that separates each square foot of the beds.  (At this point, Mom was still driving the tractor around, spreading dirt beyond the garden area, to make things a little more even…or maybe just because she was having fun. haha)  The book recommends using 1” lat boards to make the grid, but we’re thinking twine is less expensive, easier to install and takes up less space.  I may regret it at some point, but this is what we’re doing for now.

Mom finally finished up on the tractor, and started helping with the mix (Hallelujah!), because it was taking foreeeeeever, and Dad pitched in toward the end as he finished up with the grids too, so I was free to spread out the mix in the beds and distribute it evenly.  

We didn’t quite finish the 12” deep bed since we ran out of Vermiculite, but the rest are done and ready for planting!  Here’s where we’re at now:

If I did it again:

-          I’d string some twine along the ground in straight lines, in order to line up the beds and keep them straight before we filled them.  I think mine are a little crooked, but hey - this is our first attempt, and I'm proud of it! 

-          If I were working alone, I’d look into a mixer attachment for the drill, so I didn’t have to work so hard mixing the compost, vermiculite and peat. 

-          I would have ideally had a second person and a second wheelbarrow, so one person could be mixing and the other person dumping the mix in the beds and spreading it out at all times. 

-          I would have done the leveling on a different day than we planned to actually put in the beds. It was really important to get it level, but it took a lot of time. 

-          I would have spread poison for the fire ants the weekend before.  I forgot how much those darn bites sting!

-          I would not leave a hoe lying on the ground where I could step on the end and bonk myself in the forehead with the handle.  Lesson learned!