A life changing hope I have for the orchard

I’m excited about many aspects of our future, mature orchard. One of the things a lot of people probably wouldn’t consider is going to be the most life changing. I live in Wyoming. Windy, windy Wyoming. I also live surrounded by commercially farmed wheat fields. Wind and constantly plowed fields, not a good mix.

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So what do I hope for? A plant filter. Dust is all consuming here. It seeps into the smallest crevices. Settles on every surface. Causes breathing problems and is just plain yuck!

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I’m clearly a long way away from lush acreage.

My biggest hope is that the plants and trees that will cover our acreage will act as a living filter; stopping, collecting and keeping the topsoil blown to us by surrounding acreages. I can see some topsoil collection already in action, will take pictures when it’s not under snow. Speaking of the snow, it’s a great barometer for dirt. Our snow is quite brown, coated in topsoil from the surrounding areas.

I eat rabbits, yes

These dogs don’t help.

Such a small thing to hope for if you live in a city, somewhere without wind or somewhere that just isn’t….here. It would be life changing for me. To wash the table and have it looking like I actually washed it. That would make me wonderfully happy.

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2- Update

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Before

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I always have eager helpers.

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I pre-cut the wood for the walls I needed to build before knocking out the final part of the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen.

Prebuilt walls

The walls were built (the above picture is not of the finished walls, simply me laying them out. They are not that crooked once built.) and then:

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It’s a family job. My niece and children got in on the wall smacking action.

New wall behind old wall

Here is the new wall behind the old wall. Waiting to remove the old wall until wiring is done.

boxes ready for re-wiring

Boxes have been installed for re-wiring and…

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Re-wiring in process

Thanks to the most amazing father in the world, things were re-wired! It should be noted that I removed some residual drywall whilst he was wiring and so he got…..dusty.

Walls up

The new walls were then put up. I know in this pic the wall isn’t knocked out yet. This is my testing to see if I built the walls right pic. I did. VICTORY!

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So part of this is going to be our new pantry. Oh a new pantry, I’m so excited. You have no idea how crappy our current pantry is. It’s a weird trapezoidal shape and is so deep that you have no idea what is in the back corner. So I used 2×4’s to create the frame for the shelves. The shelves are 1 x 12’s. IMG_3336

I measured and cut out a notch for them to fit neatly around a 2×4 for complete coverage.

Pantry shelves

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Repainting over the awful color I chose when I was so very young is quite a trial. 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of paint should do the trick.

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Then it’s time to drywall. I made this handy 1 foot tool as my space was 3ft. Drywall is a standard 4 ft and thus I simply needed to cut off 1ft.

Bathroom view

And the bathroom wall is up. So exciting! Needed to tape and use joint compound still. That was fairly easy though:

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Bathroom wall

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Kitchen wall view

Still not even close to done. I need to float the walls, then sand, then prime, then paint. Then I need to assemble my incredible over the fridge storage. I’ve already started on them but I’ll save it for it’s own post. Coming along though.

You can see where I fell off the ladder holding the gallon of primer. Only got a bit of the floor white with that. Fun times!

As a funny aside I got home with the drywall tape and the joint compound and then had to text my father on how to use it. I wasn’t sure how the tape was supposed to stick. He sent me text directions. Drywall sucks by the way. It’s dusty. It’s heavier than you’d think. It’s super fragile and the taping process just isn’t any fun. Worth it in the end, I know. I really need a break from all of this though. I’m beat.

 

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2- In the bathroom

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2- In the bathroom

I am officially unemployed. How terrifying. I’m keeping busy though. I have a kitchen to remodel and I’m getting right to it. Unfortunately this kitchen remodel comes with a bathroom remodel. The only available wall to move the fridge to requires that the fridge be sunk into the space so as not to obstruct flow. Luckily our 1/2 bath is there and way larger than it ever needs to be. So today I removed the bathroom vanity, sink, faucet and part of the wall.

Found an interesting wire from who knows what. Looks like they did a great job with it. I am sure that’s up to code. *sarcasm*

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The sink needs to be moved about 2 feet. I was hoping to simply cut the pipe, cut a new hole in the floor and move it without messing with the set up of the drain pipe. Alas I am probably going to have to cut it in a few places now. Perhaps I’ll simply replace the whole set up. I hate this one anyway.

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I’ll only be able to move the wall back as far as the light fixture. That lovely hole in the ceiling let me know where the beam ran. The good news is I won’t have to put in an extra electrical outlet as we’ll just consume the current bathroom outlet. It’s not needed in there. Only Husband uses that bathroom anyway.

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I work fast. Did this during the kids nap.

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Stay tuned for the removal of this wall and the rest of stage 2. I am so excited to build a better pantry here. Plus as soon as that fridge is moved and the new pantry built the main wall is coming down. Terrifying!

 

 

2016 Winter planning and a year in review

2016 Project and Goal Planning

Winter is a slow outdoor season for obvious reasons. I’ve had to do some pest proofing of various trees and bushes but for the most part we just wait for snow and then marvel at the resulting white. December I begin spring planning. Last years planning involved a lot of tree purchasing and mapping out of various earthworks. Dreams of our greenhouse, pergola and water harvesting mechanisms were also included.

We accomplished some of those tasks this year along with a lot of tasks that weren’t pre-planned. This year we managed the following:

Gosh, I’m getting tired thinking about the things we did this year. Still a lot to accomplish though. The major projects I had wanted to get done this year were not done. Now that I am not working these will be at the top of my project list. The pergola, the greenhouse and starting all fruit trees from seed. Because of the loss of my income I’m going to make a real push at growing my own from seed and growing root stocks to graft from the successful experimental trees.

Also on the list is improved food production in the kitchen garden and we are planning to butcher the pigs at homeĀ  . I am trying not to set us too many tasks as house maintenance often surprises us. I know we need to repaint the house and probably caulk the windows ASAP.

One major project I want to take on is building a natural swimming pond that is also going to collect roof water. I admit, that will probably be #1 on my list. Stay tuned for that. I have a habit of over doing ponds. Hopefully this one will be sealed better than the last one I dug.

Other than that I’m preparing the basement now for the kids and for seedling growing. I’m also managing our permaculture group. Whoo. I’m glad I quit my job now. I’m going to be BUSY!

Peppermint essential oil as a spider and mouse repellent

Peppermint essential oil as a spider and mouse repellent

*CAUTION* this post contains pictures of spiders.

We aren’t a spider killing family for the most part. Black widows being the exception as they live on the kids toys and I’m terrified of the kids getting bit.

Now that I am going to be home with the kids full time I wanted an area to allow them to run off steam during the winter. Luckily we have an unfinished basement. Unluckily we never use our unfinished basement, but the spiders love it.

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Before oil

I admit I go down there to retrieve and replace Christmas decoration totes, and that’s it. We knew there were spiders but they weren’t bothering us so we didn’t bother them. Now that I’m moving kids toys down there and preparing to keep them active and entertained the spiders have become a problem. A big one. I can’t move anything without at least 6 spiders skittering away. It’s creeping me out, and I’m not easily creeped out. Besides that there are widows down there. A large brown widow bachelor pad to be exact. I’m sure there are black ones down there hiding in crevices. Obviously I’m not comfortable letting the kids play with all these spiders about, so they have to be evicted. This is where Pinterest comes in.

I enjoy Pinterest, I won’t lie. The problem with Pinterest is that you have to sift through the misinformation to find anything of use. The premise of the peppermint oil post I found is that you soak some cotton balls with peppermint essential oil and it repels all the critters you don’t want. Essential oil was purchased, cotton balls were soaked, I smelled like candy canes for days afterward. The spiders, well, they put some garland up and some lights and the bachelors said they really liked having a woman’s touch in their pad. It didn’t work. Basement smells like Christmas though. Bug bomb ahoy!

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After oil

Oh and you really don’t have to tell me to get down there and clean these things out of the window wells. I am totally on board with that, so long as dying isn’t a possible end result of the endeavor.

 

Daughter’s Fairy Tale/Princess Room

Castle mural

Daughter’s room was a real labor of love. I will not deny that I was blissful about having a daughter. I have an amazing relationship with my mother, who helped in the muraling of both Daughter and Son’s rooms. I want that relationship with my own daughter. So far she’s far too much like me and likes her Daddy better. Life!

This is a peak at her room when she was a baby. It is now nothing but an excellent walk in closet for both children as Daughter sleeps in Son’s room. When they don’t wish to share anymore she’ll be moved back.

changing table

You know from Son’s room that I’m a fan of changing tables. Unfortunately this mobile was far too long and was ripped down by Daughter pretty early on.

close up of castle

This castle. It is so much more magnificent in person.

closet crib side

There is a knight in shining armor but I will let daughter decide if it’s a female or male. Also, I had a mane and tail on the pegasus but I hated it so painted over it and just haven’t bothered to put a new one on.

peacock done

Obviously no daughter of mine could live without a life sized peacock on their wall.

sparkle floor

Also, sparkly floors.

tree

My mother painted this tree and it looks AMAZING. I am not very good at people so I asked her to drawn the fairy and owl, which she did amazingly. Owls are a bit of an inside joke here as we get them quite often and they always kill our birds.

 

Current use pics:

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