Latest Goings-On

It's been awhile since we updated.  We made it into the house just prior to the arrival of winter.  We insulated and blocked off the front half, installed a wood stove, and made a comfy area with our bed and couch.  The inside is very far from done, but it sure beats the garage.

We've taken a much needed break from working on the house, and have been focusing on the field and garden.  If we have to go the rest of our lives not removing another blackberry vine, that would be fine by us.  We've had our fill.  The good news is, we have quite a bit more land now.  We done some work on the field-shed, and starting to make half of it into Leah's outdoor garden kitchen.  We are definitely stepping it up a few notches on the garden this year.  It's around four times the size of last years and the design is going to be different.  We're doing semi-raised beds and have buried wire hardware clothe around the whole perimeter.  The goal being to keep out the voles!  We read about trying this online, and I sure hope it works cause it has been a huge amount of work.  In addition to significantly increasing the variety and amount of veges we'll be growing, I am starting a lot of them indoors to get an early start.  We're reading and trying to follow gardening books, but is seems pretty clear a lot of it is just trial and error.

Fresh Veggies

There is nothing better.   We had a pretty good sized garden this past summer.  We liked working in the garden as a distraction from all the house projects that had become overwhelming and discouraging.  We had a pretty good harvest for how little time we were able to devote to it.  Brent did the majority of the planting, watering, weeding and rodent killing.  I found and cooked all the recipes involving zucchini and yellow squash I could find.  We loved it.  Next year we have decided to triple the size, and get some chickens.  Should be interesting.

Everyone loves a "makeover"

 OK, yes, we are still alive. Just barely. We have had an entire year plus a few months of hard physical labor. We moved out of our "converted" garage and into an incomplete house in November 2010, and have been enjoying the comforts of a real house with windows, doors, heat...the works.
Here are a few pics of the progress. Still a long ways to go on the interior, but we'll chip away a bit at a time.

before from backyard

after from backyard