Root Cellar Info

Yes Root Cellar, we have been playing with the idea of having one since before we moved here; and our first house plans always included some "foresight" as to where a trap door could be kept. The real deciding factors (yes there is an 's' there), was the Joplin tornado; that was just a tad bit to close for comfort. Also we had watched a video the other day that had a man now in his 80's who hand dug his root cellar in 1980, which would have put him in his 60's when he dug it. Well... in my opinion if a 60 something person can dig a root cellar so can we!

Now there is absolutely no storm shelters on our road, and I think the closest one is about a mile away in a cow field. so the plan is to have it big enough for our food storage while giving us room to stand in it in case of a storm. Seeing as how the storms I'm worried about generally aren't likely to be going for more than a few minutes. Tornado's don't sit on you like a hurricane does.

The plan is to dig down at least to 7ft and we think we are going to use concrete floor and walls, with only a ladder for entry and exit, as an attempt to keep the kids from playing in it. We have rain going on right now, and it's suppose to continue for the next couple of days; so I guess digging some more will have to wait for a non-rain day. Well, at least not while it's raining.

We did manage to get out and do some more digging in it yesterday after the girls went to VBS(my son has spent a couple nights at a friend's house). I think we have dug down to a foot at least on one side of the part of the cellar we have started on. The plan is to get down to a foot then move down and dig down to a foot again; then move down again and dig a foot again till we get the full length. Here is a picture of how it looks now, I left a shovel in the hole for some prospective:

I hope this gives some better perspective than the last few pictures I have put up, the plan is to have it only under the addition to our current home. The thought on this is, if it does take more than another year before we can get the house we want up, at least we will have some comfort.

We have been putting all we dig out to good use, as the path to our garden floods when it rains so we are "raising" the path too it. We fill our small wheelbarrow with dirt/stones and my youngest munchkin takes it and dumps it on the path then it gets smoothed some and we make a very big point to walk on it.

This is the section closest to the garden as it was the furthest from the house. My daughter had asked, "but mom how am I suppose to do the whole path? The wheel barrow will get stuck after a while from me pouring the dirt out." You know, kids are just soooo much fun sometimes! It never occurred to her that she needed to start at the far spot and work her way forward. Then I really made her day winks I got a picture of her -working-, the best part is; I had utterly no complaints about her doing this work. Which for her is not easy to do.

We have also been digging up quite a few large stones that we are saving out for the house foundation where the ground needs building up:

As you can see from this picture we found a "few" stones already, I guess one of Missouri's natural crops is stone. I know it's that way in up state New York. These will be moved in the next couple of days either later tomorrow or on Thursday, as my son's job of late has been to move the stones to the house site. So we have to wait till he comes home (late tonight) from VBS before we can think of putting him to work. it's amazing how he manages to get out of doing hard work sometimes, as we had only realized (one of those silly moments of clarity) that we really needed to get this dug before we started building the addition.

Now for a plant update:

This is one of my 2 Elderberry plants, I think it's a very happy plant right now. It's hard to believe that it was just pretty much a stick when we planted it in April. I wonder if it will produce any fruit next year? I imagine it is possible that it will.

Here is the other Elderberry plant:

Doesn't this one look happy too? The first one sent out new branches off the original stem and this one is growing off that original stem and it's sending up new branches. I have side dressed both of these with some extra peat moss that I have had, which I have put right over the straw that I put on them after I had planted them. I will admit to something though, as I was worried about these having a good start I did buy some fertilizer stakes and used one on each of these. Which is probably why they are growing so well. I think I'm going to start looking up Elderberry jams and wine as I can be ready in case I do get them next year. You never know sometimes.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Guess what we're working on...?

So here we go today's post is to see if you can guess what we are working on right now, and tomorrow's blog post will have the answer in the title. So first I'm going to show some pictures, then I'll give a bit more commentary on it.

This is my favorite new toy... even though it is not really mine, it's Silver's; and it is a masonry drill with a planting bit. I have to say I do like the planting bit for planting it goes right through the ground and loosens up everything in the process. It helped me get the rest of my garden in yesterday, in only a few minutes.

Here is Silver using the drill for loosen dirt we are digging out of this spot next to our shed.

This is the depth we dug at the deepest spot after one hour.

Here is the width after that same hour.

...and here is the length after one hour.

This is what it looked like after one hour:

Now, I realize that this is -not- a good image for this but it's the best I can do for now. After an hour of drilling and digging we stopped for a while.

This is what it looks like now:

Well considering, it is now afternoon the shadows help to show what it looks like better. We got it a little bit deeper, wider, and longer; we could not work as long as the air temps were 84 degrees and it is totally clear out. We are hoping to do more later after the kids head off to VBS.

Now, this spot we are working on when done will be; 7X10X6. It is a good item for every homestead to have and there are a few people out there that might not think you can do this work by hand. This will also be good for weather conditions here where we live. Another clue is we need to have it done before we put on the addition to the shed.

So... can you guess what we are working on...?

Be Well and Blessed Be...

A Small Request

My friend over at the Origanna Woods, Jon is trying to raise money to get their 73 year old neighbor a well. If you are able to give any assistance please do. This "young" lady has never had a well at her home and has had to haul it. she also lives alone and everyone on the road there gives her a hand. However as most people there also do not have wells they are all hauling water. Jon himself has no well and he wants to help out his neighbor with one before he gets his own. The following is a link to his blog so you can read about it.

Thanks:

http://origannawoods.blogspot.com/2011/05/miss-charlottes-well.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OrigannaWoods+%28Origanna+Woods%29

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Simple Pleasures: Window Version

Back to talking about simple pleasures, and how somethings we don't notice how wonderful they are until we don't have them. In this case it is a window, which as I write this i am sitting here listening to rain fall through, my open window. Yes, an open window; we finally got the danged thing up.

This is the wall the window is now in when we started cutting. We started the cutting on the inside as we had to cut through one stud to fit the window in place.

As you can see Silver is using a (electric) chainsaw.

*Disclaimer* I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING A CHAIN SAW FOR BUILDING PROJECTS.

Our saber saw had a blade mishap and I discovered that no, we did not have a spare blade and the circular saw wouldn't work in that spot. so as we were at the either we have wet bedding or we keep going point we brought our our electric chain saw, and used it to finish the hole. Which by the way, needed to be bigger than he originally thought it needed to be; as the roof came down lower than he thought it did.

Here is Stormy checking out the cat door we made him, because of course you know that we always do what our cats think we are doing. Funniest thing was after we moved the ladder and finished the window he tried to figure out how to get into it again.

And here is the finished window:

The screen came from a section of the tent from last year, a section with only one minor cat claw mark on it. We put it on, stapled it in place, then put the 2X3 pieces over it then cut off the extra. This was to keep the screen well secured.

So now I get to enjoy my new window even on this semi-rainy late afternoon. I did manage to do something in the garden:

These are "Tiger's Eye" beans that I bought from Seeds of Change, I misplaced them somewhere in the house and when I was looking for the replacement saw blade that wasn't there I found them buried in the back of the drawer. I also did not remember that they were bush beans, but I am happy they are so I did not have to cut some new poles for them. I planted them in the space between the groupings of the poles beans kinda like a "boarder" planting. I think they are very pretty seeds and one I had was purple with the orangy striping instead of the other way around. They are an heirloom that is suppose to be a good dual purpose bean.

Wow! Two posts in one day, and on both blogs!

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Thinking about Freegans

I have been discussing "freegans" on a few websites in the last week and I even mentioned them on my word press blog today, but I thought I'd devote an entire post here to them. I think the freegans have an interesting idea(l). I say it that way because they are true "foragers", they try their best to acquire almost everything they have for free.

check out their info page here:

http://freegan.info/

Now I do have a few things I disagree with them on, the first is their "dumpster diving" for food.

"Perhaps the most notorious freegan strategy is what is commonly called “urban foraging” or “dumpster diving”. This technique involves rummaging through the garbage of retailers, residences, offices, and other facilities for useful goods. Despite our society’s stereotypes about garbage, the goods recovered by freegans are safe, useable, clean, and in perfect or near-perfect condition, a symptom of a throwaway culture that encourages us to constantly replace our older goods with newer ones, and where retailers plan high-volume product disposal as part of their economic model."

Ok, I have a very -BIG- issue with this as over the years I have worked different grocery stores and different fast food places. The first "issue" is that these places are responsible if you get sick from what you steal (yes it is still stealing and in some places they get arrested for this) from the dumpsters. One of my bosses when I worked in a grocery store bakery use to give the day old bread to a food pantry. That was until someone sued him because they got sick after eating something that was not quite edible any longer.

Second issue, I worked in the meat department of another grocery store and had my eyes opened. The head of the department when the items (ones we packaged) were after the date we could sell by. He'd open the package and smell the meat, if it did not smell bad he's repack it and put a 2 day date on it and then we'd go through it again till it either sold or smelled bad. Now if that then went into the dumpster and it still looked good one of these freegans (I have seen some take meat), took that home and it was not good and just smelled bad and they ate it my then boss would be libel if they got ill and die. As it is his responsibility that it is disposed of if it's not fit for human consumption.

Here is my other issue with what they do (it's more a statement):

"Squatters are people who occupy and rehabilitate abandoned, decrepit buildings."

Ummm... I have never seen a squatter who "rehabilitated" any building. I have seen a great many squatters over the years I spent homeless with my kids and those people could care less what the building's shape was in as long as they could live there for free. they would never once fix it up, and once in a while the people would get hurt by the place they were squatting at. that does not mean it does not happen, I'm saying I have never seen it happen.

Other than those 2 things I have no problems with the freegan idea at all especially if they really can manage to live without working. For me right now I just can't find work close enough to be worth the gas money to get to it. I think having a "free market" is a very good idea where people can pick up items for free that others do not use.

The one dump up in New York state close to where we lived had a "store" in it where items that were still in very good shape went into instead of into the landfill. it is a good idea and a good policy, if it were easier to manage it would be a good idea to have such places in most urban areas. Now having said that I'd like to say there should be some limits. There is a "free shop" near us here and unfortunately there are what I call, "snatchers", these are people who hang out almost all day and "snatch" good items. things many other people who come in later that might really need them cannot get a hold of. This should not be allowed, and there should be some kind of limit on how much of certain items you can take per day.

Oh well...

Now today we are planning to (finally!) get a window put in, and I am hopefully going to be able to get another garden bed dug.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Second Blog

OK folks just for the pourpose of having a larger audiance I have created a second blog on word press you can find it here:

http://wolfwoods.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/welcome-to-our-home/

...and No... I do not plan to just copy/paste my entries from here to there. I plan on writing both sites independently, so for one I can "hear" my own words in a new light. Two, so that maybe I can "gleam" a new idea from what I write about and, three so more people know about what I'm doing.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Babies Day out

Today is an *update* post and we start with some "babies", first my second batch of Chickens:

They got a "taste" of the outside a few days ago and again yesterday. They seemed to enjoy their "outing" a great deal, I am hoping when we put them out with the bigger ones everyone will be Ok. It seems the ones in this batch that are not the Jerseys might be meat birds as the grey/white ones are growing very fast, faster that my first batch of chickens grew. I have also figured out the non-Jerseys aside from maybe 1-2 they are all male. Another reason to butcher the non-Jerseys in this grouping this fall, I have also found out that yes we have 1 Jersey male. So now if he makes it till I butcher the other males this fall I should be Ok with my "breeding program". Since I did not get Leghorns but Reds I'm going to do the crossing with the reds and see what I get. I know the Jerseys are already a dual purpose bird, but I am hoping to increase their egg production with the addition of the other breed.

OK next baby moment:

This little one caught her first bug and ate it today (cicada), mom was looking on very pleased as well. Course she kept having to run a bit as her brothers kept trying to steal it from her.

My kids had a fun morning today, we discovered a job that they like as well. We sent them out with some jars and had them go "bug hunting" for Cicadas for the chickens. This is what they got after 30 minutes:

This is a quart jar, and we tossed these into the chicken yard and sat and watched the birds have a nice feast on bugs. They enjoyed it greatly, though it was very funny watching them come up to figure out what it was we tossed into their yard. Then of course once one of them started eating the rest did. This whole jar's worth was gone in under 5 minutes.

Before my next section in here I'd like to send my condolences along to the people of Joplin, Mo they are close to us and they were hit with a tornado that did a great amount of damage. The same storm system headed my way next, but thankfully we were spared a twister. Unfortunately the people of Joplin were not spared, I do hope those who passed on did so swiftly and with out great suffering.

OK, enough depressing talk! How about some garden news!

If you look close you will see one of my many bean sprouts! This was taken a couple of days ago and now I can say that all of the types of beans that I have planted have at least one little seedling coming up.

My bushel gourds have sprouted, my lemon cukes, summer squashes, and possibly a pumpkin are coming up. We can't wait to have one of the "summer stir fry's" we had last year once the squashes and long beans are producing. I'm really excited about the bushel gourds as I have never grown them before and I'd really like to try "making" the bushels after they are done growing.

This "forest" are my potato plants, they are huge! Seems goat manure and straw agree with them a great deal, pity I'm out of straw as I really need to cover them. I am hoping to get a good crop from them, I also need to go out and mesure them again. i have a suspicion that the straw has "watered down" finally. So I just need to fill in, which unless I miss my guess is going to take a bit of time to do.

I have transplanted the rest of my tomatoes as well remember the "box" we picked up for free? Well I have put the tomatoes in it.

I started the "box" off with the chicken manure from the brooder that's been outside in the weather. WE covered the bottom about 2 inches thick.

Then I filled the "box" with peat moss till I had about 6(?) inches of room at the top, which then I went out to the house site and scraped some top soil up from where a dead tree composted. That went in and I stirred it in with a garden fork.

The final bit was transplanting the tomatoes and then covering them with some extra straw we had scattered about. A couple of the plants are kinda scrawny, so I am hoping that the "move" will help them grow stronger.

We spent part of yesterday framing a window that we still need to put into the building, we had 2 windows; but... in the storms last night one broke either due to wind or due to hail. I am not sure but the wind is looking pretty good as the window was not laying down last night but it is now. If we are lucky this rain will stop so we can hang it, and so i can do some more plant bed digging; as right now the ground is waaaaay too wet to dig in. I still need to re-plant my smaller melons/cukes, and I need a bed for my peppers which are still being very slow to grow. However now that I know they are a slow plant it doesn't bother me as much.

Sorry for my book challenge being a flop..but I guess more things got in the way of me finishing it like I wanted it too, I am hoping to finish that book still and I am going to try to finish working through the rest of the books that I need to while doing everything else. I might even get time today to read as we have another rainy day, we will see.

Everyone stay safe,

Be Well and Blessed Be...