Tag Archives: Homestead

Preserving the harvest

There is a house in our neighborhood which is vacant and for sale. In the back yard stands two apple trees and five (yes 5!) plum trees.

Last year I got permission from the owner/tenant to pick their apples since it was obvious by the number of apples on the ground that they were not going to be doing anything with them.

This year I called the realtor and he gave us permission to take all the fruit we want.

Yay!

So I’ve been supplying us with plums to snack on for a couple weeks now. And I’ve had a basket of apples sitting in the corner waiting for me to do something with them.

Then two days ago a friend gave me some cucumbers and zucchini that she had left over after making all the pickles and relish she wanted.

So today, I sat down with my recipe books and a pad of paper and made some lists.

Apples : make into cider
Cucumbers: pickle them
Zucchini: shred and freeze
Plums: unknown (I don’t care for plum jam/jelly. What else is there to do with plums?)

As you can see, I had some research to do. I finally decided to make plum butter amd a plum bbq sauce. But first we gotta go pick the plums!

Fist on the agenda for the day was to make the pickles since they are best when the cukes are fresh and they were already 4 das old.

I’m not going to give a tutorial on how to make pickles. There are already a million of them out there, and I followed the instructions from the Ball Blue Book (one of my go-to canning guides). The only thing I changed is that I left out the sugar. I mean, really. Dill pickles do not need sugar!

However I did want to mention one tidbit that might be handy. The instructions say to tie the spices in a bag. I’ve heard that you can use a tea bag (the kind you buy empty and put loose leaf tea in to steep). But I don’t have any of those lying around, besides, I don’t like to use disposable if I can help it. You can tie the spices up in a square of cheesecloth or fabric, but that just seems awkward. What I’ve done for years now is use panty hose.

Yep, I purchased a cheap pair specifically for this purpose so they had never been worn. I gave them a good washing. Snipped off the foot portion and tied a knot in the end. Then I just fill the tube with the spices and knot the other end.

Because the fabric is so stretchy, when it is time to clean, it is a simple task to unknot it, turn it inside out over the compost bucket, and then rinse and wash. And since it is nylon, it dries almost instantly, too.

So once I had the pickles all canned, it was time to deal with the apples. The Hubby and Princess Girl helped cut them up. Because they were so wormy we only got about half of each apple for the pot. The wormy parts went into a bucket to be fed to the chickens. No waste that way.

I put them on the stove to cook a bit and while they were heating, Princess Girl and I attacked the zucchini.

I shredded, she packed. We put approximately two cups into each bag since that’s what most of my recipies tend to call for.

We did not blanch the zucchini. I have seen directions that call for it, but in my experience, it has never made a difference in the end product.

I got called away to help Mom with some stuff and when I came back I found that the apples on the stove had cooked down to apple sauce!

I realized I had cooked them too long to make cider, so I changed my plans and decided to make apple butter instead. Unfortunately, all the peels were still in there. I know some people cook their apple butter with the peels on and they eventually break down into the sauce, but I believe that lends a bitter taste to the sauce and resulting butter. So, I strained out the peels.

(Gotta teach Princess Girl how to take clearer pictures!)

I spooned the peely sauce into a mesh strainer and by tapping the strainer “ears” on the rim of the bowl and stirring the sauce in the strainer, I got most of the sauce separated from the peels.

Another of Princess Girl's photos

Even though the apples were not real sweet, the sauce is some of the best I’ve made. I think that is because usually I use the Victorio strainer and it mashes the peels up and strains them out. And while the peels don’t end up in the final product, I think some of their flavor does.

Princess Girl told me I have to keep this picture and post it. 🙂

At any rate, I got all the peels strained out of the sauce (more food for the chickens!) And ended up with 10 cups of sauce which I put in the slow cooker with some cinnamon and clove. I will let it cook over night.

I have to buy some honey tomorrow to use as the sweetener since we don’t have enough at the moment.

Princess Girl helped me finish up the zucchini and get the bags ready for the freezer.

Twelve pints of pickles canned, 6 bags of zucchini in the freezer, and apple butter cooking in the slow cooker. I’d say it was a productive day.

And tomorrow we go pick apples and plums.

I love harvest season and knowing that I am providing healthy food for my family. And it’s especially great when I get that food for free!

Maridy

“I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121

Summer Doings

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I know I’ve been horrible at posting for months.

So, what have we been up to this summer?

Take a look and see!

We went camping:

We traveled to Nevada to work, see family, and spend time on the Homestead (click or hover over pictures to see captions):

preventative maintenance on the drainage ditches so they don’t wash out the driveway.

My little helper

Can you see the orange markings on the dirt? We started laying out the house!

Tea time with my sister and nieces

Working at the Ropes Course.

We worked on house plans:

And found a building almost the exact size of the one we are going to build:It’s cool (and helpful) to see the dimensions in real life rather than on paper.

We harvested cherries from our very own cherry tree:

Dad and Flower Girl planted the garden.

Princess Girl and her BFF ran a lemonade stand and made quite a lot of money!

One of my sisters came to visit and we made raspberry jam after picking the raspberries from her extended family’s farm!

We had some weird stuff happen in the chicken coop:

We were messy like a typical 2 and a half year old (there’s STILL specks of paint in the bathroom from this!):

We had our first tomato (and a couple more since then). Mmmmmm….

We played with sparklers to celebrate the 4th of July:

We traveled back to Nevada once again, then to Missouri for a family reunion (click or hover for captions).

Nevada beauty

Our “Shuttle” van which carried 7 people to Missouri and back.

Looooong road trip (34 hours on the road!)

Full van!

It’s my restaurant! (Almost spelled it right, anyway 🙂 )

Princess Girl and some of her cousins whom she just met.

Havin’ fun out on the lake.

Missouri sunset on the White River.

Cousins having some fun!

The Castle Rock family on the salt flats in Utah.

We did other typical summer type stuff (click or hover for captions):

Handstands!

Summer camp. Princess Girl is in that crowd somewhere and this Mamma’s heart was squeezing tight at the prospect of letting go, if for only 5 days.

Playing in the fountains at a park.

Taking walks in the lush greenery of the PNW.

Hanging out on the nice shady deck in the warmth of the afternoon.

And we traveled back to Nevada once again so I can work – (click or hover for captions).

Checking on and watering out apple trees.

Hoeing the weeds out of the driveway.

Working on the ropes course.

Putting up a tipi at the ropes course.

So, you know. We’ve kept busy.

🙂

Stressed

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Hey there.

How are ya?

It’s been a while, I know.

Sorry about that.

Been a little crazy in our life lately.

In fact, I just added it up. In the last 6 months, I’ve traveled back to Nevada 5 times. That’s traveling nearly once a month! And they weren’t weekend trips either (well, one was). We’re talking about being gone from home for over a week, sometimes closer to two weeks!

In fact, I’m sitting in my mom’s living room in Nevada right now. Been in town three days already, and not leaving for another week.

Why have I done all that traveling? Good question. All but two of those trips were for work. But even when we came back down for other reasons, I still managed to get in some work days.

Normally I can do most of my job (about 5 hrs a week) from home on the computer. But every once in a while, the ropes challenge course I work for in Nevada needs their office manager actually IN the office. Or on the course. So the girls and I, and sometimes the hubby, pack up and make the 12 hour drive back to our second home. Who ever heard of a 600 mile commute?

To say that I’ve been busy this year is an understatement. No wonder Princess Girl got behind on her book work in school.

But, we’re trying to build a house, right? So’s I gotta make some money. Could I find a job in Oregon and cut out the monthly travel? Sure, but the ropes course needs me, and we want to see friends and family anyway, so here I am.

But it does get stressful being gone from home so much. Or is it that I like being in Nevada better and hate having to go back to Oregon after every trip?

At any rate, here we are in Nevada once again. The other evening, Flower Girl and I went up to Castle Rock with 7 gallons of water to put on our trees.

The trees were fairly stressed after having gone nearly a month in the middle of summer without anyone but God watering them. Considering that, however, they actually looked pretty good.

I thought they’d be crispier than they were. But then, it has been an unusually wet summer here in Nevada (while the Pacific Northwest is drying out in a particularly dry summer. Go figure!)

As the water jug was emptying onto the trees (slowly so the water would soak in, not run off), I took a hoe to the house pad. Weeds were starting to pop up quite a bit and we want to keep a handle on them.

I felt bad knocking down the Blazing Star flowers. I love their delicate beauty, yes, but more than that, I saw quite a few bees buzzing around them. And we all know that bees are our friends. But we are pretty serious about wanting to keep the house pad weed free, so I was merciless. Besides, there are plenty more lining the driveway.

And speaking of the driveway, I attacked it a bit with the hoe, too.

All those weeds in the right hand tire track used to be in the middle of the drive. I cut them out with the hoe, but I didn’t have the energy to come back and throw them all over the hillside. Not to mention the fact that I did not have gloves and these are nothing but green tumbleweeds (ie pokey!). They’ll dry out and the wind will take care of them for me. 🙂

And then it was time for “The Show”. That’s what my parents always called a particularly spectacular sunset. And, boy, was it ever spectacular!

Flower Girl and I were only on the homestead for about an hour, but it was enough to help ease the stress I’ve been feeling lately. (And, of course, the stress of the trees, too, since they finally got watered again ;-). )

Just wishing the Hubby and Princess Girl could have been there with us. They both stayed back in Oregon since we don’t want to leave Mom and Dad totally alone again so soon after our last time gone in July, and Princess Girl went to summer camp for her first time (how is she so grown up?)

And speaking of the homestead (’cause, ya know, that’s what I’ve been talking about this whole time), look what we got!

No, not really official blueprints yet. More like the preliminary plans just to see it on paper. But it’s from a real residential designer and looks all official and everything! It’s an big step forward in our plans for building on Castle Rock. We’re hoping that the next time we come back to Nevada we’ll have actual, real live, ready-to-take-to-the-building-department blueprints.

Exciting stuff right there!

Maridy

“I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121

Homemade Laundry Soap

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Soooo….I’m a horrible blogger. I made about a year’s worth of laundry soap a couple days ago. I meant to take pictures so I could post step by step photos. The last time I intended to do a DIY tutorial, I ended up in the Emergency Room. This time, I got half way into the process and forgot to take pictures.

I’m horrible, I tell ya!

But enough about me. Let’s learn how easy (and cheap!) it is to make your own laundry soap.

There are about a bajillion different diy laundry soap recipes out there. I’ve been using this particular recipe on our clothes for at least two years now. Why did I choose this one?

Because it was the one my cousin gave me back before I really got into this diy journey.

And because it’s simple – only 3 ingredients besides water. Washing soda, Borax, and Fels-Naptha soap (all can be found in the laundry isle of most large grocery stores).

That’s it.

Truly.

I know, right?

And the process is just as simple.

Step #1: put 4 cups hot water in a pot.

Step #2: grate the Fels-Naptha into the water.

Step #3: stir and then gently (gently!) boil until the soap is all melted. Don’t vigorously boil unless you don’t mind suds all over your kitchen.

(And that’s all the pictures I got till the next day.)

Step #4: add in 1/2 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda (this is not baking soda – there’s a difference!) to the pot and stir till dissolved. (Note: this time around I doubled the amount of borax and washing soda to see if there is any difference in the long run.)

Step #5: fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. Pour the soap contents from the pot into the bucket and stir well.
Step #6: fill the rest of the bucket with hot water, stir and set aside until the next day to let it set up.

See, told you it would set up.

Step #7: now stir, stir, stir! It would be awesome to have one of those paint stirring attachments for a power drill. That would make this part super easy. I thought we had one of those somewhere. Hmmmm… it’s probably still in our shed back on the homestead. Since I didn’t have one of those stirrer thingies, I just used a big slotted spoon.

And eventually I even just used my hand to reach in and mush up all the gloppy clumps. It was strangely satisfying.

Step #8: fill a container such as an old laundry soap dispenser or large jar half full with your soap, fill the rest of the way with water and shake. Use approximately 1/4 cup for a front loading washer (you lucky folks) and about 3/4 cup for a top loader. Shake with each use.

That’s it. See, told ya it was simple. And yes, with 4 people in our family and a top loading washer, this amount of soap will last us approximately a year.

So, how does it work? You know, I have to be honest, it’s not the greatest on stains. But it does a good job keeping things generally clean.

It is gentle enough that we used it on Flower Girl’s clothes when she was a baby and suffering from bad eczema and it did not irritate her condition.

It does tend to be clumpy when I pour it, but then, I’ve never taken the time to really, really stir it up well either. I’m sure that would make a huge difference.

As we travel on our journey toward all natural products, I like that the majority of ingredients in this laundry soap are all natural. I did however, read the ingredients on the Fels-Naptha soap and it does have some perfumes and unpronounceables. It’s diluted quite a bit in this recipe, so I went ahead and used it this time. I think by the time we need another batch, I will try to find a more natural soap. I have heard you can use Ivory soap in place of the Fels-Naptha. I will have to look into it more.

But, I’ve got a year to do it. 😉

Have you ever made your own laundry soap? What’s your favorite recipe?

Maridy

“I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121

Fresh salad!

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Fresh salad, straight from our garden/yard. Yum! I needed to thin out the lettuce from the small garden, I picked some of the over-wintered-but-not-doing-so-well spinach from the big garden, and I found some dandelion greens in the yard. I had a head of purchased iceburg in the fridge and add to all that some borage flowers which just started blooming and you have a gorgeous salad almost too pretty to eat. Almost, but not quite. 🙂

I love that dandelions are considered a weed, yet they are edible and good for you. And the borage is a volunteer which comes back every year.

Edit: For the health of you and your family, be sure if you are harvesting any wild edibles that they come from a trusted source not treated with any harsh chemicals! We don’t use any herbicides or pesticides or even any fertilizer on our lawn, so I know the dandelions are safe to eat.

The city…grrr (And a garden update)

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City living can get me down sometimes. Sure, there’s beauty here. I run across it all around. Like this lovely little scene just down the street.

Looks like a beautiful spot to explore and maybe have a picnic. Until you look to the side. And see this.

I understand why they have to set boundaries and protect the natural places. But the limits can be stifling to this country girl. So, I come home to my little garden and try to shut out the sounds of the city and dream of the day we’ll be back at Castle Rock.

And speaking of my garden, here’s some recent pictures. It’s just about time to start thinning the radishes and lettuce. I actually picked and ate a couple of the lettuce seedlings which had somehow* gotten planted amongst some of the carrots. It was a delicious foretaste of the salads we’ll be eating in just a little while.

*somehow – like maybe because a two year old was helping me plant? 😉

Seeing my little garden and how well it’s coming along helps me to better endure our time here. Gives me a purpose outside the house. And will eventually give us healthy food to eat. A win-win situation.

Garden Plot Update #2

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Our first garden visitor!

So, I mentioned before that we planted our seeds on Feb 17th. What I didn’t show are our garden markers. I have used popsicle/craft sticks before with so-so results. Oh one hand they are cheap and easy to use. You write the veggie on the end and stick it in the ground. But I found that the sun and rain fades the lettering after a couple months. Just fine if you only want to know which row you planted your carrots vs onions in until they grow and you can tell them apart by their leaves. Not so good if you want to permanently mark your 4 different varieties of tomatoes so you can remember which type is which when it comes time for harvest. So, I thought I’d try a little experiment.

First, I wrote the info on the stick as usual. I used both sides. The front has what it is. The back has the expected harvest date so I can remind myself when I’m out in the garden and don’t have to refer back to my packets or journal

Then, I coated the end of the stick in clear nail polish. The polish soaked into the stick and dried very quickly, so I am hoping it will keep the letters from fading. At least until I can remember which variety of lettuce I planted where! I guess we’ll just have to see how it does.

And there’s the newly planted (and marked!) garden.

A friend of mine expressed some skepticism about planting so early in the season, but here’s one of the reasons I wasn’t concerned. I have shower doors! And they fit almost perfectly on my new bed. I guess this means I have a cold frame. I’m still working on a system to cover the gap in the middle, but for now, they work admirably.

They help heat up the soil during the day to give my little plants a boost, and they hold in just enough heat at night that the slight frosts we’ve had don’t touch the seedlings (even though everything that I have planted right now can tolerate lights frosts.)

And, if it gets really cold, the doors make it a cinch to cover the bed.

They are easily propped open so that I can work in there or to let out excess heat in case we have some really warm sunny days (hahaha! warm sunny days in the springtime in the Pacific Northwest? I crack myself up!)

Wait, what was I just saying about warm, sunny days??

At any rate, the shower doors also serve two more VERY important roles. One, they keep the free-ranging hens out of my seedlings!

And two, they provide the perfect table for a two year old to play with her dinosaurs and a pail of water. 🙂

Stay warm everyone. And God bless!

Moving onto the Homestead

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This is the last post I wrote on my old blog. The next post I wrote was the first one on this blog.

May 3, 2014

I really should do better about blogging more often! I have so much to share so it’s gonna be a long one. Grab your cuppa joe and sit back and relax. Here we go…

Moving Day!

On Saturday, April 5, 2014, we were finally able to take the trailer to the house pad. We were so excited to be able to get it there. It really made this project seem to get off the ground. We decided that we wanted to spend the night in the trailer that night, so we packed some clothes and camping gear and off we went.

The trailer (or RV as we’re calling it – short for Remote Vessel) is finally making it to the homestead!

We decided to turn the day into a celebration with a BBQ with family and a few friends.

We set up the trailer at the edge of the house pad and set up the fire pit and tables and chairs approximately where the house will eventually be.

Flower Girl off exploring on her own

And Princess Girl is becoming quite the fire tender these days.

At 8 years old, she’s all about princesses these days. She was saving up her money to buy herself a crown, but her Daddy and I surprised her with one. She’s earned it for all the help she’s been with her little sister and small cousin the last couple of months!

Thanking Daddy

Sunset from the Homestead

Our little family on our first evening at the homestead since it became more than a dream (we camped there a couple times last summer since it was my Mom’s land – but back then, it was still in the dreaming phase)

First Morning

After a so-so night’s sleep (Princess Girl wasn’t used to her bed and finally ended up on the couch and Mamma had a bit too much water to drink the evening before), we got up to greet the morning.

Good morning! (Why are the eggs fluorescent?!) Since we didn’t have the propane hooked up to the trailer yet, and for some reason our camp stove was missing it’s propane hose, we had to cook on the BBQ grill. Easier than the fire, though!

The girls on the first morning on “our” land (and yes, I let them snack on chips left over from the day before. I was too busy enjoying the morning to stop and find them something more nutritious. Don’t judge! 🙂

The hubby decided to do a bit of work while we were there, like cleaning the windows.

Enjoying my coffee (and maybe a couple of those chips) on a beautiful Sunday morning before time to leave for Church.

After church, we stopped by Home Depot and found us some cabinet pulls. That afternoon we installed most of them. It looks so finished now!

And that was the end of our first weekend. We packed up and headed back home. Had we been more prepared, we would have just stayed one more night. We decided to do that the following weekend.

But before the next weekend came, we signed a very important document – our Mortgage papers! It was officially official! We are buying the land!

Here’s the Hubby signing the papers with the Notary.

Shed Moving Weekend

So the following weekend started on Friday when my young nephew helped me go up to our property and bring down some beams we were going to need to move our shed. It’s kinda funny because that shed started out at on my parents’ property and is now returning 🙂

I didn’t really want beams this long, but they all were either too long or too short. So what do you do when you have a 6 foot long trailer and a 13 foot long board and no saw to shorten the board? You get creative!

My adult nephew (who helped us dig out the culvert and pull all those nails) came by that evening and helped us scoot the shed away from the fence so we could jack it up the next morning to get the trailer under it.

Flower Girl wanted to “hep”, too.

We got the shed moved over and the next morning my Dad came by with his flatbed trailer and helped us. It was an agonizingly slow process of jack shed up, put blocks under, lower jack. Put jack on blocks, jack up shed, put more blocks under shed, lower jack. Put jack on higher blocks, jack up shed, etc, etc, etc.

This is the only picture I got because all the sudden Dad and Hubs needed my help.

But, we finally got it on the trailer!

Yep, my younger nephew came to help out again. On the drive to the property, he fell asleep. Guess we worked him pretty hard (and the day is only half over!)

And of course we were so busy getting the shed off the trailer once we got there, I didn’t get any pictures of the process.

Here it is all jacked up and off the trailer.

Lowering, lowering, lowering, one block at a time.

That night, The Hubby and I dropped the girls off at my Mom’s (and took showers there, too!), dropped the nephew and his little sister off with their grandparents, and went to dinner with Hubby’s boss and co-workers. We came back to the trailer late that night and crawled into bed exhausted.

Our beautiful sunny bed! The window at the head faces East so we get the glorious morning sun! I LOVE having the windows at bed level. It’s almost like sleeping outside.

So, that day was Sunday again and we met my parents and the girls at church. Afterward, we headed back to the RV and finally had some time to do some organizing and finishing of projects.

Putting on the final cabinet pulls

Turning on the stove for the first time since we bought the trailer.

We have fire!

Got the fridge working, too. A little too well, I’d say!

We spent that evening in the trailer since it was a bit windy and chilly outside. And we were all tired so we went to bed early. The next morning was Monday so the Hubby got up and went to work as usual. The girls and I had a lazy day just enjoying being out there.

She made this fire all by herself (with just a few verbal instructions from me). She was so proud.

We went for a short hike to the corner of our property.

We ate lunch outside in the warm spring sunshine.


I love my girls!

We then packed up and finally made it home that evening. We were sad to leave especially since we new it would be two weeks before we could return. The following weekend we went to a leadership conference with our church. It was a great weekend, but we looked forward to staying at the Homestead again.

“Winter” Weekend

So, as it usually does, Winter returned to Nevada with a vengeance in April. We had been watching the forecast and were prepared, thank goodness, but it was a good shakedown of what we’re going to need to do/have for cold weather living up there.

When we got there on Friday, April 25, it was raining-quickly-turning-to-snow. We not-so-quickly figured out how to put out the awning. My mom and I had done it last Fall, but Joe didn’t know how it worked, so he couldn’t help much but to follow my instructions. And I couldn’t remember the particulars. But we eventually got it out and backed the cars up to it to unload.

Flower Girl was thrilled with all the “wati” (ie water) running off the awning

The view down the driveway at 7:00pm. The valley is lost in a haze and the temperature is dropping.

The same view down the drive an hour later.

We had a small catalytic heater for warmth, but also chose to use candles and a kerosene lantern for light because of the heat they also provide. We eventually closed the blinds to hopefully keep out some of the cold.

The next morning we woke up to a winter wonderland right outside. Flower Girl joined us in bed (while Princess Girl just kept on snoozing in her bed, which she is fully accustomed to now) and the three of us snuggled for quite a while, not wanting to face the chilly morning. But eventually we had to get up.

What the hillside outside my bedside window looked like that morning.

As is the custom with these Spring storms, the snow is already melting off.

Looking back toward the valley that Saturday morning. It’s reappeared!


By lunch time, the snow was all gone and it was actually fairly nice outside. (Obviously we found the hose to our camp stove. And despite the fact that the stove in the trailer now works, I was frying chips and didn’t want to stink up the inside.)

That afternoon, we headed down into town and bought ourselves a Mr Buddy Heater. We knew we wanted one, and this was just the reason to go out and get it. The smaller heater and the lantern had kept it bearable the night before, but Mr Buddy kept things downright comfy – on the low setting even!

Cozying up to warmth!

Of course, it helped that I also baked something in the oven. Yeah, we were downright toasty in there that night!

The following day was Sunday. And I didn’t take a single picture. Here it is, almost a week later and I don’t really remember what all we did that day. I think we just kinda had a regular day and hung out. Oh, that’s right. We played a couple card games, checked facebook, etc on our phones, read, wrote, and generally just relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company.

That night, the baby had a really restless night and we ended up on the pull-out couch together. It was actually pretty comfy, other than the fact that we didn’t have enough blankets to share. I eventually turned the heater back on and let it run while we slept. By the time Hubby got up to ready for work, the propane canister had run out. By then, Flower Girl was finally sleeping soundly, so I covered her up warmly and went and crawled back in my own warm bed and we all slept for a couple more hours.

Ugly, but fairly comfortable 🙂 (Edited 2-7-2015 – Awe, I miss that ugly old thing!)

5 vultures came soaring over Castle Rock while the girls and I were spending some time outside in the finally warmer weather.

And that brings us up to this weekend. We were planning to go up again, but the girls and I got sick with a stomach bug and didn’t feel like packing up and heading up there. Being there would have been fine. The process of getting there was insurmountable. At this point, it’s still like camping every time we go up. Granted, it’s pretty cushy camping, but still a fairly large process to set up and take down “camp” every time we go up. But we’ll get back up there again soon. And hopefully soon enough we’ll be there full time. The house we’re in now has had quite a lot of potential buyers looking at it, so hopefully something will happen on it quickly.

Until next time…adieu

(Edited 2-7-2015: We officially started living on the Homestead on May 18, 2014. And less than two months later, on July 13, 2014 we moved up here to Oregon. I can’t believe we’ve been here for nearly 7 months already. I am enjoying some of the benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest, and the Portland area specifically. But reviewing these old posts have made me long for the day when this Portland Interlude will be over.)

Insta-Drive!

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I just have a couple more of the old posts to bring you. I sure have enjoyed reminiscing. The day our driveway got improved about a year ago, I was nearly delirious with excitement. This post is long and filled with lots of pictures of the process of getting our property ready to live on. Oh, those were good times!

March 29, 2014

Instant Driveway: Just add money, time, a skilled operator (who just happens to be your stepdad :-), 100 tons of gravel, and some heavy equipment, and voila! A driveway in 6 hours!

At the beginning of the day on March 28, 2014 our driveway looked like this:

And this is AFTER the grader ran over it once or twice!

By the end of the day it had been transformed to this:

Smooth as buttah!

These pictures were taken in roughly the same place (looking opposite directions), only about 6 hours apart. We started out the day with a nearly 4wd road and ended with a very smooth driveway.

Now for some more details and pictures (because we all know I love the details and pictures:-) of the drive-way in process…

But first, here’s some pictures from the past couple of weekends that we’ve spent out there.

Two weeks ago, we met my mom and stepdad up at the property to walk around and dream and plan and see what all we needed to do. Pops (my stepdad) is a newly retired Operating Engineer – which means he ran heavy construction equipment such as dozers, graders, and back hoes his whole career. So, we knew he’d be able to help us decide what our next step should be. It also helps that he and Mom live only about 5 minutes from the property. He’s the one who suggested a blade (grader) rather than a backhoe to do the work and asphalt grindings rather than regular gravel to lay down.

Playing around with a tape measure to get an idea of possible house dimensions (no we don’t have a set floor plan yet.)

Lunch time!

Wild onions that are so prolific up there.

Nap time!

Digging out the clogged culvert – My nephew telling Hubs how it should be done 😉 (and yes, my husband is in a kilt)

Digging out the clogged culvert – proof that my nephew actually did some work!

Princess Girl in her “sandbox”

Digging in the “sandbox”

Unclogging the culvert. Yes, my Hubby’s in a kilt and my nephew’s in just socks while he works. They are weird like that.


I think we overworked him 😉

We also took some time while we were up there to enjoy the beauty around us and do a bit of exploring.

“Beauty in the Desert”

This little fairy glen is just off our property, but oh, so pretty..

The following week (one week ago) we went back up to do a “bit” of work that turned into an all day project.

Flower Girl helping drive on the way up – it didn’t last long because as soon as we hit the rough drive, Joe needed her out of the way.

Dropping off some old windows we will eventually use in a greenhouse type structure

Obsidian REALLY wanted that stick (*ahem* – log)! (Edited 2-7-2015 – awe, Sid, I miss him. Yes, we have Scooter now, here in Oregon, but I miss our big goof-ball. Eventually, when we are back in Nevada, we plan to get him back from some friends who have very graciously been looking after him for us.)

It’s nearly as big as he is!

Undaunted

Silly nephew

Finally on to the project that we went up there for and which ended up lasting ALL DAY LONG. How were we to know that the nails we were going to pull were a freaking SIX INCHES long!?!? (These huge pallets have been sitting there for years now. We plan to pull them apart, get them up to the house pad, and use them for decking around the trailer, etc. And no, the barn in the background is not on our property.)

Princess Girl and her friend did some nail pulling, too

Look at the size of that nail!

Yep, I got in the action, too.

Flower Girl wanted to help

Flower Girl and Daddy taking a break in the shade.

The girls playing in the dirt.

Getting closer to the end.

Ummmmm…yeeaaaahh…THAT’s why you should use the right tool for the job. A light duty hammer is not the tool for demolition!

Only a couple more boards to go. Getting close to quittin’ time.

Hey, lookit that, it still works as a hammer!

I really need to take a picture of the pile of nails. We calculated that it was over 600 of those suckers! I’m gonna save a few of the best ones to use as a decoration of some sort in the new house. Oh, and did you notice there’s a whole other pallet for us to do the same thing with???

See the other pallet next to the one the boys are sitting on? It is actually bigger than the one we worked on, and sitting upside down. Oh, yeah, that’s gonna be fun!

Ok, so we are finally up to yesterday’s work. Yay! It was so exciting!

The blade was delivered at about 7:15am

Pops going up and down the drive with the blade smoothing it out. There were a LOT of big boulders in this section.

See, big boulders. Every time he’d pass over this 200yard section, more and more boulders would surface. Eventually good enough had to be good enough.

The grader on our drive with the valley in the background

Finally, the first load of asphalt grindings getting laid!

I went running and jumping around on the first pour!

Just a little excited, ya think?

Pops smoothing out the first load of grindings.

The first load of grindings getting smoothed out.

My brother got to come up for a few minutes and run the blade. He is training to be an operating engineer like his dad and jumped at the chance to get in there!

Once the drive itself was basically done, Pops then took some time to grade the house pad.

The last load getting dumped.

We finally get to drive on our new driveway! This was about 2:00pm

On the very clean housepad. The Suburban is parked on the asphalt grindings which is where our trailer is going to be parked while we’re building the house.

Taking some time to rest and enjoy our view before heading back down the hill. It was a very good day!

So that’s it. We are a couple thousand dollars poorer, but infinitely richer after yesterday. Our housepad is accessible, which means we can start moving up the trailer and storage shed, etc. And eventually (hopefully soon) we’ll be moving there (as soon as this house sells). And then there’s going to be a big pause since the next step is building permits. And we have to have a floor plan and blueprints and all that fun stuff, which is going to take time and money. So, we’re going to have to save up some more money, and while were saving we’ll be finalizing plans. But we’re one step, or should I say, one drive closer to our dream!

Exciting (old) news for the Homestead

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We were so excited when our house was put on the market about a year ago. It made the move to the Homestead feel like it really was going to happen!

March 9, 2014

Our house is on the market! It’s listed as a 4 bedroom, 2064sqft, for $185, 000. We’re all hoping and praying it sells soon!

To that end, we’ve started taking loads up to the property and stashing things there, both in the storage trailer as well as on the land. Things like the old fence wood that the Hubby got when the neighbors at his work put up a new fence. And all the firewood we had stacked up. We’ll probably be having more campfires up there, but also, we just needed it gone from here. Then there’s the patio chaise lounges that we are planning to recover. You know how expensive those things are? Better to keep the frames and reuse them if we can. (Edit 2-7-2015: we brought one of them to Oregon with us, and after a few repairs, it is working quite nicely up here. When it’s not too wet to sit outside, that is!) So, you know, that kind of stuff. Pretty soon we’ll need to get our shed moved and deal with the chickens. Hmmmm…still need to find homes for the rabbits, too. Still a lot to do, and here’s hoping not a lot of time to do it! 😉

Edit 2-7-2015 – awe, I miss our rabbits. They would be the perfect urban homestead animal for our situation here in Oregon, but we’re just not sure how long we’re going to be here. We are discussing trying to move back this coming summer/fall. If that is the case, we don’t want to put the money into a rabbitry only to have to leave them or have that much more stuff to take back to Nevada with us. However, if we’re going to be here for another year or more, it might be worth it. We just don’t know at this point. I do know, however, that once we get settled in Nevada, I want to raise meat rabbits again.

Castle Rock Homestead

Off-grid homesteading in the high desert of Northern Nevada.

Tag Archives: Homestead

Preserving the harvest

Summer Doings

Stressed

Homemade Laundry Soap

Fresh salad!

The city…grrr (And a garden update)

Garden Plot Update #2

Moving onto the Homestead

Insta-Drive!

Exciting (old) news for the Homestead

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