Reflections of katlupe: spring projects

Showing posts with label spring projects. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Spring Plans For Our Homestead

A few days ago at Peaceful Forest

Things are looking up for us, in this past week. A very good week, I must say! Last week I FINALLY got a buyer for my parents' home. Not only that, but the buyer is a local business man and will not turn their home into a dumpy looking place. That was one thing I was dreading since I do have sentimental feelings for their property. Hopefully, that closing will take place in the next couple of weeks or so. Depends on how fast the lawyers get their work done.

Last summer

The other thing that I am very happy about is that our guitar strings are finally selling! And selling good! We opened a ProStore on Amazon and it has made the difference. Every day we have sales now. I love listing the products and have them sell while I am still working on adding more. It has made my husband a very happy man!

Last Saturday

I am also selling on eBay. Just auctions. Every month they give you that deal of 50 free auctions. You only pay fees if they sell. I like that. So every month I try to list at least 50. Only now I am out of things to sell. If I list something that doesn't sell the first time, I will relist it. If it doesn't sell the next time, in the box to the thrift store it goes! I have an idea of what to sell. So when the weather gets warmer, we will be making a trip to our local thrift stores and yard sales for more products. The kind that sell, of course!

Winter 2013

My eBooks are still selling pretty good on Amazon in their Kindle Shop. I am pretty happy with that. I have been working on re-editing those books though. Maybe have them professionally edited and formatted after I finish. I will add about 40 more pages to them. Some pictures too. I am also working on another one that is not nearly done yet.

Summer 2012

For the most part, I am looking forward to the spring and being able to start my seeds for my garden. I am hoping all goes through with my parents' home being sold with no problems. My son will be moving near his friends into his own place. Then we can get back to our life. Still missing my Nikita, but am able to go on and focus on other things for now. No more dogs for me. Hurts too much when their short life is over. I am planning on spending some time with my horses this year. Making some changes in the barn to give them more room, and get that stall for Tawny. Lots of plans for our house, but I will write about that later.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Cool Spring This Year

Yesterday afternoon

For me, I love spring! It is the time of everything becoming new again. To see the new plants poking their heads out of the ground. To hear the birds singing. Last night the peepers were singing to each other. My husband always says that when he hears them, then he knows spring is really here!

Snow is gone on both sides of the road!

We have a lot of things going on here this spring. Or we would have, if the weather would warm up a bit and stop raining so much. I know I shouldn't be complaining so much about the rain. I usually like it because I know rain is good for our well, our plants and our forest around us.

The lawn is green!

My seedlings are growing and will need to go in the ground as soon as possible. But I don't believe that will be until at least the end of May, if then. So I am on hold with them. I'd like to start more plants but I have no more room. As it is, I am moving them from here to there constantly. Trying to catch what sunshine I can. Which isn't much!

The secret to a great garden is Compost!

If I get a decent day, I will try to work on some of the raised beds. My garden cart's battery is charged up and ready to go to work. I can carry compost from the compost pile to the raised beds with that. I am sure though that my husband will haul more than a few loads with the wheelbarrow. He said he wants to empty the compost pile that we will be using, so he can start a new one there. It is on a three year cycle. We have four piles.....one to use now, one that is composting for next year, one that is composting for the year after that, and the new pile that we empty our manure into now.

Steel pipe and parts for the wind turbine tower!

We bought our materials to build our tower for our wind turbine. That job is taking priority over most things right now for my husband. He is going to be taking some of the pipe down to his brother's this week-end to do some welding on it. Then wait for the rain to stop, and the hole he dug for it to dry up. The tower is running more money than the actual turbine! But steel is expensive, and it has to be sturdy and weather hardy. I'll keep posting on the progress we make on that project.

Have a great homesteading day and hope you are having a warm spring!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Nice Spring Day At Peaceful Forest Homestead

Snow has just about all melted now!

Today we were supposed to go visit my FIL, but our brakes on our truck need to be replaced. So we decided not to go and take a risk as they do not sound good. My husband will get the new ones on in a few days. So we both spent the day working on our individual projects around here.

Callie in the barn

My day was spent on transplanting my seedlings that had grown quite big. They badly needed a bigger pot. The Green and Blue Hubbard squash has taken off nicely. It looks like we will be putting a lot of winter squash in our root cellar this year. For some reason the butternut squash and Hopi Gray are lagging behind. But I haven't given up on them yet.

My husband spent the day organizing the upstairs of our barn. He has his tools and stuff up there and needed it better organized. The upstairs is really big and he is planning on putting a work bench up there. He has definitely needed one!

Spring is finally in the air around Peaceful Forest. Mud season is here, though not too bad.....yet. I will not complain about our wet climate in light of what my Texas online friends are going through at the moment. Some of our rain would help them out a bunch about now. It is in our forecast for tomorrow in fact.

Happy Sunday and may God bless all!

Friday, March 04, 2011

Spring Time Projects On Our Homestead

Spring 2010 was awesome!

While I wait for warm weather and spring, I think of all the projects I have planned for this year. So many things. I can't wait! I am so eager to get started. Dread the rain. But we have to have that first. Then the mud season. At least during mud season I can be taking care of the seedlings. I have been going through my seeds and the catalogs to see what I need to order.

Seed Starting 2010 was very productive!

One of my first projects is starting my seeds. And ordering what I don't have. I know I should have done that by now. With green peppers selling for $2.59 and up apiece, I know that is one vegetable I will be planting a lot of. I will dehydrate that for next winter's meals. I always plant plenty of vegetables for us to eat fresh and to preserve for winter.
This year I am planning on working in my new flower bed. I have some ideas for that. It will be a on going project. Adding something every year until it is built up.
Adding more raised beds and making one into a cold frame. I need a place to grow greens during the winter.
As soon as my husband finishes the battery room he built onto our cellar, under the porch, I will have a door on my root cellar again. It has been three years open and unusable while he finished this project. The weather and money have been the two hindrances on that project.
The root cellar is where I plan to keep all my empty canning jars, clean and safely stored in plastic Rubbermaid containers. That way they are clean when I take them out. I have a stone bench down there but need to add more shelving to place the containers on.
I will also be collecting wooden boxes that I plan on putting wire or screen on to protect whatever is inside from mice. Mice are a big problem around here, even with three good hunters. There are just too many and too many places for them to escape. Working on all that.
I am planning on planting 25 Stevia plants in my raised bed out front. Every bit of gardening space and every container I have will be filled with food. I will also trade with others for things I don't have.
Another project is planting potatoes. This year I am going to experiment with the method of planting them in straw. I understand it really works great and is less work too.
Adding fruit this year to our homestead. Blueberries grow wild here but they are very small. So I am going to be adding two bushes to start. Strawberries also. This time I am going to build one of those round pyramid beds myself. I haven't figured out all the details yet but will post it on here after I do it.

June 2010 was beautiful!

This is just a quick view of my projects for spring. What about you? Are you doing anything new this spring on your homestead? I love the anticipation of it all! Don't you?

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