What about those headlines?

 I am here,finally after a very busy week ready to fill you in on all of the headlines I wrote about last posting.I am going to jump to the headline about Sol since someone was so sweet to leave a comment about it.

Sol belongs to an after school program called MESA that is funded by one of the local BIG computer companies. What MESA stands for is still a mystery to me but it is geared to get kids interested in careers in  science and technology.Sol is part of a team and this school year they have spent their time building a windmill that would, if built at a larger scale, create power.Sol's team took their windmill to a statewide science fair and can home with 3 medals for the team.They placed 1st over all for presentation,which means the judges did not have to ask the team any prompt type questions about the windmill,they knew their stuff.They also placed 1st over all for weight lift,I am still not to clear about this one.Something to do with the amount of lift the windmill created when running.Both of those earned the team 2 nd place over all.They only lost to the other team by .004 seconds, that's how serious this was. Sol loves to tinker so the club has been a great match for him and has given him a group of like minded kids to hang out with. 

Now for the new guest/hang out room for only $20.We have an extra room off the garage that used to be my studio space and the "big" pantry.We had a bunch of junk and the large freezer in there too.We have friends coming for a week in July.One of which is a Mama to be,asking her to sleep on the living room floor seemed awful so we cleaned out.We have had this project on our list of "to be done someday" projects so it was all good.We compacted my art things into the tidy shelves I have been wanting them to be, got a free futon and frame from friends and took a load to Goodwill. And,gulp, ummm got rid of our big freezer.We were not using it,it was too big and sucked a ton of power.it was a waste over all.We are going to look for a smaller freezer in the coming weeks that will go into the garage.I have yet to spend my whole $20 budget,so far by moving some things around we have furnished the space nicely.I did buy a set of sheets from Goodwill for the bed.The rest of the money will go for new paint rollers so we can paint the room with some left over paint.It took us three days to clean it out but it  is looking welcoming and like a nice spot to house a soon to be Mama for a week.

It was Issac's birthday weekend this weekend.He had a BBQ on Friday night with a bonfire.The rain rolled in and all 12 kids shoe horned themselves into the new room.They had a great time just hanging out and being social.It was a very low key party just what Issac wanted. Saturday Issac went to a BMX thing called a "Jam".Chance and I went to check it out,I forgot the camera so no pics,sorry.There were about 150 kids and adults on BMX bikes at one of the local parks,riding and hanging out.It was niffty to see Issac doing his thing and to say hello to some of his buddies.The event is a yearly event and this year the organizer hosted a raffle for one of the local riders who has cancer and no insurance.They manged to raise almost $500 for the rider and we personally know when it comes to medical bills every little bit helps.This is not the first time this community has raised money for one of its own who was in need.Just shows you,not everyone hanging out at a skate park is up to no good.

We have planted about half of the garden beds.The rest is waiting until this coming weekend to do.We need to pick up a couple of bags of compost type something to add to the soil in the back big garden,we have run out of our own compost here,bummer. The back garden has been a problem child the last few years.it has this nasty weed called pig weed that just won't go away.We keep adding to the soil hoping it will finally be replenished enough the weeds won't be able to come back.Every year we think it may be gone,plant and then once the plants are 3 inches high the weed grows twice as fast as the veggies,choking things out.If anyone knows how to get rid of pig weed without chemicals or renting a pig let me know.

I have a couple of projects in mind that I am hoping to find time to do soon.One is to smoke some hard boiled eggs.We have plenty of eggs right now so it would be fun to try a different way of eating them.I am also looking at making some fermented black beans which are used in many Asian dishes we love.They take a year and a half or up to two years to ferment but it's about the learning to do it verse time with this project.The beans could end up on my "not worth it" list but hey,you never know.

This has all been newsie bits and not much about homesteading but that's what has been going on here.It seems like so much of what we do here I have already written about and finding something new has just not come along.And honestly some of it seems mundane and very routine to me that I can't imagine all of you being interested.I mean really do you want to know that it has taken us 6 weeks to fill our very small garbage can? I could do a whole posting about how we are able to do that if someone is interested.

Rois

Todays Headlines

I have all of these things to do and wish I had the time to write in depth about them right at this moment but the clock is ticking and the sun is only here for a couple more days.So here it all is as headlines with the full stories behind them coming to you at a later time. (Hopefully sooner than way later.)



How to turn your Studio,Storage room into a guest room with only spending $20.

Compost: It's what those garden beds need.

It's Birthday season here,what to do.

Sol places 2nd in State wide Science Fair.

What in the heck is BMX Jam?

See you  later,got to run run run.....

Rois

Today is a good day with a chance of a sliver lining.

The past four years have been one loooong row of some hard hoeing for us,leaving us tired, worn out and wondering how we are going to make it.We've been living upon a choppy sea of medical ups and downs with Issac, trying to make sure we all stay afloat,trying to avoid sinking and making sure that Sol isn't lost in the chaos that can be life.Recently Chance and I fell overboard and gave into the sea of tears that needed to be cried.Tears of frustration,guilt,worry,a few angry ones and many that just felt good to let come rolling down.
  
    Crying did not change anything but it did recenter us. It helped me let go of some habits I have become a bit O.C.D with over the winter,habits that made me wonder if I was going mad.Not mad,just trying desperately to feel like some part of my life was under control.I had become a bit like those funny cards you see with the 1950's clip art but with some smart mouthed line dubbed over.The smiling housewife dreaming of cocktails or telling her family to make their own damn dinner.Realizing my life was becoming one of those cards was eye opening especially when I remembered the one that hangs on my friends fridge that reads "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life" See, I had been manic when it came to cleaning the house,so not me,but there I was looking for control.I kept thinking if the house is perfect no one will know things are really falling apart. 

   I then realized  I needed to stop and think.It was one of those moments of calm and it was as if the universe was tapping me on the shoulder saying "Wake up,Sleepy head."  I found the universe tapping me again when I read Margaret's postings here and here . The first post left me wondering "Hum? Where did my dreams go? Do I have dreams anymore?" The second left me thinking about the past four years.About the choices we have had to make as a family to do what was right for us.Hard choices, that hid my dreams beneath a mountain of doctor bills.
 
  I have decided to take Margaret's advice and not let go of my dreams,they are a gift to be kept.And the later part of paragraph three of the second posting gave me lots of food for thought.The past four years have been about home,family and getting through but, it dose not have to stay those three things only. I don't have to feel torn (the word Torn is in the title of the book in the second posting and is so perfect to me) and guilty. My conflicting  feelings of wanting to be home to care for my family but needing to work so my family can keep going can make peace with each other.

   I did remember what I was dreaming of and working on fulfilling when all things went to hell.I was working towards a degree in Art Therapy and have probably a year and a half maybe two of schooling to go.I remembered how excited I was to be at school working towards my goal.Excited to be working towards something I am passionate about.Today I start the process of returning to school to make it to my dream. 

    I know I can do it. I have learned so much about myself in the past four years.There is my courage to just keep pushing through it, the other side will come at some point.Through building up our homestead I have learned there are many ways to take charge of your life that enable us to care for ourselves.I have learned that some days you can only do what you can do,as long as I gave it my best its all good. I have learned the mantra "Today is a good day" taken from an ad for the hospital Issac was at.I now know that when my house is spit shine clean I need to stop and look inward,some thing is a miss.


  Have you ever had one of those times when you don't really know why now is the right time but it just is?That's where I am,it is just time to get back to school. I guess letting four years worth of tears roll helped me let go and be ok with all of it. Issac's health will be what it will be and the doctor bills will someday be paid off. Today is a good day and remembering my dreams is the silver lining.

 Today while I was at work, Chance was home working in the garden beds, we finally had a sunny day here.I tell you seeing the sunshine this morning made it hard to want to go to work but I went,other sunny days will come and my day working in the garden will come too.

  While Chance was working a woman from the big church on the street above us stopped by to say hello.She was very impressed with what we have done here with our gardening.Well actually, being a "churchie" kind of person she called it "a garden of Eden" a compliment that kind of makes me giggle**. The woman told Chance that the church is starting a community garden on the churches property but no one really knows where to start.The lady inquired if we would be willing to come help them get things organized.Chance said we would be willing since food security is a big concern of ours.The woman said she would stop back by when they are ready to get things going.
  I am hoping this really dose come to be and will be open to the surrounding community not just church members.Within a few blocks of the church are several large apartment complexes and I know many of the families would benefit from having a place to garden close by.
  Last spring Chance , a neighbor and I  tried to get a community garden started at the end of our street.The land owner also owns several rentals in our neighborhood.The lot is large with full sun all day but sits empty and unused.Sadly the landowner said no.And since he has money and is well known in the city, gorilla gardening, even on a small scale did not seem wise.
  So hopefully the church fills the need.They have lots of open ground that could feed many families.What is the quote from the Bible? The one about feed a man a fish,he eats for a day.But teach a man to fish he will eat for a life time.Maybe filling ones belly is not the intended  meaning of those lines but none the less if we can share what we know so others may thrive it will be time well spent.

  There's some clearer looking weather coming this week,whew! If all goes to plan some serious work will happen this week in the garden beds.Chance got a huge start on turning the beds and fed the chickens 3 wheel barrows full of weedy bits........ Three wheel barrows full is what happens when the weather is so wet this time of year.Things grow fast this time of year no matter what but when it has been too wet to get out there to keep it at bay,the chickens end up with a feast day......It will be cheering and grounding to be outdoors again,digging in the soil and planting.Dreaming of the goodness of a homegrown basket full of just picked veggies and fruit.Summer homegrown tomatoes,I have missed you.

  Rois 


** I lean towards giggling only because we are not church going people but consider ourselves amongst other things to be stewards of the Earth. Tending to our garden here at Hrafinstaad is like going to church for us.
  
 

New things or why you can't define Homesteading.

    Wow the past week has been filled with new surprises around here,all of them unexpected.

  We have a space in between the house and the garage we call the Breeze Way.During the warm months I set up a sitting area since it's nice and shady there. We also use this space for working on large projects so there are at times a jumble of parts waiting there.This is also where Chance sets up the smoker for smoking various things.

   Now keeping in mind that there is this interesting mix of things in the Breeze Way and an eclectic-ness  to our hobbies new and old,I am going to tell you this tale.
 
  Chance has a replica of a Viking Helmet he built years ago,the helmet has been living on top of the smoker, left there while he was cleaning out the garage.

   Every Spring we have a tiny couple that comes to Hrafinstaad for the Summer months, the House Wrens.I look forward to these two visitors each year,for tiny birds they have big singing voices.Although I am not certain it's the same two each year,it seems like it is due to their bold friendly personalities.The Wrens are the second piece to my story,now back to the helmet.

   If you look closely the helmet upon the smoker sits right by the garage door,a very high traffic spot.The face of the helmet is turned southwest,getting some sun but shaded by our fir tree at noontime.Kind of a cozy spot for someone tiny.
 Alright you have all of the parts to the story. The other morning I went out to feed the chickens and what did I spy? The House Wrens flying in and out of Chance's helmet with twigs.When I looked closer I found......

   A beard like nest for two built in the helmet. I can see why the Wrens like the helmet,water tight,foam lined,sun and in a yard where they are always welcome.The boldness of these two can be witnessed by their willingness to build in such a high traffic spot.But it has left us with a problem or two. We don't want to take the nest completely away because then we may lose our summer visitors for the year.If we move the nest still inside the helmet would the birds mind or find it? It's not practical to leave it alone, at some point we will need the smoker. I thinking of asking Chance if we could build a shelf on the garage wall just to the right of where the helmet now sits.

  The next new thing around here was tried with a mind set of "I don't know about this,but I will go" Chance took me to my very first scooter rally.One of the local scooter clubs puts the rally on every spring.I was not sure I would have a great time since most of the time scooter events have been filled with guys talking Scooter Speak- parts,makes, models and other fish tales. I ended up having a blast! Riding around the city in a pack of over 150 scooters is thrilling.Yes, friends I have Scooter Fever and it looks like I may have to learn Scooter Speak.

3rd one in with the raccoon tail is Chance's

Leaving for the run,organized chaos?

 








      The final new thing around home is the vintage stereo console we finally found. We have been looking for one of these for several months and finally found it at the Goodwill Bins for $15, nice price!  What we had for the stereo equipment before was not great and looked cluttered but with the new piece it is all neat and tidy.All of the equipment fit inside but Chance did place two small speakers under it,you can't see them in the photo.

         









  We also found time to start getting the garden beds ready for some planting while we had a break in the rain.The soil was soaking wet so we did not do any digging. So far no planting has happened here and after yesterdays insane weather it's probably a good thing because the seeds would have just rotted.Here in the Portland area yesterday there was, a funnel cloud,snow,thick layers of pea sized hail,rain and bits of sun.I wonder what the weather gods were up to way up there in the sky.Hopefully working things out so we can have some spring after all.
  Oh, and the other night I made gluten free chocolate muffins.They were good but the garbanzo bean flour in them made Issac and I pretty darn sick.Now to work on a replacement for the garbanzo flour that is not a bean.  **** Garbanzo beans make many people with Crohn's sick even if they tolerate other beans well.***

 In my header I wrote "why you can't define Homesteading".I really feel like this posting shows that very clearly and I did not even need to rant.I shared a snap shot of my week with you,simply things that happened while waiting for the weather to improve.This is what Homesteading looks like to us,birds nests, scooter rallies, vintage finds and baking flops.It's not the whole sum of us, only one week out of many. I love our eclectic homestead life,it suits us just fine.

Rois

Like a Rooster on the stove.....

 This morning Chance and I's day started out slow and mellow,just the two of us home drinking coffee,waiting to go roller skating with the Cousins and talking about how to fill the time until we met up with said Cousins.
   We both remembered that we needed to go to the feed store for feed and bedding for the chickens.Ok, simple enough,let's go.
   
   "Wait." said I "Let me call Mason at the feed store and see if he will take those Roosters we still have"

   You see we still had those three Roosters our hen hatched last summer.We kept talking about butchering them.We kept talking about re-homing them but had yet to move in either direction.They were becoming naughty young Roos,never wanting to give the girls a break,they just had to go. And let me add here that 4 Roosters crowing in the morning was not restful.No one had complained but we were complaining. As much as I would have liked a nice chicken dinner,the need for them to be gone was feeling a bit pressing.

 Well mason is such a nice guy and said "Yeah, bring them on in."
  
       SCORE!

We found a box for the rooster,easy part that was. Chance decided that since our little Doxie Sparrow may think a rooster in a box was her box lunch we should leave the box on the kitchen counter for safe keeping.
  Only at our house would it be considered "normal" to have a box on the kitchen counter waiting to transport roosters to the feed store in.
  Chance and I went out into the yard to catch at least 2 out of 3 of the roosters. We thought we should not impose on Mason to much at once by bringing all 3 of the rooster who were going. (We are re-homing the Daddy Rooster to friends who are in the process of buying a farm.)
   We caught the first one with little trouble and into the box, on the counter,he went.The next bird was a bit of work but in the end he ran himself into the compost bin were he was definitely cornered.
   Now this is where mayhem started, one of those times you wished there was a video camera already rolling. Chance brings the second rooster into the kitchen with me following right behind.Chance opens the box to put the roo in but before the lid is shut tight,out pops roo number 2 like a Jack in the Box ,POP, Surprise!
   Rooster runs the counter, hot foots it across the stove top, luckily it's not on and hops down to the floor.

  By now the little Doxie knows something is up and is trying to get in on it.She so wants to help us out like the big dog Thora knows how to do. Thora knows how to heard the chickens very nicely you see.

  The rooster runs into the living room, all I can think of is big rooster poo on my vintage wool rug but we have yet to scare that out of him. Now he's running around the sofa , around the dinning room table (we have one of those front rooms that is everything in one space.)and down the hallway,our house is small. The only door open in the hall is Sol's bedroom so in goes the roo with a crazy crowd following after, Chance, Little Sparrow, me and then Thora.
  The rooster has nowhere to go but under the bed.Chance pulls him out but loses his grip.Chicken, being bird brained, tries to hide on the book shelf but is finally caught.When I relayed this story to the boys Sol asked "He didn't poop under my bed did he?" I answered no and I am hoping I am right. Ew,let's really hope so.

 Maybe the telling of the story is not as funny as when it happened but really people it was very Keystone Cop-ish. I especially love the humor of the rooster running across the stove top.
   We left the roosters at the feed store and as we were leaving there was already a lady asking about them,so it looked like they did not stay for long.
   While at the feed store I of course spied the chicks,a dangerous thing since I had my pocket money in my pocket.They had two breeds I have considered adding to our flock Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps, both of which are said to be excellent layers. I would really like to cull out our other layers since they have not been dependable in their laying.I would have to raise chicks until the reach laying age and then cull the older birds.But it would mean a few too many chickens than we want for awhile. The feed store dose have Ameraucana's coming soon which are actually the breed I want first and fore most. I was good and sat on my hands so no chicks. I am thinking about the Ameraucana's.....oh the temptation of little chicks.At least if I do give in they will be useful even once they are no longer darling puffs. I need to think through where the chicks will be now that Little Sparrow is here, again I think she would see them as a boxed lunch.We usually have the chicks in the kitchen but a new place will have to found if chicks come home.

   This evening when Chance went to lock the coop up for the night he found 4 eggs waiting,the first in a long while. I don't know if they were a thank you for the fresh bedding or for getting rid of those crazy roos. We don't light our coop in the winter months to encourage the birds to lay unless it gets frigid cold or snows. I just feel that it gives the hens a break and they can use their fat for making it through the winter not making eggs for a bit.We miss the eggs of course but my Grandparents did without so we mostly do as well. I do buy some eggs just not that many though.To me those first eggs are the sure fire sign that Spring is coming.

   We also went roller skating with the Cousins today. We had a grand time and plan to go again. I am a little bit sore from using my muscles differently but not too bad. I had forgotten how much I love to skate.Feeling the air rushing along with me reminded me of being a kid,minus those awful metal wheels.

 I will be back soon, we picked up some seeds and Walla Walla onion sets today so there will be more to report.

Rois

Giggles

 I have THE funniest story to share with all of you about a Rooster running across our stove and hiding under a bed.But I will have to come back later, we are off to roller skate with the young cousins. Hhave I ever said? Have I ever told you? I love roller skating.

 Rois