Home Sweet Homestead ♥

View from the overlook on the birthday hike!

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:13:27 -0400

View from the overlook on the birthday hike!

Happy 2nd birthday to our sweet baby boy! You are such a happy...

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:42:46 -0400

Happy 2nd birthday to our sweet baby boy! You are such a happy and gentle little man, you always say please and thank you and you are the best little bro anyone could want. Thank you for your kind spirit.

We have a tradition of doing non traditional birthdays ‘round here. Our day started with the kids waking up to balloons everywhere, cup cakes for breakfast then a hike to a beautiful overlook and waterfall. When we got back we attempted to fly a kite but my kite flying skills aren’t what they used to be. We’ll have to try again tomorrow.

We all had a great day celebrating this sweet little soul ❤ we love you Zephy!

🌱🌲🌼

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:29:50 -0400

🌱🌲🌼

We’ve got a ton of wild blackberries growing around here,...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:00:28 -0400

We’ve got a ton of wild blackberries growing around here, can’t wait to make some jam!!!

Seedlings sunbathing on the porch. Watermelon + corn +...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:13 -0400

Seedlings sunbathing on the porch. Watermelon + corn + sunflowers

Helping dad mix cob for the cob oven!

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:45:32 -0400

Helping dad mix cob for the cob oven!

In love with the sound of our creek. We camped here awhile back...

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:32:20 -0400

In love with the sound of our creek. We camped here awhile back and it was so peaceful.

Picture 1| We like the idea of native gardening. We don’t...

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:11:58 -0400

Picture 1| We like the idea of native gardening. We don’t want to change the landscape drastically and would rather leave everything mostly untouched. It’s already beautiful, why mess with it? I selectively removed weeds and left behind all the native grass, wild flowers and ferns. I found a spot on the side of the rock that had enough soil to plant and we planted our strawberries. Once they grow in it will blend in with all the plant life that was already here.

Picture 2| on the front of the rock we did the same, removed weeds and left behind wild flowers, ferns, wild berries and the giant pokeweed. We planted heirloom garlic from our neighbors in front of the rock.

In between all the rain we’ve been getting a lot of...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:33:08 -0400

In between all the rain we’ve been getting a lot of gardening done. We dug out this area next to one of the big boulders and all the sandstone that we dug out is now being used for the border. One advantage of having so much rock around is we never (ever) need to buy any for landscaping :D

This new bed is where we are planting garlic and potatoes.

The method of raised beds we are doing is called...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:34:07 -0400

The method of raised beds we are doing is called “Hugelkultur”. This excerpt from theprairiehomestead.com explains what’s it’s all about:

“Hugelkultur basically means “hill culture” in German. I’m sure there is a proper way to say it, but I butcher it with my American accent and just say “hoogle culture.” Hugelkultur has been practiced in Europe for a long time and it is considered to be a very sustainable method of gardening. In layman’s terms? A hugelkultur bed is just a big pile of rotting wood and manure. And then you plant stuff on top.
It’s a permanent bed and gets better with age. Over time, the wood decomposes and creates a sponge-like bed underneath. This holds in moisture and produces lots of nutrients.”

It is a very fitting method for us to try since we have an abundance of rotting logs all over the forest floor. We piled in our logs first then covered them with a layer of partially decomposed leaves from last Fall. Then we added our compost/soil. We tidied up and filled our raised bed at the same time! Pretty cool.

The soil for our raised beds is here! Since the beds are on an...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:11 -0400

The soil for our raised beds is here! Since the beds are on an incline and one end is deeper we are filling the deep end with decomposing logs to even out the soil level.

We’ve come a long way since we said goodbye to LA. You...

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:11:09 -0400

We’ve come a long way since we said goodbye to LA. You know what we are proud of? We have done every single thing we said we would and everything we’ve wanted to. It might not seem like a lot to some people but we have set goals and accomplished them. We’ve struggled, cried, wanted to give up so many times but we stuck to it. We’ve grown as individuals and our family is stronger. We’ve lived our adventure and dreams I’m not sure everyone can say that. If we can convince just one person that it is worth it to pursue their dreams (whatever they may be) then we’ve succeeded! When we were still in LA and thinking about buying land and moving I searched for blogs or websites and found a few things here or there but nothing that was detailed. I’m glad we decided to document our journey from the very beginning to share with people who might have similar dreams.

It has been a bumpy road (unemployment, floods, missing our family) but we’ve held onto the bigger picture. We want to experience life, we want to explore and grow as people. We want our children to have a hands on experience of living more sustainable. We collect rainwater and teach our kids about the importance of conserving and not taking more than you need. We share this planet with every living thing.

Our veggies will be going in the ground soon and we just planted strawberries and grapes. We have farm fresh eggs everyday with enough left over for neighbors. It may seem like a small thing to some but we are happy with this little homestead life and the memories we are giving our children! ❤❤❤

Since the saw died I figured we’d start my long awaited...

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:34:11 -0400

Since the saw died I figured we’d start my long awaited project: The Cob Oven! This is just the base, but we’ll get it finished ASAP! Can’t wait to bake bread!

Guineas.

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:18:25 -0400

Guineas.

Enjoying the beauty all around us.

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:39:50 -0400

Enjoying the beauty all around us.

Building the greenhouse! Of course my saw had to die midway...

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:39:44 -0400

Building the greenhouse! Of course my saw had to die midway through the project!

We’ve had the most beautiful weather the last few days!

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:31:02 -0400

We’ve had the most beautiful weather the last few days!

Juney having some adventure time!

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:55:22 -0400

Juney having some adventure time!

Cutting the wood for our green house!

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:20:11 -0400

Cutting the wood for our green house!

Happy Mother's Day sweet momma :) I hope it was a beautiful one

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:18:20 -0400

Thank you!!