Sunday, December 28, 2008

Looking at the coming year...

We just had Dewey home for far too few days here...Wednesday through this morning. I would have rather he stayed home instead of heading back to the job, but alas, there is a plan in motion here and we want that accomplished as well. Just wish it didn't have to be either one or the other :o( Time to really kick the bill paying into gear and put the income taxes totally toward it as well. We want Dad home for good.

We talked about what we might ultimately build out here, and where on our land it would be. Kris, I have to tell you that I might well borrow your basic/simple design for our own home :o) I definitely want the open spaces as much as possible. Dewey is looking at doing a partial basement...about 4-5 ft below grade with 3-4 ft above grade....bedrooms would be down there for cooling in the summer, and he wants to make it easy to get out of if the need arises. The storage area would be at one end, and through there, access to the storm shelter below grade. Upstairs, living space, bathroom/shower, laundry area and such.

I'm no artist, or I'd share a sort of idea. LOL...look at Kris' house plan, add another bedroom to it, turn it into 2 floors (for Dewey's basement area) and a loft, and you'll have a good idea what's rolling around in my head :o) And I'm not good with sizing things...I'm far too visual for that. I sort of drew up what I'm thinking, but Dewey will have to fine-tune the idea so it will actually work.

We have near 800 cinder blocks, and have been picking up miscellaneous materials as we find them at a good price...I have a pallet and half of sheet rock/fiber board, 8 double hung windows,3 sections of counter top, etc. so we have a pretty good start to something.

I am starting (late, perhaps?) to look into the garden for the coming spring. I want to enclose this front porch for now with those light panels and create a sort of greenhouse to start my seeds in. It won't be a true greenhouse unless I pull off the tin roof and place some light panels up there as well, but I think it will get me by. I just need more space for starting seeds mainly.

What seed catalogs has everyone gotten in so far? What are your favorite seed sources? So far, all I have here is Jungs...not exactly what I need for ordering heirloom seed saving sorts of veggies.

The feed store folks were telling me that the old timers around here buy cotton seed meal to help build up their garden. We have clay...a good 2 foot of it, then at least 4 feet of more clay, only this time it's a sloppy, gloopy gray muck blend. I don't know what to do to help get better soil short of hauling the trailer up north and emptying my mother's yard of that nice, black and rich northern Illinois soil I'm used to :o) I don't know a thing about cotton seed meal -- I guess I need to look into it.


Just took a break from writing here to bury the kitten. Seems it got too close to one of the dogs runs and Daisy has a habit of playing with things, most often too rough for survival. Jennifer is upset -- there is only one kitten left now, and she wants to bring him inside the house. I rather like not having an animal in the house actually, but this last kitten is special. He was the last to be born, totally hairless, totally the runt of the litter. We kept him inside for 3 days, feeding him supplemental feedings and allowing him freedom to nurse to his hearts content with momma when we brought her in. He was just too small and was easily pushed aside with the other kittens. I know, I know...natural culling of the cat population...what can I say? I'm a softie.

We are off to listen to some downloaded sermons from Michael Bunker. With the internet card I can finally download the audio sermons without pulling my hair out on dial-up. How nice! And so fast!

3 comments:

On A Hill Homestead said...

Sounds like you have a great start on material. We were able to use alot of wood and beadboard walls from an old house Logan helped tear down. It was such a blessing to of found the material. When we thought we might build in Iowa our home had a basement planned. We would of put the woodburner in the basement and run the pipe up through the living area of the upstairs to to help heat it. Logan grew up with his bedroom in the basement, and he said it was really cold in the winter. The woodburner was upstairs, and so there wasn't alot of heat down there. He was also raised in Iowa, so you can imagine it was cold down there since the ground stays frozen so long up there. Here in Texas though it's not so much trying to stay warm, but trying to stay cool we tried to focus on. Well I better go read your other posts, I'm trying to get caught up. Happy building!
Peace, Kris

The K. Family said...

Hello! Saw you were on our family blog today so I'm checking out yours. Happy belated birthday to you too!! Before my son got married he decided to see how cheap he could build a house for Minnesota winters, and big for all those children he's praying God will bless them with. Anyway, he hunted for good deals for a long time and when word got out what he was doing he had all kinds of people donating things. I think he's put about 20 thousand into it and it's about 2,000 square feet, not counting the basement that's about 4 feet in the dirt, like you were thinking. It's really nice and he has his wood stove in the basement with the chiminey going through the house. The upstairs has short sidewalls. If you ever want to see pictures I'd be glad to post some. Have a great evening and I enjoy your blogs and the recipes look right up my alley!

Anonymous said...

I like seedsavers.org and seedsofchange for my good seeds, have had no complaints with either group - very good results, and interesting veggies.

As for the rest... what a dream, to have your hubby at home all the time. Worth working on. Mine commutes two hours/day. Yecch.

Glad to see you back online. :)

= Amy

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

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