Sunday, December 20, 2009

Dinner with friends

A little relaxation before the holidays. Merry Christmas

Friday, November 6, 2009

another break for punkin chunkin in Delaware, if your on this side of the country come check us out in bridgeville DE

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I managed to escape the everyday hum drum of stress and pain I have been feeling, and get away to the Poudre Canyon this weekend. Driving up gave me time to think about my life, and all the wonderful blessing I have captured over the 40 years I have been alive and well. I was able to turn a corner that I've been creeping up to, I am ready to come home and get back on track with my plans and goals. To get back on the sustainable track I planned when I returned to Colorado, I have made a list of the many things I need to do before a hard winter sets in, and can't wait to get to work! I've hand a wonderful couple of relaxing days, laughing with my best friend and my God Daughter. Watching my God Daughter "fashion show" many of her costume choices for Halloween was a special treat I will think of with smiles often. Thanks to Ali Baba for sending me with a huge load of goodies and costumes to make that possible! I am extremely lucky to have so much in this life, I don't plan on wasting another minute of it. Live loud, love strong, for tomorrow may be to late.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Time out for a wedding




ahhhhhh, weddings. Fun for the quests, stressful for the bride and groom, and their families. When all is said and done, it was a beautiful day, and a lovely intimate backyard wedding. I got some good shots of my Niece's wedding, and had fun celebrating with my family. Sometimes its hard to slow down and enjoy life, but this weekend was just what I needed. Had a nice breather of a weekend, and can get back to work this week refreshed and ready to get a lot done.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009


well, I need a distraction from how much work I have to do around here, so I think I will try this again. I got completely shut down on my first choice of Catch 22, so I think I will pick something else and try that for now. Going to check out the library tomorrow and get a new book, I have a lot of catching up to do. For more info click here.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

wasted neglected summer


well, I managed to spend the whole summer working on someone else's dream. I neglected myself, and the garden, and my dreams of becoming more self sufficient. It is in my nature to learn from the past, and find the good in all situations, so what I learned is that my dreams should never take a back seat to anyone, or anyone else's dream. I love helping my friends, but when it takes so much away from me I can't do it. This summer will go down as another hard lesson about how to manage my priorities, and follow my own dreams. I will begin again, starting today to get my dreams back on track and begin doing what I should have been doing all summer, taking care of my home, my garden, and getting back to a much more simple way of living. Heres to hopeful autumn and winter planning to get back on track as soon as possible :).
happy day, and remember, sometimes you get stalled out, or have a set back, but its just more time for you to find whats really important to you...once you find it, go out there and get it.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

yesterday I picked the first booty from my garden :), WOOHOO! it was a small pea pod and some lettuce, and it was very cool. Adam and I shared the pea's, as you can see in this photo, I forgot to take a photo before we sampled it, but still got a good shot. Could have let that one go a bit more but wanted to see how they were coming. The lettuce was delicious on my sandwich for lunch yesterday too! I can't wait for all the other stuff to be ready for the table, WOOOHOOO!!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

It's been to long since I posted anything, so here are just a few pictures to get caught up. The peas and cuc's are coming up nicely, as well as the corn and all the squash. Tom's are popping up on the vines, but the jalapeno plants have died, so I need replace those. The ghost pumpkins and the big max pumpkins are coming along, but I've had to fence them off with chicken wire so the dog would stop pissing on them. DOH! He was killing them! There is a picture of a little bird that found refuge in my garden for a few days, he was cool, kinda kept hoping around and hanging out where I was, which was nice. I scared him though when I tired to catch him to see if he was injured and the dog almost got him, that was a little scary for a few minutes. Things are coming along nicely, and plans for the next growing season are already floating in my head, and needing to get worked out on paper. I'll write more later, just trying to get a little caught up from this crazy summer I'm having.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Greetings!

I am sure that almost nobody reads this blogs, except for my cousin Lisa, HI LISA & JORDYN!, But I like posting, and it gets me thinking about what needs to be done is the garden and yard. I lost almost all of my seedlings this year, They were doing great in the box, but I think I planted them a little to early, and could not get them in the ground soon enough. I lost the peppers, tomato's, and some of the flowers that I planted. What did make it were all the pumpkins, ghost, big max, and regular pumpkins all pulled through, the squash made it, and the peas, and a few cucumber plants. Pictures will follow of those that have lasted.

The trees I planted are doing fairly well, all the wet weather we have had really helped! The cherry tree even has cherries on it, 5 to be exact! I'm hoping to get them before the birds do! The weeds are out of control with all the moisture so staying on top of them has been a challenge!

The flowers I started from seed are doing well, the sunflowers, morning glory, and the one lone zinnia I planted are good so far. I forgot to take pictures of them, so I will post those in the next day or two. I also planted, rosemary, lavendar, thyme, mini roses, mint, carnations, and sage which are all doing great. The dog keeps getting a little close to the herbs which is bugging me, I figured the mint and sage would keep him away, but I was wrong about that I guess.

My corn is up and about 6 inches tall now, the cuc's are going to need something to vine on soon, so I will have to decide if i use the old iron bed frame I have, or build a wood trellis for them to climb, still not sure.

We've had a few burns in the fire pit, and have a lovely gazebo tent set up with orange lights along the fence of the yard, so evening entertaining is really fun. I'm hoping to add more decore to the mix soon. OOHH I also got my fairy water fountain hooked up and running, although the dogs and all his dog friends use it as thier own personal water bowl! We got an old ugly toilet to put in the dog run for a water dish, and a friend suggested we put a fire hydrant in for him to pee on too, heheheheh such a good idea, so now I have to find a cool one of those too. more pictures of all that to follow!

Would love to see what you doing! Happy gardening, happy summer, get outside and get dirty!!

the above photo is the view while sitting unde the gazebo, I can see all the squash and pumpkins, and all 3 trees. its awesome!
These are the gohsn pumpkins and the yellow squash, they are finally vining out of the container I am trying out, its gonna be cool!
This is the big max pumpkin mound. You can see the leaves are much bigger, and the flowers on them are HUGE! I am hoping to turn out at least one monster pumpkin this year heheheheheh wish me luck!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

so much to do .

There is so much to do with summer closing in! I have yet to plant my rose bush as it is about to bloom and I fear losing the buds. Of course, I could lose the buds rather then the plant I guess. :) I got the corn, peas, squash, lavendar, rosemeary, sage, mint all planted over the weekend. I also got the apple tree and cherry tree planted, so that makes 3 fruit trees total for this year. I hope they all make it. I put chicken wire around them to keep the dog from peeing on them and killing them.


I can't believe I did not take any pictures of all the stuff I planted over the weekend, I will have to get out there and take some pictures tomorrow :).

I'm going to start working on figuring out what kind of animals I can keep in my backyard, and working on greenhouse plans soon. there is so much done in the yard already, so much I thought was going to take all summer, but we've managed to get a lot done so now I can start thinking of some of my other plans.

anyone out there with tips on how to build your own greenhouse please feel free to send me info. I'm going to start purchasing old windows that I can frame the main structure around. I'm looking for old window without all the new technology to keep heat and cold in and out, and that sorta of thing. I think i'll put some window near the top that are newer to use for ventilation. For now its all in the very beginning stages, as I am reading tons of books and website for more information. I'll post more photos as soon as I take them. thanks for reading, if your doing similar work, please drop a comment with a link to anything you want to share.

happy homesteading!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gardening break to redo kitchen

brand new leaves on the tree hooray spring
New happy leaves on my rose bush
Dad cutting the drywall

My Dad working on the walls
Well, since its been nothing but rain for a few days, it was a great time for me to get to work on the kitchen. We've had the cabinets for awhile, but not the time to fix the drywall before we can hang the cabinets. So here are some photos of my Dad and I working on the kitchen. Thank goodness my Dad is the coolest man on the planet and spent the whole weekend teaching me how to drywall and redo the electrical boxes. Dad and I were talking yesterday about families and the relationships within them. We were talking about "daddys girls", I told him that he and I have always been close, that I really don't know what daddy's girl means, but since I am his only daughter, I suppose I must be a daddy's girl, we had a good laugh about that. We talked about how perhaps it means when a dad has more affection for one daughter then another, we did lots of speculating, chatting and laughing about it, then spent the rest of the day just working on the kitchen. At the end of the day, I was loading drywall into my truck, it stopped raining a little, and I was outside thinking that even though I am 40 years old, it made me so happy to spend the entire day with my Dad. We had fun, we laughed, talked, joked, and discussed life, as we tore apart the kitchen. Even though we work together everyday, we don't get much time to ourselves. As it turns out, I guess I am a daddy's girl because I loved every spoiled minute of alone time with my Dad working on my house. I love listening to him talk, seeing him laugh at me after we both drop the same tool for the hundredth time, having him reach out and stop my hand before I almost touch a live wire, I love hanging out with my dad, I'm grateful that I'm lucky enough to have that kind of time with him. Hope your enjoying every minute of your day too!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

updates and fun



seeds and mead baby!!
Well, I brought home my plants today. I am currently in the process of hardening them, the colorado spring weather is being a bit psycho, as is to be expected. I am anxious to get them in the ground, and doing my best to hold out about another week and a half. I planted some seeds in the ground today mostly the herbs and salady type stuff. Plan on doing other seeds this weekend as well.

In growing my seeds I tried a few new things, one being the seed box. That worked really great, but I need to make a few more for next season. As they began to sprout at different times, some needed to be in the box, and some removed, that made it a little difficult. The other new thing was using paper towel holders and TP rolls as seed pots. They did not dry out well, the bottoms in fact never dried out, and the seeds that did sprout dried out because the moisture was in the bottom not the top. The other thing they did was, if you missed any TP on the roll, those little bits that are glued on, they created mold. So, it was a good idea, but next year I will try something different.

Heres a few pics of the garden and plants, and things like that :). Enjoy, go get dirty !

Thursday, April 23, 2009

plants, fire pit and a dog run








Over the last few weeks, we had major snow, and near 80 degree temps today! Here's some photos of the work in the last few weeks. Ghost pumpkins for launching in November, sunflowers that are happy, fire in the new pit, the new dog run, and the night view from inside the garden gate :) what a great day it's been!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

off topic from the homesteading stuff :) - sort of

Check out the cool stuff I got for my birthday!! I got a couple of rose bushes, and lots of fun gardening stuff! Here's just a few pictures of some of the new things that will grace my garden soon, and the cool special bottles of mead! Once the much needed snow melts and the ground dries out I will be able to work the dirt and get ready to plant things outside! The purple cone flowers popped up today, I have a few more seeds I want to start, but now I am trying to decide if I should just wait and plant them outside at this point. :) hoooorrrraaayyyy spring!!! Hope your enjoying it! Taking a day off to enjoy my birthday, then its right back to it!




Saturday, April 18, 2009




Things are really growing now, and I need to get the garden ready to transplant the seedlings outside. I'm working on hardening the plants, and I still need a ton of eco-compost, and a few more raised beds, but most of the plants are really out growing their seed pods. I tried using the toilet paper rolls, and paper towel rolls, for seed starting this time, but they do not dry out very well, and created a bit of mold on the outside of them. Also, the dirt at the bottom stays moist while the dirt at the top with the seeds drys out, I'll try to find the pics I took of that and post them as well. I may try it again, not sure if I had good drainage on those or not, so that may have been the problem, so we'll see.

I can't believe how fast the ghost pumpkins, carnations and zinnia's popped up out of the dirt, still waiting on the purple cone flowers though, they are taking their own sweet time! Hopefully the yard will dry out this week so i can play in the dirt next weekend!

I got some Iris, and a rose bush today, I'm excited to get those in the ground soon too! more pics to follow

Peace

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Garden Gate


I put some lantern's on the garden gate, its hard to see them, the sun was going down, but you get the idea, I'll post more soon. Got the raised beds put in today, got those filled with some dirt, and next will start working on the rows! The plants are really going, and I have started my second batch of seeds. :) happy day!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Serious sprouting





All of my plants are really coming up now!! I need to get the second round of seeds started so hopefully this weekend, I can get another box done, or at least get all the new baby plants out of the box and start hardening them!! enjoy, and keep the weeds at bay!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

snow and sprouts !!!





What a difference a week makes! Went from to hot, to very cold in one week. We got a couple of feet of snow the last few days, which is much needed moisture, so we'll take it. My seeds are protected just fine and coming up like crazy. Even the bell peppers emerged today, finally !! wooohooo!! my seed starting box is such a hit that many friends now want to use it to start their seeds, but they will have to wait, I have another round of planting to do this week :). Enjoy the photos !!

Monday, March 23, 2009

holy crap, a flower!




Here is a photo of the first official thing to bloom in our yard!!! woohooo!!! Its awesome, and I can't wait for more to pop up. I thought the rose bush was dead in the front yard, but found some new growth on it this weekend, wooohoo!!! I am also posting a photo of the His Royal Highness Sir Artemis McFartemis aka: dahmer kitty....who came outside long enough to eat some grass, and bite the head off of one of the flowers, geez, I get it, he was hungery! lol ! Yesterday we got the last of the taller pickets up around the garden, then relaxed in the shade since it was so hot, so there is a photo of that as well. Hard to believe it was 76 yesterday, and its about 35 now with rain and snow in the forcast, YEAH spring in Colorado! Many more pics are to come, as all the seeds (except for the stubborn bell peppers) have popped up! My seed box is working great so far, I have tilled the ground, am ready for manure and compost, making a few raised beds, and waiting for the last frost!!!!

Have a wonderful day, go play in the dirt!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Friday, March 20, 2009

Happy Spring !!!

Here are some before and after pictures of the bush I ripped out last night :) wooohoo, now I have easy access to my garden gate, YEAAAAAAAAAA. Then there is also a picture of the newly tilled ground!!!Enjoy





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