Farm The World Build The Farm

I wake up to the warmth of the electric heater I have running.The solar panels that were installed work perfectly. It is the beginning of September so it is chilly outside but I have fixed this place up sufficiently enough to contain and keep the heat in. I get out of bed and walk to the window by the front door. Look out, the sun is just starting to peak over the horizon even though the sky still contains the dim gray of the night. There is a lot of work to be done but I see the potential of the place. It has plenty of materials for repair and rebuilding. I walk to the kitchen and put on a pot of water for my morning tea then go and turn on my computer to catch up on the news and the morning chatter. While reading articles, blog posts and social-network posts I am also taking notes on ideas and doing rough draw sketches of the images in my mind. It is easier to have them on paper so I can improve them if necessary and set up projects to be worked on. I do some posting of my own as well to let others know of available space and talents I could make use of.
The water is ready and the tea made I set about cooking breakfast. This morning it is scrambled eggs from the chickens outside and sausage gravy and biscuits. The smell wafting through the house wakes the others who come groggily into the kitchen and sit at the table. Jaime gets up to get the silverware to set the table with then sits back down as he passes out the forks and knives. Lou gets up to get the dishes out and help me dish up breakfast before we sit down to eat. The conversation at the breakfast table is about the green house being built to prepare for the winter growing season. Nothing but natural materials will do. Glass securely placed in wood framing.
Breakfast finished the boys go next-door to cleanup leaving me to wash the breakfast dishes. Afterwards I walk to the next block to meet with Stella who's husband Mark works downtown. She teaches their four children, twins, Edward and Emily and the two older ones Angela and Addison. It is pretty much a ghost town I am looking to rebuild as farm-town and Stella has offered to be a teacher. She has some friends in neighboring towns who are interested in opening an art gallery and a cousin in town who has to commute to the veterinary hospital an hour away. We discuss naturally made paint hues and blacksmithing of scrap metal before It is time for the children to move on to the next subject and so I leave to pay a visit to Ken who was just recently laid off.
Ken loves working with wood and has offered to help Lou, Jaime and I build the greenhouse. His sister Michelle works with clay and has offered to make the plant pots. I have been here a month and have made sure to introduce myself to as many of the neighbors as possible letting them know what I am up to. They are interested and want to help.
After talking with Ken I head back home to work on cleaning the tools we have come across. There are a couple boxes worth so it takes a while. After cleaning and sorting the tools I go next door to help the boys clean and sort the stuff into piles to be used as projects come up. I get a call. It is the delivery driver telling me the goats are arriving tomorrow around noon and want to know where they are to be delivered. I give him the address and thus ends the call. I make a note in the notebook I carry around that we need to start composting so we will have better soil by spring.
Lunch has been missed so I go home to start dinner. Taking chicken out of the freezer I place it in a baking dish with my own seasoning concoction and I boil some pasta. My version of chicken pasta primavera. As it is cooking I jump back on the computer and do my second news, social networking catch up. I have had some responses from interested people and I respond back. I am enjoying getting people into wanting to be self sufficient and when all is said and done this town will be looking better then it ever has.
Dinner is ready and somehow the boys instinctively know and appear. Conversation at dinner is about all the scrap metal that has been found and stored in an abandoned where-house. It is decided we need to start getting more people involved as we have set a deadline to be cleaned up and ready by spring to start planting and having animals brought in. Dinner done, Lou and Jaime head off to clean up for the night once again leaving me to do the dishes. After dinner dishes are done it is my turn to cleanup and then we sit around reading and occasionally talking about the day and other ideas to be worked on. It is now nine o' clock and time for bed. We head off to prepare to do it all again the next day.
 Detroit is the city that has been chosen for Farm The World, Build The Farm. Lets bring this once glorious city back from the brink of death.

So Many Things So Little Time

I have not just been working on my own gardening and experimenting what to plant with what. I have been reading and learning lots of things. I have decided to take my Day X project further in buying land. I have always wanted a piece of land to call my own as it was also a dream of my mothers so I have set up a fundraiser here http://www.gofundme.com/3tom0c and a google+ page here https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/112537224088745514108/112537224088745514108/posts. I have decided to call this project Farm The World, Build The Farm. I can not go into detail in this post as I am still working on some of the details. None the less I have already designed the floor plan and the area surrounding the house. I will post the image if anyone is interested. I am working on a surprise post and that will be available soon. I know I have been erratic in my postings and I just wanted to take the chance while I had it to let everyone know what is going on. If I do not have something posted here just follow me on g+, Facebook or even twitter. Well that is it for now I have to go work on that surprise post. Ciao and happy reading.

Birth To Death; Benefits Of Raising Chickens

 When considering whether or not to keep chickens you have a choice of how to begin. You can start with eggs (which take time to incubate and have the possibility to come with male/female mix), chicks (minimum of 25 to keep each-other warm during travel), or you could go for the mature layer (more expensive of the three options).

 As far as feeding goes, chicken feed is available but I would say let them eat what is in your yard along with vegetable scraps (feeding pullets puree), after all having chickens is all about sustainable self sufficiency.

 The benefits of raising chickens are numerous. Free range chickens lay healthier eggs. They keep garden pest populations down. They till the soil and there poop makes for great compost. It is also a way to preserve breeds. Once they  no longer lay eggs they can be used as food if you can handle the slaughter process, you can sell them or just keep them and let them pass into the great beyond naturally.

What's New

 I have hit a snag in my gardening. I wanted to plant all the seeds I had to use them up so what I did is I soaked them all in baby-food jars I had saved. The thing is I had no room in the house for 30+ jars. I had to sit them outside. I also could not cover them with the accompanying lids as it would deny the seeds the necessary air they needed (lesson learned, next time I will use cheese cloth as a cover). Leaving them uncovered drew flies. I had asked my boyfriend for help to the point that he took all the seeds and dumped them in the ground. Well needles to say that method did not work very well as at this point we only have three surviving types of plants; banana peppers, cucumbers and eggplants.
 I would post pictures but both my cameras went kaput. So while I wait for produce and the money to buy more seeds I am going to be looking into the types of farm animals and their  benefits along with other farming skills and plant recognition.
 We have been having alot of rain lately so our vines have covered the yard again. I will be unraveling them and using them in basket weaving. I also have a load of yarn I will be cleaning and using along with making candles. Well that is all for now ciao and happy reading.

Do For Yourself

Are there any metal workers out there? I challenge you to use this video to make a spray bottle nozzle that is pure metal with a glass tube. I am working on something myself but as I do not have the necessary skills it may look pretty rough.
 I believe that we can live off scavenging materials and recreating new stuff from old. Want to know what I know, watch some youtube videos on blacksmithing or sheep shearing. How about how a spinning wheel is made? I want to spin my own yarn. Carrots Love Tomato's is a great place to start for companion planting your food. This is how serious I am about doing it myself. If we all did for ourselves we would not need to be so dependent on this corporately owned government.
 Don't forget the name contest I mentioned in my previous blog. My apologies for the shortness of this post as the one I am currently working on will be up in a day or two. I have to add a few pictures and a teething child and no camera have kept me from finishing it. I am sure there is something I am forgetting but that will save for later, til then ciao and happy reading.

What A Week

This may be my only chance to post today so I am taking advantage of nap-time and wishing my keyboard were quieter. This has been one fragrant week. I have enjoyed being outdoors. I took some pictures of my progress from yesterday and had to take a few snapshots of some of the cool looking plants I have in my yard as well.
 As those of you who have been reading my blog from the start you will notice a difference in the way I have my setup. When I first started I had areas surrounded by plastic. That was mainly to keep the coons out of the food I was growing. They seemed to love the corn but since I have no corn to grow this year among other reasons I no longer have the plastic up. I would love to do away with plastic period as it is not organic.

 I cleaned off the deck and moved my bins onto it. I was tired of moving the compost bins (trash cans) around the yard just to get sun and to cut the grass. Which by the way this area was mowed yesterday.

 This is where I originally had all three sitting. Now for some other pictures although I will try not to bore you with too many but notice the difference.

 

 

 Now for some of the cool plants while I still have a little time left before monkeybear wakes. I so far only have potatoes (FINALLY) and strawberries which are producing for the second time.

 I have to thank my boyfriend for covering them otherwise they might not be growing. He cleaned the right side of the walkway outside the back door so I could pit some plants in there as a type of border in rearranging the plants in my yard. Putting the shade loving plants in the shade and sun loving plants in the sun where they belong.

 I have been told this is a Hibiscus. Is it really because I think this is an ugly plant but will keep them around just because they have flowers.

 I have been told this is Wild Ginger but unless I looked it up wrong it does not look like the Wild Ginger plant images Google has.

 I really have no Idea what these are but they love the sun and grow some interesting flowers. The seed pods if that is what they are, are just as interesting.

 I have more pictures but I am thinking my time is seriously waning so unless I want to save this for another day I need to end here. 

One last thing, I was talking to a friend last night about my long term plans on this project and gave her a bit of a head-start. I am having a contest for the best name of a homestead farm/pioneer skill school. The individual who comes up with the best name (voted on by the readers) Will get a free weeks stay once the permanent property for this has been decided. If you do not want to donate via the we pay system I will go with the most popular crowd funding system. For now, ciao and happy reading.

Finally As Promised...

 I went for a nice long walk yesterday (it was a beautifully fragrant day) and forgot to get batteries for my spare camera but I still have temporary use of my camera phone so as I promised back at the beginning of the month...
 Of the five plants I started on the 18 of last month in a small baby jar filled 1/4 of the way with water I only managed to get a handful of tomatoes (I haven't counted so I do not know exactly how many sprouted) and one carrot.

 The Marigolds, Lavender, and Sunflowers did not take.

 

And The peppers I started about a week ago (I need to put dates on these).

 

One last picture of my small indoor grow area.

 

I am rather excited to see what I get out of all of this. I cannot rush the seed growth but will keep tabs on it and what grows best with what and other how to tips as they come to me. By the way those are maple twigs in a glass cup. I had an intruder in my yard who broke a branch from one of my trees giving me more wood to cut then I currently have for. 

 I am formulating a twig birdhouse project with the branches and twigs I clean. If anyone is interested I will post that as well. For now ciao and happy reading.

 

Be Positive...

 Well I guess this is what I get for bragging. For the last year and a half I have been telling my family that I could live without technology and it seems that belief has been put to the test now more then over the last year. I have been using my phone to get online and do research when my little one prevented me from sitting at my computer. This past week my boyfriend broke his phone so he took mine. Now whenever he is home it is in his hands whether he is using it or not. I have been able to adapt so far. As far as living without technology. I still believe I could do without and be fine but then I would need to have a mailing list of people who were interested in knowing what I am doing to send my newsletter to.
 You may ask how can one live without electricity to heat/cool inside which is answered easily by solar/wind power. The house could also be built with materials in a way that could use the weather to benefit heating and cooling to the point where no heating/cooling unit is needed. Make sure to have a basement that can be sectioned off where part of it can be used as a root cellar/refrigerator so you cut down even more on the use of power hungry electric items. These are the things and more I would love to teach people through this blog.
 But enough of my ramblings for now. I have some gardening projects to tend to that I will hopefully be posting soon. For now, ciao  and happy reading.

Lost Track Of Time And Then Some

I in no way intend to abandoned my dream of growing my own food and did not mean to go so long with out an update but my son started walking which made it kind of hard to keep on top of things and then my lawn mower broke down.
The good news is I got a fairly new mower about two months ago and things seem to be falling in to place. Hopefully things go smoother and I can make time and stay on top of all the work I have planned.
I have seedlings which I will post pictures of as soon as I am able to and I will be posting some other information and updating other things as time allows. Well for now happy reading and ciao.

Day X 3.2

 I tried to do this post two days ago from my phone as my pc went down due to viruses and it didn't work. If it wasn't for bad luck I would have no luck at all. :) I finally got it up and running again. I am still working on Day X and will be posting more pictures tomorrow. But for now a quick update as to what I have been doing while my pc was down.
 I had cut down a blade of bamboo because it grew to long and broke. I took some small pieces from it and decided to see if I could not grow more. I left some sitting in plain old water and I dipped some in root starter and stuck it in the dirt.  While I waited to see what happened I decided to watch some videos from my phone on bamboo propagation. Turns out that bamboo takes a year to get roots unless you take roots from bamboo already growing to grow more. I would like to know what it is that is growing on my cuttings if it is not roots.
I have started shaving another vine covered tree and have plenty of vines to play with making into baskets. I am also working on building a loose compost pile since one of my neighbors called the fire department on me. I have cleaned up a great majority of visible garbage and move all the cinder blocks and bricks to the southeast part of the property. Well till later happy reading and ciao.

I Did Something...

I did something last night I swore I would never do. I am so serious about Day X and everything it stands for I have been looking into ways in which to get the word out, I went and joined Twitter. It is way different then any social network I am using but I have been reading books (one of my favorite past times) about working from home and marketing.  The ones I have read so far say Social Media Marketing is the way to go these days. In the interest to all that is natural I will be using SMM more often. I just wanted to take the time I have while the supervisor naps to keep my readers up to date.

 As far as last nights bonn fire, alot of yard waste was burned and the pit level has risen but there is still a long way to go before the pit is filled and everything is burned. I will be burning more tonight, then if all goes well we will be hacking and slashing and mowing our way to a more useful plot of land . As far as my plans with the pit, I am going to completely fill it in and let plant life take over so that there is a root system in place to keep the walls from collapsing again. This may need to be done on a regular basis but how often is yet to be seen. I will figure that out as it comes. Till later happy reading and ciao.

Day X 3.1

I know it has been a few days since my last post and I wont make excuses. I am taking this time I have to update what has been going on. We have a good portion of the yard cut down but it still needs trimming as the machete work looks kinda like a butcher job.

Yes, this is the pit area. There is so much plant life it is hard to make sense of it all the way it was so overgrown. Right now we are just cleaning up the clean up we have done so far. The downed branches and dead vines needed a few days to dry a bit and tonight we will burn the stuff we have cut to fit the pit so we can reshape the pit. It is to wide for our grill...

...so we had to jury rig it in order to use it. I will be taking more pictures and will continue to look for a decent video editing program that will give me file options so I can post it all here. I doe have a couple of videos I did two years ago I will attempt to toss in here as well. Till later, as the supervisor calls, happy reading and ciao.

What's Going On...?

Sometimes things get just a little too busy around here and things are left undone. Sometimes we feel overworked and just need to step back and re-evaluate how things are going or how something should be done differently then what we first decided. Well it has been one of those moments these past few days. 

We have manual powered tools and were looking for some electric tools to get things done a little faster. Only thing we came across on Sunday was a dealer with sewing items. I am going back this weekend to see if I cannot find a foot to fit my sewing machine so that I can finally use it. I did buy a couple project patterns to work on after dark when all daylight hours work is done. 

Monday and Tuesday I was feeling under the weather and enjoying the downtime to pre-occupy my cranky teether. Now it is time to get some more work done. What is coming now, before we can cut back anymore vegetation is the garbage pickup of the bottles, cans, bricks, rocks, toys and whatever else was left from previous tenants.

I will be posting more pictures as they come. I am also looking for a better video editor, one that will give me more options and capabilities then Windows movie Maker. Till later happy reading and ciao.

Any Thing That Can Go Wrong...

Like I said my pictures did not hit my phone until around 6 am Saturday. I got on the computer to make a quick slideshow comparison of the days worked and the amount of work accomplished. Low and behold my video editing software gives me only one extension to save the film in (wlmp), which does not seem to be read by most services. I gave up on that because my help arrived between 10 am and 11 am so we went straight into yard clean up mode. I couldn't find my work gloves so I went at it bare handed. The supervisor started getting cranky again due to teething so every five minutes I was trying to console him. After about an hour and a half it started raining so indoors we headed. I was not about to sit around unmotivated so I started cleaning up inside. Only thing is I moved things around that never got put back. All this in a days work had me depressed and exhausted. I just could not bring myself to the computer to post last night so I figured I would sleep on it and hopefully feel better in the morning. Well needles to say I am feeling better. It would just be nice if I had a mattress to sleep on that did not leave more sore most mornings. Well I am headed to get myself a nice large Racetrac cappuccino and see what tools I can find at the local flea market. Til later happy reading and ciao.

Day X 3

I am feeling a little disappointed as I wanted to have up to

the tree at the end of the table cleared to the fence line. Unfortunately my little one is not wanting me to be more then sitting distance from him. So basically after we sat and watched the lizards frolic, the grass near the date palm to the left was cut leaving a very nicely trimmed area from the back of the laundry shed to the area where the previous tenant grew there own garden. I also managed to trim some of the vines from

this tree. The bad thing is all the pictures I am taking after cleanup are not recorded by the phone until much later. I will try to post the newer pictures tomorrow before I go out and attempt to accomplish more then just watching lizards frolic. In any case no matter how much I manage to get done during a day I am enjoying doing it and would like to make sharing my experiences a full time job. I will not hear that it cannot be done. I am determined to make it possible. I am going to call it a Friday night so till later happy reading and ciao.

Day X 2

I told my family about my challenge so they agreed to help when possible. Since my post yesterday we have gotten lots done but I am by no means anywhere near done. We got some brush cleared by pulling it out and what was too hard to pull got the machete. After that the lawn mower was run. I got help with chopping up the dead-fall that will be used in the fire-pit. In between all of this we were dodging carpenter ants. Everytime I turned around I was discovering that my yard is infested with these darn things and boy do they look nasty. Well check out what we have accomplished so far...

 

I would have to say this one is my favorite. I was trying to pull the vines off but I pulled the whole tree down. 

This is just a small section and there is alot more work do be done but I hope to make it into a nice flower/veggie garden. I will post a list of plant seeds that I have as soon as I get the chance. but for now I am going to rest and get something to eat. Til later happy reading and ciao.

Day X

I have been living here for somewhere around four to five years and am tired of my half ass attempt at yard cleaning and gardening. I have gotten to the point of challenging myself to clean this up and make it presentable and enjoyable for the wild life as well as for my family and anyone who may take over after I move away. So here is what I am going to do. This is going to be my daily journal of what I have done and how much I have managed to clean and re/plant. What I ask from you in return is to donate to help me to continue this task and posting my activities.  For any readers in the 727 area code I have lots of plants and planting/mulch materials. If you are interested in getting any leave a message in the comments. Til Later happy reading and ciao.

Organic/Heirloom seeds

I am looking for specific seeds and cannot seem to find a ONE stop shop where I can get ALL of my seeds. I have the standard peppers, tomato's cucumbers, etc. I am having a difficult time finding peanuts (which I found out today are actually legumes, beans for those who don't know the genus thing), and cotton.  I have the wheat and am working on learning the whole mill grinding for flour. I am excited about the weather and the eventual ripening of my seeds. At the present time I am scattering my seeds in no particular plan but am formulating a companion planting plan. I have found some good charts for planting times and plants that work well with other plants,

Plant (Vegetable)	Good Companions	Bad Companions
Asparagus	Tomatoes, parsley, basil
Beans	Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflowe, cabbage, eggplant, summer savory, most other vegetablesand herbs	Onions, garlic, gladiolus, chives
Beans, bush	Potatoes, cucumbers, corn, strawberries, celery, summer savory	Onions
Beans, pole	Corn, summer savory, sunflower	Onions, beets, kohlrabi, cabbgae
Beets	Onions, Kohlrabi	Pole beans
Cabbage family (cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kolrabi, broccoli)	Aromatic plants, potatoes, celery, dill, hyssop, chamomile, sage, peppermint, rosemary, beets, onions	Stawberries, tomatoes, pole beans
Carrots	Peas, leaf lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes	Dill
Celery	Leeks, tomatoes, bush beans, cauliflowe, cabbage
Chives	Carrots, tomatoes	Peas, beans
Corn	Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squash	Tomato
Cucumbers	Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers, lettuc	Potatoes, aromatice herbs
Eggplant	Beans, potatoes, spinach
Leeks	Onions, celery, carrots
Lettuce	Carrots and radishes (lettuce, carrots, and radishes make a strong team grown together), strawberries, cucumbers, onions
Melons	Corn, Nasturtium, Radish
Onions(garlic)	Beets, strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, summer savory, leeks,chamomile (sparsely), pepper	Peas, beans
Parsley	Tomatoes, asparagus
Peas	Carrots, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, corn, beans, most vegetables and herbs	onions, garlic, gladilus, potatoes, chives
Potatoes	Beans, corn, cabbage, horseradish (should be planted at the corners of the patch), marigolds, eggplant (as a lure for the Coloradopotato beetle)	Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, sunflowers, tomatoes, raspberries
Pepper	Onion
Pumplins	Corn	Potatoes
Radishes	Peas, nasturtiums, lettuce, melons, cucumbers	Hyssop
Soybeans	Grows with anything, helps everything
Spinach	Strawberries, eggplant
Squash	Nasturtiums, corn	Potatoes
Strawberries	Bush beans, spinach, borage, ettuce (as a border), onions	Cabbage
Sunflowers	Cucumbers	Potatoes
Tomatoes	Chives, onions, parsley, asparagus, marigolds, nasturtiums, carrots	Corn, Kohlrabi
Turnips	Peas

...this is just one companion chart. I have not yet had the chance to put together a complete zone 9 chart. For now I am going back outside to play in the dirt. Till later happy reading and ciao.

Green Movement

This is nothing new. This is how our ancestors lived. Only difference is we now have the technology to create our own power yet we insist on buying into the grid living. We have lost our way and the knowledge we had. We have become dumber due to the things we have allowed to happen. Synthetic drugs for instance do more harm to our body then the healing the are said to do. They push this stuff on commercial television ads. "BUT WAIT!" Wait until they get to the side effects. The way to combat the body damage these drugs do to us is to stop taking them. "These drugs I am on control my homicidal urges," you may say. Why would you have these urges to begin with if the food you eat did not have chemicals in them that damaged parts of you that gave you these urges. We are damaged and dying from birth these days.  There is more electricity and harmful radiation among other things in the air these days the our bodies soak up that hurt us then there was before electricity started being installed in every home. We need to take a stand in more ways then one to take back our lives. The media these days does not report real unbiased news so most of us have no idea what is going on. Look around you and read or listen to someone else's opinion. Verify it for yourself via other sources and make your own conclusion. We are headed for disaster and the only way we can heal ourselves is by gardening and eating what we plant. It is great fun and brings you back in touch with mother nature, which in turn helps you discover who you really are. I for one feel better for working in and with nature.

Two of my orange trees.

That is it for today.Till later happy reading and ciao.

Beautiful Weekend

I had a great weekend. I actually spent more time outdoors this weekend then I normally do on any given day. It was not to hot and just breezy enough to be bearable. I watered my garden and tasted my first tomato. It was ripe but not quite soft enough but it was still tasty none the less. Strange thing though some of the seeds had black spots in the center. The tomato looked more like a bell pepper inside.

The plant is so overgrown I keep cutting it back. I am having a great time with this as it seems to forever be flowering then giving me more tomatoes.

This is my strawberry plant and it is going on its second round of flowering. By the way the strawberry seeds I ordered came in today. I plan on planting some this week hopefully.

The only plants I actually have grown from seed do far are...

my brussel sprouts and whatever else I have in this group. This started out in one of those tubs you get from hospital stays (the marigolds were seeded straight into the garden). I had at least six different types of plants in it but this is all I have left. As I mentioned previously my corn died during silking due to lack of time to take care of it. It is late and my boyfriend just got home from work so I will say till later happy reading and ciao.