Ok so it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. My apologies! Here in the boonies, we have no wifi which makes everything difficult, especially blogging! Anyway, I thought I would do a quick post and catch you all up on how our homestead is coming along.
We are quickly approaching our 2 year anniversary here on our new farm and we are enjoying every minute of it! We’re working our fingers to the bone but loving it nonetheless! You might remember all the work we’ve done to the house itself and that continues! The biggest projects this year were the installation of our wood burning stove so we can heat with wood rather than expensive propane. We also installed a huge dog yard……FINALLY!!
So now the Buhunds are 5 very happy and very active playful dogs! Oh, you want to know what the heck we’ve been doing without a yard? well, we’ve been walking all 5 dogs individually on a leash EVERY time they had to go potty! Ever since Miss Stormie took her 8 week long journey after getting out of the temporary yard we had, we were not taking any more chances of that happening again, so leash it was for a year and a half! Honestly, I’m not sure who’s more excited about a secure fenced in yard, me or the dogs! It is such a luxury to just open the door and let them go!
wood burning stove
So back to the wood burning stove. WOW what a blessing that is! I just love the smell of a roaring fire! Not to mention that warm cozy feeling it gives you on cold winter days and nights. It’s a lot of work but something we enjoy thoroughly! Our home is a sprawling 2200 sq. ft. ranch on an extra high basement which serves as a giant refrigerator in the winter since there is no venting ran down there. It’s perfect for storing root crops but not good on our pocket books since, again, we heat with propane otherwise. Heating a home this size with propane kinda goes against our quest to live more simply, self sufficiently and self reliantly. So after a lot of research on alternative heating options, a wood burning stove was our decision. I love how it takes me back to the pioneer days and it reminds me of my Grandfather who used to live off the grid in the woods in a tiny cabin he built himself. it was about 12 ft. x 20 ft and heated with a wood burning stove. Yes, harvesting and stacking wood is a ton of work, but it keeps you in shape and again, it takes me back to a time that I didn’t exist in but have a deep respect for. Life is good!
Those are the 2 biggest projects we’ve been working on. In addition to that, I have been busy digging up grass for new gardens. This has been an ongoing project since, ya know, I want to grow as much food as possible to get through each winter without having to depend on the grocery store. So this year, the main garden area was roughly 15ft wide by 50ft long and still growing. I’m hoping to eventually work a 1 acre garden plot which will produce food for both us humans as well as a variety of grains for the grain eaters here on the farm. That’s in addition to last year’s garden which was only 10ft x 10ft, this garden is now the onion patch which also grows volunteer tomatoes and green beans too. We also planted a fruit garden with grapevines, blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes and strawberries. An herb garden has also been started with asparagus (not an herb, I know but that’s where I planted it), chives, rosemary, oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, coneflower and mint. A small orchard has also been started with 2 dwarf cherry trees and a self pollinating cocktail apple tree which grows fugi, yellow delicious, and gala apples. All of these food producing areas are a work in progress. Every year I will add to them accordingly until established. Inside I planted some dwarf fruit trees that wouldn’t otherwise grow here in Michigan. A lemon, lime, tangerine, orange and pomegranate trees now reside in a very sunny location in the house in hopes of producing fruit. Again, it’s all about self sufficiency and self reliance folks.
Happy Homesteading!