Sunday, September 30, 2012

Not the size of the dog in the fight.....:)

After a week hiding like a hermit inside my home, taking care of my oh so very sick lil one :/ , we wer finally able to get outside today and get some MUCH needed work done outside! It was a beaUTifUL Fall day, perfect weather for cutting back raspberry plants, transplanting strawberry runners, mowing the lawn, and CUTTING down trees for MORE GARDEN SPACE ;)

Now I know a lot of you will probably feel quite Douped when I tell you our house sits on LESS than half an acre.. Yes you heard that correctly,,hehehe..thats what we own :) My father owns 2.5 acres here too ( vacation place) within a stones throw, literally), so we use that for our Main Garden and about 15 Beehives.
this is where i take the opportunity to remind all you small homesteaders
ITS NOT THE SIZE OF THE DOG IN THE FIGHT ITS THE SIZE OF THE FIGHT IN THE DOG!!!

hard work, is what it boils down to, you can do just as much on .5 acre as someone does on 4 or 5 (minus a cow or horse,, but there is still room for a goat, trust me we have thought about it,,lol!!!!!)

Now mind you, although we sit on such a little peice of property, there aint no rules in edgemont. Here you gotta travel 12 miles of bumpy windy gravel road to get to a paved road in the country :) so as you can imagine, anything flies.
Since our purchase in 2006, we have managed to fit 600  and counting sq feet of garden space, raspberries, strawberries, 4 blueberry bushes, a peach tree, a woodshed, a green house, a 3 chamber compost bin, 2 chicken coops, a chicken tractor, approx 25 chickens,  about 10-15 beehives, a solar shower. and hmmm am i forgetting anything??, Nope i think that covers it.. although in the future we will be building our greenhouse from glass off our backporch to give more room for gardening, and will be building a summer kitchen this fall , along with about 6 solar panels this spring!.
Its all about planning, hard work ,and determination. You dont need 5-10 acres to do all of this!!
Planning is key..
so i thought i would take this opporunity to INSPIRE!
3 rules to live by when working on a small peice of property :)
Rule #1 : plan plan plan. plan ahead, think of your homestead in its finished stages, so you dont end up putting , lets say a chicken coop in a sunny spot that could be used for a garden or some fruit trees

RUle #2: STAY ORGANIZED, or you will look like a real hillbilly, trust me,, we are constantly battling that,,lol

Rule #3: appreciate what you have,, you dont need more, use what you HAVE!!! I couldnt imagine having much more to do,, we have our hands full! as a wiseold  man once told me  " You could work youself to death on 2 acres. :) Obviously it isnt as Squeezed together as in the photo,,lol,, we have room to run and play!!

rule #4: its not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog ,, that is the golden rule ;) work hard, ive seen people do more on once acre than people that own 20.

Ok here is my awful drawing,,lol, but you can get an idea... again not so squished as in the photo,,

Ive decided to give you an idea, and hopefully inspire others to do the same!!! now granted we dont have rules here, so if you live in a suburban or urban setting, I would definately check to see what you are allowed to do!!!!
Like I said, in addition to this diagram we use part of my fathers land for our main garden ( the big one) and our 2nd beeyard, but even minus that , there is still a lot of produce, fruit and honey going on at our place! her is a photo of my dads land that we use/ourgarden and bee yard there:)2.5 beautiful acres... we have hopes he will sell it /pass it on to use one day :)




The only thing when considering a tiny homestead is room to roam.. and privacy,  that is definetaly a personal and lifesyle choice!!!but here in the Pisgah National forest there is 192,000 acres of untouched beauty at our fingers tips, and besides weekend folk and people passing through to see Wilson creek, its the most private place on earth <3 p="p">

*Norah playing in wilson creek right behind our home
Blessed to live here, homestead here, go off the power grid here, and learn how to make it all happen in a smaller than usual space !
Much love and get INSPIRED!!!

oh yeah almost forgot to post a photo of the new garden spot  we worked on today at our house! it will start  about 5ft behind the chicken tractor(existing side garden, the hens are eating all the vegitation now) and come all the way around to the front of the house here!;)







Friday, September 14, 2012

They're On the Move

I love autumn, its is hands down my favorite season. The Cool mornings make gardening so much more enjoyable!
Ive been working on cleaning up my gardens from summers crops, and slowly getting my fall garden planted. Its a chore, to say the least. I am just about done with all clean up with the exception of this:

Yep, that s my strawberry patch........in there somewhere..


 it now resembles a jungle more than a strawberry patch. The weeds slowly took over the past couple months. After the last crop of berries in June, I totally neglected this area,, as you can see,,haha.

Here's the problem (and really I am not making excuses, i would really love to clean this up ;)!)

 While i thoroughly enjoy fall,, its when the snakes here are seen the most...We have snakes down here, a lot of snakes, poisonous snakes..
So many so, that we have seen 3 poisonous snakes in a day on more than on occasion.  as a rule here in Edgemont, you AVOID brush, tall grass, and leaf covered areas at all costs..


While Ive come to terms with the amount of snakes here, and realize its part of living here,,, there is no way I am getting in that strawberry patch.. Ill guess Ill have to wait for a frost and until the snakes go in for a long winters nap..
Because as the folks in Edgmeont Say  " They are on the move".......

Monday, September 10, 2012

Why I suck at blogging

My father has told me many times to keep track of what we are doing, to write it down, even if its on a piece of notebook paper , a scribble in a journal, just a quick note about the day. Of course its a great idea, and it seems so easy , right??!?!?!?!

I dont write. I talk a lot, haha, but I cant seem to get my point across on paper/computer. Im either too scatter brained, tired, or just plain freeze up when I sit down in front of the computer. We are doing so much here and I really wish I could get my shiznit together so I could share all of this with you.

The cool mornings signal change, a time to slow down, cozy up by the cookstove , and write???

I know I've got it in me somewhere.. so please bear with me... Im working on it,, if not for me, for my Father <3 p="p">
 In the meantime, Here are some reasons I have not blogged lol ( besides total writers block,,hahaha, atleast some damn good excuses ;)





 
We hope to have some exciting posts up soon, including
hooking our all our hot water up to our cookstove
Beekeeping basics
 making and canning homemade chicken sausage
the construction of our summer kitchen
and of course the big countdown to our Off grid home (10 month deadline!)


Blessings
Jaime