luvinlife offthegrid- will winter ever arrive?

[luvinlife offthegrid]

When I called yesterday about it, the line was busy until they were closed (DOH) and today is Saturday. I even tried to call a friend of the family who used to work for DEC, but they are camping somewhere in the mountains and don't have cell service. :/

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Today I turned 40. Happy birthday to me! I got just what I wanted-my husband FINALLY installed the shelving in the area that's supposed to be a pantry. I have shelves on three walls, floor to ceiling in a 5x8 room. I am finally going to get that pressure canner I've been dying to get, so I can finally start canning soups, stews, and spaghetti sauce with meat. I already have a 9qt water bath canner, so my shelves will be beautiful jewel tones this fall.

Now, it's time for a celebratory margarita and bed. I'll be painting the inside of the chicken coop tomorrow. I'm sure the two broody hens will just LOVE that. . This week I get to redo the grout on the bathroom floor.

 

[SSDreamin]

Happy Birthday! I hear it's all downhill from here, but I wouldn't know, still holding steady at 29 and all!

on the pantry shelving! Shelves full of jewel tones is a beautiful thing indeed!

 

[Denim Deb]

Happy Birthday! I hear it's all downhill from here, but I wouldn't know, still holding steady at 29 and all!

on the pantry shelving! Shelves full of jewel tones is a beautiful thing indeed!

Same here! Don't know what my 26 yo son thinks of that.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Thanks for the birthday wishes. . It's nice to have people here who feel the same way I do, like I would rather have a pantry (or a new DeWalt light cordless drill) than jewelry or a spa gift certificate or something. Although, now that I think of it, I could go for a massage...

Freeing up funds won't be a problem with the DH, seeing he's the one who made the "ick" face at the canned soup first. He didn't even like the SMELL of it.

Now that so much is fresh and in season, it's hard to believe that same people never taste freshly picked food. I pity them.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

It's been so dry here. I was down to 45 gallons in the rain tank for the garden, and I was starting to panick that the thunderstorms would pass south or north of us. Well, we got two storms. The first one was like a light switch. It was Nearly still and muggy, then BANG! Limbs blowing off trees, torrential downpours, and ice cube-sized hail. It knocked about half of my tomatoes off the vines. It's only 6 plants, but still.

The second storm had more dangerous could to ground lightning, but the rain wasn't as heavy, and lasted longer. My rain tank is full with 300 gallons.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Well. Lots happened. I visited my sister for a week, came back, painted the inside of the coop. Washed all windows inside and out. Well went dry 1 hour before my son's birthday party. DH has been filling the well with a 300 gallon tank from the concrete plant. It's potable water, but draining the tank into the well causes sediment to swill and muddy/orange water coming out of the tap. It's supposed to rain, so maybe we'll hook the gutter up to the well (I have a metal roof so it's fine) since the garden tanks are full. I wonder how long it takes for DH to get fed up and call the well drillers/diggers.

We had a house full of people (2 different sets) for 3 weeks. Everyone was really good about using the old outhouse. Boy, am I glad we kept that maintained well enough to use! The rain tank is on the south side of the house, so it heats up enough to not have freezing cold "showers" with the hose. Once it starts getting cold at night I will not be patient with it. For now it suits me just fine. This is how I "showered" when I first moved into this old place. Actually- now we have a solar panel to charge a little battery and a DC pump hooked up for the hose. It works well for watering the garden. I USED to just hang a watering can and tip it for my shower. I'm glad I don't have neighbors, or I'd be locked up for sure!

Worst case scenario, I can flush the toilets with a bucket. We are getting drinking and cooking water by the 5-gallon gatoraid cooler/dispenser at the spring a mile down the road.

My April 9th batch of chicks, 2 are laying. 1 EE and one other chicken. I have to spy on the coop this weekend so I can see who is doing it. The egg is pretty dark, so by some odd chance, it may be that I have an easter egger and a welsummer laying before my golden comet/sex links.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Forgot to talk about the garden. Not that it's doing much, but I have replanted my peas and bush beans. I added a second crop of lettuce, radishes, and scallions. Pumpkins are doing well. Cucumbers are late, but doing ok. Zucchini plants have slowed down but are still producing.

I wonder if I have a low number of pollinators though... My pumpkins have a lot of flowers that aren't bearing fruit- are they the male flowers? I've never grown pumpkins before. Also- my cantaloupes have flowers but no fruit. I transplanted them late and now I don't know if I'll get any because no fruit has started, and I don't know how long it takes for a cantaloupe to grow. If I get baby melons, I guess I can cover them with a sheet if we get frost. If not, then I put in more strawberries next year.

I have to get my garlic in the ground...

 

[Denim Deb]

Sorry about your well. I don't know if this would help for a shower or not, but I have something similar to this. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Zodi...2&Ntt=shower&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products I use it when I'm camping, need a shower at the farm, or have a power outage. I need less than 5 gallons of water to get my shower.

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Here is the water tank with solar panel and battery setup for the hose pump. I set the hose nozzle to "shower" and it's the same water pressure as any outdoor spigot. Quite informal, But it works very well.