SoyBean's Self Sufficient Life

[Soybean]

How far is that from Richmond?

What kind of frog do you have. I was thinking of getting a pacman frog. They are so chubby and cute! I can't wait till we have enough money to put a down payment down on a farm. The first thing I'm going to get a chicken or two.

 

[Soybean]

I'm sitting here today, off from work for the day, and have nothing to do. I'm trying to think of what I can do, like a project or something. It is rainy outside, so any outdoor activities are a no. My husband has the car, otherwise, I'd start planting for the spring (all my soil is over at our other apartment).

 

[lorihadams]

Hey darlin, I feel you on the weather, I hate this mess! They are calling for more rain tonight!

Cumberland county is west of Richmond, past Midlothian and Powhatan. It takes us about an hour to get to Carytown. We are also looking for a bigger piece of property with some more pasture, we would like to get goats and we are seriously considering Dexter cattle. We also want to raise some chickens for meat and we would love to expand our chicken coop and get some more layers. We are looking at some heritage breeds too. My husband has released his "inner farmer" and I am thrilled!

As for the frog, my son caught it outside and put it in his aquarium. We think it is either a fowler's toad or an american toad. We used to have to pygmy water frogs but when we got that foot of snow recently we lost power for two days and nights and it got down to 44 degrees in the house and they died. My 4 yr old is a frog enthusiast!

 

[Soybean]

Aww. I love catching froggies. You don't see them around here often. Maybe I just don't see them. I wish I could have just an acre. That would tide me over until we could have a bigger property.

You are not too far from Richmond. And yes, this rain is never ending. Don't get me wrong. I love rain, but not day after day after day.

My grandfather has a "farm" in Lexington, but my grandmother said it wouldn't do as a farm with livestock due to all the predators on the land. My grandfather uses it for hunting deer. Its all woods. I told her I could turn it into a farm if I put my mind to it. I'm really hoping if they decide to sell the land, they let me have a go at it. It doesn't have a house on the property though.

 

[Soybean]

It is really sad. I'm sitting on Yahoo playing Farm Frenzy 2. Hahaha. It is fun.

 

[lorihadams]

All my family is in Franklin County and we would move there in a heartbeat if my husband could transfer jobs. He works for verizon and we just can't afford to lose the benefits, or the pay for that matter. We have some neighbors down the road from us that have cattle, another that have horses, and another that has boer goats. It kills us cause we have 3 acres but about half of that is wooded and on a hillside in between our 2 neighbors behind us and we have to cross a small ravine to get to it. If we HAD to clear it and utilize it we could but it would take a lot of work.

We have a piece of land in Powhatan that belongs to my FIL that he has been saying (for the last 3 yrs) that he is going to give us but I wouldn't bet my life on it. It would be as much as 20 acres if he decided to divide it in half between my hubby and his brother but his little brother can do no wrong and gets everything he wants and he has already complained about us being next to him and "blocking his view".

 

[Soybean]

Well I'm attempting to have a compost bin now. Its an old wire wastebasket I found outside. I'm also hoping to plant my first seeds of the season. Cucumbers! I hope to learn to make pickles this year. We love pickles.

 

[lorihadams]

Oh, I am soooooo hanging out with my Granny Esther (daddy's mama) and watching her make her pickles this year! My kids will eat a quart of them a week if I would let them We have built 2 small raised beds and are going to get them planted hopefully the last part of April when the danger of frost here has passed. I am looking to one of my neighbors for help. I'll definitely let you know how it goes...we are planning on getting a few more laying hens this week too...red sexlinks most likely. We are getting between 2 and 5 eggs a day from 6 hens. We want to get more layers down the road and build a bigger coop and hopefully have some more pasture for them to roam on.

 

[Soybean]

Well good news! My mother in law went through our lease for our apartment that we are trying to get out of and found a way for us to get out of it. Apparently, when the 12 month lease was up in November and we decided not to leave, our lease then went to a month to month instead of another 12 month, so all we have to do is give 60 days notice and move out. I'm so excited. So now we can just pay for two months, move out, and live with my mother in law. We can use the money we would have been paying rent with to pay off our debt and save up for a farm in the future. My mother in law is not charging us rent, so we could get our debt paid off in a little over a year and save up enough for a decent down payment in another year or two!

 

[Soybean]

Even though people suggested I direct plant my cucumber seeds, I went ahead and dampened a paper towel and put it in a plastic baggy. I then put six seeds inside the baggy on top of the paper towel. Two days later and 3 out of the 6 have sprouted tails! Should I wait till they have their first set of leaves to plant them in soil or go ahead and plant those in soil?

I've noticed this house of 3 fills a trash can pretty quick. I'm going to start going through the things we throw away and try and find uses for them or maybe start recycling somehow. (recycling truck doesn't come here because we are in a townhouse) Instead of using paper towels, maybe I could convince the other two to start using rags or cloth towels to clean up messes.

We already do some things that save energy. We do not use a dishwasher. We wash and dry by hand. We use the dishwasher as a drying rack. My husband and I got a small clothes rack for drying. It could possibly hold a number of small things like socks, underwear, maybe some shirts. We haven't used it yet but I plan to start using it soon. I was also going to find out from my mother in law if I could put up a clothes line in the backyard. I probably won't be able to, but we shall see.