Sunsaver, Livining Off-Grid In Suburbia- Happy Taconight America!
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sunsaver
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In the next couple of years, my folks were around more often it seemed, and my Father was obsessed with having a real, homegrown tomato. He tilled up half the back yard, and then the three of us took a ride out into the country to Coach's farm. There were plenty of cow pies, half dried in the sun, and we spent a while making sure the back of the truck was completely loaded up. It was one of the few things they would let me help with so i remember that day fondly, the grassy, musky scent of dried manure, the warm spring sun twinkling off the dew tipped grass.
I was always wanting to help, and i think its just a natural state for children to always be wanting to help. The fact that they "allowed" me to weed the garden with them, while "making" my brothers and sisters weed as a form of punishment, has led to my love of weeding, while my brother (and most normal people) hate weeding. I find weeding very relaxing, and my love of gardening has followed me from my earliest childhood memories. So in the spring of 2002, i borrowed a small tiller and started busting sod on my new vegetable garden. I had spent many years growing things organically, but it was always ornamental beds, perennial flowers that i cleverly arranged to bloom in succession or contrast in color. Vegetable gardening was going to present a new learning curve for me.
That spring the money was rolling in like a conveyor belt. Both sides of the duplex that i owned and the rent house too, were all rented out, and a recent promotion at work had put me into an office with a computer, long distance contacts, paperwork, and a soft chair. 'Life can't get any better than this!' I thought. My little 12x20 vegetable plot was growing good, and by that summer i was loaded with tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. My own food!
One day i went out to collect rent. It was odd for anyone to be very late, but this time both renters were late. I arrived to find an empty house that looked for all the world like a typical crack-house. The windows were all busted out. Every A/C window unit was gone. The front porch was covered in graffiti. Inside, the appliances were all missing. One side was so full of cat feces that it seemed there had been dozens of animals trapped in there. Even the roof was leaking.
I was always wanting to help, and i think its just a natural state for children to always be wanting to help. The fact that they "allowed" me to weed the garden with them, while "making" my brothers and sisters weed as a form of punishment, has led to my love of weeding, while my brother (and most normal people) hate weeding. I find weeding very relaxing, and my love of gardening has followed me from my earliest childhood memories. So in the spring of 2002, i borrowed a small tiller and started busting sod on my new vegetable garden. I had spent many years growing things organically, but it was always ornamental beds, perennial flowers that i cleverly arranged to bloom in succession or contrast in color. Vegetable gardening was going to present a new learning curve for me.
That spring the money was rolling in like a conveyor belt. Both sides of the duplex that i owned and the rent house too, were all rented out, and a recent promotion at work had put me into an office with a computer, long distance contacts, paperwork, and a soft chair. 'Life can't get any better than this!' I thought. My little 12x20 vegetable plot was growing good, and by that summer i was loaded with tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. My own food!
One day i went out to collect rent. It was odd for anyone to be very late, but this time both renters were late. I arrived to find an empty house that looked for all the world like a typical crack-house. The windows were all busted out. Every A/C window unit was gone. The front porch was covered in graffiti. Inside, the appliances were all missing. One side was so full of cat feces that it seemed there had been dozens of animals trapped in there. Even the roof was leaking.
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sunsaver
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I decided i would need to find some one who would be willing to live in the duplex rent free, while making repairs to the house. I would pay for all materials. Bad idea! A couple of these arrangements later, and i was borrowing from one credit card to pay another. I was using all of my income on house notes, and buying food with credit cards. Finally my cards got behind, and i was left with monthly bills that were several hundred's of dollars more than my income. I would come home every evening, pick a tomato and a cucumber, slice them up, pile on some salad dressing, and have that for my dinner. I ate that same dinner, and green beans as well, almost every day that summer. I learned that broccoli doesn't grow well in the heat. I also learned that dandelions taste great in a salad (the guys at work would joke that i was eating grass out of the parking lot again!). I also learned that prickly lettuce grows everywhere, and that greenbriar shoots, when cooked, taste much like asparagus. I also learned that bankruptcy court is a humbling even humiliating experience.
I decided that i would have a vegetable garden from then on. I made up my mind that i would never go hungry again, and never borrow money again. Every square inch of free space would be converted from lawn to food production. Even the perennial flower beds would be converted to permanent food beds. Front yard, side yard, backyard, all would eventually become my forest garden.
Each garden area has a name, so it's easier to explain where i am when talking on the phone or web. The beds near the street are called the Herb Garden. It's mostly a variety of herbs, rosemary, sage, parsely, thyme, oragano, fennel, and dill. The front yard is divided into 4x8 and 4x4 raised beds that are lined with little stone walls. The stone wall theme repeats through out the garden. I call the entire front yard the Front Garden. On the side of my old house is a long and narrow court yard that i call the Shady Grove. It is lined with tall crepe myrtles that i planted in 2001, and a Japanese plum tree.
In the back is what i call the Sun Garden. It's there that i have my Power Shed which houses my four solar agm batteries and a 2000 watt inverter that i bought at a truck stop for $200. There's a long path that winds behind my house which is lined by asparagus beds. On the north and west of this long path is a middle-aged, mixed forest. The path turns south and moves in a larger clearing that i call the East Garden because it faces east. Another 80ft or so, is the Back Garden. It is used exclusively for vegetables, and gets the most sun due to a clear east and southern exposure until after noon.
The woods also have small clearings where i have planted figs, walnut trees, butternut trees (they are both still alive after 3 years, even though i am in zone 8), and there are trails through out the entire property, about 8/10ths of an acre. To me it's more like 9/10ths of Heaven.
I decided that i would have a vegetable garden from then on. I made up my mind that i would never go hungry again, and never borrow money again. Every square inch of free space would be converted from lawn to food production. Even the perennial flower beds would be converted to permanent food beds. Front yard, side yard, backyard, all would eventually become my forest garden.
Each garden area has a name, so it's easier to explain where i am when talking on the phone or web. The beds near the street are called the Herb Garden. It's mostly a variety of herbs, rosemary, sage, parsely, thyme, oragano, fennel, and dill. The front yard is divided into 4x8 and 4x4 raised beds that are lined with little stone walls. The stone wall theme repeats through out the garden. I call the entire front yard the Front Garden. On the side of my old house is a long and narrow court yard that i call the Shady Grove. It is lined with tall crepe myrtles that i planted in 2001, and a Japanese plum tree.
In the back is what i call the Sun Garden. It's there that i have my Power Shed which houses my four solar agm batteries and a 2000 watt inverter that i bought at a truck stop for $200. There's a long path that winds behind my house which is lined by asparagus beds. On the north and west of this long path is a middle-aged, mixed forest. The path turns south and moves in a larger clearing that i call the East Garden because it faces east. Another 80ft or so, is the Back Garden. It is used exclusively for vegetables, and gets the most sun due to a clear east and southern exposure until after noon.
The woods also have small clearings where i have planted figs, walnut trees, butternut trees (they are both still alive after 3 years, even though i am in zone 8), and there are trails through out the entire property, about 8/10ths of an acre. To me it's more like 9/10ths of Heaven.
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sunsaver
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"You're Fired!" Or, How I Paid Off MY House And Started My Own Business
In 2003, things were improving for me financially. I had taken a ruthless stance after 911, and had greatly increased my 401k contribution at work. They were matching 6%, and i was putting in 20%. That's 26% of my income going into mutual funds. In 2003, the US Stock market made a sudden rebound. Many people believed that the war in Iraq was over, or would be soon. Consumer sentiment was high, and consumer spending was increasing rapidly. Y2k fears, and fears of another major terrorist were waning. One day, my quarterly statement arrived in the mail, and when i opened it my jaw dropped and nearly dislocated. I sat down and did some quick math. I soon realized that even with the penalty and tax hit for early withdrawel, i could pay off my house (which i had re-affirmed in my bankruptcy) my new truck, and still have about $3000 left over. What a windfall! But should i do it?
A few weeks later i was sent out on delivery. It was happening more and more often "Why doesn't he just hire some new drivers?" I thought. I was upset that all of my paperwork was getting piled up and disorganized; but even so, it was really nice to get away from the stress of the office and out into the country again. The piney woods of northern Louisiana were rolling by, up and down, like little hobbit hills of landscape, dotted with fairytale cabins and ancient gas stations, the ruins of a general store, front porch cracked over and covered in wild blackberries.
In 2003, things were improving for me financially. I had taken a ruthless stance after 911, and had greatly increased my 401k contribution at work. They were matching 6%, and i was putting in 20%. That's 26% of my income going into mutual funds. In 2003, the US Stock market made a sudden rebound. Many people believed that the war in Iraq was over, or would be soon. Consumer sentiment was high, and consumer spending was increasing rapidly. Y2k fears, and fears of another major terrorist were waning. One day, my quarterly statement arrived in the mail, and when i opened it my jaw dropped and nearly dislocated. I sat down and did some quick math. I soon realized that even with the penalty and tax hit for early withdrawel, i could pay off my house (which i had re-affirmed in my bankruptcy) my new truck, and still have about $3000 left over. What a windfall! But should i do it?
A few weeks later i was sent out on delivery. It was happening more and more often "Why doesn't he just hire some new drivers?" I thought. I was upset that all of my paperwork was getting piled up and disorganized; but even so, it was really nice to get away from the stress of the office and out into the country again. The piney woods of northern Louisiana were rolling by, up and down, like little hobbit hills of landscape, dotted with fairytale cabins and ancient gas stations, the ruins of a general store, front porch cracked over and covered in wild blackberries.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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I think I figured out why he's so slow. He's given his left arm to go to Alaska to be w/BB! It's hard to type one handed.
savingdogs
Queen Filksinger
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