2011 in a nutshell....

I am trying to catch up with 2011 so you all know what I was doing....the season was a fabulous one in the gardens and I learned many new skills!  I still have to expound upon the virtues of sheet mulching...this is the garden in 2010...

This is the flower garden in 2011...

I revamped this garden with the new doo dads I got from the salvage yard for two ducks! I didn't plant anything in this garden this year...except for sunflower seeds....

This is all what came up out of the dirt in June!

I haven't weeded....watered....NOTHING!

There were flowers in there that I planted in 2010 that came up this year...forgot about them!

It was absolutely gorgeous and offered a cutting garden that filled the house daily with fresh flowers....

In addition...the veggie garden was fantastic!

Onions...

 I am still learning how to plant in succession so I have fresh vegetables and then have another crop for storage in the fall...

I got some interesting vegetables this year...my Honey called this one the "MAN" squash....

I have seen many of these hanging from the pick ups in Texas........BAAAAAAAHAAAA! 

The crops came in in 5 gallon buckets and bushel apple baskets....

The girls loved to take dust baths....

We also went and picked up a small chicken coop made by George Neill that we thought would be an excellent rabbit hutch! His skill at building this little hutch made me smile! It's soooo cute!

We moved the duck pen and made a bigger one...complete with a pallet fence....

My Honey rebuilt the foundation on the back porch and we took the walls down to add electricity...

We did, however, take SOME time out to enjoy the beautiful summer afternoons...

When fall rolled around...I took First Place in the Antique Tractor Pull....at Pumpkin Fest!

I also learned the art of bartering...hee hee! I received two free freezers...big ones! I put them in the shed and filled them to overflowing...the first thing I bartered for was meat...I gave the neighbor all the squash and zuchini he could put in his pick up...and in return, he promised me a certain amount of meat for the winter...he baits the bears and deer with these fruits...

yep...and here he is....I didn't get to see the deer..it came in a box....roasts, brats, sausage and steaks....

I also traded Apple Butter Jam for Apples...thirty 5 gallon buckets full! and made apple butter, apple sauce and Crap Apple Butter....

 OH! and Rhubarb...and Blackberries!

This Rhubarb made the best Rhubarb salad dressing I have ever tasted! it also makes awesome sauce for Pork Roast!

My neighbor gave me plums and I canned 7 quarts of Plum Sauce for use on Duck! YUM!

Can't forget Mayonnaise...nothing beats it fresh with a hint of garlic...

I learned how to make Artisan bread from fresh ground wheat berries...we ate the whole loaf in one sitting it was so good!

We of course butchered chickens and ducks for the winter....and I sold some at a whopping forty bucks a piece for Thanksgiving!

Winter rolled around and we had so much food!

and too much snow!

It has been a year...

Hello All!

I know it has been a really long time...and I have missed you all!  My computer got a virus that took out my keyboard on my laptop  in addition to some other miscellaneous items and programs...it was a three hundred dollar fix or buy a new laptop!

I never knew how much this blog would mean to me...or how much it would cost when I started it for the ladies on Rate My Space...I never factored it into my lifestyle or thought it would be so complicated to keep a form of trustworthy internet in such a rural place...my sympathies to the folks that struggle with that! I think it is the ONLY thing I agree with Mr. President Obama about...he had a wish to provide internet to EVERYONE!

I am not going into the details of the struggles I have faced in the last year...I survived and that is what is most important, Hee Hee!

I have persevered with my little hut and was hoping to just stay there and out of the big, wide world but it seems that that world just encroaches and seems to want to make me pay in big green dollars instead of living the lifestyle I choose!

Anyways...on to the house and garden...I am going to start where I left off...

Remember when I started talking about sheet mulch gardening? and how my front flower beds and vegetable garden were all started with this kind of "dirt making"?  In March of 2011, the snow started melting... I started with  taking the rest of the siding off the house and planting seeds in the basement under lights...

I had been throwing all the chicken manure and straw...and the household veggie scraps  in the compost bin...it was decided that I needed another bed..why mow when you can grow?

 There was an enormous wild rose bush...it must of been beautiful at one time...maybe...but it was a horrible eyesore and garbage collector! The thorns were so thick and the bush was so rampant it was 20 feet around and 3 feet tall in the middle of my yard!  I sent the Honey out there with a chainsaw...and then with a rototiller...and then...I piled 10 pallets on top of it and lit it on fire...it was STILL GROWING! Nothing killed that beast!  I collected cardboard for two weeks and decided to just sheet mulch over the top of it...I piled all the little rocks and broken bricks from the post holes I had dug.. tree trimmings, logs...anything I could find for drainage and then covered  rosebush, rocks and all...with 10 inches of cardboard....then grass trimmings...then 6 bales of moldy straw...then grass...then chicken manure...coffee filters, egg shells, veggie trimmings...ANYTHING!

 and I mowed around it to kill the little suckers the bush was sending out...and by June...I got this...a big, ugly pile of...stuff...it wasn't all decomposed...it looked like a compost heap but it smelled wonderful...like forest dirt..and you could still see the coffee filters that hadn't decomposed...the Honey had found an old coffee can of seeds in the cabin...from the late 70's and early 80's....pumpkin and zuchini mostly...and I was pretty sure they wouldn't grow...and I was NOT sacrificing MY precious seeds to an experiment...so I planted those old seeds in this pile...

Hmmmm...I had pumpkins and zuchini coming out my ears....and no more rosebush!  The best part about it? the snow that was melting left it so wet that I didn't have to water it...AT ALL...not one drop...

In addition...do you all remember the other beds I was making?

Well...those turned out even BETTER!

This is..was...the start of my tomato garden...the deer were decimating my crops...and I needed something they could not get into...same combination...alternating spoiled straw with grass...and some chicken manure/straw combo...same veggie scraps...coffee grounds plus filters...lined it with rocks and scored a truck load of wood chips from the city compost pile...

I scored old fencing from the back yard along the alley...it was buried in the dirt...and the posts are treated landscape timbers...they are 2 dollars a piece if you buy the crooked ones at any lumber store...but I got mine from the plywood plant for 1.00 a piece...scrounging chicken wire was another ordeal...I ended up buying a roll...to the tune of  $39.00...that just burnt my arse but it was worth it!

I had no fencing in for the first month, just the skeleton...but look at them go! After procuring the chicken wire..I could only afford one roll...but I did have a roll of orange construction netting...lol!

and a door...and a scrounged bunch of doo dads from the auto salvage place...he gave me an entire truckload of old wash tubs, enamel ware, hinges.....just awesome vintage ware for ....get this...TWO DUCKS!

And here it is at the height of summer...

It was tomatogeddon in there!

Pumpkins growing up the fence...

Painting the house...

I want to paint the exterior of my house this summer....and I have been thinking really hard about color...the original color of this hut is white...but most of the houses in this town are white or some modern color of beige-brown...if they have been fixing up their house...boring!

I really want a neat color...and I have always loved red...I don't want a read house per se...but something  close to it....

I was surfing the net the other day...came across this house...it looks a lot like mine...

I LOOOOVE the color...and LOOOOVE the white trim...

What do you think about a cranberry colored hut?

ROLL CALL!

I was just refreshing myself with all the news since I have been utterly self absorbed for the past week and a half!
My God...the weather is horrendous STILL! I think all of you....should move up to the UP with me...that way...no tornadoes, no drought...no flooding...Long winters but do- able....

Hoping all of you are well...my heart has been stuck in my throat since catching up on everything... please...again...forgive my selfish ways and send me a "HERE"...so we know you are all right! So many of you live in the path of this devastation!