We were given 3 "male" mini lops the beginning of February ('15). A few weeks later, 2 of them had babies. Isaac built them a nice little hutch, but it was planned and started before we realized we had some females. So we ended up sending them all to "freezer camp" in early winter. Once we do more research about the most humane ways to keep many rabbits and get accommodating shelter set up, we'll try again. Isaac and Gideon are becoming quite proficient with the rabbit butchering. It isn't easy to kill something so cute but it sure beats knowing how its done at factory "farms."
0 Comments
We've past the "there's so much to do - we're completely overwhelmed" phase and into the "there are so many exciting choices - how fun to be able to customize everything" phase. Well, maybe Lance still has one foot in the former, but we're enjoying discussing all the possibilities nonetheless. All the little details - lighting, switches, outlets, fans, cabinets, shelving, furnishing and decorating ideas - each bring us closer to making a perfect home for our family.
Upcoming projects: second layer of rigid foam in the ceiling, drywalling the ceiling and common wall, kitchen counter framing (now that the electrical and propane are ready to go) so we can start cooking in the house, final indoor plaster coat, final cob layer on the floor and linseed oil applications, and finally loft framing so we can start sleeping in the house. As December came to a close, we finished most of the second interior plaster coat: Lately it's been sunny and in the 60s, so the three eldest boys made plaster for most of the day Monday and Tuesday while Lance troweled on the first outside coat (and the second layer on the pantry wall). Then they worked on a cover for the battery bank and more wiring and gas piping. Today we installed Dan's solar panels, so as soon as the charge controller he ordered arrives, he too will be able to harness the awesome power of the sun!
November was a slow month due to unseasonable cold, illness, poverty, and general malaise. We're hopefully on our way out of the slump. It took awhile to decide how to heat the house this year. We plan to build a clay mass heater eventually but ended up going with a double barrel stove for now. After setting it up, building the chimney, and connecting the stovepipe, Lance was able to finish the second course of the floor. He burnished it several times as it dried to try to keep the cracking down. Looks like he'll still need to do a thin finish coat to eliminate the cracks completely, but it's pretty gorgeous. The guys trimmed and evened the bales with a weedwacker, put lath up where needed to prepare for wall plaster, and did some landscaping (strawberry bed) for a brief diversion. We finally finished installing the last three windows in the clerestory. At last we were ready for wall plastering! Lance, Dan, Isaac, and Gideon got over 2/3 of the inside plastered on the north wall (3 parts sand to one part lime putty (a 50 lb bag of lime mixed with about 5 gal water)). Then our friends the Merryfields came over Saturday to help finish first layer this last weekend. All the windows but the last special order sliders for the clerestory are in now. Installed the backdoor as well. The chimney is about done and then we can set up the barrel stove. We hooked the propane heater back up to use a couple times in the last week, though it only takes about ten minutes to swing the pendulum to the uncomfortably warm side. It got down to 16° one night. Thankfully the cabin in the early morning hasn't been cooler than the upper 50s, and cooking breakfast in the morning is enough to get it feeling cozy again. Our little Pancake is 4 1/2 months now. She is finally capable of Baby Belly Laughs, one of my favorite milestones. Even mildly surly teenage Isaac never fails to smile back at her. Arrgh, the sweet happy flapping baby just managed to delete the file on my phone where I keep my blog updates. So y'all are getting the super abridged version now. Sorry. 9-22 2 year anniversary of my arrival in TN! As the nights begin to cool down and I remember Tent Life, I am so thankful that we have a sturdy cabin. Started the stone work in the entryway for under the stove. 10-23 We finished the first course of the cob floor (7 shovelfuls of sifted clay, 3 handfuls of straw, 2 shovelfuls of sand, 2.5-3 gallons of water, and a large scoop of lime) We started stacking the strawbales started Friday. The kids and the dog love playing in the strawpile. Lance has been keeping us afloat financially by working with a construction crew run by a Mennonite family who live in a commune north of us. He's really enjoyed getting to know them. 11-15 A couple recent speedbumps trying to get the house closed in so we can use a stove to help speed the floor and wall drying. Been trying to decide how to do the chimney, pipe, and stove, and the windowsets we'd brought from Colorado ended up not working right, so we've been waiting for a special order. So it looks like we won't be in the house before the holidays. But once we get the woodstove finished, we'll be able to leave the sliding door between the cabin and the house open so condensation shouldn't be a problem. Humidity control is definitely the worst part about winter in a small space. Theresa helped me make 17 quart jars of fruit sauces and dices. They turned out beautifully and gave me hope that canning (like everything else we've learned to do or accustomed ourselves to doing) isn't so formidable after all. We guesstimate, however, that it will take up to about 500 quart jars put up to make up the bulk of our food needs over the 6 months per year that fresh local food is unavailable. That's a lot of preparation. Our tomatoes are still coming in strong - the kids gather on average maybe 25 a day, though most of them are pretty small. We've boiled down several batches of sauce, paste, and ketchup and diced several gallons more and frozen them until I can get some more canning supplies. It's incredible how much fruit it takes to make a meal's-worth of sauce, but I can't begin to describe how much more flavorful fresh tomatoes are than even the high-end brand jarred sauces I've purchased. We've also been gathering delightful wild muscadines from our property. I made one practice batch of jam that was a little too thick and we have about a gallon seeded and ready for round two, and the kids are out picking more! I picked up a library book entitled "Food in Jars" and can't wait to try out dozens of delicious-looking recipes. After an uncomfortably hot late summer, the last couple days have finally seen the "cold" front I've so been anticipating, ranging from upper 50s at night to the perfect-in-my-opinion high temperature of 77. Hoping for a long, pleasant fall. Catching up on my dear friend Katie's travel blog last night inspired me to keep up with my records. Of course, the big news is the arrival of Jael Serah, better known as Baby Pancake, on the 4th of July. We had spent a lovely evening at Pickett's Trout Farm, enjoying a potluck dinner, hiking, boating, games, and fireworks. By the time we were packing up, I could tell things were getting serious, so the older boys got sent home with Dan; and Lance, Malachi, Havi, and I drove to our friend Jerry's, where we had a home-away-from-home birth suite set up. I put the little kids to bed while Lance and Jerry filled my waterbirthing tub. Lance let my attendant friends know to be on their way ASAP. Our neighbor Theresa arrived, 20 minutes later the baby (caught, just barely, by her daddy), and 4 minutes after that Katie, Kat, and Marissa with her preteen daughter Lily. So much better than a hospital birth. Havi, baby, and I stayed with Jerry (and his air conditioning) for almost 2 weeks while the menfolk held down the fort and worked hard to finish the foundation and start framing the roof. The past two months have included: The past two weeks have been very fruitful, literally. Our friends at the Sequatchie Valley Institute are out of town, so we've been there several times to harvest bucketfuls of their apples and pears. Gideon, Ezra, and I have spent many hours peeling and chopping. Campfire Master Isaac cooked several batches into sauces and compotes for freezing. I'm hoping to get over to Theresa's this weekend for a canning-fest.
The houseplan has evolved somewhat - we took out the bedrooms in favor of a sleeping loft to keep the space much more open. Sorry for the lame "picture of the computer screen" - SketchUp is a mystery to me. The floorplan on the right was our original plan, the one on the right is the revised one. Lance didn't draw the cabin-to-become-sunroom we currently live in on the revised plan, but it will still be the south entrance of the house.
|
LyssI plan to use this blog to keep track of ideas and information, to hold myself accountable to my goals, and to give others the opportunity to observe the challenges and triumphs that ensue. Archives
April 2016
Categories |