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| The bath house. New colored glass windows and table arrangement. |
Friday, July 18, 2014
A shower with a view!
During the summer months, when the weather is right, we are using the bath house, not only for the occasional evening hot tub, or the morning coffee at the table, but also for our daily showers. We use solar shower bags hung in the bath house via a rope and pulley attached at the peak of the ceiling and let gravity to it's thing. We have 2 shower bags now, a 2.5 gallon and a 3.5 gallon. Each is enough for a shower, plus a bit more. The larger is nice when you want to just enjoy it all a bit more, languishing in the warm water. We also use these to rinse off before and after the hot tub. We put the entire bag in the hot tub to warm it up if the sun isn't strong or we are refilling a bag. The bags warm up pretty fast this way.
The view from the bath house is pretty great with lots of sky and trees because the bath house is about the height of the roof of the main house. In this picture you can see the hot tub with it's lid on, the door with the stained glass window set in it and the new table and bench arrangement in front of the just added colored glass window border. You can also see the solar shower bag hanging at the top of the frame. It is all really simple and yet quite lovely to experience. It makes bath time fun!
Friday, July 11, 2014
garden bench
From the pine tree that we took down a few years ago, I have made a bench to sit on in the garden.
The new woodshed for fire wood
The new wood shed for milled wood
Both sheds are made from reclaimed wood and nails.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Asparagus!
Asparagus season has ended for us here already. It was great while it lasted but now the plants are tall ferny things that lean over from their own weight and give something nice to look at in that corner of the garden. We added about 6 new asparagus plants this year and at least 2 of them have sprouted.
The first strawberries have begun to blush and we may even get some soon if the new young chipmunk I was doesn't get to them first.
The potatoes we planted have all come up and look very healthy. We put some more in the lower garden yesterday.
This year we have found a bit of return plants coming up on their own. We have kale, tomato, sunchokes of course, ground cherry, squash, sunflowers, and of course all the standards, mustard, red mustard, lamb's quarter, dandelion, and more I am sure we will discover later.
The hens are all doing well. A few of them are fond of the Sunchokes so we cut them up and feed them to them. I never knew that chickens really like apples.
I don't think the fig tree really made it thru the winter the way we wrapped it. There are a few small green buds on it in one place and we are thinking of letting it get thru the summer to get it's self a bit stronger and then transplant it into a pot and take it inside for the winter. It may do better that way and we could put another cherry tree in it's spot.
We added a grape vine and two blueberry bushes to the family. They seem to be doing ok so far. The other 2 grape vines have little tiny grapes on them. Very exciting.
This summer I hope to build a new and improved woodshed for our fire wood, one that actually looks nice as well as being functional. Right now I am working on a woodshed in the work yard for all the milled wood that I have.
Lots of little garter snakes out right now. They are kind of funny, some skittish others more social. The dog likes to entertain herself by chasing them.
I've been using the SolarShower for bathing in the bath house in the afternoons, after the water has been heated by the sun and after I have worked all day getting dirty. It is a very refreshing and comfortable thing to have the whole of the bath house to bath in and no furnace running to heat the water.
It's the best time of year right now. This is the time that if you were given the chance to go somewhere, this is where you'd pick to go. No need to head to the beach or anywhere else really. We love it here at this time.
The first strawberries have begun to blush and we may even get some soon if the new young chipmunk I was doesn't get to them first.
The potatoes we planted have all come up and look very healthy. We put some more in the lower garden yesterday.
This year we have found a bit of return plants coming up on their own. We have kale, tomato, sunchokes of course, ground cherry, squash, sunflowers, and of course all the standards, mustard, red mustard, lamb's quarter, dandelion, and more I am sure we will discover later.
The hens are all doing well. A few of them are fond of the Sunchokes so we cut them up and feed them to them. I never knew that chickens really like apples.
I don't think the fig tree really made it thru the winter the way we wrapped it. There are a few small green buds on it in one place and we are thinking of letting it get thru the summer to get it's self a bit stronger and then transplant it into a pot and take it inside for the winter. It may do better that way and we could put another cherry tree in it's spot.
We added a grape vine and two blueberry bushes to the family. They seem to be doing ok so far. The other 2 grape vines have little tiny grapes on them. Very exciting.
This summer I hope to build a new and improved woodshed for our fire wood, one that actually looks nice as well as being functional. Right now I am working on a woodshed in the work yard for all the milled wood that I have.
Lots of little garter snakes out right now. They are kind of funny, some skittish others more social. The dog likes to entertain herself by chasing them.
I've been using the SolarShower for bathing in the bath house in the afternoons, after the water has been heated by the sun and after I have worked all day getting dirty. It is a very refreshing and comfortable thing to have the whole of the bath house to bath in and no furnace running to heat the water.
It's the best time of year right now. This is the time that if you were given the chance to go somewhere, this is where you'd pick to go. No need to head to the beach or anywhere else really. We love it here at this time.
Monday, May 12, 2014
1 year and counting!
We have had the girls, six hens, for just over a year now and they are doing well and laying. We generally get 5 or 6 eggs a day and have even been able to share with some neighbors.
The girls are totally free range, during daylight hours, which means that we sometimes have to go looking for them. Unfortunately that means that they sometimes try to cross the road. I find myself asking them "Why do you chickens have to cross the road, especially when you have miles of woods to explore in the opposite direction?" I usually only get a puzzled look from them, but interpret it to mean "Because it's there!"
They are an adventuresome and mischievous bunch. We have fenced in the kitchen garden so that the won't eat all the young plants there and if they feel we haven't given them there evening rations soon enough, they will fly over the fence and help themselves to what is supposed to be our future food. But mostly they are good hens.
The girls are totally free range, during daylight hours, which means that we sometimes have to go looking for them. Unfortunately that means that they sometimes try to cross the road. I find myself asking them "Why do you chickens have to cross the road, especially when you have miles of woods to explore in the opposite direction?" I usually only get a puzzled look from them, but interpret it to mean "Because it's there!"
They are an adventuresome and mischievous bunch. We have fenced in the kitchen garden so that the won't eat all the young plants there and if they feel we haven't given them there evening rations soon enough, they will fly over the fence and help themselves to what is supposed to be our future food. But mostly they are good hens.
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| They like to sit under a bamboo and bathe in the dust. |
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