Hello Hello!

Winter is in the air...unfortunately! For those that don't know me...I HATE WINTER! hehehe But on the positive side, the cold weather does slow me down to the point that I have a little more time to devote to my blog! I'm promising that I'll do a better job at keeping up!

The past two months have been pretty uneventful for the most part...as far as "homesteading" goes. Due to all the country restrictions, (see earlier posts) we did have the well drilled and now have WATER! I don't feel too bad about it though, as it isn't city water/etc...so I don't have water bills! YEA!

Late October, we also fired up the in floor radiant heating... which led us to having to hurry up and insulate the building since we were losing a lot of heat. Within a week or two, we were able to drywall the ceilings in the living quarters, insulate the outside walls, and blow in insulation up in the attic space. (and yes...I used eco friendly GREEN insulation) This was a huge expense we hadn't budgeted for...so things were slim for a few weeks. You can imagine how many bags of insulation it took to blow a 40x60 building! So now that it's nice a cozy in there...it's heated up real nice.

NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS: My DH underestimated the load the water heater was going to take to heat up the water for the in floor radiant heating. It's working...for now... but at a huge expense of LP, something I'm not proud of..live and learn. Soooooo...I have plans to add a solor hot water collector and tank to preheat the water before entering the water heater. It's not something I'll get to soon though, so look for that spring project in posts to come!
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS: My carefully designed floorplan for the living quarters is REALLY paying off! I researched and studied "passive solar heating" and utilized what I'd learned when designing the living quarters...and boy OH BOY has it worked! Knowledge is POWER...and pun is intended! The living quarters boasts a remarkable temperature over the rest of the building! I'm soooooooo thankful that I paid attention!

Another good thing about winter, (I'm trying to be positive here...) is that I really start getting the "homesteading and sustainable" bug... I have more time to research out ideas...etc... (and catch up on Wretha's Blog!) Start planning my gardens etc...When talking with a friend last night, I decided that I could incorporate my "soon to have" livestock into my photography marketing. So for my "spring set" and Easter pics, I'm going to have LIVE chicks and bunnies! The chickens will then be moved out to the coop. My daughter wants bunnies, I want fertilizer...so that works too! Killing 2 birds with one stone...so to speak! (no pun intended there!) hehe

Another thing I want to mention here...that I haven't touched on yet, is TRASH! One of my concerns when we set out to build was "construction trash". Typically, you see a construction dumpster next to every construction site. This was disconcerting to me, and I had real issues with adding MY trash to the landfill. This set about my thoughts that I would be a frugal as possible in WHAT I was throwing away during the construction phase. I'm proud to say that I did not get a dumpster, and only have a very small garden trailer full of trash....real trash...nothing I could find purpose for! I salvaged every piece of scrap lumber that I thought I could use for another project...every piece of metal siding/roofing over a sq. ft. was saved! (I figure I could piece enough together to cover the roof of a shed or something!)

So what's the GAME PLAN?? So glad you asked!!!
1. This next week, I'm starting on drywalling the walls in the living quarters. My goal in the next two months, is to be moved in...or at least VERY close to moving into the living quarters. Then begins the arduous task of preparing and getting this home ready for the market!

2. I'll also be planning my garden for this next spring. This year I'm going to try something different (for me). I am going to do "square foot gardening", and leave the huge plot to just CORN! I love love love to watch The Garden Girl! She has so many great and wonderful tips and tricks and knowledge..I urge you all to check out her website!
http://www.gardengirltv.com/
As time allows...I'll start building some raised beds to get ready for spring!

3. well...I can't think of number 3 right now! LOL Actually, I can't generalize ALL the things that still need done down to just one thing...so I'll just have to post as I come up with things!

Well, that's it for now! Till next time!