Over the the Last Few Days

 

Over the weekend we worked on our property, went for a hike at Camden Hills (gorgeous ocean view), and worked on some handwork.

Yesterday, Mike and I had our grandson for the day to help out while our daughter and son-in-law went for a prenatal appointment. 

The season is turning and the temperatures are refreshing.

What are you looking forward to as the summer winds down?

September 5

 

Cutting sunflowers for the market.

Such a wonderful community.

Sold $85.00 worth - 5 loaves of bread, 13 peach hand pies, one pumpkin garland, one pumpkin coaster, one bouquet of sunflowers.

Bought: 5 pounds of pork (2 bacon, 1 sausage, 2 cutlets) - $39.00, 1 Skullcap tincture - $12.00

Lettuce, 4 corn, 1 zucchini (that woodchuck even ate those!) - $12.50, peck of apples - $10.00, 1 pound garlic for planting - $15.00 - 1/2 pound garlic for us - $5.00

Total spent at market - $93.50

Our laying chicks are doing wonderfully! 

Wishing you a beautiful day!

September 3rd and 4th

Yesterday after lunch we went for ice cream at our little coastal city/town that I love so much. (Only a 12 minute drive - which I am sure I talked about before.) Another beautiful sunny day with a brisk breeze. I haven't tired of the beautiful harbor view.

Last evening, Mike and I went to a MOFGA event at a farm about 30 minutes from us - Herbal Revolution. The farmer grows a lot of the herbs herself that go into her products. It was great to see that she piles her garden beds with compost from her donkey, pony, and goats. That is what we do as well. But I was encouraged to be liberal with how much we put out and also to not worry about keeping the walking rows weed free - instead weed whack them down which also adds organic matter to the rows.

I have been getting ready for Friday's monthly farmers' market. Baking, finishing up some handwork projects and gathering together all that is needed to for the table to make it look attractive.

Will share pictures of my table tomorrow evening!

Today's inspiration: The Beauty of Less

September 2

 

Small sunflowers in a little pottery vase on a side shelf above the kitchen sink.

Today's inspiration - The Secret Joy of Ordinary Life

Some of today's work - 

Before

A side of our house - my job today was to put stone along the edge, wash the siding, caulk around the window, paint over the inside trim of the window, and then put up the shutters.

After

This is the concrete building in our backyard that Mike has been dismantling the overhang. This overhang served our animals well until Mike finished building the barn.

My worktable - Crocheting some pumpkins to make garlands with Nutiden yarn.

Emme made chicken parmesan for dinner tonight. (She came up with the new spelling of her name.)

Financials - 

Coop - $72.01 (took advantage of last day of sale items before the new flyer comes out tomorrow - more Crofters Organic Jelly, buy 1, get 1 free - also lime juice was on sale. I have some in my water each morning - Mike's cashews, he has a small amount each evening when we sit down to relax for the night, bananas, beer, and a few other things. 

Total food for September = $168.49

Got $40 cash back to go toward an envelope for our property taxes and home owner's insurance to build up to $300/month.

$120.06 - 10 backs of 80# concrete mix - had to make a form in front of the concrete building to stop erosion. Trying to cut our budget down to $3,000/month didn't leave much for the house renovation line item. We have spent probably $40,000 so far on the renovations and our house is comfortable now so that doing more isn't a necessity at the moment. I will break down our costs at some point to share but besides the septic, electrical and plumbing work, Mike and I have done all of the work ourselves which saves so much money.

-

September 1

 A new goal to document my daily life - mostly for myself but perhaps in some small ways my sharing will inspire others.

Online inspiration - Radical Neighboring - What do humans who aren't consumers look like?

Sunflowers in the farmstand.

Granny squares from Nutiden yarn. I love working with this unspun yarn from Sweden. 

Oatmeal raisin cookies.

Bagels made.

Of course more went on - garden work and Mike continues to work on getting a large overhang off our concrete building out back.

Spending: (keeping track because we are starting a budget as of Sept. 1 - goal: $3000/month total spending with $1,000 for food/alcohol/cleaners)

$96.48 - Hannafords

$10.00 of that was a bag of organic potatoes and organic onions - looking forward to having a productive garden next year. We like to buy local produce but we have had a hard time finding produce farmstands around here. The Belfast coop's produce tends to be super expensive - although I do buy as much as possible from there. Looking forward to our town's little monthly farmers' market on Friday where I will be a vendor and make purchases from the other vendors.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Building a Barn

                                              

We brought some of our animals with us to this one acre lot (with a bit of the land including a slope down to a brook that isn't usable) - 6 goats, 8 chickens, 2 ducks and our guinea hen. Already on the property was a cinderblock building (used to be a chicken incinerator when meat chickens were a huge thing in the is part of Maine) with a large overhang. Mike and I drove over to Maine a week before closing on the house to make two stalls under the overhang for the goats and also build a simple greenhouse structure for the birds.

The animals had to wait until our new septic system could be installed before we could work on their permanent housing and fenced in area. In the meantime Mike added a small bit of fencing on each side of the stalls for the goats.

Before the new barn was finished my sweet goat of 14 1/2 years, Madeline, died. Sad for sure but she lived a long and healthy life until the end.

Here is the barn that Mike built. It has three sections - two for goats and one for the chickens - and is 12' x 12"

Off the front is a large fenced in area that the small goats, chickens and ducks share.

Inside the chicken coop part of the barn:

The hay feeder in the goats' stall:

Next up is to remove the large overhang as it is not attractive and it will let us have a view of the animals' fenced in area and provide a bit more open land.