Sustainable Design, Sustainable Living, Sustainable Everything
Whenever we tell people about our land one of the first questions they ask is, “How many acres do you have?” Now, 40 acres may not be a lot if you come from a farming family and own a quarter section (160 acres) or
Whoa guys. The possibility of us building Our House in the Trees next year is actually pretty high. Like already picked out our appliances high. Not that there isn’t a chance it won’t work out because, hello, construction be crazy. But I am allowing myself to feel slightly excited. Not that I’ll end up brokenhearted if it doesn’t happen. I love our current house and staying here another year or two certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. But we have been planning to build and move to the land for six years now. We’ve kind of reached the “if we’re going to do this, then let’s do it already” point.
Which is why Devin and I are preparing our current home for sale even though we likely won’t list for another six months or so. Because we’re the kind of people that like to be ready. Although I’m thinking selling the home you’ve lived in for ten years and building a new house is somewhat akin to having a new baby. You’re never quite ready and when it happens you are both filled with extreme joy and deep, deep terror. But maybe that’s just me being melodramatic.
I’ve been wanting to take you all on a tour of our land for quite awhile now. You can read all about how it came to be ours in my post The Story of Our Land. I think the pictures in that post give a good idea of what the land is all about. And I hope my writing paints a vivid word picture. I do tend to get kind of poetic when espousing on things I’m passionate about.
But if a picture is worth a thousand words (and as a writer, I’m not sure I always buy that line), then how many pictures is a video worth? I suppose it depends on the content and the quality of the video, but I think this one captures the true – and largely untamed – beauty of our land.
I hope you enjoy watching my land tour as much as I enjoyed making it!
‘Tis the season! For gardening that is. There aren’t many things in this world better than sticking your hands in freshly turned garden soil. (Except eating it when pregnant – which I did. Don’t judge.) Last spring, I wrote a post featuring a Homemade Garden Fertilizer recipe, but I only tried it out once due to the fact that I had a newborn and a two year old at the time.
Now that my kids are one and three I obviously have so much more time on my hands so I’ll be dousing my abundant vegetable garden in homemade fertilizer on a weekly basis. Except I don’t have a vegetable garden this year because I was being facetious about all the time on my hands. Hello. My kids are one and three! I couldn’t even plant runner beans because my eldest kept spilling the seeds between the deck boards while my baby climbed fully-clothed into the kiddie pool.
Banana peels, black tea, molasses and eggshell make up a super easy organic garden fertilizer. Just add to an empty jug, mix with rainwater and go! Want to learn how to make fertilizer at home? Read on! I’ve been trying
