I'm Lorie. I moved to Normal Park in Ypsilanti at the beginning of the year and I hope I never move again. This blog will be dedicated to my work to make our home as self-sustaining and as green as possible. I have been told this means becoming an Urban Homestead but I haven't found a clear definition of the term. We'll see.
Just to clarify, I am not alone in this. My partner and I will be doing some of this together but mostly, this is my effort. I will be supervised by Obie, our dog. And, just as a bit of an advertisement, if you need a handy person to fix a drawer or leaky faucet, I'm cheap and available - drop me a comment and I'll email you.
Starting with...not much:
We are starting at close to zero in terms of green, energy efficiency and "homestead" lifestyle here. No gardens, no water management to speak of, terrible energy efficiency (open fire place, drafty windows, inefficient appliances etc.) Our one advantage is the fenced back yard and yet even there - buck thorn, invasive this and invasive that. I don't operate from a strictly do it native perspective but I can do better than buck thorn. I see forsythias, peonies and lilacs in our future. Possibly cuttings from my mother's plants in tribute.
Our first impression was - ouchy, its cold in here. Winter is not the time to tune the windows and thus, we've have made drapes and covered the windows in plastic for the time being. Yes, there are storm windows but they don't seem to be holding the weather out. Come spring, I will have a chance to figure out what is going on with the windows.
Our plans are aggressive for this spring for the outside in short I will be endeavoring to deal with the really non-sustainable and non-green stuff:
- grey and rainwater management (rain barrels...coming soon)
- garden development: composting, 5 gardens 4ft by 6ft veggie, fruit and flower
- a raised permanent herb garden (I will plant herbs all over we want one near the kitchen.
- chickens. I view these as an essential investment in our homestead. Bug control, eggs, and composting...huge happy garden-helping machinery. :-)
Ypsilanti also has a chicken ordinance. As such, we have our permit and Buckeye chicks are on the way. I have already built a coop for someone else, I will be applying the lessons learned for the one I'm building for me.
I will take pictures as I get started. I would LOVE to have suggestions on any of this. I also hope to develop this blog a bit to provide helpful resources as I get to know them.
So do tell - what should I be looking to do that I haven't covered already?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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