Rainy Day Pondering

We have had a glorious spring but very little rain.  Today is going to be all rain, all the time.

With that, I am updating my blog a bit.  Look to the left and see the links.  Does anyone have any suggestions on cool urban farming websites, urban chickens or local-vore websites?  I would love to get some to add to the link lists.

My seeds are spread out on my work bench.  Waiting for the right time to plan and I am enough of a wimp that I am not going to plant in the rain.

Playing With Dirt

OK,OK not really playing.  It was hard work.  That said, what better way to spend Earth Day?

The first gardens are in.  They are primarily for veggies and yes, we are generally using the square foot method.  I say "generally" because a friend gave me 25 strawberry plants and it just put them in without the square foot measure.  Another friend gave me a kale seedlings and I have tucked them into another spot but will transplant them again when the time comes.

I started with a decking planks and added 2 yards of top soil.  In all, 132 square feet of planting space.  I added some horse manure and will like add some sphagnum moss to lighten it up slightly. I did not put weed barrier down on the grass.  I got some advice that said that I could put down layers of newspaper or weed-wack the grass down to the dirt level and just cover it over.  I took that last option.

I am sore and happy and slightly sunburned.   Just about giddy with excitement about what we get to do next. 

A Day of Looking Around...

We have had some wonderful weather so far this spring and I took advantage of it by planting a bunch of irises given to us by our wonderful neighbor and a friend ours.  I also took the opportunity to look around a little bit.

We have great bird watching in the trees.  Chickadees, Nuthatches, Red Bellies, Hairies, Downies, Robins all over, Gold and Purple Finches,  Cardinals.  And...a Cooper's Hawk, well, actually I think there are two.

Our next door neighbor (other side from the iris gifter) had a huge, dead looking pine tree in their yard.  It sort of leans, no needles, no leaves.  Turns out it was not dead at all in any way and it is now greener that the rest.  It is a European Larch - deciduous pine of sorts.  It has a huge nest being built on one of the branches and I think this might be our Cooper's hawk pair.  We'll see but I am concerned for our buckeye chicks arrival and have a new emphasis on both getting the gardens planted AND getting the coop and chicken run constructed.  That coopers nest will weigh heavily on my mind during this next phase.  Don't get me wrong, I like them.  But they are a natural predator for the chicks.

 Next up: Veggie and Flower Gardens and "The Coop" - chicks are on the way sooner rather than later (meaning a week or so) and I have to get things going!  Rain Barrels and a herb garden will round out the spring works. I'm excited.

Free Compost Bins...sweat equity

This post begins with a shout out to Craigslist.org free stuff. People give the stuff they don't want away. Its a little like FreeCycle but without the joining the group and getting all the email part.

Next comes an introduction to shipping pallets. I love them. You need a van or truck to pick up a pile but they are often made out of hardwood and they make great project stock, fire wood, you name it. I have even seen a pretty cool chicken coop make from pallets. The down side? They take effort - sweat equity. They generally have to be taken apart or have things added to them to make them work for your project.  My goal was to make composting bins for free. 

Where do you get free pallets?  Craigslist.org (free)...it is a wonderful place to find all sorts of things for your home and garden.  

One pallet is in the back with a few extra slats to fill in the blanks. Then two pallets were unscrewed and re-constituted as the 3 walls. 4 hours - an additional hour to finish it off with front panels made from scrap shelves I found in the garage.

And then a funny happens.  We have a sealed black plastic composter for our kitchen scraps.  I felt that two bins would be enough for the pallet composter...this was not the case so, as you can see in the final picture, there is a third bin.  Made the same way as the others.Also, not that these are now FULL.  It took no time to fill them.

Some of the fronts are painted, this is because the wood was not sealed - I felt it would last longer if a little paint sealed the edges.

 We will probably need more bins somewhere else. But for now, we have compost bins for free.   This makes me and my empty wallet pretty darn happy.  Next up?  Well, its spring so there will be some planting.  Chicks are ordered and will arrive in a couple weeks and its time to put the gardens in.  None of this will be free.  After that - rainbarrels for $20...seriously, I'll show you.

Dinner Seating for Eight on the Fly

Short and simple. Thats the way I like projects to be. They rarely go that way but this one did.

It started with "Lets do it this Saturday"...uttered during coffee hour at church Sunday before last. Our church has been doing small group potluck dinners. It was our turn to host our group and we said "sure"...oh yeah, where are we going to put them? What are they going to eat off of? We have a small table for 4 and 12 were on the way.

Well it turns out that this table is incredibly easy to make:
1 Piece of 30" wide plywood 8' long.
4 2x4s
1 piece of hardy pressboard 30"wide and 8' long.

Here is what the frame looked like...mostly scrap wood went into this one and it took just an hour to put together.

Warmer Weather Brings the First Changes

So warmer weather has allowed some basic changes in the back yard. Those of you who know me on facebook have been treated to the discussion about the nasty toilet (a future subject) and the thorn-ridden plantings in our back yard.

The thorny plantings have been cut down including two buck thorns and some mysterious planting with similar thorns at the side fence. Now for the more peaceful plantings and decision-making about them. There are two bushes that have, according to our neighbor, beautiful white flower bunches. And, most importantly, they make this whole area smell so wonderful. Unfortunately, they are in the middle of where I want to put the chicken run. For now, they will stay. I will have to wait to see them flower before deciding their fate. Right now, they are on the block.

It turns out that we do have a Lilac. It has been un-cared for to the point that I didn't recognize it as a lilac. So, after it blooms, I'll trim it.

Kind of boring at this point. I hope to get some pictures up soon.

Hello Out There - Welcome to My Ypsi Homestead Blog

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?