One critter I don't mind finding in the garden!
Hey Everyone! It has been quite awhile since I lasted posted, I apologize for the brief hiatus. However, summer is starting to wane and we have been very busy; family, friends, a road trip, garden chores, and painting the house. Between all those events and my work schedule, there has been very little idle, indoor computer time. And you know what, I am completely OK with that. I started this blog about six months ago in the dead of winter. I remember writing those first couple posts just itching for gorgeous weather so I could write about it and all the crazy projects that I have goin’ on. Well you wanna know something, right now we have gorgeous ( if not a little hot) weather, I have plenty of projects (in different stages of “not being done yet”), and absolutely no time to write about any of it. I find the irony hilarious. I am the kind of person that when I get into something, i.e., a new hobby, a new book, or a new skill or project, I jump in with both feet and learn and gain as much experience as I can. Take this blog for example. At first I really wanted to have a new post at least once a week, and sometimes that actually happened. Sometimes I even managed to get two done in one week! I noticed this spring that as the weather got nicer, I was less interested in being glued in front of the computer and more concerned with being outside with my family. So here we are, August sixth, 2010 and what a summer it has been so far. First, we have gotten so much rain this year. The chore of having to go out and water the garden has been very minimal this year, and I can honestly say that I cannot remember a year in recent times that has been as wet as it has been this year.
The house that use to be next door. Now the lot is ours and being nursed back to health!
Second, we made a huge purchase about two months ago. We bought the vacant lot that adjoins our original urban homestead, and so now we have a total of three city lots, about .41 acres. Compared to a rural farmer, .41 of an acre is nothing, but doing what we do here in the city, this piece of land is priceless. We have a lot of ideas and projects planned for the new land, but for right now it is has just been seeded for a lawn. The main reason for planting the grass seed is simple, we have had so much rain we needed to plant something that would germinate quickly to help keep the erosion down. The quick story is this. We bought the lot from the city. The city purchased the lot and the house that was on it from the previous owner and then proceeded to tear down the house. Needless to say, we got a pretty good deal on this lot and it would have been stupid to not purchase it, but the front half of it was a giant mud pit, hence the new green lawn. Other stuff that has been goin’ on here at the Autonomy Acres homestead: the garlic is in and we had a great season, 300 plus heads consisting of seven varieties, we are having a bumper crop year of cucumbers ( LOTS OF PICKLES!) , still no chickens, we bought a trailer for hauling compost-manure-firwood-etc. that still needs to be fixed, japanese beetles are eating my plum and cherry tree, we are growing water melons successfully for the first time in five years, the cucumber/squash-beetle/bug just showed up and is hungry, the apples are almost ripe and I have a broken wheel on my lawn mower that needs to be fixed. So there is a summary of my summer so far. I will really do my best to post much sooner this next time because I really do enjoy writing and hearing from the few readers that I have. Until next time, Cheers!
