monday's mountain musings- break is over

busy bees on New Year's Day

Happy New Year! It has been a little while since my last post but all is well around the homestead. I decided that I needed a little break from life with the exception of my darn math class for a few weeks (translated to, math moron trying to keep an A) and then decided that my winter break was going to be a break from everything except the essentials of homestead life. It was a much needed break after having such a busy spell of folks coming through over the last couple months.

Our first big dose of winter has finally arrived. Yesterday it was in the 60's and today it is 34 and VERY windy. Tonight will be the first night we get into the teens or single digits. I am going to either be really brave or really stupid and not cover any of the outdoor veggies that are growing. An old local farmer last summer told us to just leavum and they will be ok. In reality, I don't have much choice as row covers would not stay on the beds with this wind. The green house stuff will all be covered with an inside layer to keep things alive. I have about a 100 cabbage and broccoli plants in there that I thought bugs killed last fall as seedlings that have all come back to life as well as peas that are just starting to produce, greens, lettuce and asparagus seedlings.

Not much has been going on around the place in the way of improvements or changes. Manthing has been working steadily this winter (not complaining) so project time is limited for him. I have been a lazy slacker with most everything but school. Wood for next year is being cut when time permits and a clearing is being made for an eventual raised bed, hoop house. Seed catalogs are arriving so soon I will be sorting and deciding what and where stuff will be planted. Seeds will be started in a week or two for the early crops and before ya know it spring will have arrived.

the BIG table

We now have a super BIG work table in the project/living room. It measures about 4 foot wide by 8 foot long and is about 4 foot in height. This will give me plenty of room to sort seeds for saving, plenty of room for making stuff, and a great place for collecting clutter. It also fits in quite well with our other decor and was very budget friendly to build.

Manthing ran across a couple of large things (wall sections perhaps) at the warehouse that were being tossed out. We do not know exactly what they originally were but when he saw them he saw tabletops. He also snagged up a few wood pallets that were being tossed out as he saw legs! Yes, yes, our table is completely made of someone elses garbage and cost nothing but a couple hours of time, mostly spent rearranging the room, and moving the pieces and parts in since it had to be assembled inside. The only monetary cost was for the screws and nails holding it together and to make hangers on one side for pots and pans. To assemble, all he did was cut a few inches off of each of the pallets so that it wouldn't be quite so tall then attached a piece of plywood on the underside of the table top where the 2x8's stuck out to make hidey holes on the underside. We then brought it all in, stood the pallets up and slid the top over the pallet tops and attached. He then added a couple braces for support.

There is plenty of storage area underneath the table and the legs (between pallet slats) can hold small things like cookie sheets. A few hooks will be added to hang pans from and chop blocks will be set atop for butchering and such. It will be sooooo much nicer than the teeny tiny 3x2 foot table that I have had to work on!

silent sunday