We have just finished our coop (more or less). The coop measures a little smaller than 4’x8’. We have an enclosed run that measures 12’ x 8’ with a 6’ high fence, but the birds will be free range as much as possible during the daytime. There is no top to the run, but it
After a month of watching the garden take off we’ve started to harvest lots of greens and herbs, and some radishes. We’ve been told that one of the biggest mistakes new gardeners make is starting too big, so we only started with 5 raised beds this spring. We are looking forward to adding more beds
One of our best investments has been a good chainsaw and a chainsaw mill. We had to cut down some trees to make room for the garden area. Some of those trees are large enough to mill and get quite a bit of lumber. We use an Alaskan chainsaw mill to convert logs into whatever
A friend gave us two Bantam roosters to help get rid of ticks. One study showed that a chicken will eat 10 ticks per hour. They are wild and roost every night in the forest around the cabin. They come down from the trees every morning and announce the start of their day. We will
Benjamin and I visited Loren and the homestead this past weekend and WOW! Just WOW! I’m so impressed by and excited about the evolution of our property. I had not been there for five weeks and the changes are significant. Let me count the ways… Our friendly bull-dozing Don cleared another section of forest to
The new compost bin is finally in use. It has three 6′ x 6′ bins. The sawdust in the far bin is cover material for a composting toilet. You can learn more about making your own composting toilets at http://humanurehandbook.com/
Why would two gainfully employed people quit their jobs in Dallas, Texas and move to rural Tennessee? By most people’s standards we are successful people living the American dream. However, after years of working in the city we became convinced that the nine-to-five corporate job, while living in the suburbs, was for us an unfulfilling,
We haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t done anything. The walls of the new room are complete, as are the windows, subfloor and the exterior siding. The new room is finally enclosed and weather proof. The driveway is now fixed thanks to Arlie Cooper and Don Robertson. Below are
Cedar posts cut and post holes dug for compost bins. Sarah and I have talked at length about all the things we want to do at our new place. I will be moving there ahead of Sarah and Ben (+ two cats) in preparation for us all to live there permanently this summer. We have
In order to make sure our new homestead’s greywater system doesn’t pollute our land we decided to make our own toothpaste. It is nearly impossible to find toothpaste in rural Tennessee that doesn’t contain fluoride. If you’re not familiar with the problems associated with putting an industrial waste such as fluoride in your body you