The year in review- 2009

It's almost New Year's Eve! EEEK! Where did the year go? It seems like just last week that I was setting goals for the year, now it's time to take stock of my progress and think about what I want to accomplish next year.

This has been a HUGE year for us. So much has happened and our lives have changed, for the better, I think. But how did I do on the goals I set last January? Let's see:

1- Food production- plant, weed and harvest a garden. Well, it was planted and harvested but the weeds were an issue this year. The combination of having no time and the unusually wet weather sabotaged my efforts to keep up with the weeds- but all in all- I didn't do too bad. The fact that this was the first time this land had ever been worked was definitely NOT in my favor on the weed front.

2. Food security- I had hoped to reach 50% of our food produced at home or locally grown. I don't think I made this one. We still do a much better job of eating locally than many around here do but I'd like to do better. We're probably at about 30% for local foods but honestly, things have been so crazy this year that this is one area I let slide.

3. Home Front- find and purchase our acreage. This one is a big definite accomplishment. There are still days that we wonder if we bit off more than we can chew with this house and how much work it needs but we keep plugging along. Having our own land is such a sense of security, now we're looking at the overall plan for developing it to it's fullest potential.

4. Health- Well, this one was hit and miss. I definitely am physically stronger than I was. Working on the house has helped that one along. I did not manage to lose any weight though, In fact, with the decrease in exercise that I'm getting since I no longer walk to work, I have put on a few pounds since we moved. grrrr...

5. Learn something new- well, I didn't learn to knit but I have learned several new skills. I can now add dry walling, tiling and framing to my list of skills. Not too bad.

6. The three R's- we have been really good about this one. We've become much more deliberate in our purchases- partly due to finances and partly due to being more conscious about it. We have also been good at reducing waste while we worked on this place. We have repurposed as much as was feasible and have scrounged many of the things we needed when we could.

All in all, not too bad of a showing for this crazy year. Now, we're looking down the barrel of a new year and a new decade. But more on my plans for the next step later.

Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve celebration. Welcome the new year.

Independence days- a snowy update

I can't believe that it's almost the end of the year. And what a year it has been. I'm tossing over ideas for a 2009 wrap up post and a look ahead at goals for the new year (and decade!) But in shorter terms, it's been a while since I've done an Independence Days update. We're in the dark days of winter so the options for many of the categories are limited here in the frigid midwest.

1. Plant something- nope. But I have begun the planning for next year. We've been talking about constructing an herb spiral. Actually, I would love to have a double spiral (one clockwise, one counter) with culinary herbs in one and medicinal/tea herbs in the other. I've been compiling my list of herbs. I have also been planning some permaculture plantings (mainly fruit trees) and trying to figure out to best use our land. Many projects will be on hold until we sell our house in town though and can afford to have some major outside work done.

2. Harvest something- Hmm... does snow count?

3. Preserve something- only my sanity, and that has been a close thing these past few weeks.

4. Waste not- mostly the usual. I forgot to put the cloth bags back in the car last weekend and was amazed at how guilty I felt walking out with plastic bags- even though just about everyone else was using plastic. We rarely don't have enough bags in the car. We've got 6 or 7 bags that cycle between the house and car so it is rare that none of them make it back in. Let's see, I also re-used gift bags for wrapping presents for my sister, niece and nephew.

5. Want not- Even though it was a gift for V, I'm counting the chainsaw purchase as a prep item. We're hoping to put in a fireplace or wood burning stove at some point and will use the saw for cutting wood. We've got 3 dead trees on the property now that need to come down. As far as storage- I now have LOTS of cinnamon and vanilla. My parents live near a different bulk store than I do and made a recent trip there. Mom got two huge bags of ground cinnamon that she divided up between herself, my sisters and I. I ended up with about a pound and a half of cinnamon!!!!! I'm going to have to figure out what to make with it. I can't imagine using that much before it starts losing it's flavor. She also gave me a one liter bottle of vanilla- you know, the Mexican kind with the rooster on the label- yum. I picked up a little bit of candy on the after Christmas sales to stash away for sometime in January for a treat for the children.

6. Community food systems- hmm, not much here other than making a donation to the food pantry.

7. Eat the food- no problem here. We're going to try to eat more out of storage in the next few weeks. Finances are tight and with the extra expenses of Christmas gifts and insulation, it's going to be a lean month. Fortunately, we've got enough stores to eat well for quite a while. It will just take a bit of planning and I've been lazy lately.

In other news, I didn't get the job I had applied for. Actually, I'm relieved. I was so on the fence about applying in the first place and this means one less headache I have to deal with. Now I can keep my focus on the things that are really important to me.

I'll try to do a year in review post and new goals sometime soon.

Thinking of Spring

Already! I've got a post up at Homemakers Who Work about drooling...er... dreaming over seed catalogs. It's one of my favorite Winter pastimes. Do you have any favorite seed catalogs or companies?

Christmas photos

These are not in any particular order but are images from the last two days.

We had a wonderful holiday. The weather held out long enough for us to get to my parents briefly yesterday. One sister was there (from Maryland). My other sister, from Colorado didn't make it due to the storm. They opted to stay home where it was safe. My brother is in Argentina. We had a smaller Christmas than usual, partly because of economic conditions, partly because we just don't need as much stuff.

The boys each got Mythbuster's science experiment kits. K9 was experimenting with his today.

Baking soda and citric acid in water, blowing up a balloon.

It's fun.

He's a bit more apprehensive as the balloon gets bigger!

We had 2.5 inches of rain Thursday into Friday morning. The creeks were running high- but it was beautiful. It still didn't manage to wash away all of our snow.

Our tiny pond is a bit bigger than usual.

V was surprised by his big gift

And later at my parents, Dad came through with a companion gift-

Chain oil!

We did get about 4 inches of snow overnight, enough for V to really use the snowblower. My parents were pleased that we got something that we can really use with their gift.

It's one powerful machine!

My gift from V

I also got two silicone baking mats, Ethel gloves (OK, I'll confess, I got those for myself for a stocking stuffer when J15 and I discovered them on the discount rack for $5 a pair!) and a new wooden spoon. I also ended up with a video game for the XBox. In all the years that we have had it, I have played exactly one time- but I still got a game for Christmas (Assassin's Creed)- I think really because V wanted it for himself.

The boys got their science experiments, some clothes, books and a couple of video games. K got his pocketknife. J15 got earrings, an art supply organizer/box, books and a game. Even the pets got gifts, Tick got a new chew toy and the cats got a scratching post that we attached to a corner of the kitchen island where they seem to think they want to sharpen their claws.

More seed catalogs arrived today. I'm now up to 7. Fun for dreaming of the spring and making plans... I really want to do some serious permaculture on this land. We were joking around at inviting an old friend from Virginia to come visit us and give us tips. She has her own landscape design business.

We're also working on designing our new deck which we hope to build wrapping around the addition. We're in luck that my Dad has some lumber that he's willing to give us. Dad is a scrounger (I come by it naturally) and a number of years ago, when a tornado came through and took out the airplane hanger at the neighbors (he has a crop dusting service and landing strip) my Dad salvaged a bunch of lumber. He has a stack of treated 6x6 beams, the longest of which is 26 feet. That's waaay longer than we will need or will be able to transport- but we now have support posts for our deck at no cost other than transportation from my parents.

Now that the holidays are past and we are into the depths of winter, we can do some serious planning for spring/summer projects and next years goals.

From our house to yours

Merry Christmas!

May it be filled with wonderful things.

Be safe, warm and content.

Judy, Vernon, Justine, Ian and Karl

It's finally done

V finally finished up the last of the insulation! Hurrah!!! Just in time for the freezing rain to hit.... boo...

But we now have just over 20 inches of warm, toasty insulation in the attic.

Here is the pitiful amount that was up there to begin with:

Yup, that's an accurate reading... sad isn't it.

And the previous owners said they had an energy audit and were told it was sufficient. Yeah, right!

During installation.

We installed two layers of R30 insulation.

Finished! A sea of yellow fiberglass

We've been getting rain/freezing rain/sleet mix all day and it's supposed to continue through tomorrow. Then it's supposed get cold and change to snow on Friday- Just in time for us to travel to my parent's.

I'm off until Monday and I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow. I need to finish wrapping presents tonight so we can relax tomorrow evening .

Sunday photos

A bit of a slow day around here for a change. I12, J15 and I were at church by 730 this morning so I12 could warm up for his performance. They sounded great! V and K9 arrived after the first service and stayed for the second service while J15 and I went shopping. Man, I LOVE the discount racks! We found some really cute stuff on the 75% off clearance rack and I still had an extra 30% off coupon to use- we got some sweet deals- and only clothing for the two of us. It's been a while since I've gotten anything new and I really needed it.

It was snowing a bit this morning. Not really enough to warrant getting out the snow thrower (we picked it up Friday evening) but V wanted to play... er... make sure it works... yeah, that....

It's HUGE!!

And a package for me appeared under the tree...

Only a few biscotti left.

We did bake Vanilla cookies today:

Some traditional...

Some not. Well, they're traditional for us...

K9 got out his old hot wheels track and was playing with that this afternoon.

Spaz thought it was fun...

Look at that concentration.

But then, all tired out, it's time to take a nap on the presents.

It was nice to have a slower than usual day. V did find his heavy duty respirator that he's going to use up in the attic. He will do the installation, J15 will run the insulation from the vent to where he is working and help him get it cut to size, the boys will load it into the sling. They're going to try to work on it for a few hours at at time during this week as the weather allows. We were granted a reprieve today since it was snowing.

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. The days will start getting longer. I can't wait. I know we have several cold, dark months ahead but every little bit helps. Have a peaceful week.