Plastic mulch

In my past posts, you've seen me describe our use of black plastic on our gardens.  We continue to experiment with it.

Last year we used black plastic on our strawberry bed to try and deal with the main challenge with strawberries--keeping them weeded and keeping the runners from choking them out.  The plastic also helps increase the heat in the spring, so we've found the crop matures more quickly on plastic.

One trouble we has last year, though, was keeping the strawberries watered with the drought.  Because the plants tended to be higher than other parts of the plastic, and we try to cut only a hold big enough to get the plant stuck in the dirt, it was hard to focus our watering on the plants without the water running away from the plant to low spots on the plastic.

Accordingly, this year we've decided to try something a little different.  Before putting the plastic down, we tried to create shallow furrows the length of each row and then plant the plants right a long side the furrows.  We don't want the plants in the bottom of the furrow, lest they drown, but yet close enough so that they can soak up the moisture that settles to the furrow and drains through the holes we poke in the plastic with a fork.  We'll see if this becomes a problem if we have a very wet year.

To do this, I first go around the bed with my rotary plow to create a ditch and kick the dirt to the outside.  It works best if you mow the grass (if you have grass walkways, like us) nice and short, as it will make it easier raking the dirt back on to the plastic.  I then tilled the soil, then went back and forth with my rotary plow to create gradual furrows the length of the patch.  We then went with the rake to level things out a little.  You want a light furrow, but nothing too deep. 

We then laid the plastic out, setting it down first into one of the trenches on the outside of the bed, raked soil over the edge to fill in the trench, and then pulled the plastic sort of tight across the bed.  We then worked from the side that we had buried the first side of plastic and gradually put a small amount of sand in the trench, working across the patch.  This keeps the plastic tight as you work across.  Once done, you trim the edge of the plastic to fit and rake the soil back over all edges of the soil. 

Once done, you need to take a pitch fork or some other device and poke quite a few small holes around the plastic to allow moisture to soak in.  Finally, we cut small "x"s in the plastic parallel to each of the shallow furrows, transplanted the strawberries, and watered.

Using rotary plow to make a trench around the outside of the patch, throwing the soil to the outside.  If you don't have a rotary plow, you can use either a spade, or till deeply and use a hoe or shovel to pull out the soil.

The furrow completed around the outside of the patch.

I'm now tilling the inside of the bed

Using the rotary plow to create the furrows in the tilled soil.  Note: you can do this with a hoe as well--it will just take longer.  Also, I made the mistake of running in both directions, which created every other hill bigger than the others.  Next time, I'll run the rotary plow in one direction, and then turn around and start again from the other end.  To mark my rows, I used a spacer and stuck in stakes for me to follow.  My son walked ahead and pulled out the stakes for me.

Finished bed with the furrows.  I then leveled them slightly with a rake so the furrows were not so deep.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of installing the plastic.  We did it quickly one night and all hands were needed.  You san see the sand laid down each furrow and then I use a fork to poke holes in the plastic.  Water can soak in, but generally the weeds can't grow out through the holes.  The few that do you just have to pull out.

Finished bed after planting.  On the opposite end of the bed I'll probably put tomatoes or additional strawberries.  There are over 250 plants in this bed.

This is our nursery bed, where I let the plants send out runners.  I'll probably let them fill out again this year with runners and transplant or sell more next year.  But, you have to stay ahead of the weeds!

Where art though Spring?

Like most of the Midwest, we are anxiously waiting for Spring to arrive. It seems like we've been dealing with mud and snow and firewood forever. Finally, things really felt like spring this weekend.

Deer love strawberries. If there's one thing I've learned since starting homesteading is that deer love strawberries...the leaves, to be more exact. Last year it took me awhile to realize what was gobbling our strawberry plants--right down to the ground. Our crop really suffered until I got an electric fence up. Unfortunately, because I stopped running the fencer over winter, the deer got used to going over or through the fence. After adding another strand failed, I resorted to using some heavy chain link gates and corn crib panels, which seems to be doing the trick.

I also got the dead tops from the asparagus cut off, and a couple days later the new shoots came through. Here's some recent pics.

I Kant do this anymore!

The move to the homestead has gone relatively smoothly, but it seems to have been the most challenging for our 3 year old, who says "I can't do this anymore" to absolutely everything that bothers him, whether it's his new bed, or picking up his clothes, or eating his lunch, etc.  This is largely his age and temperament at work, but I'm sure the move has been hard for him because it's something new.

I studied philosophy in college, and it really wasn't until I was in lawschool and practicing as an attorney that I started to understand some of those things that made absolutely no sense to me in school. Oh if only I could go back and re-take some of those tests!

One of the philosophers I couldn't understand was Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher from the 1700s.  But one nugget I think I understood was his ethical concept of universability, which basically says for an action to be moral, it must be possible for every person to permissibly perform the action.

One of the ideas that has driven me in my adult life, particularly the journey toward homesteading, is to seek a live that can be attained by many, not just an exclusive few.  I've been blessed with a good education and the capacity to make lots of money.  If I was more devoted to my profession as an attorney, I could buy a large farm, build a very nice house, drive new cars, and have many things that most people cannot afford.  But that's not what interests me.  Instead, I'm profoundly interested in finding a way to live that others can follow, whether they're attorneys or doctors or teachers or janitors.  

While I can't say I've been perfect in applying this concept to our journey or our homestead, I think you'll find that most of what we do is fairly basic and straightforward.  Our cabin is built with utility and efficiency as the primary goal, not appearance.  We are a family of 7 (so far) in a small home by most standards, but a home that can easily be built by most anyone if they have the desire to work hard.

I hope that the things that we continue to do will prove helpful to others that feel the call to a homesteading way of life, irrespective of our respective vocational or financial situations.  My dream for the future would be to see the landscape dotted with 3-5 acre homesteads, with modest houses, a functional set of outbuildings, large gardens, a small orchard, chickens in the yard, clothes on the line, and children in the yard.

Of stoves and cold

Unlike last year, winter refuses to give up. This morning it was around zero, and well below zero with windchill. What a difference a year makes!

It's actually a blessing that it's cold though, because now that I've insulated the floor, it's a challenge to keep the house COOL with the wood stove running. We're still shopping for gas ranges, so have to cook on the wood stove or crockpot. Hopefully we'll get the gas stove soon.

We also finished (actually my builder finished) the kitchen "cabinets" and I think they turned out real nice. As you can see, we have standard base cabinets, but included a beefy pine breakfast bar and heavy timber shelves rather than traditional wall cabinets.

Living the good life

I know it's been almost a month since my last post, so to bring you up to speed, we've officially moved in. However, that continues to be a work in progress, as was to be expected. As a large family trying to make the leap to a smaller place, we knew we wanted to take our time, so we could figure out what we really need and what we can live without. This process will continue over time as we carefully and honestly evaluate every article of clothing and every kitchen utensil.

So far, the kids love their new home, especially their bedroom. The wood feels so natural and peaceful. Looking out the windows in the early morning light to see our homestead is hard to explain. Heating and cooking with the wood cook stove is such a joy, but we're keeping our eyes open for a good LP gas range to use for cooking during the warmer months.

One thing I learned about our cabin is that you can't leave the floor uninsulated in the winter. I wrongly assumed that I could simply increase the heat of the cook stove and deal with cold floors until summer when it would be much nicer to crawl under the cabin. What I learned is that any spot where a piece of clothing or box or piece of furniture sat, the moisture would condense because of the cold floors and we'd have a wet spot. Not wanting to ruin the new floors, I decided I'd have to insulate. I considered using spray foam, but the cost was going to be 3 times the cost of fiberglass for about the same r-value. Plus, if I ever put in a basement, it would be much easier to pull out fiberglass than the foam. It was a horrible process of crawling around in the mud, but I got the floor insulated with r-25 fiberglass and then put 3/8" plywood under that. The cost was around $700 and well worth it.

I'll try to post more pics in the coming weeks, but here's a picture I took this morning after a fresh snowfall.

"Are you moved in yet?"

For the past 3 months, this is the typical first question I get every time I see someone at church, at the grocery store, or just around town.  Whether easy small talk or genuine interest, this is exactly what happens.  It's not unlike the 8 month pregnant woman who has endured 7 months of "how are you feeling" or "you're almost there."  At some point you just want to be able to say--"yes, we're moved in".  We are now VERY close, and have moved some of our furniture in to the new place, but alas we are not officially "living" there yet until I get the final inspection.

Even on a relatively modest project such as this, without running water or a central ventilation system, there are innumerable codes and rules that must be followed (a/k/a hoops to jump through).  Overall this has not been a big hurdle, but now as I prepare for the final inspection, I'm trying to make sure I have everything ready to go.  Deck railings have to be finished and there are very rigid rules on spacing between railing spindles, etc.  The interior stairs are now basically done, with the exception of a few more coats of sealer and probably a hand rail at some point.  There are also a few odds and ends trim pieces to put up.

The one exterior deck is now complete and, once I complete the spindles for the other side, I should be ready to have the inspector come out to give us the okay to move in, which basically means spending the night.  In our state, most of the dwelling regulations are driven by a space where a person sleeps.  If you spend only non-sleeping time in the space, you're generally exempt.  At times this has made me want to build a tipi for "sleeping" and a really awesome "garage" to "spend our days".  Instead, we've built a very modest house, and once time and money allows, I plan to construct a sizable "shop" in which to house my tools, our garden equipment, storage, place for canning and butchering, and a rec space to house a ping pong table and other things to entertain crowds, or just our family.  By doing it this way, the square footage normally dedicated to these things in a traditional house (and taxed accordingly) is now considered agricultural space, and therefore much better on the tax bill and, as indicated above, subject to more relaxed code requirements.

In the coming weeks, once I'm no longer spending every non-job minute working on the house, I hope to offer some reflections on this process and why we are doing what we are doing, to hopefully answer the almost as innumerable questions of "how are you going to fit that many kids in such a small house" or "how are you going to live without running water?"  I'll also try to put together a detailed cost list, so you can see what this project cost us.

Kids' bedroom

Dining Room

Living Room

Heavy Timber stairs with railings

Completed Deck

Finishing touches

The project is finally nearing the end--well, end inasmuch as we'll be able to move in soon.  It's not soon to end to the extent that we won't have running water at first, as I didn't have the money to install the septic and plumbing before winter.  There will still be much to do over the coming year but, wonderfully, it will be done by walking out my own back door.

For a variety of reasons, I decided to hire the builders to come back and do the trim.  Once again, this was a regret-free decision, as these guys do exceptional work.  I also purchased pine from them for trim, at a price a little cheaper than Menards, and made from the same species of wood as the logs.  Because the logs were out in the elements and in the sun for much of the year, they are more yellow/orange than they were when new, so the trim is a little lighter than the logs, but with time, they'll look the same.

After considering the various options about what type of sealer to use inside the cabin (and whether to use sealer), we went with a water-based Minwax Polychrylic.  It goes on very well and we've simply sealed all the wood with two coats.  I haven't stained anything--just sealed it.  Having the sealer will keep the wood (trim and logs) safer from stains and little dirty hands, will minimize the degree to which the logs turn orange with age, and should help keep them more stable.  Logs, like wood floors, change size over the course of the year, depending on the humidity.  In the summer, the air is generally more humid, so wood expands.  In the winter, as the air dries out, it shrinks a bit, which is why you may see joints in your hardwood floors in the winter that are absent in the summer.  It's also why doors on old houses may swing freely part of the year, and stick the other part of the year.

The logs have been sealed and most of the trim is up.  I'm waiting for the trim to get finished next week so I can sand the upstairs floors lightly and seal with the final coat.  Then it will be time to start moving furniture upstairs.  In particular, I need to get our queen sized box spring upstairs before the railing goes up; otherwise, it likely won't fit.

In one week we should be done with all the trim and the ceiling sealed with poly.  By next weekend, we should be enjoying the fire from the comfort of our own furniture.

Trim detail and car siding around chimney

Pine doors and trim

Sealing and drying trim