Shed

Finally found a shed and was the first to respond to the ad on craigs list. The first step was cleaning up the area behind my shed to make room for the new "old" shed. We got some cinder blocks from my dads house and made a fire bit to burn up the old rotten lumber I had stored behind the shed.

Then I set those blocks to make a foundation for the new shed to sit on.

Me and a neighbor went to where the shed was, and took off the end walls and the roof so we could get it to fit on his trailer. And hauled it home.

Next step was to move the floor and walls into position. This was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Me and my son used some steel pipe borrowed from a neighbor to put under the skids and a couple boards to make a ramp up onto the leveled out spot.

Here it is sitting in its new home.

I need to patch a couple spots and get the walls & trusses back on. Then I got some galvanized steel at my dads house that we are going to use for a new roof.

Easter weekend work

Our new doe had a litter! Eight kits and all are doing well.

We had a fun and busy weekend. On Friday me and my son went out fishing for a couple hours in the morning. I was out fished by an 11 year old. He caught the only trout of the day. Saturday morning we left to go vist grandma. We stopped at our favorite place to eat when we go vist her. Then took a tour of Lincoln Caverns. When we got back to her house we took a short walk thru the woods and to an alpacca farm. We got an awesome Easter present from her, a pond kit. Sunday we went to Paps house loaded the truck with bricks for our patio and some cinder blocks to make a fire pit. The kids had a Easter egg hunt. Then we headed home.

On Monday we spent the morning working on the patio. Overall it turned out pretty good. I used a chunk of rubber roofing under the bricks to keep weeds from coming up thru the bricks.

Then we worked on the pond. It's not done yet, need to get some rocks to put around it to cover up the hose. It didn't take the robins long to find it. There were four that took a bath in it all ready.

The garden is starting to grow faster. The carrots are not up yet but the rutabagas and turnips are up. The plants we have under the grow lights inside are doing good. Should be able to put the broccoli plants outside to start hardening off next week.

We have a busy weekend planned this week. Friends coming down from New York for a visit. And its opening day for little league. Going to build a big fire pit and hope that its not to windy to use.

Pressure canner & planting

We got our pressure canner this past week, an All American.

We made a batch of beef stew yesterday. Seven quarts and five pints. I just had a pint of it for lunch and it turned out very good. Cant wait to try something else in it.

We have been busy getting the gardens ready. Got a new compost bin made. It will be used for yard/rabbit waste and then transferred into the other two bins when needed.

Our lettuce and radishes are doing good under the hoop we have set up. Planning on getting some more planted under here this week.

We got our eight pounds of seed potato's planted last week at the neighbors and helped him out with his garden.

Our carrots got planted this past Friday. We dug out trenches and filled them with our compost then raked the soil back over the trenches to make mounds. We got five different kinds planted. Hoping to use the pressure canner for some of these later this year.

Our new doe has been making a nest and has it full of fur. Hoping that later today she has a litter. We had to get a new buck last week. Ours got wry neck. The farmer said that there is not much to do for them when they get that but the meat is still safe to eat. So it being a meat rabbit and not a pet I decided to butcher him. Our new buck is crazy. He waits until the door to the cage opens and makes a run for it. He has gotten out twice so far.

I have been helping my neighbor re-roof his house in exchange for help building our new shed. We have come close to getting two off of craigslist for a bargin, but we we were not fast enough, both were gone before we got a chance to talk to the owners.

Lots to do this week before a small trip to visit some family for Easter.

Our weekend

We had a busy weekend and got to spend most of it outside in this beautiful weather we've been having.

Friday we made our weekly trip to the farmers market to buy our produce for the week. Spent some time in the yard & gardens working, cleaned up behind the shed and then built a fire and sat outside for the evening.

Saturday we had visitors and spent most of the day outside playing with the kids. Built a fire Saturday night and spent St Patricks day in style with some Irish car bombs & Guinness. I think my bar tender had a ulterior motive as she kept the drinks coming and then the talk turned to chickens and I mentioned we should maybe get some.

Sunday we took a trip to a local nursery to pick up a couple plants for the garden, baseball practice and then we hiked to the creek close to our house to try some fishing. I caught a nice sized rock bass on the first cast. Shortly after that my reel broke so we didn't get to do much fishing but it looks like a good spot and since it's close enough to walk to we should be able to get out and do some fishing this summer. The banks and trees are covered in plastic from the flood we had last year. If I see the property owner out sometime I'll ask if there is access other than walking down a steep hill that we could use if we clean up the area some.

Got a chance to talk to the neighbor who we are growing corn and potatoes with this year. We will be spreading compost in the field sometime later this week. We have onion sets and a few other things to plant this week.

Started working on a material list for the new shed, still not sure what will be happening with that project. Price is a big factor so we might go with a metal shed kit or enclosing the area with fencing and build a cover for the rabbit cages. Moving the rabbits out of the existing shed can't happen soon enough for me. Need the space they are taking up so I can start working on some projects.

The bar project is on hold once again. I do have the top of the bar now. So it will be a matter of finding time to start building. It's been so nice outside that when I get home from work and on weekends I try to spend as much time outside as possible.

Mead, from the winemaker's recipe handbook

THESE INGREDIENTS MAKE ONE GALLON OF WINE! It's easy to modify for larger batches, which we do after we've tried a batch once.

2 1/2 lbs honey
7 pts water
3tsp malic acid
1 1/2 tsp tartaric acid
1/4 tsp tannin
3/4 tsp energizer
1 campden tablet crushed
1 pkg wine yeast

Bar update

I wanted to be done with clearing out the bar area of the basement by now,but things kept popping up that take priority over building a bar. Had to have some work done to my truck, birthday parties, family visits and running low on split fire wood. The firewood is now all split and stacked, and the next two weeks, for now anyway, seem to be not very busy for us. There's some rainy weather on the way, so that means I'll have time to get back to work in the basement. My goal is to have the bar side of the basement cleared out, the stuff put away, and to get started on framing the bar by Sunday. Wish me luck.

Spent Grain No-Knead Dough Recipe

(It only takes about 5 minutes to make the dough ahead of time)

6 cups All Purpose Flour
3 cups Spent Grains
1 1/2 tablespoons Yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/4 cup Oil (canola or olive) or butter or margarine
1 1/2 cup lukewarm, room temperature or cold liquid
(this can be water, wort, milk, beer, or a combination)

CAUTION: Start by adding 1 cup of liquid, then add a 1/2 cup and test the texture of the dough. It's better to add more water than to add more flour to absorb the liquid. Remember, the spent grain is going to be wet too.

Put all ingredients in a 6 quart bowl or dough bucket. Mix by hand or with a mixer.
DO NOT KNEAD!

Let the dough in the bucket sit on the counter for approximately two hours, until it has doubled in volume. Don't worry if you forget it overnight, as long as there are no eggs in it it's okay.

Once it has risen, put it in the fridge or a cooler overnight, or for at least 3 hours. If it's cold outside you can put it on the patio or porch in a cooler. You want it in 36 to 40 degree temps so it will get good and cold, and be easier to work.

You can keep this dough up to 5 days. After 5 days it will start to turn color a bit, but it's still okay up to 7 days. You can also freeze it.

When ready to use, take the dough out of the refrigerator and immediately shape into bread loaf, cinnamon rolls, pizza, or bread sticks. For all but pizza let the dough rise for 30 minutes, then stick into a hot oven (400 or 450 degree oven) to bake. Bread is approximately 30-40 minutes, cinnamon rolls 25-30, and bread sticks 20-30. Further notes about pizza coming soon.

Hope you enjoy! This recipe was from a local homebrew shop we frequent. Happy brewing and baking!

weekend work.

The basement bar project is getting closer. Me and my son got 1/2 of the basement cleaned and built some new shelves for our canned food storage.

The top 2 shelves will be for our food storage, the bottom 2 will be for our canning supplies. Doors will be going on in the future.

We moved a giant cabinet my sister had given me months ago into its place and got it filled with the wine making supplies.

We made a trip to a local bulk store and bought 25lbs of flour, and some spices and other baking supplies. We stopped at a local dairy farm and bought 3 gallons of raw milk, one gallon we traded to a friend for a dozen eggs from her chickens. One gallon is for drinking and the other is for making mozzarella cheese. We bought some hamburger from the farm and it was the best beef burger I've ever had. Will definitely be buying a larger amount to freeze in the future.

It's been a long time since the last post.

The big news from Dirty Hippy Homestead is that we're expecting. Due date is August 2nd. We can't wait to meet our new little dirty hippy.

We've been very busy the past month with the holidays, cutting fire wood, brewing beer and making wine. The garden is pretty much done, although we're still picking brussel sprouts,carrots and the collard greens are still going strong.

With the early winter snow storm and a since a friend had a huge tree cut down we should have 1/2 of next years wood cut and split before this winter is over.

Our cherry and grape wine are bottled. Still need to bottle the dandeline wine and the mead. Beer brewing has been going good. Just kegged a dunkle last night and have the ingredients to make a gluten free beer this weekend. Next beer on "tap" will be a stout, so we can use the spent grains to bake breads. Organizing the home brew equipment and building a bar are in the works. First step of cleaning and organizing the basement is going slow, but once I get to the fun part of building it will go a lot faster. We have friends coming from New York for a visit in early March, and the goal is to have the bar finished by then.

The rabbits are doing well, expecting a new litter this Thursday.

We have a lot of plans for this gardening season. We are building a new raised bed so we will have a total of five 4x6 raised beds. We have permission from two of our neighbors to use some of their garden space also. Planning on building a new shed to house the rabbitry, and yard & garden equipment so the existing shed can go back to being the work shop. Also planning on adding another doe possibly two, to the herd.

We have been looking through seed catalogs and making lists. Hopefully in the next week or two we get our orders in. We are looking forward to using the cold frames and hoops to get an early start on some things.

FLOOD

Well the preparation for hurricane Irene helped a little, but was not enough for the flood we had last week.

I left work at 2-o-clock on Wednesday because roads were starting to close because of high water. I got home to about a foot of water in our basement. In the five years I’ve lived at our house, the floor has only gotten wet a few times, and has never had any standing water.

We don’t have a sump pump, so I used a 5-gallon bucket and started to bail. After five hours of bailing, my good neighbor brought over his sump pump and we pumped the basement out.

My wife woke up at 2am, and checked the basement, it had around a foot of water in it again. I decided there was no use in trying to bail, it was still pouring outside, and my back was killing me, so we waited until 7.

When I made it outside my neighbor was already there to lend me his pump, we took turns all day an hour at my house an hour at his. Finally the water stopped coming in, just in time too, the last pumping of his basement and the pump stopped working.

On Friday I tried to get the chest freezer dried out as best as possible, had a box fan blowing on the motor & even used a hair dryer but when I plugged it back in it sparked & smoked.

So we made a trip to home depot. We got a new freezer that's now in our kitchen until I make a cinder block platform in the basement to raise it up. The rest of the day was spent watching flood coverage on the news.

Saturday I built a fire in the woodstove turned on the fans and me and my son spent the day taking everything in the basement that came in contact with the water outside, we scrubbed the floors, walls and everything touching the floors with Clorox, then cleaned everything outside and put it back into the basement.

Our corn & bean crop was in 10 inches or so of flood water so we're not going to get to eat any of it. Our raised beds did ok, although the kale & carrots are starting to die in one bed, most likely from too much water.

In two days we got over 8 inches of rain, I emptied our 4inch rain gauge twice. Overall we got lucky again, there were neighbors close by that had basements full of water and some towns not far from us that lost whole houses, bridges and roadways.

What we did during Irene

We prepared for the rain we were supposed to get Friday by cleaning up the basement. We got everything up off the floor in case any water came in.

We picked all the ripe tomatoes from the garden and dug up the potatoes.
Also made a trip to the homebrew store and got ingredients for a "Dunkel" beer.

Saturday the rain started, and rained all day into Sunday. We made zucchini bread in the morning, and spent the afternoon making tomatoe sauce. We made 10 quarts again and got it all canned.

Sunday morning we checked the basement and it was dry. Outside some tree branches came down and some of our corn was blown over. The worst damage to the garden was the tomatillo plant, it snapped off at the base of the plant. It rained about 5 inches and if the basement wouldn't have been clean I'm sure some water would have come in. The rest of the day Sunday was spent brewing & wine making.

We picked dandelions this spring and froze them to use later. We had enough frozen to make a gallon of wine. We also had 2 gallons of grape juice that we used to make 2 gallons of grape wine.

For supper we used the spent grains from the beer to make bread sticks, cheesy bread sticks and the pizza crust. Everything turned out awesome, and there were no leftovers.

Cant wait to use some more of the spent grains this week.

Hope everyone is safe after the hurricane. We were supposed to have some flooding & high winds. Overall it wasn't too bad for us. We made out better than alot of people did.

What a vacation

Took a week off of work to do some backyard camping and hiking.

Our first night was great, the second two days of vacation were spent watching it rain. On the third day, I put up a tarp, and we made a giant pot of tomato sauce and canned it outside. We got ten quarts, and enough for a big pot of spagetti. It turned out really good.

After another day of rain we took a little hike. The next day was going to be the big day of vacation, with a trip to DC to check out the monuments and Smithsonian. We made it about 1-1/2 miles before we were in a car wreck. A guy ran through a red light and right into us. Luckily no one was hurt other than some bruises.

This ruined the whole day, and the next day was spent trying to get a rental truck. After finally getting our rental truck, we tore down camp, spent the night inside, and left early the next morning for a family reunion. It was a good time and we got to go on a hike at Trough Creek State Park.

view from one of the many ledges on the Ledges Trail.

Good Work

Wow, remodeling is hot and dirty work...but the reward at the end keeps us going. Sort of makes me think of gardening. All the planning and tending a garden requires. We battle weeds, pests, and weather...definitely some dirty, sweaty, sometimes back-breaking work. Funny thing to enjoy so much. The reward isn't just the harvest though, it's so much more.

For me, it's the magic contained in each tiny seed. The hope that it grows strong, and the excitement of seeing it reach it's full potential despite everything it's up against. There's a sense of pride too, knowing that we do our best to help them along.

Putting seeds, or our own plants, into the earth is good work. It satisfies something deep inside. Pulling the weeds on a muggy summer day, then stopping to look at the garden afterwards always brings a smile.

Garden work is almost like a moving meditation for me. My mind slows down,and for just a little while...I'm free.

Rabbit/homestead update

The eight kits are doing well. We've taken out the nest box. It's really amazing how fast they grow. The temperature has been perfect the past week, in the low 80's during the day and high 50's at night. It makes it nice not having to keep taking frozen bottles out for them.
Here they are at a month old:

We made some tomato stakes out of some old lumber my dad gave us, and got the tomato plants staked up finally. Our garden so far is mostly bug free. I pick any bean beetles off of the bean plants in the morning and at night, so far four has been the most I've picked at one time.

We got the woodpile area of the yard cleaned up, and ready to start cutting and storing wood, until we get enough to have a splitting party.

Last year we cut wood, and got some from a tree trimming company, and stacked it until we had enough wood for the winter. We had some friends come with their log splitter and spent all day splitting, and the night drinking homebrew.

Last years wood pile:

We finally got the corn planted in the garden our neighbor is letting us use. It should be ready to pick in the middle of September. Planted more greenbeans, black beans and cow peas there also.

Living room remodel

Finally getting around to painting our living room. I decided that if I was going to paint, then I'm going to do it the right way, and fix everything I don't like in the room. The ceiling had old 1'x1' tiles that I absolutely hated. The plan is to tear those out, put up drywall and possibly trim it out to make a coffered type ceiling.

Since the only light in the living/dining room is from a switched receptacle we decided that adding a ceiling fan with a light in the middle of the living room and a light or two in the dining room area while the ceiling is opened up is a must.

Two of the walls are plaster and have so many holes from wall anchors and cracks in them that I decided tearing those out and putting up new drywall will be faster and easier than trying to patch them.

Our front door and especially the storm door are in horrible shape. So my Dad and I are installing a new door and storm door this weekend. Then I'll get started on hanging the drywall, hopefully with some help from my neighbor.

Once the drywall is hung and the painting done, I'll be renting a floor sander and refinishing the hardwood floor. The plan is to have all this work done by August 1st so with work, gardens, yard work, and rabbits this is going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Bread class

Last Saturday we took a bread making class at our local homebrew store. We've taken wine making, beer brewing & cheese making classes. The hands on experience has really helped us.

In the breadmaking class we learned how to use the spent grains from home beer brewing to make breads, pizza crusts, bread sticks and cinnamon rolls.

The women teaching the class made samples for everyone to try, and the pizza crust and bread sticks were amazing.

Cant wait for the next batch of beer we brew so we can try out some of her recipes.

Rabbit Update - 11 days old

The kits are eleven days old today. They should be opening their eyes anytime now.

Out of the nine born we still have eight. A couple days ago when I went out to the shed, there was one on the floor that the momma must have kicked out. It was a runt and not in very good shape, so I got rid of it.

The temperature is back up in the 90's for the next couple of days, so we'll be watching them carefully. We have the jugs of water frozen and ready.

This is our first litter that has made it this far, we only had one other litter and they didn't make it. If it keeps going good I think this fall we'll be adding another doe or two.

What We've Got Growing 2011

HERBS
Basil
Chamomile
Chives
Dill
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon
Thyme

FRUITS
Blueberries
Grapes
Pears
Raspberries

VEGETABLES
Beans - Black, Cowpeas, Green, Pinto, Yellow Wax,
Beets
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots - 2 kinds
Cauliflower
Collards
Corn - 2 sweet varieties
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic
Kale
Lettuce - Buttercrunch, Red Sails, Romaine
Mesclun Greens
Onions
Peas - 2 kinds
Peanuts
Peppers - Bell, Carribean Red Hot, Cayenne, Chocolate Habanero, Hot Pepper Mix, Jalepeno, Lemon Habanero, Red Mushroom,
Potatoes - Desiree, Nicola, Purple Majesty, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins
Radishes
Rhubarb
Spinach
Squash - Butternut, Spaghetti, Zuchinni
Tomatilla
Tomatoes - Amish Paste, Al'Kuffa, Beefsteak, Black Krim Cherry, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Delicious, Golden Jubilee, Mortgage Lifter, Mr. Stripey, Roma, San Marzano, Sub-Arctic

WILD BACKYARD EDIBLES
Dandelions
Violets

PICK-YOUR-OWN AT NEARBY FARMS AND ORCHARDS
Apples
Blueberries
Cherries
Strawberries

I don't think I missed anything.
We may add more later as space opens up.

Camping, Hiking, Rabbits & Garden Update

We pitched the tent in the backyard Friday afternoon, after a morning of cleaning up tree branches that came down in a thunderstorm Thursday night. Then it was off to the sons baseball game. As soon as we arrived at the field it started getting dark out, and before the game could be started it started thundering, yet another game postponed due to rain. As soon as we got back home it got nice out so we built a fire, had a little cookout, and then another thunderstorm rolled in. We decided to spend the night inside. Saturday was better. We picked up our 1/4 of beef from the butcher shop, got some free wood on the way home, and got to sleep outside. We cooked our breakfast on the grill Sunday morning.

And then went on a fantastic hike on the Mason Dixon trail. It was our first time on this section of the trail, and it was my favorite so far.

Our doe had her second litter this past Saturday. We were camping out in the back yard and got to hear her having them in the shed. At first I thought it was a cat making the noise, then I remembered that it was day 31 and that's when she had her litter last time. This was her second and last chance. Her first litter she had eaten two out of four, and the other two had died. This time she had nine and so far, knock on wood, they're all alive.

Saturday & Sunday were warm, but now we're in a heat wave. Monday was 94, today and tomorrow will be in the 90's, then it cools off finally on Thursday.

It's been hard keeping the cages cool. We had soda bottles that we filled with water and put in the cages. One right next to the nest box, one for the doe to lay against, and one in the bucks cage. They only last about 3 hours before they need to be replaced with frozen ones. We have the side & garage door propped open during the day, but around three o'clock the sun is on the side, so we have to close the side door until five. The fan is on high and the water bowels are constantly filled.


The gardens are doing good. We've been eating lettuce, broccoli, and some collard greens, but I'm really looking forward to the tomatoes. Have some more pepper plants to put in this week, and need to plant some more spaghetti squash seeds since none came up.

Grape trellis & homestead update

Got to work on the grape trellis after a break in the rain.
Bought two 4x4x8 posts, a bag of quickcrete and a roll of chain link fence tension wire from Lowe's. Then it was time to dig. I dug the first hole and didn't hit a single rock.

My thought was, this will never happen again. Digging the second hole I only hit one small rock. These were by far the two easiest post holes I have ever dug.

I remember when I was 16 working on a ranch in Montana for the summer you couldnt even take one scoop with a shovel before hitting solid rock.

Anyway the holes got dug and then I mixed the bag of cement (with water from the new rain barrel) and got the posts set.

Day 2 of the project didn't go as smooth. I got the holes filled in the rest of the way with the dirt and got the first wire attached using wire staples and then the rain started again. Hopefully this Friday I will get the rest of the wire up.

The gardens are doing very good. Me and my son put up two trellises for the peas to grow up.

We made a trip to a small greenhouse to buy some brussel sprouts,cabbage, dill, basil, chocolate mint & marigolds.

We also built a small shelter for out tomato plants that we started inside (way too early) to harden off. This seems to be working good, protecting it from the sun which hasn't been out much, but when it has been it's been really hot.

The garden behind the shed I "tilled" with a shovel. This is the first year not using a rototiller, our soil is starting to get really nice with the compost, wood ash, leaves, straw & rabbit manure we've been adding over the past couple years.

Peas and cucumbers got planted along the fence. Spaghetti squash, butternut squash & brussel sprouts are planted in the rest of the garden.

Over at the neighbors we got four 4' rows of yellow & green beans planted and still have space for a couple plants.


Plans for the rest of the week:
Finish the grape trellis
Plant tomatoes (if ready Sunday)
Add some raspberry plants to the berry patch