Updates

Yes.  I'm into creative titles these days.

I can't believe my blogging has precipitously dropped off these past few months.  When I was homeschooling both kids, I would oftentimes take a few minutes in the morning to at least start a post.  Now that Akea is attending public school, it's a rush to get everyone out the door to drop her off, and she comes home with plenty of homework, most of with which she needs help.

And having Charlie at home, by himself, means he needs more attention from me.  It's just the way things are rolling these days.

From a homesteading perspective, things are slowing down, but I have been attacking some projects inside the house.  So right now, our life looks like this:

Outside
1. The steers go to the butcher tomorrow.  When we bought them, we knew they weren't pets, but because we raised them from their first week of life, we've grown a bit attached.

2. The younger hens are almost six months old and have been laying small, pullet eggs for about a month.  We're happy that the flocks merged without a hitch, and the goats are enjoying being pastured with them as well.  Our thought is that the goats provide a degree of predator protection for the chickens.

3. The garden has been done for a while.  The no-till idea didn't mix well with my fatigue and the drought this summer, so Byron will till it in the spring and we will try raised beds.  I have a bit of lettuce in pots.

4. We need to prep the hoop house for the chickens, which involves clearing it out, protecting the sides where they'd dug under last year, and making a small access door into the garden.  We want them to be able to go outside when they want, instead of being cooped up (literally) all winter.

Inside
1. I painted the kitchen and large common area at the back of the house, and have begun to work on re-upholstery again.  Soon to come is painting and/or refinishing a few pieces of furniture, then organizing.  Lots of organizing.

2. Byron plans to repair the floor and damaged joist in the downstairs bedroom, and lay hardwood flooring.  Part of the holdup has been figuring out exactly how to reconfigure the bathroom, but I think we have finally made our decision...we're keeping it simple and not tearing up and rebuilding walls.

3. My Nutrimill died!  I believe the motor burned up.  However, I have to give props to L'Equip, the company that makes the machine.  They told me to send it in, and they're fixing it free of charge.  Totally took my word for it that I'm the original owner, too, and told me not to even worry about sending in the receipt.  In all this, a big thanks to my friend, Katey, who has let me borrow her hand mill!

In all this, we are trying to figure out some ways to streamline the homesteading aspect of our lives.  Raised beds will hopefully be easier on me, and Byron would like to set up some semi-permanent electric wire paddocks for whenever we get more cows.  Any by the way, we are going to try to get a couple heifers (young, female cows) that we can breed, which will be much more sustainable than buying calves.

I will be back to update from time to time, but my guess is that it won't be as frequent as it has been in the past.  As our kids grow, they're beginning to show interests in different activities.  For Charlie, it's soccer and guitar.  Akea is interested in basketball and drama.  True, this seems contrary to the homesteading lifestyle to a degree, but we are trying to find that balance.

Table, Farmhouse Style

A couple weeks ago I donned one of those heavy-duty air filtration masks that made me look like a cool chick on a DIY show (minus the designer jeans that never seem to get dirty).  I wish I had a photo (maybe), but I do have a couple photos of the farmhouse table we had made, finally finished!

I used four coats of Waterlox, the final being a satin finish.  The center is the leftover heart pine flooring we couldn't use in the house; the frame is walnut from an old beam.

The legs are also walnut, reclaimed from an old table.

One project down...many more to go.

I'm linking up with Rural Thursdays and Farmgirl Friday!

Reclaimed Projects

Since we put hardwood floors in the back of the house in April, our renovation has been somewhat on hold.  I won't bore you with the details as to why, but if you've ever worked on your own home renovation, you probably understand.  Because by the way, this isn't exactly Sarah's House.  Sarah gets to hire contractors and go shopping for cool fabrics.  We do most of the dirty work ourselves and scrounge for deals to fit a very tight budget, so it's east to get burnt out.

Lately, however, we've reclaimed some of our projects.  And I don't use the word "reclaimed" lightly:



A reclaimed mantle we bought a couple years ago, and repaired and painted last week.  To be installed in Akea's room.

The new dining room table.  This was Byron's brainchild, after he struggled with what to do with the leftover heart pine flooring that had been original to the house. 

If you're new to the blog, we had to rip up the flooring in the hall, parlor, and dining room in order to repair some serious termite damage.  We were able to reuse the flooring in the hallway and parlor, but because of the termites, we didn't have enough for the dining room.  So we've been tripping over the extra flooring for two years, until Byron had this fabulous idea.  Why not use it for a 9' long dining room table?  So we contacted a carpenter we'd randomly met a couple years ago, and he used reclaimed walnut legs, an old walnut beam, and our flooring to make us the ultimate farmhouse dining table!  I just put the first coat of Waterlox finish on it yesterday, so more photos to come.

Reclaimed walnut legs.

On one side of the table, we'll place this church pew from the early 1800s.  Originally almost 10' long, the carpenter cut it down so it would fit the table.  The seat will be Waterloxed (hey, I made a new verb!) and we'll paint the sides and back.  Byron wants brown and I want an accent color.

Another view of the bench.

Remember my re-upholstery project??  Here's the chair I finished.  I never managed to get to the matching chair or the sofa.  But there's always next year...

An Inconvenient Project, Revisited

I just re-read my post, An Inconvenient Project, from over a week ago.  And I had to laugh.  Yes, it is done, but not without a delusion or three:

Delusion #1: Laying floors would take "a good part" of Byron's spring break. 
Fact: It took his ENTIRE spring break.  I felt so badly for him, but he did a FANTASTIC job!

Delusion #2: The fridge would reside in the parlor for the duration of the project, and the stove/island would stay where it is.
Fact: The fridge will be residing in the utility room for a while, especially because we're re-thinking kitchen configuration. AND because we had to remove the (refrigerator) doors to get it to fit through the (utility room) door.  That's what you do at 11 p.m. on a Friday night when you DIY.

And the stove/island?  We moved it, and not in the Lost sense of moving an island. We strong-armed that baby into the parlor. And though we're supposed to wait seven days to place anything back onto the floors, I called Waterlox in desperation and the good folks over at Waterlox gave me the go-ahead to wait only 3-4 days to move the stove to its new spot. 

Delusion #3: Byron was going to bring the kids to his parents' house and hang out for a few days while I put the Waterlox on the floors on four consecutive mornings.  During my kid-free days, I would read, garden, eat bonbons, chase the rooster, and sneak out to see The Hunger Games again.
Fact: See below.

Making sure this run was in a perfectly straight line was a crucial, tedious, and time-consuming part of the project.

Be gone, Filthy McNasty sunroom floor!

Here's the same run, looking the other way.  The kitchen is on the left.

Byron had to install some sheathing in the kitchen to make the floor level even with the rest of the area in which he was installing the hardwood.  Hardwood does not like uneven floors.  It will buck, kick, and spit nails at you in protest.

This is what I call DIY LOL.  Want a closer look?

Termite tunnels!  Unexpected surprises and installing hardwood flooring well made the project take a lot longer than we thought.

On Saturday, it was my turn.  Since these floors were brand new, I only used a hand sander and 100-grit paper to smooth them down.  Waterlox requires no sanding in between coats, so I only had to do this once!

Here's Sparkling McClean sunroom floor, after the final coat of Waterlox had dried. 

Same view as above, with the kitchen on the left, minus the island.

Looking back the other way.

We still have a bit of work.  Painting, nailing the trim back up, reconfiguring the kitchen within our budget, and procuring BOOKSHELVES (YAY!!!) are just a few.  My books have been in boxes for two years, so I'm especially excited about that last one.

And a shout-out to friends and family who made this all possible:

Our parents: for childcare, food, and shelter.  We couldn't have done it without you!
Our neighbors, Julie and her family: Thanks for the use of your stove and for taking care of our ornery beasts!
Our friends, Ralph and Julia: Thanks for the wonderful dinner last night and lunch today!

An Inconvenient Project

Since New Years, we've had 660 square feet of heart pine flooring occupying a significant area both outside the kitchen and in "messy room."  ("Messy room" is where we've put all the stuff we don't have space for due to the massive renovation project this house has become.)  Anyway, Byron is dedicating a good part of his spring break to installing much of said floor in the back part of the house.  And I have a few gallons of Waterlox waiting in the hallway for when he's done.  But first, I need to re-read the post on my first experience using Waterlox, so I don't make the same mistakes twice.

As you may have guessed from the title, this project is just a little bit inconvenient for us.  For one, I'm going to be kitchen-less for a few days.  We're going to move the fridge into the parlor, but stranger things (i.e., motorcycles) have occupied that room in the past.  I won't be able to walk onto the floors during much of the day and evening, so I'll have limited computer access as well...but I can deal with that.  And since Waterlox stinks over to the next county, Byron is going to take the kids to visit his parents for a few days.

Oh, and Byron might be going to get two new baby calves this week to add to our herd. 

So I may have to excuse myself from the blog for several days.  But at least our floors won't look like this anymore:

The sunroom after Byron ripped up the carpet on Friday.  Filthy McNasty! 

The back of the house has these same floors, and though I keep them much cleaner than this, I've never felt at liberty to walk barefoot on them.  As much as I've scrubbed, I've never been able to get all the dirt up from these old floors (and I promise I'm not related to Howard Hughes).  And having the hardwood done in a significant portion of the house will mean we can start to create some order to the relative chaos we've been living in the past couple years.

Business in the Front, Party in the Back: Why Our Farm Resembles the Mullet

Remember the mullet?  That almighty hairdo of the 1980s, that has been succinctly described as "business in the front, party in the back?"  Byron and I were in a bookstore once (remember those??)  and spent the good part of an afternoon giggling over a book depicting the surprisingly diverse variations of this hair style.  And just to keep it real, I grew up in the 80s and owned parachute pants.  They were black with fluorescent pink zippers. 

Recently, Byron decided that the landscaping plan for our farm will resemble the mullet by taking on the look of "business in the front, party in the back."  In short, the front of our house will be meticulously landscaped, much like carefully coiffed, feathered bangs.  And the back?  Think less managed, organically flowing, and sometimes downright messy.

In actuality, this is a marriage between our penchant for visually pleasing aesthetics and the reality of life, having kids, and farming.  Ever read The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder?  I recall well her description of their yard: farm implements scattered here and there and projects unfinished due to the busyness of starting out.  Reading that made Laura a bit more real and human to me.

So here's a peek into what we're doing. 

We have a circle in front of our house, around which we park the cars.  A getup like this usually boasts wrought-iron gates and a fountain, right?  Not so for us.  Check out the wilderness in the background.  We can't stand it.

Though we're not the wrought-iron gates and fountain types, like I said, we like our aesthetics.  So Byron spent an entire day recently measuring and weeding out the circle, and then spreading gravel to the front walk.  Trust me, it looks a million times better.  He'll soon plant grass in the dirt circle in the middle, and in the spring or fall we'll plant boxwoods around the perimeter (yes, I know they're not edible).

OH MY! I am keeping it real today!  This is the knock-down, drag-out, all-night version of "party in the back."  The calf hutch that we need to fix and the rain barrel system are members of the backyard, but the toys are usually put away.

So we did a little clean-up.

Included for cuteness alone.

How obsessed are you with aesthetics?

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I Saw Something Nasty in the Crawlspace

And the kitchen.  And the bathroom.  When we bought the farmhouse, we knew there were a few things we had to keep an eye on, and if you've been following me for a while, you know we got, um, a bit more than we bargained for when we bought the place.  So a couple days ago I forayed into the crawlspace to check on the joists that butt up to the brick patio at the rear of the house. 

Because there were no gutters on the house for years, rain water has made the ground and patio slope toward the foundation of the house.  Some of the joists, while still sound, had sustained water damage, and unfortunately, it's gotten worse.  We had hoped gutters and rain barrels would solve the problem, and though they've helped, they're useless against heavy rains.  I also checked out the area under the downstairs bathrooms and found lots of old water and termite damage.  Thank God we had the plumber disconnect everything a few months ago.

There's also a mystery leak under the kitchen sink and mildew in the dishwasher.  Geesh, can't these things just go away???

These problems won't be solved quickly or cheaply.  Here's what needs to happen:
1. Slap myself out of my catatonic state.
2. Demolish patio.  Bummed about it but the brick is sitting on concrete, which means instead of the water seeping into the ground, it seeps into the house.
3. Regrade ground at rear of house.  No idea how to do this, which is why we have Youtube.
4. Call someone to eradicate the mold in the crawlspace.  Maybe I forgot to mention that.  We have black dots all over the joists.  This needs to be done first because as soon as you start demolition, mold spores will take flight and end up on your walls, ceilings, hair, and soup.
5. Tear out bathroom and damaged floor areas.
6. Scab joists, i.e., bolt a new piece of lumber to the damaged piece of lumber, extending several feet beyond damaged area.
7. Rebuild everything...floors, patio, bathrooms...as time and money allow.  Byron does the majority of the work himself so that we can do this as cost effectively as possible, and he also teaches full-time. 

Let me reiterate how happy we are to be here, and to have bought this house and land back into the family.  Though the problems with the house have been a major setback, posting them helps extract them from the recesses of my brain and keeps you updated with the activities at our homestead.

Again, apologies for the lack of photos.  I know you're itching to see those moldy joists.  The good news is that I finally ordered a new computer!

Where I've Been This Summer

Recently I was looking back at the number of posts from last summer, and man, have I gotten slack!  But there's a good reason for it...actually, several good reasons.  And it's not because I don't love to write/blog and hear from you.  Simply put, life took over.

Many of you know that amongst all the farming and gardening activity, we've also been trying to renovate the house.  When we moved in last year, we found major termite damage and had to rip up both drywall and the floors in two rooms and the front hall.  Though we reinstalled floors and drywall this winter, this summer we've had much of the plumbing redone (hence more drywall to replace) and also closed off a doorway and reinstalled most of the trim we'd salvaged.  It may not sound like much, but it's time-consuming and meticulous work.  And we're not even close to being finished.

As the summer comes to a close and I need to start thinking about school and canning food for winter (and hopefully weeding the garden one last time), we're left with much yet to accomplish indoors.  Right now our number one priority is to organize and move our "stuff" to another room so that Byron can install the rest of the hardwood floors downstairs. 

Here's the hall now:

And the parlor (please excuse both the photo quality and the upholstery; these second-hand sofa and chairs will be getting a facelift this winter!):

These are still works in progress, but if you'd like to see what the parlor and hall looked like a year ago, click here.

And after much deliberation, we decided that the room that was previously the dining room would not, after all, become the study.  Because it doesn't get much natural light, we decided to make it our bedroom.  We've had to go old school with wardrobes, but it has a fireplace and loads of character, so it works well for us.

Thanks for sticking with me, everyone!  This has been a busy season.

Inspiration

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit a historic house in Caroline County, VA.  Though lived in, I felt like I was walking into a museum...these walls (and some of the impeccable furnishings) had seen the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  Most likely, we will never be in a position to live in such splendor, but this is the type of thing that inspires me to find free or inexpensive ways to make my own house a home.

(Pardon the images - I took them rather quickly and they're not the best quality.)

Antique cabinets used under the (soapstone) counters, and above, instead of traditional cabinetry. I love that the colors complement each other.

Farm sink...a modern addition but it seems like it would be easy to retrofit a cabinet for a sink like this.

An idea we're going to imitate: retrofitting an old wash table or cabinet for the bathroom sink.

Another bathroom sink, using the same concept.

Some color inspiration - red and teal.

A humble beginning in my own parlor...I had struggled with an accent color for my red walls until I saw this house.  I repainted a frame I already had with paint I had in the closet.  Cost = free!

A close-up of the photo: Byron as a baby, being held by the Greens, his great-grandparents who built this house!  Maybe in 50 years someone will take a similar photo of us!

Just to make myself clear, I am not into replacing what doesn't need to be replaced with expensive, trendy items.  If you've been following this blog, you'll know that there are things in this house that absolutely need attention, with the bathrooms being the first on the list (thanks, Dad, for fixing our toilets last weekend!), followed by the warped kitchen counters.  Byron and I continually look for deals and ways to either inexpensively fix or repurpose what we already have.  Being that we both have a touch of "design diva," we like to live in an aesthetically pleasing home, but aren't willing the break the bank to get there.  Case in point: we needed a buffet for the dining room...so here is my $35 Salvation Army special:

Did you know old dressers can make fabulous buffets?

Not the original hardware, but kind of cool.

I'll post photos when this is refinished!  In the meantime, here are a couple design blogs with great, inexpensive ideas:

Homemade Ginger
Young House Love

I'd love to hear of other ideas/inspiration from you!

Fencing the Garden and Painting to History: Green Acres Weekend Update

Byron got a head start on his week of spring break by busting a serious move on fencing in the garden last week.  This involves a hand-operated post hole digger, heavy locust posts he salvaged from an old barn, some cantankerous wire, and discoveries of underground springs.  As this is how we'll (he'll) be fencing in the entire property, he sees this as good practice.  Honestly, I'm not sure how he does it; all I accomplished when I attempted to install four poles for the peas last week were shallow holes and a nice yellow bruise on my left eyebrow.  Anyway, here is one of the clips from Untube University he's been using for tips; this company has a whole series you can watch.

Gate we scored on craigslist and an H-brace to the right of it.  The H-brace is kept plumb with that cantankerous wire, which refused to show itself in the photo.  Figures.  My wobbly pea poles are in the background.

Installing a post.  We had to move the garden in about 25' because Byron discovered an underground spring when digging a hole at the other end.  Future pond, perhaps?

Byron completed one of the longer rows last night, and by the gate we placed an old bench some friends gave us.  Akea immediately saw this as an ideal place for me to read to her about the Aztecs from Story of the World.

Garden.

Byron feeds the chickens this morning.  They seriously love him.

Below is an old military box of some sort that Byron salvaged from that same barn.  I'm curious as to what this would have been used for, so if you have an inkling I'd love to know.  I washed it down and painted it blue and will use it as toy storage in Charlie's room.

You can see the original green on the bottom; this is probably lead-based paint so I wasn't too keen on Charlie using it without it being repainted.  I painted all those little boxes while Akea listened to her history CD.  So now I know all about Napoleon.  And the Aztecs.

The old latch.

All those little boxes weren't enough, right?  I spent hours of my life painting two sheds, as required by our insurance company.  Next time they require such labor, they'd better send out a babysitter, cook, and maid.

Shed #2 - the old corn crib.

We hired a friend of ours to paint the barn since I don't do heights above, say, 10'.  He did a great job...

...but I kind of miss that rustic look.  I'm planning on painting some white accents around the doors and windows eventually.

We also ordered 50 Cornish Cross meat birds, 20 Rhode Island Red hens, 1 Rhode Island Red rooster, and one Mystery Chick they're throwing in for free.  Can't wait to meet Mystery Chick.  All our little hatchlings should be arriving mid-June, which will give us some time to build housing for them and procure feed.

Inside, all three toilets are leaking but we've had to postpone replacing the plumbing because we don't have time to pick out new fixtures right now, and we're not sure what to do about the downstairs bathroom(s).  We've been thinking of getting rid of the half-bath, which means guests would have to use our bathroom or the one upstairs.  Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it's an issue we need to resolve soon.  However, we did hang some of our photos in the parlor, so we're beginning to feel like normal people.  I think.

I'm again connecting with Homestead Revival's Barn Hop.  Click below to read more blogs!

Waterlox Refinishing Guide - My Version

Four lambswool pads, three stomach viruses, and four nights later, the floors in the hall, parlor, and dining room (soon-to-be study) are DONE.  For the first time in four days, we slept in our house again last night.  Whew!

I learned lots from my first DIY Waterlox experience.  If you should ever venture to use this product, here's what I found out:

1. Follow the guide - which includes a video from their website - to the letter.  When they say use one gallon per 500 square feet, they mean it - for every coat.  Even the coats that don't seem to need as much.  Apply liberally.  I think I unwittingly skimped a bit on the third coat, and the study floors are not as smooth as a result.

2. I had a little lint problem, and to this I fault both myself for not calling technical support sooner and the guide for being cryptic.  The video is very clear about tacking the floor with a lint-free rag soaked in mineral spirits before you begin, but the guide is not clear that you need to soak the rag in between coats as well.  So I just went over the floor with a dry rag between coats.  So don't bring a magnifying glass when you come visit, okay?

Parlor

3. Ventilation is crucial for curing, because the Waterlox needs to bond with fresh oxygen in order to harden.  H2OLOX + O2 = hard floors...or something like that.  Anyway, it may be more time-efficient to use Waterlox when the weather tends to be more temperate, since high humidity or cold weather can slow the curing process.  Did I mention the curing process takes seven days?  Yup, that part is a drag.

Dining room (future study), with new heart pine flooring.

4. Waterlox really is pretty easy to apply.  It took me about 45 minutes to do almost 500 square feet, though prep time the first day took about an hour (vacuuming, tacking the floor).  It's also self-levelling, so I didn't end up with any splotches. 

Old heart pine on the left, new heart pine on the right.  Click here to see the "before" photo.

5.  There is an upfront cost to Waterlox.  It is much more expensive than polyurethane, but there's a silver lining.  In the long run, Waterlox may save you money because when your floors need to be refinished many years from now, they will not need to be stripped down again.  And if you have very old floors that have been stripped in the past, you may not have much wood to work with.  This was the case with us:

We don't know how many times these floors have been refinished, but as you can see from this cross-section, this will have to be the last time!

In my research, I also found that since the main ingredient in Waterlox is Tung oil, it's actually fairly environmentally friendly.  Made from the nut of the Tung tree, it's essentially organic and renewable.  So although we couldn't afford reclaimed flooring, maybe we made up for it in a way by using Waterlox.