Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Spring fever already?

I know Winter just officially started a few days ago, but I just got my 3rd seed catalog in the mail and I think I can feel Spring Fever already!  The worst part is that I'm not sure where we're going to be living come Spring time so I can't really plan :(  I'm still excited though!!!  Can't wait to find our new place :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Some good pantry storage videos

Blah! it's been raining for 2 days now and I'm about to go stir crazy! I'm already ready for spring....sigh....So since I've had some time on my hands, I've been watching some videos (Hello....my name is Eva... and I'm a YouTube-aholic) Anyway, found some cool pantry storage videos and thought I'd share some with you.





Just for kicks, I threw this one in. I would never have a pantry like the one below. It's really neat, but I bet it's  E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E!!!!! Wow.




Happy Food Storage!

Monday, December 19, 2011

...and everything keeps changing...

I bought my postage stamp sized property with dreams and high hopes of planting some roots for a while. I wanted to turn that ugly little property into something beautiful; something to be proud of. Of course I would have rather been able to get something a little more to my liking and better suited to our needs, but it was cheap ($150 a month) and it was a roof over our heads and it was OURS. We are still purchasing that place, but we no longer live there. My kids kept getting sicker than normal. They've always had health problems (Especially Destiny, my 14 year old) so I didn't think too much about it at first. I finally realized the problem was the house and was debating what to do with the place. I didn't want to give the place up after paying on it for 2 years, but I didn't want to continue living there. During this, I lost my job sooooo......now my ex-Father in Law is living in our old place (paying the $150 mortgage) and we are staying with my parents (along with my youngest brother and his wife and baby) ....sigh...We buy most of the food and the girls and I cook and clean the house. Zac does all the fixing and "grunt" work around here for my dad, while I take my mom wherever she needs to go (if and when she ever feels up to getting up and about).  Before we started staying here, I got rid of my chickens because without a job I couldn't afford to feed them and I couldn't let them free range. We also downsized the rabbits to 3. If I would've known we would end up here with my parents, I would have kept them since there is almost 4 1/2 acres here...ah well.

We will be looking for another place towards the end of next month. The guy I'm buying my other place from has fixer-uppers all over the county (and surrounding counties). He works with you on down payments, and monthly payments and does everything legally. People question why I want to buy fixer-uppers. My cousin says it's too much money and I'd be better off buying new (or newer lol) Well, first of all I don't make enough to qualify for a bank loan. 2nd. The guy I'm buying from is SUPER nice and lets me slide on payments when needed and never harasses me. 3rd. I don't want to be stuck in a super expensive mortgage for the next 30 (or more) years of my life. I would much rather buy something cheaper, pay it off, and be done with it. Paying as I go when fixing and remodeling is WAY less stressful for me than worrying about a big bank note every month. Yeah, remodeling can be a pain in the ass, but it's the perfect chance to learn to do things yourself.

Dad talked to me about us taking over payments on this place (HUGE 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 living rooms, office, laundry room, 4 1/2 acres, creek, woods, pasture, storm shelter (that needs new roof), patio, and big storage building) in 2 years. I wouldn't mind having this place except the payments are almost $700 a month (not counting insurance), taxes are insane, and they still owe almost $100,000 on it! That may not seem like much to some people, but it's completely outrageous to me. I just can't commit to that. I would feel too much weight....it's too scary...I wouldn't feel....free. So, we are biding our time, trying to make the best of the situation till we can find a place better suited to us and then it's back to starting over....AGAIN.

I'm still determined to have my homestead, and I'm still determined to name it About Thyme Farm, cause it's about dang time I had a farm!!! lol

Friday, December 16, 2011

New Bunny and my bf builds me a rabbit hutch and butchers his first rabbit

Needless to say, I'm sooo proud of my city slicker boyfriend!  He killed and butchered his first rabbit 2 weeks ago, and yesterday killed and butchered the remaining 3. He did a great job!  I am really proud of him since he's never killed and butchered anything in his life. Now I can rest easy knowing he is more prepared to take care of us.

We also downsized the "rabbitry" to just Bella and Snickerdoodle and were planning on getting a NZ doe and keeping a baby when we breed Bella to Pops 3/4 Silver Fox 1/4 American Chinchilla buck. Well, after all the time of waiting on the breeder to breed his 2 best rabbits, waiting for them to be born, then waiting for them to be old enough to bring home, he tells me she had 1 female. The day of meeting he calls to say "oops, it's not a girl, it's a boy" I wasn't interested in buying a male and he knew that, but since he felt bad about me waiting all this time he decided to give him to me. He's cute as a button!!

His mom is a white New Zealand and his dad is a red New Zealand. I can't wait to see how big he gets! My youngest daughter immediately claimed him and named him Checker (NOT Checkers lol) I may still buy a female from him in the future, but not right now.

Zac (my bf) also built me a rabbit hutch (I helped some) and he built it almost 100% from recycled/free materials that we had laying around the house. Here are some pics:













Still need to finish up the roof and put some supporting legs in the middle. Also going to put smaller wire on the doors as soon as we get the money to buy some or can scrounge some up somewhere.