Fence vs Windbreak... who won?

Hubby and I had a long talk tonight and made some decisions. Some aren't appropriate for the blog, but we also talked about money and what to do about the expensive fencing situation. We could do 100-300 feet of fencing at a time, per month, and finally get it done by Sept or October. But then if we spend all of our money doing that, we wouldn't be able to plant a windbreak plus all of the fruit and nut trees and bushes that we want.

The windbreak is important. The neighbors all tell us that there is NO time period of any season that doesn't have wind. It blows year-round, and not just little puffy breezes. Real stiff winds and major gale-like-forces. If we don't get the windbreak up, then our corn and fruit bushes, etc. don't have a chance of living, let alone producing. So within the next week or so, I'm ordering 100 privet hedge plants, 10 holly-bush plants, and 2 or more weeping willow trees. A few others too but I haven't completely decided.

Thanks to the advice of Anon and Linda earlier today. You helped a lot.

Might do the back fence next month ... so we will know where to rototill, and I can go on and plant the grape vines along it.

Then... we need to reinforce the fence around our "backyard" (to hold the goat pen, chicken coop, part of the veggie garden and our "relaxing area" with the picnic table etc.) The fence is 4 foot tall with welded-wire fencing. The two corn patches, the sunflower/cuke/watermelon patch and the amaranth patch will be outside of this section, and we'll just hope and pray that the rabbits leave it alone!

When we want the goats to help us "mow the lawn" (yes, I know they are browsers and not grazers), then we'll hook them up and hope they help out by eating the cactus and burrs, and leave lots of poop behind! Perhaps we should revisit the "goat tractor" idea.

The chickens ... if we have the time and energy and supplies, we'll make a chicken tractor and let them out of the coop into the tractor. That will help us with the bugs and greens and leaving fertilizer behind too!

The upstairs bedroom that the Kid just vacated is also going to be the home of more of our veggies and herbs and fruits than what we originally planned. I spent part of this morning arranging things, checking on my baby seelings, installing two "grow-lights" and figuring out we need a few more of them. I think it will work pretty well!

And we're going to work hard to save money and make extra money selling seedlings, etc. so we can get the fence put up by Autumn this year. Gotta get cracking on writing my various book projects too. (Note: compiling a book of "my very first garden" stories ... be sure to read the info at the top of this web-page and e-mail your story as soon as possible. It will be sold on Amazon.com and other places.)

Thanks for all of the input. Really appreciate it.

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For today, I did 3 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, made a crockpot full of beans/lentils/quinoa, met with another fencing person, gathered as much of the tax info as possible (missing 2 items) and made an appointment for tax prep for Sunday. Also got the Kid caught up on schoolwork. Yippee! Yep... busy day.

Teeth, House and the lack of sleep

Saw the dentist today... the one that did all of that work in Dec and January. Fixed one of the teeth that was messing up my bite. Hopefully this will correct all problems and my pain will go away.

Before I even left the house for that, tho, I got a frantic call from Hubby. He opened an e-mail from our mortgage broker people about a step they forgot to do and we needed to do it right away today or we might not be able to close the house on Thursday. Argh! I fired up the computer and snapped one at her, shooting with both barrels. I admit, I lost my cool. Not that I had any to begin with. Yes, after my dentist appointment and errands, I apologized to her.

It's been since last Thursday (5 nights) since we've really slept. The Kid, luckily, doesn't seem to have the same problem. Once he's out (with the classical music station playing softly), he's out until his bladder or I wake him up. But... for Hubby and I ... the neighbors above are still quite noisy most of the night, and the apartment complex won't do anything. I have a voice mail in to the local Fair Housing Act office. We've both very tired and even more grumpy. Not a good way to live life.

However, since we couldn't really sleep last night... we made progress on the book series! I love the plotting stage! Many thanks to the teens e-mailing and leaving their answers. Great info!

Book Research: Calling All Teens

I'm researching a book I started long ago, and Hubby wants to help. However, it's been a LONG time since we were teens, so we're asking for help. We want our adventure novel series to be as authentic as possible. Our three main characters are teens: 2 girls and 1 boy. Ages 15 and 16. They are home-schooled.

Can you please pass around a link to this post ... to all kids around this age that might want to answer our questions? E-Mail your answers and thoughts to: vikkibooks at yahoo dot com. Thanks for your help!

1. What is your favorite thing to say? Phrase, word, etc.
2. If you could have any kind of car, what would it be and what color?
3. If you could have an adventure, where in the USA would you go?
4. If you could have any kind of special power/ability, what would it be?
5. What is your favorite outfit/clothing to wear?
6. If you could change your name, what would you change it to and why?
7. Your favorite color, and number.
8. What do you talk most about with your friends?
9. What is your favorite subject in school? Your least favorite?
10. What do you want to learn more about?
11. If you have a job, what is it? What after-school job would you like to do?
12. What's your favorite book? Music group/singer? Painter?
13. Tell us anything you think might help us better write our characters.

I realize this doesn't have much to do with self-sufficiency in general, but for us, it does specifically. I used to write and publish, and have long wanted to get back into it as a means to provide an income for us so we CAN be self-sufficient. Many people find ways to work at home to enjoy their homestead. And as I said, Hubby (and even the Kid) wants to help. Your contribution to our story will be most wonderfully appreciated.

So... thanks again. If you add your first name, last initial, age, and state (or country), we'll thank you in the book! Vikki

New Book Ahoy!

I just love bookstores, don't you!? When I'm not busy in Spring, Summer and Fall, I love taking the time to browse bookshelves, and sit to peruse titles I can't usually afford.

Today was a tad different. The Kid turned 13 in November, and hadn't yet spent his $25 gift card for Barnes and Noble bookstore, so today was it. After we finished addressing the last of the holiday cheer cards and dropped off the (overdue - errr) books at the library, we headed off to the largest B&N we knew about. Were there for almost 3 hours!

I found a few books on keeping deer out of gardening, and how to grow more vegetables in less space, found my tushie a comfy chair, and sat. And read. And read. Hubby interrupted a few times with finds. Kid interrupted, desparate for me to use his gift card on a CD (he doesn't want me to say what it is). The Hubby brought over a huge book: "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery, 10th edition. OMG - it's even better than the Storey version. I browsed through it, and tonight, I started carefully reading it, cover to cover.

This is a definite book for you, my readers, to at least take a look at. While she gears a lot of her info to larger properties (5 acres or more), I find I can take the info for our 2 acre (please god let them accept the offer for that property) home.

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So what did we do after we got back from the bookstore? Picked up some greens for the bunny. Uh, read while we watched holiday specials on TV. Fed the rabbit and turned off her heater-fan. Okay, I just realized we forgot to eat dinner, and it's 9:28 p.m. Oh well. I ate a few Snickers about an hour ago! Ah, sweet chocolate!

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Tomorrow is a busy day. We all have our cleaning appointments at the dentist. While Hubby is at his first (2 hour appt!), I will wrap his mom's b-day gift, finish getting my dad's b-day gift wrapped for mailing, get everything stamped and ready for the post office. Then I'll take the Kid to his appt while Hubby runs home, grabs the gift and mailings, drops the mailings off at the post office, and goes to his mom's to spend most of the day with her, seeing as it's her b-day.

After the Kid's and my cleaning appointment, we'll come home, I'll wrap Christmas gifts, sort through some seeds that came in the mail yesterday, and start working on the Kid's curriculum for 8th grade, which he starts the first week in January. Yup, only 2 weeks away.

Oh shoot. I just realized I have soup in the crockpot.

My mind is frazzled. 'Tis that time of year.

I need sleep.