Preparing for a Party

When you have a homestead, especially one that's still getting off the ground, there are always a million chores that need to be done. There's far more on the daily to-do list than dishes, laundry, and feeding the animals. Many tasks are projects that take weeks or months to complete. Therefore, when entertaining, it's difficult to know how much needs to be finished before the big event to make the place "presentable." After all, we all want to look like Betty Homemaker once in a while.

We had hosted a few friends and family members here and there long before we were settled, but for our first party, we wanted to be able to show off the progress we had made. We also wanted the evening to be one to remember, because we were celebrating several big events. First and foremost, the festivities were for our wedding reception. It was also our housewarming, and both of our birthday parties - our birthdays are only a few weeks apart. Of course, I wanted everything to be perfect, but our homestead would not magically be further along just because we were having a big day. I had to figure out how much I could handle.

My first step was pretty obvious. I knew I had to mow the lawn, which wasn't as simple as it sounds. Getting a lawnmower in the first place turned out to be a bigger ordeal than we originally thought when buying a house. My husband kept trying to convince me to get a ride-on mower, something I've never used before, and honestly am a little intimidated by. So, we decided to start off with a self-propelled push mower. There were many other projects that kept getting first priority, so two months went by before we got a call from my mother-in-law saying she had one for us. By this point, neighbors were offering to mow our yard for us because it had gotten so long. We went to her house to pick it up. It started up just fine. Then, as Murphy's Law dictates, it stopped working as soon as we got it back home. My husband was so frustrated, he immediately went to the store to buy a brand new one.

Some parts of the lawn had grown as high as my waist, and the mower could not work through that much mulch quickly or easily. I spent eleven hours mowing that day, with a few food and hydration breaks thrown in there. When it was all said and done, the place looked infinitely better. Even the flowers looked prettier without all the weeds in the way.

The next big problem was the poison ivy. There was a lot of it around the edges of the property, and it was encroaching on the yard. There were even a few sprouts around the porch stairs. We called a professional in an attempt to get it removed, but he wouldn't be available until after our event. Unfortunately, the task was too big to accomplish by ourselves in time, so we opted for a compromise. My husband and sister, who don't have the severe reaction to poison ivy that I do, teamed up to clear the sprouts that were coming up in the interior of the yard space. Guests would have to be careful if they ventured too far out, but the area around the festivities would be clear.

I also wanted to get some more weeding done for aesthetic purposes. We have some decorative stone areas around the front porch and one of the trees in our front yard, where grass poking up had started to obscure the rock, and I just wanted to show off a cleaner look. I kept working around the poison ivy until I could get my husband or sister's help with that spot, and then I would go back and finish. It was tedious work, but I got a lot done. I was very happy with the results.

Finally, all that was left was generic cleaning indoors. I cleared out as much clutter as I could, wiped down surfaces, and swept up. We rented tables and chairs for the day, and set up a buffet and stereo outdoors. We had some citronella-filled tiki torches to keep the mosquitoes away, and the carefully selected guests did the rest. Despite all my stress leading up to the event, it turns out that the best parties come from the people in attendance. Everything went off without a hitch.

We did end up with far too much food at the end of the day, and we struggled to figure out what to do with it all before it went bad. That's a story for another time.

The Dreaded Poison Ivy

I am ridiculously allergic to poison ivy. When I was a child, I got it a few times and wound up with blisters the size of ping-pong balls. One time, my eye swelled shut. After that, I was old enough to identify it for myself and stay far, far away. One of my parents would clear it from our suburban yard if it ever popped up, and when I went on walks through the woods, I would wear jeans anyway, to prevent scratches or bug bites (especially ticks). For many years, I didn't really have to worry about it.

We bought the property at the end of March. We first checked it out during the winter, and there was still some snow on the ground when we signed the paperwork. When it all melted and the growth of spring got under way, I was in for a big surprise.

It was more poison ivy than I had ever seen before in my life. There was a vine - more like a branch - that was wider than my thumb. It was appalling. And, of course, it was creeping to even more places rapidly. I really didn't know what to do. I needed it gone, and I had never done it myself. As usual in times of uncertainty, I turned to the all-knowing internet for solutions.

The simplest answer I found was to use herbicide to kill it. That way, I wouldn't have to actually touch the plant. However, I dislike using environmentally harmful chemicals, and the poison ivy would be back next year with greater vengeance. Judging by the large spray container left behind in the basement by the previous owner, this is probably what they were doing, and why it was able to get so out of hand. To do the job right for the sake of future years, I was going to have to find a way to get the roots up.

My husband suggested hiring someone right off the bat, but I'm too stubborn for my own good. A big part of the reason we bought this property was our dreams of self-sufficiency, so I was determined to take care of the land myself. Sometimes, it's a better idea to ask for help. Despite fervent protests from my husband, I put on some gloves and attempted to tackle the job personally.

It was a bad idea.

I managed to virtually incapacitate myself for nearly a week. Even with my attempts to protect myself from the plant's oils, a rash began to cover my arms, my legs, my stomach, my face - it was showing up everywhere, but my forearms were the worst. I'm not going to post pictures. It was pretty gross. I was unable to perform basic tasks without agony. Calamine lotion wasn't even dulling the itch.

What did help to accelerate the healing process was baking soda. I mixed it with water to form a paste, then smeared it over the affected areas and let it dry and flake off. By drying out the used lymph fluid, it made blisters less likely to burst, and encouraged new immune cells to flood the area. I won't lie, it stung like you wouldn't believe, but it got me better faster.

Once I recovered, I was back at square one. I had hardly made a dent with my foolhardy attempt at pulling by hand. There was still poison ivy everywhere. I took another look into natural solutions.

Goats eat poison ivy. Its oils actually affect very few species. Humans are unlucky enough to be one of them. Goats not only have no reaction, but they also find it delicious. We're not yet set up for livestock, but there are rent-a-goat services out there for this very purpose. Unfortunately, none were close enough to us.

Our final solution was to hire someone for this year, in spite of my obstinance. We are considering goats for the future still, but first we need a fence and an enclosure. Those are stories for another day.

Reclaiming the Planter Box: Part One

I've always been somewhat ambivalent about planter boxes. When I was growing up, I never saw the point. I always figured you could just dig a hole anywhere in the yard and plant. When I lived down in New Orleans, I tore an older one out of the small yard I had to make space for a fire pit instead. However, as I've delved into the pros and cons, I've come to the conclusion that a planter box would be incredibly beneficial to our homestead, creating a perfect place to grow outdoor vegetables. Therefore, when we uncovered an ancient one in our back yard, I became very excited, but it's going to need a lot of work.

As you can see, it's been neglected for quite some time and is very overgrown. The first step was clearing around the edges with the lawnmower and weed whacker. Then it was time to get down on my knees and get my hands dirty, pulling everything up by the roots. This is what I'm working on now, and it's been very time-consuming. Because we're still getting started, I don't have all the fancy gardening tools yet, like weeding contraptions that pull the roots up like hooks and tillers. I have my hands, a trowel, and a garden shovel. I'll still need to turn the soil and clear out any leftover roots once I've pulled up what I can.

The wood of the box itself is also questionable. A good portion of it is flaking off with age, and other parts are infested with ants, as I discovered when I sat down on one of these areas. The ant problem I plan on treating with either lemon juice or vinegar. I'm not a fan of pesticides, especially near my food. Right now, it's unclear how much of the wood will need to be completely replaced and how much can be refurbished.

Vinegar or lemon juice is going to lower the pH of the soil. I still have yet to test the soil, but I would not be surprised in the least if I found out it was deficient in some nutrients as well. I'll most likely have to mix in some kind of compost, but that's going to have to wait until I have some to use. Some sources say that it would be fine to use rabbit fertilizer without composting it, but I know that the risk of disease is lower if it is composted. I have to wonder if it matters, when there won't be any plants in the box for some time? It's probably safer to just go ahead and compost, though.

I'll keep you updated as the project progresses!

Getting Started

We moved into our dream house. It's a beautiful place, with lots of land. Some of my favorite plants are already thriving in the yard - rhododendron, bleeding hearts, irises, and more. It's clear that at one point someone who lived here had very similar goals as we do, but the most recent owner had other things on his mind. The house is amazing, and perfectly livable, but it's going to need a lot of work before it's a fully-functioning homestead. My husband and I have come up with lots of plans from fences to solar panels, but we can't do everything at once.

This blog is meant to share our experiences and progress as we work through these projects and turn our house into a thriving paradise. For more about who we are and what we intend to do, please check out the "About The Homestead" page.

Right now, I've been working on some of the basic yard stuff, which is a much bigger ordeal than it sounds. With nearly two acres of land, our self-propelled push lawnmower took about eleven hours to grind through our overgrown grass. Even with all of our extension cords, the weed whacker won't reach the edges of our property. There was one day where I got so frustrated, that I actually took scissors to part of the lawn. My husband keeps saying we should get a ride-on mower, and I think I'm starting to agree, although I have never used one before.

My next project is to reclaim the planter box in the back yard. Right now, it's completely overgrown with weeds, and the wood sides are beginning to rot. It's going to be a process for sure, but I know it will be worth it when next year comes and I'll have the perfect place to plant my vegetables. For now, everything is still in containers!