Happy Sunday Everyone!

I didn’t promise consistency in this post being weekly and I am sticking to it. We have been busy just trying to get as much done as humanly possible outside on the weekends. Well, let me rephrase that. Rob has been busting his behind to get as much done outside on the weekends as possible. I just help him when he needs help or thinks of something I can do. We can’t hardly do anything outside after work now unless we have lights on us.

I am fairly handy, but let’s face it. Rob is so much better at fix-it projects and projects in general than I am. I can garden, raise chickens, and fix simple things. He sees problems and things that just need taking care of and he does it. Since he likes everything working the way it is suppose to (I do, but I have a tendency towards just dealing with it as is), he does a lot of fixing and repairing. I do know he is sick of fixing and repairing too.

However, the wiring for the old hog barn and the new chicken coop are done! Woo hoo! Since Rob replaced a lot of wiring, replaced a breaker box, replaced a door, and we dug a trench for conduit for the new chicken coop, this project was a bit more labor intensive than we thought. We also both agree we should have done it a few months ago. Who knew that November weather was going to be crappy until Thanksgiving weekend?

The chicken coop now has light so kids can see at night to do chores, the chickens can lay longer if we want them to, and we can run a heat lamp if we need to. We can also see inside the old hog barn to get feed, see outside between buildings to get water, and do whatever else needs to be done. Everyone is happy!

If he has been working so hard, what have I been doing? Good question! I have been putting plastic on the windows and cleaning some of the windows as I go. I have been working on the part of the basement with the laundry room, food storage, and general storage. I have a lot to do to get it better organized. Yesterday, I moved all the cleaning supplies to the laundry part and moved the food to the food storage part. I have stuff scattered everywhere down there. I also threw some things in the garbage, give away box, and scrap pile. The whole basement is on the list to get done this winter and that will be quite the project.

I spend every weekend doing laundry on Saturday and baking bread on Sunday. Usually I also steam eggs on Sunday and bake muffins/granola bars/banana bread too. Everyone takes a lunch during the week so we need things for lunch, snack, and breakfast.

I did dig up the potatoes finally on November 8th. They looked great and I have them spread out on a piece of plywood drying for almost a week. We started having problems with them a few days ago. Some of them started to mildew, turn soft, and rot which I never had that problem before. We have theories including I should have knocked more of the dirt off of them or maybe they did freeze in the ground. Not sure, but I will make a better effort next year to have the potatoes out of the ground before first freeze.

I get asked a lot why we do all this stuff and why do we do it all ourselves. One, we are fairly frugal people who do not like to hire people to do work we can do ourselves. Most of the time, we couldn’t afford for someone else to do it anyway. Two, doing all these projects are a form of prepping and homesteading. We are learning skills and doing things the way we want them done. We know we have more projects than time, but that is life right now. Neither one of us is very good about sitting around doing nothing so we will always have things to do.

Today, we are also having a mini Thanksgiving meal. We are frying a twelve pound turkey which is always delicious! We are also having mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and apple crisp. I also have some leftover homemade cranberry sauce from Thursday at my parents that we will have with it. Yum!

In case you missed these blog posts:
What happens when it is all gone tomorrow?
Five Prepping Things to Accomplish in November
Plan Your Retirement Now and Secure Your Future
Stuck in Your Vehicle During a Snowstorm? 13 Things You Need To Do To Survive!

What have you been up to? Let me know!

Thanks for reading,
Erica

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