building a new home | Build Me a Dream

Time to Redefine our Lives in Oregon

Archive for the ‘building a new home’ Category

Douglas Fruit Trees???

I stepped outside Sunday morning…there was a distinctive winter chill to the air, but it sounded like spring! As I looked over to the pond, the “foreigners” who have been absent for three months were paddling around in the water. Up the road, guinea hens were loudly boisterous, and the songs of the robin were like beautiful waves of melody. My neighbor’s horses were once again in their front pasture..it seems that spring may be attempting to bloom.

To speak of the seasons, you speak of events choreographed in nature. Spring is a time of renewing as trees bud and push out new growth; it is the season of gardens, gardens, and more gardens. Ironically, this season of young, delicate, sprouts is really too late for planting trees. Generally, a tree planted in the springtime will struggle. The good thing is that it will probably catch up the following year. As the ground warms, summer is a time of fullness as the canopy overhead shades with a lush, green umbrella. Planting trees in the fullness of this season can shock them badly, causing a loss of leaves, fruit, and stunted growth that could last 2-3 years. Fall then is a time of harvest, fruit is ripening and tired trees are getting ready to go dormant for awhile. Yet just beyond the harvest season, late fall, in the colder parts of the country, is the best time to plant trees.

Out here in the west…specifically the west coast, contrary to popular belief, winter is a time for planting. Seems odd, why plant while the ground is cold, and growth is almost nonexistent? Something magical happens under the ground while trees lay dormant above it. Roots, young and old roots stretch their “legs” and grow during the cold of winter. While a tree stands motionless, sometimes to the point of, “Is it alive or dead?”, the underground world is active and working hard to gain strength, gather nutrients, and find new ground from which to sustain itself.

On that note, this week has been a time of planting on the hill. In late November, numerous trees arrived. We planted the Giant Sequoias (post – Replanting the Forest), and have been protecting the yet-to-be-planted fruit trees. Over the past two months we (more specifically Tony…with a little help from our son, Will, and I) have added 347 trees to forest and pasture areas. Within that count are 300 Douglas Fir one gallon seedlings, and 37 varying 15 gallon fruit, and chestnut trees all wrapped in wire cages to keep the deer away. Timber and fruit…Douglas Fruit trees..haha…I can’t wait to see them grow!! A nice gift from nature…deer are not attracted to Douglas Fir seedlings…Whew!!…glad we didn’t need 300 tiny wire cages around those little beauties!!

A hillside of Douglas Fir seedlings.

Rocky, muddy soil…use a post hole digger to plant 300 fir trees!!

After the holes are dug, someone has to plant the trees!

An orchard full of 4 types of apple trees, and 2 types of pear.

Cherry trees line the driveway.

Contrary to what Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog said….the neighbor’s Peacock flock are converging on our hill once more, another indication that spring is on the horizon.

Really, this year, who knows? It’s predicted that we’re to dip down to the single digits again this week. We’re on the coast side of the Cascades so temps like that are not a winter common.

Category:

building a new home, Cold weather, Giant Sequoia Trees, Great Dane, Homesteading, Horses and dogs, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Vegetable Garden

Tagged with:

Premature Chick Hatch

When does life begin??…the age-old question. I believe that life begins at conception, for many reasons…and I believe the Bible tells us this. So what does that mean for chicken eggs? Given the right heat and humidity, a fertilized egg develops into a chick…but, put them in the fridge, they look and act like any other egg. Seems to me it is safe to believe that in a fertilized chicken egg, once it starts developing, life has begun. Little Austin Healey is the strongest example of this…EVER!!! She fought to stay alive in her shell during extreme single digit cold temperatures…Chardonnay was on and off the nest in the beginning because she kept getting confused which nest was hers. She warmed, she cooled, she warmed, she cooled, she was late in hatching, and when she finally did hatch……..

Update on little Austin Healey
Very soon after her hatching, it became apparent that there was something different…wrong with little Austin Healey. Trying as hard as she could, she was not even close to being able to stand….she crawled on her belly, and her legs splayed out to the sides. She was so determined, she never gave up…so neither would I. I promised Austin that I wouldn’t give up on her. As I watched her, it seemed that she had hatched prematurely even though she had been in nest for over 21 days…is that even possible…is it possible for a chick to start and completely hatch from an egg prematurely, on her own?? I am convinced that it is. Here’s Austin’s story since the hatch….

Austin’s legs had no tone, her feet looked almost as if the bones had not finished developing. They would curl into a “fist” whenever she tried to use them. She was so less developed than the chick, Honda, who had hatched just 29 hours before her. The pictures really show the extreme differences between these two.

Hatched just 29 hours apart…big difference!

Honda standing, Austin could not stand.

20 hours after hatch…Austin is having a tough time.

Obviously, Austin needed to be given a chance to develop and grow stronger, so she was separated from the young flock. Since there was such a big gap between these last two chicks and the others, I took Honda out of the brood (she was getting kicked around a bit) she and Austin became roommates. They had each other to cuddle for warmth, and I believe that Honda was a great example for Austin to follow as she struggled to stand.

Austin fought hard. She crawled on her belly, I removed the pine shavings from her little brooder and replaced it with a rubber matted rug for traction. I fed her sugar water until she could start eating chicken starter mush. Her legs continued to splay to the sides…I found this idea about tethering her legs together with vet wrap… http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/spraddle-leg-in-baby-chicks-what-is-it.html So, I tethered her legs…

Hoping to strengthen her legs and hips.

I so hope this works!

There is so much that I could say about our little Austin Healey. She is and was such a fighter. She tried and wanted to stand so badly. We worked together…every time I held her up to eat, I positioned her feet and body correctly so that she was upright, and uncurled. Everyday, Austin got just a little bit stronger. Honda moved back into the main brooder leaving Austin a little lonely…so we gave her a friend..

Not quite the same as having Honda around, but better than being alone.

Austin worked hard on her physical therapy, holding her body up, with my support, working the muscles in her legs. Then one day, her legs stayed forward, underneath her…the next day she was moving around in a squatting position…the next day she wobbly, wobbly stood mostly straight…the next day, she stood up and walked upright….the next day she gained strength and coordination…the next day, she met her mama, Chardonnay, for the first time. She spent the day, she spent the night…she survived both. She eats and drinks with the brood, she cuddles under the heat lamp with her family, and hides under her mama’s wings. She is a fighter…she is AWESOME….she is home!!

Way to go little Austin!!

Category:

Brooders, building a new home, Chicken Eggs, Chickens, Cold weather, Hatching Chicks, Homesteading, Incubator, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Premature Chick, Rhode Island Reds

Tagged with:

BRRRRROODY HEN

I’m a nervous chicken mama. The temp has been dropping steadily for days. Our efforts to protect the flock has been a learning experience, especially since one of our hens has decided that this would be a great time to sit on a nest. Chardonnay is broody, and extremely dedicated to her potential chicks. December 14th will mark 21 days on the nest…and maybe our first hatching!

This is our first experience with a broody hen, and I know this is the worst time of year for her to be wanting to hatch these eggs, but….we’ll provide whatever support these little chick-a-dees may need for warmth, etc., and hope that Chardonnay will take over some of that responsibility. She has been off the nest a couple of times wherein I think she has gotten confused which box she had been laying on. The eggs had cooled off some, but did not get “cold.” Well maybe a couple of them did. Each time I put her back on the correct nest, she has cuddled down and brought any eggs outside of her body into and under herself. At last count, she had 14 eggs!!! I don’t know if she is bringing more eggs into her nest, or if others are laying theirs where she is lying. This is a true learning experience, and if we come out with one or two chicks, I will be ecstatic!!

This all started two weeks ago today. Six of the 7 hens laid eggs in the same nesting box…Chardonnay decided to sit, and there she stayed. The 7th hen laid her egg in a different box, so since it was still warm, I put that one under her….one egg for each hen giving us a better chance of a pure Buff Orpington chick. Our boxes are a bit small for a broody hen, so Tony took out part of the lower wall under the nesting boxes (they are about 4 ft. off the ground) and made a nest/brooder area that expands into the “people” area. I lost some of my storage space, but Chardonnay is more comfortable, and the chicks won’t fall off the landing area in front of the nesting boxes.

I was afraid that moving Chardonnay and her eggs would result in her abandoning her nest, but she is so devoted, she just wiggled herself back into place, pulled two eggs under her that were sitting out, and snuggled in. She has been much more comfortable since the move, and is growling a lot less when I come near. I bring her treats, and little bowls of cracked corn and chicken feed at night…I thinks this is helping. Due to the cold, I haven’t candled any of the eggs to see what we’ve actually got going under there. I’m sure we won’t have 14 eggs hatch. It’s going to be fun to see what we actually get…I’m hoping for at least one Claudio (our Buff girl) look alike!

New nesting box.

Ideally, the hope is that the brooders can stay with the flock (in their own area within the chicken house) with mama leading the way, keeping them warm. Logic would say that their integration will be more natural this way, but there are dangers of attack by other flock members that we have to be really thinking about. Our logic doesn’t always coincide with God’s design in nature, so we’ll try our best to nurture through the cold of winter whatever may hatch. I just hope they’ve stayed warm enough through this bitter cold. Either way, I won’t let Chardonnay sit for much longer than a few days past the 21st day. She needs to nourish herself and get back to chicken business beyond nesting.

A question for my knowledgeable poultry friends out there….Will eggs that have been sat upon for many day still hatch if Mama Hen gets confused and sits on eggs laid that morning while her nest grows cold? Chardonnay did that today. In very chilly weather, the eggs were cold to the touch when I found them without her. She readily snuggled back down with them when I put her back on the nest, but my fear is that damage has been done.

Category:

Brooders, building a new home, Chicken Eggs, Chicken House, Chickens, Cold weather, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon

Tagged with:

OMGosh…It’s Cold out There!

Well…I’ve had to cut my posts from one loooonnnnnnggggg post to two shorter. Keep an eye out for my next post….!

I think that almost the entire country has been in consistently dropping temperatures.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ice-friday-america-is-insanely-cold-right-now-2013-12

At 7:00 this morning, our outside temp was 3 degrees…3 DEGREES!! The welfare of my chickens has been a huge concern. I’m just short of inviting the flock into the house…..well….maybe not that far, but the garage stays in the back of my mind. Though their house is really wonderful, it is not insulated, and the roofing is metal sheeting. Without help, their inside water would surely freeze…actually it did. This freaked me out!! I felt like such a hugely awful chicken mama, but it threw me into action. I started with rigging up one 250 watt heat lamp, and a heated water bowl…since there is no power to the house, I hooked up power with long, yellow, construction power cords. A week and a half ago, this worked fine…this past week it fell way short. Implementing a cord splitter, heat lamp #2 was employed. The temp dropped again…we moved the heated, outside water dish inside. This seemed to work well for the teen temperatures…but last night we were going to be dropping into the single digits. So, in the dark, in temps of about 13 degrees…Tony and I were out at the chicken house lowering the heat lamps to more directly provide heat to the chicken roosting / nesting areas instead of the general house. With this, and a generous supply of cracked corn, everybody survived the night. Give me a break now….I’m used to animals living INSIDE the house…these girls and guy are my first out-of-the-house experience, and with these kind of temperatures….let’s just say it was a glorious 6:30 a.m. moment when I heard Benedict crowing!!

It’s cold out there!

Heat lamps add warmth.

Heated water bowl was a necessary addition.

Coaxing them in with cracked corn so I can shut the chicken door.

Claudio the hogging the heat.

At least they look warm and toasty.

The cabana has been a really great addition, and the flock has spent a lot of time out there. Tony picked up a couple of straw bundles, and spread some of it on the floor of the cabana. That was a hugely great idea as the chickens are not liking foraging around the snow very much. They actively kick around the straw and look for the chicken scratch we’ve thrown out in it, and little bugs that may be hiding.

A big pile of straw to play in.

The more extreme cold is supposed to last a few more days, I think we’ve got it covered….maybe…wait until the next post, big news on the farm!!

Rooster tracks in the snow.

Category:

building a new home, Chicken Cabana, Chicken House, Chickens, Cold weather, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Snow

Tagged with:

RePlanting the Forest

One of the realities of our homestead is the fact that we are living in a forest. There are some cleared areas of rolling pasture land, but the majority of our 34 acres consists of Douglas Firs, deciduous Oaks, and Maples. Around 2004 – 2005, the previous owners logged the front 12 acres of the property, the back 22 were logged back in the 1980’s sometime. Thankfully, they chose not to clear-cut which left young, mature trees and an ecosystem that would more easily maintain, and regenerate itself. It did create a mess that nature could naturally take care of, or we could help with. Eight years later, the forest is thriving. The Douglas Firs are popping up above the Oak trees, which in turn will create a natural reforestation of conifers. As you walk the property, there are baby firs everywhere. It has taken a lot of sweat equity in cleaning up piles of logs, limbs, and branches, and years for the land to heal. This fall, actually, this weekend, marks our first attempt at phase two for our forest management plan…tree planting.

We planted a grove of 10 baby, Giant Sequoia trees that we can see from our main windows, as well as, a line of them down along the fence line toward the pond. If you know of our ties to the SF Bay Area, and northern California, you may be able to understand our camaraderie with these beautiful trees. Apparently, these young trees are like candy to deer so protecting them is crucial to their survival.

Tucker and Penni enjoying the new trees

Tony and his helpers!

Cutting the fencing…16 ft. for each tree

One of our cute, little, protected Sequoia trees.

What a nice little grove of GIANTS!

Beyond this, in terms of conifers…we will be planting much smaller Douglas Firs around many different areas.

We’ve also designated an open area as an orchard with the hopes of having a little “Fruit Stand” set up in the front pasture….that’s a different story!! However, being mindful of this, the trees waiting to be planted this week are Honey Crisp, Braeburn, Fuji, and Melrose Apple trees; Bartlett, and Comice Pear trees; Bing, Lepin, and Stella Cherry trees; and Chestnut trees. From the time we bought the property, Tony’s dad, Joe, wanted to plant Chestnut trees on the property…he never got a chance to do that…our Chestnut grove will be in his honor. BTW…he also wanted to put a couple of beef cows out there…..UHHH OHHHH!!!

HI COW!!

Category:

building a new home, Giant Sequoia Trees, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area

Tagged with:

A Day in the Life…..

….Of a Chicken!

It was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining, giving warmth to the cool, damp, November morning. I had been away, not for more than a few hours. The welcome I received was as if a long, lost friend had returned from an extended absence.

There we were, my chickens and I, enjoying the warmth of the sun, basking in the knowledge that we were together again. Then it dawned on me, this flock of welcoming poultry were hoping that I had a bag of lettuce in my purse. But then, well, look what happened next…

Our reunion was interrupted as I went into the house. Within moments, I felt that I was being watched. I wondered from where the ever-present aura of watchfulness had sprung. Looking around, the culprit was exposed.

“Look guys, she’s in there!”

My fascination with the flock was diminished as the reality of three dogs standing around with their legs crossed, looking up at me with pleading eyes led me back outside. Truth be told, the canine drive for eliminating outside was truly a blessing to our feathered friends.

The following events happened in an instant in time, yet slowly played out in great detail in front of my eyes. As the four of us opened the garage and walked out to the world awaiting us, Penni my Great Dane, ran to the right. Glancing that direction, a dark veil draped over the bliss of the morning. There swooping down toward the tiny patch of grass in front of our porch on which our chickens had just been gathered, was a very large, brown bird. Stealthy and silent, the hawk was quickly approaching. As if in a choreographed dance, Benedict our rooster, caught sight of the danger and started stomping and clucking loudly, sending out the alarm. The hens responded quickly and headed for the cover of the porch. As the hawk reached, what I would consider the striking vicinity, it must have noticed the approaching freight train named, Penni. Without hesitation, the hawk effortlessly turned to the left, and with completely silent movements disappeared into the horizon. Penni ran toward the direction it flew, but it was so quickly gone.

Quickly counting heads I found all present and accounted for. Benedict was doing his own counting…

The flock stayed hunkered down for several minutes under the chairs on the porch.

Hiding out from the big, bad monsters.

They came out and resumed their foraging, however, remained a little more on edge. Happily everyone survived, but the hawk now knows our address…she will be back. And she was back…today. I think she got a bit closer this time because I found a lot of feathers…a lot of Buff Orpington feathers which means either from Benedict (rooster), or Claudio (hen.)

My poor little chicken.

All the other hens are Rhode Island Reds. Seeing the hawk once again, I found the flock split into two different hiding places. They managed to get enough courage to come back together, and my kids and I wrangled them into the chicken house…we then closed the door for the rest of the night. It was time to just stay indoors and calm down. Once again, all were accounted for.

So the big question is now….free range, or corralled under cover. One, obviously, has a larger danger factor than the other…but it also holds more freedom, better tasting eggs, and the ability to welcome me home. They seem happier since being able to free range, but maybe a bit less relaxed. What would you choose?

Category:

Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chickens, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Rhode Island Reds

Tagged with:

My Neighbor has Goats

My neighbor has goats. Enough said…..until you add in the peacocks, guinea fowl, geese, numerous barn cats, horse, etc., etc., etc.!! I think the 6 acre farm of which these animals reside is large enough to contain them, but goats, cats, and feathered fowl have a way of breaching the boundaries.

Our friend

Quite the nice silhouette

This late spring brought new kids to the goat family. As the kids grew, and horns became noticeable and imposing, my job with these cute little critters began. The squares of our wire fence line are big enough for a goat to stick their head through to taste the delicacies of the other side of the fence…our side. This is totally fine with me for a few different reasons, not the least of which is the control of poison oak, and black berry vines along the fence line…a real plus. The difficulty comes in as the goats and their horns grow, they find that putting their head through the fence is easy…backing out is another story. Those horns hook the wire, and the poor little goat gets stuck. There is a certain sound a goat makes when they are stuck. I am quite attuned to that sound now.

When I first hear the call for help nowadays, I hope that its liberator is quickly on their way…in the form of my neighbors. When the whaling goes on for a couple of hours, I have pretty much learned that help won’t be coming anytime soon for the little guy…or gal. Feigning the thoughts of trekking through poison oak, I can’t leave a goat stuck when it is calling for help. The goats know me by now…they don’t even flinch when I approach. I maneuver their head, lining up their horns…a little lift here, a little turn there and wallah…they are free. At first it takes them a moment to realize their freedom, then, like a lightning bolt, they bound away…only a few hops, then they stop…look at me, and bounce off. It makes the threat of contracting poison oak all worth it!

The goats horns have grown too big now to maneuver out, so recently, I have had to cut the fence to get them free. There are also bigger now, and when I push, they push back…at that point, they are immoveable. I have grown quite fond of my neighbor’s goats, and hope that a smaller mesh fencing to go right alongside the larger squared fencing is in my neighbor’s plans…somehow, I don’t think so….and on it goes!!

Let’s call him Einstein!

Yup…your stuck!

The now empty square!

Mama goat saying, “Thank you.”

Einstein back with the family!

Category:

building a new home, Goats, Homesteading, Oregon, Peacocks

Tagged with:

Discovering My Small Town

There have been some interesting times of adjustment throughout the last two years of living in our small town, but last night cemented my longing to be here…to be part of this farming / logging community. It all came in the form of the opening high school football game. This was our first game….this was our first experience of how an entire community…town…rallies around, and is united by their sports teams. As I looked around at the crowd and witnessed the long-standing friendships, the commitment to this high school football team, the Cheer Team, the families, the younger kids running around behind the back of the end-zone waiting for their chance to someday be on that field…in that uniform, the mere fact that 90% of everyone at the game was wearing a shirt showing their pride in this team; I realized something my experience thus far had lacked. There was richness here, in this small community in a different way than what I have known.

In the Bay Area, the illusion of financial richness for everyone is all around you, but the feeling of community within the city we lived suffered a great deal. There was division around financial status, the neighborhood you lived in, and whether they want to admit it or not…race. The difference came for us by being part of our Christian church family, and the small population within the Little League / Bobby Sox Softball organizations. This is where we found community among the diversity that the Bay Area holds.

Public high school football games, and other youth sporting events were something that happened in the community, but in most cases, didn’t draw the community’s attention. Participation was generally based on individuals having a variant that was directly related to that particular sport. In fact, anytime one of our district’s high schools petitioned to let students (Heaven forbid) park their cars on the streets surrounding the high school, install lights, or improve the fields, they were met with multiple city counsel meetings, and threats of lawsuits to hash out the opposition that the schools own direct neighborhood harbored. Not all, but many of these members of the community even though they had bought their homes next to the high schools, or community sports fields…felt inconvenienced and threatened at the thought that campus life even existed. “What…you mean there is going to be traffic, and people parking on the street outside of my home because there is some sort of school event going on? Come on, City Counsel…tell them that they can’t do this!!” Unfortunately, these circumstances were where you found most of the community’s involvement when it came to the local sports teams. In contrast, the community richness that I witnessed last night in my small town was amazing, and was greatly missing in the place I am from. After 22 years of living in the same city of California, I cannot say if there was anything that truly united that community.

So I have to ask myself…am I becoming small town, or in my heart have I always been?? Are the chickens, the wildlife, the frogs in the pond, the quaint downtown, the lack of well known restaurants, the 40 minute drive to the nearest Target Store, and the time I arrived late to an appointment because I got behind a 20 mph hay baler driving down the two-lane-no-passing road starting to replace the fast-paced, convenience of the city? My love for our property has been present from the first time I laid eyes on it. My love for our small town was imprinted on my heart and mind last night. I may be running on emotions right now, but I have to look and know that the game, the town’s rallying around the team, the complete silence during the band’s playing of the National Anthem…there is so much that my little slice of Oregon offers beyond what I have seen with my eyes. Perfect, no….incredibly ‘Bedford Falls” like…yes (well, and no – but that’s another story..hahaha!)

The noise was actually deafening!

Category:

building a new home, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

Tagged with:

Blackberries + Sugar = Jam!!!

I’m almost embarrassed to admit how excited I get over those little, basic, skills that people have been doing as part of normal, everyday life for countless centuries. Being a newbie at all things even remotely related to homesteading, (with the exception of growing small planter gardens) taking my blackberries and turning them into something I can spread on toast (preferably San Francisco Sourdough!!!) makes me so happy!! I feel like an out-of-the-ordinary homesteading geek…..meaning if other homesteaders (I totally do not even feel that I am qualified to fit into that category) read this blog, they would probably think I’m a geek-homesteading-wanna-be! This is all such a huge experiment for me…I feel like a kid in a candy shop!!

Last summer was the first time I attempted to make blackberry jam. Looking online, I found that you can make jam with our without pectin. Pectin?? What the heck is Pectin?? So I chose not to use that unfamiliar product, and go with what I knew….berries and sugar. I found a recipe at http://savorysweetlife.com/2009/08/how-to-make-blackberry-or-raspberry-jam/ that allowed me to do just that.

Basically, its 1 cup of sugar, to 1 cup of berries and 2 tbsp. lemon juice. That’s it! Simple and to the point. I like fruit products that are a little more tart than sweet, so I reduced the sugar amount to about 3/4 of a cup (or a little less, but more than a 1/2) for each cup of berries. I also prefer seedless jam, so I blended just the berries, then smashed the liquid through a strainer leaving the seeds behind. The result was a very smooth, tart, yet sweet, delicious blackberry jam. Without Pectin, it doesn’t last as long in the fridge…but in my home, it gets eaten up pretty quickly. So here is the process…(most of these pictures were taken from last year’s jam production.)

The stars of the show….Wild Blackberries!

The Ninja blended berries!

Blended blackberries getting ready to separate the fruit from the seed.

The pulp and seeds left from working the blackberry juices through the strainer.

Now combined, sugar and blackberry juices boil for 5 minutes.

The boiled jam now simmers for 15 more minutes.

[

Had a bit of a spill over here…sticky mess!

And all of a sudden…it’s blackberry jam time!!!

Uhhmmm…YUMMMM!!! Blackberry jam on sourdough toast!!!

Category:

Blackberries, building a new home, Great Dane, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Wild Blackberries

Tagged with:

The Gift of the Vine – Oregon’s Wild Jewels

Who’s picking those berries??

Ever wonder where that purple mustache came from on your German Wirehaired Pointer’s mouth? Every wonder why your Great Dane runs an 1/8th of a mile down your driveway and stands staring at the bush growing by the pond? Ever wonder why you buy this product in the store when home-grown is soooo much better?? Wonder what I’m talking about???

WILD BLACKBERRIES!!!!!!

The start of our Wild Blackberry season!!

While the neighboring honey bees were hard at work pollenating our wild blackberry bushes, my angst about very little bees in my garden grew. However, this year’s crop of blackberries is tremendous, even with the lack of water we’ve had this summer. No doubt their roots are tapping into the year round pond in our front pasture, and although the fruit is smaller, it is abundantly positioned on the vines and packed with berry yumminess!! We have so many yet to ripen….

Waiting on the precious jewels of Oregon.

Wild Blackberries still to ripen

This is why my dogs stare at the bush growing by the pond, and come back with purple moustaches…

The last couple of years, I’ve learned a few things about picking these gorgeous, yummy, jewels of Oregon. It is best to go berry picking in the evening as the sun is setting, or in the morning just as the sun is starting to rise. If you don’t, you’re going to be contending with honey bees, bumble bees, and wasps…none of which I want buzzing around my hands, arms, or face. Be prepared to pick more than you need, because half of what you pick won’t make it to the bucket…your mouth (or your dog’s) may exhibit a purple hew after picking. Wear long sleeves, as those thorns really do not want to give up the treasures within their vines. I’ve yet to find gloves that can really work for picking berries. Any suggestions?? Finally, make sure you remember what you were wearing when it comes time to do your laundry…you’ll want to pretreat those blackberry spots left on your clothes…or you can always tie dye if you forget. 🙂

Glad I was wearing long sleeves!

Who’s picking those berries??

Penni helping to pick…Tucker is back there too!

Not bad for 15 minutes worth of pain, scratches, and fun. This is true family bonding time… 🙂

The 15 minute bounty!!

Category:

Blackberries, building a new home, Great Dane, Harvesting, Homesteading, honey bees, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Wild Blackberries

Tagged with:

The Skies Have It

I’ve always been taken by the sky. If you think about it, there are no comparisons to any other type of canvas one can paint on. Within varying shades, the background remains virtually the same. The medium, however, varies not by content, but by texture, shading, brightness, and color. When the sky merges with, and becomes part of the skyline, the impact is even greater.

Growing up and living most of my adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had a merging sky – skyline referred to as the Bay Area’s natural air conditioner. This would occur as the coastal fog would come inland enough to hang, literally, on top of the bay area coastal mountains, creating the appearance of huge waves. This meant the jet stream was coming inland from the ocean, bringing with it that cool air and fog that creates those iconic pictures of the Golden Gate. It’s spectacular!

The Golden Gate Bridge in fog.

Arial view of SF Bay Area coastal fog by photographer Simon Christen

Unfortunately, in the absence of the fog, the skyline turns more of a brownish color rather than blue. Call it particles, or pollution…it totally detracts from the beauty of the canvas, however, creates some very wonderful sunrises and sunsets.

The skies of Oregon have been a welcomed surprise by the creative hand of the Master Artist. He paints a moveable, ever-changing display of undeniable beauty. In contrast to the Bay Area where so much of the majestic artistry compounds on the skyline, in Oregon, the sky gets most of His attention. It’s amazing, every time you walk outside, the canvas has been repainted.

These past two weeks or so, the sky has had some outrageously beautiful stories to tell, with the last couple of days expressing vivid beauty from pain. We’ve had the threat of thunder storms creating “ahhmaaazing” sunsets, culminating, yesterday, in Severe Thunder Storm Alerts on the radio and T.V.. all day warning of quarter sized hail, winds to 60 mph, 1/2″ to 1″ of rain, and ground to sky lightning. Imagine the attention those warnings got from someone, Me, who is used to seeing fog on the hills as a significant weather occurrence. (If you want to talk earthquakes, that’s another story.) Here are some photos of our incredible Oregon sky taken the past 2 – 3 weeks…and then a little video of a lightning storm (not mine, nor even from an Oregon storm…just a beautiful video.)

What a gorgeous sky!!

Awesome, yet, intimidating!

Twenty minutes of incredible beauty!

Category:

Bay Area Fog, building a new home, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

Tagged with:

Where Are the Bees??

It took three posts to do it, but I will be caught up-to-date with my garden’s growth chart at the end of this writing..hahahaha.

Water, water, everywhere water….and not a drop to spare. In a cruel twist of irony, this usually rain soaked portion of the Pacific Northwest becomes very, very dry in the two – three heated growing months. A common saying around here is, “Summer starts on July 5th.” From what I have seen, it also marks the end of any kind of rain (this year was about two weeks earlier) until fall. We’re on a well, and with the help of a water storage tank, it produces more than our daily needs. Water use and conservation here or in the Bay Area has always had to be in our thoughts, and habits…drought conditions are not uncommon in California. In par with that, watering the garden has to be adequate, but not over-abundant. To combat this, and maximize the watering, I try to build little mounds and tributaries around where I want the water to flow and stop. Nobody wants a stream running away from their plants. Sometimes I’ll give a shot of water…let it seep into the soil…then repeat several times for one plant just to maximize the concentration of water into one spot. It takes patience.

I’ve been noticing a real lack of honey bees visiting the flowers in waiting. My plants are really huge at this point, they have flowers, but barely a bee. I do have some beautiful gems that have started, and a few larger than that, but it is getting to the point that I might consider “artificial inpollination” (play on words here) to bring more for the harvest….Tony said all I would need is a cotton swab…I don’t know, it seems a little imposing hahaha. I hope they start showing up!!!

Whatever our difficulties, the earth is giving back!! Our plants are beautiful….take a look!! These pictures are the latest taken on July 20th…one month later from yesterday’s post.

Potatoes, Corn and Pumpkins in the background

Potatoes, Celery, and Corn… I did not expect the potatoes to get soooo big.

Tomatoes, with Peppers in front

One pot full of Watermelon, and Cantaloupe

Gourds in the foreground…Pinto Beans in the background.

Pumpkins!! I’ve never seen pumpkins start out yellow instead of green…

The strangest pumpkin I’ve ever seen

Taking my morning trek down to the front gate with Penni, I discovered where the current honey bee hangout has developed….they are all over our wild blackberry bushes!!! Blackberry jam is right around the corner…YAY!!!

Category:

building a new home, Eggplant, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, honey bees, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, pumpkins, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

Tagged with:

The Vegetable Garden That Almost Wasn’t

This year, winter turned to spring really quickly, and weirdly, unexpectedly in our minds. Even though it was late April, temperatures were still dropping really low at night…I think we even got a light frost in early May. Tony had to leave on business for a couple of weeks…we had just entered the month of May. All of a sudden the weather was warmer, and we had NOT set-up the garden at all. In my mind, we were way late…remember, we were used to getting our garden going by Mid-March at the latest in California. I was starting to panic, but I pulled it together…hahahaha…..got out a big shovel and turned the ground over…Tony would have used the tilling implement on the tractor, but it wasn’t attached when he left. At that point it was MUCH easier….more practical…NO WAY was I going to try and get that thing attached.

My second obstacle was the fencing…we have to have protective fencing or nothing will survive. We had 6 wire panels with 2×4 boarders that Tony and my son, Will, had already made that past summer. They would be perfect for a quick set-up…remember, I was in panic mode to get my seeds and tiny sprouts into the ground. The one drawback was that it would greatly reduce the space I would have available to plant….we have 34 acres….my garden would be reduced to a 16’x 8′ rectangle…oh well…at least I’d have great tomatoes!! My son and I attached the panels together, and then I addressed the other issues.

Veggie Garden 2013 – Young, Growing Seedlings

My cute little garden!

Just planted!

First of all, the soil….the soil!! We have red, very iron rich dirt…not rich in much else…great for Douglas Fir trees, vegetables, not so much. Last year’s garden was a total Test Garden. We did not improve the soil, at all, on purpose, and it did okay with some help from granulated fertilizer. The tomatoes were delicious, the strawberries did terribly!! This year we chose a different area within the ashes of a burn pile. Mixing all of that into the soil beneath it really broke up the packed, rocky soil and seemed perfect for the potatoes, onions, corn, and celery. We also added pots with traditional bagged soil because the burn pile was not big enough for everything I wanted to plant…… I think we need to call this Test Season #2.

Veggie Garden 2013 – One Month Later (June)…Oh How They’ve Grown

One Month Later…Potatoes, Celery, and Corn

Carrots

Gourds…what do you do with gourds??

Pinto Beans

Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Pumpkins

Tomatoes, Green and Yellow Bell Peppers

Category:

building a new home, Eggplant, Great Dane, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

Tagged with:

Remembering Our Garden Mistakes of 2012

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2: 15

I’m always amazed when I plant a vegetable garden, and it actually starts to grow. I’m even more amazed when I’m grabbing a basket and plucking the beautiful gifts that garden gives. Can you imagine the preprogramming that is in each and every tiny, tiny seed?? Not only is the Big Guy the Master Gardner, He is the original computer geek…LOL!

I started this post with the mindset that I could get everything caught up about the garden into this one writing. Uuhhmmmm….that is not working too well, so I’m breaking it up. Why I’m saying that and just not doing it…I have no idea!!

I have found that there is a certain timing to planting a vegetable garden up here in Oregon. This has been a learning curve for me. In the San Francisco Bay Area of California, you’re pretty safe getting things into the ground really anytime from late February to mid March. Oregon plays by a different set of rules, I mean, it can be April, and a light frost comes on for a couple of nights damaging your young, delicate crops. Timing is everything. Last year was our first attempt at growing veggies within these conditions….let’s just say I lost most of my garden due to frost, and had to replant. Those things that did fight their way back…like a really brave eggplant, never really produced much….except the potatoes, they did really well.

The Brave Little Eggplant…produced a mutant vegetable after coming back from the late frost of 2012

Our 2012 potato harvest…not bad for hard, rocky soil!!

Example of our 2012 garden

Our funny little 2012 carrots..hahaha

Although the 2012 watermelon had reached the full size they were going to grow to…they hadn’t ripened when we had to pick them to save what we could from the deer.

I think the short growing season has created, in me, a better appreciation and thankfulness for the produce that we receive from these plants. Truly, different from gardens past, wherein, the growing season and production times were much longer, I didn’t waste or let lay to waste any of it. I really saw for the first time, the value of what God had provided us from the tiny seeds we planted in the months prior to harvesting. It’s now mid July, 2013, and I’m just starting to see gems of goodness hanging from the vines and limbs (I can’t see what’s under, but I’m imagining with great hope)…looking forward to the coming weeks where I’ve gotten those precious “stones” out of the garden and onto our dinner plates. Now if I can just keep the deer from eating it first…..

The Bell Peppers struggled, and in the end were eaten by deer.

The tiny 2012 Bell Peppers struggled, and in the end were eaten by deer. As you can see, I gave up on trying to keep back the weeds..hahaha

This was the ripest of our 2012 watermelon…

The deer were hungry that night…pumpkin of 2012

This year’s garden, 2013, almost didn’t happen. The ground was not tilled, the protective fencing not up, and all of a sudden…winter turned to spring in late April, and we were unprepared. The, Have a Dane Hill Garden 2013, did get in the ground….that story is next…..

Category:

building a new home, Deer, Eggplant, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

Tagged with:

A Sad Reality

My next-day post turned into a week later…..the realities of life sometimes get in the way of those things, like writing, that I’d rather be doing.

There are other realities in life that we encounter less frequently (hopefully), but always, when they occur, too often. Before I get to that, I have some updating to attend to.

So obviously, the chickens have continued to grow. Since my last post, the “Fine Wines” have feathered out nicely and have been spending time in the small pen that Tony built for the “Shakespeareans”, aka…the “Untouchables.”

Watching over both broods, Penni is a very busy Mommy!

For three days, their outdoor run was not in the location you see above. We had them across the driveway, closer to their brooder inside the garage. They LOVED the great outdoors, and were very quick to get the idea that they could eat the grass, and bugs under their feet. Our first group didn’t seem to catch onto this concept quite as fast. Maybe it’s because they were raised by a Great Dane, and not a hen…hahahaha! This younger brood has taught us a lot about chicken behavior, and some of the dangers they face. They just, in all aspects, act more like the typical caricature model of those feathered fowl you see in cartoons. Younger than our first brood, these “Fine Wines” have scratched the dirt, found that grass is a great substitute to feed, chased bugs, and found a roosting place earlier and with more ease than the “Shakespeareans.”

The Fine Wines decided this was a good place to spend the night!

They don’t really want to be held (unlike Claudio), but have found that it is a necessary evil to getting outside. There is one exception to this, “not wanting to be held” tendency that I will detail in a bit.

The “Untouchable Shakespearean Four” have settled very nicely into the chicken house. We started out having to coral them at nighttime back to indoor safety around 8:30 to 9:00. The sun hasn’t been setting until about 9:30ish, and since, at this point, we manually close their access door we lose patience around 8:30. One night we waited, and it was so cool…it was about 9:15 p.m…our neighbor’s rooster called out…our little man and ladies lifted their heads and ran straight into their house! It was the most awesome sight!! Once the sun starts setting a little earlier, I’ll have patience to wait for this crew to begin doing that on their own…for right now, we do the nighttime coral dance. =o)

Well, now to get to the title of this post…during the week that we were introducing the “Fine Wines” to life outdoors, we had a real-life homesteading lesson. We left the brood out in their covered pen while we went to dinner. I wasn’t concerned as I had left the older group out many times with no problems…Tony, on the other hand, mentioned that we should bring them in…my thoughts won-over the moment, and we went to town…the 6 glasses of wine stayed out. As we were coming up the driveway back home, a hawk took off from a ground level position…near the outside brooder. I glanced at the six smaller chickens…they seemed ok. My concern was mostly on the older four, their outdoor pen is not top covered….they were not outside. Taking a peek into the chicken house, my fears were quelled…they were all there, but they didn’t come out to greet me. Something scary must have happened.

My attention then turned back to the “Fine Wines”…they were all grouped together in one corner of the pen, except one…it was laying, crumpled against the side of the pen…the opposite side of the pen. I thought, “Oh no!!” And within the few seconds it took for me to get to the brood, the additional thoughts that went through my head were…”Which one is it? I think it’s going to be the rooster…he’d try to protect the girls…he always does…Oh no is it Gretchen?” By the time I formed that last question, I realized that it WAS Gretchen….he was dead.

Little Getchen…..the rooster.

The little hen who would be a rooster!!

Our imagination tells us that Gretchen (the Rooster) must have run forward in front of the flock to protect them. Even though he was still so young, Gretchen always put himself in front of the girls when he sensed something. The hawk must have grabbed him through the wire mesh wall. It was very sad, and it was a very good lesson of true nature…it is all around us up here in Oregon. We have less of a threat of the artificial dangers such as animals being hit by cars, but a more prominent possibility of predators. This requires a different level of thinking and planning. We’re still figuring it out…like the fact that we now put a cat carrier into the outdoor pen so these little ladies and gentlemen have a place to run to for protection.

Do you remember me saying that the younger brood of 6 (now 5) do not like to be held….well, the night of the hawk made things a little different. Those little glasses of wine stood absolutely still while we picked them up to move them inside. They actually relaxed into the crevice of my arm and almost all of them closed their eyes as I walked them back to their home. They were scared, and exhausted. Huddling together, they ate, got a drink of water, then huddled together and took a good sleep. They were somewhat quiet for a little over a day, but something really cool started to emerge….we had a new little rooster. Up to that point I hadn’t noticed that we had two, except for a little “chest pounding” by Gretchen and this little one….welcome to the cockerel section, little Merlot!!

This little guy stepped up to the plate after Gretchen died.

My concern now….will little Merlot be big enough to stand up to Benedict if necessary? Hmmmmm……..

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chicken House, Chickens, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Rhode Island Reds, Silicon Valley

Tagged with:

From Brooder to Chicken House

Still catching up….

About 10 days ago, we moved our 4 “untouchables” to their new home…the lavishly designed chicken house. Who are the 4 “untouchables” you ask, and why am I calling them that?? They are the 4 originals…the 4 amigos (although 3 are amigas)…the 4 never to be seen on a dinner plate, soon to be leg banded so no mistakes, named after Shakespeare’s, “Much Ado About Nothing” male character roles even though 3 are hens, first brood of chickens our family has ever raised. I feel very parental over these fine, feathered friends!!

Benedict (the rooster), Claudio, Don John, and Don Pedro – The 4 “Originals”

Don John, and Don Pedro

Claudio

Penni, our Great Dane, must have been a little concerned too. She HAD to get into the chicken house and count her babies. As soon as she found everyone accounted for, she relaxed and left the newly designed home with her approval. She hasn’t needed to get in there since, so I guess everything checked out to her liking… ;O)

Making sure all is right with her little puppy-chicks.

Their first night out of the brooder in the garage was a rough one….for me! I worried all night about raccoons or coyotes, were they warm enough, did they have enough light filtering in from the outside shop light. I had read that chickens like some sort of dim light in their house…that they are scared of the dark…really??? So I worried that they were cold, afraid, and vulnerable……am I the only one who thinks this way??

I think this is what you get when you move from city life to country life….an over exaggerated tendency to want to keep everything under your own roof to keep it safe. Maybe it stems from always needing to know where your animals are when you live in the city. If they are not within earshot or sight, they are at risk for getting hit by a car, picked up by animal control, or barking too loudly and disturbing neighbors. Dogs must always be leashed, confined, and controlled….cats, although given a bit more freedom, better not be choosing a neighbors freshly dug garden as an area of interest or they risk mysteriously disappearing. Always, always know what your pets are doing….since I have not been removed from that reality for very long, I am still working my way around the city confinement vs. being able to stretch the boundaries a bit more. I’m trying not to view the chickens as pets….but I think I have lost that battle with the 4 “originals.”

Me and my buddy, Claudio!!

Despite my worrying, the chickens have done well. The last couple of nights have been cooler than I’m comfortable with since they don’t have any type of heat source. A light bulb or the heat lamp may be something we add today. I’ve read varying advice on that. These 4 are not of egg laying age, and although feathered out nicely, they don’t yet have the body fat (I’m guessing here) to keep them as warm as they should be. I am not sure if that is true or not. But they are not yet roosting, and they huddle together on the floor in a corner during the night…that tells me that they are a bit cold. I’m not okay with that, so we’ll see what we can do today. If anyone has insight of this, I’d be happy to get your advice!! The chicken house is not wired so we’ll have to run an extension cord…hhmmmm. I’ll have to figure out how to get an extension cord through a wooden wall…I may have to drill a hole…..sorry Tony!!!

First time contemplating walking down the ramp to the great outdoors.

They made it!!

I’m not sure why we thought closing the chicken door was a good idea.

Stay tuned…..the “fine wines” have had a little adventure of their own….but that’s for tomorrow!!

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chicken House, Chickens, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds, Silicon Valley

Tagged with:

Chicken Coooooo…… naw……. Chicken House!!

When you think of chickens what comes to mind?? Well after seeing these little girls (and it looks like 2 – 3 boys) grow and feather out from their soft, downy, fluffiness…I don’t see dinner!! Those clean, pudgy fryers that I buy at the grocery store could never have been one of these cuties….I have to keep that separation…at least at this point. Tony thinks differently, he thinks that when the time comes we will have a delicious meal sitting before us that once was in the chicken coooo…..uhmm …house. Only time will tell, although I have no doubt that if it were the best option to feed the family he wouldn’t hesitate….but, there is a grocery store 3 miles away….and hunting has never been his thing. Age and time has a tendency to change you…maybe it will me too……but I’ve named them, maybe I shouldn’t do that.

Shelter….that was the big question on our list a couple of weeks ago. What are we going to use for a chicken shelter as they grow out of their brooder? We started looking around for premade chicken coops. There are some really cute ones out there, but I couldn’t see 10 fully grown chickens spending a rainy day or many successive rainy days, as we have here in Oregon, squished together in such a small area…. #1: these little gals like to stretch their legs… #2: I don’t want them having to be so squished together that they have poop everywhere they walk. I realize that they are going to have poop everywhere they walk no matter the size of the chicken coop….but if the shelter is a little bigger, it will be more spread out and they won’t have to be walking through fresh “piles” of it. That’s my inexperienced way of thinking. It may be really inefficient in poultry management principles…but doesn’t it make sense…a little?? BTW, Tony agreed with me on this one. 🙂

Not being able to find just the right shelter option, Tony decided to build one. We thought about contracting with Adair Homes (our home builder), but decided to take the project on ourselves…hahahaha. After looking at many different plans, Tony decided to combine a few different ideas, and the chicken cooooo….naw….chicken house was built. It really is a thing of beauty….

Tony Building the Chicken House (with a little help from Penni)

The Two Rooms and Nesting Box without Interior Wall

The Front People Door

Clean-Out Trap Door

Looking Out the Chicken Door

Roosting Ladder

Looking Out from the Chicken’s Area

Nesting Boxes

The Work Area and Egg Gathering Side of Nesting Box

Looking Out the Chicken Door

The only thing left to add now are the chickens…………….

Mickey 4th of July

BTW…our family would like to wish your family a Happy 4th of July!!! Our prayers go out to our wonderful country, that our footing would once again become solid in it’s foundation, and that God’s hand would not be lifted as we continue to move away from the principles that made our country great. May God continue to bless our United States of America, and may His people never forget the sovereignty of His love.

Category:

Adair Homes, Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds

Tagged with:

A Great, Great Week!!

What would it be worth to you to have your house cleaned after the dust and debris of construction….would it be worth having an Open House by your builder?? We weren’t completely sure, but the idea of not having to wipe down cabinets, trim, and other surfaces….having the house vacumed, and just plain making it look all clean and tidy was quite tempting. We felt that along with the temptaion of having the house cleaning, Charlie, our Adair “Front Man” was so helpful, and Kyle, our Foreman was always there to field our questions and concerns. They really worked hard for us…having an Open House was a way that we could say, “Thank you!” THANKS you guys!!!

So if you are wondering…..OUR HOME IS FINISHED!!!! (Well, there are a couple of small items to be finished, but…) Here is the real news…..WE HAVE THE PERMIT OF OCCUPANCY from the county…..WE CAN MOVE IN!!!!!

We have a lot of work to do around our home. To get the permit signed from the county, we had to have a landing for doorways. Our temporary fix was to build up the landing with gravel, but that will be replaced with a paver porch and stair. We still need to construct our patio, the power company needs to come out and disconnect a power source that goes across the front of our home, stuff like that. We are starting to move our things in, still waiting for our refrigerator, and we can’t wait to be fully in. I can’t tell you the joy we have when we walk into our new home. It has been 6 years of saving, and planning…and 20 years before that of hoping and praying that someday we’d be able to do this…in the Lord’s timing, we’re here and our home is completed. Can you feel us smiling!!! 🙂

So here it is, the last 6 months in a quick shot…our house…our Father’s house……THANK YOU for your prayers and well wishes along the way!! I’m sure there will be more to this adventure, this is just the beginning……

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Tagged with:

Rounding Third and Headed for Home!!!

It’s been a long way around the bases, but home plate is finally in view. In fact, it is soooo close we are into the slide….there’s only one thing standing in our way. Like a catcher protecting the plate, the county inspector is standing there in all of his protective gear, saying “Try and get past me.” In case you haven’t gotten it yet…….this week we will either be able to officially occupy our home……………………….or wait for something to be fixed. What, What, What??? Move in????…holy canoli!!

So what happened this past week……it has to do with lights, flooring, counter-tops, sinks, faucets, and….Okay, let me show you….

I think these are really cute.

This hardwood flooring in entryway and kitchen/nook areas.

We used Livingstone for our bathroom counters.

So upgrading to a Signature kitchen allowed us to get stone for the counter-tops in the laundry, baths, and kitchen. We chose Livingstone in the baths and laundry…but, for the kitchen……

We have granite!!!

Besides the counters, the Signature kitchen allowed us to have the double oven designed in, and the finished molding throughout the cabinets.

Hanging lights and can lights! No more picture taking in the dark.

One of the best things that we asked for was the addition of Can lights throughout the living room and kitchen areas. Without these additional lights, there would have been some very unevenly, or barely lit areas. We also had the connections put into the ceiling in the areas that we want to install ceiling fans. This means no dangling cords, YAY!!

This is a good shot of the beautiful granite.

Lights in the darkness…

It is so nice to look up the driveway and see lights on at the top of the hill.

So much more to talk about, so little time to write. The next few days will be life-changing for our family. I’ll let you know how it turns out!! 🙂

Category:

Adair Homes, building a new home, moving to Oregon, Paul Nowak Construction, Warren Ewing Demolition and Excavation

Tagged with:

The Snow Turned to Rain

Do you know what happens when the snow turns to rain………ALOT of rain………

Early this past week, the snow turned to rain. Unfortunately, a ton of water melting, and a ton of water falling meant a ton of rushing, water…overwhelming creeks and rivers all over the Willamette Valley. The flooding was minor in our town, but it was much heavier in other areas. Obvioiusly, this affected the progress on our home. We are glad that the contracters decided not to traverse those roads to keep us on schedule. So we are off a bit….I’m not sure how far….but what we have seen in the past…these Adair guys know how to make up for lost time!!!

So here are the pictures of the flooring that was able to be installed….about half of the flooring (carpet, wood floor, linoleum) is in. Actually, all of the linoleum has been laid down.

The flooring that is in all the bathrooms, and the laundry room.

Carpeting!!! Half of the carpeting is in!! The color is called Celery.

This color is not quite as "white" as it looks in the pictures.

This is the hardwood flooring in kitchen, nook, and entry-way.

The only part of the wood floor not covered by paper to protect it from the soon-to-be-arriving kitchen countertops.

One thing we did have to figure out was an issue regarding our hardware. Tony and I have been thinking throughout this entire build process that our doorknobs, locks, kitchen and bath accessories would be a certain color….one day it dawned on me that they weren’t the color we were thinking….but the knobs on cabinets are. We always believed that the rest of the accessories were going to match those knobs….but they don’t. Unfortunately, we, they, all of us were not on the same page with this one, and what I call the mismatch, stands…..but that will be something we’ll update on our own after the build.

Tomorrow’s forecast shows “partly cloudy.” Keep your fingers crossed….the countertops might be arriving!!!!!