Go With The Flow

Looks like we'll have to keep modifying our homestead plans... we hopefully close on our house the end of next week, but we have to move to a very small rental place until we find the perfect place for our homestead. Meanwhile, we are NOT disheartened!

We have indoor grow lights, and two places to grow things indoors, so we're moving the rest of our potted tomatoes there this weekend, and we'll start other plants.

We have small buckets, water catch-trays, fresh potting soil, and a trellis, so next weekend (once we're moved in), we'll be planting vining string beans, vining garden peas, and vining cucumbers. We've arranged it so they will be able to go all the way to the ceiling. Three potted and baring tomatoes will be located right beside that, and one yellow squash.

We also have a good long windowsill that faces south and gets about 4-6 hours of strong sunlight a way. There we'll have small windowboxes with carrots and greens (like lettuce and spinach) and green onions.

On a small patio we have a small greenhouse that can be open or covered, and we'll put the rest of our potting plants (tomatoes, blackberries, blueberries, etc.) out there.

We are also getting our first angora rabbit, probably this weekend. Just to get back into the groove of taking care of an animal, so only one. These can be combed regularly, and when they shed (2-4 times a year), I'll hand-card their angora wool, and teach myself to spin into yarn. I'm also going to experiment with their wool to see if it can be made into candle-wicking. We'll increase our livestock, room permitting.

See? Just because our plans changed, doesn't mean we have to give up all hope of being homesteaders. We can do it in a tiny rental place too!

Home-Based Eco-Systems

Good information/permaculture in your small front or back yard:

What Urban Homesteading Looks Like

Found this on YouTube:

Homestead Change Plan Delayed; Cottonwood Tree Fuzz

The contract on our house fell through. Then we got such a low-ball offer, that we laughed. So we're still in this house on .22 acres, harvesting tomatoes and zucchini and squash and carrots and so forth, dehydrating at night what we can't eat during the day.

I did a little experiment tho. I gathered some of the cottonwood tree fuzz that flies around, and started twisting it. While I didn't dip it in wax and light it, I'm sure if that's all I had, I could make a fine candle wick from it. Just didn't have enough to make a decent-thickness wick. The nearest cottonwood tree is several blocks away. Just wondering.. has anyone else tried this?

Beehives are illegal?

Yup.

Ok, here's the scoop. We think we've found a great place to buy and set up a little homestead. On this one acre up in the mountains, it's forested but we can cut down some of the trees and plant our apple and other fruit/nut trees, and make a bit of pasture land for goats, cows, etc. We can even have chickens.

It's a very foresty-area. This is a corner lot with houses within viewing distance, through the trees. Nice and cool, and very peaceful. I really like it.

The only thing is ... this county doesn't allow bees in a residential area - we'd have to request a rezoning, but for 1 acre, I doubt we could get this to happen.

We need bees. We don't expect to have a lot - just enough for wax and honey for our own personal use, but we go through about half-a-gallon of honey a month. So here's my question. Is it possible to hide a hive of bees in a little (maybe 1/4 acre) of a forest? Perhaps attached to a tree? Or closer/right up against the house? Are there beehives that look like something else? Do they HAVE to be out in the open for bees to find their way to and fro?

Er, hypothetically, of course.