tree removal

February: We started cutting down poplar trees to open the canopy for our micro orchard. We are going to plant 4 apple, 2 pear and 2 cherry. Maybe more in the future. 

Delimbing and bucking a tree is a big job. My husband does all the work with the chain saw then I come in and start piling up the branches and get the big logs loaded up in the wheelbarrow and move to the splitting area. My son gets his toy chain saw and helps too.

  It takes us about 1.5 hours to get tree down and cleared. (not including splitting). Then we go inside and eat lunch and take a nap......Well I do. I will say that cutting and hauling trees in the winter is far superior than when it warms up. 

When its hot out its the worst job ever, you are pouring sweat and getting attacked by armies of mosquitoes.

Six poplar trees came down and stumps cut down, and brush removed over several weekends in February, March and April. The beginning of April we rented a wood chipper and chipped up all the slash. We were going to need mulch for the trees any way and around the property if we can afford to get the raised garden beds in this year.

The end of March we preordered our trees from an organic local nursery to save 35%. We wanted to add in plum trees but we simply ran out of money. We chose cold hardy trees for zones 3 to 4. We have Haralred Apple, Prairie Magic Apple,Snow Sweet Apple, Frostbite Apple, Parker Pear, Summerscrisp Pear, Monetmorecy Cherry & Evens Bali Cherry.  We studied the forest around us and looked at the way the trees are in alignment. Nothing is in rows so we decided to plant our small orchard this way too. We staggered the trees, no perfect rows like you would see at commercial orchards.

We were able to fit 8 trees, one boy and two adults in our jeep. Everyone and everything got home safely. We soaked our bare root trees in water for several hours before planting them. We learned something new! Our soil is very rocky and gravely with millions of interwoven blackberry roots. While digging the holes we would have to stop and axe apart these unwanted root systems to make room for the bare root trees.  Digging eight holes was very hard, exhausting work. We were only going to do half the trees and save the other half for the following day but I checked the weather forecast and there was rain in the evening so we muscled through and got all the trees in. We do not have any outdoor plumbing or irrigation so the rain is exactly what we needed for these new trees.

The Pug Life in front of the wood pile that needs to be split.

The weeks following the planting were extreamly dry so we had to haul 5 gallon bucket loads of water to the trees. All of the trees have leafed out except our Frostbite Apple. The branches are still pliable so the nursery said to wait a fee more weeks to see if they leaf out, they still have trees that haven't leafed out.

A friend of mine gave me cuttings of raspberry and currents. We have hundreds of blackberries on our property already so these raspberries and currents are great addition. I can wait for everything to start fruiting in a couple years and I can make rumtopf, The tradition of the Rumtopf in Germany goes back centuries as a way to preserve fruits of the season in booze. I have never made it before but it sounds like it would be delicious. 

A really cool find on our property Oyster Mushrooms. A decaying poplar tree along the driveway started popping out oyster mushrooms after our epic down pour of rain. 

Maple sap boil

Maple syrup boiling season has come to an end. For being my first year I consider it a huge success. I can say that moving forward, I would like to invest in a better boiling set up and possibly a small structure to put it in. I feel like a lot of heat was lost in my open air boiling set up. I chose this set up because I wanted to invest as little money as possible in case I hated the collecting and the boiling of the maple sap.  I purchased a hotel buffet steam tray for $25, 6 cinder blocks for $12, 1 grill grate for $14 TOTAL $51.

It took me about 6 hours to boil down maple sap into syrup. The majority of the boil was done outside. Once the sap evaporated down to half way I would add more and repeat until all the sap was put in the pot.

 

After that when it was evaporated to only a quarter pan of liquid I would get my stock pot ready and filter/strainer and strain it off so it could be moved inside. Its a good idea to strain it now while its hot. There ends up being all sorts of debris such as bugs, leaves, ash or weird bits of grass.  

 

When I got it in the house to the stove I set the stove on high to get a rapid boil. I kept a close eye on it and checked the temp every so often.  

Once it reduced in half again,I knew I was getting close when it started to foam and boil up. I had to adjust the heat and stay right near it,checking the temp more often. 

 

The temp finally reached 7 degrees beyond the point of water boiling. I removed it from the heat and filtered it again through a thicker filter. This process was slow and annoying. Some people use a hydrometer to measure to figure out when the syrup is done. Mine was still packed away in the beer brewing supplies and I was too lazy to dig it up. 

 

 

Now it was time to get the clean sterilized jars ready. I poured the syrup into the jars and placed the lids on. At this point the whole house smelled delicious. 

 

I was talking to an old guy at the coffee shop he was telling me about his sap operation and how he moved up to this area in the late 1960s with just a motorcycle and a tent and was living off grid for many years with his family. A few days later I went back to the coffee shop to find he left me a note to call him asap. He gave me 40 gallons of sap!!! He said he boiled down enough for the year and wanted me to have it. My son and I drove over there and picked it up. He gave us a tour of his homestead and his boiling operation. He likes to build stuff from found objects or junk. He really inspired me to think outside of the box on what I can create without buying everything brand new. Also it was a great lesson on social capital. Meaning its very valuable making connections with people and building a network. Not only did I score 40 gallons of sap but this man offered to mentor me and answer any questions I have.

Learning new things.

The frost layer must be melting, the driveway mud pit is drying up. I heard my first frog of the season while my son and I were throwing rocks on a pond. I'm actually sad that winter is over, I usually hate winter. There is no more winter silence when I step outside. I came to enjoy the rhythm of winter, splitting firewood, a hot wood stove, drinking tea, and skiing. It was a mild winter though, only a couple weeks of -20 degree weather. Nice weather means more work.

I learned how to use a wood saw and I made a wood soap mold.

It turned out OK, my cut boards are less than straight. It was a challenge to hold the board and run the saw. the last time I used a saw was in 7th grade wood shop glass when I made a gumball machine. Its not like when you watch This Old House and the wood crafter that has been doing it for 20+ years, has all the tools and table saws ever made in his shop and makes an entire set of table and chairs and gets them perfectly cut and sanded.

I also learned how to add scents to my soap from one of my mom club friends. I purchased some premade scents. I made two batches; one with essential oils which took 3 entire bottles and I colored it with turmeric.

The second with fragrance oil and colored it with this purple clay that turned a brown color. I'm excited for them to cure so I can test them out. I made a soap label, now my soaps look a little nicer when I give them as gifts. 

My son completed a coloring contest in the local paper and won a packet of seeds. He picked out peas and is very excited to plant them. 

We have a shower!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!! After six months I can take a hot shower in my house.

It was truly wonderful. No more truck stop showers with creepers trying to come in and having nightmares about getting crabs. (they are pretty clean for being a truck stop). We had to hire an electrician to wire in the tankless water heater. We could not find this heavy duty wire that was required for the job. When the snow melts we will have to get going installing the gray water system. We are still boiling water on the stove to do dishes and emptying the gray water bucket after but that isn't that big of a deal so I can wait.




Spring has also brought mud season. The work truck got stuck in 6 inches of mud in our drive way. We started parking the cars on the street and hiking to the house. Once the frost layer melts the standing water will be able to go somewhere, until then mud. I love my mud boots by the way. I look like a total nerd going to town covered in mud from the shins down. I also had to buy my son plastic mud pants with suspenders. Its easier to put on these mud pants and go outside then it is to keep him inside and clean. He built a construction site in the back yard that is a mud pit for all his Tonka Trucks.









 

My son is learning about what makes plants grow. He planted sun flower seeds and is in charge of watering them. 

Maple Tree Tapping- Part 1

We put in our maple taps in this weekend. I mentioned before I got the supplies from a friend that was no longer needing them. We have quite a few maples but I only put in 4 taps. Since it is only my first year doing this I didn't want to get over my head and be drowning in maple sap.

This first part was very simple. Find a maple tree. Drill a hole on the south- south east side.

Tap in the tap with a hammer and hang a bag.

One bag has about a quart of sap the other three are still empty. Hopefully we get more as the days warm up.

Storage

After living here for 6 months I'm starting to get a feel for what I like and don't like in our kitchen.  My husband had the idea of  getting rid of all of our dishes except 1 plate, 1 bowl, 1 dessert plate, 1 fork/knife/spoon and 1 glass for each of us. Less dishes to wash, right? So that's what we did. I hate it. There is never enough forks or spoons. We make 3 meals a day in our tiny kitchen and if you are tasting your food or shredding roasts you run out of forks and spoons for the meal.

Without running water its not easy just to wash the fork you are using. I would like a full set of flatware. I have to heat water on the stove to do dishes and empty the sludge/rinse bucket, I tend to wait until after dinner to wash all the dishes for the day and just do it once. I have my Grandma's china set stored away so if we do have guests over for dinner I have plates for them to eat off of.

Having such few dishes does save us a lot of space. Digging the pots and pans out of the cabinet was annoying so we used empty vertical space above the bathroom to hang them. Its so much easier and less noisy putting them away.

My husband finally got our vent a hood installed. We found this in the scratch and dent area of the store for $150 regular price $700 and  I love this thing. It sucks any grease or bad smell right out of the place. I can render down my deer fat now for soap making. I'm squirreling away money for tiles for a back splash.

I had to get creative and use empty spaces and vertical spaces because our place does not have any closets. I did a shelf and hook set up by the front door with low hooks for my son's gear. I got this cool bench/shoe rack from Ikea.

I used this normally awkward space on the fridge to hang hooks for the broom/dustpan. I had the counter fabricator make this tiny L shape as a micro office desk. We keep the computer, phones and pens and paper here.

We built shelves at the top of the stairs as a mini pantry.

We definitely need more shelves especially when we get the garden going for canning and fermenting.

Relocating with a toddler

One thing I think gets over looked when people make huge life changing moves is how it will affect their children, especially toddlers. I know I did. I was very caught up with getting things completed and "move in ready" at the homestead and I was overwhelmed with packing up our place in Minneapolis and sorting our belongings into 3 piles  a) KEEP b) DONATE c) TRASH. I never really paid any attention or researched moving with a toddler. From what I have read since toddlers do not tell time they know what to do based on their routine. Moving upsets their routine! When we moved my son was 2.5, still in a crib and mostly potty trained. We had a routine of my husband working full time 40-50 hours/week and me staying home and working 16 hours per week (2 weeknights and 1 weekend shift.) When we moved everything got flipped upside down for our son. A brand new place to live, no parks near by, no play dates, we got rid of his crib for a toddler bed, Papa's work went down to 25 hours and my job went away all together. Not to mention boxes everywhere everything out of sorts. Oh and the two cats ran away into the woods. We did not have running water at the time of our move, so our routine of bath before bed went away too. My son flipped out, I mean really flipped out. He started biting more, he was throwing terrible tantrums and waking up a lot at night. I would just have to pile us in the car and drive with classical music on in order for him to calm down. I could not figure out what was going on. Then it dawned on me, oh yeah he has no idea what to do. I started to research what we have available in this local area and in our small town. The library has a story hour, the family resource center does weekly play dates and the homeschool moms do weekly meet ups with the kids. My son was also missing his Papa only time. I started taking a weekly morning off on Thursdays (for my sanity and their father/ son time). I'm very strict with the routine now. Breakfast, tv show or free play, an outing to one of the places listed above or weather permitting outside play, snack, books or tv show, nap, snack, free play, dinner, bath, books and bed. (my husband does bath, books & bed). It took a full month but his tantrums and sleep improved.

Here are some resources if you are planning to relocate with children:

http://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/how-moving-homes-affect-baby-toddler-child-sleep/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/move.html#
http://parentingsquad.com/tips-for-moving-with-young-children