January 2018 Garden Prep

January 2018 Garden Prep

Garden
As we gear up for our first year in the garden, there's still a lot of cleanup to be done. This month we've heavily pruned the existing grape vines, which had climbed up the nearby curly willow and some of which were in excess of 20 feet long! This past fall, we had grape clusters throughout the willow tree and even on the power line; this next year we should have a much more accessible grape crop. [caption id="attachment_310" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Glenora grape vine after a lot of pruning. There's still one large vine going up into the willow that needs to be pruned, and the trellis is in poor shape.[/caption] There's also still a lot of trash that needs to be pulled out of the garden area. There…
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2018: Year of the Homestead

Beer, Food Preservation, Garden
It's been too long since we last posted. The last 3 years were very long and hard, but in the summer of 2017 we purchased our first home, a 1922 farmhouse on a third of an acre, and after some remodeling, we're moved in and ready to work on all our long dreamed-of self-sufficiency plans. In 2018, we have several goals we want to accomplish: The Garden We were blessed to find a home that already had a substantial garden space. We've spent some time cleaning it up and laying down wood chips to prep it for the spring, and our long term goal is to expand the garden even more and grow as much of our own food as we can. This year we'll be growing some vegetables, herbs,…
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The Long Road

Uncategorized
It's been quite a while since we posted anything, and that's because the past year has been very busy. The little one turns 2 in just a few short months; she's been more than a handful for Ari, of course; and I've had my nose to the grindstone working to build up our down payment. It has been a long year, and now that year is behind us. And yet, it will be approximately one more year before we become homeowners. More grinding, more hustling, more saving, and more waiting. But hey, you can do anything for a year, right? ...One more year? Sometimes it feels a bit bleak, but right now I see a really bright light at the end of the tunnel. I see a wonderful dwelling place at the end…
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The Shame of Debt

Uncategorized
Up until about 60 years ago, borrowing money was generally frowned upon by society. Even today, nobody likes that one "friend" that always tries to mooch cash off you. Borrowing puts you in a place of disadvantage. The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. —Proverbs 22:7 Why, then, is consumer debt so prevalent today? Partly because businesses are really good at marketing instant gratification. You need it now. With college students being told that student loans are normal, everyone being mailed credit card offer after offer promising low interest rates and high credit limits, and car manufacturers enticing would-be car owners with zero-down delayed payment plans, it's no wonder that everyone has so much consumer debt. Marketers have done a fantastic job at normalizing it.…
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Simplifying Everything

Uncategorized
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry We bought bicycles. We live in a world where it is so very easy to overcomplicate things. Technology has reached a point where complex machines are easy to fabricate, and we don't give them a second thought. But machine complexity increases rapidly the more work they take away from us, and sometimes simpler is better. I use the word machine here, of course, in the broad sense of a tool that consumes some form of energy to accomplish an action or goal. The advantages to simpler machines are that they are generally cheaper, I can usually make and repair them myself, and they often have a wider range of…
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2014 Garden Recap

Garden
Apartment gardening is difficult, but not impossible. We were blessed to have the opportunity to use a couple patches of soil in front our apartment for gardening, but in spite of the addition of compost, manure, and mulch last fall, the soil quality didn't improve enough to be useful this year: no seedlings came up. So I've stuck to container gardening on our balcony, having good success with our herbs and a few other plants. We supplemented our seeds with some store-bought herbs, so that we'd at least have something tangible to use this year, and they've taken quite well. The basil especially has been exploding. And in light of this success (yay, I can successfully transplant starts!) I decided to try propagating some from cuttings. The basil once again showed…
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Over Hill and Underhill

Beer
Ever since I brewed my first batch of beer with my friend Clayton, I've dreamt of what surely every homebrewer has dreamt of at some point: going pro. That was about 3 years ago. Now that I'm brewing beer more regularly, that dream is still nagging in the back of my mind. And I think I'm going to do something about it. I've settled on the name Underhill Brewing Company, drawing inspiration from Tolkien's works, and the fact that we're planning on building an underground home. The vision I have is to build a separate brewpub on our property, also an underground structure, to add to the aura. I'm picturing a rustic look with exposed beams, wooden barrels behind the counter, and windows into the brewery. I have been working on…
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Wood Ash, Soap-Making, and Double-Edged Razors

Sustainability, Uncategorized
I suppose the title is in reverse order. Let me explain. I recently bought a safety razor at an antique store, along with a pack of double-edged razor blades, and started shaving with it. This is the razor your grandpa shaved with. To go along with it, I had to buy a shaving kit: a mug and brush for lathering up. [caption id="attachment_119" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] My new shaving kit[/caption] I noticed an immediate difference compared to my old cartridge razor: less irritation, a smoother shave, and I'm pretty sure my stubble after a few days was more even too. It's more of a ritual, too: you can't just mash the razor against your face, but gently and carefully let it rest against your skin as you guide it (I'm still…
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Twenty-Fourteen for the Farhner Homestead

Uncategorized
Twenty-thirteen was good to us. Here's a quick review: We bought a dump truck in preparation for owning property We had a small but moderately successful balcony garden We helped clean up the property of some friends—good practice! We continued saving for a down payment and started looking at properties We started drawing up initial house plans Ari worked toward starting her wedding planning business Perhaps most exciting of all, we spent three weeks in Europe in December! Twenty-thirteen was good to us, but we have a lot to look forward to... In twenty-fourteen, we plan on continuing to live well within our means, doubling down on savings, and eating as healthy as possible. We got permission to use the small yard in front of our apartment for a garden…
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Cider Pressing

Food Preservation
My parents' neighbors press cider every year. They bring over a huge crate of apples from across the mountains and host a big pressing party with food and fire where everyone takes turns chopping, grinding, pressing, and pouring. They sell the cider for $3 a gallon and it tastes absolutely delicious fresh. [caption id="attachment_91" align="aligncenter" width="625"] Picking apples with a human ladder[/caption] This year, though, we had the opportunity to pick as many apples as we wanted from a friend's house, where they had a dozen or so neglected apple trees, for free. The apples were weighing the trees down and littering the ground, there were so many of them! So we loaded up several buckets, bins, and boxes, and took them home to press. [caption id="attachment_93" align="aligncenter" width="625"] Grinding…
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