A Washer, A Lockset & The Skoolie Dream

Some good progress has been made on the skoolie.  Joseph finished all the plumbing for the washing machine, and got it in place.  

He had to make some adjustments, to install the lockset and deadbolt at our entrance door, and got those in place.

  

He finished hooking up the electrical for our range hood, so it now has a working light and power.  

He bought a storage box off of FB Marketplace.  I know it's a messy pic, but wanted to show the boys are still doing their part, in supporting the skoolie dream.  I briefly helped with some plumbing, and he's put up beadboard and framing in the bathroom.  He's also been working hard on our kitchen countertop.  I'll share these, when they're a little farther along.  Happy New Years, friends!

Merry Christmas 2023!

Hello friends, and Merry Christmas!  Last week, before a low in the teens, I harvested kale, collards, lettuce and a small amount of broccoli.  The broccoli was blanched and frozen.  We had collards and rice for one dinner, cranberry quinoa kale salad and cubes of fried sweet potatoes for another, and a few salads.  All but the door shelves in the refrigerator were cleaned.  It's so nice to open now, I sure wish it would stay like this for a while.   Three varieties of GF cookies were baked from ingredients in the pantry.   I redeemed Swagbucks points for a $25 gift card.  Brandy's taco soup was made, on Friday night.  Such a quick, easy dinner, after a very long day preparing.

In our ongoing chicken saga, I realized two of the three young game hens are gone.  Though we'd clipped their wings once already, they started flying out of their yard again.  We assume a hawk got them.  The two that are gone were our best layers at the moment.  Of course, all the roosters are perfectly fine.  Sigh.  I cut greenery from our land, and combined it with pinecones and trimmings of our Frazier fir to decorate the tables for our gathering.  Besides offering the cookies at our Christmas gathering,  I've also gifted them to our postal carrier, my massage therapist and a delivery driver.  I mixed up a batch of celery salt for gifts, using the celery I had dehydrated.  I picked up their last three small poinsettia's at Lowes, marked down to $1.49, for the tables for our gathering. 

Siblings

Guinness went to the vet, to have a place on his foot looked at.  Turns out it's nothing scary; just caused by him licking the same spot, but the vet thought he could put on a few lbs.  Each day, I've been dividing a half pint jar of home canned meat and broth between he and McNibs, in addition to their kibble and sweet potatoes.  With McNibs being so skinny after his adventure, I bought him a coat.  The first one didn't fit, and when I dropped it off at Staples for the return, I received a coupon for 15% off an in store purchase.  It's only good until the end of the year, and I may use it if I'll already be in town.  The second coat fits him perfectly.  On Christmas Eve, I baked a batch of dog treats, to put in their stockings.  Of course, they had to taste test some beforehand.  Thankfully, they passed with flying colors.  Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Driver's Seat Refurb

 

With all that's going on at the moment, there's not a lot of progress on the skoolie.  But, I did promise a pic of the newly upholstered driver's seat.  Joseph wanted arm rests, which I didn't think to put in place for the pic.  We chose a neutral gray fabric for these seats.  He plans to take the next two weeks off from his business, so I expect there will be some good skoolie progress to report soon.  Happy Holidays!

It's Starting To Feel Festive

Hello, friends.  In case you didn't see the update on the past post, McNibs made it home Monday evening, thanks to a lovely woman 3.5 miles from here.   After eight days, he was very thin and seemed disoriented.  I've been feeding him rice, home canned pumpkin, meat with broth, and sweet potato.  A neighbor friend brought by some liver for him, which she gets in her cow share, but doesn't eat.  So, he's getting small amounts of that as well, to help build him back up.  He shook intermittently the first couple of days, and peed in his bed, which is unusual for him, so I took a urine sample to the vet, to make sure he didn't have anything going on.  Thankfully, it came back clear.  He started seeming like himself, after a couple of days.  Now it's a matter of fattening him back up.  I'd always felt fairly safe, knowing he was microchipped, but I've got something on the way, which adds our contact info to his collar.  I sure hope we never need it, but one more layer of protection.  I'm walking him on a leash so far.  I laid it down while hanging laundry, but picked it back up, when he strayed a bit farther than I was comfortable with.

Last week, I used discount codes for online purchases.  At the grocery store, I got dogfood at $6 off, asparagus for $1.99, and brussels sprouts $2.99, and earned $8 in rewards for my purchase.  I enjoyed catching up on two seasons of a series I liked, with DVD's from the library.  Two loads of laundry were dried on the line.  While picking up groceries, J noticed Food Lion had marked their Christmas trees down from $59.99 to $19.99, and picked one up.  We noticed only a day or two later, some of the stores had marked them down further to $9.99, but we're still happy to have not paid $60 or more for a tree.  When he got the tree home, he cut a slice off the bottom, and placed the trunk in our pond, to keep it hydrated, which kept it in good shape, until putting it up on Sunday.  We celebrated Christmas with our granddaughter, taking her out for dinner over the weekend, which we all enjoyed.  

pillow I made years ago

I'm not sure why the sad dramas with our animals recently, but we had another one with the hen and chicks.  Shortly after McNibs went missing, our hen began hatching out her chicks.  Of the fifteen eggs, six attempted to hatch.  Two never made it fully out of the shell, but there were four healthy looking chicks.  Within the next three days, all were dead.  We're not exactly sure what happened with the first two, but I did see mama hen fling one of the chicks, while scratching in the straw.  The chick seemed OK at the time, but if she did it again, who knows?  When we were down to two chicks, I moved them and mama into the private broody area, as she kept moving where she was sitting with them, maybe because of all the attention from the rest of the flock.  When we checked on them that evening, she had gotten up onto the roost, leaving the chicks below to die.  Mother of the year, she was not.  We don't know why she changed so much, since bringing up her first batch of chicks.  We're both in agreement that if she finds a spot to lay more eggs, we are not going to allow her to sit on them.  

I've been diligently working on using up our '22 sweet potatoes.  The pups and chickens have been getting some every day, and on Sunday I made this sweet potato soup for lunch, which we both enjoyed.  The critter potatoes are brought to a boil on the stove, then moved to the woodstove to finish cooking, which has been working well.  What's left are the huge football-shaped sweet potatoes, more than a dozen of them, so I'll just keep plugging away at them.  Sunday afternoon, we strung our tree lights, and decorated.  We're having my family's Christmas gathering here, next weekend, so it will be a busy but happy week.  May you enjoy the pleasures of the season!

The Cabinets Are Painted

 

Joseph has been busy painting cabinets.  The color is Picnic.  These are on the passenger side, above the dinette area.

The ones in the front of the bus.

The ones above our sink and stove.

And the ones below those.  

Our friends who have an upholstery shop recovered the drivers seat, which we picked up Thursday.  Joseph reinstalled it late Friday, after I had taken these photos, so I'll share it next week.  While there, we got the swatches above, to consider for our dinette and couch cushions.   We're leaning towards one of the right two swatches.  Do you have a favorite?  

A Sad Week

UPDATE 12/11:  HE IS HOME!  Eight days later, and worse for the wear, but I'm hoping I can build him back up.  Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes!  I hope to soon be back to regular posting.

Hello, friends.  The woodstove is being utilized well these days.  As well as keeping our home warm, a pot of barley was brought to a boil on the gas stove, then finished cooking on the woodstove, and a pot of oils was melted there for soapmaking.  Meat and broth from bones collected in a freezer bag were canned for the pups.  The bones were then added to the woodstove, which will help enrich our soil.  Once we learned about terra preta, we began throwing the bones into the woodstove, to collect with our ash.  We'll never make soil as rich as terra preta, but anything we can do to help ours along, we count as a good thing.  With a low of 17 in the forecast, lettuce, broccoli, chard and kale were harvested last Monday.  The calendulas are still sending out blooms.  Lettuce, beets and carrots were covered with hay before the low of 17.  The lettuce made it through with flying colors.  Our game hen is valiantly sitting on her nest.  The little game hen eggs are so sweet.  

I made a pot of vegetable soup.  Besides a few store bought items in the soup, I was able to use home canned tomatoes and tomato juice, summer squash, garlic and green beans, dehydrated onions and soup mix consisting of mushrooms, peas, carrot tops, and purslane.   I started a loaf of bread for J in the machine, then baked it in the oven.  I received a Food Lion reward of $6 towards my purchase, and the blueberries used in my smoothies were $1 off.  Books were picked up at the library, and DVD's with newer shows of a series I used to enjoy.  I dropped a bag off at a food drive our phone/internet provider is having, which entered me into a drawing for gift cards.  Ink cartridges were dropped off at Staples for recycling, which will earn $6 in rewards.  J & I enjoyed a movie on our Roku TV, for the first time this year.  I took advantage of a Cyber Monday sale, to buy bras I've been wanting to try, at 25% off.  After unknowingly eating a plate of wheat pasta recently, then beginning to have worsening itching with the eczema on my hands, I began another 9 day raw food cleanse.  It wasn't planned, so there was produce that wouldn't get eaten during that time.  I froze cranberries, broccoli and peppers, and dehydrated mushrooms and celery.

Forgive me for getting this post up later than usual.  My heart and mind have been focused on McNibs, who went missing on our walk Sunday evening.  We have walked and driven, called and whistled, put it on social media, put up flyers, and let people know.  He and Guinness often take off after a scent, while on our walks, and still often beat me back to the house, or are close behind.  Early on, I started feeding them right after our walks, so they'd know food was waiting when they got home, a prime motivator for them, especially McNibs.  Our 25 acres is deep, and backs up onto 140 acres of rolling hay fields and woods, and this is surrounded by more farms and woods.  A plus is that there are no roads for quite a ways, but the downside is no one is likely to see him.  J thinks he got lost, following the scent.  I've thought of many scenarios, including our active coyote population, but J assures me there would be buzzards by now.  My one consolation is he was living his best life when I saw him last, nose to the ground, following that scent.  I haven't given up hope, but my heart is breaking, with worry for him.  If you're so inclined, please send prayers and good thoughts our way.  If he returns home, I'll add an update here.

A Bed Frame & The Kitchen Is Coming Along

 

There's been some good progress made on the skoolie, since my last post.  Joseph had some scrap expanded metal in his pile, and used that for the bed frame.  We'd read that moisture can be an issue for mattresses in RV's, and this should help, by allowing it to breathe.  Below will be used for storage, but it should still be more breathable than plywood, which is what most folks use.  

He closed in the remainder of what used to be the original door.  The metal is what had covered the inside walls, and was recycled for this purpose.  It will be painted.

Cabinet frames went in, over the stove, counter and sink area.  Track lighting went in.  The range hood I picked up via FB Marketplace was too large for the space.  It just happened that all the workings of it were on one side, so Joseph cut it down to RV size.

Cabinet frames went in on the passenger side, over what will be our dining area.  We wanted to be sure to have a great view outdoors, while we were eating.

Lastly, we figured out what we needed spacewise for our dinette, and he began framing it out.  He'll be insulating, then building a platform over the wheel well, so it will be a step up to the dinette.  Storage drawers will go beneath.   I asked that the dinette be large enough to accommodate another two friends or family, and this should accomplish that.

A Week At The Gallery

Hello, friends.  I hope you've had a good week.  We had a quiet Thanksgiving.  I made fresh cranberry sauce, a sweet potato casserole, winter salad, and heated the pie made on Sunday.  J prepared a ham, and the pups got all the bits of fat cut off.  While I worked at the gallery all week, I worked on various projects between customers.  All the holiday cards were written and addressed, some paperwork was done, good progress was made on the cross stitch, and I worked on whittling down my inbox.  I redeemed Swagbucks for a $25 gift card.  One of the lovely things about the internet is the friendships made online with kindred spirits.  I was surprised to find this beautiful handmade card and gift in the mailbox, sent by a friend.  The tree is a portion of a quilt made by her great-grandmother for her grandmother.  How wonderful to imagine the stories and history in that little scrap of fabric.  I will cherish it.

J went over and beyond last week.  As I wasn't going to be home until around 6 each night, we came up with easy meals, and he cooked dinner every night, which was a first.  I don't mean to say he has never cooked a meal for me, but it's been quite some time, and he's certainly never made a week's worth of dinners.  I was so very appreciative.  It is a wonderful thing to be self-employed, but the income is certainly variable.  I feel blessed to have gotten 5 days of work, doing something I truly enjoy.  The top pic is the view from behind the counter.  There's another section of the gallery off the upper left.  The table with my soaps is above the baskets, just right of center.  It's a wonderful space, which used to be a livery stable, back in the day, and was restored beautifully.  Leftovers (some frozen) were taken for all my lunches, as well as water and tea. We were so thankful to finally get some measurable rain last week, a total of 2", which filled our tanks up 2/3 of the way.  We had been using our small "Plan B" tank for household use, as our two largest tanks were almost empty. That rain came just in the nick of time!  

This black eyed susan vine greeted me each morning at the gallery.  Though some of the vine had died back, the more protected portion was still covered with beautiful flowers.  During the week, J got the bag we collect bones in from the freezer, and put it in a pot on the woodstove, where it simmered for a few days.  I'll can up the broth and meat for the pups, after keeping a little out for them.  I had bought what was needed online, and J changed the oil and filter in my car on Thanksgiving.  J received the veteran's discount for items we purchased at Lowe's.  We stopped for a few groceries at Food Lion, and found a cart with amaryllis and paperwhites marked down to $4.99.  I noticed a few of them had ceramic pots, where most had plastic, and got one of each with the nicer pots.  One, possibly both of these will be used for gifts.  I'm very much looking forward to having time at home this week.  I hope this week will bring whatever brings you happiness.  

Happy Thanksgiving & A Street Smart Hen

Hello, friends.  Last week, I sewed a button on a shirt, and mended the embroidery on another.  All laundry was dried on the line.  I weeded the rest of the carrot bed, and brought another 5 gal. bucket of weeds to the chickens.  Another day, I worked on the beet bed, and the chickens got another bucket of weeds.  I hand washed a cashmere sweater with homemade soap gel.  After an appointment, I stopped at a thrift store, and found a stainless Farberware sauce pot for $6 and a bag of blackout fabric for $5, both for the skoolie, and a canister for my shop.  I harvested the first collards, and made dirty rice and collards, which we enjoyed with our sweet potatoes.

Golden paste was made for the pups.  I used $25.25 in rewards towards my CC bill, which was paid before accruing any interest.  Kale was harvested for a salad.  Hay was placed around the carrot bed, and on the portion of the beet bed I've weeded.  J & I cleaned up the tromboncino and cucumber trellises, and will burn the remains.  More calendula seeds were gathered.  I'd been noticing mama game hen, who raised a brood this summer, had begun disappearing again.  She was eating with the others in the morning, but was gone when I came back to bring their mash, later in the day.  I wandered around the second chicken yard, and looked in the woods around the yards, then J joined in, but we couldn't find her.  We decided she had to be closer.  I thought to look under the coop, which had a small opening just big enough for a tiny hen, and sure enough, we found a nest with 15 eggs!  I watched for her the next morning, and about a minute after the others were let out for the day, she snuck out from her hiding place.  That girl's got street smarts! :o).

I was able to pick up organic lemons last week on sale.  As I've used them, I grated and froze the lemon zest, for future recipes.  I filled the dehydrator with celery, and powdered it when dry.  Knowing Thursday would be my only day at home this week, I decided to bake sweet potatoes for pie Sunday morning.  We're still working on finishing the '22 sweet potatoes.  All that are left are the huge football ones, which are perfect for pies.  I baked a pie and froze it, so that piece of our Thanksgiving meal is done, except for reheating.  We plan to have a quiet day at home, and I'd prefer if my entire day wasn't spent in the kitchen. but to have some time to just enjoy the day.  If you're celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you too have an enjoyable day.

Staining, Cabinets & A Little Plumbing

Just popping in with a short post today.  Joseph finished staining and sealing all the beadboard.  We're using clear finishes, but they darken a little with the application.  He's begun plumbing, and has run all the cold water lines between the bathroom and kitchen.

He's framed in some cabinets in our bedroom, for additional storage space.  The doors still need to be made.  I'll be working in a gallery all next week, so there won't be a post until the following week, assuming there's been more progress.  Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

November Days

Hello, friends.  Last week, I spent time weeding the carrots and beets in the garden.  A five gallon bucket was filled, and given to the chickens.  That wasn't all the weeds, but it made a good dent.  One of our cabbages was ready, which J harvested.  I made a new recipe, Lemony Cabbage Salad with half, and we had our sweet potatoes and crowder peas with it, so an all from-the-homestead dinner.  I liked the cabbage salad as is, but J wants to see how it would be with carrots added, so I'll try that next time. More celery was dehydrated and powdered.  Two purchases were made through Swagbucks, for 2%  and 4% cash back.  On a morning we were to visit with friends in the evening, I steamed potatoes, so when we got in, it would be easy to prepare fried potatoes and peppers for a quick supper.  I feel very blessed to remain close to friends I went to high school with.  Our next reunion will be our 50th, in '26.  Yikes!

I've done a little deep cleaning.  A toothpaste tube was cut.  Though it felt like I'd been squeezing the end of it for weeks, it always amazes me how much remains.  Likely a dozen or more brushings.  I regret all the toothpaste I've wasted, over the years, before I began doing this.  Our first winter salad of the season was enjoyed, with bean burgers and fries for dinner.  The winter salad is so flavorful and good, fresh from the garden.  Instead of using black beans for the burgers, I opened a quart of our home canned field peas from 2014.  I know there are people who choose not to eat their canned goods after a year or two, but I see no reason for this.  I did specifically use this jar because of it's age, but it still had a perfect seal, and the beans looked like they did when I canned them.  The nutrition may be somewhat less, but if jars are stored in a cool, dark environment, as ours are, the seals remain tight, and they look and smell good, I see no reason to waste food.  Yes, I know the USDA now recommends you use canned goods in one year, but to me, that's just wasteful and makes no sense. A double batch of burgers was made, and the extras frozen.

The asters have been buzzing with pollinators, especially honey bees, which makes me happy.  We know there are a couple of beekeepers a mile or so away from us.  When the days get shorter, I burn beeswax candles during dinner.  The tea lights end up with around 1/4 of the beeswax remaining, once the wicks burn out.  Hating to waste it, I started keeping them.  On a day the woodstove was "on low", I sat the tea lights on it, melted the remaining beeswax, and poured it in an old 3" x 3" glass candle holder.  There ended up being about 3/4" of wax this time.  I also found out I can buy tea light refills, saving some money, and kept the little cups to do this.  Plates of peppers and tomatoes continue to ripen in the kitchen.

While in town for a number of errands, I stopped by a quilt show put on by the local quilting group.  There are lots of very talented ladies, and a few men too.  One of our little game hens has begun laying the tiniest eggs.  At this point, I figured it would be spring, so that was a nice surprise.  I read two free Kindle books, and a short story I really enjoyed.  I gathered lettuce, dandelion greens for the pups, oregano, a small amount of black haw fruits, and hawthorn berries, which I began a glycerite with.  Two books were requested from the library.  That's life on the homestead.  I'm sending many wishes that you have a lovely week ahead.  

More Beadboard & A Water Tank

 

Though I've not contributed a thing these past two weeks, Joseph has been making steady progress on the skoolie.  It's not the most photogenic progress, but here goes.  All the windows have been framed.  With the curved window corners, he had to get creative, in framing them.  We're both very pleased with how they turned out.  

Almost all of the beadboard has been put up, including in the kitchen.  The spot on the left will be the edge of our couch.

This little closet, looking on from the bedroom, is where the washer, laundry supplies, and hamper will go.

The outside walls of the bathroom are now clad in beadboard.  The inner walls need to wait until plumbing is run.  

Though a fresh water tank was bought, along with many other things, from the RV that was being parted out, it ended up not fitting anywhere, inside or out.  So, being Joseph and his business partner are metal fabricators, they created one that was the largest size that would fit in the space available.  This one gives us 130 gallons for bathing, dishes and laundry.  Joseph thinks he'll make another one, specifically for our drinking water, where we can carry a supply of rainwater from home, which will be run through a Berkey before drinking, same as at home.  We've heard horror stories, and seen testing, from water supplies at some of the RV spots.  Apparently, some folks wash out their black tank hoses, with the water supply line for their (& subsequently, others) site, thereby contaminating the hookup.  Some water that is trucked in to RV park tanks is laden with bacteria, etc.  Even going through a Berkey, we'd prefer to start out with water we trust.  That's the latest.  Thanks for following our project!

Evening Walk & A Simple Gift

Hello, friends, and happy November!  Last week, I switched the warm and cold weather clothes in my closet, and added four things to the donation box.  We were expecting a killing frost on Wednesday.  On Monday, I picked all the cold sensitive vegetables... tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplant.   Also, a cucumber, chard, two winter squash and small amount of basil.  The purslane returned, so I harvested a good bit, combined it with the basil, and made pesto.  J & I harvested all the lima beans.  He shelled all the dry beans.  While he was out of town one night, I shelled all the green ones, while watching a movie on our Roku TV.  I did manage to cut a little bouquet on Tuesday, and harvested a bag of sweet potato leaves for smoothies, to stretch the store bought spinach.  The lettuce was covered, before the cold temps.  The sweet potatoes that had been curing were brought inside.  

No matter how many times I've seen the gorgeous designs inside squash, they never fail to delight me.  They really are a work of art.  One recent dinner from the homestead was sweet potatoes, sauteed chard with garlic, and a new eggplant dish.  Neither of us was a fan of the eggplant recipe, so it wasn't kept.  After discussing the potatoes in grow bags, knowing we'd have little to no harvest if we dug them now, we decided to act as if they were fall planted, and see if  there might be a harvest in spring.  Taking advantage of the woodstove heat, I pulled three gallon bags from the freezer of veggie scraps, simmered them, and canned broth the next day.  Though it's only been a few minutes here and there, I've worked on a cross stitch project I started early in the year.  A pot of tiny sweet potatoes was boiled, partially on the woodstove, for the chickens and pups.

For a simple gift for some littles in my family, I made play dough, using this recipe (scroll to the end).  If you haven't seen Annabel's blog before, it's one of my favorites, with excellent, encouraging information shared, both in her posts and within the community's comments.  A recent soup used home canned garbanzo beans and broth, and our onions.  All laundry was dried on the line.  Pans of seeds that had been drying... rudbeckia, calendula, tansy, bachelor buttons & mullein, were placed in envelopes.  I continue making chicken mash, using whatever I can come up with.  Last week, I boiled up some pastina that was in the pantry for them.  In addition to chopped banana peels and sweet potatoes, I chopped some pickled peppers that weren't being eaten, and some days, a fig or two, or small tomato.  They still come running, whenever I bring it out.  Many wishes for a lovely week, friends.