New Roof Deck on the Skoolie

Between highs in the mid to upper 90's, and Joseph working lots of days away, things slowed down a bit on the bus.  But, he found cypress for the deck at a sawmill about an hour and a half away.  They sawed it for him while he waited.  He purchased it from a new family business he felt good to support.  He got the boards in place, and fastened them down, which is not shown in this pic.  He's fabricated our railings, which I'll paint next week, when I have the powder coat oven on for orders.

We needed a shelf of some sort near the bathroom sink, to hold toothpaste and soap, as there is no vanity counter.  I found a vintage shelf on Etsy, which fit into the small spot we had.  My makeup mirror was also hung.  It's like a puzzle, trying to fit all we need in a small space, but so far, we're managing.  

Homestead Goings-On

Hello, friends.  Last week, I made corn-free baking powder.  I realized it typically has cornstarch in it, so made my own.  The recipe I followed was 2 parts cream of tartar, 1 part baking soda, 1 part arrowroot powder.  I used it in making GF berry cobbler, which used our blueberries, blackberries, and some store bought blackberries.  J is always happy when there is dessert to be enjoyed.  As the temperature dropped early in the week, I canned vegetable broth one day, then pulled our green peas out of the freezer, and canned them the next day.  Most days, I found two tomato hornworms in the garden, which were fed to the chickens, along with garden greens.  I've been putting ice in the chicken waterer in the hot afternoons, and making little puddles for them, in places they've wallowed out for dust baths.  I'd read that their feet help regulate their temperature, so standing in water is supposed to help.  We still lost one of our hens, we assume from the heat.  She acted normal, when I brought their mash in the afternoon, but was gone when J closed them up around 6.

I harvested cabbage, cucumbers, basil, oregano, blueberries, blackberries, lambs quarter, zucchini, eggplant, and the first tomatoes.  The lambs quarter was blanched and frozen.  To mix things up, I made a different slaw with our cabbage this week, one that both of us could eat.  J planted more green bean seeds, as all our plants died, from either the drought or moles/voles, we're not sure which.  Interestingly, the lima beans are right next to them, and doing well.  As tomatoes have died, J has replaced them with seedlings I started.  We still have a few seedlings left.  There were a few tomatoes and peppers that needed stakes, which J placed, and we tied them up with twine.  We also ran twine on the trellis for the tromboncino squash.  

I've mostly been harvesting cabbage as I could use them, but worried they might begin splitting,  so harvested nine of them Sunday.  The smallest ones were left in the garden.  We'll eat some fresh, and I plan to can some once the weather cools again.  Our eggplant, onions, garlic and one tomato were used in a dish.  We enjoyed watermelon with neighbors that were visiting, and sent them home with garden produce, as well as cat supplies, and a chicken book.  They brought us a cantaloupe, and a hydrangea bouquet.  Our potatoes were steamed for dinner, then potato salad made for J.  I just enjoyed them steamed, along with our sauteed chard.  We each got a cherry tomato to try, and look forward to all the tomatoes to come.  Be well, and stay safe out there.  

Garden Harvest & Interesting Times

Hello, friends.  I made no notes this week, so I'll see what I can remember.  Cucumbers, blueberries, two cabbages, a few blackberries, and basil were harvested.  A cabbage, onions and garlic were shared with my massage therapist.  The other cabbage was made into two slaws for J & I.  Onions were shared with a neighbor.  Cucumber salad was made.  Some blueberries were frozen, and some were eaten in a fruit salad.  Basil trimmings were made into pesto, and frozen.  Hummingbird food was made.  A double batch of cashew parmesan was made, in anticipation of making pesto.  Books and movies were picked up from the library.  

 

J & I finally got cages on almost all the tomatoes.  I mulched them, after he & I weeded them.  J also hoed some other parts of the garden for weed control.  The Japanese beetles remain minimal.  They and the tomato hornworms were fed to the chickens.  The deer found our kiwi vines.  At last look, it appeared that they ate all but one of the kiwi fruits.  It's been so dry, I can't blame beings for trying to find moisture wherever they can.  We've had a real challenge with wasps and yellow jackets at the hummingbird feeders, as well as wasps taking up residence inside the bottom of our storm door.  Both McNibs and I were stung, on different days, before J took care of them.  This is the waspiest place either of us has known.  We've been noticing deer in view of our house in the afternoons, something we've not seen before.  They've been munching grass near one of our asparagus beds.  Thankfully, they're no longer tender, so they're leaving them alone.

Though we had a weekend of rain in the forecast, as I started typing this Sunday evening, it hadn't panned out.  We received one shower Saturday evening, but not enough to register in the rain gauge.  We've had to go back on well water in the house.  However, I'm thankful I had to update this, as by the time we went to bed, we had gotten at least 1/2". Hallelujah!   A challenge this week was realizing on Friday that my debit card had been compromised, and there were six fraudulent charges on my account.  I'd stopped at Dollar Tree and two grocery stores on the way home from an appointment on the 4th, so expect someone "read" my card, at one of those places.  As soon as I get my new card Monday, I'll be ordering one of the RFID blocking wallets, to keep it safe in the future.  It's sad that so much of that goes on these days.  Despite the challenges, I believe these are interesting times to be alive, and I'm thankful to be here.  May your week be a good one.

She Got New Skirts

 

This week, Joseph continued working on the roof setup, attaching the skirting, to give it cleaner lines.  When he asked for my input, I suggested a curved leading edge, and we're happy with how it turned out. He also painted the area white, between the top of the bus and where the skirts end, as the original paint had been sanded, so needed protection.  

He recently met a man who created a mural at a place he often does work at, and we're thinking of asking him to help with our paint job.  We have no idea what we'd like, at this point, so we'll have to see if we can find some inspiration.

Late June Days

Hello, friends.  Last week,  I harvested figs, cucumbers, blueberries, eggplant, green beans, zucchini and yellow squash.  I also harvested the majority of the volunteer potatoes in bags.  I left a few plants that still looked good and green, as a similar couple I pulled up didn't have much on them.  So far, we've harvested ~82 lbs. altogether, which is great, as we eat a lot of potatoes.  I harvested cabbage, and shared one with J's business partner.  Cucumbers were prepared a couple of ways for J, and I used them in some of my cleanse meals.  I made J a potato and green bean salad my Mom used to make, with our veggies, and cabbage and onions.  The pups had baths in the outdoor shower, then ran around like crazy boys for a bit, because it made them feel so good.  

I picked up parts for J's business twice during the week, and made good use of being in town, by grocery shopping, banking, and picking up a book and movie at the library, though  I ended up stopping the movie, as it was too dark for my taste.  Japanese beetles were hand picked and fed to the chickens several times, and squash bugs were squashed most every day.  I weeded rows of tomatoes, and the asian cucumbers, and mulched them.  J placed stakes at the eggplant.  I secured the plants with twine, and mulched them.  Blueberries were frozen.  Once it was dry under the bathroom sink, I did a good clean and declutter, getting rid of some things we won't use.  Some were thrown away, and some will be donated.  There were several used plumbing parts that J won't use, which was put in with our metal, to go to the salvage yard.

As I'm working on this post Sunday, we are surprisingly still running on rainwater.  J did switch over to well water on Saturday, long enough for me to do laundry loads of his uniforms and dark clothes, and run the dishwasher, then switched back to rainwater.  It was so hot and dry, the laundry dried on the line quickly.  We haven't had more than a few drops of rain, but are praying we have some good showers tonight (Sunday).  Besides our gardens, the farmers in this state are really hurting from lack of rain.  Hummingbird food and golden paste for the pups were made.  I pulled two hornworms off the tomatoes, one tiny and the other fat and sassy.  Please look aside at my dirty gardeners hands.  Wishing everyone in the States a wonderful 4th!

The Skoolie Solar Is Up & Running

 

Hello.  Just stopping in for a quick post.  Joseph hooked up the remainder of the solar system today, and it is now up and running!  I had to climb under the bed to get this pic of the charge controllers running.  You can see the metal lattice shadows from above.  Woohoo!  We're getting there.

Homestead Woes & Blessings

Hello, friends.  Last week, I placed an online order for some needed things, using a coupon code for 20% off, and went through Swagbucks for another 10% cash back.  They then sent a 25% off code, and I placed a food order, again going through Swagbucks for the additional 10%.  It's hard to beat 35% off these days.  Gas prices were $3.39 close to where I was working, but I was happy to fill up for $3.03, closer to home.  I thought the high prices may be due to the US Open, but the following week, the prices remained the same.  We are in serious need of rain, with none forecast soon.  I hope we won't run out of rainwater, but it's a likely possibility.  I've not had luck growing black-eyed susan vine from seed, but there were dozens of little volunteers, where I was working, so I brought home a few to try.  They seem very happy to be out of the gravel, and are already making flower buds, so I'm hopeful.  The above photo is at my workplace.

While working away from home this week, dinners were simple.  One night, I opened jars of our green beans and small potatoes, and sauteed them with garlic.  One of our beets went into apple beet salad, for a side.  Jasmine rice with home canned black beans and salsa were another dinner.  Pasta two ways on other nights, with salads, and previously made black bean burgers another night.  Nothing much has gotten done on the homestead, other than a few minutes of chicken chores, watering plants, and small harvests morning and evening.  I'm thankful for the work, but will be very happy to spend more time here, outdoors and in,  this coming week.  It does look like we're going to have some scorchers, with 97 in the forecast last I heard, so it may still be mostly early morning and late evening outdoors for the most part.

One morning, I found our freezer door open again.  We both feel we're being mindful about closing it, and are wondering if it's somehow opening on it's own, as each time, it's been when it's pretty full.  Sigh.  J is thinking about adding a bungee cord.  Just after finally sitting down Friday, after finishing dinner and outdoor evening chores, a strange noise came from the bathroom.  Running there, I found water pouring out from behind the vanity.  Thankfully, J was there, and got the shut-off valve closed.  Apparently, the hose to our faucet deteriorated and blew out, and is not fixable.  Sigh.  This is the second bathroom faucet that has fallen apart from deterioration (entirely different faucets), in the almost 16 years we've lived there.  We have the oddest water challenges.  

While I was gone at work, J harvested our onions and garlic, which are both curing in my carport.  On Sunday, my first day at home, J dug our potatoes, and we pulled them from the vines, and piled them in a shadier spot, to cure a day or two.  Early in the morning, to beat the heat, I watered a few things, then harvested chard, basil, cucumbers, purslane and the first eggplant.  I turned the basil and purslane into pesto for J, as I'm getting ready to start another cleanse.  Cucumbers were made into spicy cucumber chips, a favorite summertime side dish.  I steamed almost all of the store bought potatoes, some for potato salad, as we'll soon be enjoying our own.  The potatoes look the best they have in many years.  I only noticed a bug hole in one potato, which is amazing, compared to past harvests.  Wishing you a lovely week, and stay cool out there.