August was the month that started out with intense heat and ended with the feeling of fall! If you’re looking for a quick summary, then here it is in a few sentences.
Landon has been traveling up north each weekend to work on our little tiny home. Our homesteading land has an old shed/shack type building next to the barn. With the baby on the way, we don’t have enough time to get the whole barn turned into a home before he or she arrives so we decided to fix up the little shack into a tiny home first!
It has not been without its many challenges, but we can definitely see some improvement! I am so proud of Landon and all the hard work he has been doing. It is not an easy task by any means…basically making a home from nothing! Seriously, the building was leaning over when we started. But in just a few weeks it should be move-in ready.
While Landon has been up working on our land each weekend, I’ve been getting projects done around the house. Keep reading to find out what other news we have to share this month. (:
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Time With Friends & Celebrations
It was so fun to have my friend Streek, as we call her, stay with us for a week! We had a bridal shower and wedding celebration back to back weekends for some college friends on this side of the lake, so Streek decided to work from our house instead of back home in Michigan.
We also visited a local sunflower field maze that was gorgeous and all grabbed dinner together. It was so fun to have wonderful quality time with friends I am not able to see very often. We loved catching up with each other over these mini-reunions.
Still No Eggs
I was hoping that we would have some early layers and our birds would pop out some eggs before September hit, but no luck.
Every morning when I go to the coop to let the chickens out, I check everywhere just to make sure there are no eggs yet! I’m definitely growing impatient, but I know they will be here any day.
But otherwise, our chickens are doing great and we have no more casualties, yay!
Harvesting Beans & Tomatoes
Somehow my tomato plants pulled through this year! I was so sad at the beginning when random things would happen to them. First, they would randomly wilt and it wasn’t from the heat. It could have been from lack of water or their roots just not making it far enough into the ground yet with my lasagna garden.
Then, the bottoms of the tomatoes would all turn moldy. A friend on Instagram let me know that it was likely a calcium deficiency that could easily be solved by improving the soil for next year.
And then, we had some wild critters take big bites out of the ripe tomatoes before I could harvest them. We definitely need better fencing when we plant our next garden up north.
Yet despite all this, I was still able to taste some fresh garden tomatoes and throw them into my salad right after picking them. They were delicious! I only have two plants and harvested about 15 tomatoes so far this year over the last month (even with all those issues) that I can’t imagine what it would be like to have 20 plants in the future with bushels of tomatoes to can and store for the winter months.
The green beans came through great this year! I was a bit worried in the beginning when I saw beetles of various kinds eating their leaves but it never got out of control. I harvested enough for a few dinners. I love steaming them and then melting some coconut oil with lemon pepper seasoning over them. Delicious!
I decided to put off learning to can for this year. With our move and the low supply of canning items due to Covid-19, I wanted to wait to save up the money and do some more research before jumping in headfirst.
And, boy I am so glad I did! I didn’t harvest enough produce this year to make it all worth it. Besides the tomatoes and green beans, I am hoping some of my fall weather crops pull through in September and October.
Two New Rabbits
Did you read my July Homesteading Update? If you did, then you know that we had to say goodbye to Alder last month. 🙁
He was our only male rabbit. Or so we thought…
Turns out the two females we purchased right before Alder were actually males and so I have to change their names now! Lol
Well, when Alder was gone it left me and my husband at a crossroads. Do we give up on the whole meat rabbit thing? We just poured so much money into Alder and our other two rabbits could be sick as well. Or, do we purchase two more female rabbits and give this whole thing a second shot?
My husband and I are not the types to give up quickly. But, we are very wise with our money and always thinking about cost analysis. So the next step was research.
I did the research to see if I could locate two female New Zealand rabbits not too far away. I found an option on Craigslist and they gave me a great deal on two 5-month-old females. I drove an hour and a half each way one weekend to pick them up. One was a pure-breed New Zealand that I named Lavender and the other was a pure-breed Californian that I named Lemon.
They are adorable but it definitely took them quite a bit to adjust to their new home. Lemon would dig large holes in the ground each night to try to escape and was very on edge whenever I was near. I know they will both warm up to their new living situation and routine as the months progress.
We are hoping to breed each of them at the end of September when they are six months old. We could have babies here by October and that gets me very excited!
UP (get it?) North Each Weekend Building Our Tiny Home
We are grateful for all the family that has been able to help Landon on the weekends as he works to get our tiny house/shed in working order! Landon’s dad, brother, and my dad have all taken a turn and have loved seeing our new homestead!
The progress Landon has made this month on our home is simply remarkable. He has put in new walls, floors, beams, insulation, plumbing, electrical lines, and so much more that I don’t even know how to describe.
Our tiny house was a falling over shack before he started and it has really started to turn into a beautiful space. It’s not quite at the point yet that feels like a livable home but it has all the essentials. We are also working on installing WiFi so that Landon can work for longer periods of time up north.
The house should be livable by October. We have to beat the snow!
Decluttering & Minimalism
When Landon has been gone on the weekends I have been keeping myself very busy with decluttering our entire house. Man, let me just tell you that decluttering is no easy feat!
Each room of the house seems to take me an entire day and we just got married. I had no idea we had so much junk and old items we no longer use. I can’t imagine how much stuff we would be collecting over the years and having to move if I wasn’t doing this now.
I feel like I eliminated at least 50% of everything we own and it has been so refreshing. Part of that involves selling about a third of our furniture on Facebook Marketplace. Do you need a pool table or wall-mount TV?
I understand now why minimalism has become such a trend. Each item we keep is inventory for us to manage. Even if we stuff it away in a drawer it adds frequency to our lives. When we live with less, there is less to manage and life becomes simpler and easier.
I have already noticed our enjoyment of living in our house with less inventory. It brings a smile to my face when I open our bedroom closet and dresser drawers and everything fits comfortably, even with some empty shelves and dead space.
Before, clothing would be falling off the shelves constantly because it felt like there wasn’t enough space. However, now I make the container the bad guy.
I learned this from the book Decluttering At The Speed Of Life by Dana K. White. She talks about using the container as your restriction. You can only keep what fits easily. If it doesn’t fit, it has to go. It’s not your fault, it’s the container’s fault.
This has helped me keep my house and life so much more manageable and clean!
It will be easier to pack our house now when the move gets closer. But, I can also let you know that minimalism is not just a stage for me. I’m hooked and have experienced the benefits first-hand. It is here to stay!
No Soccer Reffing
God always knows what is best.
With fall sports being canceled all around the country due to Covid-19, we watched as the soccer season slowly dwindled to nothing this month.
Typically this time of year is when Landon is getting ready for his busy season of reffing college soccer. We knew it would be hard to manage a crazy referee schedule and also finish the land up north but we decided to go for it. The money Landon brings in from reffing was just too hard to give up, especially with a baby and move on the way.
However, each week games would be canceled until one day, every single game that Landon was supposed to ref was gone for good. Everything has been pushed to the spring.
While the loss of income was hard, we knew that it was really a blessing in disguise from the Lord. It eliminated a lot of upcoming stress and gave us more time to focus on preparing our new tiny home and the baby.
Maybe we will find another side hustle opportunity in the coming months when the tiny house is complete!
Worm Bin Failure
My worm bin has slowly been dying. Like the garden, I didn’t put the time and energy into it that was required for a good outcome, so it completely rests on my shoulders.
My pregnancy and the move have been sweeping my thoughts, and while that is not an excuse, it just means that I will have to keep working hard at it after the move when my full-time job turns into mom and homesteader!
20 Weeks Pregnant
I hit the 20-week mark this month and even posted a belly shot on Instagram to make the moment feel more real!
I have been so blessed with such an easy pregnancy. I feel great most days and the days I don’t are my fault for not eating well or exercising. The baby is growing and is healthy, praise God.
We also have our one and only ultrasound upcoming in just a week to check on the baby and can’t wait!
Thank you so much for reading this month’s update! Stay tuned for tiny home updates next month. Drop any comments and questions you have below, I love reading and responding to them.
And thank you to all the friends and family that have been praying for us and supporting us in so many ways during this season of life. It truly means the world!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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