Browsing the archives for the Urban Homesteading category.

Updates and happenings at 34 weeks pregnant

Last night Nathan and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary with a dinner out. Nothing real over the top since date nights and getting super keyed up is something I lack the energy for these days being that I am 34 weeks pregnant now.

Everly was along for the dinner and we all had a great time, baby sister enjoyed the steak dinner too! I am loading up on the red meat these days thanks to mild anemia remember?

Everly grows up before sister arrives: Miss Everly is quite ready to meet her baby sister. Have I mentioned that she’s in the process of potty training herself in these last pre-big-sister days… Well she is!

We had no desire to force her to grow up any faster now that a new baby is on the way. I didn’t want to rush her to wean but she did so herself, I didn’t want to force a toddler bed but she really let us know it was indeed time and now she is adding potty training to the mix. It really blows my mind.

When looking back, I guess her pattern has always been to dive right in to the next stage when she was ready. Like when she stole noodles right off my fork one day and started her solid food journey at 7 months old.

We’ve been explaining that Baby Sister in in my belly all along and have been talking about what will happen when she gets here. While it doesn’t seem like she gives it much thought I guess she really does comprehend more than we think. And her instincts and development are pretty right on.

With all her self led transitions we’ve been a little slow to realize and have had some rough patches as a result. In the instance of potty training it’s been this constant battle of her wanting to be naked and stripping herself and then having small accidents.

The thing about her (and I guess myself also) is that when an idea is planted there is no stopping the forward motion or going back. So letting her run naked is all we could do. We are working on the big girl undies and keeping them on, she still struggles with pulling them up and down a bit but that will come with time.

Everly has had all sorts of potty success all on her own this week. One day she just asked me to help her open up the potty chair lid, I did so and walked away to finish the dishes. She sat there for a bit, peed and then came to get me so I could see it.

Yesterday she asked me to bring the potty seat out to the deck for her and she peed and pooped, several times. Today has been more potty success so it seems we are on the right path. Fingers are crossed that she doesn’t revert to non-potty-chair-use when baby arrives, but if she does that will be fine too.

Pregnancy news & updates: I am 34 weeks pregnant. Baby Sister was “sunny-side-up” (or posterior) and head down over the weekend and I am NOT dilating or effaced which is good.

We aren’t stressing over her orientation in the uterus because babies turn themselves all around even during labor for best positioning. Besides my midwife is confident even if baby stays in the same position labor wont be an issue for me. They would even attend my home birth if she was breech, so position is not an issue.

Also, with the lack if dilation and no thinning of the cervix my fleeting thoughts about labor beginning before I get to The Farm are history, for now. I was advised to lay more, to chase Everly around less and to chill with the homestead tending… but I am stubborn about these things.

My energy levels just don’t permit me to lay idle and someone has to care for Everly but I am taking it easy on the outdoor work and am tuned in to my body for signals to call it quits.

Been trying to get life to a good stopping point. That is laughable huh? There is blogging and website work for clients I want to get all squared away. The house, pets & garden all need loose ends tied up before we leave and come back with baby. My home birth kit and newborn supplies/ gear aren’t all gathered up or even purchased. I am dreaming about someone doing a meal train for us when we come home. I’d love to have some readers register here and be guest bloggers while I am on hiatus too!

I am revamping the “Updates from The Farm” page to create a hub for those of you looking for labor/ birth updates when my hiatus begins in a month. I think that is all I have to report. Now what is shaking with you this week?

Updates and happenings at 34 weeks pregnant was published on July 12th, 2011, under the Blogging Baby Sister's Arrival, Life in Evansville, parenting, pregnancy, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Wait, chickens fly?

Our three hens have gone out to the backyard where they permanently live in our garden space. The reasoning behind this is so that they can help control the garden pest population naturally thus keeping our growing food happier and also providing us with some super nutritious organic eggs.

Did you know chickens that forage the majority of their food lay healthier more nutritious eggs?

My mother has been raising backyard chickens for several years, hers are in a fully enclosed run because in the boonies of Arizona the hawks, mountain lions and various other predators will pick your chickens off before you can blink.

Here in Indiana, in a subdivision, the list of daytime predators is slightly smaller. Actually our biggest predatory concern was our own dog and we worried about annoying the neighbors dog (a bird dog) on the other side of our shared fence.

Our dog, Dixie, did manage to grab the bird Everly calls “blue-red” when we attempted to let them both become acquainted. Luckily, Dixie only had feathers in her teeth, no chicken meat in that instance.

Since then the birds have been in the garden so there is a good solid fence between Dixie and chickens. Every few days we put Dixie on a leash and we let the chickens have run of the yard while supervised. The garden pathways quickly become picked clean of bugs, weeds and other chicken food. This is why lawn and yard time is also a must for them. The curse and blessing is chickens eat what they have access to, even my flowers and berry bushes when they get board with the lawn.

I mentioned a while back that we had many of our garden beds lined with salvaged window panes thought the winter, to protect plants and extend out growing season. A makeshift coldframe basically. Nathan did a similar vlog about the garden here.

This spring we haven’t gotten around to taking the window panes down and in the meantime they served as a great barrier between the chickens and the feverishly growing plants, until the chickens flew over them this week.

Holy crap, chickens can fly?

Yes, I know they have wings and that using them shouldn’t be that shocking but in all the years of my mother’s chicken keeping none of them ever flew higher than a foot or so…

In my pregnancy haze I became much more upset by this setback than needed and felt at my wits end about adding chickens to our homestead. Then we clipped their wings after sourcing this website.

So far they haven’t flown over the even lower fencing Nathan installed in place of the window panes. Yay the old window panes are out of the garden! But now they are stacked on the lawn, must find a place in the garage for storing them ASAP.

What a relieving fix to the chicken flying issue! Now if we could just keep the flies and gnats away… I bet if people didn’t let their lawns grow 4 feet tall we would have less bug issues, that and the meat dumping out by the pond’s edge… Well, I am off to search for some homemade fly and gnat remedies now. I’ll leave you with a glimpse of the garden this year:

[mj-google-slideshow feed_url="https://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/talinanorris/albumid/5605901611648716593?alt=rss&kind=photo&authkey=Gv1sRgCLjDrIGv0MWm-gE&hl=en_US" width="300" height="300" link_target="google.feeds.LINK_TARGET_BLANK" /]

Wait, chickens fly? was published on May 12th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , under the Animals & Pets, backyard chickens, living simply, personal stories, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Eating from our own community inspires change. Are you on board?

Early May brings us the first tastes of our garden handiwork. This year was not exception.

Last night I found myself with several radish, some turnips we got at the store a while back, salad greens and a desire to make something wholesome for Nathan’s overlooked birthday. Well, it wasn’t really overlooked… Just had to be rescheduled since our schedule is basically jam-packed right now.

After pawing through the available locally raised meat in the freezer I choose two packages of chicken breasts for grilling. Meat is the easy part, it is being creative with the side dishes and garden vegetables that take real brain power. Especially when you are faced with a radish or turnip.

I raked my brain for the distinction between a radish and a turnip (what? I blame pregnancy brain). Last season a blogger friend turned us on to a dish of mashed root crop called “Neeps and Tatties” (a similar recipe variation can be found here) that will now be a regular sidedish offering in our home.

The problem was… did it use radish or turnips…

After some intense google searching and a quick note to said blogger friend I arrived at the conclusion that it used turnips and potatos.

Virgin Neeps & Tatties (Talina’s way)

  • 2 large turnips, peeled and cut in chunks
  • 3 large potatoes, cut in chunks skin on
  • Generous helping of butter (2-4 tbs)
  • Garlic, salt and pepper to taste

You just boil the turnips until soft and mashable, in a separate pot boil the potatoes. I boil the turnips for longer than the potatoes by and hour or so (on low). When both items are soft to the touch drain them and transfer to a food processor, bowl or blender. Mash to desired consistency adding seasonings and butter as you go. I usually transfer my mash back to a pot to keep warm on the stove before serving.

With the turnips taken care of I turn my focus to the pinkish/ red radish that also need to be consumed. I don’t like radish very much, like many people. I seem to recall giving Nathan a hard time for once again planting these foods that would be such a challenge to consume… but I was seriously doubting why that was (remember the pregnancy brain?).

I resolved to wash and taste a slice of one to decide if they would go in the salad or if they needed to be cooked somehow, I needed my memory jogged about this dislike of radish. Let the torturous experimentation begin. You know kind of like sticking your tongue on a battery just to check.

Bleah! The spicy bite of a radish after the hard, crunchy texture just wasn’t my idea of a good time. In my mind crunchy should be followed by a crisp, fresh and even sweet aftertaste. Not a spicy one.

It was decided, I would cook the radish as a side dish. Rumor has it cooked radish lose the bite they are so well known for. I’d put this to the test.

Grilled Radish and Garlic

  • about 12-15 radishes, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 cube ice
  • salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the grill for high heat. Place all ingredients on a double layer of aluminum foil large enough to wrap contents. Season with salt and pepper. Tightly seal foil around contents. Place foil packet on the grill, and cook 20 minutes or until radishes are tender.
I am pleased to say, the familiar spiciness does go away when a radish is cooked. There is no way I’ll be gnawing bunches of raw radish in my salads over the next few months. Nathan and Everly can, if the want but I’ll just pass on that.
To finish the meal we clipped about three small bunches of lettuce from the garden, topped them with some shredded carrot and some dressing and had ourselves a very good, super satisfying and almost 100% locally raised meal.
My goal this year is a bit more specific than just eating better. I want to really commit to the locally raised idea and get rid of as many trucked in items as we can. With gas prices on the rise this is one significant way we can decrease our dependency…

Stop being a slave to mass produced foods that come from all over the country!

Why does it matter? Well, here is my thought process:

Those out of season bananas, they come from outside the country. The oranges, the strawberries, potatoes, corn… Your store bought meat that was inhumanely raised on feed lots or worse… Chances are they all traveled more than 100 miles to get to your dinner table.

Just think of where they were raised, then they needed to be taken somewhere for packaging or processing, then they are shipped off to your grocery store where you buy and then drive them home. How much oil/ fuel was used just in the process of transporting those food times?

Don’t you think the fuel to transport groceries comes from the same “pool” we consumers tap to gas up our cars? And in buying foods that come from so far aren’t we encouraging more and more usage of fuel that in turn drives up the fuel prices?

If we stopped buying this stuff from afar they would eventually stop shipping and trucking it in, they would lose money without us fronting the expense. Then our local farmers would have their communities to feed and the bigger corporations wouldn’t be squeezing them out and so on…

Each choice we consumers make is like a vote for those companies and their business practices. Money speaks and I am afraid we are sending the wrong messages… and we are suffering the consequences. Those companies aren’t suffering, we are!

If you do some research and really commit you can either produce or support local farmers that are producing what you need without relying on fossil fuels to get food to your table.

Furthermore, eating locally tastes better and it helps your community by keeping those grocery dollars reinvested in the area and not in the large, faraway corporations that could care less about your community and your neighbors.

It only takes one step at a time to influence a huge change. Just commit to swapping one non-locally produced item a week or month for one that is local. Think of the local farmer’s family you’ll be helping to support, the amount of gas your food wont be guzzling to get to your table, the amazing taste of fresh food…

What one item can you obtain locally that you aren’t already?

Eating from our own community inspires change. Are you on board? was published on May 6th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , , under the Life in Evansville, living simply, personal stories, recommendations, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

There is a first for everything…

It has been raining off and on for days and days. Many roads are closed as the river banks are overflowing with water and generally the rain fall has nowhere to go. While we don’t live riverside (where the below photo was taken) and aren’t really in any danger of flooding we are still feeling the dampness of the situation.

Driving conditions are definitely impacted and there is a good amount of standing water pooling in the backyard. It is kind of hard to ignore all the water falling from the sky and the weather radio going off several times a night for various warnings, watches and alerts.

This afternoon, when Sesame Street was talking gouaches and rain storms it inspired Everly to wear her own rain boots that she got from her grandma. She was proudly putting them on when it occurred to me I that I too would need some rain footwear to make it through the swamp that is our backyard today…

Now, I’ve always thought the novelty of wearing rain boots or (gouaches) was reserved for little girls dressing up in mismatched clothing. So,  when Nathan snagged me a free pair from somewhere and was so excited I politely accepted them. but had no intention of wearing them. We moved them here from Arizona several years ago and they have basically been stored and gathering dust or housing spiders for years now…

Hell finally froze over because I busted those dusty rain boots off, checked inside for spiders and pulled them on for some tromping though the mud to harvest some greens for dinner. Yep, we have greens ready for harvest already :)

I wont be winning any best dressed awards in these babies but I wasn’t really trying anyway with my ill fitting mismatched clothes. Being pregnant does funny things to your wardrobe. Good thing simplicity and low frills is how we roll around the house. No vacuuming in heels and pearls here. Ha, ha!

The trade off (personal primping time for time spent tending the homestead) sure does make for a better dinner though. All the time, preparation and work totally pays off when you have so much yummy goodness growing right out in your yard (even if it is a swampy mess at times). What is even better is we have free food that is organic, right at our fingertips. Anyone can do it too!

Just start small and pick a handful of items that will do well in your area with the space you have, perhaps something that will return year after year so your hard work and care will provide more enjoyment over time… Like our blackberry, grape, raspberry, rhubarb, asparagus and many herbs that return year after year once planted.

What are you trying to grow now or what would you like to grow for yourself this spring & summer?

There is a first for everything… was published on April 27th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Life in Evansville, living simply, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Homestead dreams of harmony and such…

Our hens got their first taste of outdoor spring fun today. They are just a few weeks away from being old enough for outdoor life and today was their first glimpse of the outdoors. Boy were they unsure in the beginning but they eventually took to chasing bugs and having fun in the yard.

There were rabbits, chickens a cat and Miss Everly all roaming the backyard together today. Everly was naked too. She unsnapped her diaper during nap time and remained naked the rest of the afternoon. I kept Dixie in her kennel while the hens roamed the yard since Nathan wasn’t yet home to help me keep and eye on her.

Dixie has some “bird dog” tendencies and we’ve known she would be overcome with the urge to try getting the chickens. We’ve divised a system so the chickens can forage the garden pathways, be separate from the dog and also be kept from destroying the garden. Unfortunately, that system isn’t already in place, it just exists in the mind for now…

The chickens will help with garden pest control, their poop will add nutrients to the compost and in turn to our garden soil and they will lay eggs for us to eat so they are well worth the trouble, once we get our system up and working.

Eventually, the hens, rabbits, dog and yard cat would need to all meet and possibly learn to co-exist. Today was the day to try for it, once Nathan was home to assist. It is a good thing I waited for him too!

Dixie was good for about 30 seconds before lunging for and catching one of the girls in her mouth. Nathan was quick to grab her and I got the chicken, who was only startled and luckily unharmed. Everly yelled “oh no!” and began crying and the rabbits just hopped around the yard ignoring us all.

Dixie and the hens will always have to be kept separate. Doesn’t seem like she’s shaping up to be a very good farm dog after all. It is sort of surprising since she doesn’t harm the cat or the rabbits but natural instincts are unbreakable and we suspected this. Now we know to keep the always separate and closely supervised.

Maybe one day when we have several acres of farm land Dixie can be free to roam at the same time our chickens enjoy their designated space, perhaps she’ll be too busy with the other farm animals to care about chickens.

Homestead dreams of harmony and such… was published on April 21st, 2011, under the A pet bunny, Animals & Pets, backyard chickens, Life in Evansville, living simply, outdoor pets, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Bolting rhubarb and missing asparagus on the homestead.

This morning was dedicated to dealing with our bolting rhubarb out in the square foot garden beds. We have 3 rhubarb bunches we planted last spring. We were stoked to see leaves poking up through the straw mulched beds in February but now one of the bunches is setting flowers and essentially bolting.

Bolting or going to flower saps energy from a plant and usually impacts the potential harvest. This being the second year of our rhubarb plants, we were hoping to harvest some leaves for a jam or pie. So, I did some reading about what causes rhubarb to bolt; too much warmth/ sun, poor nutrition and plant variety can contribute to bolting.

The solution, just clip the flowers off and hope more leaves will set. Also, take steps to remedy to root cause of the bolting. So I moved the bolting rhubarb plant and fertilized it.

While I was at it I went hunting for a few missing asparagus that hadn’t surfaced yet. In our warmer square foot garden bed several spears of asparagus have shot up. In the cooler bed (where we moved the bolting rhubarb to) there we hardly any signs of asparagus spears so I dug around and found several root clumps. I moved those firm root clumps to the warmer beds with their already surfacing siblings and think that will make them grow much better.

I was also excited to see buds greening up and growing larger on several of our grape vines. The strawberries are setting flowers, the blackberries and raspberries are leafing out and all the cold weather seeds we planted are sprouting out in the beds now.

We also have quite the collection of sprouted indoor seedlings growing, they are our summer fruiting plants like tomato, cucumber, zucchini and more.

Oh and our back chicks are doing great! They are now 3 weeks old and are eating so much. They are gonna be great foragers it seems, they roost on the feeder rather than eat from it and love to pick around at feed I dump on the floor for them.

They don’t seem to mind people or being handled, though Everly is still reluctant to pick them up. The cats will sit and glare at them every now and then but they are getting so big and active that the cats know to keep some distance. They will be inside for about 4 more weeks, then we can transition them outdoors to live in their backyard chicken coop. For now, you can sneak a peek at them thanks to Nathan’s live streaming feed of them (from his blog’s sidebar):

Bolting rhubarb and missing asparagus on the homestead. was published on April 6th, 2011, with the tags , , , , , , , under the backyard chickens, Life in Evansville, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Sneeze-poop and other randomness…

Been having a sort of weird week here. As you probably already read it’s been warm here and we are loving the outdoor time and the taste of spring.

We got to take our first glances around the garden to see what survived the winter frost and we made some progress on this years garden to do list.

I’ve also been feeling particularly weird health wise this week. Monday afternoon I about split my head open in the shower, thankfully Nathan was there to catch me. Unfortunately it traumatized Everly a bit. Apparently I completely passed out in the hot shower. I only remember feeling dizzy and about to pass out. Nathan assures me I did blank out and was falling down.

I’ve been known to pass out before, usually with blood draws but it is always attributed to lowered blood pressure and is never a concern for my doctors. It’s still kind of a poop-smear on the day though.

Then today I ate some apple slice and had a few sips of fruit juice. I got all shaky and kind of felt like my heart was pounding, what I attribute to my body’s issue with sugar too early in the morning. So I laid down to rest while the effects wore off. Later when I got up to join Everly and Nathan in the garden I got the sudden feeling I would soon vomit. Took a few breaths and puked up my juice and apple slice.

Everly of course was standing by and being traumatized by the incident again. She called it a “sneeze-poop”, no it is not because I pooped. She just thinks anything gross and messy is poop. When the cat barfs, when there is cat litter on the floor, when the dog poops in the yard. It is all poop to her. I guess the forceful vomiting resembled a sneeze in her eyes. Hence the “sneeze-poop”.

I feel like the weird vomiting is from a hormonal surge or something cause I was not feeling sick to my stomach at all before or after the incident. Maybe it is just some 13 week delayed morning sickness or something. Weird.

Sneeze-poop and other randomness… was published on February 17th, 2011, under the Life in Evansville, living simply, parenting, personal stories, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Everything seems better with sunshine…

Over the weekend we enjoyed temperatures above 50 degrees and it has really impacted productivity, mood and life in general.

For starters we were able to go outside for multuple hours and do yard cleanup and garden tending. Nathan cleaned the abundance of dog poop from the lawn and flowerbeds so Everly could tromp around and have fun. I dove in to pruning the dormant and reemerging herbs and flowers. Everly helped us spread leaves to mulch and cover up some of the muddy areas Dixie’s foot traffic caused.

We got out our gardening handbooks and pruned our 5 grape vines so they will set fruit and be happy. It looks like our 5 berry bushes are ready to spring back to life. Amazingly, the strawberry patch we planted last spring survived the winter thanks to heavy mulching with leaves. The strawberry plants seem to have never gone dormant or died back. There are whole live plants buried under that mulch to my surprise.

Our asparagus and rhubarb are also trimmed and ready for a new seasons growth and it was nice to see various volenteer garlic and shallots springing up randomly where we hadn’t planned on seeing anything alive.

Oh, we also found several carrots that survived the winter as well, they still need to put on some growth but amazingly they are green and growing strong in some places.

Based on the return of birds to the area, the fact that my spring bulbs have started trying to emerge and our gut feeling about weather it seems we are on the final push with winter. By March the Farmers Almaniac says average temps will be in the 40′s. This month they are just a few degrees above freezing and they continue to warm by about 10 degrees each month from here on out…

Spring is around the corner for us!

We have lots of preparations to do. Seeds need to be started inside for optimal planting time next month. Cold weather crops like Pac Choi, Spinach, Snow Peas, broccoli and more need to be planted soon. The rabbits need to be relocated from the garage to the yard and the garden needs to be mapped and planned for the year. We need to order our hens and get them a nesting box/ cage built too.

The busy and productive time is about to start and I honestly can’t wait. While Urban Homesteading is almost a full time job it is also so great to rely on yourself and your hard work for food. It’s fun too. Everly always enjoys running around the yard helping out with whatever task is at hand. She’ll be an even bigger helper this year with harvesting food and garden tending.

So while tons of work is around the corner for us, we are stoked to get outdoors and get moving. Being locked up inside and idle for the last four months has gotten really old. Bring on the sunshine and hard work!

Everything seems better with sunshine… was published on February 14th, 2011, under the Life in Evansville, personal stories, Urban Homesteading category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Contact me at: