Wood splitting party

Exhaustion. That is the word for today. I woke at 8 am to go to Brainerd Farmer’s Market. There were only a few of us vendors, and very few customers. I’m shocked I sold anything. But I did, enough to pay for the day out. This is off season for that particular market and I don’t think it’s worth it for me to go there until April when there are more vendors again, and more reasons for people to come out. I need to find other markets.

Then I headed over to a friend of ours for a wood splitting party. Camilla and Lori had already arrived and were at work, along with a couple more friends. Thanks to them we were able to get enough wood to maybe get us to springtime depending on the temps.

6 hours of carrying large logs, splitting, loading in wheelbarrow, hauling up a ramp into a uhaul truck! Yes, so much, maybe 4 ricks they estimated…all in one day. We kicked ass! Camilla and I did the hauling from the splitter to the truck…for hours. I have regained muscles I thought were long gone in my back arms and hands. Camilla worked even longer than I did because she was already working when I got there after the market. Unfortunately tomorrow we have to unload here at the house and stack. Not as psyched about it, but maybe if I get good rest between now and then.

Camilla is smiling here, but she didn't consider it a party. She was a big help though.

Ok, so we’re not used to that type of work often so we treated ourselves to mellow mushroom afterwards : )

Too exhausted to write more.

Jr Master Gardeners

Forgot to post this for yesterday:

Beautiful day here in TN/GA. I’ve gotten a lot done today on jewelry and around the house. Lori is cooking away in the kitchen. Lately the menu has included stir fry, and it’s a good way to use up veggies, and get protein so that’ what we just had for lunch. Thanks Lori!

I hadn’t been off the mountain in a few days so yesterday I visited my parents. Dad and I were out driving around and stopped into the county extension office to see Tom Stebbins about my Master Gardener status, as well as talk about the Jr Master Gardener program Lori and I are starting/have started. He wants to make sure we’re using the resources we have available to make the program successful, and suggested more communication with other master gardeners so we can get the help we need. I see a powerpoint presentation coming.

Dad wants to take the MG program, but it's already full! He could teach it really. In fact, he talked to Tom about teaching tree grafting. I would love that. He's a good teacher.

Happy New Year!

I intended this blog to be for LMSH, but it looks like it’s more my personal blog, including life here at LMSH. The last couple of days have been surreal, starting the new year and the new age. Yesterday a dear friend of many of us, David Nazar, treated Camilla and I to a movie…and in 3-D! Thanks David. Then we spent new years eve at Bob and Mary’s in Trenton. Delightful group of people. It’s so funny how small a place this is, and I keep unintentionally bumping into people I have previously met. ‘Twas a good night of food, drinks, and drumming around a fire. We rang in the new year right, surrounded with friends. So glad I chose to be out instead of home alone.

Today is a special day. This afternoon a new life has come into being, and friends of the family have given birth to a little boy. Lori would have been there if she had been given the opportunity. Dayle is a grandfather, congrats Dayle!

Last night Lori said so much of her life revolves around fire right now. Such a basic need, warmth and light. I am growing fonder of fires since I moved here. I am refining my firebuilding skills and jump at the opportunity to start or maintain the fires here at LMSH.

Still working on the scarf. Should have used bigger needles, as with 8s it will be very thick. Luckily I didn’t make it very wide. I want to finish it so I can start on another one I have in mind.

So, when it’s rainy like it is today, I really don’t get much done with the gardens/gardening. It time to do other things, but I get antsy since I know there are things to be done outside. Maybe I need to be more rain-friendly?

The other day I was listening to Journey’s Wheel in the Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF1HCMGZ4Ok and it reminded me how much of life is about cycles. AND, how much I love 80s music : )

Life is good.

Natural Homemade Laundry Detergent

Apparently I didn't publish my post about homemade laundry detergent last night, so I just did that. And so this post is the follow up.

So I just checked the detergent and it is very gelatinous! It was cold in that part of the cabin where it spent last night so I had to run my hands through it to break it up. It reminded me of oatmeal that had been in the fridge, clumpy and squishy. BUT, it looks perfect as laundry detergent now that I have broken it up with my hands, and it will become easier to work with as it gets warmer.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

A few years ago I tried making my own laundry detergent and for some reason I didn’t keep doing it. It’s SO EASY to do, something that anyone who is wanting to get away from chemicals and head towards more natural products should do. The recipe I use is one of the main ones that is floating around on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEJHb5lfds

I had written down different amounts of washing soda and borax, so mine will be thicker than in the video. I don’t know where I got these measurements, I probably watched someone elses’ video for those. So I used 1-1/2 cup each of washing soda and borax. So if you try following the video and don’t like the outcome of your soap try using more. Also, I’ve heard some people add essential oil during the last rinse cycle so it smells nice or disinfects, whatever the property is of the essential oil. I’m never coordinated enough to do this and we are washing machine challenged here at LMSH at the moment so I’m not going to bother with that. I will just have to smell natural : )

Antsy Pants

At my computer, so I thought I’d record some thoughts… I feel antsy today. There is so much I want to do. I start one project, then feel pulled toward another quickly, just so much to do. It’s sunny today, so a walk is in order, but I’ve been inside so far except to take out the compost. Made potato kale soup, knitted, more laundry, cleaning, talked to Lori about life… that’s the nice part about having roommates, especially Lori : ) We have one that is still asleep at it’s 3:48 pm. He’s a night owl. Oh! And I did some design on our logo that desperately needs to be finalized. Still feel antsy. Want to get pics on this blog. Will work on that too.

Hike, Laundry, Bread, Firewood

It’s hard for me to know where to start when it’s been a week. I am out of the habit of posting every day, which would be ideal. So let me start with the weather. It has been wintery here the past few days. I welcome it, as it is more standard for what we normally have for winter weather. Today brought sleet and snow, but not heavy. Interestingly, I choose today to explore a trail near the house a few miles down the road. It’s a connector trail for Cloudland Canyon called Long Branch. We were toasty even though it was sleeting, and we even met a couple mountain bikers on the trail so we weren’t the only adventurous ones today. Beautiful place, definitely going back, and it’s so close to the house.

It’s hard for me to report on everything that is getting done because Lori is doing a lot and we’ve been forgetting to report at the end of the day so I don’t have a complete picture of what she is doing. The weather has not been ideal to build the boxes for the garden so that has been on hold. Honestly since it has been cold a lot of our activities have revolved around wood since we heat with wood. Our friend Mark made a surprise visit with a load of firewood and solicited us to help with another load so we have a good amount at the moment, but we’re burning through it like mad women : ) We like to keep warm, and it’s a challenge to not use space heaters. I like challenges. Today I dried my laundry in the room in the basement where the big barrel wood stove is. Since it has been wet we have to get the wood inside so it can dry out before we burn it…ideally. If it’s already a rip roaring fire we toss wet wood on and it doesn’t do anything to the fire.

I have not been working on jewelry as much this week, but instead have been focusing on posting them on etsy. The challenge now will be to sell it since Christmas is over. I need to reaccess my nursing career and do training so I can renew my license in June. Even if I don’t work as a nurse right now I can keep my license for a time. I don’t want to do anything I will regret. I have been noticing that some physical issues, mainly chronically tight muscles, are slowly disappearing and I attribute that to not having such a stressful job! Ha! Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe it’s the good mountain living. Who knows.

So today we woke up and Lori made a good breakfast while we did wood related duties. I made bread in the bread machine, and it turned out well. While in the basement I ran across my box of knitting things, and was excited to pull that out today. So I started a scarf since it’s been awhile since I have knitted, and I don’t want to be too ambitious, however it does have cables in it. Not sure why I haven’t been knitting, as I love hand made things, just haven’t taken the time to I guess. In my knitting box I found a project I almost had finished for my niece…who is now 2 and a half. Probably need to resolve that project somehow since it’s a bit too late for a baby blanket.

Ok, ‘twas a wonderful day, just need more like it. Am looking forward to the day when I can share this lifestyle with someone, as it is so rewarding. The other residents at LMSH will have to do for now.