Before and (sort of) After Photos

This is the little house that is on the property I bought on April 5th.  It is definitely a fixer-upper.

I stayed overnight Sunday April 8th, and again Friday April 13th, and cleaned up a lot!  I took four contractor-size garbage bags of 'stuff' out of the front bedroom, and four bags out of the kitchen.  I had my ShopVac with me the second trip so I could vacuum the bedroom, but I still won't walk barefoot in there.  The only reason I was able to stay overnight was because when my friend M and I went up for the closing, we were able to get the toilet working, sort of.  I couldn't have stayed overnight if I was going to have to use a bucket...  We had found the water line on an earlier visit to the property, before I actually owned it, and installed a water spicket. As it was, I had to pour water into the bowl from a bucket for it to flush.

The third trip included my friend M and was Mon-Wed April 16-18.  He upgraded the electrical so I could plug in the refrigerator and the microwave and the window air conditioner all at the same time!  M also helped me haul those trash bags to the City's community dumpsters and while we were out we stopped by the Water Department.  I asked Jackie, the lady in charge, if she knew of anyone who hauled off junk and she gave us the name of Jesse Stewart, their local "Sanford & Son". We went by Jesse's place and talked to his son and I left my information.  Back at the house, later that afternoon, Jesse and his son drove up.  We made a deal that he could have all of the metal (there's money in salvaging metal) IF he would take away everything else.  He said he'd be back the next day (Tuesday) around 3pm.  Well, he called me at 11am Tuesday and said he'd be by sooner.  He brought a long trailer and along with the two young men with him they hauled off all of the stuff inside the house.  It took two trailer loads.  He took two full size beds with mattresses, one matching dresser, the old gas cook stove, three sofas, two upholstered armchairs, one recliner.....and a partridge in a pear tree!  I also had filled four regular trash bags with those decorative metal tins, the ones you get at Christmas or whenever filled with candy or cookies.  There were piles of blankets, and a green metal pantry-type cabinet full of sheets and towels.  There were several TVs and VCRs and the tables they sat on. There was a stereo cabinet and speakers.  It's all gone.  When I tell anyone about it, I say that it looks like the people just got up and walked out the door.  There were clothes still in the dryer.

I had checked the refrigerator, microwave, and the AC on previous trips so I knew they worked, that's why I kept them. Still, it's sorta like camping.  I haven't had a chance to check if the dryer works, if it does I'll keep it.  If it doesn't work, I'll call Jesse to come get it. 

Here are some before and after photos. 

Living room, before:

 Living room, after:

 

  Bedroom, before:

 

Bedroom, after:

 

  Utility area, before:

 







 Utility area, after:

 

 Bathroom, before:

 

 Bathroom, after:

 

 Back room, before:

 

 

Back room, after:

 

There is a real 'night & day' difference in how it looks now that all of the stuff is gone.  There's still a lot of cleaning up to do, of course, but that's for another post.

I Bought the Farm...

I finally closed on the property that I have been trying to purchase since November - five months of waiting and waiting.  The papers in my hand are the closing documents, I drove to my Moody Girl Farm property directly from the title company.

I did say it was a fixer-upper, didn't I?

From what I've seen, I believe the house grew over the years. The original house, outlined in blue, was approximately 14'x33' and had just two rooms.  The room on the left (14'x13"+) was the only bedroom in the house, and the larger room on the right had the kitchen at one end and table/chairs and other seating.  I think it was built in the 20's or 30's.  When the city put in water and sewer service in the early 50's, an addition, outlined in green, was made to the back right corner of the house and the kitchen was moved there.  The new bathroom was built in the front right corner using part of the space where the kitchen was.  Very odd arrangement, but that's what's here now.  And then later, I don't know when, another addition, outlined in yellow, was made on the back to square off the building.  The front porch may have been added at that time.

I found the well pipe casing where they had a well, and the old outhouse is still there.  There is also a cistern.  I'll be going up to work/clean this week and will have more photos after that.  Until then, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

Soil Test Results - Home Test Kit

I completed the soil test on the samples from what will soon be Moody Girl Farm using a kit I purchased at Lowes.  The instructions were fairly simple: put a small sample of the soil in the test tube and add water.   Shake it well then let it settle.  Then add the contents of the capsule and shake again.  When it settles there should be a color which should match one of the colors on the sample chart.

I tested three areas: the main front garden, the chicken garden (named that only because it will be adjacent to the chicken run), and the backyard garden.  All three samples indicate that the soil is neutral-to-slightly-acidic.  And of the three minerals, there is just a wee bit more Nitrogen in the soil than Phosphorus and Potash, although the Potash samples never really settled.  Even though, they are all very low on minerals. Once I close on the property (next week?) I'll mark the areas for the gardens and as I have time I'll begin to build up the soils. And if I'm lucky, I can put in a small fall/winter garden.


 

 

 

I started seeds for my Town Garden week before last and may be able to transplant the tiny seedlings into their beds this next week.  Until then, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

 

2018 Town Garden

It's January and all of the seed catalogues have arrived and that means it's garden planning time!   My gardens aren't large so I don't put out a lot of seedlings which means I still have seeds left over from last year and several years before that.  With all of the work I hope to be doing on the homestead property this year, I'm planning a smaller, simpler garden for here in town. 

2016 was not much of a gardening year for me.  I had tomato plants in Bed #3, but working two jobs didn't leave me with enough time for gardening and I got very few tomatoes.  Bed #2 was still empty, and I had sweet potatoes in Bed #1.  Bed #4 in the back yard had a couple broccoli plants and a couple cabbage heads.  Not a good gardening year.

I was much more ambitious in 2017.
Bed #1 had carrots, onions, and cotton. 
Bed #2 had 12 tomato plants. I fed the neighborhood with those plants!
Bed #3 had cucumbers, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, okra, dill, and the loofah vines that eventually took over the entire bed.  I had to prop the little trellises up several times, and the vines eventually pulled over the fencing.  But even with all of it's rampant misbehavior, I still marveled each morning I would go out and see all of the bees covering those beautiful yellow flowers. Amazing.  I also had several pots with milkweed plants and black-foot daisies, and lots of marigolds.
Bed #4 in the back yard had corn. 

For 2018, in accordance with the crop rotation plan I use, I'm moving the tomatoes to Bed #4 in the back yard.  I had tomatoes in that bed in 2015, my very first real gardening adventure - the indeterminate tomatoes that wouldn't stop growing.  That was three years ago so I feel comfortable bringing them back again.  I'll have bell peppers and jalapeño peppers there, too.  Oh, the tomatoes will be determinates, making it easier to 'cage' them.

Bed #3 will have beans and peas and herbs.  I also want to try rutabagas but I'll need to start them soon so they'll have time to grow before it gets too hot here.

Bed #2 will have 4-5 rows of corn on the back side so as not to block the sun, and onions, radishes, and carrots in front.

Bed #1 will have cucumbers, with the vines on each end growing over a trellis. 

At least, that's the plan.  As I mentioned earlier, I have lots of seeds left from previous years so I don't really need to purchase any this year.  I will need to test-germinate them, however, to see if they're still viable.  I'll start on that Monday.  If I need to order new seeds, I want to know as soon as possible.  As it is, I'll only start a few of each veggie since I don't have room for much anyway.  I'll start about 50 corn seeds and hope to get about 40 seedlings out of that.  I'll direct seed the rutabagas, carrots, and radishes the first week of March.    Again, that's the plan.

In the meantime, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

Still Waiting to Close

I am still waiting to close on my little homestead.  I haven't heard from the title company nor the real estate agent, and I'm trying really hard to be patient.  While I'm waiting though, I figured I could go ahead and do some soil testing.  I plan to drive up to see the property this weekend and get some soil samples.  I'll use part of the sample on a soil testing kit that I can get at my local garden center.  The remainder of the sample I'll send off to the county extension office for them to run tests.  I can then compare the results.

Texas soils range from acidic in southeast Texas to neutral or slightly acidic in East Texas and to alkaline in Central and West Texas.  Since Moody Girl Farm will be in Central Texas I know what pH I'm getting, but I don't know what condition the minerals are in.  The soil tests will help me with that.  The property has been vacant for several years and I haven't seen anything that looks like a garden bed.  As I mentioned last post, I expect the house to take up a lot of my time getting it move-in ready, but I also want to begin preparing one or two areas for possibly planting a fall or winter garden.  Due to the layout of the property - location of the house, trees, driveway, and future chicken pens - I'm obliged to have several small/medium garden beds rather than one large one, which is ok with me since I'll probably be using a crop rotation plan up there like I've done here in town.

I have a friend who is riding up with me - I told him I was going stir crazy here just waiting and waiting and waiting.  In the meantime, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

Working on a New Project

And it's a BIG project.

I've been looking for a long time for some property to buy for my Moody Girl Farm homestead, and I believe I've found it.  I signed a contract on a 1.15 acre property in western central Texas.  There's a small older house on it (a fixer-upper), an outhouse, an old well, and a cistern along with city water and sewer and co-op electricity.  I signed the contract on November 9th.  The hold-up is the survey.  The property is in a small town (population 338) and surveys are difficult to get done.  Very few properties in town have been surveyed so the surveyor is having trouble finding a starting point.  Closing was postponed from December 12th to December 27th (yeah, tomorrow) and now has been postponed until some time in January, the date to be determined.  I've been up to see the property several times and I'm so ready to get started fixing it up. 

In the meantime, I've begun working on a site plan for where everything will go: the gardens, chickens and bees, and a greenhouse.  When I originally composed my Goals in 2011, I wanted 2-3 acres with the idea that I might also have several goats.  They're still on my list, but further down now.  I suspect the house will take up a lot of my time, trying to get it move-in ready for when I retire, again, in November 2018.

I'll have lots of photos once I close on it.  Until then, never surrender, never give up, and may all your dreams come true.

A quick photo from December 7th when we got snow!  Big ol' fat snowflakes!  We got about 2 inches of snow here in town.

Becomming a Sponge, in Several Steps

First steps, clean the skin off the gourd, shake out the seeds.  This is the OLD loofah, it measured about 10 inches long and had well more than one hundred seeds!  I suspect the other longer gourds will have a lot more seeds which means I'll probably never have to buy loofahs seeds again!  The skin wasn't too hard to remove because it was so brittle.

Here is the gourd after a quick plain water rinse.

 

Here is the gourd after a quick rinse in a light bleach water.  I might should have left it in the bleach water a little longer than the 3-4 minutes I did. This is a practice gourd, so once it's dry I'll know if it needs more time soaking.  I'm hoping the bleach will lighten that dark spot.  Now it's laying on top of my compost bin so it can dry in the sun.  I need to turn it over every 30 minutes or so.

Once this one is done, I have six more to do...