Seasonal Snaps: Summer Solstice 2013

Welcome summer! Things are green around here. In the front yard, we have a squash and grains patch and the Swainway Urban Farm annex, six long rows of organic tomatoes, peppers, beets, and celery root.

Out back, the baby orchard is coming along. We're collecting no fruit from these trees, but are eating mulberries from a wild tree and looking forward to harvest from an existing apple and pear tree.

We've taken down trees, built a new coop, and started many gardens near the house. The natural playground balance beam, steps, and swinging rope lie between the orchard and near gardens.

Chicks are growing too. Lil and I allowed this Buff Brahma to explore the hoop house recently. We've eaten peas, greens, strawberries, radishes and beets from the hoop house this spring; the beds now contain tomatoes and peppers.

We couldn't be more pleased with the progress from winter solstice 2012 to spring equinox 2013 to now. We're not stopping yet - we have plans for a big harvest, mud room, and maybe even a renovated indoor kitchen before the next season change.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Seasonal Snaps: Spring Equinox 2013

The homestead has changed in many ways since I posted Winter Solstice 2013 Seasonal Snaps, though I felt wind on my cheeks and spied snow in the air on both photography days. Mostly we have been building and hauling; we're eager to finally see edibles growing at the next turn of the seasons. Not much action in the front yet, pictured in fleeting sunlight.

Careful eyes will spot the new mailbox at the road, a result of a drunk driver smashing our old one to smithereens.

In the backyard, Jacob Sauer Tree Care recently removed a dying honey locust to give more light and eliminate the thorn hazards. We agreed to haul the brush and cut all wood to save costs, a chore that has taken many days. You may be able to spot a catalpa and oak tree Alex cut down further back in the yard.

You can also see the hoop house in this picture, off to the left. We built a 10x20 foot season-extending structure  over several work days with the help of many friends. One of three beds inside is already planted with greens and roots.

Here's the hoop house from the back of the yard. You can also see the dirt pile we're hosting for City Folk's Farm Shop*. That big empty area in the foreground? It's where the family who owned the house before us traditionally kept their garden. We'll use the well-drained spot for an orchard with alley plantings in between rows.

I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in how similar the two seasons appear for all the aches my body feels from working outside. Surely June 21, the summer solstice, will yield a totally different view.

*Alex, Lil, and I want to wish Shawn and Gerry at City Folk's a VERY HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY! We love having this shop in our vicinity for homsteading supplies and education. They are hosting a homestead tool swap, chicken feed giveaway, silent auction, and more fun activities during their birthday week - go visit!

Ice Cold Chores {Wordless Wednesday}

12 degrees Fahrenheit. Chickens and birds need food and water and dogs need exercise, even if it makes their hair stand on end. Thank goodness for OR mittens, BOGS boots, and warm tea inside.

New Homestead: First Look

We're all moved in to the new homestead!

Our new place is a large Cape Cod house on almost two acres right in the middle of Columbus. The lot has several very large Burr Oak trees and lots of open space to garden.

Austra and Rosetta, the chickens, are living in a new coop that will offer protection from the hawks and other predators abundant on our lot. We also saw our first deer hanging out in the back yard tonight.

There is plenty of work yet to do - the kitchen is full of boxes but lacking in counter space, our homeschool room is a wreck of furniture, and we don't even have a mailbox installed. We're exhausted from moving but excited about the labor to make real the potential we see in this homestead.

Urban Homestead For Sale!

Our urban homestead in Clintonville is officially listed for sale!

You can read all about the 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 2 car garage, new windows and kitchen on the MLS listing.

If you're a visual person, check out the slideshow.

But if you want to know what it's really like to live in our house, here are the top five things I will miss once we move:

1) Walking everywhere - Picking up milk, organic produce, and other groceries at the Clintonville Co-op is a short five minute walk. We are eight minutes from a ravine in either direction. If Lil were going to school at Indianola Alternative, she would need to leave the house approximately three minutes before the first bell. Post office, bars, coffee shops, restaurants, funky shops, the Olentangy trail, and more are all mere minutes away on foot or bike.

2) Active community - A week or so ago I was spray painting something in the backyard. My neighbor two doors down stuck her head out of the second story window to check in and make sure it was me and not some mischievous teens tagging a garage. People on this street shovel sidewalks, pick up recycle bins, remind you if the garage door is up, fill you in on local building projects, etc. It's a friendly place.

3) Sweet-ass kitchen - (those were Alex's words) From comfy cork floors to hand crafted countertops to the stove that vents outside to keep the house cool to the pass through into the dining room, this kitchen is perfect for us. It is perfect for anyone who cooks a lot.

4) Micro-climate - Because our backyard garden is surrounded by houses and backs up to a big brick church, the soil stays a little warmer than outlying areas. We rarely have frost when the suburbs do. Hawks and other predators can't get to our chicken yard because of the church and orientation of the yard too.

5) Perennial edibles - Seven fruit trees, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, rhubarb, leeks, herbs and more will feed the next person or family who tends the homestead. Many of these are just coming into maturity and so we have not enjoyed the literal fruits of our labor. We will leave care instructions and offer a garden orientation to the buyers if they want it!

If all of this sounds like something you or someone you know would want in a home, we would be very grateful if you would pass along the details about our homes for sale. Thanks!

Update on the buying side: We have a house we would like to make an offer on and are working on the details. We can't wait to reveal our next homestead!

Want to Buy the Homestead? And Other Updates

Homestead for Sale

We are finally putting our Clintonville house on the market very soon. In the meantime, life is a blur of paint and trim and organization.

The new buyers of the hound homestead will move into a home complete with:

• two rainbarrels
• seven fruit trees
• dozen perennial edibles
• seven raised beds with organic soil
• compost bin
• wood stove and what's left of the ash wood pile
• kitchen designed for serious cooking and canning
• new insulated windows and doors
• two car garage with built in workbench

If you are in the market for a house and want to choose finishes like paint and a little bit of flooring, let's talk ASAP.

In Other News

In addition to my role as chief house stager, I am working with three social media clients: City Folk's Farm Shop, OCS Logistics, and C-PAP Central Online. It is exciting to guide small businesses in the world wide web.

I also accepted a role with Swainway Urban Farm to assist at farmer's markets. Our first date is the Clintonville Sprout Swap on April 28! I am a huge fan of Joseph's growing philosophy and can't wait to help him share organic seedlings, produce, and mushrooms with the Clintonville and New Albany market shoppers.

As if life couldn't be more busy, we decided on our last trip (this past weekend to Indianapolis) to start a family travel blog. Lil will take videos, Alex contribute quick posts on the road, and I'll manage the whole thing. Check out Curious Wanderlust for our very first updates.

Thanks for hanging in with the website updates during the hosting transition. I'm in the process of transferring to a new-new host with the old-new theme and everything will look normal again soon.

Homestead Care Instructions

With dogs, chickens, and worms depending on our care, there is a lot to have in order before we leave for vacation in Massachusetts today. To complicate matters, a friend may stay at our house while we are away. Fortunately, our neighbor and my sister are experienced with the particulars of our creatures and we trust them with the care of the homestead. Animals aside, I am most concerned about two things: my seedlings in the basement and the fruit tree blossoms, like the peach pictured at left. My sister will check on the seedlings and I am fairly confident they will stay alive even if she doesn't share my love for monitoring soil temperature and moisture. We unfortunately have no control over whether a late frost will wipe out our fruit for the whole season.

I thought that some other homesteaders or vacationers might want to read the instructions we left for house guests/caretakers. If you do, feel free to download our Homestead Care Instructions. Edit and use them for your own trips if you wish.

To follow along on our trip to Buzzard's Bay, Ipswich, Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden, Graycliff Estate, Mike's studio, and more, find me on twitter, facebook, or foursquare.

Through the magic of scheduled posting, readers will still see fresh content on Hounds in the Kitchen too. Easter is coming up and I couldn't leave you without some fun egg posts!

Added to Simple Lives Thursdays 39th Edition

Update on the Girls

The girls, aka. birds of very little brain, are our four heritage breed laying hens adopted two weeks ago.  They have become quite the center of the homestead since arriving.

The two buff orange Orpingtons are most friendly and accept being picked up and petted.  The spotted Sussex least likes human attention.  The black Australorp is clearly the dumbest, which is really saying something because no chicken is an IQ prize winner.  She doesn't find food, roosts last, and is generally unaware.  Good thing we're around!

The coop has required two modifications.  First, we (meaning Alex) built a feeder that mounts on the side of the run from PVC.  The girls were knocking over their feeder four or more times a day which wasted food and frustrated us.  The new feeder was quick and cheap to build and hasn't been spilled yet.

Alex is also adding a rain proof roof.  During last week's rain we covered the run with a blue sheet of plastic that was less than classy.  We searched all over the city for clear fiberglass corrugated sheeting to no avail yesterday.  I finally found out that Sutherlands carries it and Alex picked some up on his way home from work today.  He'll install the roofing tomorrow.

Our backyard chickens have been visited by family, friends, and local bloggers.   Lil loves to tell kids about taking care of chickens and reminds everyone they have to wash their hands after petting birds.  Our chickens have inspired at least one family to make plans to raise their own hens.

Some have asked questions about the legality of raising chickens in the city.  In Columbus, the Health department regulates keeping livestock through a permitting process per this document issued by the city veterinarian.

Even with a wonderful coop and lots of attention, our chickens have not yet started laying.  We added a bit of cayenne pepper to their feed to stimulate production at the suggestion of Denise from 2Silos farm. They are young (23 weeks) and daylight is still minimal so it might take a little more time before we collect that first precious egg.

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I am not sure how much you all want to know about backyard chickens, so please leave a comment with questions or encouragement if you want to read more about city chickens.  Better yet, take our blog survey and help shape the future of Hounds in the Kitchen.