November 13, 2020

We are doing more building and less demo-ing on the house and it feels great. The biggest design element in our reconstruction is taking down an interior wall and exposing the vaulted ceilings. Both those elements required a 12′ header to be removed and a 19′ header installed in its place. We’ve been fretting about this one design element since our structural engineer recommended it to us. If we did it wrong, our roof could collapse – nothing too major, right? God put the right people in our path who helped us, and we are THRILLED that the new header is installed!

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In the last month, we finished almost ALL the plumbing for the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, the mudroom, and even an exterior water spigot. We bought way more PVC and PEX connectors than we needed because we didn’t want to run to the hardware store every time we needed one more elbow. The girl at Menards didn’t seem bothered when we returned $200 worth of fittings! At least we kept all the receipts.

Another great accomplishment was removing most of the electrical wiring. That was really a big deal! Much of the wires were installed when the house was originally built and the insulation on the wires were made of the old cloth material. During the removal of the interior walls, we took the outlets and switches and wrapped them over the ceiling joists. they hung down to where we could still use them. That was a practical idea for a while but now, everywhere we step we bump into open outlets and bare wires, and that was a bit concerning. It was scary turning on a switch or bumping into an outlet and getting a small electrical shock. It was quite a relief to get those old wires (and the 100s of staples that held them to the rafters) out of the house.

We’ve started to beef up the current ceiling joists so we can get the vaulted ceiling we want. We borrowed scaffolding which will make this job so much easier. After the rafters are reinforced and the current ceiling joists are taken down, we will just have to finish up a few spots of plumbing, install all of the subfloor, install the electricity (and probably a few dozen small things we forgot about). We are getting close to our rough-in inspection!

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We have had our first frost already, so we picked the last of the peppers from the garden. Katie dehydrated them to use throughout the winter. Although the summer garden is finished for the year, we are still planting! We put in 20+ garlic bulbs between the apple trees. Garlic is a good companion plant for apple trees, warding off some of the pests that plague them.

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Katie’s birthday this past October was all garden themed. She has now ordered all her seeds (60 different varieties!) and most of her supplies for next year’s garden. She got this cute cart from the boys. John calls it her booty scooter. She also got ground cover for the garden and a thermometer for her growing (and steaming) compost pile.

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Elsewhere on the farm, we’ve processed 50 meat chickens and have sent them to “freezer camp!” We sold half of the birds, so next year, we plan to raise at least 100. Let us know if you’d like to get on our lists for farm-fresh, naturally-raised chicken. The bees are doing what bees do. It looks like we will bring 6 strong hives into the winter. We left all the fall honey on the hives so they will have plenty of food stored up.

As we mentioned earlier, we’ve been processing food. In addition to the peppers Katie dehydrated, she’s been processing other surplus fruits and veggies. Someone gave us 6 pounds of sour oranges, so Katie made orange marmalade. She also canned caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar. Yum!

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Speaking of canning, since we don’t have a stove, Katie uses the turkey fryer for the pressure canner. She’s probably canned 5 or 6 batches of food this year and it works out great. But this time was different. She lit the fryer to heat the water and walked inside to get the jars. Within about 5 seconds, the hose on the fryer failed and fire was spewing out of the propane tank, which caught the wooden deck on fire! It was scary, but she couldn’t find her phone to call 911. She threw the burning tank over the railing onto the grass and let it burn. She then got the hose and put out the fire on the deck. Fortunately, other than the fryer hose and the propane tank, and some charred decking, nothing was damaged beyond use. We had planned to replace the deck in the next few years, and the burn is only on the surface. It could have been so much worse!

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We visited Katie’s family in northern Alabama last month. An Indian friend (from India) gave Katie’s mom some seeds which grew into the plant pictured below. She said he sautes them with butter and garlic. No one knows exactly what type of bean this is. The long pods are bright green and turn tan as they dry. The beans are black. Katie took some beans home to plant in the spring, but we’re not sure what they are. Do we eat young pods, or wait for the beans to dry? If you know what these are, please let us know in the comment section below.

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We also picked up some chestnut seeds when we were in Alabama. We researched how to get the seeds to sprout. They have to go through cold stratification before they sprout. We put some in a plastic tote with peat moss and put it in the refrigerator. For the others, we took a plastic bucket, cut a big hole in the bottom, covered it with screen and then filled the bucket with sand and seeds. We will bury the bucket in the ground over the winter. In the spring, we’ll plant 30 or so sprouted seeds in hopes that 6-10 will grow. If you want any extra sprouted seeds, leave us a comment and we will let you know in the spring.

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We are so grateful for all our friends and family who have joined us in person, or virtually, on this journey. Your support, suggestions, gifts, and kind words help us more than you know. Our next need will be for a licensed electrician to install the electric panel. We plan to run all the wires ourselves, but need someone to do the main hook ups. If you know a reliable electrician who won’t charge us an arm and a leg, have them contact us.

Food for thought:  A wise man once told me, the opposite of love is not hate, but selfishness.

We hope you find many ways to share your love and your life with others!