Fledgling Endeavors

Monday, September 18, 2017

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sitting in my camper tucked warmly under blankets, I see movement outside my window. As I look up, a doe and yearling come into view on my left. A few seconds later, two more yearlings trail behind them. They leisurely stroll to the north end of the property where the land hasn’t been cleared as much. With a creek, and lots of foliage, this must seem like a paradise to them.

A photo of my visitors, taken thru the window screen!

With shots ringing out from our neighbor’s shooting range, the deer are getting quite used to the sound of gunshots. How this affects them during hunting season remains to be seen.

It is my guess that they stopped for a nice refreshing drink from the creek. We have a spot on the creek where it “bubbles out” into a more pond-like area. On past walks, my hubby has pointed out where the deer have bedded down in foliage near the pond. So, we are quite sure that they are aware of our pond!

I am watching as the four deer have come back from the pond, and now are nibbling on the saplings near the woods. Nom, Nom, Nom! It must be quite delicious! Maybe I should try it sometime! LOL

I guess in a way, I am sitting in a sort of deer blind! They are slowly coming closer to the camper, apparently unaware of my presence. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as a few leaves fall from a nearby tree. We have not had near enough rain recently, so the leaves are falling too soon. We should still have a pretty autumn, but most likely not the bright beautiful foliage that is so well loved.

Momma doe looks up as our neighbor passes by on a motorcycle. Honestly, I do believe that is the only traffic that I have heard all morning. The deer are not even alarmed. The neighbor gets merely a passing glance in his direction before they return their attention to their eating.

Near-perfect temperatures on a weekend, watching nature at its finest...what a beautiful way to start the day!

And the kicker is that I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet!!

Still tucked in my blankies!

I wonder what the rest of the day has in store!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Too much stuff? Never fear, help is here!!

Too much stuff?

Thinking of moving into a smaller home? Even a tiny home, maybe?

The first step to take is just moving forward...even just a baby step will work.

Reading this book is an excellent place to start! I wish that I had read it a long time ago!

What book, you maybe asking...

It is called Downsizing The Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go and it is written by Marni Jameson.

A must for anyone that needs to downsize!

Marni is a columnist that helps her readers with many of these same types of problems. However, when she found herself responsible for emptying her parents' house, she felt like she was in way over her head.

The book is written as she goes through the process of downsizing herself. She faces all of the same fears that we go through when we see those boxes setting in the garage, attic or wherever.

Besides playing therapist to just help readers get started, she also takes the questions to the experts.

Questions, such as:

How much should I ask for this?
Estate sale, garage sale, or just Ebay?
Should I get this appraised?

So, if you are planning on downsizing soon or know someone who is, go to your local library and check this book out!

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear your comments!!

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Clearing the Land

For all of the posts about our small home, it would seem that this is all we are working on here. But there is so much more...

I really mean that...THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!! 😵

We haven't been neglecting the rest of the property. There are several acres here, but we had only been concentrating on the one or so for our house and yard.

My husband had been trying to clear paths and some areas, but there is only so much one person can do with a mower and chainsaw.
We have a lot of brush, and some good decent trees. Our goal has always been to clear the small scragly trees and brush out, leaving the good decent trees behind to enjoy.

This will open up the property, and help us to make good use of the acreage. It will also allow the good solid trees to be able to grow better, because it will not be competing with all of the brush for the sunshine and nutrients.

We have found a good logger that has been a godsend in helping us meet this goal. He has been able to clear out quite a bit so far.Bringing the big machine in has made the job go a lot faster. This skidder makes the job look easy!

Although I didn't get any shots of our logger in action, here are a few pictures of the skidder to show you how big this baby is! I have also included some before and after shots of how the "wilderness" looks.

I am about 5'5", and this towers over me!

The wheels alone are almost as tall as the hubby!

The hubby with cleared land over his shoulder

You can tell that big ol'machine has been through here!

An un-skiddered area

Saturday, August 19, 2017

My Honey Takes a Honey Barn Tour

When a fledgling starts a new endeavor, one of the best things they can do is learn from the experts.

As my hubby has started his beekeeping endeavor, he has taken this to heart. He has started attending local beekeeping meetings at the local library.

This week, he has had the chance to take the Worker Special Tour at Hunter's Honey Farm outside of Martinsville, IN.

According to their website, "the Worker Special Tour combines the Honey Barn Tour, Roll Your Own Beeswax Candle and Bottle Your Own Honey Bear."

So, in addition to rolling his own beeswax candle, and bottling his own honey, he also received a guided tour of the honey barn, a presentation of honey bees and beehive products, honey tasting, a demonstration of honey extracting, demonstration of candle dipping, and a demonstration of honey bottling.

From the looks of it, I would say he learned quite a bit and had a blast while he was at it!