The White Family Homesteaders

     I know I know it's been like two weeks and trust me I would have rather been blogging than what I was dealing with, the cold from hell.  I've had colds before who hasn't, but this isn't like any other cold it has like super powers.   It started on Memorial day with lil man just having an itty bitty cough, next day full cold and since it's trickled down the whole family.  Little lady was second, then myself, and now it has taken over poor Papa.  Of course when it took over me it was the beginning of Papa's work week.  Being a mom is a hard job but when you're sick and the kids are sick it becomes ten times worse plus you add the chores of the homestead and it feels like I'm being asked to climb a mountain. Plants keeping growing even when we're sick.      I've found myself jealous at times of some of the bigger homestead/farms we follow on Instagram until I felt like I was dying then I was so happy we're just starting out and

     I can't believe I didn't publish last week's blog until this week, I think we might have a bit too much going on right now.  The days and weeks are flying by and I don't even know what day it is.  I'm hoping last week was the worst of it and now it will be smooth sailing.  It all started with Papa's work schedule changing, so it put the whole week out of whack.  Then lil man had preschool graduation, it was his last week of school, I needed a touch up at the salon, we picked up our bees which were delayed by a week so that was a wrench in our plans and had to finish up more metal art for the market and prep everything for market day.  Oh plus we had to get more tomatoes into the garden, make new cages for the raised beds, sow more seeds because some hungry creature ate my edamame, plus our everyday chores like cooking and cleaning.  The week rushed by and now a new week is starting. One of many tomato holes, epsom salt in.      I'm used to this be

        Oops I missed a week, well there was Mother's day and I did a lot of non homesteading things like surprising my mom with a day trip to the beach and then celebrating the next day with my little family which did include gardening so blog went to backseat last week.  Oh right and then there was this tiny little thing that happened, our FIRST MARKET DAY.  I'm sure glad that first day is over, now we know what to expect and how things shall go from now on.  Plus I was so anxious and had so many butterflies I was almost making myself sick.  I don't do well with new experiences, I had the feeling like it was a first day of a new job or first day of school and had my nerves all wound up.      Papa had to work the day before so I was in charge of making sure the last little things were done, for instance pricing signs, list of everything going, and everything organized ready to be loaded up.  I think because he wasn't home it was worse for me because I just sat here b

     The hardest job besides being a mom is being Papa's right hand gal or assistant.  Now don't misread what I wrote it isn't him that makes it hard it's all the duties and responsibilities that come along with the job.  Since we've been a couple I've been helping him with all types of jobs be it car repairs, plumbing, carpentry and the list goes on.  I truly love helping him because it makes his life easier and gets the project done faster but I also learn new skills along the way.  So here's my insight on being a good assistant and what comes along with it. Helping spread out soil.      The most important skill you can bring to this job is anticipation.  So what does that mean?  It means knowing what he/she will need next, be it the drill with a screw or the next piece of lumber.  Me being on my A game and just handing it to him without him telling me, I believe and I know he'll back me up is the most helpful.  Once we had kids, our project

      Working on the homestead usually means getting projects done that aren't close to the house or garage, usually building or repairing things somewhere on the property.  Over the years even before homesteading we've compiled a list of rules to follow to stay safe or just plainly get a job done without interruptions.  I hope you find these rules as helpful as McGee and DiNozzo found Gibbs' rules to be and if you don't understand my reference head over to Netflix and start binge watching NCIS.      So the first rule is one that Papa had to teach me about when we were first courting.  When we first met I was what he called a city girl and didn't know much of anything.  You think I'm joking but I lived quite a sheltered life, so when we met I started picking up some new skills.  Anyhoo, dating a mechanic means spending quality time in a garage or under a car or truck and using power tools including an air compressor.  That's when I learned his first rule d

     So if you haven't heard we've been accepted into our local farmer's market.  It's pretty big news like scream it from the roof tops news.  Someone pinch me, because I'm not sure all this is real...did we really sign up to grow food for others?  Yes we've talked about it before, about maybe having a little stand to sell our extra vegetables but who knew it would be this season. Oh so many strawberries.      After we first put in our application I began to think about what makes a farm or homestead.  I began to feel like maybe we aren't ready for this step or if people will take us seriously.  When I think of a farm or homestead I think of people raising beef or the massively huge vegetable and fruit producers who have workers because there's so much to pick and plant.  But here on our homestead it's quite literally a mom and pop homestead.  We provide food for ourselves and any extras we give to friends and family which includes eggs and

     Drum roll please...the greenhouse is finished, not just a few more things to do but all the way done.  I've been filling it up with my plants and I look around and I'm still in shock that we built it from some pieces of lumber.  The hubby did most of the work but without an awesome assistant he still might be working on it, just kidding. I never imagined us actually building one, we have what the old owners left behind and I was alright with it.  Now looking at my oh so beautiful barn style greenhouse I can't believe I would have settled for less. The old one was like a quarter of the size, leaking all over, dark and squirrels were constantly sneaking in.  Here's the  link  to the plans we used, thanks  Ana White  for the awesome plans. It's a beauty and filling up fast.      The last few touches were completed this week...spray foam insulation, shelves, door trim, and door threshold.  We bought a few cans of Great Stuff spray foam insulation for a fe

     An important aspect of being a homesteader I believe is being able to or at least not afraid of trying to repair broken down equipment.  It's not only something that needs to be done on the homestead but just in adult life in general.  This week Papa saved us a lot of money by fixing the weed wacker, pressure washer and air compressor.  First we went down to the garden to clear up the rows in between the beds of all the obnoxious weeds but the darn weed wacker just wouldn't run right...so off to the side it laid to be checked out later.  When I was working on cleaning up the greenhouse door we set up the pressure washer to easily get off most of the chipped paint but the once so powerful pressure washer wouldn't stay on, and out came the regular hose.  Then when I was sanding and scraping off the debris and gunk off the door I was using the air compressor for easy air clean up but then I smelt plastic burning so I shut it off until Papa could look at it.      When Pa

     I'm not sure about everyone else but we are extremely busy right now.  There is so much on our to do list that it seems we may never get everything checked off.  The days seem to fly by and then before you know it our homestead week is over and it's back to the paying job.      With so many chores that need to get accomplished we had to come up with a way to prioritize our to do list a while back. Our solution was what we call a stoplight list.  So first we wrote down all things that need to be completed, not everything is necessarily homestead related, but this way we don't forget anything.  Next we went through the list and determined when each item needed to be completed by.  Then next to each chore we put green, yellow or red.  Green items are no rush, yellow needs to be done within month or so and red needs to be completed within week or two.  This has helped us tremendously because we often forget the small projects like caulking bath tub or planting bulbs and

     Things aren't always smiles and sunshine on the homestead, there are devastations and setbacks.  Being a homesteader is a trial and error game and sometimes things go really well but at other times there are heartbreaks.  I'm hoping that this life we are providing for our kids teaches them to take mistakes as a learning tool.  I've always had a hard time making mistakes or failing as some might put it but the more farming we do I realize that mistakes aren't the end of the world and you can learn from them.      The weather finally warmed up so we were finally able to open up our bee hive and we were heartbroken with what we found.  All our bees were dead, which left us with no bees that was our 2nd hive.  After looking over them, our own bee autopsy...my own version of CSI...we've come to the conclusion that the hive no longer had a queen, which led to their demise.  After the shock wore off we had to decide what we would do next, get more bees or give into

     When you're homesteading or farming your chore and/or project list can be never ending so every minute of the day counts.  For us we try to be prepared when doing projects because we try to make the most of our time.  Sometimes we're fighting the weather, appointments, illnesses or lack of finances which pushes back completion but in the end we always complete what we start.  I'll share some of our tips for getting the most out of your time on your homestead. Greenhouse being covered. 1. Have tools Ready One of our newest tricks is having all needed tools in one spot, the way we do this is by using old dairy crates.  For instance our work on the greenhouse has continued this week and we were ready to go back out there because all our tools were in one spot.  When we start a project Papa puts nails, screws, levels, measuring tapes, plans, drills, basically all that is needed for our project in the crate.  What this does is keeps you from running b

     Spring isn't quite here yet but it's making small appearances with a couple blooms and a few warm days.  Unfortunately I think the groundhog seeing his shadow was correct because we just can't kick this cold blustery weather and our wood pile became bare. We still had some cut logs down under a tarp so off came the auger and on went the splitter again.  It filled most of the truck bed almost half a cord and hoping it gets us through the rest of winter, we'd like to move onto more thrilling chores other than firewood. Last split of the season.      It's now time to prepare for spring and our busy season.  For instance Papa got the lawnmower running again because before you know it the grass will dry out and it will be a jungle that has to be maintained.  Since it's been sitting for a few months the battery needed a jump and that didn't do the trick so onto the charger it went.  While it was running Papa took his little girl on a ride to do a qui

     Watch out when our calendar tells us what to do, we get it done.  It does get difficult with two small kiddos but we've come up with some unique ways of involving them so we can accomplish some not so kid friendly tasks.  This week we got so close to finishing the fence, about 75% of it is complete.  With so many rainy days lately we were thrilled to have the sun come out for even just one day.  Since we knew only one day would be good for fence building we brought in reinforcements for the kiddos, the homestead NiNi (my mom).  Being the assistant to the muscle requires all my attention and with one of our kids being under two I'm constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure she isn't endangering her life.  With NiNi's help Papa can have all my attention and the kids are safe. Getting the gate set into place.      No unexpected plans came up so we were able to get to the beginning process of building the greenhouse.  A trip into Lowe's and we lef