We wanted to take a little time to show you what we have accomplished since our last update. We’ve made some real progress. I especially, am results driven and things don’t always look like they’re progressing fast enough. But when I take a reality check and consider this was nothing but young forest and thick brush and wasn’t even accessible by road until sometime in May, I’m pleased with what has transpired thus far. I’ll elaborate and write specific posts to provide more information on all this stuff but this gives you a good sense of our progress. We feel considerable pressure to keep pushing since winter is fast approaching. Here’s our mid-summer homestead update.
Our Garden Soil Needs Improving
As you know, we got a late start on our garden and it was a question whether we would even be able to plant anything this year. So whatever we get, if anything, is really a bonus. Regardless, it’s a good test of soil and climate conditions which will give us a sense of what we’ll be up against for our garden next year. We have been able to assess soil conditions via a simple soil test kit. Our kit tests for nitrogen, phosphorus and potash as well as soil acidity. We suspected it would be acidic which proved to be the case. It is also grossly deficient in the other 3 elements.
We made the decision to build our new home with ICF (insulated concrete forms). We had the excavator pile the top layer of soil and plant debris from the house site in separate piles and not mix this with the excavated soil from lower levels. That way we can slowly recover all the rich soil from around the tree stumps and other plant roots. It is a hard chore but we are working the piles down. Loading either the wheel barrow or ATV with this prime soil, we are currently dumping it into the asparagus patch. Eventually some of the retrieved soil will go into our other garden areas.
House Foundation Excavation and Footer Forms
While the excavator dug the house foundation, a friend helped for a half day with some of the form work. It took me several more days to complete the forms and get everything level. I also built a concrete trough or shoot to help funnel the concrete from the truck as far into the foundation area as possible. That trough sure made life easier since less wheelbarrowing of concrete was required. We hired an experienced crew to help me wheelbarrow the concrete into the forms, but nevertheless it was a lot of work.
Two concrete trucks came in carrying a total of eleven cubic yards. That’s a lot of material. The footings are 20 inches wide X 10 inches deep. The majority of concrete was placed via wheelbarrow. Load after load after load. We had three of them going in assembly line fashion. In about 2 1/2 hours all the concrete was in the forms.
We continue to enhance the soil in the asparagus patch and I’ve been able to thoroughly rototill the area. Nothing is easy. Many passes were made before I was able to break up the hard pan and rid the whole area of rocks. Johanna has done a lot of digging and our combined effort should be rewarded in a few years with a productive area of this delectable spring vegetable.
A Good Start on Our Winter’s Firewood
As I mentioned earlier, we are feeling the heat to get prepared for the upcoming winter. One that will likely find us sheltered in this tent. That means having a copious quantity of dry firewood on hand. We have an ATV with a small dump body. It’s about the only practical way for me to get into the woods and harvest firewood. We are targeting anything dead, whether standing or blown over. There’s lots around. We figure we can’t have too much. If it’s not used this year, it will be ready for next year. Presently we have about 5 cords split and stacked with plans to get more.
Perhaps 20% of what I haul in needs to be manually split. It’s great to be swinging the splitting maul to whack wood. The task brings me back to my days at the old Maine homestead when I first had to split wood. When wood flies off the block, split into two pieces with one swing, I derive a great deal of satisfaction. It’s more of a chore when a tough knotty piece requires a half dozen blows before it surrenders and splits. But that too is satisfying once it yields to the repeated pounding.
I will tackle each of these topics in more detail in subsequent posts. For now, this is a good synopsis of what we have been up to for the last 4-6 weeks.
Until next time, keep the dream alive! We wish you a great day!
Ron and Johanna
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You two are really some one to pattern a life after. Keep up the good work and keep telling us about it.Makes me proud to know(bu e-mail)you.
Hi Bebe. That’s very kind of you. It’s comments like yours that keep us going. As long as we know there are people that are finding our story of interest, we’ll keep making posts. It’s slow going getting people interested but over time, I’ve been able to add a few followers along the way which is encouraging. Stay tuned. We have lots more stuff coming. Thank you Bebe! All the best, Ron
I’ve enjoyed following your progress. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to share with us!
Thank you so much grammomsblog. ( http://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/ ) I am so glad you have enjoyed our blog and progress. You know as well as anybody, the enormous amount of time needed to write, edit, upload images and then actually make the post. We try so hard to make the best posts. You also know how hard it is to get a following. Slowly but surely more people are finding me and making either heartfelt comments on the site or writing to me direct. I am so humbled that people find our story of interest. I really appreciate you reaching out to us. I wish you the best! Ron
I found your site about one month ago. I will faithfully follow your blog but I am not one who will respond often. Sorry. Just know that I enjoy it VERY much. I am a 75 year old great-
grandmother who would have loved to had a farm or homestead as they are called today. My mother always told me that I was born 100 years too late. We live in a smallish town in SW Missouri but only have one-half acre of land. We have managed to carve out a nice garden, in ground and raised boxes, and have various berries and 9 fruit trees. We burn oak wood to heat although it is brought to us and nicely stacked. Hang our clothes out to dry and can as much extra as we can grow. Love the size of your asparagus bed. Ours is about 1/4 that size but nonetheless, we do get enough for us. Thank you for sharing your daring venture. I will check back in soon.
Marilyn in SW Missouri
Hello Marilyn,
I am so pleased you found us and took some of your time to drop us this nice note. Thank you very much. Self-sufficiency comes in various degrees and it sounds like you have a great setup. A half acre is still plenty of ground as you well know for a nice garden and orchard. Good job!
It’s so satisfying having a garden and orchard to supplement our food needs. You set a great example for everybody else that this self-sufficiency life has no age limitations. We simply all do what we can and that’s plenty good enough. Thank you Marilyn for writing. We wish you all the best and we appreciate that you find our blog interesting and of value. Feel free to drop us a note anytime. Enjoy your garden and orchard! Ron
Congratulations on your move here in Nova Scotia. I’m glad you are off to a great start. I’m certain you’ll enjoy NS as much as I do and that there are an abundance of resources around you to make you homestead a success. Welcome.
Hello Joe,
Thank you for the warm welcome and comments. I have no doubt we will continue to enjoy Nova Scotia. We have fit well into the community and we are making good progress on the homestead. Things are falling into place. I wish you all the best! Ron