October updates

I think we finally have things under control and fall is here to stay. The temperature was at 24 degrees when I left the house at 5 this morning. BURRRR, I think everything is frozen now. I haven’t dug the carrots yet but I think I need to get that done before the ground freezes. I have been working at getting the mulch layer down, but by the time I get home, change my clothes and talk to Phil for a few minutes it is almost dark. We have one more week before daylight savings time changes, so I will have NO daylight after that. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend so I plan to get the mower out and start chopping the leaves and hay. It will be ready to rock in the spring.


I started planting garlic last weekend. Hummm, I don’t think I realized how much I was purchasing. I have about ½ of it planted ….. We are going to have a ton of garlic next year. If it produces well, I will have another product we can grown and sell locally. My plans to make Pooh acres self-sufficient are far from realized but I can see how it can be done with a lot of hard work.

We are refinancing to get the interest rate down well below 4%. I would never have imagined it would get that low. We are also refinancing to a 10-year mortgage. We started out with a 30-year mortgage 3.5 years ago. I think we are doing pretty well on that. I hate being in debt. It totally stresses me out. It is good to see that I will be able to pay this place off before I retire. I seriously thought I would have to work until I was 80 to make the payments. If we sell either one of the rental houses the proceeds will go directly toward the principal of this house.

Our chickens are self-sufficient already. They are laying about a dozen eggs a day. I have a customer who buys every egg I can bring her. We have set that money aside and opened a “chicken account”. Everything we buy for them will come from that account and all the egg money will go in. My egg lady is also interested in buying butchered chickens next summer. I have another one or two people who also want to buy meat chickens. I think if we can figure out how to house and raise 100 babies next spring we can start making a profit! We will need a bigger coop for them…. The work never stops. We can even do two batches of meat chickens if we start early enough in the spring.


We had some scary visitors last night. Caelum, Ruby and Olivia came out to trick or treat us. They were all dressed up in very frightening costumes. It was so nice to see them all. I think they get bigger every time I see them. Caelum is so excited to be as tall as I am, and I believe he is going to achieve that pretty soon. We took them to the garage to see the baby chicks. They were so excited that the chicks would eat out of their hands. They are all a little frightened when the chicks flap their wings and make loud noises!!! We are going to have them next Friday night. I am so excited. Olivias birthday is the following week so we will likely celebrate her birthday at the same time.

This is week 3 of going to the gym in the morning before work.  The trainer we are working with has worked us hard.  I thought I was doing a good job of working out on my own .... but I am doing much better with her.  Today my arms and shoulders hurt a lot!  I am seeing some results that you can only see with my clothing off ... that is a very good feeling.  I wish I could afford to continue working with the trainer .... but I afraid after my 6 week commitment that will be the end, unless I can make a HUGE sale and justify the expense. 

Phil came into the garden with me tonight and used the riding mower to chop straw and leaves for me.  It is amazing how quickly he can do it compared to when I chop it with the push mower. It is going to be great tomorrow to spread out the chopped mulch .... and spread more hay for the winter.   We need to haul in some manure to feed the soil too!  Ugh, we have way to many things to get done in 2 days!!!