HOMESTEAD SISSIES

It’s hard to believe it’s time for another weekly update. Time absolutely flies out here, as we are busy from the time we get up until we crawl back into the tent — usually after dark. We are working on finding a better work/rest balance, but there is so much to do — and we like doing it so much — it’s just hard to stop some days!

We are planning for the next stage of our bunkhouse build. Before moving forward, we decided to go ahead and purchase a laser level. After building our cabin tent, we learned what a struggle it can be to build on a hill. While our water level did work, there is more margin of error than we were comfortable with for our bunkhouse. Plus, the hose we were using is now fixed between the well and the shower house, and we didn’t really want to purchase yet another hose. So, we polled some friends and did some research. Our Heupar 4D 360-degree laser line level is arriving today. We also picked up a laser receiver and grade rod.

While waiting for the laser level to arrive, we stayed quite busy this week. Probably the majority of our time was spent working on our garden. Bonnie-Jean, Grace, and Erin have been working on turning the soil and removing the turf. I helped figure out the fence and post layout, and we marked it out with some flagging.

Of course, Dolly had to help us with the measuring process.

Bonnie-Jean and our dad started cutting trees down for fence posts. They looked for trees that were reasonably straight and around 4 inches in diameter.

In one corner of our garden site, there is an area of nice, soft soil. There is a variety of critter holes here — most of which will be outside the garden. Dolly and Rascal were eager to help clear the holes that fall on the inside of the fence.

Along with the garden project, we did several maintenance tasks this week. We spent a whole day sorting through and organizing all of our tools. They had gotten quite disorganized over the winter. We’ve also been cleaning up around our build site, doing lots of weed-eating and brush clearing, making the area more inviting (and less buggy). There was an old sink in the portable building we turned into an office, so we set it up behind the shower house as a dishwashing station. We even ran hot and cold water to it from our gas water heater.

We have had a lot of wind, which has made for very quick-drying laundry and lots of dust. But we finally got a day where the wind was low enough to have a campfire. We took advantage of the moment under a full moon — it was delightful.

Along with everything else we are doing, I feel like we’ve been eating really good. Grilling seems to elevate even simple foods into something delicious. We’ve been making sun tea almost every day. Last night, we even fixed tacos and paella for Cinco de Mayo!

It was a great week, both productive and fulfilling. There are, of course, adjustments to this lifestyle. Daily living is slower. You have to allow more time for laundry, cooking, and cleaning. Still, the amount we are saving on rent while we build is more than worth the inconvenience. And aside from the money saved, we are honestly loving this way of life. It’s very much like the way we grew up on our little Idaho homestead, and it feels so good to get back to our roots!