Free Range Farmstead Friends

Those tiny chickens are bantams.  The big roo was hatched by one of those little gals!

You just gotta love these silly guys.
They have to inspect every bucket they find. 
First one will stick his head in.  Oh, it's empty.
Then the other one will stick his head in. Oh, it's empty.
Clowns.

Did I say you could take my picture?

Muscovy family.

Another laundry challenge

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since I started the dryer challenge.  The weather lately has been so wet, humid, gross, icky, and did I mention wet?  I was starting to think maybe, just maybe, I need to get a new dryer.

Then the sun came out.  Just in time!  An enormous pile of laundry was waiting!
I started my day by tossing a load into the washer, and went on to do some  housework, thinking how nice it would be to get the laundry caught up by the end of the next day.  Yes, it would take two days to catch up, because the washer had such poor water pressure that it took an hour to do a small load.  We replaced the hoses, no results.  Eöl checked the well tank.  The pressure was fine.  I gave up and just went with it. 

And then....the washer died.  A noisy death, just like the dyer.  In fact, it was one year, almost to the day of when the dryer passed on to the great unknown. 

Remember, this is during our temporary retirement.  Even if I thought I needed to rush right out and purchase a new washing machine, my budget would die an agonizing, shreiking, painful death.  So of course that is out of the question.

What to do?  I could ask for donations!  I could bug family and friends for a new washer!  I could even go on tv, claim the washer and dryer were stolen, then sit back and watch the handouts roll in!  **falls out of chair, holding sides, laughing hysterically***

Yeah, those of you that know me are probably laughing as hard as I am.  Even if you don't know me, but read here from time to time, you know darn well that I'm the type to make the best of it.  That's life.  Shit happens.  Get over it.

It's not even that big of a deal.  I'd already been hand washing our "good" clothes, since the washing machine somehow put lint on everything that went into it for a wash cycle.  And yes, I know perfectly well how to separate laundry, so it's not like I was washing towels and t-shirts together.  I used the washer for towels, work clothes that no one cares are covered with lint, and spinning out the hand washing. 

Ah! Spinning out the water!! Now how will I do that?  *shrugs* I'm still working on that problem. I've checked out the wringers at Lehman's.  Yikes.  Expensive.  Almost as much as a new washer, in fact.  Eöl is fiddling with a few ideas for homemade wringers, and if we go that route, I'll be glad to share instructions.  For now, a two person wringing job does wonders for towels.  Little Sis has happily volunteered for the job.  In fact, she pops up every time I start laundry, which never happened before.  She seems to enjoy the hand washing adventure, and we're both building up some serious muscle.  If I add up the cost of a washer, plus the cost of yearly gym memberships, I'd say I'm really saving some bucks!  Ok, ok, it's not like I even go to the gym.  I get plenty of exercise here on the farmstead.  But you get the point...

Now I proudly present the Farmstead Washing Machine:



Pictured: Farmstead washer, laundry on the solar dryer *snorts* and a goose sleeping in the background.



Agitator.
  I know a lot of agitating people, but they don't work. At all. Or as well. I've tried.  Ha.

The original laundry system was the two buckets.  One for washing, one for rinsing.  It worked well for small loads. But once I realized larger loads would be necessary, especially towels, I picked up the larger wash tub.  It's 18 or 20 gallons, and cost about $7. 

The agitator is based on this design available at Lehman's.  But I was impatient and wanted one right now, so I picked up a plunger for about $3, drilled a few holes, and voila!

I use the buckets as a double rinse system: rinse in one, followed by another rinse in the other one.  Once the rinse water becomes too soapy, I add it to the wash water.  When I'm finished, or the water needs changing, I dump the used water in the flower beds. 

I'm amazed at how much water we are saving by doing laundry this way.  We don't pay a water bill; we have a well pump.  But the water savings should show up on our electric bill, as the pump will not be running as much.  The wash tub gets about 8 gallons of water to start.  Each rinse bucket gets about 3 gallons.  My washing machine took at least 15 gallons just to wash a small load, never mind the rinsing.

I generally start with the lighter colored wash, and I can reuse the water for the next load.  The double rinsing takes out any residue: dirt, soap, etc.  Enough of the water gets leached out in the laundry, wrung out onto the flower beds, and replaced, that I don't really have to dump and start over very often.

I have a scrub brush for tough spots, but I'm hoping to check our local hardware store for an old fashion washboard, mostly for my grimy garden wear.

The first day was pretty exhausting.  As I mentioned, there were many, many loads.  7 or 8 at least.  But now, my laundry is caught up.  In fact, I don't recall ever having ALL of the laundry done at one time!  I don't have to wait until I have enough whites/lights/darks for a load.  I can just wash whatever needs washing.  Not all together, of course, but one after the other. 

I did pick up a few more packs of clothespins.  Lucky for me, Wal-mart reduced the price to .97 for a pack of 50.  My clothespin bag is full, and the first day of handwashing, I actually ran out of clothespins!  We're talking a few hundred clothespins.

Eöl strung up a few extra clotheslines for me, as well.  Those are just baling twine, with a support in the center.  Cheap and effective.

As odd as it sounds, I'm actually enjoying the new washing method.  It's portable.  I can do laundry inside or outside.  I can work in the sun or the shade.  I can enjoy the breeze and watch the various critters wander by.  I do have to keep an eye on the geese, though. They like to put grass in the rinse buckets.  Pesky critters. lol

Now to see if I can go a whole year without a washing machine.  A new challenge!  Am I up for it?  Ha! You know it! 

ps..more posts soon. I'm having some trouble with the 'net.  It's either IE or my ISP.  A hammer would solve the issue, but I'd still be unable to post. *sigh*

sigh

The house is quiet.  Everyone is occupied with something.

I think to myself that this is a great time to grab a snack, plop in front of the pc, pull up my blog, and let out some of those annoying word-bees that have been buzzing in my head all day. 

I log on, snack in hand, and click on the New Post tab.

Little Sis wanders in and shows me her new guinea pig, then proceeds to tell me everything she knows about cavies.  (This could take a while; the kid is an animal encyclopedia.)

Big Sis comes in with Chipmunk in her arms, interrupts Little Sis to ask about Chipmunk's thrush.  Chipmunk smiles and coos and of course ends up in my lap.

Eöl materializes in his chair (No one ever sees him enter or leave a room.  *shrugs*  I married a superhero?  Or maybe a Dark Avenger. *grins*) and just sits quietly until it's his turn to talk. 

In the meantime, the word-bees have fallen asleep in their hive, and I realize I am a very lucky woman.  It's nice to be needed. :)

This is so weird...

I know today is Saturday, but every day this week has felt like Saturday.  When I was working, Saturdays were for relaxing as well as getting things done.  Sundays, I always felt rushed.  Rushed to get my lunch packed for the following day, rushed to make sure I had clothes laid out, and rushed to get to bed early.

And now...well, I think I could get used to this semi-retirement.  I'm rushing to get laundry done while the sun is out (right now it's raining, which means I have a few blogging minutes), rushing to get to work in the garden before the hottest hours hit...but it's not the same kind of rushing. 

I'm still busy, still working hard, still getting a lot done.   I'm loving it.

Seeing how the other half lives...

....the retired half, that is. 

Well, no, we're not really retired.  Laid off, actually.  Eöl's layoff is a result of the earthquake in Japan, blah blah blah.  I think I talked about it before.  It's temporary, and once things are up and running overseas, he'll be back at work, perhaps with overtime. (Yay!)

As for me, my job is seasonal, and I'm done for the season.  I knew my layoff was coming, and without unemployment benefits.  I squeezed in as much overtime as I could get, redid my budget spreadsheet, and cut spending in every possible way. Prepping, as always.  **Hums the old Dr Pepper theme: I'm a prepper, he's a prepper, she's a prepper, wouldn't you like to be a prepper to..."

Every year, we've tried to grow more and more of our own food.  Now those skills will be put to the test, as our budget makes whimpering noises in the background. 

The garden is off to a better start than expected, considering.  We had a major seedling failure, thanks to the lack of sunlight in the early spring, and the budget too squeaky to purchase plant lights.  I actually had to break down and buy some pepper plants....ohthehorror!!  But they are happily planted and thriving, and life goes on.

I'd planned to do things differently with the garden this year anyway, and didn't start the huge quantity of seedlings I had last year.  I'd also planned not to do the farmer's market this year, taking the time to enjoy the summer and do a bit of market research (haha! Market research for the farmer's market! lol).  Not to mention I was incredibly busy at work, sometimes only home long enough to shower, eat, and fall into bed before I started all over again at 5 a.m.., and the market started before I was done for the season.  I couldn't have pictured adding an extra day to my schedule.  Nope. No thanks.

Anyhooo.....You'd think this whole almost retired lifestyle would be pretty laid back, wouldn't you?  Or maybe you are retired and know better.  It's not.  I'm up and out in the garden shortly after sun-up.  I do as much as I can before I have to run to one of the zillion appointments that seem to always lurk in the daytime hours.  If no appointments are lurking (you know they lurk about, there's no other word for it, just waiting there to suck the hours from your day and the energy you could spend on other things...but I digress...) then I work on the projects and daily mundane tasks that seem to have piled up during my time at work.

In short, my day seems to be spent bouncing back and forth between gardening, housework, gardening, cooking, laundry, gardening, and then some more gardening.  There are still flower beds that need weeding, weed-eating (or weed-whipping, as some call it), to be done, and mowing in certain areas Eöl dares not venture, lest the furious beast known as You Mowed Over A Perennial! attack from the jungle depths.  Somewhere in there is the required blood transfusion from the mosquito bites, as well as repeated applications of sunscreen.  The day ends when hoards of hungry winged vampires threaten to carry me off and I must retreat indoors, or it gets too dark to see what I am doing. 

So...after a day just like that one...here I am, babbling like an idiot, and thinking maybe I'd better get to bed while I can still stagger that far.

And that, my dear, is how the other half lives....

Did you ever notice...

....the people with those big, expensive riding mowers also have big, expensive gym memberships?

And so I'm home....

Work is done for the season, and I'm home again.  Life is slowly returning to what vaguely resembles normal around here.

I still have a bit of planting to do in the garden. I'm hoping to finish that up this week.  Most readers will notice that homesteading blogs tend to take hiatus in the spring.  There's no time to blog about it when we're doing it. lol 

Hopefully, I can get things caught up around here and get back to my blog soon.  In the meantime, go plant something! :)