ANNOUNCEMENT!

 We are moving 1 day early and I will be without internet for 4 days...

We will be taking our truck and trailer up to the property on Friday and then while I unpack and chase kids and do the cleaning that needs to get done, my husband will come back to town and pack up the rest of the old place and bring the rest up.

Ready....
Set....
Let's Rock and Roll!!!!!!

Be good! See ya'll next Monday!

Bible Verses for Dedication

Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign LORD, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.
2 Samuel 7:29

Blessings!

Yesterday a friend offered us our first starter chickens! SO EXCITED! One rooster and a couple of hens.

It is so amazing to watch as all this comes together! 

Rise and Shine!

Good Morning Readers!

Rain Rain and more Rain (and some snow up at the ranch)

Four more days and we will be up at the ranch! I struggled a bit yesterday- didn't pack a single box after all my intention to get as much packing done as possible.

It came about as several comments were made about our new place, it's location, my adult children having doubts about this... just a lot of dirt being thrown about to cloud my intentions.

Later I was BLESSED to hear a message where the speaker said something to the affect that if we look at the negatives thrown at us as soil needed to set our seed in the ground, it will lose the power to stop us and give us the power to sprout and grow <3 I like the analogy and this morning I am using it to get things moving after yesterday's struggles.

So the plan today is to wash everything in the kitchen and pack all but the absolute necessities needed to get us through the next four days. I am also going to finish packing the kids room, leaving out only a couple of toys to help them stay occupied. If I can get those two things done I will feel very accomplished.

It's THIS WEEK!

 Packing packing packing! Getting everything ready to go to the new house! We are almost there! Boy I had not realized how many electronic gadgets we have until I started packing...
Most of this will never be used again, so I am donating them. I did keep the waffle iron 

While packing, I have discovered some treasures that had been tucked away. I am excited that in the new house these treasures will be able to bless our family. I am really trying to discard anything that isn't needed or loved. It isn't as easy as it sounds (at least for me) since so many things trigger memories and so then I put an emotional attachment to the item because of the memory. Not sensible, but a battle I have.




Yesterday, in town, we had a flood. Most of Northern California is wet wet wet. A good thing given the drought we have had. This is really exciting for the new property. With a wet year, I will be able to do so much more this spring to get the property to the self sufficiency model we desire. Water is the most necessary thing in raising plants and animals (and children).

When I talked to David last night (he is at the property helping get things done there) he told me they had sow instead of rain. This is a good thing. God is so good!



I am trying to come up with some strategies for the food storage issues we are going to have at the new place. I think for winter we are going to be stuck with a lot of canned foods. Not my first choice, however until the issues of food preservation are resolved I am not seeing what else we can do.

Next year we will have an advantage. We will can and preserve our own foods and by then we will have come up with some sort of way to freeze foods. I am looking at a couple of different possibilities and also hoping that perhaps my husbands water wheel will supply the power to run a convention freezer. It is still a wait and see situation.


I am so excited! Even though we will be without so many things that people take for granted, I know that this move is going to be such an amazing thing for my family!!!!

Can I have one?

Can I have one? I have decided that I would like a horse driven plow for two reasons. One it would justify having a horse (something the kids and I want) and second it allows us to plow our property with out the purchase or borrowing of a tractor and the expense of maintenance and use they require. To be truly self sufficient we need to get away from the use of gasoline and oil and this would be a step in that direction...



So now on my wish list is a horse pulled plow....

Bentonite

Bentonite- I need it. To seal the pond!

So the story goes if you sprinkle bentonite on the floor of the pond, it will seal. We also have to pull up the trees in the pond area and up on the dam and seal that area too. 

If I have calculated correctly, if this year is the rain fall predicted, we should have a nice stable pond. Not sure about year around but at least

 it will be pretty stable during winter/spring/early summer. If we get some moisture it may last all summer! 

I am really hoping that this can be a source of year around water for critters... we will have to see what happens in the next few years. If it works the way I am hoping, my husbands desire to make a waterwheel that produces electricity could happen in the pond. Because as I have discovered in my research, you don't have to have a river or stream, just a constant source of water and then you can make a pump that cycles the water to feed the water wheel and make it spin.

Oh what an amazing adventure!!!!