Check Those Soil Maps Folks!

I guess I could write a book called, 101+ things not to do when homesteading. Or How to Be a Dummy Homesteader. Either way, homesteading, or even just some light gardening can be really hard and time consuming. Where I'm at was stripped of forest starting in 1810 and not too long after it was cotton farming. The land here is above the fall line, so it's beginning to become hilly, this terrain, plus rain, equaled uncontrolled run off and erosion of the very deep clay soils of the piedmont. The fertile top soil which was created by ions of forest litter accumulation, was quickly lost in run off.. In other words, forest don't need fertilizer, they make their own. These concepts don't seem that un-obvious to me. Even as a child I knew that incline equals water flow, and everything flows with it. But I guess money has away of making people ignore the obvious end results in order to earn a dollar today. I do believe that money is evil in this way, hence wanting to disconnect from the monetary system and grow my own food. But it's proved difficult on my property. I looked at a USGS soil map after we bought. We have severely eroded cecil sandy loam. We also have a lot of the colloidal clay. Colloidal clay, is clay destine to compact back into a hard pan clay no matter how many times you bust it up or amend it.
Just something simple like trying to stick a solar landscape light into the dirt is met with frustration. I can only push it an inch deep. This is soil I've only recently broken up for the nth time.
So what are my options? I can make compost, and I can buy dirt to add above it in a deep raised bed. This is kind of expensive.
We constructed a large garden and fenced it in this past spring. I've only just finished row 2 of 4. Each row is about 16' long and 3' wide and raised into mounds about 18" deep. I suppose, in some ways the pan layer which holds water might help keep the plants hydrated. The spot where the garden is has poor drainage. When we dug the post holes and it rained, the holes held a foot of water for several days.
In some ways, I enjoy the challenge of the horticulture process. But I can see that on a larger scale it's going to not only take a lot of hard physical work, but also time. I'm already losing time with my family to toil out in the "Big Garden". If I was to even attempt a market garden it would cost too much of my time to be worth it. My time is the most valuable thing I have. I think that's why employment has always been a fight with me. Like school, they are taking me away from my projects, and priorities for 8 hours or more a day. There's no monetary compensation for that. Even jobs I enjoyed, like trucking, took up too much of my time, 70 hours a week, and the pay was between 28-45K a year. What's that an hour? When you driver over the road, you are, in a way, on duty 24/7 because you are with the truck for 14 days at a time or more.
I rethinking what I'm doing. I might shift to become a supporter of local and organic agriculture. If they want to do the work, and are blessed with the know how, I want to support it. I'm more of a supporter than a leader. I'm an idea person, but can't bring most of those ideas to life. I might be gifted, but I also have ADHD, so one cancels the other.
I'm always inspired, all over the place, distracted.
I think I'll shop the farmer's market, and try to shop from a new vendor each time. Because I want them all to be successful.
I just don't think I have an aptitude for agriculture. I've been gardening since I was a kid. I've only been successful transplanting the wild edibles. It's just one of the many things I love but don't have the aptitude for. But that's OK.
I've come to realize that this house is too small, and the property is too big for me to handle in my current financial bracket. It's almost greedy to have this much land. No, what I need is a house big enough for 3 people, and their hobbies. That's going to be my next post and podcast, the difference between "Tiny Housers" and those who can't afford to live in anything bigger than a tiny house.

Get a Grit! And What About Bob?

Well I'm excited to say that I will be blogging for Grit Magazine. If I can get my act together, and get over the "first post fright". This is really exciting for me, it will basically be a more organized extension of this blog. With the language cleaned up of course! I've decided to focus on homesteading for the beginner, the tired, the time challenged. Homesteading Lite. It should be fun! Plus I might get free Fair Tickets and they've just added West Bend, Wisconsin to the Fair Venues! I know exactly where that venue is because I used to pass it every day. Maybe me and fellow homesteader Bob Reksten will be able to share some fair antics together. Bob is a friend I made while hauling laundry out of Cudahy, WI. They put me on my supervisors 3rd shift route that covered 4 stops. 2 in West Bend, and 2 in Fond du Lac. I was able to re-route the route for better time efficiency, a talent I have but seldom use ;0) Anyway, Bob worked at my first stop and we got to talking about cats and chickens and his farm. Soon he was bringing me chicken catalogues, and we where exchanging ideas. He lived in a very old brick house on a farm outside of West Bend. He's promised to send me pictures. I'd love to share them. His house is of that very old and sound construction, with 3 layers of brick. One for the outside, a wall of air, a middle wall of brick, another wall of air, and an interior layer. This makes for incredible solar banking in the winter! I was so excited to see that West Bend was added to the Mother Earth News Fair Venue. It means that my long time friend Bob can go and really have some fun. He's one of my longest running friends. You see, I don't make, keep or even regularly keep in touch with people. When I decided to go with my mom on her move to Georgia, I asked him if I could have his address so I could have a friend to write to back home. Plus, I've always wanted a pen pal. We've written to each other almost monthly ever since 2005. Our card theme is cats, we pride ourselves in finding new and unusual cat cards to send. Usually from the Dollar Store. Bob has often been on the receiving end of hard times, down sizing, and injuries. The company where we met was bought out a year after I left and he lost his pension, and then his job. He was then the subject of agism and had to take a job as a greeter at Walmart. Despite having a Bachelor's degree in English from UWO. He's finally closing in on retirement, and I'm pulling for him all the way. I'd like to hear in his letters that he has all the time he needs to take care of his foster cats and other projects that find themselves on indefinite hold. So Bob, maybe I should dedicate my first article to you. A true homesteader that grew up on a farm in rural Wisconsin. And even though it was the 60's and 70's they still had to use an outhouse! I have a lot of admiration for my friend. He recently got injured again. So I should probably end this here, and give him a call, right now!

Today's Progress

Finished the southern roof facia sealing project. I had to some back and seal the smaller gaps with silicone. I also got up on the roof to check out the chimney leak. Apparently where the roof meets the chimney there isn't any flashing. So now I need to go get some. 

I continued digging out and de-rooting the herb garden. As well as adding some coarse sand to help with drainage and break up the clay. 

I also sanded the bedroom some more. But still need to build out the patch some more and secure the dry wall in a few places with screws.

Lastly, last night, after lowering all those boards down in the barn, and rubbing elbows with a rat snake in the loft, I read not to use any treated wood for raised beds. Instead, use naturally rot resistant wood like cedar. So I'll have to rethink what I'm doing. I have been dragging out some felled cedar trees from the woods. I might be able to use those.

I'm tired now.

Draft Dodger

So this home has been a thorn in my side since the get go. It has so many little and not so little issues that I get overwhelmed. I'm tempted to just bulldoze it and build a series of cob houses instead. At least I would have control over what's going on that way. Ah control. It's more of a pipe dream at this point. I am going to start out by making a cob playhouse for our daughter and go from their. I'd love to build a little cob cabin with a cob stove and everything. One thing I have way more than I need of is red clay. You don't even have to dig for it, it's all right there! Difficult, sticky when wet, hard to grow grass on, clay.
I've scouted out where my first attempt at growing will be. A sunny patch just to the right of the fence. It's a south western facing plot. While digging the soil samples though I kept hitting gravel. Was this a drive way at some point? Out to the barn perhaps? Is this why the grass here is so scrubby? Hmmm. Do I need to find a better plot? It's a 10 acre tract, but it's anything but flat. The land is either going up or down. Same goes for the house. It's folding in have over the main sill beam like a Salvador Dhali clock.
So what am I to do? I need to go into the scary crawl space and see just how terrible the foundation and under belly of the home is. It need to be cleaned and sealed. But that cost money. We have a moisture issue for sure. There's mold in the attic near the eves and at the roof top above the chimney. It's kind of a mess if you ask me. Just sloppy construction, and even sloppier renovation work. I mean, if you're going to go through the trouble of a reno, why not do it right? Yes, I am an idealist, it's why I'm so miserable, but I'm right.
Today I decided to investigate some of the drafty spots in the house that have been driving me nuts. There's a lot of cold are coming out from the bottom of the cabinets on the north wall, and cold air literally blowing out of the outlets on that wall. I tried outlet insulators, they help some. I tried putting some expand foam in the gaps at the bottom of the cabinet, but that didn't do much. I notices a hole in the outer wall near an electrical box and put foam in it. I think that helped the outlet draft. I found it weird that the cabinets are drafty when in front of that outer wall ins the furnace house which covers 3/4 of the outside wall, as it's own building. I peaked inside the furnace house and looked around. I did see two large openings into the homes outer wall to accommodate the ductwork for the furnace. Perhaps this is my culprit? I need foam board in the worst way.
Another drafty place was the kitchen window facing south. It's a tall window, about six feet high, almost from floor to ceiling. I noticed there was a lot of cold air on the floor by it. So I tried stuffing draft foam into the gap between the window and the sill. It was still really draft. I tried putting a rolled up towel on the ledge. Still drafty. So I finally look at it from the outside, now that the ground is dry. I see the issue. Missing siding? WTF? The siding moves down at an angle and creates a large opening into the exterior wall and window unit. Maybe this is the issue. I get my expand foam and seal it up. Now, it's not 20 degrees out like last night, but about 30, but I think I'm noticing a big improvement. It's still cool under the window, particularly where the wall corner is next to it. I've noticed that the floor is molding at that corner too. It's also molding by the draft cabinet bottoms. I think these spots are more of an issue coming from the crawlspace than the outer walls. I'm not sure though. There are moldy, or dry hollow and crunchy boards throughout this tiny home.
Now you can't give me, "It's an old home argument" I've lived in older homes. This home was built, or somewhat thrown together, hand hewn rafters and all, in 1943. I lived in a house from 1920 in Milwaukee and it was beautiful. The original floors on the first floor didn't have a single gap. The floors where level, no sloping, and they didn't creak. The windows where original on the first floor and need some of the ropes replaced in a couple units. It also still had it's original built buffet with leaded glass doors, and beautiful stained glass piano windows.
So what's the difference? Oak floors versus this sift pine? I swear if I so much as drop a pillow on the floor the wood gets a dent in it! Maybe it is the oak. What is the frame of the Milwaukee house made of? Oak or pine? Good question. I can tell you this house is pine, pine, pine. What am I going to do with these floors? every board has a gap. What a pain. I read on This Old House to use jute rope as a filler since it will allow contraction in the summer. You know, when all that warm moist air comes up from the crawlspace.

Doing Battle with Invasive Species.

I got a little crazy after taking this picture. There's an overgrowth of some sort of vine in the side garden and it started getting into the A/C unit. That whole plot was looking unkempt and rough so I decided to address it. To be thorough I started digging up as many roots as I could. Lots of big roots down there from old bushes or something. I kept bringing up prices of some old terra cotta pipe so I decided to stop. I could see a tunnel headed under the driveway, but have no idea what I was digging up. Hope it's not a functioning drainage system I just ruined. The house is from 1943, so what could it be?

The old barn

Happy Thanksgiving