Halloween Tricks and Treats: Part 3 Pumpkins!

Alicia, Jessica, Cassandra, and Amanda discuss pumpkin carving, ways to not waste any of your pumpkin, and many of the health benefits that come from cooking with pumpkins. Also learn delicious ways to roast the seeds.

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Missy's Homestead: Make a Difference Day

working at the sign

This past weekend my brother and his wife were in town from Austin Tx, where they live.  I wanted to see them before they headed back so I road tripped it down to the Salinas Valley where my parents live.  It was a great weekend filled with fun times hanging out with my family.  Playing the family loved game Pinochle, helping my dad cook up a delicious meal and catching up with the day to day of our lives that we miss all living in different parts of the country.  

my brother picking up the clippings

me behind the sign cutting back the ivy

mom and brandon

My parents have lived in King City, CA for all of my life.  My mom moved there in the late 70's and my dad was born there.  It is a lovely little town that has been my rock in good times and bad.  

My mom has always been very active in the community.  She has been the president of the chamber of commerce, set up yearly beautification weeks in the town, etc. etc.  In years past and ran the "Shop King City First"  campaign before shopping local was the cool thing to do.  This year my mom has decided to run for city council in order to help continue to grow her town into a better and more beautiful place.  In keeping with her effort to help the community on Saturday the whole family participated in "Make a Difference Day" which was being held in King City on Saturday and Sunday. 

working hard

We all got up early and went down to our city sign at the beginning of town and spent a couple hours clearing out the messy flower beds and clearing branches away so you could see the signs better.  We cut away ivy, put some other flowers in the beds to add some color and fixed the organization signs that needed to be replaced or removed all together.  With the 6 of us (our other friend joined us) working together it didn't take very long and it wasn't that hard to help make the town look  just a little bit better.  I really liked the idea of having a weekend in the town where everyone pitches in and makes a difference.   You are not limited to what you can do to help your community. Volunteering a few hours at your local shelter, cleaning the gutters in the street, picking up trash, helping your neighbors clean their yards.  There are many many ways to help make a difference in your community.   

As we like to say here at what you can do, evening if you only have one minute you can change the world.  

hanging another sign

Okay that is all for now. More to come.

Remember Consume more, Buy Less....Make a difference in your community.

Missy

my shadow and the only working rakes my parents had.
crazy. we went and got them some new ones after this adventure. 

Halloween Tricks and Treats: Part 2 Treats

Jessica, Alicia, Cassandra, and Amanda teach you how to make deliciously spooky treats for Halloween. Some are healthy, and some are dangerously delicious. Find more of these great ideas for your Halloween. and every holiday by following us on pinterest at www.pinterest.com/1minette.


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Website - www.whatyoucando.com

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Halloween Tips and Treats: Part 1 Halloween Party

Trying to figure out a way to make your Halloween greener?

In this episode of The Unstoppable Minute, Jessica, Alicia, Amanda and Cassandra discuss ways to make your costumes and party decorations fun and better for the environment.

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For more information about What You Can Do, please visit our website.

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Missy's Homestead: Consuming More and Buying Less

Recently I have been on a quest to come up with more ways that I can consume more and buy less.  If I am going to use this as my mantra for my homestead, I feel like I must constantly be finding more ways to help the earth and recycle, reduce and reuse.  Here are a few of my new consume more buy less projects.

Paper Shreds For My Chicken Boxes

1.  Now that I have chickens I have to keep their nesting boxes clean and desirable.  Most people use wood shavings or something like it which can add up in price.  I decide that I needed to find a way to save money, recycle and not have to constantly be buying wood shavings from the store.  While doing my research about the chickens I heard that some people use paper shavings. So the other day I collected all the shredded paper from the office I work in.  They were happy to give me the shreds and I mixed them into the nesting boxes. So far so good.  Now I can reuse the paper to help me save on buying more shavings and since chicken poop and paper are all compostable I can work them back into the eco-system.

Reusing Mason Jars

2.  Reusing Jars for containers, drinking glasses etc.  I love the old school mason jar look and even regular say "pickle" jars can be cleaned up and look cool in your kitchen if you take the time to remove the labels and clean them out.  I use pickle jars for my granola and another old jar to hold my dog cookies.   I am able to reuse most of the jars I get with products in some way or another.  Whether it is for a cup, to hold a new item or to grow roots on a new cutting from one of my succulents.  Reusing jars is a great way to consume more and buy less.  

An Old Pickle Jar with Granola! (made my my mom)

Paper Flags I am making for the Shower!
(from recycled tissue paper)

3.  Finding already used materials to make presents, decorations etc. (I mentioned this in another update but it has started to become a big part of my life right now so I thought I would make mention of it again.)   Next month I am throwing a baby shower for my sister-in-law.  Back when I agreed to throw the shower I wasn't making a lot of money so I vowed to make the shower amazing by trying my best to source the materials from used items.  I have been able to make most of the items all from stuff that was going to go in the trash.  Tissue paper from a party I went to in order to make banners.  Using pots as decorations that I found for free at a sidewalk give away.  Using mason jars I already own as part of my party too.  So far I have only had to buy 5 large gourds as part of my decor and even those I got off of craigslist for 12 bucks. (I promise to do a longer post on this with all of my projects after the shower in November.)  

Okay that is all for now but I will have more ideas coming from the homestead next week.  If you have ideas on how to help consume more and buy less please write in a share with us!  We would love to hear your thoughts.  So please share!

Until next time: Consume Less, Buy More...use things in an unconventional way.

Missy

Missy's Homestead: Learning to be a Chicken Mother

As all my readers know I have wanted chickens ever since I moved to Sonoma County.  I love fresh eggs and I loved the idea of chickens wandering freely in my back yard.  Now that I actually have the homemade coop and my little flock of chickens I have to deal with the reality of actually having, caring for and raising my chickens.

Inside the Coop!

Gloria my she rest in peace

In my mind I was going to live in a perfect utopian world where dog and chicken hang out together in my little backyard.  Unfortunately this dream has proven difficult.  I have been sharing this chicken dream with the ladies that live in the house in front of my little cottage.  They went with me the day we finished the coop and helped pick out 4 lovely little pullet chickens (young hens that are not yet of laying age).  We introduced them to their new home and put a little fence around the coop to help keep them contained when we were not around the house.  Unfortunately for me the one thing I never thought would happen did.  My 12 pound fluffy white dog absolutely lost her mind when she saw these 4 chickens take over her backyard.  She had a fit and we could not calm her down.  I assumed she was just excited and we wanted to get her and the other dog that lives on the property a chance to smell the new arrivals.  We had Lola on a leash so she could sniff out the chickens but before we knew it she had one of them in her mouth. Through screams and a lot of commotion we finally were able to get the chicken from her but unfortunately it was too late.  The chicken did not make it.  Needless to say I absolutely lost it.  I was in a terrible state and it took me awhile to calm down.  Some farmer I am.  The first day of my chickens I lose one to the dog I consider my child.  How could my child do such a thing??!  I never expected it.  But truth be told I don't often look at my dog as a dog.

As I move forward on my little homestead I believe I have to work on my expectations.  Things are not always as we imagine them. Dog and Chicken will not always lie down together in perfect harmony. They will be what they are.  I am not sure if Lola will ever accept my new project (the chickens) but what I do know is that I am learning how to deal with the realities of my decisions to be a homesteader.  Not everything is going to work out the way I wanted it too.  Sometimes I live in the clouds.  Learning to deal with nature and how things grow within it is something I am learning here on the homestead.  And everyday is a new adventure.

Speaking of: While I was gone the ladies in the front house replaced the lost chicken with 3 more chickens.   So now I really am the crazy chicken lady with the total chicken count at 6.


More adventures to come while making my way to a simpler, more sustainable life on my little homestead.

Until next week.

Consume More, Buy Less, Don't always think your dog and chickens will love each other.

Missy

The new flock.  Holy Moly 6 Chickens

Missy's Homestead: Building a Coop

COOP!!!

It has finally happened!!! I have a chicken coop!  Made by my hands (but really made by my friend's hands, I was the assistant, driller, materials collector and designer).  

To my delight pretty much all the materials were recycled or free and it is absolutely the  cutest chicken coop on the block!

Last year on my trip through Europe, with my husband, we met the most delightful Australian couple that were on an 18 month trip around the world.  They were awesome and we clicked right away.  They said they would be in California sometime the next year  and  we told them we would have to meet up.  

Well almost exactly a year later here they were and of course we accepted them to the homestead with open arms. 

Pallets

At some point in the hangout process I mentioned to them my desire to build my own chicken coop with recycled materials.  Both Karli and Jarred said they would love to do that project together with me so we begun the design process.  I had a few pallets that I had gotten from Greg's work and we also had access to a bunch of old fence boards from my brother in law's fence that we replaced several months back.  We did have to go to home depo for a few 2 x 4's for the frame and of course more screws but that was about it.  We used the pulled apart pallets as part of the frame too and enclosed the entire coop with some of the pallet tops and the fence boards.   For the roof we decided to do it in tin so we went to the salvage yard and looked through their inventory.  We found some okay sheets and took those back home.  We were also able to buy a bunch of hinges and locks for the coop for super cheap.

Overall the building process for the coop took about 3 days to complete.  The coop is not perfect but to me it is.  I don't care if it is not totally straight or level or if it has some cracks in the boards etc.  It is my coop and I got to help build it with 2 of my favorite people.  This experience was more than I had ever imagined.  Not only is the coop adorable but my chickens love it.  

(more on the chicken raising, buying etc. in the next blog post)

Jarred is amazing

Because we were able to build the coop ourselves and use found materials etc., I only spent about $40.00 on the misc. coop building items, which in the end saved me several hundred dollars and I was able to use materials that were suppose to go the dump.  

Front!!

Egg Opening

Outside!

Chicken ladder made by Greg

Inside

This is a HUGE checkmark off my list in the life of a homesteader.  I am so excited about these chickens.  

More info to come!

Remember Consume More, Buy Less....Raise Chickens....

Missy

Missy's Homestead: Moving into Fall (Update)

Missy's Homestead: Moving into Fall (Update)

As the weather begins to turn and the leaves begin to change my summer veggie garden is coming to an end.  And I am not going to lie and say that I am not a little sad.  My garden has been a big part of my new life on my homestead.  I enjoyed going out each morning and checking on the progress.  i enjoyed raising the tiny little plants from when they were seeds until they were in the ground.  it was a great project for me and I am sad that the main growing season is over.  I planted some winter seeds but it won't be as much crop as there was for the summer.  The tomatoes cam pretty late this year with the weather changes so I do still have some tomatoes but they are definitely on their way out.  I pulled out the zucchini plants and the cucumbers too.  They were done producing and watching the leaves get yellower and yellower as they were dying made me sad so I just pulled the band aid off and put them in the compost.  As a gardener I must get used to the endless cycles of plants in my garden.  However, as a person who thinks of her plants as children this has been very hard for me.  I am sure I will get better with each garden I have.  After all this is my first full Veggie garden.  

Back in the Prime Time

And as the garden slows new projects will bring themselves up for the winter.  I need to strip the paint off of my three legged table and repaint it with some all weather paint.  The rain has brought peeling to the old door and so it need some up keep.  I really want to try and build a little Chicken coop before the rainy season starts.  I desperately want chickens in my yard.  Hopefully I can build this coop for them.  I took some pictures of a few coops that I really liked and the plans seem fairly easy to execute.  My brother in law has a bunch of old fence boards that I believe I can use for the project.  We will just have to see how much more I would have to buy to complete the task.  Other projects on my agenda are todo some canning for the fall.  I love anything pickled and so hopefully I can get some bread and butter pickles done in the next couple months.  I also love jams and the figs are ripe for the taking soon. My humming bird feeder fell apart the other day and I am hoping to build myself one out of the parts from the old feeder.  Not exactly sure how I will do this but I am sure I can find something online that is a DIY adventure.   

Miss these tiny guys

In November I am throwing a shower for my sister in law who is having the first grand baby of our family, and I have been working on tons of DIY decorations for the event.  Using recycled and found materials in nature or at the thrift stores to create beautiful decorations on a budget.  After everything comes together I will share my tips on creating those decorations.    I am happy to report that I still have tons of laundry detergent left.  As you all remembered I made this first batch back in early July.  

Sauce getting made for the freezer,  awaiting homemade pasta sauce

I am hoping that is last until November.  So far I have been super happy with the cleaning power of this detergent.  All of my cloths come out smelling fresh and clean.  And remember is cost me less than 10 bucks and 15 mins of time to make that soap!  Pasta making is ahead on the homestead too.  I will for sure be blogging about that through the winter.  I am getting a kitchen aid soon and I absolutely can't wait to start making pasta.  It has been a dream of mine for a very long time. Plus I have all these sauces that I made from my garden that are just waiting in the freezer for homemade pasta!  

Gotta fix the table top before the Winter

As you can see I have a lot on the homestead planning book.   Hopefully I can get it all done this fall/winter season!!!

Until next week.  Consume More, Buy Less.

Missy