kitchen reno #1

My husband gave me the "Go Ahead" to start renovations on our kitchen.  When we moved in, late summer 2009, it was on the 5 year plan, and that was just for new flooring, and to move the peninsula to be flush with the wall. 3 1/2 years later, it's a total gut job.  Our house was built about 1950, his family has always lived here.  And it's always been expected the next generation will live here, after the parents have gotten all the kids out of the house, and are ready to build a big new house in town.  I don't want to live in town, our big new house will be further back on the farm, allowing us more privacy.  Our house has been pretty well maintained, but not so much has been done to Improve upon it. Before we moved in, we pulled up all the carpet on the main floor, except the kitchen, because there was hardwood underneath everywhere, except the kitchen, and had it refinished... it's beautiful. The water lines were all full of gunk, but I imagine after 60 years, my body plumbing might get full of gunk too.  There was a leak in the laundry room water disposal line, so it got wraped in towels.  Some old galvanized pipe to our main floor bathroom had sweated so much, it leaked on the celing tiles in the basement, so they got wraped in insullation.  It's all getting replaced. Now it's a big project, not just a kitchen gut job.
   We are redoing the plumbing to the entire house, apperently our water lines all back feed, which is why it take about 20 minutes to get hot water to our main floor bathroom sink.  All the wiring to the laundry room (directly below the kitchen), has been replaced.  More lighting in our hall way, closing a door from the living room to the hall way, and one from the dining room to the kitchen, opening up an archway from the kitchen to the living room, new wiring in the kitchen (all new), insullation in the two exterior walls on the kitchen, new flooring, new cabinets, new fixtures, new counter tops, and new appliances, and new flooring for the stairs that come off the kitchen and lead down to our basement. And I think I'll have spent just more than my husband's new semi truck, and new semi trailer (maybe not that much), cost.  So, without a kitchen, I've gotten creative about cooking.  I'll post about the cooking on another post...  because I'm getting really good. :)

Here are a few pictures of where we are, so far, in our remodel:

This picture, is a "Before" (it's a mess, because I'd started packing up).  A 12'' soffet, on 8' ceilings, makes for a low height between the counter tops, and upper cabinets.  We will take the cabinets all the way up, and have the standard 18" backsplash.

Between the stove, and the refrigerator, is a doorway, to what was originally a dining room.  We aren't formal dining room people, it's a play area for my son, and a pass through to our living room.  There is no direct path from our kitchen to our living room, you either take guests through the play area, or half way down the hall way, to get to the living room.  Most guests never go past the kitchen.  Behind the pie safe, next to the refrigerator, is a huge mirror that was hung before the pie safe arrived, and I just kept it there, because I wanted to keep it, knowing a remodel would happen sometime.  Above the stove, in the ceiling, is the exhaust fan, that no longer sucks air out.  Above the stove, on the wall, is a heating/cooling vent.  And typically, about 5 minutes after I'd start something, it would start blowing air, right down on my stove, and onto me.  Every night, I smelled like food.  I hate cooking bacon and sausage, between the smell getting stuck on me, and my carpet, it was gross.  This is getting reconfigured.

These are the stairs.  They lead from our basement, up to our breezeway (where everyone enters our house), and to the kitchen.  The carpet does not match the basement, the breezeway is tile, and this carpet is the same in the kitchen.  I like continuity, so the flooring will match the kitchen.  The wood floor going in the kitchen will match the rest of the house.

Pie safe moved, this is the mirror, the door leads down the hall way to the bedrooms, the bathroom, the office, and the door way from the hallway to the living room. this door will stay.  When the kids are asleep, and we've got company, in the kitchen, we can close this to muffle the noise.

This is a picture of some of my construction crew, after they've made a hole from the kitchen to the living room.  This is where the refrigerator and pie safe were, before demo.  To the right of the hole, is the former door way to the dining room, now play area, it will no longer be a pass through.  There is an arch way from the living room, to the play area, that will be mimiced here, and from the kitchen to the top of the basement stairs. 

Here is some of my demo crew (my sister's in-laws are teriffic!  I'll claim them as my own 90% of the time).  The window in the back, is where the kitchen sink was, and will go again.  BTW, my kitchen is 22' x 13.5'

Here is our other exterior wall.  Our exterior walls had about an inch of wool and sawdust insullation.  It's about to get sprayed in insullation... much better.  Also, the peninsula, in the first picture, ran between these two windows, dividing my kitchen almost in half.  So one side you walked in, and walked around, the other side held the table (you could squeeze 8 adults, if you got creative, but was much more suited for 4), all the prep space, and all the cooking space.  It was a wonky layout.  I'm looking forward to my huge kitchen table, and functional lay out. :)

Tomorrow, the insullation guys come.  Along with the kitchen exterior walls, part of our basement has exposed ceilings.  Where the concrete block walls meet the wood exterior walls of the main floor, they're filling a gap with insullation.  This is about 1/3 of my basement that will get some added efficiency. :)  Tomorrow will be a great day, and I'll be out of the house while they do it.  Next up, drywall!

Dirty Harvest

My husband and I met late 2007, my first harvest with him was 2008.  I drove my tractor and grain cart like I'd been doing it my whole life.  :)  I didn't give up my tractor and grain cart, full time, for ememrgencys only, until 2010, when we had our son, and I got demoted?/Promoted? to crew cook.  But I've been around every day, since 2008's harvest, and I've learned a few things.

1.  They like to say, "In a Normal Year, we finish combining about the first week of November", I've yet to see  a normal year.  The first year, we finished two days before Thanksgiving.  The second year (the year I was pregnant, and didn't want to stay out late, or spend all day bouncing around in my tractor), I packed a blanket with me, lots of music with me, and many snacks, because we were out there until December 7.  Two nights of Snow Combining, and very, very long days.  Since then, we have finished before Halloween.

2.  The directions they give you are sketchy.  "Turn left, where that old barn was that burned down 15 years ago."  What?

3.  They don't like vegetables, but what they don't know, won't kill them.

4.  My son will ditch me in a heartbeat to go ride with Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, or Christy, in a combine or tractor.  And he is much better behaved for them, than he is for me, when I'm driving a tractor.

That said, today is the first day of harvest ( a month early, and we are starting with Corn, when we usually start with beans), and it is GROSS out there!  I've never seen black dirt cover our combines.  Sure, they get dusty, but not like this, and not within the first hour.  Here are some pictures:

Orange and Rhubarb Jam

Round two of our Rhubarb patch has arrived, in full force. (When it was time for my husband and I to move to the farm, his parents had said the rhubarb patch was "bad", I took that as toxic or poisionous, and was disappointed. It didn't mean toxic or poisionous, it really meant "Unproductive", and with in the first year of us living out at the farm, we took down a huge cotton wood tree, that grew just to the west of the "bad" rhubarb patch, which then made the patch EXCELLENT!). So, I was flipping through some books, trying to figure out what to do with this abundance of rhubarb. I came across this recipe. It was for "Rhubarb and Orange Jam". Mine tastes more like Oranges, so I switched the name. It's sticky, and delicious, it has no pectin added, one less ingredient is nice, and it was hot hot hot to make. Standing barefoot in the kitchen, like I should be :), it said, cook for fifteen minutes at medium high heat, stiring frequently. I whimped out, lowered the temp, cooked it longer, and it's delicious. Seriously.By the way, I have no idea how that got underlined, but it won't un-underline for me :(    Here's a picture of Rhubarb,  pre sugar.

Sugar mixed in

Starting to cook with the orange zest and lemon juice

lemon skins, and ornage "Membrane" (Sounds creepy)

Cooking down.  As scarey as it looks, it really is good :)

Seed Starting, Mice, and Chickens

Let me start by saying, Chickens are NOT vegetarians!!! They eat bugs, mice, lizards, and tiny snakes.

Today, I decided to start my seeds, that I got from Baker Creek Heirlooms (www.rareseeds.com), in the seed starting trays that I got from Peaceful Valley (www.groworganic.com). I post where they came from, because I wouldn't have known about them without a friend telling me about them. I'm passing that on. So, like I said, I was starting my seeds. I needed just a bit more potting soil to cover the seeds, so I pulled on my rain boots. My rain boots make me feel like an alligator hunter, like on "Swamp People", because they're white. I trecked across our very muddy yard, over to my potting shed, pulled an open bag from the shelf, and saw some mouse holes in it, darn. I peeked in the bag, and saw a mouse nest, made from some stuff momma mouse must have found in the yard. I didn't want a mouse nest, so I decided to dump the bag of potting soil outside. Momma mouse took off at a dead run, good for her, she escaped the chickens I'd been talking to on my way into the potting shed. Three little tiny baby mice fell out with the nest. Yuck! I can't crush them, I can't stand the feel of that under my foot. So, I called my chickens, they ignored me, I called Crespo, but there was a semi unloading seed beans in the yard, and she couldn't hear me. So, I wished the baby mice the best, grabbed a different bag of potting soil, checked for a mouse nest, and left.

A few days ago, a neighbor, who has organic, free range chickens, came over, while dropping off some Grass Fed Beef, and we were talking about our chickens. She said she's been asked at farmers markets, if her chickens are vegan. She said, "I just say 'No', because how do you tell someone, who's never been around a farm, that chickens eat everything! They'll run past with a tail, of something smaller than they are, hanging out of their mouth. Sometimes, you can still hear "Squeak, Squeak," as they run past. I don't think they'd appreciate knowing that". And I laughed... :) Yeah, chickens, they aren't vegan.

Today, I learned that I won't over winter bags of potting soil... I can't take the baby mice. At the end of this year, I'll just dump any leftover potting soil on my garden beds, and look forward Bomgaars stocking it up, for me to pick up, mice free, in the spring.

Inez

She's going to get mentioned quite a bit, so she needs her own post, so you know who I'm talking about... Inez is my Australlian Shepard. I adopted her when she was about three and a half years old. She has no manners, and she likes to eat garbage, I actually think she prefers it. She loves people, she really loves me. When I'm outside, she gets really wiggley, and doesn't watch where her bum is going, or who it might run into, or knock over. She usually knocks Wesley over. She thinks she needs to give stinky (from trying to eat things she shouldn't) kisses to everyone who is short enough to have a face about the same height as hers. If she's off her lead, and I'm not outside, she leaves the farm. Headed towards town. She'll head to the park, or the ball field, if there are kids around. If it's during the week, and kids are in school, she heads to the bar/restaurant, to beg for scraps. She's how I met a friend, and she often shows up at another friend's house. My friend will return her to the farm, while Inez rides in the passenger seat of the car. She knows what she's doing when she heads to town.
If we're late eating dinner, it's often because I've had to head off to town, looking for Inez, because she suckered me into believing she'd stay home. We used to take Crespo, our other dog, with us, on our search for Inez. But Crespo loves to ride in the back of the pickup, and we think she might have been telling Nezzy to run off, so we'd go looking. Crespo would get to ride out and back, and Inez would get to ride back, a win-win. Now, Crespo has to stay while we search.
Spring is "Nezzy"s favorite time of year. The seed business keeps the farm busy, I'm outside a lot, she's free all day. It's not boring, she sticks around. Fall is also busy, and she's free quite a bit in the fall, but she chases bunnies that are running from the combine, and she doesn't pay attention, and she's almost been run over, twice. So, if there is a combine near, she's tied up.

Free Range Chickens Like Me Better Than Housed Chickens Do.

We got chickens in 2008, my husband framed off part of the barn, for their house. It's a big house, and since we have two dogs, we never turned our chickens out. We ordered new chicks last spring, they now share the house with the remaining first flock. They've never really taken to me, maybe they're still just a little high strung because they're young. Maybe it's because I had a 10 month old when they arrived, and didn't handle them a whole lot when they were little. Either way, they would move away when I'd come to the chicken house, and only come over if I offered up treats (Strawberry tops, and pea pods, or crusty old bread).

But, early last week, I decided I'd try to let them out, if they eat bugs, they'll get more protein. The weather has been so unusually warm, why not let them out. My better behaved dog is free to roam all day, my naughty dog, is tied up, unless I'm outside (she likes to head off towards town, and she's a great hunter). So, I let them out. They love it! The dogs tend to leave them alone, but I watched carefully for the first two days to make sure. They've found all kinds of dirt to roll around in, and things to scratch at. Loose corn to clean up, and freshly greened grass, to snack on. Now, when I come over, even empty handed, they flock to me. I don't know if they're just thanking me, or if I'm less intimidating, out in the open. But, they're happy, and our feed bill should drop some. I sure hope our egg customers like their eggs this way, because they'll be able to go outside until next winter.