Hello from Kansas! I've been a lurker for a long time, finally joined now lol.
My name is Jackie, I'm 22, and I'm marrying my best friend Clay (24) this September, but moving into our new-to-us house with a 10 acre plot at the end of this month. We're very, very excited to start being more self sufficient! Prior to this, we'd always rent--and I'm sure many of you know how difficult it is to make a lasting change on rental property. Despite that difficulty, and the fact that our rental duplex has no outdoor spigot and only one upstairs kitchen, we got some good growing done this year. On the hottest days, I carried an average of 15 gallons on hot days down the stairs and then across the yard to our raised bed. The workout was worth it, and we ended up with lettuce, radishes, and carrots. Not terrible for my first try in raised beds!
Though most of the time we've been at our current rental has seen Clay super busy with his remote job, he's made time to do some good too. Beyond buying our home, he's made a sturdy workbench for us, so when I build more furniture like the couch I built him, I'm not fighting the wobbliness of a folding card table. He's also become quite skilled at cooking fish on a stick over a fire, as well as making some of the best pickles I have ever tasted. Whatever else we do, we know we can always sell his pickles. He's definitely got a gift!
We have two dogs. Otto is our 6 month old Shiba Inu, and Panzerfaust is our 3 month old American Akita. When we move into our house, we're going to add chickens (and hopefully a honeymoon baby) immediately, and goats and pigs next year. But before the goats and pigs and more, we'll definitely be setting up our hugelkultur plant guild orchard and a greenhouse.
