Suzette Thib

Erin Cross wrote:Thought I’d share some pics from two years ago when I claimed the whole backyard for growing. Looking back, I’m actually surprised how fast the fruit trees have grown in just two years. But here are the pretty pics. You can do a lot in a small space. The first three pics are from April 2023, the last is from May 2023.

This is incredible! Is that possibly May 2025? We are looking at 1/3 acre and this gives me lots and lots of hope!

Not so long ago I was in an HOA and turned my 1/3 acre into a food forest and found out that someone* just before closing, mowed down all of it, sparing two of the  three apples trees in the  backyard. It's so strange to me. There wasn't a chigger or tick problem - it was simply just to do it.

*a trespasser

How has the homestead developed over the years? Do you like the earth-sheltered greenhouse?

Hey Annette! How did the straw bales go?

The only time I had compost that didn't take 6-9 months, my son turned it about twice a week for us and within three months it was usable! That was very very nice. I have gotten into the habit of adding worn out jeans, because the jean holds moisture very well during dry spells and it breaks down very well.

Hey I had so many leaves gifted to me last year that I did just this and it worked very well. On two occasions of long dry spells I had to moisten a couple of tree  leaf mulch rings that were in a windy area of the yard but comparatively it was very little work.

Nick Shepherd wrote:I have a question.  Every year I rake the leaves, mulch them with a mower,  wet them, pile them and allow to cold compost for.a year, then move the composted leaves to around my fruit trees.   How much would I loose if I just put the mulched leaves around my trees and skipped the composting for a year.  I am getting older and lazy, I would like to skip the second time I have to move them.  I realize it's better to allow them to compost for a year but when I move them I break up all those nice fungal hyphae.  How much is lost if I just compost in place, rake back mulch, apply leaves then replace mulch.

Mae May, Do you think training them low and covering densely with straw or hay would have similar results? Or do you believe the success is specific to the soil?

This is not an immediate solution, however, keep a quick sticky note of what is usually getting left up by the door. Then have a team reorganize day putting most frequently used to a new position nearest the door. My husband tends to use the air compressor a lot and in a pinch, however after he rescues our situation, we run off and the poor compressor is left out! Then I trip on the cord and the little kids mess with all the shiny attachments. So, we had to relocate the air compressor and switch-up other things to accommodate the change but it really helped our daily running of the home. A lot of times, preferred organization does not include point and frequency of use.

Well this is a few years later, but did you have success with these?

Jennie Little wrote:Nicole,

I'm sort of in between minimalist and goblin I think? I like quirky, odd bits and bright colors. I like cleared horizontal surfaces too, I find them calming.

I do find a lot of minimalism stark/institutional feeling, soul less. I want a base that's neutral and explosions of color or quirk.

I have a light purple cow creamer, for example. I'd love some big vibrant plants but only have small spindly ones right now.

I'm not fond of "griege" color or many neutral colors, though our house is gray outside (stain), with a gray  roof and a gravel drive, gray cubed!

The landscaping is swathes of color: day lilies, daffodils, forsythia, and bracken. It's almost all (except for the veggie garden) large groups of the same plants. What I have pretty much needs no maintenance beyond fertilizing and watering once in a while. There's also a blueberry hedge....

The garden I fuss over is the veggie garden: 5 raised beds and 5 rows in ground. It's messy too, I'm always behind, but I think that's normal. I don't know a gardener who ever feels like they do enough.

I want to use the garden strategy in the house: base color/neutral and color otherwise in large batches or small pops. That's probably where I'll get to, when I don't have boxes of stuff around the edges of almost every room or piles on horizontal surfaces. I have no problem with having stuff stored in boxes. I just want it to be things I really want in deep storage, instead of things I have nowhere to put away, no room to put them away, or things that were stored because of the cleaning panic instead of really wanting to keep them....

I'm looking for ordered, instead of sterile. Calm instead of frantic -- and quirky/charming in a way that makes me smile, rather than something I feel like I have to apologize for.

I don't care how others see what I have/how I have it, except the person I share the space with of course. He gets a perpetual veto. He shares the space, he funds most of the life here. He shares and compromises and works hard to help me find the blending between us when we differ.

That part really helps me with sorting out my things too. Considering the other helps me to have new eyes, and sometimes move more quickly through a declutter session!