Life on a little urban homestead in the making, with ideas for self-sufficiency, Permaculture, DIYing, organic gardening, food preservation, Chicken keeping, cookery, crafts, thrifting and more...

Jul 9, 2013

Independence Days Challenge, Thrifting, Shabby Chic Wedding Ideas, Bird House Re-Do, Mountain Photos


Independence Days Challenge-

1. Plant Something- Added chives (lost to the new A/C install) and mint (I know, it spreads!) We created some space in a front yard strip and added some bush beans too. Next year we'll increase our back veggie beds and add more in front as well. 

2. Harvest Something- All 3 girls are going great, 3 eggs a day! Finally. Compost, great collard greens, kale, a few berries. Waiting for every thing else to ripen, mature. Tons of fruit on the trees!

3. Preserve/Store Something- Red onion relish. When I'm up on both feet I'll start some jams/jellies.

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Doing normal rotations of pantry stuff, added a few things to the chest freezer. Went wedding rental shopping with my daughter for her wedding.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Tried a new chicken tostaditas dish from Sunset magazine. It was really outstanding! Recipe here Chicken Tinga Tostaditas

6. Build Community Food Systems- Traded eggs for rhubarb next door. Will get to a farmer's market soon.

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Re-did my one birdhouse. Photo below. 

8. Skill Up- Refreshed my memory about making colloidal silver, that stuff is great!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- We cleaned 4 birdhouses, they were pretty dirty. We ditched all the bedding, and sadly, 3 tiny eggs, sigh. We used 7th Generation all botanical cleaner, disinfects but not toxic. Let air dry, then we put back up. 

Thrifting-
I haven't been thrifting much this summer, with my foot still on the mend. Here's a couple of things I found last week-

Cute little chicken at Big Lots, love it!

Flag jar

6" basket
Shabby Chic Wedding Ideas-
My oldest girl is getting married in October, so we went to a couple of wedding rental places. They're on a tight budget, so they're renting a ballet dance studio that's set up for weddings. We were looking for some additional decorations. While she isn't doing shabby chic/farmish, I LOVED these displays! More here at Tates Events.

chicken wire, chipped paint, I liked the door too!

Burlap runner, nice little touches.


Bird House Re-Do-
This is the "after" shot. It was faded and peeling a bit. I re-painted it green and since we had some extra license plates, I cut out the tree from an old Oregon plate with tin snips. Dave screwed it on and it matches the roof now. I like it! The birds must too, as they started re-building a nest within the hour.

Penstemon
 Mountain Photos-
We went up to Idaho City last week, to have lunch and take some photos. We went farther past it up into the open mountain areas. We took a few shots were there was room to pull over-

some kind of wild flower

nice little creek I wish I could have gotten into, it was HOT!

I saw these gorgeous Western Tanagers, but they were too far away (even with telephoto) to get a decent shot of-

photo from Wiki Western Tanager








7 comments:

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

That bird photograph is beautiful. We planted 3 new rose bushes and the younger girls planted some annuals here.

Unknown said...

Thanks, wish I'd taken it! Good for you with roses, I love those!

Susan said...

For someone with limited mobility, you sure get a LOT done! Love the chicken on wheels. Is Anya helping you heal... :)

Unknown said...

Well Dave's a huge help. He took down the birdhouses then I cleaned them. Yes Anya is being a good kitty nurse...

LA Murano said...

Great post! Love the big lots chicken....I'm a huge bargain shopper so I'll be swinging by there to pick one up!

Just started following you...can't wait to see what you post next!


~L

Unknown said...

I love this post! Thank you so much for sharing with us at the Independence Days Challenge. I've chosen to feature your post. Come on over tomorrow and check it out and link up again! We'd love to have you :)

Unknown said...

Thanks Colleen!

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