"Urban Farming" ... Good Memories

My daughter and I have been talking about our "urban farm" in the middle of the city, and having a laugh because giving a title to our endeavors would never have accured to us.  When we moved into a beautiful 1906 farmhouse with a quarter acre that once owned  miles of land between a freeway and an old highway,  our excitement mounted to learn about it's past.  This was pretty easy since only one family had owned the house (grandparent then the grandson and he was 70+ years).

The house was three stories with the fireplace going up the middle with built in shelves on either side, with a plate rail going around the room, paneling below done like frames.  We painted them eggshell and put cream with little blue flour above, it looked very period.  The porch on the front was so deep (5 ft) and ran the whole front of the house with 4 river rock pillars, we spent a lot of time sitting out there on a swing.  When this house was built, it had no bathroom, no modern sink with plumbing, a wood cooking stove (because there was a metal plate in the wall for a vent into the chimney) and no inside stairs to the basement. All was added by the grandson; the bathroom was a small narrow room, the wall behind the sink was cut out to make room for the kitchen sink and stairs were cut into the floor of a walk in closet.  She was a beaut!

In the backyard was a very big shed with windows down one side.  We decided to get chickens, 7 of them.  We found some one that sold fertilized eggs so we bought equipment to hatch them and had the good luck to have every one survive.  Our daughter loved hearing the peeping and watching the hatch.  We did not think of city ordinances and our neighbors loved to watch them.  Much later we found out the the laws allowed 3 (which is more now).  We rescued the old garden with the richest, blackest  soil and dandelion roots that were huge and multiple. We ate very well from that garden all summer.  I didn't have a compost pile but practiced trench composting all winter and fed scraps to the chickens in the summer.

We did all this without the intense library one can have or the internet (it didn't exist yet),  we learned as we went along and found advice at the feedstores.  There is so much information now I might have been scared off.  Anyway that how we started.

The sewing continues . . . . . .

I finished two more squares on my crazy quilt (actually a throw).  They are 15 inches each and some have a theme to work around. I am not going to finish each seam with decorative stitches, but the idea came to me to use yo yo's to hide corners or add depth (I like to make them). Just finished the block "sewing day on the farm with the girls last year block", all the fabrics came from the other girl's projects (to remember the day).  A couple have centers from hawaiian shirts I made for my husband years ago.  Many of the fabrics come from clothes I made for my daughter and son.  Talk about procrastination, this project has been going on for 8 years and I wuld really like to finish it.  This year? can't promise! I would like to, though.

I also finished a hot pad made from jeans, this may be my project to work on for this next Christmas.  It's never to early to work on Christmas presents.  I made so much last year and felt really great about it.

Tea for Young Ladies!

J. dressed and ready for her guests to arrive

The adults tea is ready!

My daughter had a tea party for J (7 yrs) with 4 other little ones, all were dressed up for an afternoon garden affair indoors (since it's winter out there).The table was beautiful with a lace cloth and cloth napkins, the plates and tea cups, flowers and greenery, the plates of good food, when E saw it she said "it's so beautiful".  The adults sat in the living room with our tea and I couldn't stop smiling, the girls were so cute.  E put in a lot of effort and it was well worth it. J had a ball and the moms comments were 'best party ever'!

We went to the midnight sew that night also.  A great time!  I so love the companionship and feeling inspired for days to come.  I worked on a crazy quilt (started 10 years ago, procrastination .... hmmm).  E started a quilt for her husbands birthday.  OMG ....  the beautiful quilts that were in progress, my favorite was a black/grey/cream quilt and all the squares were different.  I am not a quilter but have constructed garments since the age of 10.  So my crazy quilt has pieces of scrap from clothing made for my husband, daughter, son and of course me ( also from my mom).  The construction part is my favorite, embellishing is a challenge since I am not accomplished in that area.  This is a good way to push myself into practicing though.  Two of E's friends also came and we talked of spring gardens, shooting practice and possible hunting trips for the fall.  A big storm blew thru with thunder and rain on the roof competing with the conversations, it stopped by midnight (thank goodnes).

Women, Farm and Food

This is the title of a conference that my daughter and I went to today.  The first keynote speaker talked about her experiences in buying and running a farm in Pennsylvania, she was inspiring  and at 62 is going strong!  Some important  issues for me to remember are:
    a. throw out the negative actions and compormise less
    b. Success equals happiness NOT $ means being sustainable not rich this is my goal
    c. Reading, research, knowledge is all good, I need a place to jump in and make it work
We also heard the stories of 3 local ladies in the 'farming' business.  One that works for a seed company (Osborns), another who was a field manager for a CSA with 300+ members and last an owner of a CSA in the City of Seattle (an acre and a half, very successful).   Some very good information.                                                                                                                                                                The 2nd keynote speaker is an author on the sbuject of procrastination, a very good subject in connection to farming and the tug of war on time between house, children, gardens, animals, a possible outside job and marketing if product is sold.  I take away from this lecture that the path in my home of downsizing is in the right direction.  In the basement, I am going to implement setting aside 1 hour of time with NO distractions, No breaks and using a timer.  Giving a reward for every hour is a bit of overkill and she said a pat on the back was too lame, I disagree.  An accomplishment can be exciting if it's a job I don't want to do and overwhelming.  The speakers were via the internet and the connection for the 2nd one was bad which took away from the lecture, her humor came thru fortunately because it was hard to keep the continuity going.

The dicussions after each lecture was also good, and hearing the experiences or questions of local women in farming left me with the knowledge we can do it in a man's world.

Amazing!

Instead of being overwhelmed with down sizing the whole house, I am using a pinterest idea of  '100 things'.  Two days ago I finished my 2nd 100 things and today was my 3rd 100 things. This all came from our main living spaces NOT the frightful abyss downstairs.  Tomorrow I will deliver 4 sacks to donate, a small amount went into garbage and garage sale boxes.  This is exciting and so easy to 'feel' the progress! 

I started a different pattern/look for a jean bucket that came from pinterest also.  It's half done so I will post on it later.

Losses

Last night I went to a wedding shower, my uncle is getting remarried after losing his wife 3 years ago.  Most of the women present went to their church including his fiance.  His daughter came and was most supportive and cheerful until one of the women read a short commentary on the couple.  His first wife was mentioned quite a few  times since she had known this lady quite well.  I could see the pain swirling around my cousin across the room and wanted to reach out with comfort but couldn't. It hurt just to watch.  She was OK though and amazing, her mom would be proud.

The following excerpts, used by permission from an article by SNOMAN on Survival News Online, express much of our concern on the subject.

“Child labor laws and state intervention in child-rearing in general have put our children at greater risk than ever. At the age of twelve, Jesus Christ was able to find food and shelter in Jerusalem and carry on an intelligent discussion of complex legal and religious matters with his elders. To be sure, he was exceptional, but Western socialist societies are not using that as a model or target for what a child ought to be; instead of producing kids who can take care of themselves and others by the age of twelve, we’re extending their uselessness into the young twenties and beyond. Adolescence is proof of our social bankruptcy.

When I was a kid, it was a singular shame to have to ask someone to borrow their pocketknife. Nowadays I teach my kids never to lend a pocketknife to another kid, because it’s almost a sure thing they haven’t been taught how to use one. They don’t know how to work, survive, or think, either…

One of the most productive things you can do to bring about long-term change in society (while reaping instant benefits for yourself and your children) is teach children some principles of self-reliance, and teaching life skills is a fun way to accomplish this. They learn not just how to keep themselves alive; they also learn the fundamental concept that they are the first and best provider of their own safety. “Self-reliance” is the theory, and learning life skills puts it into practice.”

One of the problems with teaching our children basic life skills is that we don’t know them ourselves.  We’re trying to take the opportunities God gives us to learn along with our children.  It could save a life someday.