Columbus Day...

One of the many perks of my full-time job is that I get any holiday off that the US Federal Courts are closed, and since Columbus day falls into that category, I had yesterday off. :) A day off of work maybe, but not from working...if that makes sense?

I managed to have a pretty productive day, with many shifting toward sustainable projects being started, continued on, or almost finished. First, I wrangled my brothers into coming over, and we rototilled the entire backyard, it really wasn't that bad either, it took a couple of hours and except for the minor sunburn I have, it wasn't painful at all.

After we finished rototilling the yard, we all came inside, and since my brothers and Weston really were the ones that did the heavy work...I just sprayed the ground (and everyone else) with water as dust control, we all just kinda chilled and watched movies. The kids played for a little while, even jumped on the trampoline for a bit.

While we were watching movies, I worked on some un-paper towels that I've been working at off an on for almost a month. Between work, school, Girl Scouts, etc. I sometimes have a hard time finding the time to sew or scrapbook for that matter-that is my one great love (right behind the husband, kids, and my friends and family)-I need to allot some time to that in the near future.

I've also been working away at removing labels from wine bottles. Soaking them works for a few...and pouring boiling water on them worked for like one. I don't need the labels in tact, just the bottles. Any ideas?

I will post some pictures soon, I need to get them uploaded to my computer. Tomorrow after work I'm headed to Lowe's the hardware store for a steel bow rake, then I'm going to head out into the backyard and see if I can't accomplish a little bit more.

I've got to run for now, the chickens are at the door, asking to be let into the coup.

~Stephanie

Are We Sustainable Yet?

In a perfect world, in the process of making a salad to accompany dinner, I would walk out of my back door into my garden cut a bowl full of spinach leaves, pick a couple of Roma tomatoes, some cucumbers and go back inside to cut them up. Meanwhile, my husband would be grilling up some fantastic steaks that were butchered from cattle that had been grass fed on our land, and only treated with antibiotics if it became sick, and never with any hormones. More importantly, none of the foods would have been near a processing plant.

Unfortunately, I live in the middle of the city, and most definitely not on a farm. I am stuck dealing with zoning, and a landlord that I'm positive would not be pleased if we put a cow in the backyard...I mean we can't even get a dog. So instead my family is forced to do what we can, and we're taking baby steps in an effort to shift towards sustainability. Sustainability with our food along with many other aspects in our life.

My husband has a garden in our backyard...it has produced carrots, white radishes, cantaloupe, and even a watermelon. Each time it gets growing good, he inevitably needs to go out of town for work, and I am left in charge; and because I can kill dirt....most everything dies :(. I believe that this is one major reason we've begun our quest. We're in the process of putting together an aquaponic garden set up, because we live in Arizona, where the ground is as hard as a rock, and again we're working with limited space...we are going to grow vertically instead of horizontally. More importantly, it will water itself, meaning I won't have to touch it :)

Since the city allows "backyard" chickens, and apparently the landlord doesn't seem to care...we have added two Americana chickens to our family, their names are Fuzzy Cheeks and Speckles. They have free range of the backyard during the day, and at night they have a place to roost that keeps them safe from predators. We are in the process of planting dandelion, white clover, blue flax seed, and broad leaf plantain for them to eat, in the hopes that they will be less interested in the commercial feed, and the eggs they will inevitably produce will have golden yolks and nice solid albumen, and will be WAY more nutritionally dense than any egg found in a grocery store.

This blog will be our way to share the changes that our family has made to increase our sustainability. I hope you will check back often and ask questions :)

~Stephanie