Town House Homestead Tuesday.

The weather for the last week has been challenging for getting work done outside. Heavy rains for hours and mud up to your ankles. I need so much to clear a bed for my garlic, but it may be a few more days. While it rains I've been working on my seed inventory and saving what I can from my harvests. So far things look okay for spring. 

A nice hard frost moved in last night. Our neighbors had their lawn mowed, just as evening set in, and the shorter grass made it look like snow.

I spent a while yesterday getting my delicate plants inside and harvesting the beans and peppers that were as close to ready as they would be. I will now start pulling the plants and prepping for spring. Baby steps. I cut the zinnias and put the heads aside for more seeds, and saved this bouquet for some added indoor joy.

Work is slow on the shelves because of the extra help we get from Hunter. He's such a devil dog. He needs time with us outside to just play and run, but I'm hoping that he'll learn to be out much longer by himself. I work with him every day repeatedly to get him where he needs to be. The rails will be up for sure this weekend and then we'll decide the length and design for the shelves. From there it will be getting them cut and stained. I can't wait to finish unpacking. It's been a year and a half already and I'd like to see some of our holiday decorations out. 

Finally the stairway to the basement is getting a face lift. My daughter kept using the leftover paint in the tray, she used to paint the living room, to clean up the dark panelling. We have gray paint left too, so the steps will get done. I like it so much because now when the lights are on it's bright and safer for me. What else is there to do when the rain outside is so heavy. Keep building home equity of course.That's what's been going on this past week at the Town House Homestead. It doesn't seem like much, but oh it is. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. Share your bounty and love.

Town House Homestead Tuesday

Okay so let's get right to the past weeks episode. The nasty that kept us awake at night and unable to work, putting us now almost ten days behind on work that really needs to be done before cold weather sets in. 

Here you have it. A hive of yellow jackets in the insulation and foundation of the basement. We knew that they were some where. It started out with the kitchen plumbing. With a flipped house you don't know what's coming and while prepping meals for the week and washing dishes both connections to the double sink became so loose they fell off. All the water was pouring into the basement. A quick call to a dear friend got it fixed and my daughter took him to the basement to show him the progress. The gang was busy painting and watching for wasps as we had been for a couple of weeks. They were nasty and stung hard. Well, didn't he see something that we hadn't and before he could be stopped, he moved a step stool to the foundation wall and pulled at the insulation and yes people, he disturbed the hive. Work came to a halt and that was the beginning of a very long week of waiting.

Six days after they were professionally (expensively) treated she got all her gear on and began to pull out the insulation. We had some still alive, but barely. The picture is of just one of the piles of dead wasps and we have more in other parts of the basement still to clean. We are letting the pile of insulation sit for a couple more days to make sure they are gone. And so it goes we've conquered one more challenge and now have more work closing gaps in the foundation and re-insulating before winter. We will get back to the painting and we still have help coming.

On the nicer side of those stinging insects, this is the honey she received for tending her co-workers hives through the summer. It's three quarts and I am so thrilled. It taste so good. 

I canned a late summer basket of pears this week. Farmers said that the yields were low this year, but I have enough for what we need through winter. I also picked a bright orange sweet pepper and two more jalapeno peppers. 

And finally this past week we planted a tree. We were gifted many different plants, bulbs, rhizomes and seeds along with this healthy baby spruce tree. After months of wondering where to put it so it didn't interfere with water lines, gas lines and places we wanted to put other things, it finally found a home. It is in a far corner of the yard with plenty of room and conditions for good growth. It will shelter the empty corner and bring life to what is now just a grassy field. It's going to grow as the homestead does and be our memory of our beginning here. So, that's what has happened this past week at the new Town House Homestead. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week.