Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

For a few weeks now I have been trying to decide if I should start another blog to cover the different side of my life here at the townhouse. The major reason that I have decided not to is time. I'm very busy managing three on line stores and selling on different venues too, so after long discussions and deliberations I'm starting a new feature on "The Craft Zone" and calling it "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday". I think it's more than appropriate since the art of farming, raising animals, sewing and living a sustainable life, is in reality a craft. I have so many stories that I can post about under this title so here it goes. 

Yes it's a townhouse apartment. Not the best living situation for a want to be farm girl and not the best neighbors, but we are making it work. The rules are strict, but not for everyone as we have discovered. I'm going to do what I can and if they ask me to remove things, I will. I understand their rules and yes I've seen the critters that they say are no good, but they even spray to kill the bees. Living here is not forever. We live in the back section of the campus and enjoy a forever green wooded area. Actually it's a gorge and earthquake fault, but this is what I enjoyed with my coffee this morning. 

We have some very large raccoons who visit also, but there are wild turkeys and so many beautiful birds. This makes the day wonderful for me.

Last week there were so many sales on strawberries and I picked up two pounds to dehydrate. I am always looking for healthier snacks and these came out so good.

Eggs were $1 a dozen and I had been interested in making these peppered pickled eggs. I found the recipe here on pinterest. http://pharmacist.hubpages.com/hub/spicypickledeggs. I made them yesterday and harvested the seeds from the peppers I used. In two weeks I can taste them.

I was being a rebel when I started this sweet potato. We have such poor light in the townhouse that I never expected it to do anything. Well, to my surprise it did. I pinched the leaves off, and put them in water to root. They rooted so quickly that they had to go in a pot or I had to throw them away. One daughter bought me the planter and another gave me the bag of soil and I was on my way to growing sweet potatoes in a container.

I have strategically placed it on our small four foot square deck and stairs at the back door and put a solar light in it to make it look nice. They are growing well and are larger now. So far it's passing property inspections and I haven't been asked to remove it. There's more growing and more to be planted and more to write about, but for now I"ll leave it for the next post. It's not all thrifting, selling, sewing and fabric crafting here and "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday" is proof that there's plenty to enjoy in life for this townhouse farm girl. 

Robbins Make My Home Theirs Too. Part Two

The heat has been unbearable this summer, but we have air conditioning. What do these baby Robbin's have? This has been exciting and interesting to have happen in plain sight this summer, but I'm worried. I fill the bird bath a couple times a day, but the water has just been evaporating faster than the birds can get to it. Mama robin is doing an excellent job with her three young ones. They look half dead, but when she comes with food (papa too) they perk up and fight over the gift. Hopefully they will survive. Nature will take care of them. Water is what I can provide.

It's time to stop and smell the flowers.

How can anyone not stop to look at the miracle of a flower? They are bright with color and just spread happiness. I could just spend hours looking at flowers and wonder of the life they live, the purposes they serve and the pleasure they bring. Enjoy for a few minutes some of ours.

Getting back to nature.

It's Sunday morning early and I'm working as usual. I'm taking a break to do some blogging. I decided this week to take some pictures of the wonderful nature around my yard. It's been so rainy and miserable that yard work has had to wait. I put in more daffodil bulbs this past fall that have already come and gone and I was given some Iris to put in and they are just starting to flower. I will get pictures of them as soon as they do. They are small and young yet and I hope to get to watch them mature. With all the wet weather the mushrooms have been plentiful and the grass has gotten high around them. The birds have been playful and I can't tell you how much fruit will be on the trees this summer. It's going to burst with excitement. I have to stop every now and again during any of my days to enjoy the natural life. It feels such a part of me and I never seem to get enough. I'd like my lawn to be perfect, but it will never be and I've settled just to keep up with what grows. It's all part of the great scheme of things. So here's to nature. Without it we can't exist. I'm so grateful to be able to enjoy it.

Robins Make My Home Theirs Too

For the past couple of weeks we have been watching a pair of Robins take over our back yard. Last spring we knew they were nesting in the hedges, but this year they are out in the wide open at eye level for us to watch. This fascinates me to watch nature take it's course. I've tried to make my back yard welcoming to wildlife and birds and I've seen all sorts of animals in the yard. I've had skunks, possum, rabbits, deer, and raccoons to mention a few. I like the large variety of birds the most and when the cherry tree and pear tree are full we need air traffic control in the back yard. The squirrels and birds will make more noise while I'm trying to retrieve the fruit but believe me they get more than I do. So I thought that I would share this miracle of nature and try to watch and see if there will be chicks soon. We won't disturb it to see if there are any eggs in it. They deserve their spot.