Wild and Crazy Summer!

The frantic pace begun at the end of May has consumed two entire months.  Living in a state of urgency for extended periods of time is unhealthy for both mind and body.  So, even though my head is still spinning from all the activity of the last eight weeks and my “to-do” list is still bursting at the seams, I’m making a conscious effort to slow the pace a bit.  During this frenzy, I didn’t realize how homesick for a keyboard my fingers had become.  Not that they’ve been idle, mind you.  But stroking a keyboard is a much gentler creative outlet than pounding a hammer!

honeybees for the new Top Bar hive

a moldy mess!

Before spring’s graduations, gardening, and beekeeping deadlines could be crossed off my list, my daughter and granddaughters moved in, creating a whole new list of urgent projects to be completed.  During the remodel of the girls’ bedroom, we discovered a low spot in the roof that had collected rainwater and caused structural damage we couldn’t ignore.

making progress on the new loft beds for my granddaughters

Lily, our newest edition to the homestead

After the new roof and structural repairs, we started working on loft beds for the girls. Just as the sawdust and lumber were cleared from the bedroom, my older granddaughter’s cat delivered a litter of kittens that needed new homes. She excitedly swapped one of the kittens for an Angora bunny who loves to kick the bedding out of her cage so that it could be tracked all over the house.  Needless to say, “Build Rabbit Hutch” quickly moved to the top of my list!

fireworks fun in Nebraska

The only break in activity came during a visit with my younger daughter in Nebraska during the week of the fourth.  I was grateful to be able to relax and refocus during that brief hiatus.  But I haven’t flown in years, so the “airport adventures” were a wee bit stressful.

So……. I’m taking a slow, deep breath and promising to update all my wild projects and adventures at WildGardenBurbstead.com soon!

I Finally Have My Bees!

Visit the Wild Garden Burbstead.com to read about the bees that are living it up in the Top Bar hive I built.  I condensed and re-posted my old posts from this blog about building the hive in parts #1 and #2.  Then, it part #3 I share the harrowing experience of having a bee caught under my bonnet!

And please note that I’ll stop posting on this site soon.  If you would like to continue following my adventures, please follow me at my Wild Garden Burbstead.com site and/or my Gina Gaines.com site.

Read About My Moldy Mishap

Come on over to The Wild Garden Burbstead and read about my “Moldy Mishap” while remodeling the kid’s bedroom!

Remodeling a Kid’s bedroom

To read about this project, go to wildgardenburbstead.com . I will no longer publish new posts on Gina’s Inspirations.  But I will continue to notify you that there is a new post on either of my new “.com” sites for a few more weeks.  If you enjoy the stories about building our burbstead, permaculture, gardening, and frugal living, you can follow me at the Wild Garden Burbstead site.  You can also follow me at ginaagaines.com for arts and crafts, herbals, recipes and personal reflections. I hope to continue “seeing” you at either, or both, of my new blogging sites!

Worrisome Widgets

Some of these worrisome widgets wear me out!  My new Wild Garden Burbstead blog posts won’t show up in this sidebar.  So, I’ll just be posting little notes that will direct you there.  The last post was about the creation of our little burbstead.  I’ll be getting my bees soon and will hopefully post another update soon.  The new roof is almost finished, so updates on the bedroom remodel will also be reported.  I look forward to “seeing” you at my new blogs!

Well…… wouldn’t you know it…..  now that I’ve published this post, the widget seems to be working!  Maybe it was “shamed” into action.  HA!

New Post at Gina Gaines.com

I’ve published a new post titled Family at ginagaines.com.  You can also see excerpts from my new website in the right sidebar that you may enjoy.  I look forward to “seeing” you there!

How to Build a Barn Owl Nest

Great idea!

Permaculture Hamilton

Baby barn owls nesting on a bridge, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Below is a link to an excellent article by Anita Stone for Modern Farmer Magazine, on how to build a barn owl box for natural rodent control:

How to Build a Barn Owl Nest – Modern Farmer.

Last weekend, my long-suffering husband taught me how to use a reciprocating saw. He has created a monster. I am also armed with a smokin’* 11-year-old electric drill that I won as a contestant at The Red Green Show in Toronto, signed by Steve Smith himself. This barn owl box will soon be added to my collection of existing boxes for bats, toads, mason bees, worms, lacewings, and ladybugs. For some unaccountable reason, my drug-dealing neighbours — the source of said rodents — disapprove of my collection, particularly when they partake of their own wares, or are…

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Timing is Everything

two hugelkultur beds about 30-40 feet long and 4 feet wide

Wow, where do I begin?  Spring is always a busy time of year, but this one is mushrooming into a real bugger!  Just wanted to update you all in case my blogging starts to suffer any more than it already has. First of all, there’s the usual stuff, like holidays and birthdays and graduations.  And we have plenty of those going on from middle school to college, which will require a trip out of state.  The new hugelkultur garden beds are constructed and planted, so now it’s time for pest control and watering and such.  No big deal.  I’ve located a fellow about an hour away that will have a nuc of bees soon.  Just praying the bees and out-of-town graduation don’t coincide, or that the fellow will be willing to hold a nuc for me.  These exciting developments were expected and I thought I’d have time to squeeze in the changes I’m making to my blogging routine with only a little interruption.

the clear-cut lot

Then, the young man who didn’t make it back to finish clearing the lot between me and my neighbor has promised to come this month.  When he comes, the clearing of weeds and debris will set off an inescapable chain reaction of grading and landscaping that I’ll be required to throw a wad of cash at, as well as time and labor, if I want to keep my house from flooding again.  It will also create my window of opportunity to purchase that little strip of land.  So, even though it will be quite a bit of extra work, I really wanted to be excited about it.  I mean I am excited about it.  You know what I mean.

They’re a little older now, but just as cute!

While I was wrapping my brain around the logistics of getting all the above items crammed into a short window of decent weather, another unexpected event unfolded.  My daughter and two granddaughters will be moving in with us the first week of June.  Thankfully we have a three bedroom home.  The smaller bedroom had been used for storage, but once we move all that stuff into a storage unit, it should serve as an adequate space for my daughter.  The other bedroom is larger and is the one my granddaughters use when they spend the weekend.  It was already beginning to get a little cramped, even for short term visits.  But now that they will be living in there, it will need to be gutted and remodeled.  We’ve all become painfully aware that 7-year-old-my-little-pony and 11-teen-metamorphosis cannot peacefully co-exist for long periods of time.  So, I’ve got to figure out a way to give them separate spaces in an 12 x 13 foot room.  To

guess I’d better pull out my trough and putty knives

exacerbate matters, the room has two exterior walls that are not insulated, so it’s difficult to heat and cool.  The only time we open the vent in that room is when the girls visit, so it hasn’t been a priority to correct the problem.  Time to modify the priority.  We built a storage shed about three feet from one of those walls with the intention of removing the window facing it… eventually.  Now that eventually has arrived, we’ll need to pry that sucker out of there and board up the gaping hole it will leave behind. Might as well, since I have to remove all of the sheet-rock and insulate the walls anyway, right?   Also, there had been a leak in the closets some time in the past, because they smell very moldy.  The girls have allergies and have been forbidden to open the closet doors.  Guess what I’ll need to do about that! So, it looks like the blog will be switching gears again.  I promise to keep you updated about the garden and the bees while all of this is going on.  And you’ll get to “enjoy” my bedroom remodel as well.  I will still be preparing to move this blog over to the new one with the better “.com,” but I’ve renewed this domain for another year so I wouldn’t be so pressed for time.  The GinaGaines.com domain will be used for the “artsy crafty stuff” and the “jus’ sayin'” categories as well as encouragement and personal musings so that my burbstead blog will have a more specific content…  eventually.  As always, life is wonderfully full and fully unpredictable.  So remind me to exhale and enjoy the ride!

Fenced in the Hugels!

I f-i-n-a-l-l-y finished building, fencing, and planting the Hugelbeds!  Spring is a wonderful time of year, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done!  In addition to the garden, I’ve been working on my bee yard.  You can see the two old hives I got from my brother-in-law and the funny looking Top Bar hive to the left of them in the photo.  You can read more about the building of the Hugel-beds at my new blog.  And I’ll be posting about the bees again soon.

I’ve built two beds about 30-40 feet long and 4 feet wide. Candy and Sadie didn’t want to miss a photo op!

For the next few months, I’ll be posting a note about my activities on this blog and referring you over to the new one.  After a while, this one will disappear and there will only be the blog at www.wildgardenburbstead.com. about my burbsteading adventure.  Please begin “following” my new blog so I won’t lose you when this one expires.

 

Got a New Look!

Trying out a different look for my blog.  What do you think?