Friday, May 25, 2012

I just can't believe how time flies! We've been busy with getting our garden beds finished, we converted to all raised beds( really they are just mounded) and getting everything planted that we can at this point. We were so dry it was getting scary, but praise God, it's rained 1+inches since last night and it's still a good steady down pour now. This will spurn on the weeds, but I'm ready!

We've enjoyed a bountiful crop of asparagus, rhubarb, lettuce, kale , chard and radishes now for several weeks. These crops ( other than aparagus and rhubarb)were all started in the greenhouse the end of March. We've held off planting tomatoes, peppers and warm loving plants and have instead transplanted them into larger pots and kept in the greenhouse until we're past our last frost date, which is the end of this month!

The shop is continuing to progress again, we've save enough to purchase the metal for both ends of the building and enough for the meter box so we can have the 3 phase power hooked up in June. It's crazy what all of these items cost, the two ends( enough metal for both was almost $900 and the 3 phase meter box( not the inside breaker box, that's more yet!) was $479, thankfully the power company is hooking it all up for free in June( they used to charge by the foot) The metal for the whole building(30x60x12) will cost approx. $5K  That is why we're doing it, pay as we go and not financing it with a bank loan! When it's complete we'll be debt free and ready to make some $$, instead of paying on a loan for years. We've had problems with a neighbor through this whole process, beginning in Oct when we planted posts, everything was handles by our town's zoning comittee and we thought done and over with but..... not so He's now involved our state government, claiming we're in the floodway, which we aren't and even if we were the town's ordinances say that barns, garages, silos, shed and whatnot are allowed as long as they are anchored down( our pole barn is cemented in posts and will have a 6" thick cement floor.The ordinace says it only aplies to residencial. What it is all about is that he doesn't want any businesses in our town and he doesn't like the location of our shop and is doing everything possible to stop it, even desperate measures such as calling the state in. What's fun about it all is that he's implicating himself because he has a home,( trailer house), a rental on his property that is in the floodway and that is forbidden by the ordinace of our town be cause it it is residence and it MUST be secured down and it's of course NOT! He also didn't complain about a garage next door that again IS in the floodway and it is stick built and on a slab( so not secured down either) and he never said or made a complaint on that neighbor. Everyone in town is shaking their head about how he's acting about all of this, it's really ridiculous! This is a neighbor who we've helped by swathed and baled his pastures two years in a row, helped load up HUGE logs from trees they had taken down in their yard, shared produce with,  as well as were what we thought friendly and on a first name basis with, guess we were wrong! He didn't appreciate a good neighbor, so we'll see how much he'll miss the helping hand now because we certainly won't go out of our way to help him again.  It's gottern to the point we've considered talking to a lawyer about sending his a letter stating he's looking at a harrasment suit if he doesn't let up and that's saying something because we don't wish to be do that, but it's frustrating to no end and we'd hope it would put an end to it all, still thinking it over though. :o(

I need to get pictures of our progress and all that's happening around her, it's just finding the time to do that! LOL!  I'll be finished with my EMT testing and book work tonight, then it';s just hands on work, preparing for the National test. With all the reading, online work and classroom time there isn't much time to get the normal chores done around here and of course I'm not as young as I once was and I tire more easily!*sigh*  I feel like my head is going to explode from all the info I've had to absorb but I am retaining it and that was a worry for me!*wink*

Everything is growing well, despite our dry weather, the fruit crops all look like they''l produce well this season and the garden produce is all off to a wonderful start. The deer are already grazing, so we need to take some measures to keep them out of the grapes and strawberries but it's doable and we have enough scraps and supplies to get it done. :o)

Looking forward to the longer weekend, maybe, just maybe we'll get caught up on chores and whatnot. My house is a dusty mess( of course that is my least favorite chore too*wink*) and I'd like to get some meat canned, in prep for butchering chickens and making more room in the freezer. I've been working on canning dried beans, for easier convience, especially since we're all so busy these days.

Here is a picture that really spoke to my heart, it is what we're supposed to remember and pray for this Memorial Day and of course remembering our lost loved ones as well. Praying your weekend is blessed and productive :o)

5 comments:

sista said...

I hope someone makes him take his trailer down. Maybe he will learn to shut up and be a decent neighbor.

Lois Evensen said...

You have been so busy. Yes, I hope your Memorial Day is blessed, also. May we never forget those who fought to keep us free.

The Craftivist said...

Goodness you guys have been busy this spring :) Praise God for the rain! How are you liking having all raised garden beds so far?

Kelle at The Never Done Farm said...

Sista,
We've been quite nice about all of this, that makes him look like the mean ole grump but..... enough is enough already now the gloves are off! Funny thing is he doesn't even realize what a can of worms he's opened and it's going to bite him right where it counts*wink*

Lois,
Thank you and may yours be blessed as well. Being busy keeps us out of trouble and that's just how we intend to keep it. :o)

Craftivist,
PTL for sure and absolutely no complaints about mud either!
The raised beds are nice, we set them up wide enough to make three rows down each one because we need as much space as we can afford and we flood irrigate, with hopes to someday get drip irrigation lines set up. Our soil is so sandy that sprinklers just don't cut it, we'd be watering 24/7 so flooding we can do once a week when cool and twice a week when hot. I was hoping that it would help our bind weed problem, since we don't use chemicals of any kind. It has helped but they still come though the barrier, or maybe it's around but if we pull them ASAP they seem to be held at bay a bit better than before. It's also easier on my back, not having to bend over so far to weed and plant*wink* Have a blessed weekend and thank for chatting.

Mark,
Funny thing is we've not had to say or do a thing to make him look that way either*wink* He did it all on his own and in a small town gossip is like gold, so he's been the topic of conversations for months and all of his own doing!
The shop is going to be nice, a brand new building and it, IMHO, looks snug as a bug in a rug where we're building it and if we don't have a problem with it that's all that counts right? We're within our property and have meet all the town's zoning and building ordinances so we are good to go!
Hope you get your shop someday soon, they certainly are nice to have! We can't wait for ours to be done. :o)

Tonia said...

What a grumpy ole fart!!... I cant stand people that do things like he is doing! Hope its resolved soon..
Its been busy around here and fixing to get a little busier I am afraid...

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