Getting the Stuff Out

Wednesday night, I went to my den and living room and looked for 5 things from each room to give to the Kidney Foundation Drive. I did find 10 things. I found about 15. This was basically unplanned clearing of stuff that worked better than expected. I do not know where this will lead, but I am very happy about the direction.

The winter months are a little more difficult for me because of my lack of central heat. I am working on baking more which actually keeps the kitchen warmer which in turn keeps it cleaner, cuz I will stay there longer. The bedroom is just fine and the space heater in the den is good and I have the new space heater in the bathroom which is good as well. The closet room feels like a deep freeze, but that's okay with me.

I am working on using my space more effectively. This is very difficult for me for some reason. It goes along with my difficulty of finding a home for everything. Both of these things motivate me to move forward in may getting rid of stuff. My wish is that once a lot of this stuff is gone, homes will spring into view for the remaining items.

I find that I can clean out an area, drawer or pantry and then a few weeks later clean it out again. On the second go round I suddenly see new things that I no longer need. These things were there the first time, but for some reason my subconcious can deal with reducing only so much stuff at a time. It's okay. It's slow going, but it is going and that is for the good.

I went over to help a friend clean up her stuff a few weeks ago. She had gotten to that "can't see the floor" place in her bedroom. We worked for two days and, yes, the carpet was still there. Basically this was a "home for everything" issue, with some junk mail and store receipts thrown in. I was in such empathy with her tho. It seems like life is so full and the time to decide where everything should go is overlooked and then it just snowballs. I do it, I do it all the time. At one point she said that she should be embarrassed by me seeing her mess, but she wasn't (good to have friends like this) and I told her that if she started feeling embarrassed then we could just go to my house and do the same thing in my places where the hurricane hits and she would feel all better.

My 2010 goal will be to remove "places of the hurricane" from my house. I almost have this accomplished, but there are always set backs and I want 2010 to be the year the "set backs" are set back, here at Powell Cottage.

Today a hawk landed on my dead tree. It was amazing. I was washing dishes and I looked out the window and thought, 'man that is a large bird'. Then I grabbed my binoculars (which I keep by the sink for this very opportunity) and I checked it out. I grabbed my camera and walked slowly towards the already open back door! Snap! I had proof. Now I don't know why this hawk landed in my yard, it was only about 10 feet from the chicken coop, but that is completely enclosed so no fear for the hens. The hawk did jump over to my brush pile and check it out, but mice in the middle of the day - I don't think so. Maybe lizards. It flew away and then came back again. I keep that dead tree for wildlife purposes and it just made my day!

When I arrived here at Powell Cottage, nearly 20 years ago now, it was late December 1990. The grass was brown the trees were bare, and the stone cottage that I fell in love with was trimmed in a harsh brown against white clapboards and beigy/yellow stone. I knew at once that the dark brown had to go. I spent time picking out the paint colors so that the house would be softer to the eye and not outlined as if in a coloring book for children. I changed the brown to a medium taupe and the white to a light taupe and that was the beginning of my influence at Powell Cottage.

The front yard had only one tree. It was a about 4 feet tall and as it was Winter it was leafless. In the Spring I discovered that it was a Maple. It was on left of center in the yard as you looked at it from the street. I had no preconceived ideas about trees at that time so I thought that I would just let it grow. In the backyard there was one Pecan tree at the center and very back of the yard. It was relative large and the only large tree on the entire 1/4 acre. There were several old and spindly peach trees scattered about the yard, but they wouldn't last much longer so I didn't give them much thought.

Twenty years later I look back at it and I do not know when each change took place. It is an organic process in every way. I would always be an organic gardener and the creation of the gardens of Powell Cottage would be organic as well. I was moving towards sustainability, maybe even permaculture back then and I had not even heard the terms. When left to our own devices I believe that most of us will move in that direction. You might even call it laziness. The natural happens. If you could find a way to take care of yourself and your family without needing to keep up in a capitalist society then I think that the ways to do that naturally are in fact the easiest. As I sit here the back door is open I have one ceiling fan whirling above me imitating the outdoor breeze. I am easily more comfortable than when I am in the same temperature brought about by air conditioning or heating.

Back to the Maple tree. I let it grow for a year or two longer. It never seemed to get any larger. Then one evening I got a wild hair and decided to move it to the back yard. Now, I cannot remember what made me do this. I worked for a very long time digging the hole around the tree deep enough to encompass the roots as best I could. I remember that it was dark when I finally pulled it from the hole leaving some roots behind and I recall. It was dark and I truly don't remember how I stored it for the night, but I did plant it the next day in the back yard and now it is over 15 feet high.

That tree if over 15 feet tall now, and even after all of that trouble, this tree will be coming down soon. As my Pecan tree continued to grow and two of the neighbors Oak trees have grown as well the Maple is scrawny and branches out in a weird distortion of Maple growth just to get to the sun. That was however my first foray into transplanting success. Moving that tree less than 100 feet changed something and it began to grow at a much quicker rate.

That first transplanting success is one of the things that keeps me going here at Powell Cottage.

And The Fun Begins!

May 7, 2009
Okay -- Inspired by simple mom 's Spring Cleaning Party I am going to join in with some caveats. I work full time so my spring cleaning will be spread over weekend days. I will post before and after pictures even tho' the "befores" will humiliate me. It's tough for me on the cleaning and organizing front, as I have stated before.

One of the concepts that I have a problem with is the "everything should have a home" concept. It's not that I don't believe in it, nor is is that I don't agree with it. It's that it has taken me at least 4 books on organizing and many websites worth of reading and podcasts worth of listening to even hear the term OUTLOUD in my head (if you know what I mean). One day very recently I said to myself --- OH! Wait! You don't just mean what room should it go in or how do I sue this item, but in what actual drawer or on what actual shelf does this particular item should this item always be found and returned to! A place that if I went so far as to print a label and stick it to that particular spot, in six months not only would I probably find the item there, but I would still agree that it belongs in that chosen location. Ooooohhhh!

CONCEPT HEARD AND FINALLY RECEIVED!

This has opened up some thoughts for me. The decluttering has been working somewhat, but the step further to determining -- why what is left is where it is and should it be there -- is a much bigger deal. I have just started working on that part of the picture and man I have a lot of work to do along those lines. A lot of thoughts to process, first I have got to clear out spaces in my brain for all of the "no kidding" comments that I am anticipating to be stored. Augh!

A Little Success

ORGANIC GARDENING - ANIMALS - BEES - WORMS - WATER - WILDLIFE - KNITTING - FRUGALITY - LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT - LEARNING

My garden is going very well. I planted 3 kinds of peas: English, Snap and Snow. All of them are producing excellently. I planted them in early January even tho' all the information I read said to plant them on Feb 1st. I am glad I was too impatient to wait.

My tomato seeds -- all heritage -- also have done really well. I have 18 tomato plants in the ground. 16 of which I grew from seeds. The other two I bought at the March Dallas Organic Garden Club meeting.

My tomato varieties are as follows: Russion Black Krim (from the DOGC mtg), Beefsteak, Yellow Pear, Sweetie Cherry, and Brandywine. All are doing great. In fact last night I got the soaker hose in place, so all that is left is for me to feed them -- then they can feed me.

My Brussel Sprouts look suspiciously like 2 - Brussel Sprouts and 2 - others (?), to early to tell for sure, but I am thinking maybe brocoli or cauliflower. Lettuce is going great as are my potatoes. My potato tower is 3ft high now.

I got two new chicks. They are Heidi and Helen. Heidi is a Buff Orpington and Helen is a Silver Laced-Winged Wyandotte. The are nearly completely feathered now and have been making daily treks (on the weekends) out to the yard. I have them in a pen so that the other three: Hester, Hilda, and Hazel can get used to them.

The worms are doing fine, but wormeries are a little slower going than I had realized. Other than a few ounces of worm tea, the wormery still hasn't earned it's keep, but I have high hopes. And, the worm tea did go on the peas which are doing great soooo.....

I have decided against rabbits. Rabbit poo that could immediately go into the garden would be great, but I have old chicken poo to use in it's stead. They are not necessary and would be an added expense so frugality wins.

The swimming pool for the duckweed is cancelled for the time being. I haven't quite figured out the right spot for it.

Guppies are needed for the pond and a new air pump. Sounds like an expense for a future paycheck.

No knitting going on -- it's gardening time!

Cutting electricity -- I need to work on this goal. I have just read about a very interesting power strip on sale thru my electric company. It notices when your computer goes to sleep and it turns off your peripherals automatically.

My water bill should improve this year. I have completed the guttering around the garden shed and I currently have 2-30gal drums piped together collecting rain water. This is in addition to the 20gal drum by the front porch. This is just the beginning of the rain catchment system planed for this place and I have already noticed some improvements that I need to make before the entire 6 drum system will be working in unison.

Cooking outdoors -- I've done nothing to further this goal except buy a sun tea jar. It is in my thoughts though and the BBQ already exists so it's really the solar oven than I am pondering. I have done some research. It's a project for the future.

Couponing is a real boon for me! I have cut my spending by 40% I bet, and I have built a bit of a stockpile. I am feeling really good about that.

My short falls are in decluttering and cleaning. I donated two boxes full of items to the church garage sale, but that truly doesn't begin to make a dent. And the cleaning, well...it's still in a desparate state. Obviously I am not giving these aspects of my life improvement enough emphasis - since they are not even in my headline. That will have to change.

I still have a goal of having my garden on the DOGC garden tour in 2010. Hope my house will be clean enough by then so that people can come in a use the bathroom if they need to.

I still panic occasionally about keeping all of the balls in the air, but when I write it all down it looks like I am making some progress here at Powell Cottage.

It's Time for the Fog to Clear

Assuming that I have 15 years to live, what do I want to do with them? What impact do I want to make, or for that matter not make?

I want to live lightly on this world, but I also want this world to live lightly on me. I don't want the weight of the world to be on my shoulders. I can't carry it. I would happily help someone or many people who are in difficulty carry their weight as well, but that is all. I cannot provide a solution for the world. I can only provide solutions for myself and by example for others.

Enough philosophising! What are my intentions to make this happen - to carry my own weight. Organic gardening, animals with use, bees, water, wildlife, knitting, low environmental impact, frugal living, learning - constant, continual learning.

How am I faring so far? My garden is organic and begun for the year. Most everything started from seed. Organic and frugal! I have 3 chickens about to become 5, eggs and manure make them useful. 2 cats - no use whatsoever, but I am committed to them until they pass. 5 - Cocker Spaniels - no use again, but they are my family and they keep me sane. Worms - working away in their wormery - very useful. Bees! Not here yet but I am determined. There will be bees in my life in the next year or so. Rabbits are next on the list, I am not sure that they are necessary, but they might be fun. :-)

I have a pond in two sections the larger is for the dogs to swim in and the smaller holds the water lily and the pump. I am about to add a small swimming pool to the mix to grow duck weed and provide more water for my backyard habitat. Oh, and guppies would need to be added for mosquito control.

Wildlife is just for fun and entertainment, but necessary!

Knitting is for me and my warmth needs, and for gifts, and for decoration, just general homespun work.

I have already cut out my natural gas for home heating bill, and it wasn't nearly as difficult nor as cold as I thought it would be. Amazingly it also wasn't very expensive. My heating only the portion of the house that I lived in with electric heat didn't raise my electricity bill very much at all.

Next is moving my cooking to outdoors. That will include my BBQ, and definitely a solar oven, but it may also include some other kind of oven. I am not there yet though. If at any point in time I get a new job closer to home that would cut my gasoline consumption, too. My water catchment system is coming along. Last weekend I bought 6 containers to hold the water. This weekend I need to build up the places to raise the containers off the ground and to gutter the house to get the water to the containers. It's a process. :-)

Couponing is a whole new world for me. I knew that this world existed. I just didn't have the knowledge about how to use it. I am gaining that knowledge with the help of the internet and things are looking very promising on that front.

This is part of the learning. I guess that means that I am doing pretty good on carrying my own load, but I don't feel that I am doing very good on being an example. That is the next big area to explore.

Living the full life here at Powell Cottage.

Oh My Goodness Remember This When Canning

It is about 18 hours since I last threw up. Not a very appetizing beginning I know, but I am writing about it to remind myself about how careful I will need to be when I start canning. I did this to myself, but I think it was the chinese lunch from the day before yesterday that infected me. I am just now able to concentrate long enough to even get on the computer. Yesterday, I just got sick and then slept and got sick and slept from 4am until 10pm. I had one worse experience with food posioning than this one about 10 years ago. I slept on the bathroom floor during that lovely event - for two days. Well, that's all the concentration that I have in me. By the way the new computer is here and it's great! Hope your healthy, from Powell Cottage.