Homemade Halloween

After collecting milk jugs and other containers for a few weeks (thanks to my students for helping!) we got to work with some homemade Halloween decorations.

The ghosts and pumpkins along the driveway have votive candles inside that we can light up.  We've added another twenty or so of them.

Update:

We finally put votive candles in the jugs one night and I got a few pictures of them lit up.  I liked them a lot but I wish the votive candles would last longer.  I'm thinking those battery operated votive candles would be good but they're more pricey and I'm sure I'd forget to turn them off afterward.

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Did you think I was kidding?

One day last fall, when I first started collecting eggs, I was wearing a dress.  I had come home from work and went straight out to feed the goats and collect the eggs.  As I was walking to the pen I had a sudden thought in my head that it was very comfortable to be wearing the dress, and then I put the eggs in the skirt of my dress and carried them back into the house.

I remember thinking then that I wish I had a old fashion dress or apron to wear when I was doing the little errands for the chickens.

Earlier this week, I was wearing a dress again when I had the same thought.  So I came inside and immediately went to work trying to find out where I could buy a lightweight farm dress.  I didn't have any luck but I did find a blog from a woman who had the same revelation and wrote about it.  

I spent forty minutes trying to find the dresses and then gave up and started looking for patterns to make my own.  I haven't sewn anything in years, and the last time I made something that was completed was when I was 10, and it was for a Barbie.

I didn't find any patterns that I wanted online but on the way home from work today I typed in "fabric" on my GPS and realized I drive right past a fabric store on my way home.

I stopped.  I looked through the catalogs.

I bought three patterns.

I would really like to take on this task, but I also know that I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.  The patterns were $5 total because everything was on sale.  When I have time, I'll sit down and find out how much material I need and go back to buy some.

Progress

I forced myself to get up and go finish at least one project.

So the youngest son helped me put the dots on the strawberry rocks after I painted the green stems and I finished painting the vegetable rocks.  I set them outside to spray the clear coat on top and got a picture.

Then I decided to try to brush the goats when I fed them.  I did manage to get a bit of extra fluff off them.  Trust me, you don't want to see it.  I did a quick clean of the chicken coops and then measured the garden so I could make my official planting layout.

Unfortunately either my measurements are off, my brain isn't working, or my garden hates me because I just can't seem to get an accurate diagram going...

It's never enough

Definitely didn't get enough done today.  In fact, there isn't much to show for it.

I got the rocks painted since it was sunny today.  Of course I still have to paint the labels and strawberry designs on them tonight.

I cut down stumps and broken tree branches with the chainsaw for about an hour.  My pants looked much dirtier in person.

I did buy the corner posts for my garden and I got them in the ground and marked off the area and the path with bright pink ribbon.

The wind is blowing, but even if the lines were straight, my path is WAY off.

 And I spray painted our rooster for spring.  I had no plan for this other than to make it look like an Easter egg.  Half way through I knew it wasn't working and I decided to just have fun with the paint.  It looks horrible.

I should be embarrassed, but it's a metal rooster, it's suppose to look horrible, right?

That's it.  I didn't get anything else accomplished and since the youngest son needs to be picked up in about 30 minutes, nothing else will get done today.

Calling it a day

I spent about an hour making newspaper planting containers.  I don't want to say pots since they were small. The biggest issue was that I didn't want big ones since only one seed will go in each little cup.  I also didn't want them deep since they're just for the pre-planting time in the house.

Cut up the newspaper - actually cut it to half this size

Then cut that in half, and folded the top edge over

A Maglight flashlight was the best size I could find to wrap around

For the first 20ish, I folded the ends together.  After 20ish, I started using tape.

Folded the bottom up and twisted my hand around it to try to tighten it.

I couldn't set them down or they would start to come apart

 I made four at a time and then could hold them in each section of this tray and fill them with dirt.  Once the dirt was in, they stood up on their own and didn't fall apart.

40 cups here for the next wave of indoor planting in a couple weeks

I planted the cauliflower, scallions, and calendula (a flower the chickens will eat)

Here is a picture of the lettuce

And the broccoli finally started popping up

I moved a few huge boulders that took me awhile to maneuver  but I'm nearly done with the final bed and with raising the middle bed.  I still have to raise the largest flower bed that's at the front of the house.  I realized that it needs to be higher if I really expect it to hide the foundation of the house.  I had used much larger boulders, but it looks like I need a second layer.

I also brought in the rocks I collected this morning to paint as garden labels and strawberries when they dry.

I have to get the raised beds done tomorrow because I go back to work on Thursday and Friday and I'm renting a trailer to get soil on Saturday.

I wish I'd gotten more done today, but I also have to admit that I got 6 out of 9 things done on my list for today.  My back is starting to ache.

It's the little things

I had an unexpected day off from work and I was determined to use the time to get projects done around the house.  I have been so busy and overwhelmed with all of the things I have to get done around here, this was a sliver of a chance to try to catch up.

So I got to work on my herb garden and created these two stacks.

 An individual picture looks even better.

Later, I will clean off the pots and maybe paint labels on them

I'm going to plant my herbs in the pots and these will be at the start of the walkway through my garden.  I was working on the walkway as well, but after I got as far as the picture shows, I finally got up from the mud and looked at my work. It's crooked.  I went looking for my string so I could stake out where the path should be and fix it, but couldn't find the string or the ribbon.  This path is going diagonally through my garden, because it is covering the underground wires and ensuring that no one digs them up on accident.

Last night and this morning I was working on these markers.  They're just rocks that are painted.  I have no artistic ability and the fact that it started raining after I thought they were dry (and they weren't) only made things look worse.  I covered them up and hope I can salvage them.

I painted little rocks like strawberries because I had read that if you put them in strawberry patches before the season starts, the birds will go after them and will believe the real strawberries are also rocks later.  And then, the rain ruined them.  

The black dots smeared everywhere 

I had built up this raised bed for the strawberries that I transplanted, but today I added mulch around the plants and put the solar lights in.

Then I dragged the large boulders in this bed from around the yard and started building this one next to it.  This is the last raised bed that I have to make and luckily it doesn't have to be as high so I only need a couple more large boulders and then a few small ones.

 And then I built a third compost bin and fixed them to have front covers.  One bin in full and the second was just about full so I needed to start a third.  The messes from the chicken coop and the goat house go in here. Our kitchen scraps and grass used to go in here, but the chickens tear it all apart now so I'm not sure what will happen.

I would like to get more done out there, especially the boulders for the raised bed and a playset for the goats, but the rain hasn't stopped and my toes and fingers are burning.  Hopefully this break will give me some time to warm up and I can get back up there to finish two more tasks before the end of the day.