Why to build a tiny house

Over the last several months our house has been a hotbed of countercultural lifestyle ideas. We've been all over the map trying to break out of the mold and plan something for our future that is just for us, and not driven by any cultural expectations of what a pair of 20-somethings in love are supposed to do.

Published: 
9 months 1 week ago

Drip irrigation

Yesterday we installed a pretty thorough drip irrigation system in both the front and back yards.

The front yard has about 40 feet of soaker hose covering the flowers outside the fence (finally, watering those was quite a chore) and a dripper doohicky for each of the 10 three sisters mounds. The back yard, with its 60 feet of corn rows just has a soaker hose down the top of each row.

Watering is a lot easier now, and I this should also help with weeds because we won't have as much excess water all over the place.

Published: 
10 months 1 week ago

Newspaper seedling pot form

Over the weekend I also got some seedlings started indoors. Rather than going out and buying a bunch of those recycled paper pulp mini seedling pots I decided to make my own. Not only are the store-bought ones kind of expensive for what they are - I've never had much luck with them. The roots grow out of them slightly, but they don't come apart well if you try to plant the seedlings in the pots, but the roots grow into the sides enough that you hurt them trying to peel the pot off. It's a mess I didn't care to repeat this year.

Published: 
10 months 1 week ago

Tree stump planter

We've got this stump in our front yard. It's partially hollow, and always spends the spring and summer incredibly full of Black Widow spiders. Last year we tried building a little trellis on top and growing beans up it. It was nicer looking, but only made the spider problem worse.

I fixed it yesterday though! Just a couple of boards affixed into the gap in the side with copper coated hanger strap, and then a few bucketfuls of dirt.

Then I ringed the top in rocks, which I varied the size of to level off the top.

Published: 
10 months 2 weeks ago

Fire pit grilling addition

I added a section to our fire pit that's specially designed just for grilling. Instead of rock, it's made of bricks so it can have a nice level top, just the right size to hold a grill. It's also shallower than the main fire pit, to get the grill closer to the coals.

It's really nice because now we'll be able to have a proper fire you can see by and stay warm next to, but also have good smoldering coals for grilling over. You just shovel back and forth between them as need be. That's why I keep a flat shovel next to the fire pit.

Published: 
10 months 2 weeks ago

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