birthblessed
04-10-2009, 11:05 AM
I live in Austin City Limits. I used to actually live *on* the limit, the back fence was it, but Austin annexed us on Dec 31, 2008. As such, in 1970 when the house was built, this area was suburb. The city grew and now we are just urban on big, shady treed lots. My lot is about 100 ft x120 ft. Urban chickens are mostly OK here as long as no one calls and complains directly. I had some chickens years ago, but when they all died mysteriously (I was pretty ignorant) I never replaced them. Now I have 7 new chicks, purchased from Callahan's General Store on March 20. I reckon they are about 4-5 weeks old then? They just outgrew the bird cage last week and dh made them a small tractor to live in.
I have a few slightly raised square foot beds-- one across the front yard makes an effective barrier for my 2 year old, it's 2 foot wide and 16 feet long. Then on the NE corner there are 2 beds each 4x4. We are just fencing in the large side yard that has never been used for much of anything. Last fall a dead pear tree was cut down and the stump ground; we're moving the fence, putting in a french drain to drain away my laundry greywater so it's not running right into the raised bed areas (although I make my own natural laundry wash product so I know what is in it-- Kiss My Face olive oil soap, Borax and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda).
I have homeschooled my kids since the oldest was little, although now he's in a charter school for high school. My 2nd is in the same charter school. I still homeschool 4 kids- my 3 who are in 6th, 4th and 2nd, and a neighbor boy who is in 3rd. Next year I'll have a kinder too, and then my youngest will soon be 3 years old.
My husband is an acoustical engineer/consultant/sound system designer/live sound engineer/recording engineer/video shorts producer. My oldest plays football and writes fanfic, mods for Taleworlds, things like that. My other teen writes music scores for stop motion animation movies he's making. My 12yo is my husband's right-hand man, his apprentice. Yesterday he learned to use the circular saw as they built my new fence.
Feel free to check out my blog. I'm so glad I found this place I blogged about it. Haha. I have needed this kind of place to learn from. I really don't know much what I'm doing. I've not got much edible from my garden. I do have a huge compost. I had a large garden pond but it's in disrepair.
My biggest problem is that I wait for my DH to do things for me instead of getting out there myself. I am inspired by watching a WOMAN doing all this work. But truth be told, when I have gone outside to do stuff for myself I end up with a horrible rash like poison ivy that lasts for upwards of 6 weeks. I'm horribly allergic to something out there-- it happens every April/May.
My next biggest problem is where I live-- we have OK soil right here (we're wedged on the edge of the Blackland Prairie against the Balcones Fault Zone) but the weather can be murderous. Yesterday we hit 95 degrees-- just a few days prior we'd had a VERY late near-freeze of 33 degrees. Temps in the 90s will be more frequent than not from now until summer, and summer will stay near the 100 mark until the end of summer. My experience living here for 10+ years is that you can count of temps above 90 from early April through mid October, and we can go months without a lick of rain. Last year we had no measurable rain from May 30 until December. I have rain harvesting barrels and can fill three 55 gallon barrels in a single rainstorm-- but because the ground is so dry it'll run off. When we hear a forecast for rain, we take a sprinkler and get the ground slowly damp so that when the rain comes, the ground can accept it.
And if that doesn't do for an intro, what will?
I have a few slightly raised square foot beds-- one across the front yard makes an effective barrier for my 2 year old, it's 2 foot wide and 16 feet long. Then on the NE corner there are 2 beds each 4x4. We are just fencing in the large side yard that has never been used for much of anything. Last fall a dead pear tree was cut down and the stump ground; we're moving the fence, putting in a french drain to drain away my laundry greywater so it's not running right into the raised bed areas (although I make my own natural laundry wash product so I know what is in it-- Kiss My Face olive oil soap, Borax and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda).
I have homeschooled my kids since the oldest was little, although now he's in a charter school for high school. My 2nd is in the same charter school. I still homeschool 4 kids- my 3 who are in 6th, 4th and 2nd, and a neighbor boy who is in 3rd. Next year I'll have a kinder too, and then my youngest will soon be 3 years old.
My husband is an acoustical engineer/consultant/sound system designer/live sound engineer/recording engineer/video shorts producer. My oldest plays football and writes fanfic, mods for Taleworlds, things like that. My other teen writes music scores for stop motion animation movies he's making. My 12yo is my husband's right-hand man, his apprentice. Yesterday he learned to use the circular saw as they built my new fence.
Feel free to check out my blog. I'm so glad I found this place I blogged about it. Haha. I have needed this kind of place to learn from. I really don't know much what I'm doing. I've not got much edible from my garden. I do have a huge compost. I had a large garden pond but it's in disrepair.
My biggest problem is that I wait for my DH to do things for me instead of getting out there myself. I am inspired by watching a WOMAN doing all this work. But truth be told, when I have gone outside to do stuff for myself I end up with a horrible rash like poison ivy that lasts for upwards of 6 weeks. I'm horribly allergic to something out there-- it happens every April/May.
My next biggest problem is where I live-- we have OK soil right here (we're wedged on the edge of the Blackland Prairie against the Balcones Fault Zone) but the weather can be murderous. Yesterday we hit 95 degrees-- just a few days prior we'd had a VERY late near-freeze of 33 degrees. Temps in the 90s will be more frequent than not from now until summer, and summer will stay near the 100 mark until the end of summer. My experience living here for 10+ years is that you can count of temps above 90 from early April through mid October, and we can go months without a lick of rain. Last year we had no measurable rain from May 30 until December. I have rain harvesting barrels and can fill three 55 gallon barrels in a single rainstorm-- but because the ground is so dry it'll run off. When we hear a forecast for rain, we take a sprinkler and get the ground slowly damp so that when the rain comes, the ground can accept it.
And if that doesn't do for an intro, what will?