Tag Archives: homestead

Broken Water Pipes

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One day, early February, Sarah came home from work and saw ice near our back door. This was odd, she thought. Because even though it’s been well below freezing, there hasn’t been any precipitation for several days. She opened the back door and water poured out of the house.

14-2 repaired broken water pipe

repaired broken pipe

Two water pipes, in the attic, had broken; one above the kitchen and one above the laundry room. By our best estimate, hot water poured out for about six hours. The weather had been unseasonable cold here that week, with temperatures below 15 degrees. Brynn, my 17 y/o daughter, commented at 12 degrees that was the coldest she had ever seen. Yes, yes we know that really isn’t that cold, compared to temperatures in many other parts of the country, especially this winter. But for Western Washington–that is known for it’s temperate weather–that was cold (our normal winter temperatures are more like low: 41, high: 46). More significantly, because we don’t live somewhere that gets that cold, our home’s older building codes only required insulation standards down to about 25 degrees.

Our kitchen, dining room, Sarah’s office, laundry room, hallway, and rec room ceilings, floors, and walls were all soaked. She and Ryan began cleaning up, and when I got home I made several late night calls to our insurance company, plumber, and a restoration company.

When we bought our home last November, we had about four home improvement phases identified. We started Phase 1 as soon as we got the place, and finished (mostly) a couple of months later. We were pleased with the result, and ready to have all of the construction mess and tools cleaned up and put away. Apparently the universe/weather/old house had other plans for us. The pipes broke about a week after we had gotten most of the trim done,

14-2 kitchen torn out

our former kitchen

Over the last three months we’ve rebuilt/remodeled our home again. Since everything was torn apart anyway, we decided to change much of the floor plan. Especially the kitchen/dining room area. In the kitchen all the cupboards, cabinets, counters, appliances and drywall were removed (in addition to the ceilings and all the insulation in the attic) — we had a clean slate. We used the opportunity to swap the kitchen and dining room, build a mud room, and a new pantry. The biggest change made was removing the load bearing wall between the (original) kitchen and family room — opening it up to create a great room. We also framed in a new front door location, and built an entry area. Of our original four phases we completed phase 2, and much of 3.

14-3 rebuilding-1Several people have called this experience a disaster. It wasn’t a disaster. I’ve been through disasters and this wasn’t it. What this was was a huge pain in the ass inconvenience (did I mention no kitchen for almost three months?). Others have called it a mixed blessing, and that we were actually lucky it happened. I don’t buy that either. It happened, we dealt with it, and in the process made things better.

People ask when will it be done? I’m not sure that when you own a 40 y/o house, with two additional buildings, on 5-acres that you are ever “done”. But, finally, we’re within a couple of weeks of living in a “normal” home again.

 

14-3 rebuilding-214-3 rebuilding-3

Our New Homestead

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The first week of December we moved into our new homestead. It is located in a rural area near Eatonville, WA (south of Tacoma, west of Mt. Rainier). The property is 5-acres; flat, usable, fully fenced, about 1/3 moderately forested, and 2/3 overgrown meadow-ish. The house is 40 years old, structurally well built, with several additions/remodels, about 2400 square feet. There are two outbuildings: a large three-car detached garage (about 1200 square feet) right next to the house, and a one-story 1800 square foot barn, about 40 yards east of the house.

google-maps-shot-of-property

It was a long road getting here, as discussed in my previous posts Buying Our Homestead: The Saga (9/20/13),  We’re Trying to Buy a Homestead! (5/2/13), and Goals For 2013. Long story summarized: We wrote a contract on a short sale house January 2013, it went back and forth and up and down between the bank (Bank of America) and lender and finally closed in November (after almost falling apart multiple times).

13-12 Sarah working on plug

14-1 Ryan installing flooringWe immediately undertook a relatively large remodeling project involving the bedrooms and what was to become Sarah’s office (our ‘Phase 1’ remodel, we’ve defined four phases that will be done over the next few years). At that time we also bought another dog (for a total of three), four goats, and eleven young hens. We moved my 19 y/o son, Ryan, out to the property to provide security and care for the animals.

13-12 moving daySarah and I moved out here the first week of December. Since that time we’ve finished most of our Phase 1; recently completing painting, hard wood flooring, trim work, and replacing many of the lighting fixtures. We did most of the work ourselves, with the help of skilled friends (thank you!) — though we did contract drywall. Ryan has been invaluable, and the girls help every time they are out here (they live about 15 miles away with their mother).

14-1 building raised beds14-1 Trace w chainsawIn addition to the house we’ve worked a lot in the garage (two of three cars can now be parked inside), and some in the barn. We’ve completed a lot around the property: cleaning up, securing the fence, and clearing areas out. We’re beginning to get it ready for the summer gardening season. We also added six barn cats.

We’re very happy with our place! Sarah gave me a big hug, Christmas day, and said she knew this was hard — and at times would be a pain in the ass — but she was very glad we were doing it, and loved that we were creating our own home together.

13-12 Sarah w animals13-12 dogs watching chickens

Buying Our Homestead: The Saga

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January 21 we signed a contract to purchase a house (on a short sale), with property, in a rural area near Eatonville, WA (south of Tacoma, west of Mt. Rainier). The property is 5-acres; it is flat, usable, fully fenced, about 1/3 moderately forested, and 2/3 overgrown meadow-ish. The house is 40 years old, structurally well built, with several additions, about 2400 square feet. There are two outbuildings: a large three-car detached garage (about 1200 square feet) right next to the house, and a one-story 1800 square foot barn, 130 feet east of the house. Since the house is a short sale it was at a very good price, but we knew the process would take some time.

The house is a “fixer upper”, we understood it was going to take a lot of work once we purchased it. But it also needed work done prior to closing, in order to qualify for a VA loan. Long story short: the house had been empty for almost two years, had been broken into, trash had been dumped around the property, cottonwood trees had sprouted all over, electrical wiring had been stripped from the outbuildings, and the sellers hadn’t been the most tidy homeowners. The sellers made it clear that they would do very little: they would not spend any money, would not do any major repairs, and would not even do any cleaning. So we knew the VA appraiser would find deficiencies, and we knew it would be our responsibility–both labor and financially–to correct them, or it simply would not qualify for a loan.

The seller’s lien-holder, Bank of America (BoA), took almost 90 days to approve the sale, but finally mid-April it was approved to go forward. We began with the inspection (lots of cosmetic work, but structurally sound) and getting the VA loan process going. We were about a week  and a half in when we found out we had less than three weeks to close (date set by BofA without informing us). Our lender told us to get an extension because a VA loan typically takes about 30 days. BofA said “No” — they said they needed to re-value the loan again and it would take four to six weeks (that was about mid-May).

While waiting for BofA’s second approval we decided to go ahead and get the VA appraisal. We wanted to be sure it’d appraise and, if so, what work would need to be done for final approval. We were pleasantly surprised that it appraised for more than we were paying. There were several deficiencies that we would have to resolve, but they were all doable:

  1. Provide verification that the property has an approved septic system
  2. Provide verification that the property has an approved water supply
  3. Provide a permanently installed conventional heat system (it only had two pellet stoves)
  4. Clean moss and other debris from roof of house and detached garage
  5. Sink is missing in the powder room – provide sink
  6. Provide hardware to make kitchen sink operational
  7. Remove vegetation and earth to wood contact from around the dwelling – provide clear pest inspection
  8. Remove garbage and debris from in and around the dwelling – present condition is unsanitary
  9. Install gutters, downspouts and splash blocks where missing or rusted and no longer operable

BofA finally came back on September 6th (over 3 1/2 months later) saying the loan was once again approved; they also said we had 24 days to close (September 30th), and there would be no extensions given. So we hit the ground running to get everything done on the VA appraisers’ list of deficiencies.

By last Monday we were done with the list, we had:

  1. The septic tank inspected, though older, it was in good condition and it was also pumped at this time (the seller was required to do this, and it was the only thing they did on this list).
  2. The well inspected. During the inspection we found out that the three bottom sections of drop pipe were leaking, we had them replaced (spending much more than we planned on the well at this point). Now the 40-year old well works like a champ, efficiently pumping 15-gallons per minute, and the water tastes great!
  3. The biggest project was installing a propane furnace. There were other options but my good friend Rick (also a prepper), an experienced HVAC journeyman, offered to do all the work for us — all we had to do was pay for materials. He got us a quality furnace, and last Sunday spent all day (and a little Monday morning) installing it. The original duct work was there, but had been boarded up and not used in more than 14 years. Including installing the furnace, and converting it to propane, we had to cut through two roof levels to install an exhaust chimney, and run gas piping through the crawl space. It was quite an endeavor, but with Rick’s expertise and time, we now have a furnace that runs great.
    (Earlier in the week we had the duct system professionally cleaned. The system was a mess, years and years of trash, dirt, and animal fur had collected in the duct work. The cleaning guys said it was one of the worst they had ever seen. But they took great pride in being able to completely clean it out.)
  4. We scrubbed the accumlated moss off the roofs, and then treated it with moss remover.
  5. The “powder room”, where we were supposed to provide a sink, is the same room where the furnace went. So instead of installing a sink, we removed the toilet and transformed the powder room into a furnace room (for now anyway). We chose to do this because we didn’t want the VA appraiser to walk in and see a furnace in the bathroom. (We talked with the lender first and got his approval.)
  6. Put in new kitchen faucet, and replaced the water lines. (There’s still a small leak from the hot water shut-off valve that’ll have to be addressed by a plumber after closing.)
  7. Removed all the vegetation and dirt from around the house. Also got a pest inspection done.
  8. With a lot of help we removed all the years of accumulated trash around the property. It completely filled up a 20-yard construction dumpster.
  9. We cleaned out the gutters by hand, power washed them out, then had downspouts and one section of gutter professionally replaced.

So we’re done with out part, everything that had to be done is handled. When the VA appraiser returns to re-inspect, hopefully he’ll be amazed at the improvements. Then, with any luck, it’ll close a week from Monday. Once it’s all ours, we’ll get back in there and do a bunch more work before we move in, hopefully for forever, November 1st.

Thank you very much to all those who helped us: Rick, Jay and Libby, Tad and Hilary (and Raice), Kelly, and Josh. If you missed out this time around, there will be plenty more opportunities in the future.

(I know this was long, but I guarantee this was the very summed up version of our last nine months!)

hole cut through to the duct work where the furnace would be place

hole cut through to the duct work where the furnace would be placed

 

duct vacuuming truck, note the inflated collection bags on the top

duct vacuuming truck, note the inflated collection bags on the top

vacuum hose connected to the duct opening, we were amazed how much stuff came out...

vacuum hose connected to the duct opening, we were amazed how much stuff came out…

Kate was not a fan of the loud vacuum hose that was bigger than her

Kate was not a fan of the loud vacuum hose that was bigger than her 

me power washing the gutters

me power washing the gutters 

Sarah pressure spraying the garage gutters

Sarah pressure spraying the garage gutters 

creating the new gutter section - it's a pretty cool process

creating the new gutter section – it’s a pretty cool process

roof where we had to cut the furnace exhaust opening - included to show that we had to go through 2 layers of roof and to show the barn in the background

roof where we had to cut the furnace exhaust opening – included to show that we had to go through 2 layers of roof and to show the barn in the background 

my hand reaching in from the depths of the crawlspace, the newly installed furnace on the right

my hand reaching in from the depths of the crawlspace, the newly installed furnace on the right

me after coming out of the depths of the crawlspace (it was a little damp)

me after coming out of the depths of the crawlspace (it was a little damp)

removal of the very full 20-yard dumpster

removal of the very full 20-yard dumpster

Update 9/26/13: We finally got the VA appraiser’s written re-inspection report today. He stated, “I certify that I have reinspected the subject property, the requirements or conditions set forth in the appraisal report have been met, and any required repairs or completion items have been done in a workmanlike manner.”

We’re scrambling for some last minute financial paperwork to get through underwriting (but it’ll be fine), and likely won’t close until the week of October 7 (we have an extension from both lien holders until October 9 — yes, they said there would be no extensions…).

 

 

We’re Trying to Buy a Homestead!

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This is a little bit different kind of a blog post for me, but it’s a big deal in our life — especially as preppers.

houseWe’re trying to buy a rural homestead. It’s a 5-acre property with a 40-year-old rambler house (2400 square feet), a large garage, and a large one-story barn. The property is flat, completely usable, and fully fenced. It’s about half forested, but open enough to easily walk through. Though it’s only 15 miles south of where we are currently living (still close to where my kids live), it’s in a very rural area far off the beaten path, on a dead-end road. From the house we can see one neighbor’s home, and the smoke from the chimneys of about two others. The land, location, and the outbuildings are amazing — the residence will take some work.

garageWe’ve been in the process of trying to buy this home, via a short sale, since January. At that time we signed a full price contract and the bank had 90 days to approve the short sale.

Last week (on day 89 of 90) the bank approved the short sale to go forward, so that’s when the “clock” for the sale itself started. We had ten days to get the house inspected and make our initial requests of the sellers.

We got it inspected last Sunday, the house has many, many issues — BUT the structure itself barn(walls, roof, foundation) is solid and in very good condition after all the years (built in ’72). We believe the house is well-built and definitely worth repairing/remodeling/rebuilding as needed. There are many things in the house that are original, and obviously after 40 years most would need replaced. The seller is as motivated as he can be, considering it’s been on the market for two years, sat empty for a year, has gone to short sale, and he’ll be making no money — but he’s doing what he can to get it looking as good as he is able (mostly labor, not money).

We’re using my VA loan (our only real option for financing) and that is moving forward. We will have a VA appraisal in the next couple of weeks. At that time, we understand, they’ll give us a list of what needs to be done/improvements made so that it can qualify for a VA loan (there will definitely be things that need done). Then we can negotiate with the seller and/or we’ll make the decision to spend the money ourselves so that it can qualify or, if it’s too much, we may have to decide to walk away.

So we’re well into the process. We’re excited. The property and location, in addition to the outbuildings, could be made into an amazing homestead. The house itself is worth rebuilding and making our own — hopefully the VA appraiser will agree with us. I have the skills to do much of the work, and friends who can help with the rest.

Anyway, since this has been a dream for long time, and it’s a huge deal it our lives, I wanted to share it.

google maps shot of property

 

Sarah’s View: Goats

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As the possibility of our own property becomes more and more real Trace and I have been talking about what livestock we want. We already have Kate, our border collie, as well as the rabbits. We have talked about getting chickens shortly after we move. The other animals we’ve talked about are an additional dog, bees and goats.

GoatMilkProducts

I’ve been doing more research on goats. We look forward to having goats ‘browse’ on our property and help keep down weeds and other unwanted plants, however, our primary goal with goats is to use them for milk and other dairy products – we hope to learn to make our own yogurt and cheese. We would also like goats that are friendly, if we’re going to be milking them we want them to not dislike us! Plus, I think it makes sense to look for a breed known for higher fat milk; a higher fat content tends to result in creamier products (duh) and neither Trace nor I drink much milk so the higher fat content isn’t an issue there. Finally, while we want a good milk producer we don’t want to be overwhelmed by the amount of milk we get; we have no desire (at this time) to become a dairy.

To this end I wanted to determine how owning and raising goats works as well as figure out the best breed for our goals. As with most things there are a ton of resources on the web. And honestly, with goats I had start at the basics. What does it take to care for a goat? How do you get milk from a goat? What do you do with the babies? Because it finally gelled for me that in order to have a female producing milk she will have had to have a kid.

The first couple of sites I ran across talked about bottle-feeding the kids. This had me thinking second thoughts about goats all together. I have no desire to bottle-feed baby goats. After reading more I found a number of people who allow the babies to remain with their moms until their weaned and either don’t milk the does during this period or only milk once a day. Phew. I can handle that, especially since the kids are old enough to be sold around 8 weeks yet the does will produce milk for 10 months.

Nigerian DwarfsOnce I was feeling good about having goats again, I started perusing the various breeds. There are about 7 to 8 well-known dairy goat breeds in addition to any mixes you might run across. They all have their pros and cons, but I have to say that I’m pretty hooked on the Nigerian Dwarf Goats. First, they’re cute, not that this should be a deciding factor, but it did make me more interested in reading about them. Second, they’re smaller than the other breeds. For me, at 5’3”, a smaller more manageable goat seems like a positive. Now, we may decide that the Nigerians are too small (between 16” and 23” usually) especially for Trace, but we’ll see. Third, they’re very friendly. And finally, their milk is between 6 – 10% fat (other breeds are in the 3 – 4% range).

We still have a few steps between now and getting goats, most glaringly actually closing on a homestead. But I’m definitely excited at the prospect of having goats and being able to produce our own cheese and yogurt. Can we do goat’s milk butter? Definitely more to learn.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice on goats, please let us know!

GoatMilkSign

Goals For 2013

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2012 was the first time I had publicly posted my goals. Last week I reviewed those goals: some achieved, some postponed, some re-prioritized.

goals-for-2013So here it goes for 2013.

Most of our goals revolve around finally buying, and moving onto, our homestead. We’ve done a lot here in our rented home in suburbia, with our 1/10th of an acre yard (living with strict HOA rules) and two-car garage. Not that we’ve done everything we can, but we’ve done about all we’re likely to do. We are in a pretty good situation prepardness-wise–with all the above limitations considered–but now we’re ready to take the next step.

We’ve been looking for a homestead for the past year and a half, including having an offer accepted on one we really liked — only to have the seller back out. But both Sarah and I really feel like it’s time. We want to own a home on a rural piece of property. We have a relatively small budget, because we want to keep our mortgage low so we can easily live within our means, but we believe it’s enough to find what we are looking for. That being said, we can pretty much guarantee there will be additional expenses, and a lot of sweat-equity to make it properly livable. We have a limited range, we don’t want to move very far from where my girls live with their mother. We’d prefer the house to have at least three bedrooms and two baths, with a garage. The property needs to be mostly usable, at least half forested, preferably with water on it. We’ve got some leads we’re working on and hopefully everything will fall into place soon.

Goals (assuming we get the homestead)

  • Add more livestock. The first year in our new place we’ll probably just add chickens (in addition the rabbits we already have). Future years may bring ducks, goats, bees, and/or pigs — we’ll see.
  • Get a second working dog. Most likely a Great Pyrenees, to help with security of the livestock and property.
  • Learn more about permaculture design (developing sustainable, mostly self-maintained, agricultural systems based on natural ecosystems), and begin incorporating it into the property.
  • Begin planting annual fruit (and nut) bearing trees and bushes.
  • Get at least some type of garden in, and actively work on developing additional gardening spots through clearing, composting, and mulching.
  • (if there’s water on the property) Learn more about, and hopefully begin developing, a micro-hydro system to develop electricity.

1882313856_1356989402Other Goals

  • Learn to pickle vegetables
  • Continue to blog, at least weekly
  • Learn to preserve, and use, herbs in a variety of ways
  • Develop proficiency working with Kydex

Goals carried over from 2012

  • Learn to make yogurt
  • Learn to brew beer
  • Grow cabbage, then make sauerkraut
  • Get extra rice and beans to share with neighbors (if/when needed)
  • Learn to identify local plants (especially ones on the homestead)
  • Learn more about solar power, evaluate feasibility

What are your 2013 goals?

 

What We Did This Week To Prep 10/5/12

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Monday morning I bred our rabbits for the first time; it was relatively uneventful and went, essentially, as one would predict. We should have babies about November 1st, and then harvest them about February 1st. We’ll bred Mom #2 December 1st. This should establish a cycle where we bred one of our two mothers and butcher a litter, of approximately eight off-spring, ever eight weeks. If things go as planned, that will provide one rabbit to eat (approximately 2 1/2 pounds of meat) a week.

I ended Monday by going to my friend Rob’s house (where I got the female rabbits from originally and where I helped butcher more last month) to again help him butcher the current litter and to continue developing my skills and knowledge. I brought my son, Ryan, and had Rob teach him the process. After watching Rob, Ryan did three of his own; since there were fewer in this litter I only did one. Ryan and I are feeling relatively confident in our skills, we’ll probably help Rob another time or two before we do our own.

That day had a “Circle of Life” type feel to it: breeding to create life in the morning and ending life to provide food that evening. It was interesting to view, and participate, in the cycle first-hand.

Several months ago Sarah, along with her cousin, set a goal of getting in better shape. To do so they decided to challenge themselves by signing up to run a half-marathon. Sarah has never been a runner, and though she works out on a regular basis, this was a new thing for her. This past Sunday she/they achieved the goal by successfully competing the Bellingham Half-Marathon. She trained regularly and was well prepared for it and did very well, including accomplishing it within the time-goal they had set. Afterward, and in the days following, she felt pretty good; we attribute that to good sleep, nutrition, and especially hydration leading up to the race. Is this a prepper topic? I believe it is. A lifestyle that includes healthy and consistent: exercise, nutrition, sleep, hydration, learning, and achieving goals is the key to success now and will be even more important in a collapse.

Property update: We got the septic inspection (passed, all looked good), well inspection (passed, also looked good), and the home inspection (there are several things that need done, but the house is structurally sound) done this week. We approached the Seller with some items that needed repaired so  the house would appraise, and we were told they didn’t have the money or time to get it done and were unwilling to do it. This essentially stopped the process and at that point we chose to walk away. Maybe time, and lack of success, will make them more willing to negotiate in the future. We still love the property, the location, and the pole barn, and believe the house is fine for now and has potential for the future. But we want to be smart about this decision and approach it logically and as unemotionally as possible.

What did you do?

What We Did This Week To Prep 9/7/12

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This week we headed back to the Olympic Peninsula, in and near the Sequim area, to look for a potential “homestead” property. We looked at about half a dozen places and found one that we really like. The house is small (900 square feet) but it’s in ‘ready-to-move-in’ condition, on six acres; it also has a large pole barn, the property is heavily treed (including several large oaks, which are more rare in this area), relatively flat, and in a very good location. After talking it over, first together, then with our realtor, we put in an offer. We should hear back on it in the next couple days. We’re pretty excited, but trying not to get our hopes up too much.

the coffee house where we meet

I got together again with our budding prepper group (there are now four of us). We try to get together every month, have a cup of coffee, and reassure ourselves that it’s the world that’s crazy and not us — you know how it feels sometimes when you’re a prepper. Again, if you live anywhere near the Seattle area, or are even visiting, we/I’d love to get together and meet you. We all have something to offer, we all have our individual strengths and weaknesses; sometimes you’re the one teaching, sometimes you’re the one learning — most of the time both. Community is so important; I believe it is the number one thing that will allow us to survive well if times get bad.

Western Washington is having a very atypical summer–I know, I know the rest of the country is too. August here was the driest month on record (ever), and as of today we are 48 days without rain (the all-time record, set back in 1951 was 51 days). Fortunately there was plenty of rain and snowfall last winter and we are not experiencing drought conditions. And our garden has been loving all this sunshine! Everything is growing well. We are bringing in tomatoes, beans (multiple kinds), snap peas, carrots, and herbs every afternoon; it’s nice to feel that our gardening has been successful. Ironically, with all the sunshine our strawberries, which produced in early July, have started producing again. It’s amazing what happens to your garden when you add sunshine to good soil, mulch, and water!

What did you do?

(Monday: One Year Blog Anniversary)

Rural Relations with Josh: Lessons Learned, An Introduction

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(Josh is our newest regular Guest Contributor and will be posting, Rural Relations with Josh, the first Wednesday of every month.)

Three years ago, this December, I stumbled across a real estate listing on Craigslist; it described a heavily treed 5-acre lot with a distressed rambler, built in ’88, in need of a new owner at a fantastic price. The current family had taken out a second mortgage and was in the foreclosure process with a trustee sale a mere three days away. A quick call to the listing agent and we had an appointment the following day to view the house.

Our first impression of the property was of a cosmetic fixer, on a dead-end road, two foot tall field grass in the yard, various junk strewn in and around the house, and tree branches behind the house attempting to reach inside as nature made a valiant attempt to overtake this small piece of civilization before humans could reign it in. Trees had fallen all over the property during snow and wind storms, blocking all trails and access except by foot beyond the driveway. The list of tasks to make it livable was relatively short as the structure and foundation were solid: remove and replace all flooring and trim, repaint floors, ceilings, and walls, and replace a few doors. Except for those projects, this place had some serious potential and was perfect for a young family with three kids and a dog.

Beyond the first impression there were two issues to consider, 1) the neighborhood is controlled by an HOA (home owners association), and 2) there is an easement through the south end of the property to a single home at the end of the road. After careful review and talking with the HOA president and a few neighbors, it was determined (and repeatedly stated) that the only reason for the HOA was to maintain the two miles of asphalt road that wound through the development. (The fee for this maintenance was $45 a month, for each property.) Review of the HOA documents revealed that excessive control was possible, although nothing else appeared to be enforced or in place. The easement, we decided, was something we could work with and would not be an issue.

Outside those two issues the home and property were great for a prepper! It is one mile from the nearest county road, six miles from the nearest small town, and 20 miles from the nearest mid-size city. It is heavily treed with wood heat; and there is a 160 acre wood lot to the north and a few acres of nature preserve on the east boundary. The only downside is there is no pasture or cleared land other than the yard and house area.

Six months later, through the trustee sale deferral and short sale process, we were first time home and property owners on an adventure with no idea how much we were going to learn.

Please join me in this multi-part series as I write about lessons we’ve learned from our first “homestead” property purchase; lessons that we will apply when we buy our next one.

Josh’s Bio:
Josh is a small business owner, in the greater Seattle area, focused on implementing open source software solutions (think Linux).  He grew up in Eastern Washington living several different places with a mother who moved around quite a bit. At 19 years old, Josh joined the Navy; he spent four years on a fast attack submarine stationed at Pearl Harbor, with visits across the Pacific Ocean. He now lives with his wife and three young kids in a rural development, where they have a garden, two dogs and 12 chickens.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

What We Did This Week To Prep 5/18/12

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The sunny warm spring weather, up here in the Northwest (it doesn’t normally happen this way), motivated Sarah to get some of the plants out of the greenhouse and into the ground this week. She didn’t do all of them, but she did transplant the several varieties of squash and the green beans. Hopefully, when the temperatures return back to our normal “temperate” levels the plants will be okay (it really doesn’t get, and stay, warm here until July); if temperatures get too cold we’ll cover up the young plants at night. Sarah also planted all the seeds into the garden. The tomatoes, and a couple of other things, are still in the greenhouse for a few more weeks. It’s also fun to see our perennials: raspberries, strawberries, lavender, asparagus, rhubarb, and some of the herbs that we planted last year coming back to life and growing again.

Sarah spent this week in Portland for a business trip; since I have Sunday and Monday off, I went down with her for a couple of days. We left early Sunday morning and drove all the way down to “meet” some prepper friends who we had previously only known through the internet. It was fun to meet and talk face to face. They recently bought a wonderful, river front, homestead in western Oregon. It was about a six-hour drive to get there; but OR is beautiful this time of year, we enjoyed the one on one time, and the drive passed quickly. We enjoyed seeing their new homestead in it’s raw form. It’s always easy to sit back and say when I get “mine” I’ll do this or I won’t do that, but once you’re actually there that gets tougher to do. They are actually doing it. They have an amazing vision for the property and are making plans to accomplish their goals. It’s too bad they don’t lived closer to us so we could help them more, but we wish them the very best in their endeavors! Seeing their property makes us want our own place even more.

The fish antibiotics arrived that I ordered last week. We ordered through a company called Aqua-Products. They had the best prices and their deliver was very quick. Even after all I’ve read and heard about fish antibiotics and human antibiotics being the exact same thing I still felt just slightly skeptical. As I had all these generic looking fish pill bottles sitting in front of me, I decided to open a bottle and look at the pills (I hadn’t actually done that before, not wanting to break the seal). The Aqua-Mox, which is amoxicillin 500 mg capsules, was red and pink with ‘WC 731’ written on both halves. I looked it up drugs.com Pill Identification Wizard, and it matched exactly with amoxicillin 500 mg. This unequivocally convinced me they are all the same, they all come from the same place, and the only difference is the label on the bottle.

What did you do?