Bear here...

When we were "pond rookies" we were warned to NOT GET DUCK WEED!  It will spread, take over a small pond, and you will never get rid of it. I didn't listen. I actually put a little in with the pond plants we bought. I was D U M B ... dumb.  That stuff spread and sometimes our pond looks more like a swamp with no water.  Below are some pictures...

NOT the look we were going for. You can see below the dark green pile we cleaned out. Within 48 hours the pond looked the same as above.  It's good cover for tadpoles but it sucks to view them.

My simple advice is avoid duckweed if you can. Although... I have heard you can eat duckweed... ? ...  Perhaps Theresa and I may try to grow some inside by our windows this winter and see how it tastes. 

A note from Theresa: Duckweed isn't all bad.  Although Bear is against duckweed because it blocks our view of the tadpoles and some wildlife, I have read that the pond needs to be 3/4 covered with plants or the water will get warm enough to get algae blooms that kill oxygenator plants under the surface. That can hurt the ecosystem of a small natural pond. The duckweed keeps the water cool in the hot weeks before other plants can grow. And yes, my books say you can eat it...

... From Bear...

And now you see why Theresa is the brains of this outfit.  Be careful when you clean out the duckweed.

​Type at you later... 

Bear here... 

Last year we did an E-book to be sold in an E-bundle (cover below). It did pretty well. So well that Theresa and I thought you would like a chance to get it in paperback. 

As you can see, Theresa, Mist, and Rue  (pictured below) are hard at work reformatting the E-book to paperback so we can sell it through our website.  I am pretty sure they will be asking for my help soon.

Since we have noticed there is a lot of interest in our Wood Burning Stove pages we have decided to make a book on what you can do with your wood burning stove, hopefully before Fall. I am guessing I get to help more with that book because the cats can't cook and you need thumbs for the other wood stove stuff.  Just sayen...

Type at ya later...

​

Bear here...

Two weeks ago we had a snow storm, last week it was in the 70's. Spring weather is getting weirder  every year. With Spring comes Spring cleaning, time to get the Yarden cleaned and ready for the growing season. Theresa had a week off work to get some plants in and with a little help from me get things cleaned.  Here are some stories and photos of what we got done.

First thing was to move the compost bin to a better location in the shade, to free up more space for sun loving plants. Sounds easy right? (In the LEFT picture notice all the ground Theresa had to rake and clean before we could move the bin.) The  bin is about 8 feet long by 4 feet deep, not built to move, and was 3/4 full of compost. We had to rock it loose then pull it over on its front just to get it where we could get a grip on it. (Notice that nice compost in the RIGHT picture?)

As you can see in the BOTTOM LEFT picture, the middle wall is only attached in the back. We needed to call a friend to help move the compost bin without tearing it apart. When it was positioned we realized we needed to put bricks under the corners to get it level. See how nice it looks in the BOTTOM RIGHT picture. Project 1 was done. This area of the yard was our last area to get to arrange the way we wanted it. Nature gets Her way with the wild raspberrie vines and we get to put a path in so we can get to the raspberries. Theresa did most of the work on getting those stone pavers level. (REALLY SPELL CHECK? PAVE IS GOOD AND PAVERS  IS WRONG? ... but, I digress...) 

... Oh, the stone path. She had to dig up ground, put sand down to level them, then position the stones. (You can see her working in the LOWER LEFT picture. That picture also shows the two black currant bushes she planted the day before). In the LOWER RIGHT picture you can see the work paid off. She also planted around 11 grass plants (she says it's Pennsylvania sedge) that will be ground cover that we won't have to mow or weed whack. She also planted a lot of ramps by the fence of catio 2.

Just to let you see the big difference in one area of our yard. LOWER LEFT is what we started with. Lots to clean up and the cats in the background saying "to heck with that, let us over to catio 2". LOWER RIGHT is the compost that was sitting in our compost bin. She got to use it while planting this week. 

Another thing we did was a lot of raking. LOWER LEFT you see we raked old straw and walnuts out of catio 1 before putting new straw in. LOWER RIGHT you can see Frost telling us "Good job" or "About time",  I'm not sure which. Surprisingly I'm not good at cat speak yet.

As you will see from the pictures BELOW raking is a little different at Our Tiny Homestead. First, we only rake in the Spring. The leaves don't hurt a Yarden, they help it grow. We rake them off the paths and "fluff" then a little around the areas where we see plants coming up, so the plants can get through. The leaves make great mulch and feed the plants, so why remove all of them? LOWER LEFT Shows some large piles of leaves are "artistic ambiance" as well as shelter for the smaller critters. 

Last but not least I got a new toy, a Chainsaw on a Stick! LOWER LEFT you can tell I like it. LOWER RIGHT- proof that I used It.

No way Theresa was going to take pictures while I was using THAT to trim our trees so I can only show you the after photos. LOWER LEFT is a branch we are using as a path border and LOWER RIGHT are some limbs that may be used as future yard art.

Lots more to do...

 Type at Ya later...

Bear here...  

Theresa and I decided to get a lounger for the catio this year.  We got a cheap one that fit our needs and budget.  We also found out they didn't send all the parts, so I had to improvise.

Not many parts, right? Ivy and I can handle it. By the look on her face she knew something was wrong and that I would figure it out soon enough...

,After a couple hours using small tools on lock nut screws with my big hands and cussing a little, the thing got put together. (For the record I DID read the manual that wasn't very helpful and I DID know one part was missing and I still put it together.) Can you see what's missing?

Yep, the center brace. Without that there was no way this thing was going to hold me or Theresa and it could have taken weeks to get the part. Time to breakout some 2 X 4's, some screws, some wire, and the saw. I improvised some basic braces...

I used the wire to attach them so they wouldn't move if we moved the lounger. Looks stunning don' ya think?

... And now for the stress test.  Yep, feels pretty good, no waiting for napping...

This was Frost in catio 1 saying that he so could have helped me do it faster... oh well...

​Type at ya later...

Bear here... 

This blog is about positive reinforcement working with the Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC).   
Theresa is a genius when it comes to motivating me to do positive stuff. I"m calling it the TICK AGENDA.

The idea is to recognize all the work we do on a daily basis and get a small reward for that work. She made a list of chores we do each day (I have added to this list) and when done we get a tick on the sheet. Each tick is worth 10 cents. Like I said a SMALL reward. That money can go to whatever we want. It is a positive cash flow for the BNC. We do the work most days so we deserve a little compensation. It is also meant to be fun, kinda a let's see what I can do type of thing. Here are a few ways to earn TICKS:

• start fire 1 tick,  maintain fire 1 tick a night
• clean litter boxes  1 tick per box
• garbage out and replace bag 1 tick
• make bed 1 tick
• feed cats 1 tick
• pickup and clean cat bowls 1 tick
• fill cat water bowl 1 tick
• load of laundry 1 tick,   put laundry away another tick
• get mail 1 tick,  organize mail another tick
• Dishes 1 tick , dishes away another tick. (Here is where she gets tricky. She wants me to do my dishes every night, I tend to wait 3 or 4 days and do them in a large group. Doing it my way I get 20 to 40 cents, doing it her way I get 70 cents to $1.40. Like I said she"s a sneaky genius...)
• driving when we go out 1 tick there 1 tick back.
• setting up appointments 1 tick
• cooking dinner 1 tick
• cleaning can get you several ticks
• etc...  what do you do that you would like a little recognition for?
• I get a tick for blogging and promoting our website (easy money ). Theresa just informed me she gets a tick for editing, with my English skills, I feel that is a fair tick.

Hope this gives ya something to think about.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here....

I kid you not!  Currently here in Wisconsin it is 11 degrees and snowing. I am feeding goldfish food to the tadpoles in our pond! They are "huge" and still swimming around. Usually they hibernate or turn to frogs before winter, this is the first time we have seen them swimming past September.  I thought you would like to see them...

Here is a big one hanging out by the pond heater. We use the heater to keep the pond from freezing over so any critters hibernating under water don't suffocate and so the birds have a place to drink.

Here comes some of his buddies to enjoy the warmth...

This is me showing I need more work on becoming a good photographer. You can still see three tadpoles above the camera's shadow....

Here is a shot with 6 of them. Can you find them all?

I believe we have at least 20 to 50 or more tadpoles still active. I think they eat the duckweed and algae. If they don"t have enough food they start to eat each other. that's why we have started putting fish food in the pond for them. If anyone knows what would be better for them let us know.

I am practicing my camera skills and will hopefully get shots of them being frogs and leaving the pond in the spring. It"s cool we get to experience new wild things every season here.  Just sayen...

​Type at ya later...

Scottish money- We found it really easy to get in the habit of spending it!

Bear here with the last blog of the year...

IT'S BAAAACK !  The Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC) is almost ready for the new year.  Why?

• Our trip to Scotland affected our spending habits for the worse. We didn't worry about what we spent because we were on vacation, but we kept going when we returned. It is easy to keep spending once you get in the habit of it.
• By going back on the Challenge we will curb our impulse buying and keep track of what we spend money on. Could it be possible to live on only one of our incomes?
• Does spending more affect the quality of our lives? (A new bed, meditation classes, and Master Naturalist training improved Theresa's. Spending more on food at work just increased my belly {by 30+ lbs} definatly not a life improvement!)
• I have a boss who STILL is amazed that my allowance in previous Challenges was 50 cents a day for food at work. Due to inflation this year I will get $3 a week, which is still less than 75 cents a day.
• We have spent a lot on going out to dinner and getting groceries (Theresa says $1000 a month for the last three months!). That is the biggest part of our spending and by paying attention we can curb that and save some cash.

Theresa and I are working on the 2018 page to go with BNC 2014 and 2015. It will have this year's guidelines and results. Hope ya stay interested. 

By the way... Taking advantage of our last chance to order out for pizza tonight.... Ironic, isn't it?

​Type at ya in the New year...

Bear here... 

You may have heard that we are writing a book about our experiences using our wood burning stove.  One of the main things people seem interested in is using it for cooking. Can you use a small wood stove to cook a big meal? Yes you can! (With good planning.) We proved it this Thanksgiving. Here is some of what we did...

The day before, cooking pumpkin for pie...

Multi-tasking: boiling eggs (for Theresa's Deviled Eggs) while keeping our smallest cat warm...

If your pots are small enough you can multi-cook too...

Thanksgiving day, multi-cooking the corn, the potatoes, and the garlic cream that goes into the potatoes...

Remember that pumpkin for the pie?

Yep, we gave our wood burning stove the bird...

... and we didn't forget the gravy!

Dinner is ready- Time to eat!

Yes, it is ironic that the last photo is on the electric stove that we didn't use all day, but it had enough space to hold all the cooked food so we could take a photo for you!

Hope all your Thanksgiving meals went well.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here... 

Looking at our sunchoke page I noticed there is a useful part of the plant we neglected to mention- the dried stalks. They're not  just for compost anymore!

Sunchokes can be harvested in the Fall or Spring. The tall dried stalks (they're even taller than me) need to be pulled to get to the tubers. During the Winter the stalks we leave behind the bird feeders create a bit of a windbreak and give the birds more places to land.

In past years we've thrown the stalks into our compost bin or added them to our birdie condo, which is the pile of branches and sticks in the photo below. Many birds shelter there in the Winter.

The compost can only hold so many, and Theresa didn't like the way they looked on the bird condo (too straight), so what do we do with the leftover stalks?

We decided to break them up like this...

For kindling to make this...

Yep... It's a great example of using all the resources we have. We only need a handful or two for some great kindling to start the fire in our wood burning stove! 

Speaking of our stove... we'd like to thank everyone for making the wood stove section on our site the most viewed pages. We're getting so many hits that we have started writing a book about our experiences with the many uses of our wood burning stove.

Side note: We're also interested in what you would like to see in the book, so add a comment or send us an email with your suggestions.

Type at ya later...

I decided we could chop them up and put them in my homemade coleslaw, in place of the pickle relish I usually add. I had to use about nine beans before we could taste the flavor. It was yummy.

.Bear, who is famous (at least with me) for his cheese sandwiches, realized that everything goes good with melted cheese, so added them to a perfectly toasted mozzarella and pickled bean sandwich.
(Bear here...  It's always perfect when no one is watching. Why couldn't I do this in the Grilled Cheese Championship?) The spicy beans paired well with the plain cheese to give the sandwich a little kick.

Then we took the coleslaw and added it with some chunks of smoked salmon to a couple wraps. Unfortunately, I tried to fill them way too full, so Bear wasn't able to use his professional burrito wrapping skills- the wraps mostly fell apart, but they were still edible.

So that is how we figured out how to not waste food. A little creative cooking made use of a flavor that we didn't think we liked, but found out we did. It's a good skill to cultivate, because some day we might not be able to go to the store and simply buy different food. And I like not being part of that statistic that says Americans throw away 40% of their food.