Raised bed ideas

Scott and I have been planning on making some raised beds for our garden this year. We went over a few ideas of what materials to use. Railroad ties, corrugated fiberglass sheets, treated lumber, scrap lumber, etc. First off, let me say that Scott doesn't want to be bending down to pick weeds, so if we have to make 4ft tall raised beds in order for him to share the weeding burdens, let us build a wall!!! So price wise, the RR ties and fiberglass sheets were approximately the same. About $100 for a bed measuring 4' tall and 4'x8' in dimensions. We want something that isn't going to basically rot in a few years. But being that we are still working on the downstairs of our house, we need to save where we can. So we figured we could build a bed out of scrap lumber now, and make it slightly smaller so in a few years, when it begins to rot away, we can just build one out of RR ties around it and not have to deal with the mess. The lumber will basically compost into the garden. Not a terrible idea, hopefully it pans out for us! :) Pictures to come.

Rain barrel and compost pictures

Compost #2

Our second compost bin I was most excited about! I have done a vermi-compost bin previously, but Scott hasn't. This time I did it as a homemade bin instead of buying one.  (The cost is in red)

Materials:
two rubbermaid totes from big brother wal-mart. $0 from around the house after our big move
some found wood $0 we are renovating after all
worm bedding and food--more on that later $0 actually I'd count this as a positive since we'd normally just throw this away
Red Wigglers (The WORMS) $20 for 1/2 lb. we opted to buy local instead of online so it was more expensive

Tools:
cordless drill with 1/8" and 1/4" bits

Step One--Drilling:
Basically you take one tote (well call it tote A), and drill air holes in the lid and top few inches it using the 1/8" bit. (I did this on the grass so it was easier to hold and drill right into the ground and out)
Then, in the same tote (tote A), you drill 1/4" holes in the bottom for drainage.
Volia!

Step Two--Assembly:
Place the found wood in the bottom of Tote B so when you place Tote A inside of it, it sits on the wood and is slightly raised from the bottom of Tote B.

Now your worm bin is complete!

Step Three--Create your wormy environment!
Worms love dark, moist places (insert joke here). The three things that are the most important for you worms are bedding, food, and moisture. I have done lots of research and also from my own experience, have come up with a decent list of the must-haves and don't you even think about its!

Must haves:
    Bedding: dried leaves, shredded newspapers-soaked in water and wrung out, dryer lint, sawdust, cardboard-soaked and dripped out a bit, etc.
     Food: veggie/fruit peelings/cores/etc, egg shells, stale bread/crackers/grain cereals/etc, coffee grounds and filters.
     Moisture: keep your bin out of the sun if you can, if you notice your bin is getting dry, dig deep and see how the bottom looks, but seriously, think like a worm! If you need to water your bin a bit, do it! Especially when you are first starting out, and when its really hot and sunny out!

Don't you even think about it!
No meat or dairy in your worm bin...just imagine smelly old milk and old chicken fat! (i think i just threw up a little)...
also stay away from citrus fruits, I have noticed it is harsh on the little guys and takes longer for them to break it down.

well there you have it! the skeleton of a worm bin!--just add your worms! (Red worms are the best)

Words of Caution:
If your worm bin is getting a little smelly, hold off on the food scraps for awhile. Let your little wrigglers catch up. 

Worms will multiply so feel free to start off small. They especially love egg shells to help that along! ;) 

Collection:
To collect your "Black Gold" as they say, you can harvest your wormy castings in a few different ways. Ive only done it by dumping and sifting, Although I'm anxious to try the ingenious sunlight method (duh!) open the bin on a sunny day and expose the bin to direct sun light (You can also use lamp if you wish) the worms will migrate to the bottom of the bin and you can scrape all the delicious ew... all the awesome compost!

Not a bad way to use up your food scraps and get one of the best composts/fertilizers around!!! All for 20 bucks!!

Compost #1

Besides the rain barrel, we also have made a 2 stalled compost bin from found lumber at our house! (photos to follow) We still plan to add a divider, and gates on the front, as well as prime and paint it since it isn't treated lumber. But its doing its job for now! What a great adventure! I can't wait for some steamy fresh compost for my gardens!!!

Measurements:
4' x 8'
each stall is approximately 4' x 4'

Our Rain Barrel

So far this year we have made giant strides in way of urban farming! Our biggest accomplishments have been in the past few weeks. I will post the pictures from my phone in the next post. We added a rain gutter to the side of the garage (where there was none previously). We go to Habitat ReStore as often as we can, besides getting amazing deals on building supplies, our purchases always go toward the Habitat for Humanity Project! Anyways, I'm off topic already...
We went to the ReStore to get our rain gutter, and connector pieces, clips, etc. I think we ended up paying $12 for 28ft of gutter and all our accessories! SWEET!! So we installed it all, and put up a rain chain I received as a gift a few christmas' ago and never had my own house to put it up on :). We also snagged an old chemical barrel from Scott's parent's farm and it all came together! I love it! We may even make another up front! Not bad for $12! and free watering!!! w00t!

The day started out as any other...

So there I was... ok, ok, just kidding. I am starting this blog to document my attempts at all things homesteading.

 First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Nikky, and I have always loved to garden, bake, cook, sew, craft, etc. It is who I am. My best friend, Billie, once told me that someday I will make a lucky guy very very happy with all my "Susie  homemaker qualities". And so I have... We were married October 2011. His name is Scott, he has been a farmer all of his life. He currently has his own dairy farm and milks 40+ girls twice a day. All my life I never thought I'd marry a farmer, but now that I think of it, it totally fits with who I am.

Let me first mention that we do not live on the farm. We renovated Scott's ancestor's house in our hometown. A small town of about 10,000? We are currently living in the upper unit while we are finishing the lower. We have a great sized front yard, the back yard is decent, but awkward. There are trees all over this beautiful city, and it is rich in history. I love this house, and the small chunk of land we live on. 

A few drawbacks: 1. We live on the corner lot, therefore we have no privacy. 2.Our lot shape is similar to a parallelogram if you will. But it gets narrower at the rear (haha) 3. There is the beautiful ancient tree across the street, and as much as I revel in it's beauty, it shades my entire front lawn. (make way for moss, clumpy grass, and tons of lily of the valley) don't get me wrong, I'm sure in the summer I'll be lovin' the shade, but it just sucks garden-wise. We are limited to the side yard and a portion of the backyard.

I feel like that's the worst of it all. So, I suppose it could be terribly worse! We have some great neighbors, and some iffy ones, and ones that we make up crazy stories about when we are at the breakfast table :)

So there it is...my first post as Growin' Gaia--Urban Homesteader!

Green Blessings! ~Nikky