The Ceiling...

Like I said, I find myself in some interesting situations.  My family and I live in a home built in 1894...needless to say she has her problems.  Lately we had the ceiling tiles in our living room give way to age and humidity.  One Saturday morning I walked out of my room to see the ceiling tiles sagging almost to the ceiling fan blades. Needless to say I was not planning on doing a home makeover on my only day off.  Anyways, party on!

So to start I took down the ceiling tiles.  (The thought was take down the tile and finish the drywall backing.)  Guess what...that didn't work out.  There were about 500 globs of what appeared to be the great great granddaddy of liquid nails.  That was not expected.  My next move, phone a friend.  My buddy (the engineer) said the open floor joist look is in right now.  "Have you ever thought of that?" he asked.  The truth is, yes, I have thought about it and the fact that it would take my half day job and add at least another day and a half to it was less than appealing.  I was not thrilled.   The decision was made though...by my wife!

Down it comes!

The job went quite a bit faster than I had originally planned.  The fact that my buddy came over, I'm sure, had nothing to do with it.

 The work progressed as you might expect.  If you have any experience rehabbing or doing demo work in an old house you have an earned appreciation for the job at hand.  I had already torn down the press board tiles which left us with just the drywall and a layer of plaster and lathe.  

The plan was to tarp the carpet and haul out the debris that was pulled down onto it.  The tarp, as usual, let me down.  When we pulled the debris out we found quite a nice pile of debris around the edges.  The carpet was destroyed.

Bad news for me...great news for my wife.  Ever since we installed our wood stove and found out we had hardwood floors hiding beneath the carpet my wife was bound and determined to find a way to get them.  In short she did.

 The job did have a couple of pretty unique surprises as well.  First of which was a "mummified" cat (I assume it crawled up from the basement and got lost) that was totally dried inside and out and didn't have a hair left on it.  Secondly, we found an old pint wide mouth milk bottle (pretty self-explanatory).  Lastly we found some pretty sweet "artifacts."  We found some old newspaper that dated back to the late 1800's as well as an amazingly well preserved letter from a gentleman in Germany asking the recipient for a job.  The letter was complete and even included the envelope with postage and postmarks from both Germany and America!

                                     
Moral of the story...if your wife suckers you into doing some "last minute home makeover" project...courteously oblige her and hope to find some cool stuff!

Firefighter/EMT/sur

As previously mentioned I am a Firefighter/EMT.  It is a job like none other!  It allows me to do some stuff most people would never think of doing.  However, I was not always a Firefighter/EMT.



Like most firefighters I started out in the EMS field.  I went to school through a local community college and took my national tests at a local private EMS provider.  The tests were scary and, like most, I was sure I failed.  By the grace of God, I passed.



While I was in school I was always looking for someone to let me take their blood pressure or some other practical skill  that I would be tested on.  This turned into my dad considering me "the go to guy" for anything (and I mean ANYTHING!) medically related.  It had it's ups and downs.



I was (and still am) the guy that got the call to do anything from fixing up boo-boos to removing stitches (with the Dr.'s permission of course) and (what I'm most notible for) removing foreign objects from fingers and hands.  I have removed everything from splinters and thorns to glass shards and even the occasional handful of snake teeth.



My most recent patient was of the four legged variety.  We caught a small eastern cottontail that was feasting on our tomatoes.  To my delight my wife called me and informed me of our catch.  Later she informed me that the bunny had a big bump on it's side.  Her best idea was maybe a broken rib or something.  After work I came home and went to check on what would be one of my smallest patients.  Immediately upon seeing the growth, my years of experience (and an episode of the T.V. show "Monster Inside Me") told me this was no growth, it was a larva of some wasp or fly.  The patient was wisked away to the O.R. and the operation commensed.  A few minutes later the patient was patched up and back in the recovery room ready for some well deserved R&R.

My most frequent patient was a Mr. Jon Tegg.  That's right folks, my little bro!  That guy got more splinters, thorns, and slivers in his hands than anyone I know.  I distinctly remember about 2-3 weeks before his 2nd stay in China we met up in the "O.R." three different times for probably 5-7 splinters.



Now that Jon and Annie are in China my call volume has drastically declined.  However to the delight of my family (and some close friends) I am still the resident Firefighter/EMT/Surgeon.

Involve your kids

If you have kids you know things that were once events have become processes.  Before when my wife and I wanted to go to the store we grabbed our keys and sunglasses and headed out the door.  Now that we have three kids we have to get the kids dressed and shoes on (which normally involves putting shoes on at least one kid twice), diaper bag packed and ready, your keys and shades, your wife's purse (which is difficult to tell apart from the diaper bag at times), load the kids up and buckle them all in their respective car seats, only to have to come back home because you both forgot your phones.  There is no way to avoid the chaos.  In a growing family you learn to embrace the new normality.

This simple fact makes chores you want or need to do almost impossible at times.  The struggle is you are trying to fight against a "formidable foe"...kids.  The trick is to make them want what you want.  Our kids made it so difficult to get anything done outside.  One of us was always trying to entertain them while one would try to get some work done.  This proved to be futile.  Our strategy needed to change.  Our plan of attack; encourage the kids to use their uncontainable energy and endless curiosity to learn (and help with) our chores.

Our kids have taken quite well to their new "ranch hand" title.  Our kids love doing things mommy and daddy do.  A little direction and a lot of positive reinforcement can go a long way.  Davey loves using his wheel barrel to help dad move some old straw from the chicken coop to the garden.  Lydia loves helping mommy feed the chickens and collect the eggs.  All of the sudden our biggest "little obstacles" have become some of our best helpers.

Our mindset as the parents needs to change.  We can no longer expect to get a full days work in with two people working.  It is crucial we realize on a good day we will only be about 75%.  75% is 100% better than the alternative outcome.  Progress, however, is not only measured in how much work you got done "on the farm" but, is also to be measured in how much your kids have learned about life.  Success is when your kid explains where her food came from and realizes that it was made possible through hard work and dedication.

The kids of today lack so much encouragement and positive reinforcement.  Incorporate your kids in your chores.  They love to learn and are excited to please you. Encourage them.  Show them you care and want them to be a part of your day to day activities.  It will make a world of difference.

Wood Stove Part 2

 The idea of having a wood stove is somewhat of a romantic idea.  Since the days of old man has had quite the relationship with fire.  Fire has done everything from provide us with heat to being used as a weapon.  Using fire to cook with has long since gone out of style but heating with wood has a strange timelessness about it.

The fact of the matter is having a wood burning stove is a lot like having a starving teenager with a very poor work ethic.  The stove demands constant feeding and provides you with warmth...and endless work.  The amount of wood a single stove can consume is astonishing.  Fuel consumption in this magnitude requires what seems at times to be a lumber operation to rival that of 84 lumber.

The costs behind the savings are something that need to be considered before you decide to jump head long into owning a wood stove.  Our setup cost us about $1200-$1400 to purchase (We did the install, so labor was free).  Splitting wood is another inconvenience to owning a wood stove.  When it comes to splitting you have two basic choices; do it by hand the old fashioned way, use a power splitter of some sort, or pay for wood.  Splitting wood by hand is quite the task and not very time effective and paying for someone else to do what you can do is not what I'm into.  However, a mechanical advantage for a physical job is quite welcome!

A log splitter is quite possibly the urban homesteader's best friend.  The price of a splitter can vary from about $100 for a simple hand jacked model to thousands of dollars for one that attaches to your bobcat (because we all have one of those!).  We found quite the deal on our splitter (used for $500).  The original purchase price is not the only price that comes with a splitter.  Just like a vehicle, a splitter needs fuel and maintenance.  Fuel for us is not a huge setback simply because we have a pretty efficient model.  However, we have a small hydraulic
leak.  The piston needs new seals.  That is a bit of an expense so for now we resort to topping off the oil as needed.

I hope this doesn't scare you off from owning a wood stove!  Now get outside and split some wood!

Why pay to heat your house?

Here we are in the freezing clutches of old man winter once again.  This winter, however, is different.  I have yet to turn on our heat!  Crazy right?  I know what you are thinking... "well, it sure must be nice to have one of those ultra-modern, high efficiency, eco-friendly, always 72 degrees, hippy houses!"  I hate to burst your bubble but my house was one of the first houses built in my neighborhood...way back in 1895!  That's right, my drafty old house has not used conventional heat all winter.

How is it even bearable to live in a old drafty house with no heat you ask?  Quite simple!  We are the proud new owners of a parlor style wood burning stove!  Our little stove was a bit pricey up front, but has totally offset our monthly heating bill.  Our stove typically keeps our house about 70-75 degrees.  Our Kitchen and bathroom are farthest away and both tile so they stay a bit cooler.

The hardest part of having a wood burning stove is feeding it.  The stove we have is one of the least efficient models due to the simplicity of it's construction.  Needless to say, we burn some wood!  Purchasing wood, even in bulk, would just shift our heating bill from the gas company to some guy who enjoys selling wood to suckers like us...  Sorry! Not going to happen.  Part of living like we do is finding mutually advantageous relationships to take part in.  One of these is with a local tree trimmer.  In order for him to make money on a job he has to pass the price of dumping the wood to the customer.  We approached him and suggested he dump his wood for free at my folks house.  He was quite glad to do so.  That's more money in his pocket, and a savings to his customers.

Next issue is hand splitting all that wood.  That is again simply overcome!  Craigslist!  We found an old log splitter for sale and with a bit of "creative bargaining" got it for a song.  Now when my dad gets a load of wood we have a family night (much like a Duck Dynasty style packing party) splitting wood and eating mama's delicious home cooking.

The installation of our stove is another example of a mutually advantageous relationship.  A friend of mine from church is an engineer and as he happily
states "enjoys cutting holes in other peoples' houses."  Luckily for me, that is exactly what I needed.  I did the prep work the night before and we had the stove in and ready for burning by the next night.

Why we do it

When I tell someone that we have a little farm they response is always the same; "Really?  Where?"  It has become a game to guess their response to my answer.  I live in a small suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.  The conversation usually goes one of two ways.  Either, "Wow! That's really cool!" or "You have a farm in the city?"  To my co-workers they lovingly refer to my place as the "city farm" and usually tell me I'm "Livin' Amish in the hood."

We find that living this way has had many advantages.  We enjoy being able to grow and raise our own food.  Growing and raising our food, while saving us money, is only one reason we do it.  I personally find that eating food we have grown tastes much better and strange as it might sound it makes you feel better.  Not only the fact that it is as close to organic as you can get without getting certified but, it keeps you busy.

Most people come home from work and eat some supper and veg out on the couch, but not me.  My days are pretty regular; work, supper, farm chores, put kids to bed, go to bed.  My days are full.  One would think all that work would make for long boring days.  False!  I love working on my little farm.  I get to see the tangible fruits of my labor!  I look forward to collecting all the veggies and milk and eggs at the end of the day and admiring it all over a big glass of mint tea from my own mint plant and sweetened with stevia from my garden.

While eating and drinking the "fruits of our labor" is nice we use the farm to teach our kids and sometimes the occasional neighborhood kid about how we get food and how much work it takes to get it to the table.  Recently we butchered some Cornish Crossover chickens we had raised from chicks and were able to have some family friends over to "partake in the festivities."  They were surprized at how much work is required to get a live chicken butchered, plucked, cleaned, and quartered.  They told me they were excited to learn and enjoyed their "time on the farm."

These, and many others, are skills that are dying off in our modern world.  Kids and adults alike are ignorant of some of the simplest skills it takes to produce food.  We believe the ability to provide ones own food is a skill and lifestyle that will pay off not only for us but for those around us.

The hidden resources

My brother and sister in law lived in China for about 10 months.  They recently returned to find a bit of a culture shock waiting for them.  My brother was telling me how efficiently the Chinese people utilize their land and other resources.  While living there he lived in an apartment on a college campus (he and his wife were teaching English as a second language on the campus).  He told me how the people that lived near them would plant herbs and small vegetables in the space between the sidewalk and the street.  How ingenious!

These stories made me start thinking about how I utilize the land and how I could do better.  I realized I was doing a lot more than I thought.

On a recent camping trip I got to talking with my dad about how most people who get lost in the woods and starve to death are usually surrounded by food.  I imagine if most of us found ourselves in the same situation we too would probably starve.  The vast majority of people today are totally clueless to the abundance of wild foods, even in their own neighborhood.

Most state and local parks are available for gathering everything from herbs to nuts and fruits.  Just a couple weeks ago I took the family to a local county park and noticed as we walked up to the playground a couple of girls using crab apples on their sand castles.  You should have heard the moms freak out about playing with poisonous berries.  Similarly we have a mulberry tree that is quite bushy not too far from my house.  My neighbor told me she wished the owner would cut down that eye sore.  Another example is a tree at work the guys all want cut down.  I objected...it's where I get my persimmons!

Another resource I utilize, as much as possible, is our local water ways.  Ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers are everywhere you look.  They are overflowing with all sorts of good food if you just know how to catch it.  Fishing is not for everyone and luckily pole and line is not the only way!  I have successfully used everything from pole and line on the banks of a farm pond to a trot line on the mighty Mississippi river.  Everything from crawdads to huge catfish are just waiting for their invite to dinner!  

 To sum things up, learn what you have around you and make the best of it!