Wonderful gentle soaking rains all day today.  I have done some baking, laundry, and kept a small fire going in the wood stove today- just enough to keep the chill off.  Today's high was only 42 which just felt raw after two weeks of near summer temps.
Just to let my followers know, there is also a Facebook page for SilverMoon Homestead now.  Eventually, I will just post just on that venue, as it reaches more people.  In the meantime, I will post on both.  It will be a slow weaning process.  Facebook not only reaches more people, but pictures are easier to load, and label there.  It is my hope that all of my followers here will go like the Silver Moon Homestead page and continue following on that sight.

After a couple weeks of freezing temps, finally the sun popped up and the temps zoomed into the 60's. In honor of the nice weather, several jobs on my to do list are being tackled.  There is always wood to cut, the cabin to clean.
 I managed to learn ho much fun it is to change a headlight bulb on the Dodge! Slightly over an hour, and a visit to Rick to help at the end, and I again have two working headlights.
There was a meeting today with like minded folks who are into tiny homes.  It was interestin to hear all the different ideas.

It has been a very long and cold week!  Keeping the wood stove going, backing up with propane as needed.  My pond has a welcome visitor.  I appear to have a young blue heron visiting. He/she has been on the far side of the pond the last couple days, flying away when I approach.  I haven't gotten a picture yet.  I am torn between continuing to try, and knowing if left alone it may stay.  I elect to intrude only when absolutely necessary.
Thursday was the coldest day, started at 3 degrees with wind chill of minus 11. It only made it into the teens.  The weather man has promised 50's in another week, but until then we will continue to have freeze temps.  Ice and snow are in the forecast this week, and I hope for no snow days at the school where I teach.
 Try to stay warm!  The pond is slushy frozen,

Happy New Years!  As I welcome in 2015, I make resolutions.  Before starting on my homestead these would have been the typical:  get fit, maybe join a gym, make better financial decisions, etc.  As I begin the second half of my first year on my homestead, getting fit is as easy as cutting wood for the stove, working in the garden, etc.  My homestead is my gym.  Better financial decisions are an ongoing venture for every American these days as we slowly climb off that big bad depression that was disguised as a recession. 

I continue to work on my skills to become a better partner with my land. In 2014, I learned how to pull wires, and fully wired my cabin.  I learned plumbing.  I learned about (and love) composting toilets.  I still would like to learn welding, to put in a storm shelter, to put in a root cellar (though I think one shelter could do double duty there.  Don't be afraid to try.  What I am finding is there is always a retired person who knows how and is willing to share their knowledge. Failing that there are many YouTube videos that show every detail. 

 I would encourage those of my followers to step up and jump in.  It is possible (though harder) to get on a homestead and build it to be what you need it to become with little money.    Many people I talk with state they wish they could afford this venture.  To those I state, if you wait you may never get here.  Our country is failing, it is no longer the superpower I knew it to be in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  As a baby boomer, I have more chance to live longer, so beginning my venture in my late 50's means I only have maybe 40 more years to get this right.  I want to be established to live as self sufficiently as possible before our economy crashes again, perhaps worse than the last time. Yes, I have to have a full time job off the homestead, and I am slowly building to an off-grid lifestyle.  At this time, I am definitely on grid.  I like electricity, and am not financially wealthy enough to buy $10,000 dollars worth of solar panels, batteries, etc.  I buy a panel at a time, and a battery at a time, and will slowly build up to a full system. 

I will be adding chickens and perhaps cattle this year.  It is my dream to own a couple of Irish Dexter cows  and I have just the pasture for them.  Building the coop and fencing in the pasture are two projects that will commence soon! 

My wish for you this year, 2015, is to follow your dreams!  Find that piece of land, begin building to where you wish to be in ten years.  Be responsible, but definitely get started.  Let this year be the year of beginnings!  In the meantime, stay warm, dream over the seed catalogs, and stay tuned for the new projects here on the homestead.  Happy New Years from Barb and Boo on Silver Moon Homestead, May the Lord we serve richly bless you and yours and prosper you abundantly this coming year! 

Good morning from Silver Moon Homestead!
     Here on the homestead an artic blast is blowing in, with temperatures blasting down into the teens for overnight lows, and highs only in the 20's.  My first real winter in 15 years.  I am busy this morning, making sure enough wood is brought in or on the porch for easy access.  I have a pot of beef stew in the crockpot, and plan on baking later today.
If you have animals ( I am adding those in the spring) make sure you have added a heater to the water troughs, adding straw to the floor of the chicken coop, and make sure the animals have access to warm shelter, out of the wind.
   Over Christmas, I traveled, and made sure to visit family and friends both coming and going.  After all of the visiting, however, I was very glad to get home to the quiet of my cabin.  There is a new member here on the homestead.  A cat has adopted me.  She is a rescue, coming out of a home that was severely overpopulated and consequently this cat was given up because she hissed, and offered to bite.  There apparently werre several small children in the home, and this cat is very shy.  She hid for the first week, but has developed into a very loving kitty that loves to play, yet will come when called, and is willing to cuddle in the evenings.  Though when I go to bed, she definitely does not! LOL.  I slightly changed her original name, BooBoo to just Boo...since she still races to hide when someone visits, or knocks on the door.
    This has been an interesting first half of the year on my homestead.  I look forward to getting through winter, into spring and my first spring garden. Remember last summer, I was too late to plant much.  I am working on finding regional heirloom varieties to grow.  I hope you will continue to visit this blog, and even give input where you can.  My prayer is for a wonderful blessed new year for you and your families!  See you next year!

Christmas decorating is in full swing here on my homestead this weekend.  I have mini lights and a wreath on the door and porch, and a table top size tree on the dresser!  I have decided I really need to get a storage shed either here or in town since I have extra supplies just stacked in corners, and it makes rearranging furniture for things like tiling the floor hard to maneuver.  This place is coming together, and with every project completed looks less like a construction zone and more like a house!
Can't wait for Christmas break!  Only 5 more days!  I think this is where the decorating bug bit me!

Hope all my followers have warm fire, great goodies, and warm homes on this season of Joy!  MerryChristmas from Silver Moon Homestead!

Last year when this was all still a dream, I saw a fellow blogger who listed a bunch of skills to learn if you didn't already know how to accomplish them.  I knew several on her list but there were plenty that I did not know how to do. Installing a wood stove is a skill I have added to my skill set in recent days.
I knew electric heat would not be able to be my sole means of heat even in my tiny cabin.  All the locals have warned me that in most storms, especially in the winter the electric can go out and be out for 3-4 days at a time.  They advised me to get. A generator, but I don't want to be faced with going to work and leaving a generator going, or coming home to a cold cabin at night.  Earlier this summer, I posted about finding an older wood heat stove.  Two weeks ago, I decided it was time to install it.  I made sure I had a tall friend to help and give advice if I needed clarificationn.
First thing was to decide where I wanted the stove to go.  I ended up putting it in a back corner where a fan could help direct the warm air to the rest of the cabin.  Once that decision was made, I went and purchased the necessary supplies to finish the job.  It took four two foot lengths of stove pipe, then a wall thimble, a chimney cap, and a couple of ninety degree angles.  I found two that were able to rotate, which made attaching them to the connecting stove pipe sections much easier.  After a dry run of making sure it all fit, I measured six foot up the wall and traced around the bell of the wall thimble. This is a double insulated piece that protects  pipe from wall and vice versa as it passes through to the outside.  After tracing the bell, I got a tall friend to use his sawzall to cut the opening through the wall to the outside.  I had purposely not insulated or sheet rocked this section yet to make it less to cut through.  Once the opening was established, I found it easy to slide the thimble through, then run out side and attach the other collar to secure to to the wall.  Finally it was a matter of lining up and connecting sections, to the ninetys, rotating them and then passing pipe through to the outside.  Once outside, remember that you need to stabilize the pipe so it stays about 3 ft from the side wall, has a way for the pipe to dissipate the heat, and make your stack 3 foot taller than the nearest roof peak.  For me that meant taking a engineered piece that the pipe rests against, with openngsnin the side to let the heat bleed off quickly, and keep the house from getting a hot wall on the outside.  Lastly, the whole contraption is secured with cables,and plumbing strapping to secure the pipes from swaying in the Oklahoma wind.  I have had a couple fires built on cool nights now, and it draws well. My house doesn't need the electric heaters running non stop, and I love the smell of soup cooking on the wood stove!  Having a reliable source of heat allows me to enjoy the snowy evenings, and any storm that blows through this winter.