a typical bi-polar Ohio River Valley weather day
7:30 a.m.  grey skies, looked like rain.  8:00 a.m., sunny.  Had to pull out my sun glasses while driving.  8:15 a.m., no sun.  9:30 a.m., sun streamed through the windows of Congregation #1 as I preached the sermon.   10:00 a.m., no sun.  Looked like rain.  

Went by Wildbranch following worship at Congregation #2 and it was mud city.  2.5 inches of rain last week will keep the builder away until the end of the week and that's assuming no more rain.  Forecast says more rain tonight.  We need it, but still!  Monday was supposed to be the day work began on the road and excavation for the basement.  Getting antsy and ready to go.  

Snapped a few photos, looking for evidence of spring.  Slim pickings.  Too wet to sit and meditate, so blessed the land and made a quick retreat back to Louisville and a nap!

chainsaws and goddesses

O.K.  decided the chainsaw was probably not my thing.  Hubby purchased a new one and he tried it out today on the property. I tried it.  I don't like it.  I'm paying people to take down trees lol.  On the other hand, my role may be better served as "wood goddess." 

It was a fun day at Wildbranch.  All sorts of interesting things are beginning to green up, plants I do not have the names for so I am definitely going to have to get a plant book for indigenous plants of the area.  Met with Bill "the builder" to go over some details regarding the basement and to talk about what trees needed to come down.  I will link you to his website once he finishes it.  So far he has been a considerate and thorough guy and I'm looking forward to working with him and his dad "Bob the builder."  You heard it right—Bob "The Builder,"  haha.  Bill said if the weather permits, they will begin next week to build the road and dig the basement.

Also received in the mail today a fat envelope from the REMC (local electric company), with a bunch of paperwork to fill out and a request for a check for $2K—far less than I had first imagined for putting in the electric in an undeveloped area.  So finally!  Things are beginning to move and I'm getting excited.

staked

I was so excited this past weekend to discover that the builder had staked the entrance to the driveway.  This is not only progress, but it brings with it VERY good news.  Bill, the builder,  said he anticipates getting the health department permit today, the driveway permit Wednesday and the building permit by the end of this week and I think then, I will get an actual address assigned for this property.  Once these things happen, weather permitting, the builder will be ready to have the basement dug.


WOOT X 1000!  [Imagine a slightly dumpy middle age woman dancing a jig while similtaneously doing the wave and that would cover my degree of excitement.]

Yesterday,  one of the members at congregation #1 shared news of her new flock of chickens.  She subscribes to a cool magazine called Mary Janes Farm and a couple of years ago she passed along a couple of copies.  I went to their web site this morning and ordered my own subscription and signed onto one of their forums.  My user name is dirtangel (just in case you see me there).  Check out their web site and the stuff they do to not only support sustainable ag and organic farming, but the focus of their entire organization is women farmers.  http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

dirt angels and guard donkeys


I can hardly wait for Sunday to arrive each week.  Not only because I adore my parishioners, but following worship I am driven to drive to Wildbranch just to see it and pinch myself that it is really my space.  I am so grateful to have it.  There was a time when I was a poor struggling single parent working my way through under grad and I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to hold on to the house where I was living at the time.  I was afraid I'd be homeless.  So having this space is important to me, plus it makes me feel like a kid.  Remember making snow angels when you were a kid?   Well, I want to make dirt angels!  Whenever I walk around the property I stifle an urge to plop down in the leaves and move my arms and legs in the leaves like you would in the snow making a snow angel.  Do you remember the wild freedom you felt when you did that as a kid!

Having this place of my own is also stretching my brain and making me humble.  I am having to learn to truly trust the wisdom of others since I really am Lisa from Green Acres.  I'd like to have animals on the place but since I won't be able to live there full-time, I need advice--lots and lots of advice.  A former class mate, Linda Lampka suggested I get a Guard Donkey if I wanted to have sheep, alpaca's or any other live stock at Wildbranch.  I thought she was joking until I googled it.  It's for REAL!   I've now had this confirmed by numerous local people.  So it looks like I might be in the market for a good Guard Donkey.  If you have a resource for this, let me know.

Guard donkeys.  Dirt Angels.  If someone would have suggested either of these things to me even a year ago, I would have laughed at them.  But then again, I never thought I'd be a preacher either.   God get's the last laugh—always.

sunset @ Wildbranch

A long day today.  First, part two of a workshop on forgiveness from 9-2:30.  Then home for a 20 minute power nap and off to Valley City Presbyterian Church (congregation #2) for their annual chili supper.  Stuffed my face with yummy food, including a chili dog which I hadn't eaten in about 12 years.  Finally got over to Wildbranch in time to watch the sun set.  Is it possible to be in love with a place?  If so, I am.  So, this is my  mid-life crisis? 

The Psalmist writes You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.  Amen. And Amen.  And Amen.

what do they grow in Texas?

What ever they grow down there, I'm sure it will be bigger and better--at least if you ask a Texan.  My good friends, Jean and John, are relocating to their Texas homeland in a few weeks.  They were down-sized by the Presbyterian Church USA last year--one of the most prolific down-sizers in the Nation.  O.K. I have no statistics to support this--I'm just bitter at the seemingly total lack of direction and common sense at the Pharisaic level of my denomination.  Jesus was right to go after the Pharisees, the status quo and other evil- doers who were intent upon spewing toxic and noxious weeds all over God's mighty and beautiful kingdom.  Absolutely nothing can grow when their hands are at the end of a hoe.  Forget about bigger and better.

At any rate, as all good gardeners do, my friends are thankful that even though their crops failed here in Kentucky, God has given them another chance to plant something new in freshly tilled soil in their native land in beautiful Hill Country Texas.  They are thankful to God that they were able to sell their house in Kentucky, find work (not easy when you are over the age of 50) and find a delightful farm style house on three acres with a windmill no less and several out buildings.   I'm of course jealous and coveting their windmill, since I am a rabid proponent of using wind power as the chief means of supplying all our future energy needs, weaning us from our middle eastern oil gluttony and thereby saving the environment!

Jean and I have logged a mighty number of hours in local Kentucky (and Indiana) garden supply centers and green houses.  We've dropped a sizable chuck of change into the local economy buying plants and garden tchotchke.  We've shared plants and landscaping tips.  We've shared advice on how to manipulate our husbands into doing the heavy work, too.  I am truly gonna miss her and John.  Texas is a long way to go to share pass-along plants, but not out of the question either.  I'm looking forward to a trip down to Texas in the spring to see the famed Blue Bells and hope to bring some back and try to get them to grow here.   

Many blessings John and Jean, the best thing from Texas I know.  And happy growing in your new place.

i dig therefore I am

Booker, my grandson, has joined me for another fun day and he’s feeling better.  But even though he’s no longer running a temperature and it’s warm, it’s very windy—too windy to cut back ornamental grasses and such.  Booker came prepared though.   He’s wearing his “I Dig Grandma” t-shirt.  So now I have no choice but to go to Target and buy him his very first set of kid-sized gardening tools.   Yeah, I know 8 months is a little young, but by next spring he will be good to go.  And we will plant sunflower seeds in a circle and when they are grown tall, we will form them into a Sunflower  house or Morning Glory tepee.  http://www.maeoe.org/habitat/projects/sunflower.php

In the event Booker turns out not to be a gardening/farmer boy, can one of you loan me one of your grand kids to be my gardening buddy?  I’m gonna be, of course, whatever kind of buddy Booker needs me to be.

my lord what a morning!
It is beautiful today and I'm chomping at the bit to drive over to Wildbranch.  But I'm babysitting my grandson Booker, who is sick today.  So I will have to entertain myself with fantasies of walking the land, and dreaming of planting stuff!  I'm at Booker's house or I'd at least be outside at my house starting clean-up.  The ornamental grasses, Russian Sage, and Butterfly bushes need to be cut back.  I like to rake back fallen leaves away from the tulip, snow drop and jonquil bulbs.  It's supposed to be 70 tomorrow.  Let's hope I get my sermon finished tonight and that tomorrow when I babysit Booker again, he will be well enough to join me outside!

alpacas, fainting goats and frizzled chickens—oh my!

I'm fairly certain that if I could live at Wildbranch 24/7 I would be like Dr. Doolittle on crack.  I'd have more rescued dogs than most dog-loving friends who seem to have on average 6 at any one time—and in the house.  I'd have more cats than the Cat Lady who used to live down the street from us and she had 85!  I'd become the queen of all animal hoarders.  You can stuff a heck of a lot of animals on 15 acres.   I do have my preferences, though;  Alpacas, fainting goats and frizzled chickens.  Here's why:

Alpaca's are sweet natured, cuddly and their fleece can be spun and used for knitting.  And if you needed more reasons than these—

• Alpacas are safe, small and easy to handle.
• Alpacas are beautiful animals and come in 22 colors.
• Alpacas do not require special foods or sheltering.
• Alpacas are useful, they provide valuable fleece.
• Alpacas have an enduring quality of strength and toughness,
  considered disease-resistant.
• Alpacas have a relatively long and trouble-free reproductive life span.
• Alpacas can be insured against loss.

http://www.alpacaone.com/

And why fainting goats vs any other kind of goat (you may be thinking)?  Well, duh.  How many people do you know who have one?  That's why ;-)

http://www.faintinggoat.com/

Frizzled chickens should be self-explanatory—look at them, they are so funny looking that they would always be able to make me smile no matter what, not to mention farm-fresh eggs on a daily basis.  Besides, my hair looks like their's when I wake up in the morning.

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/5/5-5/frizzles_one_of_our_odd_breeds.html

 

tea at "the branch"
The weather guys predicted a stunningly beautiful day.  In anticipation of that I packed a bag with jeans, hiking boots, and a sweatshirt.  I also added my yellow tea pot, a tin of green tea, my favorite cup and saucer and a thermos of boiling water.  The plan was to check out my land after I finished worship.

Turns out the weather guys got this one right.  After worship I headed for Wildbranch, parked and put on my hiking boots.  Dragged my tea things, the folding camp chair and the camera and headed up to where the house is going to be located.  Enjoyed my tea and the quiet.  Explored the area where I want to put in the orchard and discovered a small dry creek on the edge of the property that had some run off in it.  The 94 year old uncle of one of my parishioners is very skilled in finding ginseng in the wild.  If the weather holds, next Sunday I'm going to invite him to go exploring with me to show me what it looks like.  I'm hoping I'll find trillium (jack in the pulpit)  and other early spring flowers soon.

After a couple of hours of hanging out at Wildbranch, I headed to Corydon to do my nursing home visits.  On the way I passed a one room school house, a beautiful farm and a woman named Kyle on a horse named Mary.  The high today was 59F--didn't need my sweatshirt.  Our January thaw is finally here.  This is good.  It means that the builder should be able to get started soon!  In the mean time, I'm studying fruit tree varieties and finding out where the orchards are in the area so I can go visit and learn.

mud is dirt with water
Funding is pretty much in place-at least for the build phase of things. Talked to the builder yesterday and he said we need warm and dry lol. So what we are needing here is dirt, not mud.  That would be July or August.  Although he added "in a month or so."  Sounded like a practiced response to me.  My guess is that he is plenty used to impatient green around the gills future home owners.


It is going to hit high 50s here this weekend.  Let's hope the ground hog got it right for once and we get some sustained warmth and dry dirt.  I'm ready to go!

    
Talked to a couple of colleagues at a meeting on Wednesday about sheep http://www.bigspringsfarm.com/  and orchards.  They said read and learn.  Learn and read.  And attend all the free extension meetings and classes I could get.  I will heed their advice.  It seems reasonable to finish the house and then see, learn, experience the land before I invest time, energy and money in either orchards or sheep.

let there be light (and other important stuff)

In the beginning there was nothing.  God said, "Let there be light!"  And there was light.  There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.   Ellen DeGeneres

Woot!  The builder emailed me yesterday to let me know (and I quote)  "I am meeting with an engineer from REMC (Electric Company), so I will have a cost from them by the end of the week."  

Progress!  I think once we get this number we are ready to begin at least getting the electric moved from the road and back to the build site.  Probably the water will tag along with the electric.  I had planned to pay for both of these things and not include them in the construction loan, so let's hope the cost for the electric is not going to take my breath away.  The cost to get the water hooked up is less than 1K.  

Today I will continue calling banks for loan rates.  That's a whole other story and I promise you, there is very little light in that process.   At the risk of making sweeping generalizations (oh, what the heck.  It is my blog after all.)  mortgage bankers may get added to the list of people who should be moved to an island away from the general population—along with attorneys, politicians, and the entire medical industrial complex.  Why?  Because they are toxic to humanity!

house and garden

Rain /snow mix.  Cold and grey day.  Not much seems to change from day to day weather-wise and winter has us all by the cross hairs.  While I’m waiting for the weather to improve enough for the  builders to begin, I am sketching garden  and orchard plans.  Yesterday after worship one of my parishioners went with me to look at the property.  He happens to be the forestry educator for 4H in Harrison County and really knows his trees.  He gave me many helpful suggestions and  a big green thumbs-up for the location  I selected for the orchard and veggie garden.  One caveat, though, is how the water will drain.  Fruit trees hate wet feet.  I also need to get a soil test.  So I probably am waiting until next fall to clear that area and do  soil prep then for an early spring 2012 planting.

The house plan is already set and the basic floor plan will look similar to this house:  http://www.lowes.com/cd_The+Katrina+Cottage+-+Model+697_189005361_

The changes include a 10 x 8 screened porch off the back bedroom.  The original porch in the floor plan will be enclosed for a small office/guest room.  Square feet will increase from 697 to just under  1000.   There will be a room in the walk out basement with a ¾ bath roughed-in which will be finished later.   I have asked for materials to be as environmentally  kind as is possible.  Siding, roofing etc is all made from recycled materials, as is decking.  Thermal insulated windows, geo-thermal heat system with a wood burning stove as a back-up and a tank-less water heater.

I guess most people would have selected a cabin for a wooded location such as I have, but cabins are too dark and too high maintenance .  Besides, I like the farm house design and the area where it will sit will be cleared of lots of trees, in fact about 2 acres will be cleared out to allow for lots of air flow which reduces mold and mildew.

As  I watch the rain/snow mix that has now turned to snow, I’m wishing for an early dry spring!

threads from one loom

There is an old Shaker proverb that says "heaven and earth are threads from one loom."  I love that image of connectedness, of everything being connected.  It says a lot to me about forgiveness and God's plan for us.  Most of us feel well when we feel connected to the universe—the down side is of course that we are also connected to people, places and things that challenge our love on a daily basis!

Years ago I learned to weave and there was great comfort in preparing for the process—deciding on a design, selecting the fibers, warping the loom and making sure the tension was correct and that the warp threads were evenly spaced.  Then loading the shuttle with the fiber and finally the delightful swish-thunk as the shuttle glided through the weft and was beat gently into place.  It's a process that requires attention—mindfulness.

So is loving life into a piece of land.  So many things to think about as I help birth Wildbranch.  It's good that winter is long and I have lots of time to consider design, plans, materials.  I am not a patient person.  This is learning that I need to do.  I'm waiting to get to the comfort stage of things.  Right now I 'm girding my loins as I deal with banks, builders, loggers and subcontractors—all of whom I will have to look after so they love my land gently.  Soon enough there will not be a delightful swish-thunk.  More likely crash-boom-brrrrrrrrrr-kaboom.

Sometimes I am tempted to find an old lazy girl recliner and haul it onto the property, positioning it so it faces east and west.  That way I could watch the sun come up and the sun go down.   That would be it.  Nothing else up there but heaven and earth, connected like threads of a loom.

waiting

Waiting on the weather to break so the builder can get started. Funny.  I have a sad little feeling about putting a house on that land.  NO ONE has ever lived on it before--at least as far as I can tell from looking at the deed trail.  It almost hurts to disturb this land.  If I were a few years younger I'd build a yurt or erect a teepee or some other more temporary structure.  I'd go totally green and off the grid.  As it stands now, I'm looking to go as environmentally respectful as possible with indoor plumbing of course!  The video clip is from September 17th, a few days after I made the offer and was waiting for the guy to do the soil test.  

Wildbranch in winter

from dust to dust

Most of my growing up years was spent in rural Missouri.  In a house filled with alcoholism and abuse it was the land that saved me, along with a tiny Presbyterian Church filled with God and  Church Ladies who loved me in spite of myself.  I have happy memories of that sanctuary, the buzz of the fans and the drone of the preacher's voice on a hot summer Sunday morning.  But the happiest memories I have are of wading through fields to explore abandoned barns, crawling under barbed wire fences attempting to inspect cows up-close, waiting for the Book Mobile to arrive, then crawling up into a tree to read all day.  

I couldn't wait to beat feet out of that small town—to get as far away as possible from my family's pain.  What is it about the aging process that pushes some of us to finally realize that our lives really are only dust?  Are our cells imprinted with a clock that tells us when it's time to return to the dust from which we came?   I have spent dozens of years yearning for a parcel of dust that was as sweet, fertile and life-giving as the dust of my childhood; a place that will mark the end of my time here on earth.  I think I've found it!  

My grandmother and my mother taught me everything I know about forcing life from dirt—creating beautiful things from nothing. I'm grateful for that.  I'm grateful too, for my husband, who gifted me with this land and who supports me in perhaps my last big adventure as I attempt to create something beautiful and meaningful on it.