Meeting Novella Carpenter

I met one of my idols today. Ok, perhaps I shouldn’t call her an idol but more of an inspirational person. Her name is Novella Carpenter and she is the author of two books: Farm City and Gone Feral (if you haven’t read them they are good reads and funny).

Farm City was recommended to me by two dear friends, Hilary L. and Elizabeth B.  When I was living in Chicago, I was lucky to have a small backyard that was solely mine. I had tried to bit a vegetable gardening, but it wasn’t working out. It wasn’t an ideal situation. I inquired with my friends about what to do and they suggested Novella’s book.

I loved hearing about her struggles and successes about farming and raising animals. Her words practically jumped out of the book and spoke to me. It said, “Malissa, I am doing these things and you should too.” I thought I should get to work right away, but I didn’t. 

First, I knew that I couldn’t raise any animals on University property. Secondly, my husband’s work wasn’t going as well as we planned.

We needed a huge break from life and went on a 2 week vacation West and Idaho ended up being our final destination. As you may have read in my prior posts, we fell in love with this state and were trying to figure out a way to come here. When we returned back to Chicago, my passion to transform the backyard was set aside. I didn’t want to invest time and money into a space I no longer loved or cherished. It was time to move.

When Rich was denied tenure, we were a bit relieved and that sealed our fate. Idaho here we come, but where? Luckily he was able to secure a job in Pullman and it became a no brainer for us to move to the Idaho side. Then the question remains do we live in town or buy some land? Our realtor answered that question for us and found us a house with 3 acres.

I finally have some land to make a garden, have some animals, and do whatever I choose. Of course we bought a chicken killer dog and that eliminates the chickens. We are still exploring our area and getting settled. I am sure we will be getting something at some point. Bees anyone?  So when things get tough, I remind myself of some of Novella’s experiences and tell myself I can do it.

Novella and I have a lot of similar experiences in life and it was nice to be able to share mine with her. It was especially a treat to share them with her sister as well. It is a funny feeling meeting the real-life characters from a book because you feel as though you already know them before you meet them. I was also thrilled to meet their daughters.

She stated she is going to write another Non-fiction book and perhaps some fiction as well. I can’t wait to read about her latest adventures.

As for me, you are reading mine right now and perhaps one day I too will write a book from Idaho.

 

Idaho isn't all about potatoes...

You know Idaho just isn’t about growing potatoes?

Did you know Idaho has the largest dam built in Western Hemisphere?

We recently took a trip to Orofino, ID to visit the Dworshak Dam and Reservoir.  It was truly massive and amazing to understand the reason it was built.

Apparently the river would flood every spring and Nez Perce Indians learned to live with the flood cycle. In 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition visited the Indians on their way to the Pacific Ocean. They were looking for lumber to build canoes. Other settlers came to the area, but as the years past and the flooding continued, they were unable to build a homestead.

In 1973, Congress agreed to build the dam to help with flood control, hydropower production, and natural resource management. It took 7 years and $327 million dollars to complete. The dam is a helpful resource to the Columbia-Snake River. The dam controls a drainage area of 2,500 square miles in the Clearwater Basin.

The hydropower market can yield more than $50 million in revenues annually. Some of that income is used to repay the U.S. Treasury for the construction costs.

There are three hydroelectric generators in the powerhouse, one rated 220, 000 kilowatt capacity and two with 90,000 kilowatt capacities.   

The area is a wonderful recreational source for fishing, boating, camping, swimming, and hiking.  We were not able to participate in these activities, but we will certainly return.

Along with the Dam, Orofino has the oldest Ponderosa in existence. It has been serving customers for 57 years and still going.

I hope you enjoy our adventures in Idaho. 

Well I live with snakes and lizards and other things that go bump in the night

Whew, thought I was going to have a hard attack when trying to do some simple gardening. Yup, it is definitely spring time here in Palouse. The birds are fluttering, the bees are buzzing, bunnies are hoping and well snakes are slithering.

I was talking to Rich the other night about all of the animals we had seen. I said that I hadn’t seen any rabbits yet and thought it was strange. Then the next evening, I was looking outside and saw one running up our driveway. Then I had to think what else could be out there for us to explore?  I know there are frogs in the nearby pond because I can hear them croaking at night.

While Rich is roofing the garage, I came across a baby frog just hanging out in the lean to. I thought it was strange for him to be hanging out there without any water. He was in the shade and there probably are tons of bugs for him to eat.

I knew the weather was going to be getting nicer, and thought I would begin the task of gardening and some outside landscaping. As I was just beginning to reach down to pull some weeds, something slithered away. It was very fast and blended in with the ground. My first thought was perhaps it was a salamander or lizard type creature, but then my mind went straight to a snake. I ran away screaming, but never pass up an educational experience for my kids.

I ran to grab a broom to push through the weeds to locate said animal. The boys were standing on some logs and I figured that would be a great hiding place. They slowly began to move the logs and sure enough, one snake was staring back at us. He quickly departed and as we were talking about him, he seemed to disappear again. We thought he had gone under the other logs, but he was really fast. I turned the corner and saw him just as he was going into a whole in the ground. I figured we had scared him enough and needed to be one with nature. One of my kids wanted to immediately dig him up, but I was unsure of what kind of snake it was and said we needed to leave him alone.

Rich and I figure that it if seems to be a harmless snake, it would be good to eat the bugs and mice around our property. You know the food chain? I looked up at what could it possibly be, and think it is a gopher snake. This would be right on the money because someone told us that we had gophers because of some of the holes in our yard. I do feel bad for the gophers.  In fact, I don’t recall seeing any. If there is a gopher snake present, one would guess that gophers are present as well.

I am thrilled we have this opportunity for my kids to explore and see things they would not have it we still lived in Chicago. We can’t wait to see more of Idaho!

Broke, broke and broke

When we moved to our home here in Moscow, we knew it needed a little love and care. We thought we had a bit of time before we had to do anything major. The idea that some of our appliances were old did cross our minds. Our kitchenaid dishwasher started to leave water after the rinse cycle. It was strange but it only did it after some cycles and not others. Rich tried his hand at fixing the machine by taking it apart. He soon realized he was in over his head and could not quite figure out the problem. We called a repair man to assess the situation. Our thoughts were the pump, but it turned out to be the relay. Sad but they don’t make the relays anymore and a new machine would be in store for us. One would think, yeah a new machine, but not me. This dishwasher was 20 years old and they don’t make them like the used to. You might be lucky to get 5 years out of your dishwasher. That is just plain sad. I was heartbroken to see Bessie go, but then Lucy the LG model arrived. Yes she is very shiny and does a wonderful job. But will she last? This was broke object number 1.

Our car is awesome. We love it and we will run it into the ground before we get rid of it. We did a checkup before we left Chicago. All seemed well until recently. She too was giving us a hard time making screeching noises around the tires and another squeaky noise we could not locate. We phoned a mechanic one day because Rich was driving the car and the tire seized up. He thought it might be a rock in the tire and just to back up. Well that trick seemed to work, but she was still making those squeaky noises. I finally convinced Rich to bring it in because these noises were not going away and I was starting to get scared to drive the car. It turns out there was rust on one of the brake pads that was rubbing and making one of the sounds. The other is a bearing of some sort which is a major part. Yes the car is drive able, but at some point it just might not work. We are awaiting a part to come in and get her fixed. Again, we love her and want her to be at her best.

Large puppies and kids just don’t mix. My kids love their German Shepherd, but forget that he is more than their size when he stands on his hind legs. They also do not realize the dog probably weights more than them. The dog has his adult teeth in now as well and they are very sharp. The kids tend to be rough with the dog as they see he can be aggressive. They like to play chase with him, but shepherd dogs like use their teeth to “assist” with whatever they are shepherding. He does well shepherding the kids, but it hurts. When you run away from him, he especially loves to bite you from behind to get your attention. It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Well someone did get hurt. Braedon was playing with him while trying to get dressed. The dog jumped on the couch and Braedon’s arm got caught. He went one way and his arm went the other direction. The result is a broken radius and ulna. The doctor calls it a fracture but it is clearly broken. Rich happened to be out of town during this incident and I had to pull it all together. He had surgery to insert two pins into his bone marrow to straighten the bones. The doctor tried to repair them with the pins, but the bones were unstable. It was a traumatic experience for the whole family, but as time passed we all heal. So far Braedon is doing well. He will see the doctor soon for an update and will have to have surgery again to remove the pins.

If it isn’t broke,  don’t fix it—yeah right! We are gradually making changes to our house to make it more homey and put our stamp on it. Minor repairs, paint, pillows, and art have made a difference. I decided that our shower head was not sufficient. I’ve wanted to change it for some time, but Rich stated he would get around to doing it. I thought how hard is it to remove a shower head and replace it? I have had prior experience when we lived in Massachusetts and had success twice. We have very hard water and apparently the shower head was difficult to detach. I ended up breaking off the pipe that led into the wall. Oops. Luckily there wasn’t much of the pipe left and Rich was able to get it out. We now have a new shower head, yeah!

So, what have we learned? For one, everything can be fixed. Sure things get broken or fractured but with time and money it will work itself out. Appliances, rotors, and pipes can be replaced. Fractures can be healed especially in young kids. The best thing to do is not to panic because it will work it out. It just has to because that is the way life runs. It will continue on and give you roadblocks along the way. 

Wood stove

Ok, so you bought a 4700 square foot home right at the peak of winter not really knowing your heating system. What you say you bought a house not knowing the heating system? Sure we knew it had a wood stove and base board heating, but we weren’t sure about a forced air system without a furnace.

Rich grew up having a wood stove in his house and he said it warmed up pretty much most of the house. We thought this would be a great cost saving way to stay warm without breaking the budget. Little did we know exactly all the costs involved.

First, there is the notion of getting wood. Where does one get wood during the winter time? It is not like you can go to Walmart and ask for a cord of wood. Hey Walmart—do you sell wood and can you please deliver?  Moving to a new town far away when you don’t know anyone can be a disadvantage. We found a nice guy on craigslist who would deliver the wood for a “going” rate. We had no idea how much wood we needed and how long it was going to last. We didn’t even know what kind of wood we were getting and if it was the right kind. We sort of just jumped into it blindly and hoped it would work itself out. Luckily, the guy we hired was very kind and gave us a tutorial on wood. The down side was that he would come and dump the wood into a huge pile. A cord of wood is 4 x 8, can you envision how much that is? You then had to stack it up into your lean-to.

Yup, a lean to. You say what is a lean to? Websters definition: is a shack or shed supported at one side by trees or posts and having an inclined roof. We stack the wood in our “shed” which is about 40 feet away from the house. Then we must somehow transport our wood into our house and then downstairs to the wood stove. Rich decided we should put as much wood as possible into our SUV and drive up as close to the door as possible. Then we would fill up our wood pile on the first floor by our fireplace.

Are you tired yet? We certainly were after hauling the wood in the lean to, putting some into the car and then on the first floor of our house. We still had to get the wood to the wood stove by hauling a few logs at a time down a flight of stairs. I could only manage to carry one or two logs. The wood would get all over me and inside my clothing. This was a rough process, but having the wood stove on when you are cold is incredible.

Rich found a few items that would assist in our log hauling duties. He found a log caddy which is very helpful loading up and bringing it into the house. Rich then just loads it up and makes a few trips down the stairs. He also purchased a leather log carrier to haul the wood down as well. I can carry about 4 logs and not get any of the shavings on me. Are you thinking what I am? This is a lot of work for heat? The answer is yes as our heating bill was much less the second month.

At one point, we thought is this worth it? I said that we needed to get through this first winter, make mistakes, make corrections, and enjoy the stove.

What mistakes have we made? We bought a cord of wood from a new person and it was not cut. Rich had to purchase a splitter and chop by hand. This is where we felt like we were really living in the woods. Although, Rich felt as if he needed a chainsaw and well we ordered one of those as well. We still had to navigate a few weeks before we purchased the chainsaw.  

Lessons: Try not to shove as many pieces of wood into the stove if you have glass doors. That happened one fateful morning before Rich headed off to work. We only have one car and he needed to leave right away. We had a day and ½ without the stove.

It is really nice to sit by the woodstove. I compare it to a campfire that produces heat with all the campfire smell.

Downside: it does not fully heat our entire home. Perhaps if it was centrally located and we had a smaller house, it may do the trick. We did have to use our baseboard heater in our room and set the kids heater to turn on at a certain temperature.

As the weather here is starting to warm up, we no longer need to charge down the steps to load wood in about every hour. Although I have to admit this was a great way to get some exercise. We still are using it at night and in the early mornings until it warms up.  

Once the season changes, we reevaluate what we have learned and see if we can be proficient in our logging and hauling. At least we are toasty and warm! 

To get chickens or not to get chickens, that is the question...

Have you read Farm City by Novella Carpenter?  Ever since I’ve read her book, I have been obsessed with wanting to raise farm animals and growing a garden. I thought if she can do it, so can I!

It was great reading her about her accomplishments and her failures. Little did I know that I would be moving to the state where she was raised and very close to the city where her father currently resides.

Now that we have land and it is ours to do with what we wish, what are we going to do? I know I want to plant a garden and planning has already begun. I need to get some seeds and start sowing. I have some idea of what will grow and what won’t. I’ve gotten advice from many sources and I have a wonderful book to guide me. I think I am in good hands regarding getting started.

I have been doing some research on chickens. My head is spinning with all of the possibilities, but I have serious doubts. Right now, I am overwhelmed taking care of this huge house, homeschooling the kids, training a puppy, maintaining a wood stove, and keeping my sanity. There is enough to keep my busy almost all the time.

Do I have time in my schedule to even care for chickens? Sure as the weather warms up I won’t have to maintain the wood stove for heat. That will certainly be a huge load off my plate. Then I will have the garden to plan, cultivate, build, plant, and maintain.

Yup, I need to build my garden. You see we have a lot of wild animals roaming freely who would love a tasty treat. So far I have seen deer, mice, birds, turkeys, and moose. Although I am enjoying the beauty nature has to offer, I therefore must build at least a 6 foot fence around my garden. Apparently, deer can jump fences! A fact I was certainly not aware.

Luckily, I have already gotten a few offers to help build my garden, but not so confident about chickens.  We would have to build or buy a chicken coop and then figure out where is the best place to house them. Its tough right now because it is still winter and we don’t know what our landscape really looks like with all of the foliage.

So, perhaps we might skip this season getting chickens and may devote our time on other projects. I really do want chickens, but I may just have to set them aside for now. This is a tough realization and heartbreaking for me as you might be able to tell by my post. I will keep the idea on the back of the list and perhaps it might move up as time passes. 

We are in the book

When we first moved here, the previous owners left a phone book in a drawer. I thought this would come in handy to look up businesses in the area.

As I was perusing the book, I saw that it was not only for our area but also for a town 30 miles south of us. This book wasn't even that thick. Which made me wonder just how many people live in this town and the surrounding area? (The last census done in 2012 states 24,499)

We live in a college town and with my experience; there is a lot of transition. I think since we don’t live in the immediate town, but 10 miles outside, that our neighbors are more homesteaders.

It is neat to meet new people and discover how they arrived here. Did they come because of family, job, land, or they liked the area?

I mentioned our kind neighbor who helped jump start our car in my last post. We introduced ourselves and talked a bit about what we do for a living. After his help, he said if you need anything, “we are in the book.”

I about busted out laughing and asked, is this real? I am reminded of the movie "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character is so happy to find his name in the phone book. In case you need a refresher you can go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7aIf1YnbbU Sure enough, I checked to see if our neighbor was listed and I certainly found him.

The next person to mention they were in the book was our plow guy. Again, he introduced himself and said if I needed anything, that he was in the book. I immediately looked him up because he was an important number to have on hand and sure enough I found him.

I can only remember being in one phone book when we lived in Frankfort Square. I also still remember my phone number: 815-469-3368. It did not list our area code because area codes didn’t mean that much back then. This is a funny thing around here because the whole state of Idaho only has one area code: 208.

When I first got here and people gave me just a 7 digit number, I immediately asked,” What is the area code?”  I sure did a get a bunch of funny looks. The funniest looks I got are when people ask me for my number and I spout off a 10 digit number with a 617 area code. I get the "you aren't from these parts looks."

You are certainly right, I am not from these parts and I don’t think we will be listed in the phone book. You see we are terminating our 617 number because it no longer serves a purpose and are just using our cell phones.

I will never be able to say, "look me up, I'm in the book."