The Battle is On!

I have noticed the last few days that the Blue Jays are eating my Sluggo Slug bait. It is an all natural slug bait and not toxic to anything but slugs. The Blue Jays are having a feast, and this stuff is expensive so I am ready to do battle. Trying to keep the critters out of the garden is a frustrating challenge. I put bird netting over most everything that I have recently planted to keep the birds from either eating the seed or the slug bait or the seedlings. The Blue Jays also like to cut off my bean starts at the root when they first come up so bird netting has to be on that as well. For the slugs I have the slug bait which I have to apply often because of the rain. Soon however our cute little Indian Runner Ducks will be on guard eating the slugs for us. I can't wait, they are just now beginning to get their feathers. We ran out of duck food for them over the holiday weekend so hubby went out and picked up slugs for them. There is quite an abundance here on the Oregon Coast, even when it doesn't rain there is a-lot of dew so things are usually dripping wet this time of year unless the sun shines and dries it up. Slugs love a wet environment as we all know. I am still a slave to the computer doing math, however I am almost done, I will have taken my final by the end of next week. I am already making plans for my free week and a half, debating on whether to go to Central Oregon camping for a week or play with my spinning wheel, fiber and make soap. I am trying to get my Etsy shop to be a little more productive here. Trying to save up for the Spinning wheel of my dreams, the Schacht Matchless, what a nice wheel! I know it will help improve my finer yarn spinning. You can check out my Etsy Shop at: Well I am off to work on math and get this behind me once and for all.

Here is the recipe for making your own laundry soap that is not a detergent: 1(4lb. 12oz.) Box Borax 1(3lb.) container OxyClean 2(14.1oz.) Zote Soap or Fels Naptha (I used a food processor to shred it) 2(2.lb.) boxes of Baking Soda 1 Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (optional) Mix it up and use it in place of your regular laundry detergent. I am using about Okay, so now here are the supplements I am using to prevent migraines or headaches: 350 mg Fever Few 100 mg vitamin B2 500 mg magnesium I am taking this twice a day. If you notice a headache starting take your next dose right away. Allow some time for the Fever Few to build up in your system. This isn't a pain killer it is a preventative. I hope these recipes help someone out there! I appreciate having them :)

Today was a lovely day! I spent most of it in the garden. I planted the leeks,lettuce, spinach, swiss chard,re-planted beans that the slugs and birds ate. Now I have netting over them and Sluggo down for the slugs so that shouldn't happent again fertilized everything with blood-meal and fish fertilizer.Everything is going to grow like crazy now and the only planting left for now are tomatoes and bell peppers. They don't really grow here that well because it doesn't get hot enough but Dan is going to build me a cold frame out of some old windows we have stashed, I can't wait! The garden needs to be about 3 times this size if we are going to grow year round. We also have our Indian Runner Ducklings, 2 black and 2 blue, I believe.

Here are a few more pictures of the garden. :)

Not much happening on the homestead today as far as gardening goes. It is very wet and rainy today. We did get the herb bed finished, it is the 3 tiered structure at the bottom center.(which I notice you cannot really see in the photo). I am in the process of filling it up, I have 3 more basil plants and a Lemon Verbena to plant yet, maybe tomorrow.(Note to self: get better pictures up on the blog.) Today we are making a trip up the coast to Seaside Oregon, that will be a fun 2 hour drive so I will get some lovely pictures to post of the beach. Three more weeks of school and then I will be free for a week of camping in Central Oregon. It is such a beautiful place, I just love Oregon! Usually on vacation I plan a new project to work on while camping, it will have to be a knitting project because my wheel doesn't travel well. Well off on our journey! I will post pictures along the way.

Living the Homestead Dream

My husband and I live off grid in the Oregon Coast Range Mountains. We are building our dream of being self-sufficient and learning to live a more simple life. We have been homesteaders for about 18 years now yet we still have so much to learn. I do know a bit about living this life though and I would love to share my knowledge with others and also find like minded friends to network and share ideas with. I also am a knitter, spinner, dyer of natural fibers and also an aspiring artist, I am currently going back to school to earn a degree in Graphic Design. My husband is just retired due to a fight with cancer, but we are taking advantage of the time to get our homestead in order. He is doing great and I believe it is a gift from the Lord that he is. We have been so very blessed through this trial, he has been living with cancer for 2 years now and still going strong. However, I don't want to focus on the cancer, not on this blog or in my life, we are living and enjoying life probably more than ever now, nothing like the threat of death to help get one's priorities in order. I have one etsy shop for now, it is danceswithyarns.etsy.com. Please check it out! And go back again and again, it really helps with the site ranking! Plus I will be adding new things up there frequently. Of course this is all yarn, fiber and knitting related, as well as crochet. You may possibly have known me as Cheryl Dawson owner of Nestucca Bay Yarns. ON THE HOMESTEAD Well, so onto what is up on the homestead. The garden is almost in, we just have tomatoes, peppers, leeks, carrots and beets left to plant.. I am replanting carrots due to the veracious slugs here in the Pacific Northwest,however, I have purchased Sluggo, natural no chemical slug bait and some new sweet little Indian Runner Ducks, which are not old enough to do much yet,but watch out slugs they will be out there soon! Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of fiber news, other than I am making an 'altered book' using knitting and fiber for an art project for school. I will post a picture when it is completed. School seems t

o be taking almost every waking moment right now all because of math. This is my last math class and I cannot wait to put it behind me! That is all for now but I have a lot more to tell about how we live and I will also get pictures up soon of the homestead and of course the garden.