Finally, a Homestead!!!

Some days it feels like this state of being constantly busy never ends.  The blog is never written on time.  The kids only have shorts or jeans with holes in them.  The meal plan is only a faint thought in my head.  Birthdays bring on a sense of stress that I normally never feel, just because it adds a few things to our seemingly-endless list of jobs.  It sounds a bit bleak, and it's been stressful, but I can see a light at the end of this LONG tunnel. We are now weeks away from moving into our home.  Our very own home.  We prayed over it and planned it, designed it and have now built it.  Well, Dominik and Jonathan have, almost single-handedly, and we are thankful.

But apart from the fact that I really am really thankful that we can soon move in and have our own space, I think that we have moved on in another way.  When we started this blog we named it 'Vamos Homestead Adventure'.  Well, it has been more of a 'Vamos Construction Adventure'.  We have learned a lot.  Jonathan and Rebecca can both install lights and sockets, do insulation and vapour barrier.  They can cut boards and do all sorts of little things.  But now we have moved on. I now have a garden in.  We have some laying hens and some heritage chicks.  We have poultry netting to attend to, and foxes and rabbits to watch out for.  It feels much more as though we have made that step and can say that we are now running a homestead.  We have plans for more, but as we know with the house, we have to just go at it one project at a time.

So, now that I did take the time to buy the kids some non-holey clothes (I work at a thrift store- it's amazing!) and have celebrated two lovely birthdays, I will get you up to date with our progress.

Back in the spring I spoke with someone advertising on kijiji to buy 20 Dorking chicks.  Unsexed.

 Then, because I would pick them up just after hatching and they wouldn't be laying until the autumn, a friend suggested that I get some larger hens which were already laying.  She has a connection down in Elmira, where many hatcheries are, and we bought 10 hens.  To date we have only lost one to a fox.  Dominik went running out and rescued another one from it's clutches!!!  The nine layers roam around inside the netting during the day and have their accommodation in a modified `chickshaw`, ala Justin Rhodes, at night.

The little chicks, who aren`t so little any more, spend the day outside in a chicken tractor and the nights in our unfinished house in a cardboard box.  A big box.  We had them in the box that the air exchanger came in, but now that they have grown and it`s hot, they are in the box from the freezer!  I would really like to have them outside all the time, but there seems to be a shortage of hardware cloth in the world, and so I wait.  I will keep checking at TSC and other stores and when I have it then they can stay in their tractor.  I just have it made with chicken wire now and it isn`t sturdy enough.

Another project which I began in the spring is our garden.  I found a man who sells organic seed potatoes, including some european varieties.  In Austria I was used to buying potatoes either as `mehlig`or `fest kochend`.  This tells you the texture of the potato- floury and good for mashing or firm and better in salads.  So, I ordered both types: German Butterball and Linzer Delikatesse.  7 kg in total.  I took some and cut the larger ones into two pieces and they have all sprouted and are growing beautifully!

Well, the above was written last week....then.....this happened:

We had a shock this week.  I was driving home from town when I saw a fox trotting merrily towards me on the road with a chicken in his mouth!!!   Dominik and Jonathan were in the house cutting boards and hadn`t heard a thing.  We ran out of the car and over to the chickens and, although the laying hens were wandering around inside the poultry netting as usual, there were no chicks to be seen.  After crawing into their pen we found our one crippled chick and a rooster alive while another rooster was dead.  The rest were gone.  17 chicks were missing!  Well, I figured that I knew where the one in the fox`s mouth was, but what about the others?   We waited for the fox to come back,  ready to get him, but he didn`t come.  Finally 6 chicks appeared out of the bushes near the poultry netting.  We then found four more.   We were thrilled to have 12 live chicks- especially after thinking that we had only 2! 

I know that our daytime pen for the chicks wasn`t fox-proof, but there isn`t any hardware cloth to be had- anywhere!  We had been taking them in at night (into our unfinshed house in their cardboard box) and having them out in the day.  With the kids bouncing on the trampoline it was never a problem.   Now we have moved that pen inside our poultry netting and we have left it turned on all night.  The large hens are in a Fort Knox of a coop, so that was never a worry.  Now we have built an overnight shelter for the chicks which is also secure.  I had enough hardware cloth (which is a metal mesh) to do that.   Still, we still have some alterations to make before we will really feel secure.  We have also started to build a live trap large enough for a fox.  He has been marauding up and down the road, we`re told, and so we`re out for him.

On a positive note, we spent time weeding the potatoes and onions this week.  Now I can finally see where the onions are!  Next year I will definitely plant seeds inside in the early spring and then transfer these plants into the garden. Seeding directly means that both the plants and weeds have to grow up enough that you can tell one from another.  The row looked like a nice strip of green carpet until I weeded it- and that took some time!  In the front, closer to the house, we have a few raised beds with chicken wire around them to keep the local rabbit out.  We have a variety of things growing here including one bed specifically for herbs to be used in teas and other kitchen projects.

The Salad garden a few weeks after planing- spinach, peas, lettuce, basil, marigolds and nasturtiums.

The Salad garden in the last week of June.

Horseradish

About half of our tomatoes

Styrian Pumpkins (Austrian!)

Blueberries and Raspberries.

Then I discovered that the poison parsnip (an invasive plant here) is starting to bloom.  I spent the morning on Saturday going around with a long-handled clipper, cutting them down.  I left them to dry where they fell, as it is the sap in the middle of the stem which is so dangerous.  We will mow the smaller plants after we move in here.  We have to prevent them from going to seed for a few years in order to be rid of them.  They spread quickly when ignored.  Something else that we have a lot of, growing wild, are grape vines!  This isn`t so bad.  We will try to string some of them up to organise their growing a bit.  Otherwise they climb up and take over trees.  I still have to look them up but maybe we will be able to make juice and/or wine with them. 

One of our many wild grape vines.

Inside the house we worked on a few electrical items, to be ready for our final inspection.  Then, to our joy, we started on the floors!  Dominik, Jonathan and Rebecca have been working together on it and have their system down. After the wood is laid we will stain and then finish it.  We have taken sanded plywood and ripped it into 5 3/4" planks, 8 feet long. We cut the boards into different lengths and then use a biscuit cutter to put the boards together. They are also glued and nailed.  This should all take about two weeks.  And then, we will move in!  Well, it SHOULD take two weeks, but I have been setting dates to move in for ages and then we have to move them.  We have also finished painting everything except the main bedroom!

Working on the floors.

The floor of Jeremiah and Josiah's room.

We put a darker grout between the tiles. This is the shower.

Jonathan has learned how to install a lot!

Rebecca in the room that she will share with Elena.  They had no problem agreeing on this lavender colour for their walls!

Jeremiah working on the walls of his room.

For Jonathan his paint colour was the icing on the cake! (Literally- that's what it's called!)

Dominik working on our shower.  The glass wall is ordered to divide it from where the sink is. 

We decided to bring the ceiling colour down a few inches in each room, instead of installing moulding. 

June was our month to finally have our septic installed!  We have been eagerly awaiting it.  Now it's in and it makes it easier for company than having to direct them out to the back of the large juniper bush!

In June we also have a few birthdays to celebrate!  Jeremiah turned 10 and Rebecca 14.  For Jeremiah's birthday Dominik took the boys up to our cottage where they had a few days of 'Man Time'.  They got to fish and go out in the boat and on the kneeboard.  They barbequed and relaxed.  It was a good break for them.  For Rebecca's birthday I packed her a picnic lunch of her choosing (pressed picnic sandwiches and strawberry cheesecake in a jar- BBC Good Food recipes) and we went to the beach with a friend of hers.  It was a lovely, hot, sunny day and we both enjoyed it.  These breaks were very welcome in our schedule of building!

Now we are at the house every day and have more and more to keep us comfortable. The kids have a trampoline, a sandbox and now a little beach volleyball court too! This makes our house a place of fun and not just work.  For our Sunday barbeque lunch Dominik made us a table to eat at.  It consists of a board, covered on one side in white tyvek, sitting on cement blocks.  But it has served the purpose for lunch and dessert and for board games as well.

Our temporary table for Sunday playing.

It's a large freezer!  That and our fridge make life easier when working all day at the house.

We are learning every day in this journey of homesteading.  We have a list longer than you can imagine of things still to do, but we are getting there.  I really look forward to getting our kitchen set up and really focus on some healthy meals again!  Right now we eat breakfast and lunch picnic-style at the house, and then get back to my parents to cook supper.  I come with some kids and cook and then Dominik and Jonathan will come later.  Sometimes quite a bit later, depending on their work.  Being together again in the evenings will be great! 

I will leave you there for now!  Thank you for your patience as we try to get this blog out- at least occasionally!!!

Our one year building anniversary is today!!!

We celebrated today with homemade Austrian Salzstangerl and Bretzel,

and our last jars of Oma's Marillenmarmalade and Erdbeermarmalade. :-)

It is April 17, 2020 and today we are celebrating one year since we broke ground to start building our home! It is exciting to look back and to see just how far we have come.  We are not yet in the house, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  We hope to be moved in, to an un-finished but liveable house, in 5-6 weeks.  It will be amazing to have our own place again- and to have the land to raise some animals and a garden.  This was our hope in moving to Canada, to be able to accomplish this.  Dominik and Jonathan have worked almost every day together during this last year- a construction apprenticeship that Jonathan wouldn't have otherwise had.  He has learned as Dominik has learned, how to do construction and wiring and plumbing and tiling- the list is endless!  We did have contractor help at the very beginning, to get the framing done, but everything else that we could do ourselves we have.  We didn't drill the well or wire the breaker panel, but the rest is our work. We are thankful now that spring is coming (slowly- it is actually snowing again today!!!) because it will make work more pleasant.

We have reached the point now that we are able to put in drywall and tile.  Floors will come later.  Our priority is that we can just move in.  For that we need a bathroom, water, and septic.  The septic should come in early May.  The well is drilled and we are just waiting on the well pump to be delivered.  The hydro is about to be connected.  As soon as it is warm enough Dominik will complete the tiling in the toilets and bathroom/shower.  The bath tub that we would like is hundreds of dollars cheaper in the United States, so we will have to wait until the border opens to get that!   We will paint the plywood floors to help keep them cleaner until we can put in the wooden flooring, which we will make ourselves.  The outside of the house, to be board and batten, will come in late summer or early autumn- depending on whether or not Dominik will manage to get to Austria to work again this summer.

I hope that you enjoy this little look back at the last year of building.  The video is the second one in the process.  :-)

Breaking Ground: April 17, 2019

First view from the roadside

Ready to pour the footings

Footings poured!

Starting the foundation

Working together

Floor joists and floor boards going on

The front door area and floor

The first wall is up!

Outer walls and one inner are done!

It is a family job.

Roof joists delivered

Roof joists are on!

It's beginning to look like a house!

Thankful for help getting the metal roof on.

We had a break in Austria in July for a wedding and for work.

In early September the windows and doors were in.

The kids helped a lot insulating the outer walls.

Autumn came beautifully.  Dominik worked all winter on wiring and plumbing and other details.

Finally we can start drywalling! 

Some ceilings are in!

My pocket-door pantry is closed in.

A WC is almost closed in.

Here is the next video in Jonathan's series. :-) 

From Jonathan:

Just a few more interesting things that were not in the video. The steel beams were dropped by a big truck just OUTSIDE the foundation. Well, they actually slid off the back and the truck just drove away. Then we had the problem of how to get them INSIDE the foundation so they could support the floor. Using a few logs (and five people) we were able to roll them in. Almost like the Egyptians managed to move 40 ton blocks of rock to build the pyramids. Just on a smaller scale. At least we had a winch to lift them up.

Even though every floor truss had to be cut to size and are built to hold a lot of weight, it went pretty fast. Some old multi-storey houses are built without floor trusses, with only one heavy beam across the middle to support the whole house. Otherwise, installation went so fast that there isn´t anything else to say on that subject.

Building code says that we have to glue, nail and screw the sub-floor. So I hope it won´t ever move. If gluing, nailing and screwing still aren´t enough I don´t know what else you could do.

For the framing (putting up the outside walls), several other people came to help. There was a contractor who was half Portuguese who was really happy that we were European. In his words: Europeans know how to work (no offense 😊). There was a bit of a wind going when we were lifting up the walls, so we weren´t sure if the wind was going to blow the wall over the side of the house. Fortunately, there was no problem at all. When we were lifting up the longest wall, (on the south side) it didn´t seem like I was doing any lifting at all. Nor did it to my dad. It seemed that the guy in between us was lifting up the whole wall himself. And that was the heaviest wall of all. We might have been lifting the other walls, but we were both glad that he was between us.

We built the front doorway in 4 feet (1.22 meters) from the front wall, because, who needs a 13 foot hallway (3.96 meters)? Maybe a king. But we aren´t kings, so we don´t need our entry way that long. If we were kings we would probably be living somewhere else. And our holiday resort would be somewhere on a tropical island.

While doing the framing the blackflies were insane. They were very annoying when we laid the foundation, but not this bad. It became even worse because it got very warm during the day and the blackflies still didn´t want to go away. At one point I was debating putting on a bug hat. In the end I just used a thick sweater with a hood. There was something very interesting about those blackflies. They didn´t bite us. They would be in our face and buzzing around, just asking for trouble. But our faces were fine. I didn´t use any bug spray, and the person who was using tons and tons of it had his arm bleeding from the blackflies. On the other hand, he was only wearing a t-shirt or a thin, long sleeved t-shirt. Maybe bug spray attracts those kinds of black flies.

Now I’ll start working on the next video for you!

Take care and have a good week.