Homestead Projects

Our little birdy was taken to a wild animal rehab where she will be set free into nature when she is old enough to fly. The lady said had we not brought her in she would have died. She was dehydrated. Most of the advice we got online was 100% wrong. It's hard to trust what you read. We were giving her an assortment of crawlers mostly worms. Once she had worms she spit out the water soaked dog food(she decided she no longer wanted that). Nobody ever mentioned that birds get most of their liquid for hydration from berries. The first thing she told us was to give her strawberries, or blackberries. So there is some advice for you fellow 'birders' who may also come across an abandoned bird. They need berries!

We have started on a couple of projects around the house. The first one we found at a re-use store. Everything was half off. Wayne saw that the head of the axe was a good shape, and it had a Swedish stamp. Later did he find out it is a Gransfors Bruks axe. Which is apparently top of the line. He immediately ordered a Gransfors Bruks replacement hickory handle, and started restoring the head. Apparently by soaking high carbon steal in vinegar it takes the rust right off, and with a little grinding, and sharpening the head was like new! Not bad for a $2 duct taped hunk of junk.

This next project I was a little more involved in. Wayne cut the piece right after we moved in. The tree had already been downed and it was already dry. He sanded the top, and linseed oiled it. It started out as a plant stand. We were at the hardware store, and I really wanted to use metal pipes for something. I love metal pipe DIY projects! Here she is- our little space ship!

We have been doing an incredible amount of yard work. Apparently every time a tree or branch was cut. The previous owners made a pile of brush on the side of the yard. The area that they covered up was somewhat level. That is a rare thing in these parts, so we hauled and chipped the entire area. We decided that we would turn that area into a camp site. The campground now connects to all of my hiking trails. It is starting to really come together!

We now have the tipi set up!

We have started a small orchard! We have 3 Apples trees, and 2 pear trees.

We painted the cottage, it now has a loft, and power!

I also did some brick work. The project took 2 days! We did not have a line between dirt (which I hope is temporary), and grass. I recently bought grass seed in hopes to get these mole holes covered, and fill in the thin areas. Our dog has recently figured out she likes to dig! What perfect timing! hah. We had a huge stack of bricks under the house. The previous owners used them to keep their wood stack off of the ground. They are 8 inches long, and added up the amount of bricks we had. It was the perfect length for what I had in mind! Next stop: Ground cover, and stepping stones. :)

On my Weekend..

My adventures lead me to:

There is something about going to a place that you grew up going to as a kid. Something that is hard to explain.. I feel connected to Sisters, Oregon. I grew up going to a place called Jack Creek Park, and camping for weeks at a time with one of my old friends. It was what I looked forward to all year, and once it passed is all I ever talked about. The prestine-ness was out of this world. Or very much what this world used to look like. It was so full of life. Wild flowers everywhere, deer, beaver, butterflies. There were islands in the creek where we would play. Shave our legs in the freezing snow melt waters. Swim every day in nearby lakes, buy 1 cent candy, and ice cream at Camp Sherman. I could go on for days! Anyways Wayne has never been there so we ran there while my mom was at work(we were visiting her). The entire area burned in a fire about 8 years ago, and I think about what it looks like now pretty often.. It looks burnt. The park looks nothing like it used to.. We did the hike to the head of the creek. I couldn't have been more dissapointed. I know the forest has to "renew" itself. I get that that is a process that nature has to do. But I've never seen beauty like that, and it is gone now. Just a sad thing to see something die..
This is one of the only things we did pick up in sisters. It is a fan for smudging ceremonies made of feathers, rabbit fur, and an antler. Wayne picked some sage and made these smudge sticks for him and his mom.
(Smudging is a ritual way to cleanse a person , place or an object of negative energies, spirits or influences. The smudging ceremony involves the burning of special, sacred plants and herbal resins, then, either passing an object through the resulting smoke, or fanning the smoke around a person or place. The spirit of the plant then purifies whatever is being smudged. )

We also went to my aunts house for my cousins graduation party.- He just graduated from high school! CONGRATS!

While there a baby bird fell from a nest in front of my aunts house. Such a cutie. We tried to let it go in a safe place. :/ It was a good and eventful weekend!