How To Leave The Homestead

I bet you're thinking WHAT? Leaving the homestead? Why? No, we are not actually leaving our attempt at homesteading, but everyone needs a vacation every now and then right?

Rosa (made by Lilly), hanging out with the Fieros at the car show in Carlisle, PA.

I'm talking about all of the work that goes into running a homestead. We just got back from spending the weekend in Pennsylvania for a car show. We left Friday afternoon, and returned Sunday afternoon. That means evening chores for Friday, morning and evening chores for Saturday, and morning chores for Sunday needed to be done by someone else. The lucky winner, my brother! My brother has no interest in homesteading, animal husbandry, gardening, or anything else related to that lifestyle really. That means we needed to prioritize and streamline the process as much as we could, as fast as we could.

--I ditched the garden. I barely pull weeds and water it, so there was no need for him to do it. It seems to have survived the neglect so far...

--All of my porch plants and indoor plants went to the front lawn. We had a lot of rain on Friday when we left, so having them someplace where nature can water them meant he didn't need to care for them.

--The turtles had an extra mound of food in their tank, and plenty of water. (They do well for a couple of days if need be anyway)

--We bought a 2.5 lb waterer and 10 lb feeder for Loki and Freya (indoor cats). With a freshly cleaned litterbox, they would have been able to survive more than likely 2 weeks without us before needing a refill.

--Our newest acquisition, the outdoor cat Sunny, was given a large mixing bowl of food and water on the front porch. She wasn't seen Friday or Saturday, but Sunday morning she popped in when he came over. I guess we have ourselves a permanent outdoor cat now!

Sunny!

 

--We installed a PVC waterer and feeder for the rabbits. The small garage protects the feeder from the rain, so the rabbits had no problems eating while we were gone.

--We made the same PVC waterer and feeder for the chickens. The heavy rain on Friday moistened some of the chicken feed in the pipe, so the chickens had some problems getting it out, but with 5 acres to forage, they didn't starve. My brother had to come up every morning and evening to open and close the coop door though.

The PVC feeder and waterer installed on the side of the chicken coop.

--The dog stayed at my parents. He did well, but he has a lot of anxiety, so he barely ate while we were gone.

--Last but not least are the ducks. Since the house and fence we have them in now are temporary, we had nothing set up for them. They completely relied on my brother to open and close the coop, and feed and water them each day.

The point of all of this, is that everyone survived! We had no problems besides the chicken feeder getting clogged, and once we make a small roof for it, that should keep the rain from getting into the pipe.

Next on our list besides a more permanent structure for the ducks are automated coop doors. That will reduce the need to have someone come over daily early and late. A midday visit to make sure everything looks ok will be all that is needed.

Bathroom Makeover Progress

At the very beginning of the year, I made a Facebook post and asked how everyone (especially sister siblings) shared a bathroom. I don't have a sister, and although I grew up in a house with one bathroom, my brother is 6 years younger than me, so bathroom time was never an issue. I had no idea what protocol was for sisters. Do you share hairbrushes, toothpaste tubes, and makeup? We can potentially put a second bathroom in upstairs, but it would only be a toilet and sink, and budget wise that won't happen for awhile, so we are stuck with 6 people (5 girls) and 1 bathroom.

Thankfully, our bathroom is on the larger side, and there is plenty of room for improvement. Here is what I shared with everyone, it was our current situation...

Horrible right? All of my porch plants ended up in there for the winter, that litter box is there, unpacked bathroom boxes, and one crappy little vanity cabinet that we don't even use the drawers because it is basically falling apart.

Shortly after that post, my great aunt contacted me. She was getting ready to redo her bathroom, and had a double vanity she was pulling out and had no use for, so she offered it. She sent me this picture and a measurement...85 inches long.

Sold! We had just enough space before we ran into the toilet on our bathroom wall, and just look at all the storage space! 6 drawers for 6 people. I quickly started a spreadsheet to figure out costs, knowing we would have to do little bits at a time.

Last week she messaged me to say it was out, so on Friday we drove over and picked it up. Over the weekend Luke sanded the cabinets and drawers, primed them, and painted them. I dug through my stash of cabinet hardware from my days of working at Lowe's and found 6 handles for the drawers. While everyone was enjoying the Superbowl, we pulled out our crappy vanity and installed the new one!

So pretty right? Sure we still need to do the doors, and figure out how to organize in the cabinets, and of course new lighting, more plumbing, another faucet, mirrors, the list goes on, but the important part is that we can at least start unpacking the bathroom boxes a little more. The girls are super excited to have their own drawer. And check out my Aloe plant, apparently I can keep those alive!

My next small projects for the bathroom are the doors, a few small shelves, and potentially the mirrors.

The next large project (more budget than anything) is another faucet. We don't want the faucet to get discontinued before we have a chance to get another one, and it's $89. We replaced the faucet when we moved in, so it's fairly new and still a current model for now.

I'm not sure what to do with the litter box. Right now the big black shelf is sitting in the living room. The plants will go back to the porch once the weather warms up, but the cats are a mystery right now. I'll get it figured out.

*Notes*
Wall Color: SW6487 Cloudburst
Vanity Color: SW0055 Light French Gray
Faucet: Moen Caldwell Mediterranean Bronze