To start I’d like to apologize to anyone following my site for the lack of writing here, I am really struggling to be a “blogger”. I also had an injury that sidelined me for 2 months from work and had my whole arm in a splint for that period so not much around the house getting done. You would think that I would have the time to blog more right? Well for one reason or another it worked out differently and I really have forgotten the blog this past half year.

As for a little update here the winter weather really has killed my free raised beds causing one of them to rot quickly and to fall apart. The other one bowed out so much with the rain and soil mix that my 3 year old took a plastic shovel to it and completely dismantled it somehow stating that he “fixed it for daddy!”… So back to the drawing board I guess, maybe cinder blocks this time.

So anyway as the title states I have made a DIY soil cube tool that I’m going to share with you today. Our winter has been pretty mild here this year and I have been chomping at the bit to get something planted and figured that it would be a great excuse if I had soil cubes to play with. I set out to youtube to see some others and their results. Let me state that I only did this as a winter project and as soon as the accountant approves it I plan to buy a soil cube tool from Clayton Jacobs.

Materials before starting

Materials used:

• 2″ abs cut down to 2.5″ (free scrap around house)
• 2″ abs cap ($2.89)
• 1.5″ pvc plug ($1.58)
• 1- 3/8″x5.5″ bolt ($.84)
• 2- 3/8″ nuts ($.24)
• 2- 3/8″ washers ($.28)

Total spent $5.83!

Plunger

So start I drilled a 3/8″ hole in the center of both the cap and plug as can be seen in the first photo allowing for the bolt to go through them. I then took my hack saw and cut the pvc plug down to just a flat surface, this will be the plunger part of the tool.

Assembled product

Now time for assembly! First place the 2″ cap on one end of the 2″ abs, then slide the bolt through the hole in the cap. Then thread one of the nuts up the bolt followed by a washer. After that then slide the plug up the bolt followed by the other washer and then the last nut. Make sure that when you tighten it all up that the bottom nut is at the very end of the bolt sitting flush with it. Tighten the top nut down to hold it all in place using a couple wrenches to snug it down giving you the finished product as seen in this picture.

End result

After I had it all put together and made a couple soil blocks I went back to the drawing board and used a 1″ piece of pvc as a handle. All I did was cut a scrap piece down to fit the width of my hand then I drilled a hole smaller then the bolt diameter and threaded it up the bolt. After reassembling it all I went to making the blocks and I must say I was satisfied with the results. The whole project took about 20 minutes and that includes tearing it apart and constructing the handle. I made a tray of 24 blocks in about 15 minutes and they turned out pretty good after I figured out that the easiest way of  extracting the cubes from the tool was to turn the tool upside down and push them up and out.

My first soil block

Here is the final result of my little Saturday project and now I have a whole tray of planted veggies and it’s not even February yet. One thing is I am looking forward to is buying a soil cube tool from Clayton Jacobs so I can make more than one at a time but this DIY will definitely do for now.

Full tray ready to go

Thank you for taking the time to read my article and I recommend that anyone looking for a project this spring to do this one. Until next time.

Well the other day one of our hens was poking her head through the gate on the new coup (still have to post on that) being the social creature that she was and our tenants dog grabbed her by the head. She didn’t suffer and was killed quickly leaving us saddened and with 5 hens. My wife was furious and our tenant was apologetic offering to replace the hen with a new chick but I declined since reading some of the stories about introducing new birds to the flock.

Lesson 1 learned, even if the dog seems to be docile around the chickens it’s better safe than sorry and 2.) enclose “entire” coup to keep the chickens safe. I have no one to blame but myself since I was the one who didn’t board the lower part of the gate. It figures that in a pen that measures 25′x8′ that the three foot gate that I figured was ok would be the undoing of one of our hens.

It’s been a while since my last post and it’s been on my mind to do one but it seems like time has just flown by since the last one and I cant believe I’ve waited this long to blog so that’s something I’ll have to keep better tabs on in the future. Ive been feeling a little defeated in my day to day for multiple reasons but mostly due to an overreaching sales department and a worried boss at work who has flopped my schedule and job title a few times in the last couple months, which by the way takes a toll on the ol gray matter but…When I am home looking around the garden it sets me at ease and i can loose myself in some enjoyable daily functions.

We planted some blueberries earlier in the spring, two hardyblue and two patriots and as you can see in the pic here the patriots (the early season plants) are doing quite well as long as i can keep the birds and squirrels away. I just yesterday bought some bird netting (14′x14′ for 5.49$) and have a leftover roll after another project so will be covering the blueberries with that this week. We are looking forward to fresh blueberries right out of the garden this year and between the wife and I they get checked daily for that ripe purple color.

Along with the blueberries we planted a strawberry patch, 30 everbearing plants  for 5$ on craigslist from someone who purchased a new home with a full yard of them. A rhubarb plant found on freecycle (I just had to go dig it up) that ended up getting split into 3 small plants that is in kind of limbo right now I think due to the split/transplant but is growing. The one on the left of the pic seems to be doing the best even though it’s only three stalks. The one on the right came from nothing but a chunk of root buried in the ground and the bottom one that is hard to see here died off completely but now has a couple small leaves breaking ground so i am hopeful that if left alone the rhubarb will go gangbusters next spring… and if not oh well they were free + fuel to go get them.

As for the raised beds out back I am still only running out of one of the beds I built, I had an argument with the guy who was bringing me my dirt for them so I lost that connection but am doing some composting in one of the beds to lay down a base of nutrients and to help kill off the grass. The third bed fell apart when we were trying to move it and since I no longer have the soil hook up i just removed it permanently, or at least until i feel like expanding the garden.

The main bed although not growing like I had envisioned is still showing signs of improvement and just fed us a garden fresh salad with dinner the other night. The peas along the back are doing the best reaching 24″ past the top of the trellis and we have been sampling fresh raw peas for a bit now but are really looking forward to harvesting them. Something started eating the cabbage leaves and in the heat the other day one wilted and died sot it got fed to the chickens but then today the big cabbage is wilting too so it may be time to replace it with something else. My wife went to her farmers produce stand and found they were having a sale on plants and bought an assortment of bell peppers, sweet peppers and tomato plants for $0.88 a piece. some were planted in buckets and some out front with the herbs and a couple tomato plants found their way to the raised bed.

I think I will transplant some of the plants from the buckets to the raised bed since it seems that is where they are growing the best. Maybe where I have that cabbage that looks like it’s on the way out I’m still not quite sure. I feel a little overwhelmed sometimes and wish I had more room but then I think of the time I don’t have for more responsibilities. I am grateful for my job and love my family but they sure don’t leave me much time to do much else.

Well that’s about it for now but coming soon some posts of other thins we’ve been up to including rain barrels, chicken coop and a review of our new excalibur dehydrator. Thanks for reading and hope to see you back in the future.

This post is a dedicated space to my toddlers learning’s from the garden and what he accomplishes over the time spent here on our little homestead. First a little introduction. Ryan is now 3 years old and is a little ball of energy that could run a good size city for weeks if there were a way to harness it. Some of his loves are quite typical for a normal toddler, cars and army men and planes and just about anything that can hold his attention for longer than 5 minutes. He has other loves in his life including but not limited to his brothers Matthew and Andy, his cat Gracie, flowers, bugs and even vegetables believe it or not. When we started to plan this journey into a more self reliant way of living we knew our children had to be included and their learning was even more important than ours due to the uncertainty of our economy’s future.

Ryan’s older brother Matthew has a debilitating condition which unfortunately prevents him from participating on any level around the garden but on a sunny day you can sit him in the grass and he’ll pull as much as he can get to without moving much. Ryan’s little brother Andy just came into our lives here a couple months ago and will have the benefit of his brothers teachings when he is ready to start learning.

When it was time to assemble the raised beds for the garden Ryan was all about it and I had the idea of him building one of his own not only to give him his own space but to hopefully keep him from ours too, we’ll see how that one goes later in the season. He was all excited to get started and as soon as it was in place he had a list of what he wanted. The list consisted of 1.) flowers, 2.) strawberries, 3.) lima beans (also known as “fava”) and 4.) carrots. We weren’t too surprised since those are all things he loves but others couldn’t believe it, thats right a 3 year old wanting to grow carrots and lima beans. Well on an outing with his grandmother to the store one day he came home with… You guessed it strawberries, carrot seeds and flowers.

The lima beans were first to go in along the rear of the box to allow them to grow to their full height following a trellis still yet to be built (UPDATE; just received some bamboo from a friend trying to control his patch and will be building trellis from those, will be a post on that in the future.). He seems intrigued at the fact that these small dry beans will be taller than him in a few months and we will be eating them for dinner in no time.

Second came the strawberries which he loved due to the fact that they already had leaves and gave some instant gratification when they perked up in their new home. He was very careful to break the dirt away from the roots in a gentile way and plant them in his own grow bed replacing the dirt in and around the hole. The carrots are slated to go in next with the flowers too and he’ll be about done in his garden but there are many other projects to do until harvest. We just picked up some blueberry plants and need to get them into the ground before too long

This post was inspired in part by Darcy Menard over at Stumbling Homestead who on many occasions has relayed his belief in a child’s labor around the house and the benefits to a child having a “purpose” and I couldn’t agree more. Ryan doesn’t see anything he does as work and looks forward to every little chore we can come up with for him to do in the garden and he too will be gathering eggs like Darcy’s son before too long, something I see as life building skills for him that will last long past our lives. Please check out Darcy’s blog by clicking HERE and consider following him on facebook too, he’s doing great work over there.

Thank you for reading this post and I look forward to sharing the next step with you here on our little plot of dirt.

First off let me apologize for the time between posts here, I have been working straight for 20 some odd days (I cant even remember how long it’s been now) but the fiscal year is now over and I should have more time away from work to do some projects. That being said lets get on with the hoop house…

Well I decided I’d like a pvc frame mini “greenhouse” that fit around one of my raised beds so I could remove it without too much hassle if I felt the need to. I started with 3/4″ pvc and with 4 90* fittings at each corner and spliced a short piece (1 1/2″) between the 90′s and a T which gave me the fittings for my end hoops. If I had to do it again I would find a fitting that allowed me to run my end hoops right from the corner but I went shopping at a store where the selection of pvc fittings was minimal.

After I was finished with the end pieces I took the remaining measurement for the length of the sides and subtracted the length of another T (remember that the pipe will slide about 3/4″ into the ends so calculate for that too) and cut two 3/4″ lengths of pvc to make the side rails inserting the T at the middle point. From there I took 3 10′ lengths of 1/2″ pvc and just inserted them into the t’s starting on one side and bending them over to insert them to their counterpart on the other side.

From there I took another 1/2″ x 10″ of pvc cut down to my overall length and tied the three hoops together at the top by drilling holes and running screws down through the two and finishing it up by warping the joints with good ol duct tape.

So far this was pretty easy but when we went to cover with the 3 mil plastic poly it became a little confusing. We had no problem using duct tape to attach the plastic to the frame on three of any of the four sides but when we got to the last side it became a huge jumble of a mess and there was no way to do it without the use of clips, which we had none of.

We ended up taping  3 sides and rolling the end up under and just setting it down on the plastic to hold it and it seems to be fine but if you are thinking of a project like this i would suggest getting some clips to hold the plastic in place, it seems like it’d be easier. Here is a picture of the hoop house set in place over the raised bed and even though it didn’t turn out quite like I had pictured in my head I’m still pleased with it. I think if i were to do this again i would build one like Nick over at Save Our Skills did, click here to see his version.

Now for the numbers, what did it cost? First off I’ll say that I broke one of the 10′ 1/2″ lengths for the hoop (don’t be in the line of fire of one of those, ask me how I know) so there was an extra cost there but here’s the totals.

3/4″ x 10′ pvc pipe – 3 @ $1.73 = $5.19

1/2″ x 10′ pvc pipe – 5 @ $1.41 = $7.05

3/4″ pvc 90 elbow – 4 @$0.34 = $1.36

3/4″ x 3/4″ x 1/2″ pvc tee 6 @ $0.53 = 3.18

10′ x 25′ 3 mil plastic sheet 1 @ $5.88

Total cost out of pocket was $22.66

I had the roll of duct tape and sheet rock screws laying around so I didn’t count those in the cost of the project. My final thought is this was a fun project and got me and the kid out of the house for an afternoon so it felt productive but I would make some changes if I were to build another one. First I would use some sort of clips rather than duct tape and I would figure out a fitting that put the end hoops directly at the corners. I would suggest this as a project and if anyone else has done one like this please share your results in the comments.

Thank you for reading about our project.

As some may know and others might guess my goals for our lives have put us on a path to self reliance and as you may know self reliance is for your community as much as for yourself. That’s why I have chosen to attend the free Community Emergency Response Training (C.E.R.T.) program.

First lets take a look at what the program outline is. the following quote is right off of the official website.

“Following a major disaster, first responders who provide fire and medical services will not be able to meet the demand for these services. Factors as number of victims, communication failures, and road blockages will prevent people from accessing emergency services they have come to expect at a moment’s notice through 911. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs.

If we can predict that emergency services will not meet immediate needs following a major disaster, especially if there is no warning as in an earthquake, and people will spontaneously volunteer, what can government do to prepare citizens for this eventuality?

First, present citizens the facts about what to expect following a major disaster in terms of immediate services. Second, give the message about their responsibility for mitigation and preparedness. Third, train them in needed life saving skills with emphasis on decision making skills, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. Fourth, organize teams so that they are an extension of first responder services offering immediate help to victims until professional services arrive.”

Now as we know an emergency situation large enough to disrupt the lives of a large population that the emergency responders will not be sufficient to help everyone as we have seen countless times in the past. This is where proper training comes in handy not only to help others but to keep volunteers as safe as possible.

As for the program offered here in my area, known as N.E.T. (Neighborhood Emergency Team) I was a little late to register for the spring classes so I will have to wait until fall to attend. The program is a seven week course consisting of one 3 hour class every Saturday and ending with a four hour hands-on practical skills drill on the eighth weekend.

The subjects covered are as follows:

Session 1: Disaster Awareness—Earthquakes and Other Disasters; Home, Neighborhood and Workplace Preparedness

Session 2: Utility Control—Gas, Electric and Water; Fire Extinguishers—Types and Uses; Hazardous Materials

Session 3: Disaster Medicine (I); Treating Life-Threatening Injuries; Medical Triage

Session 4: Disaster Medicine (II); Treating Common Injuries; Setting Up a Medical Treatment Area; Public Health Considerations

Session 5: Light Search & Rescue (I); Visual Assessment of Damaged Buildings; Search Techniques

Session 6: Light Search & Rescue (II); Rescue Techniques; Patient Transport

Session 7: Disaster Psychology and Trauma Intervention; NET Team Management; NETs in Action—Tabletop Exercise

This training wont land you a job as an EMT or firefighter but the fact of the matter is it is practical knowledge and official training in case of an emergency. I think that everyone should have some form of training in these matters and this is a great way to get it for free being that it is provided by your government. If you or someone you may know is interested you can visit the C.E.R.T. website and search for your local classes by zip code at https://www.citizencorps.gov/cc/searchCert.do?submitByZip
I for one am excited about attending these courses and obtaining the knowledge that could be the difference between life and death in an emergency situation. I hope others out there will consider this training and together we can be on a path to self reliance in this ever changing world.

got the second one put together today and placed both of them in their designated spots. As the title states these raised beds cost me nothing, that is unless you count the gas to get the lumber or the initial cost of the screws i had left over from a previous project. I get the lumber from a company here in Portland that does steel manufacturing and it is the dunage, the boards between the stacks of steel on the incoming trucks.

They usually have an abundance of these in the summer and fall but in the colder time of the year employees will take it home for firewood, luckily I stocked up last year. These are all cut to 7′ and are untreated pine but other than some scuffs from the steel being stacked on them they’re in pretty good shape. I used 5 total 2×6′s for each bed and for my end pieces i cut the 7′ boards in half to minimize any waste.

As you can see here i took two 42″ 2×6′s and attached them together using 2×4′s all about 9″ in length (just scrap pieces found in my garage left by previous owner) and only used two screws on each side. i did this a total of four times, using only four 2×6′s and the 8 pieces of scrap 2×4.

From there i stood the end pieces up and started to attach full 7′ 2×6′s for the sides with the help of the best damn drill man in the business, his bed is next but mine come first Now after going to all four corners and putting two screws in each end, using the 2×4 to anchor into too not just the side pieces, i then repeated the step with the top side’s. Here’s a little tip… If your working with bone dry pine, do yourself a favor and drill some pilot holes before you try to run your screws, it just might save you a couple of cuss words in front of the toddler (sorry mom) .

Here is the two finished beds before dirt in their place. I chose the back yard on the side of the garage since it gets the best sun on the whole lot, both summer and winter and figured the either the wall will radiate heat for the plants or i can grow climbing plants to shade the wall. These beds measure out to just over 22 cubic feet and like i said, they’re “free”, all you have to do is get creative with your materials.

Just for fun the next time you have a project tell yourself a month before you start “you’re going to hunt for free materials like crazy”, the worst that can happen is you don’t find what you need and have to buy it anyway. You will be surprised to see what you can accomplish for little to no money if you put some positive effort into it, just look at what i did for free.

My name is Jamie and i am a suburbanite currently living in the greater PDX (Portland, Or.) area and this blog is a diary of sorts chronicling our journey into at least some portion of self sustainability. We are just getting started here since this is our first home and have quite the list of projects and i plan to share all of the trials and tribulations we encounter with you as we progress toward our goal.

Our modest home (a mere 900+ sq. ft.) was built in the late 40′s and it sits on .28 acres on the east side of Portland but fits us and our family for now, that is until our 3 children begin to grow bigger. We have a small shop toward the back of the lot and the placement of the buildings leaves us a decent amount of space to work with here.

I plan to post text, pics and as much information here about our projects to help anyone who may be interested in attempting to reach any level of self sufficiency and if I make some mistakes along the way to help you from making the same mistakes. I also encourage any feedback and hopefully together we can work as an online community helping others along the way.

Thank you for visiting my blog and i hope together we can realize great change together.