First day

of my new job! :) I'll check in later!

Time to make a change

... to a new job!! I have accepted a job with Growing Hope in Ypsilanti. I really enjoy the volunteers and my co-workers at my current job, and I will truly miss them. I plan to continue to be involved as a volunteer so I won't be saying "goodbye", just "see you soon!".

Truthfully though, I am beyond excited to be starting this new position at Growing Hope. Growing Hope is a local nonprofit, whose mission is to help people improve their lives and communities through gardening and healthy food access. Could that be more up my alley?!

Check out their website here:

http://www.growinghope.net/

I'll be working as the Outreach and Volunteerism Manager. Here are the reasons why I'm so so excited for this position:

• Major dream accomplishment- I can WALK/BIKE to work! Their offices are within walking distance of my house and I estimate cutting off about 6,000-8,000 miles of driving per year!
• The mission and work of the organization- to be working in the community that I live in, helping to teach people and connect them to local, healthy food? If I could have dreamed up a complete fantasy job, this would be pretty much it :)
• The staff- there are only 3 full-time staff, including me, and 2 part timers, along with some Americorp Vistas- definitely a smaller staff than what I'm used to. There's also a great, supportive Board of Directors. I got to meet most everyone this weekend and everyone was so welcoming that I felt right at home!
• I'm looking forward to building more connections in my community, rather than working just outside the city. The work I do will directly make a positive impact on the city of Ypsilanti, and I love Ypsi so much that this is a thrilling idea!
• This will be a chance for me to grow my professional skills, and to strengthen my personal dedication to my community. I also will be able to help others to work on the very things I am working on personally- buying more local food, growing more of my own food, supporting local farmers and vendors.

This is a huge HUGE step in a positive direction. I can't wait to get started- I have so much to share, to learn, and to develop!

Sharing my skills

On November 13th I will be leaping into the fun, crazy world of micro-enterprising, with a booth at Art in the Park, an Indie Art event in my neighborhood! My friend Jen and I are sharing a booth, and are hoping to share our homemade goods with the community and get a positive response. What might I be selling at this Art Fair, you ask?

I will be selling some of my canned goods, including Cran-apple sauce, Baked apples, and maybe some canned peaches as well. I also enjoy knitting and I'm a pretty solid hat knitter, so I'll be bringing some hats and scarves with me! My friend Jen will be selling her beautiful photo prints, as well as some paintings she did.

Since neither of us have done this kind of thing before, we're kind of diving in and hoping for the best. I'm not expecting to make any kind of living or decent amount of money off of knitted scarves and canned fruits, but I enjoy doing these things anyway, and sharing my skills and things I make with others. Preparing for the event has been a helpful lesson in coordinator of media exposure: I made a new email address specifically for my crafty side, now dubbed Happy Home. I re-vamped my blog title and banner (as you can see above) so it reflects the title of my small, small businesss. I also ordered some business cards for Happy Home off of http://www.vistaprint.com/ which has some great deals if you're willing to use a template. I made a facebook page for my new business. That way, if people like the items I have to offer, they can check me out on facebook, email me, be directed to my blog, etc. all from my business card. I also made a website specific to Happy Home, where folks can buy stuff online if they'd like, and linked it to my blog.

Whew!!

This is a small venture, but I'm looking forward to it! It feels good to know that I am capable of making functional, beautiful things with my own hands- things that people might want to have!

Reflections of a first-year Homesteader

After truly diving in to this so-called homstead adventure this year, I thought it would be nice to sum up some of my thoughts, lessons learned, and plans for next year. The end(ish) of the harvest is a good time to reflect on what went well, what could have gone better, and what really does not need to even be bothered with next year. So let's do that.

Planting/Production-
Worked well:
Potatoes did really well. Need more
Onions were awesome, easy to care for. More, I say!
Lettuce was delicious, although slower than I expected, since I am impatient
Carrots are easy to fit along borders, smaller spaces. Yes!
Tomatoes... mmm! Canned over 18 quarts of tomato sauce. More next year!
Basil was great- need to utilize more
Jalepenos were just hot enough, great in chili and other dishes

Not so well:
Strawberries did not produce like I wanted, didn't have enough. No strawberries next year
Raspberry plant grw like crazy, produced 5 berries. Is young plant, however
Blueberry bushes similar- 5 berries. Oh well!
Celery was kind of a cool novelty, but took up vital space for other stuff
Glacier tomatoes kind of tasted gross. I'll just wait for the real thing

Seed starting-
Worked well:
Lettuce indoors was awesome
Basil was brought in at beginning of Oct and is doing well

Not so well:
Need to start things on time :)

Preserving-
Worked well:
Peaches were delicious
Apples were easier to do with apple core and peeler machine

Not so well:
Tomatoes went quickly- need more for sauce next year
Pickles- more next year


Storing-
Worked well:
Onions are storing well so far- will run out quickly since we use a lot
Potatoes- same story!
Carrots- could store next year as well

Not so well:
More!

Purchasing-
Worked well:
Getting into pattern of going to Co-op for most things, Kroger for snacks and processed only
Getting local meat, eggs, milk, butter and bread delivered to our door! :) :) :) :)
Not so well:
Went to farmer's market a lot towards end of summer- need to work on it!
Living-
Worked well:
Getting pretty good at buying recycled paper products consistently
Moon cup
Most cleaning products are eco-friendly
Can now recycle 1s-5s! :)

Goals for 2011-2012

Plant-
20 potato plants
75 onions
50 heads of lettuce
20 tomato plants
4 basil plants
200 carrots
4 jalepeno plants
10 bulbs of garlic
2 watermelons
2 bell pepper plants
4 pumpkin plants
4 zucchini plants
dill
rosemary

*Expand into "raspberry bed"
**Make potato bed deeper

Seed Starting-
Start everything possible indoors
*Have saved many seeds already!

Preserving-
Canned:

6 pints Pickles
20 quarts Tomato Sauce
20 pints Peaches
10 pints Pears
3 pints Cranberry Sauce
5 pints, 30 4 oz Applesauce
12 pints Baked Apple preserves
5 pints Blueberry jam

Frozen:
12 half-pints Corn
4 quarts Beef Chili
16 frozen Raspberry Muffins

Dehydrate:
4 bags apples rings
6 bags banana chips
fruit leathers?
2 bags dried cranberries

Storing-

200 potatoes
50 onions

Purchasing- TBD

Living- TBD