What can I say about this first year? Amazing, yes! Hard, yes! Happy, absolutely! We have spent the first 6 months living in 400 square feet. Cabin fever, you bet! The best thing about that winter is that it was mild! But we were bundled up and kept warm. With switching jobs, my vacation time was paid out in my last check. With that, we purchased a new gas stove for the kitchen and a new pellet stove! Of course, that involved an all-day trip to the “city,” 1.5 hours away. Off to Lowe’s we went.
Our new pellet stove is a thing of beauty. It’s not our first time with them, but it’s our first one that would hold three 40-pound bags at once! The best feature, in my opinion, was the temperature control. This was amazing. Regulating the temperature in the “camp” was easy and saved us money in the long run. This brand of stove also has an app to run from your phone. Since we didn’t have internet at this time, we didn’t set the app up. I left the link below for your curiosity. Needless to say, we were very pleased with this purchase.
The gas range was on sale for a price you couldn’t resist. The downside is that it is white, and the center burner cover is Teflon. We are not fans of Teflon and eventually plan on replacing it with a cast iron type. But what it did for us that the old one didn’t was give us room to cook on it! Toast and grilled sandwiches came out perfect on that middle burner! Plus, we had room to heat up water for dishes and baths! Well worth the sale price.
I also purchased my first chain saw! The other one we have was too big for me! Four cuts in on a log and I had to stop. The branch clippers were ok but time consuming so I went on a field trip. The local garden store in our old town offered small engine repair of garden equipment and landscaping equipment. So we brought in the “work horse” Husqvarna and while I was waiting for it to be serviced I found a cute little battery powered Husqvarna and texted a picture to my partner in crime and of course he said yes! I love it. He loves it. It is perfect for branches and small trees!
We still had the old faithful wood stove as a backup, just in case, and we did use it on a few of those below 10 nights.
Our pastime, besides insulating, shoveling, and cooking, was reading. We have a local book swap, and once a week we would wander on down and swap them out.
Once spring arrived, we were in for a dirty surprise. As you can see, the truck made a mess! Oops! I called the neighbor, and he pulled us out in exchange for a cold one! The entire road was nothing but ruts and mud, which we did anticipate. The little four-wheel-drive mini SUV of ours did great! It was just small enough that if you were careful, you could stay in between the ruts on the high spots. If you didn’t, you were in for a ride kind of like a roller coaster and bumper cars rolled into one!
We also added to our pack! Now we have three dogs and two humans in four hundred square feet! More mud, more dog hair, limited seating arrangements but oh the snuggles and kisses made up for all of that. The three got along great!
We built a raised bed out of scrap wood and metal we had salvaged from other people and old sheds. We filled it with sticks, grass, leaves, and garden soil. We planted some tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. It was late June when we started that project, and we knew it might not yield anything for us, but it was fun watching the flowers bloom and the makings of fruits and vegetables. We did harvest enough for a few salads! It was YUMMY!
Most of the summer was spent clearing trees and organizing our outdoor space. We found an app that identified plants, and off foraging we went. With two old stone foundations and all the stone walls, something had to be growing on our land. Made plenty of time to go fishing and take the dogs for walks down at the river.
Just remember, it’s not how fast you get to the finish line, it’s the journey getting there. We are taking time to smell the roses, sip our coffee, and enjoy the beautiful gifts nature has given us.
As always, stay positive, stay focused, and remember with challenge comes change, and change is good!
The Bacchus Homestead 
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