tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91665583374847343862011-08-04T11:16:28.341-07:00I dream of my own homestead. Where neighbors are rare, where chickens can roam, and where I could garden in the buff if I was cought with the urge. But is it just a dream? Am I nothing but a silly girl with a silly unreachable dream?Nickienoreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-39942352713059364362008-11-15T17:24:00.000-08:002008-11-15T17:52:25.567-08:00

Dear Friends,I know it has been awfully quiet around here. The truth is I have spent most of my days working-and my evenings too! But the work is never dull. Working for surgery is an exciting thing and you always have to be on your toes for what is thrown your way. Sometimes it's a middle of the night call, that wakes you from sound slumber that you must answer. Sometimes is a problem you have

Nickienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-48913958443768465402008-11-01T18:25:00.000-07:002008-11-01T18:43:36.349-07:00

Good evening friends!Today as I had promised myself, I did homestead like things. I got the animals settled into the shed-- as I have no extra $$ right now for lights, I used some of my homemade grow light plant stand lights, which I can replace with fresh ones for the seed starting season anyway later. I already have heat lamps but its not even close to cold enough for that yet. When I finished

Nickienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-8320052380850712212008-10-31T20:32:00.000-07:002008-10-31T20:43:42.394-07:00

Good evening ghouls and goblins!I wish I could say I was out having fun, but I am at work :P. Those of us in the medical profession do not get holidays! Can't y'all quit getting sick or hurt for the holidays? The whole weekend I am going to be on call, but I won't have to work unless they have emergency's at night after the morning shift goes home so I'm crossing my fingers I can sleep through

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-46535032007122583652008-10-30T20:34:00.000-07:002008-10-30T20:47:11.287-07:00

Good evening friends!I know it is way past an update. I guess I haven't had much to say lately as this is one of those odd times of years where there isn't much going on outside or in. This weekend though, I must totally winterize everything. I need to get the remaining animals into the shed-- buy hay and winter feed, bury pots of plants in the ground to protect through winter, get burlap to wrap

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-90766736991681442142008-10-21T19:50:00.000-07:002008-10-21T20:52:12.744-07:00

Good evening my friends!I took a low census day at work today thinking that today was the day Mike got his test results for cancer back, I wanted to be there. But I was mistaken, wrong date. But since I'd already called in, I took the opportunity to hike again. I've done very little hiking this year, and I've forgotten how much I love it.Sunday I went to the local state park, Indiana Dunes State

Nickienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-2990408369400651652008-10-18T22:36:00.000-07:002008-10-18T22:50:03.244-07:00

Good evening (Morning?) dear friends,It's now 40 minutes into Sunday morning here and I can't sleep. I guess I have a bit on my mind (and some indigestion also) that has me wide awake. Most of you know about Freya cat--she even blogged for a while before she got bored of pushing keys on the keyboard. Those of you who know her, know that she is adored by Mike and I. Last Sunday was the last time

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-89913082884696821622008-10-16T08:00:00.000-07:002008-10-16T08:26:35.301-07:00

Good morning friends!I'm making plans to do a long day hike solo by myself come this weekend. I'd rather backpack but with the one car thing, that's hard to swing as Mike always finds some excuse to need the car. :). But there is hope, as the gas prices continue to go down, my ability to drive anywhere of note for hiking goes up. So gas, keep going down! It's for my sanity!When Mike was much more

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-47048100953125785452008-10-10T18:16:00.000-07:002008-10-10T18:55:12.168-07:00

Dear Friends,You'll have to pardon me for not typing this week, I was very busy! But that doesn't mean I didn't have anything to type. Every time I tried to sit down and log on something would come up and I had to put it off once again. I'm sure you've all had days...and weeks(!) like that.Last Sunday I had finished putting the veggie garden to bed. There is absolutely nothing else to do in it

Nickienoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-781014687910690312008-10-02T19:56:00.000-07:002008-10-02T20:12:14.493-07:00

Good evening friends!This morning started off chilly again but not so chilly as the day before when I had all the windows to the house open, I had closed them last night. Still though, it was cold enough this morning in the living room to make the dog, our "tough" hunting dog, bred to deal with difficult hunting environments and rugged territory, shiver. For such a "tough" breed, she sure gets

Nickienoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-51960852496901662062008-10-01T19:01:00.000-07:002008-10-02T20:14:47.155-07:00

Dear Friends,It's been cold and rainy all day. I woke up this morning and had to layer in clothes in the house and close windows. I don't think it got above the 50's today. Today's chill reminded me that I really need to get the shed prepared for housing animals during our long cold winter. I need to clean it out and organize it so that they have space and are easy to tend to and I need to set up

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-57247511122852388532008-09-28T19:32:00.000-07:002008-10-02T20:16:38.648-07:00

Good evening friends!I hope you and yours are finding yourselves healthy. My weekend has been pretty easy going. Mostly I worked in the garden and with the animals. I watched Internet TV with Mike, we went out to dinner and went to the hardware store to buy bulbs with a gift card Mike had won in a drawing. I also had a coupon for a free bag of bulbs from on-line that I used. I bought 20 tulip

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-868439204249575862008-09-26T20:04:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:54:05.761-07:00

Good evening!Its a cool evening tonight outside...but nobody is complaining. It seems like it's been a very long week for me but it's finally over. I know I should be grateful for every day and not wish it away faster, as we all know, time flies but this week has been worrisome. You see Mike hasn't been feeling well for a couple of weeks. Strangely my 6th sense had kicked in about a month ago (

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-44098447367856217432008-09-25T17:27:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:50:21.383-07:00

Good evening everyone!It's getting darker earlier and earlier here in NW Indiana. The landscape is dotted with yellow trees. Though it's only the beginning of fall. In the fields near home down the road are acres of sorghum. At the festival, I've finally learned what they do with sorghum. I met a very nice ranger lady who was directing an old white workhorse in a circle. The horse was attached to

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-43458655276602640932008-09-24T07:38:00.001-07:002008-10-01T19:46:15.620-07:00

Good morning everyone!Its beautiful out. I spent a little time in the garden weeding a flower bed and pulling out old cleome plants that were past their prime. I also spent time playing with the kittens, the rabbits and the chickens. They do keep me busy. The kittens think they are helping me when I'm weeding but they are really quite distracting. You just can't tell them otherwise though.At the

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-74495613713130248672008-09-22T09:20:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:42:24.714-07:00

Good day friends!I hope you are all enjoying this first day of fall which started at 10:44 am today. This weekend has been all about fall stuff. First I went apple picking at the local u-pick orchard which was disappointing. Oh the apples are good, but since they changed ownership the atmosphere of the place has also changed. They are making it so commercialized now it's ridiculous. Soon it will

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-36032512333269174042008-09-21T06:59:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:38:43.695-07:00

Howdy dear friends,It is a beautiful morning here in northwest Indiana. It's the perfect morning to do a bunch of mulching. I hopped out of bed early today and made a bee-line for the free mulch pile and filled up my car twice, which was enough to mulch one bed nicely. The daylily bed along the road needed new mulch bad as what I had put there when I planted it was almost all gone now.Yesterday i

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-16966622821879957912008-09-19T14:22:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:36:32.570-07:00

Dear Friends,Things are high and dry now here at my place and almost all the roads are open once again. For a while there I was quite frazzled with it all. I was worried about the animals who were constantly wet despite changing bedding every day and trying to keep the wet out. I was worried about my father-in-law who lives in Munster, IN. which is still under mandatory evacuation. He's OK by the

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-53888297127008388552008-09-15T19:59:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:32:55.610-07:00

Dear Friends,I hope this evening finds you all safe, warm and dry. Here, dry is a hard thing to find. As of last Friday, my rain gauge reads 12.5 inches of rain. Do you know what that kind of rain does? It cuts off all the roads, lets rivers take over bridges, lets marshes and swamps and drainage ditches turn into lakes, and for some unlucky folks, it turns houses into boats. Yesterday I was

Nickienoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-57594849918956700072008-09-13T17:24:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:31:44.385-07:00

Good evening friends!Its been raining like crazy. Yesterday we had 5 inches, its been raining for most of the day today also though we had a small break around noonish. Lots of flooding and they are saying we are in for a LOT more. Record breaking amounts more.It seems since I moved to Indiana, when the seasons change I get sick. When winter turns to spring, I usually end up with some awful

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-55727578108380759502008-09-11T20:04:00.000-07:002008-10-01T19:31:03.054-07:00

Good evening friends!Another day has passed yet again. How quickly time flies. Tomorrow I actually have a day off. I won't even be on call. I'm weighing my options here.So far my options consist of:Slacking off and vegetating mostly with a few light chores like cleaning animal cages, dishes and laundry, around the house.orAll chores--outside and in, weeding, turning the compost, getting mulch and

Nickienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-71233057349938903712008-09-10T07:32:00.001-07:002008-10-01T19:29:39.912-07:00

Good evening dear friends, There are lots of crafts I wish i could partake in but just can't tie them into my busy schedule. Things like quilting, soap making, painting, and the like but there are at least a couple things that are very portable for me to do during down time at the hospital or in the on-call room. One of those things is knitting--- which for whatever reason I prefer to do during

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-67559145935392175412008-09-09T19:04:00.000-07:002008-09-09T19:13:47.042-07:00

Good Evening Friends!It was very chilly this morning. So chilly that the garden impatiens were sulking, with droopy leaves. They are dragging their feet to the inevitable end of their life though I am sure they perked up later during the day when the chill lessened. I even had to wear a jacket.Yesterday's rainfall amounted to just under 2" according to my rain gauge this morning. The Buckwheat is

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-55774970565418132432008-09-08T19:24:00.000-07:002008-09-08T20:10:46.255-07:00

Good evening friends,I know I haven't typed anything for a while but believe me, I've been thinking of all kinds of things I could be adding here. Working for surgery sometimes I may disappear into the dark abyss for a while. Surgery pretty much OWNS me. Such is the price of learning....They beep, I hop. It seems most of my waking hours are spent at the hospital these days, especially now that

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-18565854629139563572008-08-27T19:02:00.000-07:002008-09-08T20:07:15.553-07:00

Good evening friends,I did absolutely NOTHING at home today. I slept in...well kind of. I think I may have to go to the dreaded Dr. one of these days. I HATE going to the doctor. First you have to sit in a waiting room and fill out forms, then you wait some, then they call you to the back, make you stand on a scary looking scale, and take you to some claustrophobic little room where you wait some

Nickienoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-23847090199168261962008-08-26T06:47:00.001-07:002008-09-08T20:05:56.308-07:00

Good Morning Friends,Another gorgeous cool morning here in Corn and Soybean land. The perfect kind of morning for long walks in the woods if one was inclined to. No walking for me today though, as I am very tired! Yesterday at work was crazy. I even had to work some over time and my boss HATES giving out over time. I expect another busy day today and so I am resting up and working on some sewing

Nickienoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-29321485464614541742008-08-25T06:23:00.000-07:002008-09-08T20:04:18.139-07:00

Good Morning Friends!It's simply too beautiful out to put into words correctly. Its sunny and cool--the perfect weather for working in the garden. Too bad I have nothing much to do this morning. :) I planted some Spinach seed in an empty spot between the bush cucumbers and the tomatoes, just a couple short rows. It's "Giant Noble" which bolted way too quickly in the spring as soon as it started

Nickienoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-3454239269828314772008-08-24T07:19:00.000-07:002008-09-08T20:03:03.865-07:00

Good Morning Friends!Its a beautiful morning outside today. In fact, its the perfect kind of morning for lounging around outside watching chickens, kittens, rabbits and birds with your caffinated beverage of choice. It's sunny and 70 with a breeze. But I told myself I would finish the left half of the vegetable garden today and get the buckwheat planted. I could tell when I was digging this

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-73215013228863706592008-08-23T12:07:00.000-07:002008-08-23T12:25:28.995-07:00

Hello again friends (for the second time today!)I am squeaky clean free of the garden dust that had covered me from toe to head now and it feels just too good. As I was showering I was trying to think of other ways I could maybe make some $$ or even barter for new things I don't have or need for things that I do.It occurred to me that maybe some folks would like to buy or barter for my seeds and

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-56984455915557777822008-08-23T10:34:00.000-07:002008-08-23T12:24:05.091-07:00

Good Afternoon Friends,Today's Harvest:1 cucumber3 past tomatoes (not counting the ones the chickens helped themselves to)22 pumpkinsI am late for my normal morning post today because I have been busy working furiously outside! I am having a small plant sale which isn't going good and a kitten give-a-way. I advertised, put a notice on Craigslist, and put signs up but nobody comes down this dead

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-69286432828647759922008-08-22T06:52:00.000-07:002008-08-22T07:39:49.302-07:00

Good morning friends!We are getting a nice hard rain this morning. I kept hearing the thunder in the distance and was enjoying the warm humid morning until the rain chased the hens and I under cover. But that's OK, we need the rain and it will hopefully be enough to make working in the dirt easier this weekend. Clay...hard as a rock clay.....I got up nice and early this morning ready to get out

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-88771948349548305162008-08-21T08:08:00.000-07:002008-08-21T08:44:33.661-07:00

Dear Friends,This morning I am glad I had been out bright and early, for If I hadn't been, who knows what atrocities may have happened?I stood outside to guard my garden and livestock with spade and shovel in hand, dirty kneed from garden work, standing defensively with a look of determination and a bit of terror on my face. I planted my feet firmly in the way. "No herbicide here needed!" I

Nickienoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-87763271885774127172008-08-20T07:09:00.000-07:002008-08-21T08:41:39.588-07:00

Good Morning Friends,I hope the new day is bringing you joy. When I woke up this morning and the first thing I noticed out the window was that the female blackbirds were everywhere outside. They coated my lawn, my trees, my corn plants, the power line and anything else they could perch on. I think my home must be marked on bird maps as a resting place because I get all kinds of flocks stop by

Nickienoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-10369688489353609662008-08-19T06:53:00.000-07:002008-08-20T20:54:37.925-07:00

Dear Friends,I've had a great little harvest from my vegetable garden today! The Great White tomatoes are producing the best this year and I'm finally starting to get a few cucumbers from my late planting. Unfortunately, it looks as if one of my cherry type tomatoes has some kind of blight, as all the leaves are turning yellow and sickly. I may have to pull that one up early and send it to the

Nickienoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9166558337484734386.post-42885580439364068702008-08-18T20:13:00.001-07:002008-08-18T20:32:25.750-07:00

Welcome Friends,This is a new blog for me. Some may know me from my other blog, GirlGoneGardening. I feel GirlGoneGardening has become stale and aimless. I will be closing it. So I'm trying on a new face. A new face to match my new resolve to follow my dreams and to make new things happen. I will treat this blog not only as a journal of the journey---however long the journey takes to reach the

Nickienoreply@blogger.com7