Dreams of a Hippie Farmer Wanna Be

Moved Over

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:01:30 GMT

OK I have moved The Farm. It's not fully decorated yet but you can get a preview.

http://dreamsofahippiefarmerwannabe.blogspot.com/

To keep up with the developments on all my moved blogs stop by my main blog.

http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

See ya' there!

New Home

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:42:21 GMT

I just wanted you guys to know that Liz has a new place and it's lovely.

http://visualcounterpoint.blogspot.com/

Stop by and see the beautiful entries that are there.

Don't forget to leave your new address so we can all meet again after the dust settles

Come Visit Me

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:26:24 GMT

Since I won't be posting any more entries on this journal, please save this address and come visit me. It's cozy and friends are always welcome.

http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

Good to hear that The Farm and Kitchen Chatter and The Cube will be moved. So I don't have to worry about that. I don't have time to recreate all them. :-)

So my Farmer friends hang tight, stay in touch and The Farm will be rebuilt!

Most important are friends so please don't lose touch and here is my gmail address as that's the one I use on Blogger. I always check account for mail so you can always reach me there or on AOL mail.

deb.baumgartnerATgmailDOTcom Just change AT to @ and DOT to .

Hope that makes sense. See you on Blogger!

Deb

The last will be First

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:32:30 GMT

Image credit DOUGY

Child of the heavens I hear your song,

Your carefree laugh makes my heart long

For mountains high and valleys deep,

Where I would softly rest and sleep,

Then re-awake at break of dawn,

To dance with you my soul reborn,

Child of the heavens, young and free,

Sing your song of love to me.

Image credit ROB

Bride of the Earth gliding with grace,

The full moon shining in your face,

Calm my mind and help me find,

The peace you speak of as you wind

Your regal way through green and gold,

You carry my soul, my heart you hold,

Bride of the Earth strong and free,

Tell you tale of love to me.

Mother of life I feel your heartbeat,

Gently caressing the earth at my feet,

Encircling the world endlessly,

Let my soul sail with you fearlessly,

Give my heart courage your depths to brave

And to ride the crest of your tallest wave,

Mother of life forever free,

Roll your rhythm of love to me.

This was the first song that I heard, I have tried to remember the words.

It is the last song I will sing.

Tags: music,

Just In Case

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:23:22 GMT

Seems there's confusion in J-Land about Journals. My understanding is that Hometown is going away not the Journals. However, just in case I am wrong I already have a backup journal on Blogger. PLEASE save this so we can stay in touch.

http://makingofahome.blogspot.com/

I don't think Journals are going away but I could be wrong.

Make sure you get my email address and you send me yours if you want to stay in touch.

If you post to Kitchen Chatter or the Hippie Farm don't worry. Send me your info and after the dust settles we can start new ones on Blogger.

Keep my info handy and bookmark or subscribe to my Blogger blog.

Hopefully I am right and Journals are going to stay

UPDATE: Well, it's true. Journals are going away. Please let me know where you will be and grab my link. I want to stay in touch with everyone!

Heart Warming

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:53:37 GMT

This is so sweet and wonderful. Watch this and I promise your heart will smile.

A Dance in Time

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:08:09 GMT

If I could sing with a siren’s voice,

I would weave the thread of chance,

And hold you spellbound in a dance,

Forever forming new designs,

Following calls from pole to pole,

Ringing the earth with simple lines,

The pattern only seen as a whole,

From where imagination shines,

Earth would rival the sun with light,

All shadows banished from the night,

Music would play colours of your choice.

The dance like a river would flow,

Generations holding out hands,

From mountains to ocean sands,

Constancy within constant change,

New boundaries border new ways,

Gold lights ride point over the range,

Bring future dreams to present days,

Discover more unknown and strange,

Music would build a timeless home,

Where all the steps we must learn roam,

Yet the dance only Time will show.

Tags: earth, light, night, music, dance, time, river

I Think This Is Genius

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:26:24 GMT

This is a clip from post on the Tiny House Blog. Be sure to read the full article and check out the pics.

PFNC stands for “Por Fin Nuestra Casa.” Translated in English this simply means “Finally, a home of our own.” These words are the foundation of PFNC, whose goal is to provide housing to those who most desperately need it around the globe.

PFNC utilizes surplus shipping containers resulting from the United States’ consistent trade deficit. These containers serve as the building block of PFNC housing, but go through an extensive conversion process to make them a home. PFNC offers an affordable housing solution that is scalable and fully portable. Each PFNC unit includes 1st world amenities for a price of less than $10,000 (US).

Good stuff, if you ask me. The original article was on CNN. You can read that one by clicking here.

Here's a video tour of the inside. What do you think?

I Love This Garden

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:56:16 GMT

Isn't this garden fabulous? The picture came along with this article and since it's licensed under Creative Commons I can share the whole thing with you.

How to Start an Organic Gardenfrom wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Organic gardeners grow the healthiest, highest quality foods and flowers without using any chemicals. Organic methods are healthier, better for the environment, and wildlife, and are less expensive because there are no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides to buy. All of this is accomplished by working with nature instead of against it, and best of all you can be an organic gardener even if you only have a few square feet of sunny space for your garden. Done right, established organic gardens can be easier to maintain than those Steps

Choose a site for your organic garden.
- Think small, especially at first. A small garden takes less work and fewer materials than a large one. A well-maintained 4' by 4' garden can furnish all of the fresh vegetables that one person will eat.
- Don't over-plant. If you're growing food, think in terms of yield, and plan in terms of meals per person.
- Even a window box or a few containers can be a starter garden.
Make a compost pile. Compost is the main ingredient for developing rich organic soil. You can use almost any kind of organic material to make compost that will enrich your soil, but the best things to start with are usually right there in your garden: fallen leaves, weeds (preferably before they go to seed) and grass clippings, to name a few.
Add the right soil. The key to organic agriculture is great soil. Add as much organic material to your soil as you can. This can be from your compost heap. Soil that has been built up with plenty of organic matter is good for your garden for a lot of reasons.
- It will nourish your plants without chemical fertilizers, keeping them more natural, rather than encouraging bursts of fast growth that can weaken plants.
- It is easier to get shovels into, and weeds out of, enriched soil that isn't so hard packed.
- It is softer, so plants' roots can penetrate more easily and more deeply.
- It will help water and air spend the right amount of time in contact with roots. Clay soils can be heavy and stay wet a long time. Sandy soils can drain water too quickly.
Control weeds. Weeds are any plant you don't want growing in an area, and may include invasive ornamental or productive plants, such as ivy and mint.
- Use a hoe and keep it sharp. You can use a grinding wheel to put an edge on it. Try a Dutch hoe or scuffle hoe if you have only used a conventional gooseneck style hoe. Hoe each area frequently enough to keep green weeds down. Regularly taking off all green portions of weeds deprives them of the nourishment they need to continue regrowing.
- Hand weed to remove the roots of perennial weeds that grow back. Also hand weed carefully around established plants, to avoid uprooting the plants you want.
- Plant thickly, particularly for ornamental or decorative areas. Companion plantings can fill in spaces in vegetable gardens, too, and make the most of a small space. Spaces that are planted thickly enough will discourage weeds from growing between plants that you want.
- Thickly mulch unplanted areas around plants and trees where you wish to have no weeds. Organic mulches, including bark, wood chips, grass clippings, and mulch, gradually break down and enrich the soil. In the meantime, they control weeds, help to moderate soil temperatures, and slow evaporation in dry areas, meaning that you can water less.
- Try heat to control weeds in cracks, in the form of steam, a heat gun, boiling water, or even a small blowtorch, carefully applied. If you want space between slabs or stepping stones, try planting between them with a low, decorative plant that can withstand some foot traffic, such as thyme.
Rethink your lawn. A pristine lawn is a lot of work, and depending on your climate may require a lot of fertilizer and water to maintain. It's also a monoculture that is difficult to maintain. At the very least, consider letting clover and other plants in, and don't panic if a few weeds spring up. Consider planting something besides lawn or making your lawn smaller, especially in arid climates.
Invite birds, worms, and friendly insects. Many creatures can help your garden. Learn which ones they are and arrange conditions to encourage them.
Start now. Get a jump on your gardening effort at any time of year.

Tips

Organic means that you don't use any kinds of chemicals or materials such as paper or cardboard which contain chemicals, but especially not fertilizer or pesticides.
You can use almost any kind of organic material to make compost that will enrich your soil, but try to avoid materials that have been treated with chemicals like grass clippings from that really beautiful lawn that has been sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.
You don't really need compost bins or tumblers - just pile up your material and wait for them to decompose. If you want to speed things up "turn" the pile every once in a while to mix it up and incorporate air.
You can also just add things like leaves and grass clippings directly to your garden as a weed suppressing mulch. It will still enrich the soil. Although until the leaves or grass dies it will leach nitrogen from the soil to help it decompose, better off in the compost heap.
If insects attack your plants the very best way to control them is to just pick them off by hand. Practice crop rotation as in Permaculture Methods and Companion Planting. These systems can greatly reduce pests and in some cases render them non-existent.
Aphids (tiny soft bodied crawling insects that multiply like crazy in the spring and early summer) can be removed from your plants with just a strong stream of water.
The key to pest and weed control is to act early and often and keep them from becoming a problem.
Make planting beds of a moderate size so that you can reach the whole thing. Plan paths that require a minimum of upkeep.

Warnings

Don't use the following for your compost pile, even though they are organic. Doing so is risking the spread of disease and/or attraction of pests.
meat, flesh, bones or fat of any kind
feces from any animal that eats meat, especially from dogs, cats, or people
large amounts of watery fruits or vegetables such as tomatoes, oranges, cucumbers, melons, etc.
- large quantities of prepared food
- oil or grease
Don't ever use bark mulch! It might look good but it robs nitrogen from the soil as it rots and will keep almost anything from growing well, and it attracts termites.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

gardening2u.com - Organic plant care, fertilizer info, recipes

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Start an Organic Garden. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Mini Homes

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:15:42 GMT

Here's a link to the main Mini Home web site and here's another to the images page. I just love these mini, green homes! They have a total electricity cost of about $300. a year! I love the clean modern simplicity of them too.

Martha :-)