It looks like the warm weather is pretty much over, and now that the sky has become a constant cold shower (I prefer hot baths), concentrated work has begun on the inside of the house. As reported in the last post, the kitchen had to be the first room to start on.
We took down the old counter and cleaned up the one wall to start work. Jim found out about a type of adobe-mortar that is recommended for an adobe-style rammed earth mix. Basically the adobe mix includes 10% of cement, and when it dries it looks like the typical adobe but is waterproof. Jim mixes everything in a wheelbarrow outside and rolls it in when filled with the thick, damp goo. It kind of looks like a very dark bread dough.
Here’s the result of 10 days work in repairing the one wall in the kitchen. Its a little hard to see some of the deep holes in the first picture, but trust me — some of those holes made it possible to see the great outdoors when sitting on the floor. Now its all filled in and smooth and we are preparing to begin working on the flooring in front of that wall. We just have to let the wall finish drying.
We’re debating whether to paint the whole wall before installing the counter and sink or leaving the wall looking raw because the counter will be covering it. The paint is going to be a plain, flat white to serve as a base coat for future painting. At the present the walls are an awful shade of purple and the ceiling is made of sheets of plywood that are painted a very dark brown.
We have another week before we can install the counter, so if you get a chance, give me your opinion! We are really torn and we continue to debate paint or no paint with no solid decision.
Tomorrow we are going to try an experiment. We will be bringing our cat (Chamako) with us. He absolutely loves hunting, stalking and catching mice. There are plenty of prey for him and although he’s never been here, we are hopeful that within a few minutes of exploration that he will begin the hunt. Crossing our fingers!
We’ve trimmed and cut it down as far as we can. Now we will finish it off with salt water and time. Not only do we not want to get pierced with these tree stakes, but we have animals that deserve more.
So Jim disconnected the pipes and the counter was moved. What we found had our jaw dropping. The counter had no flooring at all; it was sitting directly on dirt. The wall behind the counter was almost non-existent with the outdoors being visible in spots.
The archway with tiered logs will also need work and we will want to completely redo the steps, but it seems that this will be a perfect spot. It’s the very center of the property, so we will be able to easily access the chicken/pig run, the round house, the future garden plot, Jim’s workshop and work area, and the house from this spot. It has enough shade to be comfortable in the summer and has enough room for a nice picnic table plus add the grill and smoker. Ah, the dreams we have!
After clearing out the weeds (inside and out), we decided this old chicken run will be perfect for use as a hatchery. Some repairs will have to be made and minor modifications, but overall the structure can be used. Such a great safe home for those baby chicks! I can picture it already….
The prickly pear cactus has little pears that grow on it that are soooo good to eat! I gathered a basket of these little gems last year from patches all over Albuquerque. A few we ate (they taste like a cross between pears and apples). The remainder I made juice out of. I thought about making jelly, but chose to make juice which I’ve used as fruit juice or to add to my sun tea. I could go on and on about the nutritional value, but I’d rather discuss how tasty they are!
The socorro has a few medicinal qualities, but for me — its just so cool looking. When we finish clearing out the property we plan on making this our cactus corner. We have some yucca we will be transplanting here to add a little variety, but this will certainly remain our mini “desert paradise.”
Tomorrow we start on the north side of the house so that we can park our vehicles without fear of starting a prairie fire.
Then he surprised me. He brought over our picnic table and some chairs and set it up in the newly cleared yard. What tickled me to pieces is the umbrella. It an old one he found buried in the bushes. He cleaned it up, attached some pvc pipe to it, and put it in the center of the table. Now we have a shady spot to rest during the day when we take breaks.
So, we worked on clearing some of that up today. I worked like a fiend gathering up all the piled dried branches and used the wood chipper inside the fence. A small mountain of debris is now about one garbage bag of usable mulch. Jim tackled the nightmare outside the fence.
Tomorrow we hope to finish clearing out the debris and weeds around this section of the property. For now, however, I’m taking a long, hot bath, heating up some soup for dinner, and then crawl into bed.
Although its still early in the season, we ended up spending our profits rather quickly with fresh herbs and greens, not to mention honey and baked goods. We didn’t quite have enough for some of the handcrafted items, but maybe next trip…
The musician that came out this time was really good and all the vendors tried to drop a little into his hat. It was amazing to see what artist had. They have beautiful drawings of bugs! I confess to not having paid much attention to those pesky things before, but the detailed drawings presented how pretty some of them can be.
LeeFran Homestead 