luna acres

I stumbled upon a website last week about low impact woodland homes, essentially: hobbit houses. Dug into a hillside and covered with earth to create an efficient and beautiful house. They are made with roundwood framing, using oak trees left whole as the timbers. Straw bales are used for insulation in the walls and under the floor. They used a natural lime plaster on the walls, recycled materials for everything possible, thrifted doors and windows. All together this husband/father and his father in law built a house for under $4000 in about four months.  I have been blown away by the ideas and resources available on the subject. We have spent hours already discussing the outbuildings we will need in the future, such as barns, root cellars, storage sheds, animal shelters, and well we could definitely use a few cabins around. If we can utilize the materials around us in this way, it's possible for us to create an incredible farm, beautiful, efficient, and sustainable....

I said that I was going to write about something meaningful and well, I haven't. Our lives are going through a lot of transition right now. On the farm we learned to live so simply, on very little income. We learned to appreciate the things around us, the time we spend together, the animals, the grass, the sunsets, the food , instead of the things.   Now that we are back at work we are spending (and planning our spending) much more wisely. It's difficult to resist sometimes (like the chicken coop with chickens I found last night on craiglist...) but we are, we want to grow slowly, at a sustainable pace. That's something we learned on the farm, something not-to-do, that slow and steady wins the race, buying everything at once is only going to make things more difficult in the long run. That said, we do have three rabbits now! You can see pictures over at the farm blog here . Our plan next is to save for about a month, then get some chickens. Then save for a month or...

We finally got another car. It's by no means fancy or new, but it runs good and doesn't look too bad either. The best part is we got a pretty good deal, leaving a small chunk of change leftover for a tune-up and any repairs we find we need. The car is 1992 Subaru SVX, which was a sports car back in the day, but obviously not very successful at the time as there were only 14,000 sold. It's pretty cool having something that no one has heard of before. It has 195,000 miles on it, which is a lot, but it has had regular maintenance and even had receipts from all the major stuff, like the timing belt and water pump. We paid $1450. That was way more information than most of you wanted to know, but who knows, maybe somebody did.  It will get us from home to work, for now, which frankly is enough for us.  (it does help that it doesn't sound like it's going to fall apart, like the Jeep) Until next time, Angela Kelly

We welcomed three precious rabbits to the farm this week. They are all girls (does, in the farming world) but three different breeds (all known for their meat) in three different colors. They don't have names yet, but they certainly need them since they will probably be around for the next 5 years. They are all still young, so we will wait a few months before we get a boy (a buck.) I have enjoyed the past several days, waking up early and going out late after work to check on them.  It's a pretty good feeling to have something depending on you. pretty brown lady, she is a Dutch cross white with grey ears, tail, and nose- she is a New Zealand / Tennessee Redback cross this fancy girl is a pure Dutch- she is certainly the prettiest Apologies for the red eyes and low quality photographs, but I am finding that life is too short for editing. Until next time, live simply, Angela and Jonathan

We found a local co-op that delivers in Blacksburg (on our way to work) and offers products from 50 different farms plus the Amish store. We picked up our first order last week, along with some produce from the little market stand. Yesterday morning we treated the family to breakfast, nothing we ate was nearly as delicious as the sausage. We have missed fresh local good-for-you and knowing-how-it-was-raised food more than we could have imagined. To make our first experience even better, we introduced ourselves and were greeted excitedly, with open arms to all the products we can produce (rabbits and mushrooms, our first two projects, are greatly unspoken for!) Delicious food, and networking.  Life is getting better and better. Until next time, Angela Kelly

Winter is settling in. I was bundled up this morning to face the 20 degree frost to feed the animals. Even without livestock to care for, the cats and dogs are still time consuming. Things are relatively slow and quiet now, winters cold does seem to have that affect. With the holidays surrounding us it is a time for family and food, projects set on the back burner. Jonathan and I are both working now, meaning farm projects will be the focus very soon. For now, we just enjoy the cold. smoke the barn kitties in training - I'm using a big dog crate for a few hours at a time compost growing the trees had their first pruning the shed (with walls and everything) my cousin Billy did this beautiful wood burnt sign with a magnifying glass Zae has been enjoying his trips outside Roxy is enjoying herself as well, although she is definitely the scaredy one Trilli is busy, the search for hunting season leftovers in full effect Live simply, Angela and Jonathan

The holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving was incredible this year, despite our family gathering being postponed to the weekend in order to include many important members (my dad and sister). This left us Thanksgiving day itself to visit Jonathan's family, and for the first time ever we enjoyed a holiday united as one. My mom and cousin Billy rode in with us, Dad and Wanda came over later in the evening for dinner, and Amy and Deacon stopped by as well. It really meant a  lot to us to have all of our family in one place on a holiday. We love you all so very much. I couldn't thank Mike and Penny enough for having us all.    I have been just awful at keeping up with the social media world as of late, time and energy being devoted instead to real life relationships and activities. This is all well and good, but I do miss sharing. And speaking of sharing- I feel that I have failed to share anything truly personal and meaning...

The last month we have been focused on the shop. We gutted the little shed beside the front porch, put up ty-vec, closed in the wall, moved in cabinets, built shelves, and spent not nearly enough time yet organizing the tools from around the property. It has finally come together, despite still needing a bit more organizing (okay, a lot more), but it looks great! Jonathan, my dad and my cousin Billy did most of the work (I helped a little). We used all materials that we already had. This isn't exactly a "farm project", but with this new shop set up we have the larger shed to use as our barn! Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I am very disappointed that I won't be eating a pasture raised, organic bird that I raised, but there's always next year. Yeah, definitely next year. Best wishes to everyone! Angela and Jonathan construction! a mess tools dad and billy cutting oak boards for the walls cabinets Jonathan helping build the motorcycle shack the men at work finished, excep...

I'm a little late in sharing our adventures of the first storm of the winter season, but it's better late than never, right? Life has been a bit chaotic; returning home, finding work, and fixing the Jeep have been overwhelming tasks, but we can finally cross them off our list (well, mostly.) Amist all the stress my blogging has been on the back burner, but no longer! The next few months will be busy busy busy with farm projects, and I want to share it with you every step of the way. Now, back to that storm... the clouds rolled in then the rain firewood the wind took down the pear tree also, the strawberries (granted there was not much left to them) soaked. and very dark our poor, poor tree it will heal. the morning after the biggest casualty Live simply, Angela and Jonathan

little Billy and Zae - nap time Just a quick hello, in the midst of busy changing life. I am working at Pizza Hut (again, although a different store than before we left) and Jonathan starts next week. We are holding our breath riding the taped together Jeep until we have acceptable income for another car. Thanksgiving is this week, and I am very excited to spend some time with family. I promise to resume more interesting and timely posting very soon! Until next time, Angela Kelly