Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Where have I been?

Wow! I can't believe it's been over two years since I've posted here, but I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone too much. I've only posted a couple times on Facebook in the intervening time and I've been mostly laying low during this whole pandemic business. 

Biking in the Teanaway
What have I been up to? Well, I didn't do much in the way of homesteading last year for a couple reasons. First, the deer here have been overly snacky on anything I grow and I haven't gotten around to creating barriers to the deer that will still make it easy for me to manage growing anything. Last year, the bed covers I created just meant it was a barrier to both the deer and me to getting at the garden. I'm hoping to change that this spring.

Second, I picked up a new hobby since moving out here that takes up a lot of my time and, frankly, my energy. I've been doing a tremendous amount of gravel biking in the area during the warm months and a similar amount of bike training indoors during the cold months. I really wanted to test and see how much I could gain in power focusing on it and so that didn't leave much energy for large garden projects. 

This year I want to have more balance. Still gravel biking, but also homesteading. And that's why I'm posting again. History has shown that I tend to pop on to my blog and post just as fast as I pop back off. So, I can't really promise anything. But if people are interested in reading what goofy things I'm up to, I'm happy to write them up! 

We're having an incredibly slow start to the growing season here, more so than usual. This winter we had a tremendous amount of snow fall in January and not much after that. Of course, now that I'm gunning to start growing we are expecting a snow storm again. Such is mountain life. So, I'm using the time to assess any damage from our record breaking snow, clean up the garden, start prepping beds and do some planning. And I've got a few other crazy things up my sleeve.

I was thinking of just posting on my Facebook page, but every time I want to explain what I'm doing, the posts get too long and I don't want to cut it short or torture people on social media with overly lengthy posts!

Anyway, if anyone is still out there reading, let me know!

12 comments:

Karen from CT said...

Happy to see you back-just checked your blog a week ago to see if anything new had been posted! Happy Spring!

Gloria said...

How are the kids?

Segwyne said...

Good to see you again!

Surviving and Thriving on Pennies said...

I am here for this!!!! Here's to the usual shenanigan's!
Nancy
Formerly surviving and thriving on Pennie's
Now known as That Baldwin Life

Crunchy Chicken said...

@Karen from CT - Happy spring to you too! I'm hoping spring doesn't wait too much longer around here!

@Gloria - The kids are doing good! Henry is almost 20 and doing a Gunsmithing Certification Program and Grace is 18 and finishing up homeschooling highschool. Hopefully they'll both be driving by the end of the year as well. Our town is walkable so the motivation has been low, but there's little public transportation so the motivation will be high as well :)

@Segwyne - Hey you! How are you?

@Nancy - Damn girl, you are excited!

Kristi said...

Good to see you back! I'm trying to get back into biking myself, but am having trouble finding a good saddle. Any tips?

Crunchy Chicken said...

@Kristi - I could write a book about my saddle issues. TMI, but then again, that's what I'm all about. Saddle fit is so individual, what works for one person doesn't work for another. Everyone suggests getting a bike fit to help alleviate issues, but sometimes it still doesn't work out and it comes down to the saddle. I like the Selle Italia Lady Gel Flow. For indoor trainer riding, I've been using the Infinity saddle with a cover (it's expensive and wouldn't recommend it unless you are nuts, like I am, and do 4+ hour inside trainer rides). My suggestion is to just try different saddles until one clicks. And get a bike fit if you can.

Unknown said...

Yay!

Frogdancer Jones said...

I'm here from Australia.
:)
I read your asparagus post first. I'm growing it but I'm still in the early stage of waiting for it to mature before I can start eating it. Maybe next year...

Crunchy Chicken said...

@Frogdancer Jones - Ugh, waiting for plant production is the worst part! Thanks for visiting.

e4 said...

I'm living in suburbia now, and the deer here are rampant. They were eating EVERYTHING I planted -- even stuff they weren't supposed to eat. I tried a number of approaches, but ended up enclosing my whole front yard with deer fence. I got a DIY kit that was not too overwhelming to install (critterfence.com if I remember right). It wouldn't fly in an HOA neighborhood, but I live in a crunchy-enough area to get away with it.

Anyway, it really made a big difference. No deer in the garden for two years running. Now I just have to contend with squash vine borers and cabbage moths.

Good to see you back out here in blog-land. Maybe I'll start something up again too.

Freezing Buns said...

It's good to see you back. I followed the blog for a long time and participated in the freeze yer buns challenge. With utility rate increases, it's time to bring that challenge back.

There is a wait list for solar installation in my area and with the new incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, I'm going for it.

I live in a 134 year old converted church in IL and I'd rather put my money into the retirement account or pay off solar panels than spend it paying to heat this drafty old place. In the past, you had some terrific strategies. Time to revisit those ideas.

Current thermostat setting is 58 overnight and 64 during the day. This week, I made the bed with flannel sheets, a down comforter, two quilts and a wool blanket. I was toasty.