Sawdust Toilet

I finally finished the sawdust toilet downstairs! I am happy with how it turned out. Usually these things are quickly made and rather rustic, so it's different to have a luxury version. Just in time for Claire! Pictures on the website. We were able to celebrate Naomi's birthday together. Lots of good food and even a bit of snow. Whoops.  

https://www.dutch-domes.com/cookcraft/sawdusttoilet

She is visiting us for about a week, and then we will head downstate to the Tulip Festival. Yesterday my dad came up to help cut down some trees. Nice to have the hard part done! Now it's just cleanup. I would hate to put a new roof on and then have a tree fall on it. Nice to have a bit more light as well. 

The greenhouse is looking great! Got the living part of the living roof removed and the membrane cleaned, so that I can put a second membrane on top. What a pain. The compost turned out really well though. Amazing that it has transformed. Did some minor test plots to see how plants respond to it. 

The snowdrift crushed our tree cages.

Interesting wasp in the greenhouse.

Good looking compost!

Birthday soup from Amélie.

Fired up the grill for the first time this year.

Found a new corner marker on our property! Saves us some money.

Spring is here!

All At Once

We had a busy week. The car needed some last minute repairs before the trip down to the wedding. Weather warmed up to the point where I was riding a bike in a t-shirt, so I used the tractor to move some snow away from the house as we still have a bit of water seeping in. The girls had their first track meet. Naomi got sick. 

I worked on the greenhouse for a bit - it was in the 80's. Also managed to finish up the hall ceiling and the sawdust toilet. Cleanup is scheduled for today. The XC ski trails have still been good this past week. The girls and I were able to finish cleaning out the garage so that we could get the tractor inside. 

We had a great time at the wedding. Just a few hours south and the seasons jumped forward a month. Flowers and the smell of freshly cut grass. The girls had fun hanging out on there own while we were at the wedding. It was a great night. Brunch the next morning was a lot of fun too, and the girls were able to attend that. We did some dress shopping for them first, and even got to visit the Dutch windmill! Naomi was able to meet someone who moved here from the NL about 30 years ago. Enjoyed dinner with my parents on the way home. 

The wedding was in an old body shop in Oskosh.

It was a short ceremony!

The first produce from our greenhouse.

Just barely fits!

Finished ceiling. 

Now some windows and doors.

Wood storage up above.

The first signs of life!

This maple won't get far on the greenhouse roof.

So much snow.

The track meet...

...lasted longer than we expected.

Found a deal on some boards.

A concert!

Dress shopping.

The Dutch windmill. 

Great to be back home!

Lots of good skiing still happening.

My neighbor found some bear tracks.

Fun at the wedding.

The Melt

We lost most of our snow this week. On Friday the temperature was the same outside as it was inside! Incredible. Unfortunately the giant snowbank and massive snow drift had to go somewhere, and as the ground is still frozen, part of it came into the basement. Not a lot, and the rest was fine, but just in those two spots. We will need to keep an eye on it. Back below freezing this weekend so it is on pause for now. 

Naomi is down in Chicago with my sisters and mom doing some dress shopping for Claire. Quite the trip. The girls and I have been without the car since Thursday, and it has been fine. The girls had an impressive art show at school! We finally got to walk to and from school again which was fun, apart from my back. It went out on me this week so I have had to take things really slow. Getting back into action though, but still pretty sore. 

Made some good progress around the house in spite of all that. Improved the mudroom situation, started on the garage, started on the downstairs hall ceiling and nearly finished the sawdust toilet! Also got the plants in the greenhouse set up with a fan on a timer to get them stronger. Seems to be working. 

Amélie made French onion soup.

Girls had another cooking class at the Coop. 

Giant strawberry!

Walking to school.

Melting snow!

Mud Season

It has begun. My least favorite time of the year. A grumpy week for me. All the snow is melting, and melting quickly! We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday but now the rain has started. Flood watch for the next few days. This will be the big test for the sunken bit of the greenhouse and my foundation work on our house. The bees are officially gone. Said goodbye to the last three yesterday. Cleaned out the rest of the honey. 

Naomi has been busy with finding places for things that she got from friends around the house. We have too much stuff! I'll be working on some more storage options for the garage soon. Need to get the tractor in there as well. 

The sawdust toilet continues to come along nicely. Got the seat done. Working on the lids. Should be able to wrap it up this week, and start on the ceiling for the downstairs hall so that I can get some of the wood from the garage stowed away. 

New plants are doing okay in the greenhouse. 

Lots of jars to fill. 

Naomi's first time out on XC skis!

More Winter

It was feeling like spring for a while there, but no longer. Back to the snow, ice, clouds and cold. Not sure there are any bees left alive now. Perhaps started some plants too early. Made it to the ski hill for what might have been the last time. Maybe this afternoon we can get out on the cross country skis as they have been on top of grooming the trails.

Made some progress on the downstairs bathroom. Liking how it is coming along. Tongue and groove is done on the walls. Sink finished. Working on the upper cabinet now. Unpleasant weather does facilitate this project!

The girls had their spring break this week. They spent a couple days in Escanaba and had a great time. Abigail worked on a few little creative things and Amélie did some baking. She even picked out a couple new cookbooks yesterday! We are enjoying her progression in the kitchen. 

Plenty of leftover honey.

Still a few bees left.

Amélie has two baby fish in her tank!

Ice mountains at the welcome center.

Amélie has been working hard.

The cottage at Picnic Rocks. So much ice.

Honey Harvest

The bees are dwindling and I don't expect they will make it much longer. So we started to pull a bit of honey and the stuff on top still seems to be in pretty good shape. Trying out some different ways to harvest it. The heat gun works pretty well for uncapping but is on the slow side. Trying gravity and time out but sun is needed to warm things up enough. Haven't seen sun in a while. 

The girls are on spring break now! They had their last ski club on Thursday, ending things with a pizza party. Naomi has been busy with registration, but we did get a chance to check out the end of season party at the ski hill. They made a pond and riders tried to skim across, but most of them got wet. So cold. 

I made some progress in the downstairs bathroom, but still lots to do. Got distracted with some new cross country skis, and now I am pretty sore from all the wipeouts! They are a little too fast for my skill level at the moment. Guess I need to practice more. 

View from the lift.

I'll pass on this challenge. 

New skis. 

The Blizzard

What a storm! The wind was so strong that I was wearing my goggles and helmet when I was outside clearing the snow. Seemed rather pointless as the drifts were moving so quickly. The upside was that it didn't accumulate on our roof at all. Nearly half of it has already disappeared. Must be March. Did give us a chance to have fun sledding off the roof again! Even had a friend come over with his snowboard. 

Out of six consecutive school days the girls had five snow days. We had some fun, but everyone was definitely ready to get back into the routine. Luckily we could enjoy snow club. The wind had blown most of the new snow right off the back of the mountain, making some impressive drifts in the process. It was fun to hike up and check them out. 

Didn't have much time for the bathroom, but the water is finally hooked up and working. That was a big milestone. It is really a time sink of a project though. So much detail. Hopefully I can make some good progress this week. 

What a drift.

Digging down to get light downstairs.

The compost is alive!

Over 100 degrees under there.

The sunken greenhouse is sinking!

Getting organized.

What a view.

Out towards our land and above the treetops.

Fun ride down.