Urban Homesteading

So I've been slowly integrating various green concepts into my life- vermicomposting, getting rid of wasteful things like paper towels, using the Diva Cup during periods, using only earth friendly cleaning supplies, trying to use and buy less, carpooling, trying to rid myself of water bottle usage, etc. Most things have been surprisingly very easy.

I have recently become interested in Urban Homesteading. That is, trying to distance myself from the dependency on others, specifically corporations, big business, and such. I love the idea of moving towards self sufficiency and it really horrified me how far I am in similarity to the lifestyles my grandparents once lived.

So now I am looking for a place where I can start my own little Urban Homestead when I get to St. Louis. I have to find a place with a fenced yard and some green space!

I stumbled across Square Foot Gardening. Basically you build boxes to plant your crop in. So we can do this. My problem is that I have no green thumb. But I was thinking that maybe I could get involved with one of the community gardens to learn. Also I heard the Missouri Botanical Garden holds all sorts of classes.

Food that I would like the grow (note: I've not done any research on the viability of any of these, so they might not all be feasible):

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, Zucchini, Onion, Garlic, Pepper, Tomato (for April... I hate tomato), Potato, Sweet Potato, Soy beans, Green Beans, Lettuce, and Spinach. Then I'd also like to grow some basic herbs- Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, etc.

Luckily in St Louis there are various Farmers Markets that I can't wait to visit. Old North city has one and Tower Grove has one. Tower Grove even does yoga on the lawn on Saturday mornings. I'm totally doing that once I get settled in STL. But yeah, if I can buy most of my stuff locally, that would be a huge help too!

So, of course, thinking about doing these things and actually doing them, is a whole nother concept all together. I think that if I take it slow and learn as I go, a year from now I'll be that much closer to significantly lessening my footprint!

Also, in other Green news, I want to build a Doggy Poo Composter. Obviously you wouldn't want to but this compost on garden goodies that you eat, but it can go on ornamentals and such. What a great solution to wasting more bags and landfill space!

Once I get to St Louis I will also be making a much larger vermicomposting bin because the smaller one I have now is just too hard to bury the food in different sections. I have to redo the box anyway because I'm having a little fruit fly headache.

Birthday Gadgets!

I turned 26 on May 2oth. So now that I'm older than a quarter century, I think that I can officially talk about how old I am. I have been caught saying things like "I'm almost 30 years old!" at least 5 or 6 times. And it seems that now that I am so old, I'm acting it. I'm not really interested in drinking, partying, or being awake past midnight.

Yes, yes, I know I'm a "baby" blah blah.

One awesome thing about getting old is that I appreciate the cool stuff even more. For my birthday, I few really rockin gadgets from my two favorite ladies, my Mom and April.

I'll start with April's gift. Well, it really wasn't her idea. My old roommate upgraded her camera and go a new Canon 50D, leaving her poor Canon 20D cold, alone and neglected. So, she very nicely sold it to April for a really really really nice price.

I am now the proud owner of this awesome and very sexy girl. She's considered an upper level amateur camera and many pros use this beauty as a back up. You can look up the specs but it's 8.2 megapixels and shoots in RAW and JPG format. She also threw in a nice zoom lens that is lovely.

To accessorize, I bought a camera strap from Phatstraps.com . My first custom made one was going to be awesome. It had black skulls on it and blank minky lining. But USPS got it lost and don't get me into their crappy tracking system for standard deliveies. PhatStraps didn't have to, but because they are awesome, refunded me the price of the strap. So I went with an already made 40" strap that they had that looks like this, except with lavender Miky instead of Pink. I LOVE it!

I left my baby in St. Louis during my trip so I wouldn't have to check luggage on the way back. I wish I would have brought her though so I can stop to take some pictures on our drive up to St. Louis. I may have my dad ship her instead. We'll see.

Next, Id like you all to meet.... drum roll please... MOLLY!!!

She's an Acer One- also known as a netbook. It's 10 inches and it's adorable. It's not made to store much, having ony 1 GB, but I'm going to get a big Memory card or flash drive for it and transfer files to my external harddrive when things are getting full. Also we still have our two regular notebooks, although they are currently virus infected and I've only gotten one back to a some what usable state (unfortuantely, it's NOT the one with my new full Adobe suite, so I've been without all my yummy programs for a few weeks now).

I love her. My mom got one for herself and my grandma. My mom named her Malikai and grandma named her Mable? Oh I forgot what my grandma named hers. My mom named mine Molly. But for some reason there was a netbook naming emergency one day, per my Mom. And they all HAD to have "M" names. People wonder why I am like I am?

Bock Bock Bock

What is that white fluff ball, you ask?

Is it a cotton ball?

It is a puppet?

Is it a doll?

Is it a super fluffy alien from outer space?


Is it Gabby??

Nope! This is a White Silkie CHICKEN. A few months ago I stumbled upon a site about Urban Chickens. That's right- chickens you keep in your backyard in urban environments. I never thought this was possible.

I don't really eat eggs now (except the occassional lapse in morals when I'll have a scrambled egg) because of factory farming conditions. But alas, I could take care of a few rescued chickens, have fresh eggs, reduce my dependancy on external mass production, have natural insect control, and natural lawn fertilizer?! This fits totally into my quest to GO GREEN.

Haha- One day. When I have real land. I don't really want to keep chickens in the city. But one day maybe  I'll rescue some chickens. Puffy or otherwise ;)

So now that I'm... a.) Going to a cold climate and b.) Not running a roller derby league, I'm getting back to my craftiness. I hadn't knitted or embroidered in FOREVER it seemed. I actually got rid of my entire stash of yarn in my last move since I hadn't touched any of it in about a year and a half. Of course, once I rid myself of something, I decide to get back into it. But whatever.

So I knitted myself a seed stitch scarf with the only ball of yarn I did save from the move. I did this mostly just to get my knitting rhythm back and figure out what the hell I was doing.

Then I knitted the Everyone's Doing It Shrug with this yummy purple Debby Bliss cotton I got at Knitorious in St. Louis during my trip. I have to take a picture of it still. I'll post it on here and on Craftster when I do. I've been wearing it for 2 days. It only took me a few hours to knit up. Very basic lace pattern and it's done on 10 1/2 size in a wrosted weight, so it knit up super easy. I'm going to do a more complicated shrug for my mom's birthday in June.

I also just made up a little pattern to knit a little Bichon for my Mom, which is supposed to look like Gabby (my Mom's Bichon that I'm rehoming with me- a whole nother story in and of itself). When she's sad and missing Gabby, she can pet the Gabby dolls instead. I knit that with some fuzzy Joanne's Angel yarn.

On some little Size 2 needles I am knitting Snowflake from The Knitted Teddybear book (LOVE that book). I'm not making her with the recommedned Mohair, but just some beige Heart and Soul yarn I found at Joanne's. I was just excited to find some fine yarn because I wanted Snowflake to be tiny.

I also started making April a hat on some circular needles I have. I never learned to knit on circulars and DPNs so that's what I'm doing. Over the next month or two, I'm going to teach myself all of the skills that I was either afraid to learn or just never got around to:

1.) Cables

2.) Intarsia

3.) Lace Work

4.) Circulars

5.) DPNs

6.) Customizing a pattern

The problem is that I tend to be impatient and I'm a slow knitter. So I try not to take on any projects that will take me more than a few days to complete. Like the chances of me every knitting an adult sweater are pretty slim. But you never know....

Alas, I have returned.

So I'm back from a week long trip to St. Louis. I went to do some job interviews and well, mostly to skate with the Arch Rivals. April (Jack U Up) had already been there for a week prior and had gotten several practices in with them and I was jonesing to see if I would share her impressions.

I only got to hit one practice but it was scrimmage night so I was very excited to see how they would play and how I would adjust in the pack.

First off, their practice track is like skating on ice. I'm sure that after a few practices I'll get used to it, but I was so embarrassed... I splipped out and fell 7 times.... yes, 7 times. And I was wearing my mojos. Granted, they're a bit worn, but still. 3 of the falls were during warm ups! Ok and I didn't just knee fall small and pop back up. No. I would like freaking collapse all big and crazy and sloppy. S

Otherwise I did an ok job. I was definitely skating at the 50 percent.

Arch Rivals play a much different game than they do compared to teams in Florida. Their actual pack speed didn't phase me, as I prefer a faster pack, but the speed and ferocity at which they skate in the pack took me by surprise. They move around quickly and efficiently, like bees. I'm used to staying somewhat static positionally in the pack and the movements of opposing players in packs here are more predictable.

At ARRG, one minute they're here, one minute they're there. It was alot of fun watching everyone buzz around me!!! My first scrimmage I felt like it was my first scrimmage ever... I was just watching them, trying to slow the play down in my head, start seeing the patterns, the trends, the holes, etc. My the second scrimmage, I was starting to see what I needed to see. I took a few people out but ARRG seem more about containment, which is great because I'd rather contain than throw blows and risk penalties.

One thing that I also enjoyed was the amount of communication that was happening in the pack and from players watching on. While I'm sure at first I might be overwhelmed having several people, whos voices I don't yet recorgnize, yelling at me at one time, I'm looking forward to getting instruction in the midst of an action, a play, or a pack. Gives me an opportunity for on the spot improvement. I really really need that.

I'm both scared and excited to be a little fish in a big sea. I have alot of learning to do and alot of adjusting to their style of play. I'm looking forward to the challenge and seeing how far I can get on this team. Coming in as a transfer is already daunting... and it's not like I'm going to a team that has played me or knows me from leadership stuff. I'm noone and I have to pay my dues like everyone else. It's an uphill battle from here!