It’s a whole new world …

Once you change your lifestyle, a whole new world opens up to you with people you’ve never spoken to and things you’d never thought you’d do. There are actually a lot of wonderfully talented, knowledgeable people residing in Forks and the surrounding areas. All from different walks of lives, some are extremists and some are people like me just trying to figure it out, which makes Forks absolutely unique.

Beaver Farms has ducks, chickens, rabbits and they also have bees, I believe. If I would have known this little bit of information, I would have purchased my baby chickies and ducklings from them just so I could keep it REALLY local.

Speaking of local, I got myself a private tour of a very fabulous garden that sits in the middle of town. I got some awesome starts from Miss Heidi and I know they were grown from her 100-percent organic garden. I was truly impressed with her knowledge and garden; it was like a walk of wisdom! Be sure to follow her on her new blog called Rain Country Homestead.

Remember when I said we had to go to the Hood Canal area and pick up our bees but with our luck something would happen with them? Well, I lucked out with what I’m sure was Ebola but really was the flu and didn’t have to go. Phil and Ed loaded up the girls and off they went. Phil ended up with Ebola (the flu) during the car ride and had Ed drive the rest of the way. When they got the bees loaded up in the Excursion, they apparently missed the small hole. A couple of bees escaped and buzzed around. I guess Riyan stayed calm but Harper had herself a meltdown. I would have too if I were in the car. Everyone made it home safely without getting stung. The bees are now happy in the orchard in their new home.

Our vegetable starts are totally ready for the ground. I’m just a little hesitant though because it’s still a little chilly in the morning. But a section of the ground in the orchard has been rototilled and another area has been “tarped” out for our little pumpkin patch.

We have 250 gallons of rain water saved. We are kicking ourselves for not buying a giant tank that sits at True Value or “Bob’s” if you will. I mean, we still can and more than likely will, but it seems rain season is just about over with all this beautiful weather we are having. I guess we will figure something out, we always do. I’m a little nervous our well will go dry.

We are entering our fifth month being off grid which means we haven’t had a fridge in four and half of those months. It’s not that one doesn’t work out here, it’s that it died. Getting someone to come out to fix it is not real and having our special fridge worked on in Port Angeles is kind of a waiting list. So the dilemma … Do we buy a new fridge or save our money? This fridge is not like your fridge so it comes with a pretty price tag. The obvious answer is duh; go on vacation with the money you are saving to buy a new fridge.  What do we really put in a fridge anyway? Milk? I can’t get the girls to drink it and I don’t care for it. But I do keep a gallon at Alajiah’s house just in case someone wants it. Cheese? It goes really fast in our house, so prepackaged squares are just fine.

Eggs also go quickly and I buy everything in small amounts now so we are not wasting anything we cannot eat right away. We keep an insane amount of apples, bananas, grapes, oranges and mini-watermelons in the house. Five out of seven days I am in town so if it’s meat we are having for dinner, I just stop at the store. Our lifestyle is forcing us to be healthier and I kind of enjoy it.