Dream a Little Dream With Me :)

I’ve been dreaming a little dream for awhile now and I thought I would write a post about it so you can dream with me.

Currently I am trapped in a 8 – 5, M – F, I have to pay my mortgage/carpayment/buynewclothesforwork/payhalfmysalarytodaycare/eatoutbecauseIamtootiredtocook RUT!!!

It seems like everything we do costs a ton of money, and nothing we do is making us any happier. I assume that part of my discontent is the horrid state of affairs with our economy. But part of my discontent goes so much deeper.

Until 6 years ago I lived in the country. I had chickens, horses, a dog, and a huge garden. Now I am a slave to The Man and I am really unhappy with my current situation.

The mortgage industry failure has trapped me in my house. It’s hard to refinance, and equally as hard to sell right now. So, what is a country girl to do that is trapped in the city?

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately…my baby has turned one without me. He has learned new words, new skills, and bonded with a mommy who is not his flesh and blood. Don’t get me wrong, my daycare is wonderful, but she isn’t me. And I miss my son. I miss his smiles and his snuggles…and I miss holding him as he falls to sleep after lunch.

Here is my dream –

Call my parents up (who are nearing retirement and are overwhelmed with their farm) and say – hey can we rent your entire upstairs (4 bedrooms/ 1500 sf)? They say yes…

So we call the neighbor who covets our yard and say hey – want to buy our house? He says - yes I’ll be right over with a check (hehe – remember this is MY dream).

Then I would call up my employer and say – thanks for 7 years of employment, but I am outta here!

We’d have to prepare the upstairs to live in since it has been uninhabited for 3 years…
We would add solar panels for water heating and perhaps radiant floor heating. We would put in a woodstove that has the capability to heat water as well to account for the multitude of cloudy days in Oregon...

Then we’d fence, put up a chicken coop, and start farming.

I’d buy goats (for brush clearing and milk), pigs, chickens and a steer. For the fiancé I would buy a Donkey or a Mule since he has wanted one for as long as I can remember. I want a horse again someday too.

We’d bring our hottub and set it up to run on solar too.
I’d build an outdoor shower with nearly unlimited hot water that we could use from May to October all thanks to the sunshine. The shower water would run off and feed the gardens.

We’d put in cisterns to catch the 40 odd inches of rain that falls each year and then keep our gardens as green as can be with that free water.

I’d spend every day teaching my baby to love and respect nature.
I’d cook entire meals from items grown only our farm.
This is my dream and my bliss!!

Water Conservation

We have a 1/3 acre lot in the city limits. We have a lot of trees and landscaping, as well as a large vegetable garden. Our water bill runs about 55$+/mo in the summer which is terrible! I also always feel bad when I water the lawn, so I rarely do.

Since we live in Oregon, and we have abundant rainfall I have been thinking about a cistern. I've done tons of research online and have found other people in Oregon who have done the same thing. Apparently 1" of rain on a 1500 sf roof can equal about 500 gallons of water. I'm going to start doing some calculations to see how much water we really need to keep the entire 1/3 acre bright green all summer long. Then if we add a cistern or two, maybe we can limit our consumption from the area well and instead use something that is free for the taking.

Recently I watched these 2 movies that were about water and what the lack of water can do to your life. They are a story told in 2 parts, part one is Jean de Florette. Part two is Manon of the Spring. They're pretty tragic as stories go, but watching them did get me on the cistern track...

We're planning on putting new gutters in when we do our roof this fall, so I'm hoping that we can get city approval to add a cistern at the same time. We have the perfect area along the side of the house. It's completely obstructed from the street and will not take up any space that we currently use.

I've also been reading a lot about greywater. I sure hate wasting 55 gallons of water for every laundry load when my lawn right outside the laundry room is dry as a bone. More on that later as I make the switch to non-toxic laundry soap and get the pipe in. I think the city may veto that one, but since it will just run out the laundry room window part of the year, what they don't know won't hurt them. Especially since I will only use environmentally friendly laundry soap. What's the harm?

If anyone knows where there is a website that shows how to calculate water usage/ needs for landscaping and gardens please let me know where I can find it!! :)

I'll find some good cistern and greywater links and come back and post them.

In the meantime, happy Saturday to you!