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Country Living

Life with Goats

When we closed on our house at the end of June, we had no idea we were going to have goats by the end of the week.

Well, sort of.

We had been looking for some male goats to eat our 6.5 acres of very high brush (since we didn’t have and didn’t plan on getting a lawn mower). But when a local goat expert said she was selling some of her milking goats, we were super interested.

Now, just so you have a good idea about the level of experience we are talking about; before this photo, I’d never milked anything in my life.

I was a little nervous about potentially having goats because there was just SO much unknown for this city girl. However, after getting some brief milking lessons, tips on how to save money on goat feed (post to come on details of this, if you’re interested), and where to buy hay – we felt much more confident. I think that much of this was because our goat mentor made it seem super attainable. She didn’t have a huge list of organic materials that the goats just needed to have to enjoy a long, healthy life. She didn’t have a whole list of criticisms of what “other goat owners do”… you know the kind of criticism that makes you feel like you’ll never be able to do anything right?

Nope. Instead she shared money saving techniques and tricks, and contacts for buying hay – and most importantly, encouragement: “You got this!” Which was the biggest thing that we both (me especially) needed to hear; that this thing we were just jumping into blindly, that it was totally do-able. That doesn’t mean we’ve done everything perfectly, but we’re learning (reading books, listening to podcasts, & asking a lot of questions) and the goats are still alive and milking!

Here are some photos from the past few months

Here are some things that we & neighbors have made from the goats milk so far:

Mozzarella cheese (plain, garlic & onion, and pepperjack)
Yogurt
Cardamom ICE CREAM (so.good.)
Ricotta
Cajeta carmel
Homemade Fudge
Feed for chickens (super high protein is great for our little pullets)
Used it in baking in place of cow milk

Something slightly magical (yes, I said magical) happened when I first milked these animals. I got SO pumped about having our own homestead, taking large steps towards being self-sustaining. There is something so invigorating about taking care of your animals, and they in turn take care of you. Whether that is through milk, meat, or fiber. I’m learning so much through taking care of these animals.

September 3, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Spicy Zucchini Chips

Super easy. Super amazing. Super Simple.

We use an Excalibur Dehydrator that we got last year when we were living in Brighton and we love it.We’ve made dried bananas, raspberries, blackberries, and dried apples are our fav.

But lets just keep it simple and get to the good stuff.

And here’s the recipe for you who will copy/paste/print the heck out this sucker.

Spicy Zucchini Chips

4-5 medium zucchinis
Cajun seasoning
Olive Oil

Slice the zucchinis as thin as you can without cutting yourself (OR use a food processor)
Toss in a bowl with drizzled olive oil
Sprinkle Cajun seasoning and toss some more
Lay the sliced and spiced zucchinis on your trays – not touching or layered on top of each other.
If you want them EXTRA spicy, sprinkle some more seasoning.
Stick them in the dehydrator for 2 hours or until as crispy as you like!

(You can also use an oven. This recipe says to stick them in at 235 degrees F. for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.)

Enjoy and share!

*Feature image credit

September 1, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Life on the Homestead

Working full time and taking care of 50 animals takes quite a bit of time – but seriously loving every minute. Until I can update again, I’ll share a brief overview of whats been going on around the homestead.

– Made some Elderberry Ginger Syrup

– Experimented with making a high altitude adjusted Chocolate Beet Cake

– Learned how to save money and make our own goat feed

– Still learning about raising pullets

– Watching ducks make a massive mess everyday in their food & water

– Making reusable “utter wipes” for the goat milking

– Canning summer fruits and veggies

– Visits from family

– Homemade yogurt

– Using the dehydrator more often to preserve summer goods

– Goat cheese making

– Sourdough successes

Processing Homestead Life

After moving around and having constant change for the past few years, its been really great to have some routine and structure. Milking every morning and evening, feeding animals, making cheese and sourdough, finally being able to actually throw away moving boxes (!!!) and settle in. It’s been kind of crazy how fast all this has happened. It’s such a different life than what we were living before – and such a refreshing change. I don’t think I realized how absolutely peaceful living on a homestead, taking care of animals, and being SO busy with things that I love doing, was going to be. In the craziness of what our world & culture looks like these days, this verse describes perfectly what we sense God is calling us to and what we find joy in:

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to work with your hands, so you may win the respect of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone”

We also have the most amazing neighbors ever. I’m serious. I can’t even tell you everything that they’ve done for us in helping us get going – not only are they pros at homesteading, they are just really fun people and we are super blessed to have great friends living just down the road. You should follow them here or here.

I also have to brag on the husband a little bit – he’s been working extremely hard over the past few months at work & sacrificing time spent on the farm, so that we can actually have this place. #imlucky

I hope to have time to post more updates with recipes, photos, and stories – but for now I’ll leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”

Linking up with Leigh Kramer

September 1, 2015

Country Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

Home Sweet Home

Quick update on our housing situation:

We bought a home in Westcliffe!

And it has a finished house on it!

With heat, water, electricity, AND a functioning kitchen.

And 6.5 acres. Also a barn & a couple of chicken coops.

And fun neighbors that we love.

We also ordered 30 chickens, 10 ducks, a couple kittens & 3 goats.

It may have taken us a couple years to get to this point, from starting to build a tiny house in Golden CO, to moving to Westcliffe last year, moving back to Denver area for work, and moving back to Westcliffe in March of this year.

Tiny House

Lots of folks ask us about our tiny house, so I wanted to talk about that a little bit here. It is currently on our neighbors land, waiting to be moved onto ours. We were initially told that the trailer was a better grade of metal than it actually is (thank you Craigslist) and we have been told by several knowledgeable folks that it needs to be put on a permanent foundation before we finish it/ASAP. SO: as of right now the plan is to move it onto our land and take it off the wheels & set it in its final resting place. There, we will either rent it out (nightly on Airbnb) or have it as a guest cabin for friends who come visit.

Our plans have changed so many times over the past two years. We’ve moved 15 times since we were married in April 2013.

But we’re hoping that this one really sticks.

In fact, to signify this commitment, we are expanding our family by 45 (before butchering most of them in the fall). We’ve got 30 chickens, 10 ducks, a couple kittens, and 3 goats headed to our little farm over the next month.

You better believe I’ll introduce to you them all and attempt to share our homesteading adventures over the next few months.

Welcome to our new adventure – we’re diving straight into this homesteading life!

(Photo cred for feature image: Susan Bonee)

July 6, 2015

Country Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

Westcliffe CO: And Back Again

You people aren’t going to believe this. Some of you are going to think we are nuts.

And you’re definitely correct about that.

We’re moving back to Westcliffe – the land flowing with milk and honey.

Well not quite. At least about the honey part.

We’ve had quite the adventure over the past 2 years of marriage. We got married and started building a tiny house and lived it in for a few months, we moved to Westcliffe CO after dreaming about it for a couple years. We attempted to make it work (financially) in the small town – and figured out in order for us to get anywhere in life, we needed to make some substantial money first (otherwise, we’d end up living in cycles of poverty for quite awhile) – we moved to Brighton CO because Ryan got a job working in the oil fields in Northern Colorado.

Well, as you’ve all noticed gas prices are way down from what they used to be.

And while this is wonderful for lots of people, this has put his job at risk. In fact, he was pretty much guaranteed a lay off in the next few weeks/months. Since we are young and used to change, this hasn’t exactly shaken us too much. On the contrary – it feels like freedom to us in a lot of ways.

Most people know someone who works on the oil field, and you know that their work hours are unreal. Ryan has been averaging at 110 hours per week that he works (2 week on, 1 week off rotations). There are 336 hours in 14 days. 220 hours he has been working, 116 (58 a week or 8 hours a day – which always ends up being closer to 6) hours are spent sleeping, eating, showering, traveling to and from work, and anything else that comes up in life: like spending time with your wife.

Needless to say, we’re kind of DONE with oil field lifestyle.

So while this bring a tad of uncertainty back into our life, being the oldest children that we are, we both find some excitement in that.

Which brings me to the title of this post:

We are moving back to Westcliffe!!!

LOL

I’m sorry, I can’t help but laugh and roll my eyes at us. So its totally ok if you are too :)

Our goal in moving away to Brighton was to save some money so that we could *someday* move back, buy some land, and live simply. Well, this move back is certainly quicker than we thought it would be, but I suppose that’s life.

We are in the process of purchasing a piece of land in a beautiful valley (a couple lots over from this picture), with amazing neighbors who are already well on their way to living the homesteading lifestyle that we’re interested in. On the land and what we will live in is an…. (get ready to laugh and roll your eyes again)….

UNFINISHED TRAILER!

LOL! (Maybe I should have named this blog post “Déjà vu“…)

I couldn’t really believe it either when we started looking at this lovely piece of mess (sorry, no pics yet). I told Ry, “I’m really not sure I can do this again…”

I remembered last time we lived in a shed(tiny house), without electricity, without water, without a kitchen or bathroom… I mean, HELLO: I wrote an entire blog on it!! But before we saw the inside of this creature, we went through the things that were needed in order to make it livable:

Water
Electricity
Warmth
Functioning Kitchen & Bathroom

When we finally got into the tiny shack, we realized: it’s not as bad as we thought it was!! While it definitely needs some TLC, and a couple of major changes (like digging a well), overall, we don’t feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. And that’s saying something.

Another question we’ve wrestled with: “can we/should we finish the tiny house?” And this is something we are still wrestling with. Because at this point where we are at with it is still: unfinished. Is it better to put money into tiny house or another unfinished housing project? Well, “what one requires less cash & stress?” is going to be the winning answer.

I haven’t found very many other tiny house people with a similar story to ours: except Casey and Jessica Friday (recently had their tiny house stolen). I empathize so much with this blog that Jessica recently wrote about why they won’t be living in their tiny house. While we do have several of the things that the Fridays no longer have at their disposal (land, lifestyle..etc), I totally get the basis of what she’s getting at here. The whole point of the tiny house movement is what? SIMPLICITY. So that’s our focus moving forward: do the simple thing.

So here’s to many more future blog posts about building chicken coops, milking goats, making cheese, and sharing life (and cows) with neighbors in our precious lil mountain town. Here’s to not many more moves, but an acknowledgement of “that’s where we are in life”.

Here’s to the kind of simple living that is sometimes more… complicated :)

(linking up with Leigh Kramer– because what I’m up to these days is moving and living the nomad’s life)

March 4, 2015

Country Living, Simple Living, The Year in Books

The Year in Books: Off On Our Own (Ted Carns)

Two words to describe this book: inspiring and entertaining.

Since I met husband, his passion for simple living has easily infected me. Probably because I’ve become slightly knowledgeable about tiny houses since meeting him, folks that live off the grid capture my attention a lot these days. I recently read Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America, by Nick Rosen. And will soon be starting The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing’s Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living. I supposed its safe to say I’m nearing obsession.

But I really just like the stories that are found in all of these books. And this one by Ted Carns was no different.

Towards the end of it, I found myself writing lists of things that I want to work on either learning or creating to make our lives more sustainable. And I really want to make this someday…

Ted Carns appears to be slightly brilliant, although (like many folks who live off the grid) – slightly odd. This makes him endearing to me, and possibly just cooky to others who are less inclined to enjoy crazy people.

I say brilliant, because of all the various systems he’s concocted in his compound over the years. To start out, he has around 15 or so buildings on his property – all with very specific purposes.

He goes into LOTS of details (although not nearly enough to recreate it) with his various systems. Like their water filtration system (which passes through somewhere around 10 different filters before their grey water is deposited into the garden. They have MANY power sources at the “Stone Camp”: wind, solar, ethanol, thermoelectricity, methane, wood gasification, human power (bike with 12 volt alternator), hydrogen cell, steam generation, hydropower, and biodeisel. They make their own wine and maple syrup by the gallons. They are aspiring to make buildings made out of their trash from the past year.

Other impressive features to “Stone Camp”:
– a homemade, 40 ft windmill tower (which he CLIMBS in the middle of a blizzard)
– a “sugar shack” where he and he wife Kathy collect sap and create syrup
– His library which is described like a hobbit hole that I want to go snuggle in.
– I can’t remember what right now, but he makes something useful from hunter’s cigarette butts he finds while hiking. #nastyyetresourceful

I found myself wishing there were more pictures in the book. THANK GOODNESS I decided to visit their website, although I was quite surprised after reading their book to discover that they had a website.

Like most off-the-gridders, Ted Carns has really strong opinions about most things, and is also a deep thinker, and communicates his life philosophies in an overall inspiring way. He is super passionate about preserving nature, and mentions a little bit from lots of religions that support his deep roots with all things green, organic, and untouched by humans evil desire to conquer the world.

Overall, its a great and entertaining read that will have you wanting to go start digging a hole in your front yard with a backhoe and calling it a greenhouse…. that might have happened in this book…

Here’s a quote to either throw you off the scent of this book or get you completely hooked (I don’t see there being much middle ground):

“You can buy out a company and increase your net worth 20-fold, but that kind of shit pales besides getting up at 5am, firing up a the tractor and going out in the woods to gather sap.”

Also: this documentary-style video, made by some Buddhists missionaries, really paints a good picture of Stone Camp with Ted and Kathy Carns. In fact, if you watch this video, you might not even need to read the book.

(All pictures, unless otherwise noted, are from Ted and Kathy’s website)

January 30, 2015

City Living, Country Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

Simple Living Part Five: Interview and Freebies with Shalom Mama (Nina Nelson)

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned several folks and their blogs that I enjoy following on my journey of experimenting with simple living. One of them was Nina Nelson with Shalom Mama. I got a hold of Nina last week and had a few questions that I wanted to ask this veteran of simple and natural living.

How did you get into natural living? What made you want to start living differently? Or has this always been a way of life for you?

“I actually grew up on an herb farm but didn’t get interested in natural living until my early twenties when my husband and I decided to get out of debt. We were determine to cut costs wherever we could so I started researching and kept coming across recipes and tips that suggested natural living would save money. I made a few things and was hooked. Since then, I’ve become the “family hippie” and have embraced a simple, natural lifestyle.”

What is your favorite recipe of something that makes your life easier?

“Hmmmm, that’s a tough one. I’d have to choose two. First is my healing balm (recipe here). We use it all the time for all sorts of things. With four kids someone is always getting an owie of some sort (plus I’m super clumsy), so it comes to my rescue quite a bit. Also, my calming balm. This is a godsend at night when everyone needs to simmer down (myself included) and get some restful sleep. You can find the recipe in my free ebook, Simple Family Wellness.”

If you could summarize your passion in a few sentences, what would you say?

“I’m passionate about living a pure & simple life and helping other people do the same. To me that means getting rid of the excess in life so you can focus on what really matters, while living as naturally as possible.”

What does a “day in the life of Nina” look like?

Hmmm, a bit scattered. :) I’ve struggled for years to create a schedule that works for us, but what I finally realized is that I just can’t do that. I buck anything that feels constricting, so instead a loose routine works best. And we definitely leave plenty of room for interruptions (friends dropping in, invitations to hang out, etc.) because that’s why we simplified our lives in the first place. Also, my husband is very involved and has an odd schedule (he’s a paramedic that gets to respond from home every other shift) so he’s super helpful with what can sometimes feel like complete chaos.

So here’s what it usually looks like:

– Wakeup, read devotions, figure out my top 3 things to do for the day

– Breakfast and Cleanup

– Get kids started with school (we home school)

– Check email and do some admin stuff for my biz while they’re working independently

– Lunch prep & lunch

– My work time (kids will have quiet time, continue school they’ve not done yet, go play at our awesome neighbor’s house or hang out with my husband if he’s home.

– Tea time (very important for me to take some time in the day to rest)

– Dinner prep, dinner, clean up

– Hang out with the family

– At some point in the evening I’ll do yoga, depending on what we’re doing

– Kid bed time (Woo hoo!!!)

– Watch Downton Abbey or something with my husband or play a game

– Bedtime”

What are some resources you would suggest for someone just starting out on a “natural” journey?

“First off, I’d say keep it as simple as possible. Choose one or two areas in your life you want to focus on and work on those for at least six weeks. So, for instance, you want to switch to a whole food diet, find a good resource and start implementing a few changes at a time. Once you’re comfortable with those, try some more. This is the best way to make a sustainable change that will last.

For me, the most helpful resources were blogs, but I have some favorite books as well:

Blogs

Books

Your Real Food Journey by Trina Holden
Simple Natural Health (this one’s mine – I’m a little biased)
DIY Non-Toxic Cleaning Recipes by Heather of Mommypotamus

And here are my top 40 recipes for natural living.”

You lived in a bus with 5 other people for a time: tell us about that and where are you now?

I loved it and still long for it now. We had a lot more time to spend together, it was much easier to clean and my bath tub was amazing. :) However, now that we’re in a house again (we had to move closer to my husband’s work after he got a full-time job), I’m loving the opportunities we’ve had for hospitality.

Though my word of the year is sustainability, I easily could have chosen hospitality. Relationships have been an important part of our journey. And while I love the bus and living small, I feel so drawn to embrace the opportunity we have right now to easily welcome people into our space.

If people want to contact/follow you, where are you?

I have a few favorite places I like to hang out. First is my blog, which you can find here. Aside from that, I’m on Facebook, Pinterest and my favorite, Instagram.

In case you happened to miss several of these listed about, here’s a list of FREEBIES on this lady’s site:

Also a few very affordable e-books

(or click here to buy them all in a bundle together)

Village wise woman

I’ll leave you with this excerpt from Nina’s free e-book Simple Family Wellness:

…I’ve secretly always wanted to be the village wise woman.

That woman who nurtures and heals her family and teaches other women how to do the same. The woman who encourages others to learn and experiment but is always available as a resource. The woman who whips up a remedy or pours a cup of tea or lends a listening ear to the friend in need.

This world needs more wise women. More nurturers and healers spreading their love to their families and communities. All that love and wisdom, just spreading and spreading. And so, that is my mission. To call forth the family healers. To be an empowering resource. To listen and love. To create a community of wise women.”

(This blog contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you)

All pictures are from Shalommama.com

January 29, 2015

City Living, Country Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

Tiny House Magazine Feature: Tiny Living, Big Community

Tiny House News

We are super exited to be featured this month in Kent Griswold and Andrew Odom‘s online creation of Tiny House Magazine!*

This month they are celebrating their 2 year anniversary! Congrats guys!!

The article tells much of Ryan and I’s story: from meeting, to engagement, to wedding, to tiny house building, to current.

There is a focus on our wedding and how it literally took our entire community to pull it off (there are several folks mentioned – not by name – in the article, so if you were involved in helping with our wedding, you might just be in there…) We like to think of it as our “barn raising” wedding.

Also a snazzy infographic (created by yours truly) depicting the average costs of weddings in the U.S. this year based on a study by Statistic Brain.

Here’s a sneak peak of the article:

I had never heard of a Tiny House until I met my husband in 2012. I met him in a coffee shop that I was working at in Golden, Colorado. He was living in Houston at the time and was just visiting family, who was traveling through the area. We had a lot in common; We’re both oldest children, both fairly stubborn, both enjoy learning, and we both wanted to live a life that was different than the average person.

To read the rest, click here or on the picture above to purchase this month’s edition of Tiny House Magazine! Get 25% off if you use the code 25FOR5 from now until December 23rd. (If you click on the link, scroll down until you see the 24th Edition- $3.99, with 25% off with coupon code)

Included are other stories and pictures of tiny house and sustainable living enthusiasts. If you like reading about things like grown men making homes in dumpsters, or families living in hobbit holes, or if you just enjoy learning about how to live a more sustainable life – you need to check out this magazine.

Other News

Another 2 year anniversary is quickly approaching – our wedding anniversary! I mean, we’re still like 4 months away, but whatever :)

This month I’ll remember my babe’s sweet proposal on Christmas day

cute baby tree and gorgeous big girl ring

It was awesome. Like for real. Totally didn’t see it coming. He’s so creative too: he wrapped up every candle, then as I unwrapped it he lit them all, and placed them around the room so that by the time I got to the last present we were sitting in a cozy, mountain, candleland. (#soromantic) He just rolls his eyes (like a good husband does) while I bring out the tissues while looking through every.single.wedding.picture. I can’t help it. #iloveus

As well as having fun memories from last Christmas when my family came to visit us and we packed 10 people in a two bedroom one bath lil rental, went sledding, and frolicked in the Sangre de Cristo mountains for the holiday. This Christmas will be quite different from my family’s normal traditions as my dad is recovering from a scare with severe acute pancreatitis. I may write more about this experience in the future, we’ll see. For now, we’re all just really thankful that my Dad is alive and on the mend.

My family, minus Ryan… he was making my Christmas presents #spoiledrotten

So I’m not exactly sure what this year’s Christmas festivities will include, but at least we got the tree up :)

Merry Christmas everyone! Don’t forget to grab your copy of the Tiny House Magazine, cozy up next to something warm (fire, candle, or coffee mug will do), and check out our article! :)

(*This post contains affiliate links)

December 18, 2014

City Living, Country Living, Simple Living

Homemade Cleaning Products: Laundry Soap, Glass Cleaner, and Dish Soap

It is so much easier than you think to make your own homemade cleaning products.

For real. Like it took me a few minutes to make these cleaning solutions for laundry soap, glass cleaner, and dish washing soap.

I really enjoy learning about how to make a simple version of things we use all the time. AND CHEAPER. And so many of these recipes I’m finding all use the same ingredients. Now, that just makes sense to me. There will be more recipes coming in future blogs, I promise. I’m way too obsessed to stop now. For now, I’ll start with these THREE recipes for homemade cleaning products I’ve made over the past few months and LOVE them.

Ok. Go to the grocery store, (or your pantry) and grab these items:

– Washing Soda and Borax (both typically right next to each other on the laundry supplies aisle at the grocery store)

– Bar of Soap

– Citric Acid (I’ve never used this before, and after searching the store for 30 minutes and googling, “where to find citric acid in a grocery store”, I finally found it near the canning supplies on the baking aisle. You’re welcome.)

– White Vinegar

– Spray Bottle

– Corn Starch

These recipes came from Wellness Mama’s blog – which I highly recommend if you are a DIYer or lover of all things natural. ::thumbs up:::

Use 1/8-1/4 cup per load

Laundry Soap

– 1 parts soap (grated into fine pieces. We love the smell of Dr. Bonner’s Lavender) mixed with

– 2 parts borax and

– 2 parts washing soda.

That’s it.

Use about 1/8-1/4 cup for each load. Our clothes always smell super fresh.

Super crispy clean, no streaks

Glass Cleaner

– Mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with

– 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol

– 1 TBSP of corn starch and

– 2 cups of warm water

Mix ingredients and you’re good to go. While I’m cleaning the bathroom mirror, I go ahead and use this cleaning mixture to clean the sink, bathtub, and toilet. Easy Peasy.

(Hint: shake the bottle or jar before each use to get the corn starch mixed evenly)

Not bad!

Dish Washing Soap

– Mix 1 part citric acid with

– 1 part salt

– 2 parts borax and

– 2 parts washing soda

Keep in an airtight container or the mixture will harden into a solid mass. Learned this lesson the hard way after the first batch. Still cleaned the dishes amazingly, but I just had to work for it (think hammer and chisel). Another option for this, as my brilliant husband suggested, is to store the citric acid (as this is what causes the mixture to harden and stick together) separately and then add to the mix when starting a load of dishes. This may vary depending on how hard/soft your water is, so just experiment until you find something that works :)

(Hint: we use about 1/2 cup of vinegar as the rinsing agent)

Let me know how these recipes work for you!

Happy Cleaning!

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December 8, 2014

Country Living

Life in the Valley

Note: when I say “valley” I’m not speaking philosophically about where we are at in life.

Nope.

We literally live in a valley.

Between the Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

And its great.

Here is a little snapshot of what our lives have looked like since being here:

The Groths (Hannah’s fam from TX) came and celebrating Christmas with us. Pic below is of sledding adventures in the mountains. It was great to create memories in our (2 bedroom 1 bath) rental home with them. SUCH a tight squeeze, but so worth it.

Ryan has been making rustic/farmhouse style furniture for the rental we’re living in currently (with hopes to sell when Tiny House is complete). There is a barn on the property, so he has a workshop finally! He’s had a few local folks interested in some custom furniture, so hopefully he’ll get to be out in his barn more often.

I’ve (Hannah) enjoyed having a home for the first time since we’ve been married. We realized that since April we have lived in 5 different homes and about 10 different hotels. The little things like cooking, and relaxing on the couch and watching a movie, having a Christmas tree, or hanging our coats up in a closet are things that I am thankful for in this housing situation.

We also have a new addition to the family: Macey the pup! She’s a Lab/St. Bernard mix and has a really laid back, sweet personality. She’s six months old, loves to please, and is eager to learn. One downside: she eats poop. No, she loves poop. I’ve heard this is normal for pups, still: NOT.OK. Other than that she’s great :)

We also traded (for good or bad) our Saturn for this big girl, Griselda Hobbs. She’s a 1975 Jeep Wagoneer. Almost all her handles that do anything functional, come off and on at different times. The radio doesn’t work as far as we know. To get to the trunk you need a special key to first put the window down, then unlatch the back. The fabric is torn and super retro. The seat belts go across your lap. She’s a hefty lady weighing 3 tons, but she can maneuver her way through at least 6-8 inches of standing snow, hold her own on the iciest of roads in negative degree Colorado winters, and she’s a lovely burnt orange, oxidized in all the right places. Not sure how long we’ll keep her alive, but for now, this charming old gal is ours.

We have been working on the Tiny House to get it ready to move down here from Golden. We had to order some more (bigger) axles, that could hold more weight because this house is freakin huge! We have some friends down here that have offered to let us park it on their land. Once it’s moved down here, we’ll work on getting it finished! The exterior is almost completely done, its just the inside that needs work now.

While we’ve found part time work here in the Valley, we are still looking for more lucrative means of making a living here. As we’ve talked to many people here, this is what they have to say about new folks coming in:

– people move to Westcliffe because they love it (either they have family that lives here, they’ve visited growing up, camped here, been hunting with their grandfather…etc.)

– they all struggle financially to “make it” for the first several years

– if they make it out of those first years, they stay forever

– if not, they leave to go make life work somewhere else

So, we have a similar story. We felt compelled to move here. Moved. And we would LOVE to make it work here and stay forever.

But that’s the part that we’re at currently: making it work here.

We absolutely LOVE being here. The people that we’ve met have such similar passions and goals in life as we do. There is a slightly older population in town, so we enjoy being on the younger end of things. There is an openness here to do things “differently” (i.e. build a Tiny House, or straw bale, or earth bag home). We are really looking forward to raising a family here and participating in the community here.

So, we’re still hopeful that perhaps we can be one of those families that can make it work here :)

We’ll keep you updated on our lives in the Wet Mountain Valley.

Living in a small town is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you.

– Joyce Dennys

February 9, 2014

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