The moving begins and the garden grows!

Now that the shed is complete, we can start moving out to the farm.  Our house is now a maze of boxes and stacks - some destined for the farm, some waiting on the garage sale in two weeks.  Bit by bit, we're getting there.  Our goal is to be moved and ready to live at the farm by July 14th.  That gives us time to clean the house and have it ready to rent by the last week of July.

We took a load out to the farm this morning and did a bit of work in the garden.  I mulched the bases of our 20 grape plants to help hold in moisture now that the weather is finally acting like summer in Kansas.  I also mulched in the 2 planting beds with our arbor and our rhubarb so that hopefully I won't have to keep weeding it now!  While we were there, we picked several tomatoes, 2 small cabbages and a green pepper.  They will become part of our dinner tomorrow.  ;-)  Here are a few pictures of the garden.

Peppers growing happily

Tomatoes

Newly mulched corner bed

Flowers in the other corner bed

We ordered solar panels and the associated inverter and controls this week also.  With a little luck, it will arrive around the 14th also.  Then we'll have to get the stand built for the solar panels and get the system wired and ready at the farm.  It is a 2kW system that should run the RV and, later, the cabin with no problems.  It can also be expanded later when the house is done. 

Lastly, we said goodbye to some friends of ours that are moving to Norton, KS to continue their journey toward living sustainably.  You can follow their progress on their blog (Hale's homestead on the blog roll on the right).  We'll miss having them in Lawrence but we wish them all the best as they start this new and exciting chapter in their lives!