An Explosion!
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We all had some good rest this winter, but winter is over and it is time for our lives to shift… again. We are looking forward to moving onto our own property full time but I’d be lying if there wasn’t some anxiety associated with it! We will be living fully off grid in a camp trailer while we work on a more permanent (but still temporary) shelter for our family. Something I have realized is that because our property is so remote and wild, it takes more time to do some things, including getting set up for basic living. So with that in mind, my son and I loaded a bunch of stuff in our truck and took a load of things to our property and started getting the trailer ready for full time living.
Although we have mouse traps set, without someone there the mice want to move in. We have a mint spray that we bought as a natural pest deterrent and it actually works fairly well but needs to be applied regularly. We forgot it last time we visited, and without that, the mice really tried to move in. So we caught a bunch of mice, plugged the vacuum into our Bluetti portable power station and cleaned the place all the way through. Unfortunately, we realized that even though it was on our list of things to pack, we had forgotten the mint spray again! I really didn’t want to come back and find our trailer taken over by mice. I remembered that we actually have some pretty strong mint growing in the upper field of the property. I don’t know what variety it is, but I went and picked some and also used some bee balm flowers that we had picked and dried last summer, to make a decoction. I put that in a sprayer and sprayed it in and around the trailer. It smelled pretty strongly so hopefully it works!
We also had some electrical problems with the trailer. First, the 12 volt deep cycle batteries were not holding a charge. I tried topping them off with distilled water and charging them the entire time we were there, but they just wouldn’t hold a charge. They are pretty old, and unfortunately with some of our travels, we let the power level drop too far. Between that and letting the trailer sit through the winter, they just didn’t survive. We purchased new batteries on our way home so we’ll need to drop them in place the next time we go. Also, last summer we found that the bump out controls were not working. We pulled out some old wire and a multi-meter and tested for continuity. One of the wires was good but somewhere along the line, the other one was disconnected. Our task was to fix that. We were not able to locate the issue and ended up having to run new wire to the motor. That was a bit of a challenge, but we got it figured out and the bump out controls are working as they are supposed to.
While our main goal was to get the trailer ready, and check on things, we also wanted to get a few other things done. We were given some thornless blackberry starts, and strawberry plants! We were eager to get those in the ground! It felt SO good to be planting some things that will feed our family!
We planted these strawberry plants and the next day I noticed that this one was blossoming! That is a good sign I think! Strawberries are something we can’t seem to get enough of for our family!
We also wanted to get pictures and video of our tractor. After some discussion, we’ve decided to put it up for sale and purchase a skid steer instead. We had looked at several online so the last part of our trip was dedicated to looking at skid steer machines. I’m definitely going to miss some things about the tractor, but with the road building, log moving, and dirt moving that we need to do, a skid steer is a better suited machine.
While we were on the property, I was again struck with how much life is there! Spring especially seems to have brought an explosion of life! I like having all four seasons but I do sometimes struggle a little bit with winter. It always felt so slow to come in Utah. Spring was difficult because the sun was warm and I felt eager to wear shorts and be outside but there was always a cold wind. We often got 2nd and even 3rd winters! New growth was very slow to come. Spring in Missouri is like an explosion of new life! It started with the wild Daffodils, then tree blossoms, and then leaves, grass, and everything else has really started to grow. Other than the tornadoes, we’ve found spring to be delightful!
We went down to one of our favorite spots on the property to get water, and a strange little flower caught my attention. As I was looking at it, I realized there was a Morel mushroom growing about 12 inches away. I called my son over and he spotted another, then another. We came back there later and harvested 15 delicious Morels! We enjoyed them very much with our dinner that night! We were very happy to see that the plumb trees we brought last year are alive and well. Mary had planted some flowers and the Daffodils were in bloom. Our Rhubarb has sprouted and it looks like it’ll be ready to start harvesting before too long. The dragon flies and fireflies are starting to come out. Things are alive and well and it was medicine to my heart to see it all! Despite the anxiety, we are looking forward to living on our own wonderful piece of land!
