This one is for Emily over at Sparrow in the Treetop. There was discussion of black beans and I promised to share my black bean soup recipe. 

Since we just lost power, might as well take a minute to post recipes. Gotta love summer storms at the Homestead. 

My mom started making this a few years ago, she got the recipe from the back of a Bush's black bean can, but it's delicious. And easy. It makes a ton, so you can freeze some, have a dinner party, a Mexican night with margaritas like my Virginia roommate and I used to do. Either way, it's tasty. To me it has a bit of a kick though, so I recommend having corn bread or tortilla chips to help absorb some of that spice. 

Here's how it goes:

Saute two carrots, sliced into coins, a whole onion and two sticks of celery. I'm not a big fan of celery, so I often leave that out, or use less. Cook the veggies for about 15 minutes. Then add three cans of black beans, two cans of Rotel mild diced tomatoes with green chilies and one can of Mexicorn from Green Giant. Bring it to a boil, then cook on low for 30-45 minutes. I like mine a bit thicker, so I tend to cook it longer than Mom does. 

The last time we made it, boyfriend decided to add fresh tomatoes and jalepenos instead of the Rotel and I think we used frozen corn with a red pepper instead of the Mexicorn can, and honestly, it was better. So you can substitute fresh veggies for the canned stuff and it's awesome. 

Super simple, super tasty recipe for anytime. It really does make a lot, so you can eat it for a week or freeze some for later. I think we'll have to make this again soon. It's been awhile. Enjoy! 

We're currently camping in the living room, being attacked by moths, discussing how we need to get a generator. Ah, life on the homestead. 

They say time speeds up as you get older. 

I think it's true. 

August has flown by. So has this year so far, and really, so have 30 years. 

But it's all been so fun. Most days anyway.

Last week, I turned 30. It was a blast. Of course I woke up to boyfriend saying, "Hey old lady." 

I've always loved my birthday. Maybe because I love being surrounded by friends and presents were always fun as a kid. And there's cake. 

But really, as I've aged, I've realized more and more each year that a birthday is a day to see how much love is around you. It's there everyday, but on your birthday, you see people go out of there way for you and it's really quite touching. I've only been in Montana since January, but my 30th was a fantastic birthday. I'd like to think that with this many wonderful people around me, somewhere along the way, somehow, I got something right. 

In honor of the new homestead/minifarm, my co-workers threw me a farm themed birthday at work, complete with John Deere cups and napkins. Such a good bunch.

The next day, boyfriend and I packed up for a weekend in Glacier National Park with friends. He's boyfriend's co-worker and his wife has become a good friend. Though boyfriend told me initially we'd get along because "you both like books, Pinterest and wine." Silly boys. 

Some craziness was going on with work that had me flustered all weekend, but the views from a short hike to Hidden Lake overlook, a run in with a mountain goat and the breathtaking drive across Going to the Sun Road helped me put those out of my mind for awhile. 

The poor boys had to set up the tents in pouring rain, but the skies cleared for dinner by campfire, smores and wine. 

More on the weekend in Glacier to come, plus other adventures in Montana and at the homestead. We've been busy!

Sorry guys, last week was a beast at work and traveling to Idaho with one of our National Guard units to hang out with their new tanks. More is happening around the homestead and it's my birthday week so this should be loads of fun! 

Here's your Montana Motivation and I definitely live this life. I'm all about trying things to see what happens and what works and adjust as needed. What are your motivations?

Gabbi at Retro Ranch Renovation posted this the other day and it was perfectly timed.

Since we have a whole house to renovate and decorate, we're being very discerning in our purchases and acquisitions. 

The other day, we bought some towels on sale and started a long conversation about which colors go and what will work where and then realized these were stop gap towels. They were for now, not the final piece to a fully thought out room. 

Though I have pack rat tendencies, and boyfriend sort of does too, we're purging our closets, boxes, desks, kitchen, bathroom, garage, for things we don't use or need. It's a slow process, but I know it will be worth it. I like to call my sister when I clean our my closet, or imagine what she'd say, as I look at each piece of clothing. Have I worn it in a year? Does it fit, is it in wearable condition, do I actually like it? 

I want pieces in this house to have a purpose, to tell a story, to be beautiful. A random assortment of stuff just isn't going to cut it. All that said, my bookshelves are off limits! 

How do you decide what gets to become a part of your home, your collection of things?

This is what our garden looked like after boyfriend made a round or two of tilling. 

The soil was too compacted to really break it up with the tiller so we got in there with the spade fork and turned dirt for days. It was hot and exhausting. I did the edge and a small section while boyfriend built the compost bin. 

We added in a few bags of plant food, fertilizer and garden soil. And by a few I mean more than a dozen. 

Then we marke out our grid, which was mostly two feet by two feet squares, with wooden stakes from Home Depot. I'm not allowed to do the grid layout anymore since I managed to make them all different distances apart. Boyfriend said I didn't need to use a tape measure, I could just use the stake, which was almost two feet. It was in trying to account for that "almost" that I got off track. Oh well. 

With twine, we laid it out and used the handy dandy garden map I'd made. Don't ever try to make your garden map in pen when you're researching companion plants and forgetting how much of everything you have. 

Next, we started digging out the walkways. And by we, I mean boyfriend.

It does look a little like a scene from Bones, one of my favorite tv shows, especially in the early seasons. 

Most of those chunks aren't rocks, just compacted soil. This land was vacant for four or five years, but had a garden at one point, so it's just going to need some love to get it back in good shape. We hope.

Then it was time to start putting some plants in the ground. Since I got over eager on wanting to plant/grow some of these plants have moved a few times and might not make it. But, they've been pretty resilient so far, even surviving a few hail storms, so I have hope!

We also got a whole bunch of broccoli, peppers and cucumbers at the Big R, so we figured we'd give them a shot. We'll see how they do. I got an Iron Lady tomato and some kale from one of our freelancers at the paper, and I got two Manitoba tomatoes and two bell peppers from the local farmers market. The peppers aren't doing so hot, but they're not giving up yet. 

Boyfriend also built a trellis for my beans, which might have all died in the move, but we'll try some more. He's building another one for the cucumbers. 

I'll have him write up the plans for that and post those soon.

We used a piece of plywood and a rubber mallet to even out the dirt piles and fill in edges and to keep everything from crumbling into the walkway.

To keep moisture in the dirt, since it dries out wicked quick here, we put grass clippings over the dirt. The rest went into the compost bin, which is officially in action. 

This is our test year, so maybe nothing will grow, maybe it all will. We're learning and getting the hang of it and next year we'll do better and be better prepared. For now, we're excited with the progress we've made. And, I have a bunch of tomatoes that just might make it!

I just wen tout there to take a now photo but it's too dark. Boyfriend was installing a drip irrigation system. We'll see how it works out.

So I'll leave you will a with a puppy photo. Entertainment comes cheap around here. Boyfriend's dog is cool with using water bottles as chew toys.

A digital visit, but I'm delighted to have Kate from Farmhouse38 on the blog.

I came across her very awesome blog a few months ago and was ridiculously excited to see a girl I could relate to raising chickens in her backyard in the city. If she could make that work, I figured I could learn from her and stand a chance at raising chickens on the Homestead. We haven't gotten that far yet, but boyfriend is pretty sure it's a good idea.

Make sure you check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Q: What made you want to get started sharing your (adorable!) urban farmhouse on a blog?

A: When we first started the renovation, it was so full of little crazy good and bad moments, that I kept saying, “I really need to blog about this.” But for several years, it was just that--me saying it. I think that’s probably a pretty common blogger story. Finally, I just pulled the trigger.

Q: Have you always been a DIY'er, or did buying your house bring more of that out? I know buying a house and some acreage has definitely brought more of it out in me!

A: I’ve always kind of had it in me. When I was younger, my parents would go out for an evening and come back to find a random room in their house painted some ridiculous color while they were gone. That was the kind of trouble I used to get into. I was such a rebel. The Texan and I owned one house together before this one, and while it was a cosmetic fixer-upper that we sort of cut our DIY teeth together on—it was nothing compared to the Farmhouse. It is safe to say that we were in over our heads on this one; but you gotta do what you gotta do. We had a limited budget and a stubborn will to somehow, some way, make things work.

Q: You and the Texan have been plugging away on your back deck (which looks amazing!). Do you ever get nervous when taking on such big projects? Like, maybe we'll tear this all apart and then not be able to put it back together again? I feel that way sometimes...

A: Every. Single. Project. The deck was a big nerve-wracker for me, personally. Despite how rickety and unsafe the old one was, it was still SOMETHING—something to prevent a person from plummeting out of the second story. The minute that thing was ripped down and there was nothing but wind whistling passed the upper level of the house—I had complete demo-remorse. But again, all you can do is knuckle-up, get it done, and hope for the best. I always tell myself that if we screw it up, there is someone out there who can fix it (and I try not to think about what that will cost).

Q: Your garden looks fantastic (and I love the random wood bits for edging!). Does growing your own food make cooking more fun and food taste better to you?

A: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. (And thank you, by the way!) There is something pretty poetic about looking out there and seeing a busy little garden; the bees, the butterflies, the chickens, the veggies, the flowers. I get a whole lot of joy out of just seeing it all in action. But then to be able to harvest all that goodness and bring it inside and use it is a whole other happiness. It is such a basic, beautiful thing.

Q: Okay, the chickens. I am super curious about the chickens. We just bought a house and 26 acres and boyfriend wants to get some chickens. I've kind of been a city girl, so have no idea how to raise chickens. You guys do it in a small space. What are the pros/cons of raising your own chickens and your top advice to anyone thinking about getting started?

A: There are so many pros to having chickens. They are funny, charming creatures that make me laugh every single day with their little habits and personalities. They provide the best-tasting eggs, they work the garden like magic, feathered garden elves, and they really don’t ask for a lot in return. I hold my birds in pretty high-esteem; they are first, and foremost beloved pets, and therefore, my attitude is probably different than that of someone who is raising them purely as a food-source. So mine are a bit---how do I put this?—high maintenance. They require daily care, coop-cleaning, and supervision. But I run a really tight ship. We live on a very small piece of property in the city, so it is highly important to me to keep things clean and quiet so that our neighbors are not bothered (this goes for ALL of our pets, not just the chickens). My advice to anyone considering chickens is pretty generic: do your homework. There are some great books out there on the subject, as well as a lot of wonderful, informative blogs (that being said, there are a lot of really terrible chicken-keeping blogs out there masquerading as ‘authorities’—don’t take any one bit of advice as the gospel. Research, research, research). You want to pick breeds that do well in your climate, as well, you want to be able to provide them with ample coop and run space (and always build these things bigger than you think you need—ALWAYS). Make sure that your coop, run, etc. are easy to clean, and furthermore, make sure you really keep things clean. Chickens are easily susceptible to lots of freaky illnesses, many of which are brought on by a dirty environment. Don’t take free-ranging for granted. A lot of people believe you can just turn your chickens loose and not pay them a second thought, but just make sure you completely understand the inherent risks of this (predators, environmental dangers, chickens with gypsy souls who like to wander).

Q: In decorating the farmhouse, how do you do it? Some rooms all at one time, or do you collect individual pieces as you go, or a little bit of both? I've got a whole house to do, but I've started being very picky about what we buy or acquire. 

A: I had a long period of construction purgatory where I was able to think and scheme and plan for what I would do décor-wise once we were done with the grunt work. It’s probably the very thing that got me through all the construction (that, and a lot of wine). As each room was finished being built, I set about decorating them pretty much one at a time as they became ready (and when our bank account would allow me). I have a tendency to take on too many projects at once (have you noticed?), and it has become rather critical to the entire process that I force myself to focus on one room at a time. We have many furniture and décor pieces that we’ve acquired over the years that I try to work in wherever they might fit (sometimes they’ll even dictate how a room turns out). I am hyper-selective about what we buy new these days—I love finding cast-offs or acquiring hand-me-downs that I can renovate to fit the vibe here.

Q: Where do you find inspiration for decorating, gardening, projects, etc? 

A: I’ve always been a voracious magazine-reader, and in recent years, I’ve gotten quite fixated on Pinterest and following the amazing blogs I stumble upon through that. Additionally, I just pay attention, wherever I’m at—I’m always seeing amazing décor (both home and garden) when I am out and about and I’m constantly filing things away amongst the cobwebs in my head. I mean, there are things in this house that are a direct rip on something I saw 20 years ago—such as the numbered staircase. I can’t even tell you where I saw that for the first time, but I know I was a teenager. When I saw it, I literally said out loud, “When I have a house with stairs, I’m doing that.” Well, this is the first house with stairs I’ve ever had…so…I did that.

Q: Looking back 5-10 years ago, are you where you thought you'd be?

A: We bought this house five years ago, and if someone had told me we’d JUST be getting to the end of the renovation now, I would have had some choice words for that someone. Never thought it would take five years! Ten years ago, the Texan and I were in our old house, which was a tiny 700 square foot place in the middle of a not-so-safe neighborhood. If someone had shown me photos of this house, this yard, this neighborhood, and told me that’s where I’d be in ten years, I would have been over the moon. I probably still would have had some choice words for them because I’d never have believed it.

The last week and a half or so have been pure crazy. 

We've have busy weeks at work and so much else was happening that I'm pretty sure I wake up tired. Did I mention that I'm a reporter, and report on the military and city government here? Well, lately my brain has been swimming in information about nuclear weapons, sequestration and the city budget and zoning regulations. I love it, but some days, I just want to watch girly movies and think about paint colors. 

So, having an entire house that needs fixing up to come home to seems perfect, right?

Well, sometimes that doesn't quite work out.

First, there was this.

Having lived through a handful of tornadoes in Texas, South Dakota and Alabama, I was very concerned we were going to get hit with one. I was trying to bring in any loose items outside to prevent flying debris. Boyfriend said it was fine. See that cloud edge? The weather people told my co-worker at the paper the next day that was in fact a cyclical storm, but was too high to become a tornado. Yippee. 

Shortly after I took this photo, the winds got even stronger. Around 70 mph was recorded at the wildlife refuge down the road. You can even see specs of dirt and grass/leaves flying by. A town over had more damage and lost power until the following day I think.

Then it started to hail.

Golf ball sized hail. With high winds. 

The dogs were freaking out and I started getting stressed when I literally could see no further than a few feet out the window it was hailing so hard. 

Our cars were outside since the garage is still full of stuff and another car that's being repaired. 

Now our cars look like they have acne. 

The hail damage officially totaled my car, but things turned out pretty decent with the insurance settlement and I get to keep my car, so small victory. Boyfriend's car is being inspected this week. It's almost definitely totaled as well. 

Then, there was this.

We had what were the makings of a septic system disaster. Toilets weren't working right, the upstairs hall closet near the bathroom smelled funny and then the shower filled with gross water. I won't give you all the icky details but I was freaking out. Septic issues can be hugely expensive and, well, messy. 

So until we could get the septic people out to do an inspection, we made evening trips to Wal-Mart, like we were quasi camping, didn't run the water, and showered using water in a bucket. I'm all for camping, I am not for sticking my head in a bucket to wash my hair, in my own house. 

The septic guys gave us the glorious news that the major issue was that the previous owners had not had the system pumped like they said they had and there was a hole on top of the tank and the think had filled with rainwater. So, we spent about $200 getting things in working order and learning a lot about our particular system and how to prevent any future problems, versus the catastrophe I had been envisioning. I have a tendency to mentally work through the worst case scenario and then be pleasantly surprised when things turn out fine. Some days it might give me ulcers, but it has ultimately served me well.

From what I'm hearing, every homeowner has horror stories of things that went wrong and sometimes everything just happens at once. It was a stressful, hits just keep on coming kind of week, but then everything turned out just fine really.

On days when we just can't win, our solution to craziness looks like this. Obviously. I'm thinking you can guess what I picked. 

Sure there are tricks and tips and quirky how-tos in home renovation and gardening, but truly, there are no shortcuts to doing it right so we don't have to do it over and over again. We can certainly find ways to do things more efficiently and effectively, but still there are no shortcuts. 

The same goes for life in general really. In work, love, travel, there are ways to avoid unnecessary heartache, trouble, drama and crazy. 

But if it's a place worth going, be it a goal, location, relationship, job, do the work and earn it. Maybe it will take a bit longer, but the satisfaction of accomplishment is always a good feeling.

We're experimenting with this, but based on how many people asked for the how-to on my Instagram post, I will share with the masses.

So, I saw somewhere, probably on Pinterest that I could grow romaine lettuce from the stubs. Mark didn't really buy it, but saved some stubbs for me then asked me what to do.

That's what we started with. Based on thorough Pinterest/blogger research, I found that we just needed to put the stubbs in about a half inch of water and change the water daily. Then magic is supposed to happen.

I'm not so sure about the magic, but after a week or two, this is what I was seeing every morning.

We chopped one of them and used the leaves on our sandwiches. The ends were super bitter so we cut those off too and put them in the compost bin.

I've also pulled some of the outside leaves off since they were starting to look icky and now they're getting a bit soggy, but they keep growing from the inside. Make sure you don't put in too much water (I totally did that once or twice) because it makes the outside leaves get soggy faster and kind of yucky. Half inch or so is plenty and definitely change it out daily.

We're going to try putting a few in the ground too and compare results.

I'll keep you posted, because if this really works and we figure out some ways to make it work best, that's so much lettuce we don't have to buy and it means I might possibly have a green thumb, fueled by the internet obviously.

If you've tried this too and have found better ways or tricks, share your magic with us!

In case you didn't look at a calendar today, it's August 1. 

This might mean nothing to you, but as my dear friend Ally pointed out to me this morning, it is the official start of my birthday month. 

In a few weeks, I'll turn 30. I've been prepping for the "OH MY GOSH I'M 30!" freakout, so maybe that's why I feel so calm about it. And really, so much has been happening, once I realized it was officially my birthday month, I got pretty excited. In case I haven't told you, I love my birthday. Mom says one day I won't, but I'm pretty sure I'll always love my birthday. 

What better excuse for bringing all your favorite people together, or setting goals before reaching a certain age? Birthdays are fun. I don't care about expensive gifts, or fancy, trendy parties. I care about having spent another year on this Earth doing things I care about with people I love. And for one day a year, I get to be reminded, if not amazed, by just how wonderful my life really is. 

But since it is the big 3-0, let's revisit the 30 by 30 list. Posts about each of these items are coming! 

I created this list in February, and it was lofty, but I've done pretty gosh darn close to most of the list. Original list in black, status reports in green.

1. Get my non-profit underway. That's my all-time biggest goal right now. On it! Been talking to all the right people and on the right track.

2. Explore at least one more foreign country. First up, Estonia! Haven't done this yet, but you guys, we bought a house! 

3. Visit the farmers market in town. I hear it's fantastic. Been a few times! 

4. Learn to compost. We've started a compost pile and built our own bins and everything. 

5. Start my own herb garden. This is well underway, though we might end up killing most things we started this year. It's our learning year. 

6. Think about growing my own fruits and vegetables. Already growing veggies, fruits coming next! 

7. Run another half marathon, and beat my best time of 2 hours, 20 minutes. Haven't done this one yet, but started doing Insanity and did a race the other day, 5 miles in under an hour. Still deciding about really doing another half. 

8. Play tennis again. Yeah, haven't done this yet, but there's been talk in the office about hitting the courts again.

9. Visit all of the wineries in Montana. Haven't been out that way since we bought a house, but there was a Montana wine night.  

10. Host at least 3 more international dinner nights. Cooking up a plan for the next one this month!

11. Declutter my inbox. Did this a few times, but it keeps filling back up. On it.

12. Go to a rodeo or something else quintessentially Montana. Didn't get to the fair this week, but might be going to the fill your bucket event at my favorite honey spot next weekend! 

13. Be a better pen pal. Room for improvement, but progress has been made! 

14. Volunteer more. Done a little bit of this and finding the local areas where I want to get involved. 

15. Follow through on some crafty projects. Starting with my chalkboard frame. Chalkboard frame is done! See it here. 

16. Make more from thrift store finds. I'm counting auctions in this and oh my gosh have we had some finds there! 

17. Purge my wardrobe to the things I really need. Got a pile of sorts of the things to go. Full purge is coming for sure.

18. Get a pair of boots. I've never owned any and sort of need them in Montana! Done and I love my boots! Plus they were on sale! 
 
19. Read 30 books. Sorta fell down on this one, but did finish a few books and started a few more. 

20. Roadtrip to Seattle/West Coast. Plan is in the works on this one, for probably September. I'm counting it.

21. Visit my friend Jeannette in California and Kate in Canada. Plan also in the works for this one. 

22. Snowshoe with the dogs. Gonna have to wait until it snows again. 

23. Hike the Chinese Wall in Montana. Maybe next weekend. 

24. Do the multi-day kayak/hiking/camping trip the boyfriend and I have been talking about. We did a few day trips and have big plans for the multi-day, just need a long weekend for that. 

25. Make a return trip to Yellowstone National Park. Check!
 
26. Explore Bozeman, Montana. People rave about it, but I haven't been yet. Check! But, I'd go back for a longer visit. 

27. Go back to yoga. Started doing yoga at home again. Might start going to classes again with friends. 

28. Dust off my skates and hit the ice again. Ice opens up again soon and you can bet I'll be on it. 

29. Visit at least 5 state parks. Did a few, have more to go. 

30. Become a part of my new community. Definitely off to a good start on this. Only been here half a year, more to come!