To Contract or Not to Contract Out....

As an extreme penny pincher, the idea of building our house completely on our own--or at least doing our own contracting, was oh-so-tempting; however, a few items on the "Con" list of that idea eventually allowed getting a general contractor to win out... Some of those things were:

• The contractor would do all of the coordinating and that work load/headache would be off our plates.
• I felt the subcontracted jobs (Concrete, leveling, electric, plumbing, etc, etc.... the list goes on and on) would be much more responsive to and timely with a contractor they worked with regularly--and in turn brought them regular business--than to a random young couple who didn't know what they were doing. 
• We had a builder/contractor who was UNBELIEVABLY flexible in the way we wanted to approach building. He'd do as much as we wanted him to and let us do any part of it we chose. We could tell him WHO we wanted to do a certain job if we had a preference. We would pay as we went along--and he'd turn all of the actual invoices over to us to see the individual expenses. (Although we only had to write a check to him and he took care of the individual payments.)
• Ummm... We'd just had a baby... Yeah that was a big one.

Mingus talking with our GC.

I'm so glad we went with the decision we did... Although I am tracking exactly how all of the money is being spent. (Thanks to having every invoice and receipt.) Yes there are costs for the management of a GC, but my goodness, the payoffs are worth it!

• I'm glad I'm not having to call around about everything. With the winter being as cold as it was, we had some major delays...and I'm sure I would have had a heck of a time getting them to pour the foundation on a Saturday--when the occasion finally arose when it was warm enough to pour concrete. But you better bet they did pour on a Saturday thanks to the GC. 
• It's not just the headache/work of doing the coordinating. I honestly don't know how I could have had time. We'd probably barely be getting the house under roof if it'd been left up to us. Mingus works all day and has projects like his bees, bunnies, the garden (and on and on) when he is home. Me? Well, when I'm not keeping up with an infant/now 7 month old... I'm trying to keep the house is some sort of order AND get in the work-from-home jobs I'm trying to manage in order to keep our income where it needs to be.
• I hate making decisions! Just picking out paints and stains is hard enough--and there are so many detail decisions... Adding on top of that having to choose WHO was doing each job? I'd be second guessing myself the entire time--not to mention being torn between going with the "cheaper" option and the higher quality option... I trust our GC completely to send us teams that he would be comfortable with building his own house.
• I don't feel like I HAVE to be present for every project taking place. Someone else is making sure these guys find their way out here... Someone else deals with making sure the long tractor trailers can make it across our tiny bridges. Aaaannnnd...a big one....
• Someone else calls people back when they did something wrong. That's a good thing, because sometimes I can be too nice. Even though I'm paying these people money... AND this is the house I'm going to be in forever... AND changing things AS they build is a thousand times easier (and less expensive) than going back later to make changes... I still feel bad when I ask for a change on work that was already done or realize they did something differently than I requested. Half the time I find out it's an easy fix/change... 

Although contracting, we have chosen to take on certain jobs on our own--which I must say has really only been possible thanks to (Mingus's) family and friends. Most of the time I end up doing about 10% of the work--if that--because DL has my hands full. The things we have done ourselves include:

Exterior staining with the help of Mingus's parents. A MUCH easier job
to accomplish thanks to being able to use the GC's scaffolding.

• Sub-contracting our in-floor Pex for heated concrete.
• Locating, choosing and buying our outdoor wood furnace.
• Buying the metal for our roof
• Buying our windows and exterior doors
• Buying the chimney pipe for the indoor wood stove.
• Buying the paints, primers, stains, etc.
• Staining the wood exterior.
• Concrete staining (WHAT a project... more on that to come) 

We also plan to do all of the interior priming and painting as well as hanging the doors and putting up trim.   

We toyed with the idea of laying the in-ground pex ourselves, but I'm glad we
simply bough the pex and then sought out someone with experience.

In the end, I feel the expertise and efficiency has been well worth the money spent on not self-contracting. Another point I should make is, perhaps if either or both of us had any experience in home construction I would have leaned toward doing it ourselves, but we don't. Neither of us have ever even owned a home, so we are definitely noobs at every aspect. But with drywall ready to go up... I'd say we are quite pleased (and very excited!) about where things are at this point!

Friends taking in sunset with Mingus after a long day of cleaning--and
re-cleaning the concrete in preparation for staining.

O's Summer Visit to The Valley

We had a great visit from Mingus's family this past weekend! His parents and sister all made the trip from Indiana as well as our nephew and godson O! We had a beautiful Saturday for lots of fun activities including fishing, breaking and canning beans, playing in the creek, outdoor fun and a campfire! We're hopeful for the day when O can come stay for a stretch of time with us in the Valley and make even more great memories!

Food for Thought... (No really...some thoughts on my food...)

I've come to taking for granted what a  regular dinner with Mingus is considered. 

It's not getting fast food--or even take-out.
Heaven knows nobody delivers to these parts, so it's not delivery.
It's not frozen, pre-prepped meals we bought from Kroger.
It's not an in-home chef or cook.
And it's obviously not gourmet cooking.

But it is home-cooked meals made up of our own hap-hazard recipes composed of non-processed ingredients and primarily food produced right here on our own land.

Sunday evening my parents joined the two of us for a joint-effort dinner. Sitting down, I was sorely disappointed when I began to proudly look upon my plate at everything that had come from our own efforts, then realized the onions--used only for seasoning other dishes, had not been grown by us. 

Dang. Onions next year maybe?

Our meal was:

• Fried rabbit--from our own bunnies.
• Steamed beets--dug less than a month ago, fresh from the garden (Yes, in January)
• Cooked green beans--canned over the summer
• Mashed potatoes, from potatoes dug in early fall

Tonight, Mingus and I will eat burgers--from ground bunny--and "french fries"; ie: our own potatoes that I sliced, seasoned and baked. (Our pickles on the burgers are cucumbers we pickled over the summer. One day we'll have our own ketchup to use also...maybe?) We're also having rice, which I cannot claim as our own.

Rice is one of the few things we buy regularly that we don't produce ourselves, along with pasta noodles. 

Don't get me wrong--we hit up the grocery often enough. Our seasonings also come from the store, but we try to keep them as organic as possible. I am anxious to grow more of our own herbs. After having incredible basil plants last year that we dried and saved, we have regularly used the leaves to make dipping sauce with spaghetti (made with garden veggies, bunny meat and homemade sauce from garden tomatoes). The difference in our basil and the basil purchased at the store is incredible. 

What it is I've really realized, though, is how natural it is becoming for us to not only cook with our own food, but to actually cook meals and not depend on something from the freezer or something someone else prepped for us with their own special seasonings, preservatives and MSG. We joke that every meal begins with oil, onions and garlic--and it's nearly true. Our garlic press is one of the most used tools in the kitchen. 

We're both glad to be becoming comfortable cooking this way right now (pre-kiddos) so that it's less of an effort when they do come along--it will be second nature to us.

Second, I've realized how much money this must be saving us. Last night's meal, with the exception of onions, garlic cloves and seasonings, and butter and rice milk (for the mashed potatoes) all of the main foods were not purchased in a store. Obviously raising rabbits has costs, as do starting a garden--and time is of value. But to not be spending money on things that are damaging my long-term (and possibly immediate) health is worth the time, no 
doubt. 

A love note of sorts

It was well after dark on a Saturday night. Jon and I had just finished watching a Redbox movie. It was late, but not for a Saturday. We could have put on another movie, found something on TV, or, as we do many week nights, get our respective books and read for awhile. Instead, though, being that it was a rather warm January night, we decided to take a walk.

I refilled my wine glass and out we went. The Jackamo dog came along as usual and just after crossing the Grammo Bridge we heard a loud yowl. Jon flipped on the flashlight (walking with it off, he has taught me, is a much better way to enjoy a night walk), and the gray and white Randy cat was trotting up behind us asking us to wait for him. So we did.
It was a simple walk down Blue Bank Lane to Greystone and back. It was far too cloudy to see the stars--although a few were peeking through by the end of the walk. The rushing streams and creeks added a level of serenity to the night’s air. The dark of night has its own way of allowing you to see more--so much not visible by the light of day.

I sipped on my wine, holding my love’s hand, walking in the moonlight and talking of our Clan Valley dreams. 


I have a very special life. Most of what makes it so special is my husband.

I think it’s clear that I love my Mingus in the fact that I married him, but I have never spelled out many of the reasons that make him so dear to me..and why I have come to calling him “My Wonderful.”
 
Perhaps we do not have a dream house of our own (and even when we do build, it may not be ALL that we have dreamed up in our sketches), but right now we have a spacey, homey loft apartment--big enough to host friends and family to gather. Even better is that we are only a trip down the stairs to visit our dear Grammo. Not only does my Mingus go above and beyond to help Grammo with day-to-day needs (like filling her humidifier, emptying compost, burning trash, and putting her to bed), but there are some weekend mornings when he wakes before me and I find him downstairs. Not only does he help Grammo get rolling into her Saturday, but after sitting her down for breakfast, he stays and visits. I find the two of them down there laughing and carrying on. The same has happened on evenings when I get out of the shower and I find him having left the TV and wandered down for a Grammo visit instead. He does not just care for Grammo because “it’s the right thing to do,” but he thoroughly enjoys her and all her Grammo ways. 


Maybe a dream house of our own one day, but I’m so blessed to be living here now to not only get extra time for myself with Grammo, but that Jon is getting the chance to know Grammo in the special way I know and love her.

Perhaps I made my Mingus move away from his family so that I could be close to mine, but lucky for me he loves the life we are pursuing together. He loves Clan Valley as much as I do. He loves the countless possibilities it holds for him and our future together. From the care of bunnies, bees and the garden, to simply walking the game trails and knobs, he finds more and more to love about Clan Valley on a daily basis. (He also finds more and more potential in projects he would love to take on!) He loves each and every one of of my family members. If anything he wishes (like me) he could get more of them down to the Valley more often to enjoy this treasure God gave our family. He loves the open arms the Clan so readily gives to all and any, and the strength and importance of our faith. 

Perhaps we do not live very close to... well, anything... (friends, sporting events, bars, theaters, nice restaurants), but it leaves us to each other. Our schedules revolve highly around one another’s and we find pleasure in the simple ways we spend our time together. It leaves me with no doubt of his love for me when he is perfectly content to be here, stuck with me, re-watching the same movies together, tagging along to sporting events I’m covering for the paper, and cooking dinner together. 

Perhaps we could be living in Louisville, closer to lots of friends, with lots of things to do (and often) and have numerous options for career paths, but what I love most about My Wonderful is that we are both in love with the treasure trove of possibilities that Clan Valley holds for our secluded life and we are both okay with accepting the simplicity that must come with life here.
 
We finished our walk sitting in the beautiful, not nearly utilized enough, Blue Bank gazebo. Yes, perhaps things could be very different, but I count my blessings that they are not. I have no doubt God has curve balls ahead for the two of us, and I wouldn’t expect anything less, but in the quiet, still, peace that winter brings, I thank God I am exactly where I am: surrounded by love. 

My prayer is that we, and all of our family and friends, can continue pursuing God’s plan for us--not the plan for ourselves--so that I can always be this happy.

Field to Fork on the Blue Bank Farm

It's the dead of winter and Mingus and I are still eating fresh kale from our wonderful garden.

While it may not look quite as magnificent in January as it does in from May through August but its products are just as delightful--if not more delightful due to their rarity alone! Fresh greens in the winter! Who'd have thunk it!

It's also amazing that just two years ago we looked at that field of dead weeds that had not been gardened in 10 or so years and said, "Let's bring this to life again." 

And so we did and in a matter of months we were blessed with a bountiful harvest.