fat bear ranch: the homestead

although "only" three acres the homestead is where most of our time is spent. we have the old cabin, which has lots of funky old character and was our sole residence for three years. the roof leaked, the pluming leaked, there was no insulation, no cooking stove, washer or dryer and the hot water only got a little better than luke warm. but it was home. and home to many others as well. we lived with mice, moths, ring tailed cats, skunks, bats, wood peckers and many, many frogs. they liked the leaky pluming. there were a few other interesting creatures and spirits as well but they were not regular visitors.

one thing i can say about the cabin is that it was one of the coziest and most welcoming houses i have ever slept in and have always slept very soundly there. the wood stove is a beast and fire wood is abundant so winters in the cabin, while challenging, were nostalgic and always toasty warm.

in the summer of 2008 we built the kitchen house. it looks like a cabin on the out side but is a work of functional art on the inside. a cooks dream with a view of the garden and all the fancy appliances to turn the food into a dream come true.

it was wonderful to live in the old cabin and experience the "old vibe" of the place but i think we were all pretty happy to enjoy the conveniences of our modern times. even chester seems pretty happy about it. he likes the custom down draft stove that blows all those good smells out side for him to salivate over.

we do our best to keep the new place as cozy as the old cabin. wood stoves are good for that.

the barn is quite a nice building as well and stands guard over our garden.

this is a picture from the first day we saw the place. the open barn door even creaked in the wind.

this is the pre kitchen house homestead.

and then there is the GARDEN!

this is how it looks this year as of early june

so far we have either harvested or planted broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, basil, cilantro, parsley, okra, leeks, sunflowers, cabbage, peas, bush beans, pole beans, spanish onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, eggplants, peppers, tomatos, tomatillos, potatos, butternut, delicata and pink banana squash, zucchini, straight and crook neck summer squash, musk melon, honeydew, water melon....