No poo

About a month ago I finally decided to jump feet first into the shampoo free movement. I had been looking into it for a while, but an impromptu hair trimming at my moms house got me to take the plunge. As a side note, I can't believe my little sis failed to mention for years that she was able to trim hair!

Let me start out by saying I have thick waist length with a natural wave. I washed my hair 3 times a week. I have used nearly every shampoo and conditioner I could reasonably get my hands on and my hair is always frizzy. Frizz treatments made it frizzy and limp looking. I have never dyed my hair and maybe once every 5 years have used a curling iron or hair dryer on my hair.

So for the first 2 weeks I went with the shampoo substitute that is most prevalent on the interwebs; baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar conditioner. The first week, my hair was a little greasy but looked great. Every blog out there told me to keep going, so I kept it up while trying to fiddle with the dilution ratios of the baking soda and acv. I loved the way the acv made my hair feel, but the smell....

The second week was awful. My hair was dry, my scalp was greasy and gross, and to make matters worse, I had the hardest time rinsing out the baking soda. I also started to doubt the benefit of using baking soda too often due to its abrasiveness. I needed something to cut the grease.

The third and forth week I decided to use the all natural, handmade soap I use in the shower. I used it sparingly twice a week, and my hair wasn't as visibly greasy, but I could feel it, and no matter how much I brushed, it was still gross. What's worse, my scalp was dry, flaky and itchy.

 

Today, the official start of week 5 I stumbled across a few forum and blogs that recommended a surprising shampoo alternative, honey! So I put a couple of spoonfuls of honey in a canning jar, with a dash of baking soda, filled it up with hot tap water, shook it up then filtered it through a piece of muslin. I added a few drops of rosemary and lavendar essential oils and went to work. It was like a miracle! For the first time in a month my hair isn't greasy and it looks great! I am going to keep up with the no poo, and maybe add some aloe Vera gel. I'll post updates once I get my recipe completely nailed down!

We Have Cows... Sort of

We worked out a deal with the farmer up the road to house some of his dairy cows for the winter, and they are finally here! They are seven of the coolest pregnant cows I have ever seen. My hubby has already began teasing me for naming them, but I just couldn't help myself! My favorite is one I have taken to calling "Blue Bell," and let me tell you, no cow has ever looked more like a Blue Bell! I am going to try to use this e,experience to learn as much about cows as I can, so we can feel a bit more comfortable once we get our own miller. Who knows, maybe I can convince my neighbor to sell me Blue Bell...

I wish I was at the farm!

I can't wait until we are living at the farm and I am farming full time. Even though it's raining here, I wish I was at the farm instead of working. I have been sitting here planning my day off tomorrow since I finished my rig check! We have done a lot, but have so much left to do. This Sunday we will have to get up real early. I was hoping to have the walls up before the hubby's grandma came to visit, but I am apparently more ambitious than the amount of time we have. I am hoping tomorrow will be a day filled with pulling nails, and sanding the dry sink. Maybe I'll even get a coat of paint on it! For now my mind is sitting on the deck with a cold drink taking all of this in!

So much work so far!

We have now owned the farm for 2.5 weeks, and although we have a lot left to do, I am pretty happy with where we stand right now! We have gutted both bedrooms and the bathroom. All that remains of the room it once was is the toilet, but as soon ans we get ready to install a new one, that will be gone too. As you probably recall,

Stanley from the dairy up the road offered to take care of our fields for us, so far the front hay field has been cut, and baled. There are big huge round bales scattered about, and it really gives you a better feeling for just how big the farm really is! I think they decided against haying the pasture, but he promised to brush hog whatever he can't use. I would imagine that once all the hay has been done he'll swing back through and cut that down for us.

This is obviously before it was baled, but I got to meet another neighbor, Stanley's grandson Shawn. He did an awesome job!

The highlight of the week has been the purchase of our new to us antique dry sink!

This pic is in our bathroom just about where it is going to go. I think it is perfect for what we are going to do in here, and I LOVE the towel bar next to the mirror! I am going to get a corian counter top to go over the top of the wood in designer white and match the paint to it and paint the whole thing white. I need to add a piece of wood below the mirror to bring it up a little higher, and we are going to put a box behind it to secure the mirror frame and to keep the mirror away from the wall so it can still tilt! We are just super excited the search is over, and we got it for over $75 less than his original asking price! I <3 Craigslist! 

Okay, now the James and the trailer have been packed full of another load to go up to the new house, and I daresay I am holding up the hubby, so off to the farm we go!

It's All Ours!

It has been a whirlwind of a week! Wednesday we FINALLY closed on our dream farm! It has been a long time coming, and it we were a tad to busy starting to get things ready up there to blog! I will say this about the closing though, it was a little anti-climactic, but never the less exciting. We haven't moved in yet, so there is no interwebs, but we are making do. We met our closest farm neighbor within two hours of owning the property. He drove up our driveway, got us up to speed on the local gossip and offered to clean up our hay fields. It took a huge load off our minds, since the other fields in our area are on their second cutting and ours have yet to be touched. We have gotten the kitchen into running order, and tomorrow my parents are coming up to give me a hand in purging the 70's from my bathroom. We picked up a couple of lawn tractors, and got the acre of lawn cleaned up. The kitchen is now clean starting to fill up. We even had our first meal there! So far this farm is turning out to be everything I wanted it to be and more. I just can't wait to move in!

All that's missing is the hot dogs!

So Close We Can Taste It

Finally after all the trouble and drama with the bank and the inspection, we are almost there! Tomorrow is the walk through and closing! I can't believe it, the farm will finally be ours! The superstitious side of me is saying that the reason it has taken this long is that Mercury is no longer in retrograde tomorrow. It is kind of funny that last Friday when I told my mother that we had gotten the "clear to close" from the bank that I would feel better about it if we waited until Wednesday, then by happenstance that is the date that was chosen by the lawyers. I think it is a good sign, or just coincidence, who knows. The main point is that we are closing and I will soon be out of the suburbs! Now I will spend today packing some more and possibly looking at poultry on the internet.

Off to the Bank!

We're one step closer! The appraisal was finally approved by the bank and I am headed off there now in a few minutes with a cheque from my parents. I can't even describe how appreciative I am to my mom and dad for helping us out this way. We would never have been able to get this far without them! I only hope that some day I will be able to help my own future children like this. I wish everyone had parents like mine. I am going to strive to make this new farm successful, so I can prove to them that they made the right choice!

I will admit I am still nervous though. There have been several times that my hubby and I have thought we were completely on our way, only to encounter unexpected setbacks. All I can do right now, is deposit the money and keep my fingers crossed. It wouldn't be the first time the bank said we had bridged all the obstacles and they were wrong. I am sure the sellers are just as eager as us to close on this sale! I am truly hoping that the next time I post it's to say are new farm owners!