Buy a t-shirt and help us out!

We take a little break from toilet talk to let you know that we launched a t-shirt campaign today to help raise
some funds for farm start-up costs.

Our "Food Security is National Security" t-shirt is now available at www.teespring.com/foodsecurity. With Brett's military experience and our belief that small farms are key to the future of this country's food system, this is an important message worth spreading. The shirts are $20 and silk screen printed on a Made in the USA American Apparel t-shirt.

We have big plans for this property. We want to create a small, diversified organic farm that not only helps feed our community, but also teaches people how to feed themselves. This summer, Brett became certified in permaculture design and we hope to use these methods to create an educational farm one day.

All of our grand ideas definitely come with a decent price tag and every little bit will help us. The proceeds from this project will help with start-up farm costs, specifically beginning with the purchase of 100 laying hens and the necessary accompanying supplies and equipment. But in order for us to receive the funds, we need to sell 200 in 21 days!

If you'd like to support us, but don't necessarily need or want the shirt, then have it mailed directly to us at 8856 Cottage Road, South Dayton, NY 14138 and we will donate it to a local veteran organization. All shirts will arrive between Dec. 14-17, so it's a great holiday gift too!

Since we started this farming journey in 2010, we have been continually humbled at how many people have supported and encouraged our farming journey. We are truly appreciative and we hope you will consider helping us out at this critical juncture of our adventure.

Thanks in advance!
The Lawlers

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Oven + Internet + Frigid Toilet Seat = Recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal

This past week has had their share of triumphs and failures. Let's start with the positive, shall we?

We now have Internet (yahoo!) thanks to Verizon HomeFusion, a service that taps into the 4G network instead of a satellite like other providers. It's a whole lot different from good ol' Time Warner or Fios -- no more unlimited data that we've taken for granted the past 15 years. Our plan includes 10 GB/month - at least that's what we're starting with. This means no Netflix, no Hulu, no YouTube, or any major downloading. But the service is fast and it is a darn relief not to have to go to Tim Hortons every time I need to do a little work.

The other good news is we now have our oven up and running thanks to a propane conversion kit. We are still using a BBQ-style tank to run it, but this girl is happy to be able to bake, bake, and bake some more (of course this leads to more dirty dishes which sit until we can take them to my Dad's house in an effort to avoid washing dishes in the freezing mudroom). The inaugural dish was Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal (recipe below), which was perfect for our recent cold and rainy weather).

Speaking of rainy weather...it needs to STOP. Ya hear me sky? No more dropping water pellets for at least another few weeks. Because that H2O has led to the big failure of last week. Where shall I start?

Septic tank hole dug. Check.

36 tons of gravel delivered for the bed of the hole. Check.

Septic tank delivered. Check.

Septic tank installed.

{PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE}

And why is there no photo? Because the installation guy drove about 10 feet onto our lawn to head around the house where the hole is and the truck nearly got stuck. He barely made it off the driveway. And unless our lawn magically dries up in the next week, it looks like our best option is to rent a bulldozer to tow him in and out, allowing him to drop the tank in the hole and us to move forward to my dream of a room temperature flushable toilet.

But let's go back to the positive stuff like working ovens! This Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal was so yummy that I had to share it. I based it off of Cooking Light's Baked Oatmeal, which is one of my all-time favorite cold weather breakfasts, and then jazzed it up with fall flavors.

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1/4-1/2 cup packed brown sugar (the original recipe calls for 1/2 but we usually use less)
1/2 cup (give or take) of dried fruit, nuts, seeds (we used raisins, pepitas, sunflower seeds and walnuts)
1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups milk (can use any kind from skim to whole)
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°.

.

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Melt butter in a different bowl using the microwave or over a pot of boiling water, whisk in the egg and stir in the milk and pumpkin. Add milk mixture to oat mixture; stir well. Pour oat mixture into a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Eat in front of your cozy wood stove with no beverage in an effort to reduce the amount you sit on a freezing toilet seat.

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Living Like the Amish: A Primer

As you’ll recall, we closed on our farm in late August, which was formerly Amish. In case you aren’t familiar with how the Amish live, this equates to no electricity, no modern plumbing, no standard heating system, no kitchen, and no Internet. This was our worst case situation — having to move in right away with no buffer time to get some of these amenities installed. We had hoped to work on the house and come back every evening to our fully equipped rental house for a flushable toilet, stocked kitchen, well-lit house, and warm showers. Unfortunately the rental house was up for sale and closing at the end of August so we needed to be out.

Of course, Brett really had no qualms about this scenario. He couldn’t wait to get on the land and start our future, and he’s a boy, a former military boy, so he kept saying that it will be an adventure and just like indoor camping. I’ve never been a fan of camping.

Here we are six weeks later and we JUST got electricity installed. Everything is just taking longer than expected. And, yet overall, we are pretty darn happy. We are home. Kaylee is running around, Dora the dog is running around — everyone’s spirit is just so much higher surrounded by all of this beautiful space. Don’t get me wrong — I would kill for regular toilet and a little wi-fi — but it definitely could be worse.

Not too shabby of a front porch view

I’ve had many questions about our day-to-day lives so I thought I’d do a little write up about how we’re managing to live relatively comfortably without many of the modern conveniences that we all take for granted.

The main factor that helps make things a lot easier is that both of my parents live about 45 minutes away. At least twice a week, we head in to shower, do laundry, charge batteries, get ice, use wi-fi, and hit some of the bigger stores. This helps tremendously. Here’s a little breakdown of how we handle some of the other issues.
No Electricity

• A system comprised of a marine battery and 750 watt inverter kept our computers and iphones easily charged. We kept the battery charged with a 2,000 watt Honda generator. Having these items continuously charged made life a lot easier. 
• A propane camping lantern, head lamp, oil lamps, and flashlights lit the way at night. But the most common way we deal with the dark is by going to bed early. And then we get up early and get as much stuff done as we can during daylight hours. It’s hard to be motivated to do things by lantern.
• We refrigerated our food with two large coolers that we kept filled with ice and stored in the basement. It worked pretty well and we didn’t lose any food due to spoilage. We recently purchased a chest freezer which currently lives in my Dad’s garage. We fill up big jugs (old vinegar bottles, milk containers, juice containers) of water, freeze it, and then use it in the coolers. The freezer also allows us to store meat we’ve bought in bulk and produce we had put up for the winter. 
• It seemed important enough to mention coffee here. In lieu of a coffee maker, we’ve been using our French press. We fire up the generator to grind the coffee and make enough to fill a quart mason jar. Although we actually like the taste of French press coffee better, I do miss the convenience (and continued warmth) of a coffee maker.

No Modern Plumbing

• We are lucky that this house was built by the Amish because they implemented a lot of systems to make their life easier within the constraints of their beliefs. For example, they used a gas pump to draw water into a 500 gallon stainless steel tank that sits high up in the barn. The water is then gravity fed through pipes that are buried in the ground and head into the house. This allows them to have running water. Although they drank it, we’re a little suspect so we filter it through our Berkey water filter. Having running water in the house makes life a lot easier.
• As for the facilities, or potty as we tend to say as parents of a toddler, the previous owners built a privy located off of the mud room. It contains two holes (one for kids, one for adults) with a concrete base and a wood top. We added toilet seats to make it a little more hygienic. In terms of an alternative to a modern bathroom, it could be a whole lot worse. But as a pregnant lady who pees a lot, I’m looking forward to good old-fashioned indoor plumbing.

Our fine accommodations

• I think Brett and I would agree that one of the worst parts of this entire experience is washing the dishes. We both hate to hand wash dishes in a normal house with a regular kitchen sink and hot water (we dream of the day we have a dishwasher again). Now we have to heat up the water on the stove, take it into the mudroom where the sink is, and wash the dishes in a very cramped space usually by head lamp. Due to this, we’ve been using a lot of disposable dishes and silverware, as much as we hate the environmental impact. We are using uncoated paper plates (with a metal camp plate for support) so we can at least compost those. 

No Kitchen

• Unbeknownst to most people (including us before we started this undertaking), the Amish take their kitchens with them when they move. They use freestanding cabinets and cupboards, some with stainless steel tops. So when we moved in, there was absolutely nothing in the kitchen. They even negotiated taking the sink that was somewhat built in (in exchange they left one of their awesome clothing line pullies that stretches from the house to the barn). Since the actual kitchen was filled with boxes from the move, we set up in a small room they used for their pantry, which will be our future bathroom. The room has wall cabinets that we’re able to store high rotation food and dishes and then we placed a folding table underneath for prep. We do most of our cooking on a propane two-burner camp stove. For the most part, this system has served us pretty well and kept us eating healthy and fresh. As the weather cools, I really miss having an oven, but I try to compensate by making soups, chilli, and a big ol’ pot of beans. 

No Heat

• It’s not technically accurate to say that we have no heat, because we do have a wood stove in our living room. It produces quite a bit of warmth, although we will definitely need supplemental heat to keep the kitchen and other rooms warm. For now, we are grateful the weather has been warm and it hasn’t been much of an issue.

No Wi-Fi

• This one has been a biggie for me since I had a large freelance project start the week that we moved. Thankfully our iPhones work like a dream with good 4G coverage the majority of the time. This helps us keep up on emails, Facebook, and Pinterest (crucial!), and allows us to do some Internet searches. But obviously the iPhone is limited so I drive 15 minutes to the closest Tim Horton’s coffee shop to access free, unlimited wi-fi. This is obviously not ideal and definitely getting old, but it gets the job done. We hope to have Internet up and running at home in the next week or so. 

As it now mid-October, we are definitely racing against the weather. We need to get all of the major outdoor work done (finalizing the new water supply lines and installing the septic system) before winter comes. And every time it rains, the project gets pushed back a little further.

I’d like to give a shout out to my cousin, owner of Ben-Dar Electric, who has been instrumental in helping us get our electricity running. And to my incredibly handy husband who has been tackling these projects like a boss, teaching himself the majority of this work through books and videos. He will have quite the skill set when this is all complete and I couldn’t be prouder of him.

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MIKE CHECK!

Any station this net, any station this net, this is SV06 radio check, over.

 tap tap... this thing on?

Not really sure where we left off.  Last year has been a beeeeeyotch. But it all worked out.  To bring you up to speed, last year around this time we decided it was time to find a place of our own to farm on.  We started looking in the Western New York (WNY) region and the pickins were pretty slim.  It seemed you had to know somebody who knew somebody to even find a place suitable for Ag use that was for sale or about to be for sale.  We realized that the chance of our finding a place in WNY whilst still living in Pittsburgh was not the greatest so we decided to put our house up for sale and move up here and rent a place.  As taught in Airborne School, when the light turns green, you don't think about it, you just step boldly out that door and execute.  The "For Sale" sign going up in our yard was the green light.

We secured a place to rent in the Buffalo area and continued our search for a place to farm.  We thought we had located a sweet deal on a 95 acre place between Rochester and Buffalo but that didn't work out.  We mentioned our situation to some Farmer Vet friends and they said they knew of some Amish places for sale in the counties south of Buffalo.  I liked the first place we saw, we put in an offer, and then the hard part began.  I'll not go into it in detail here as doing so would result in my having to seek additional intensive therapy and ain't no one got time for that.  Long story short, 9 months from having a signed purchase agreement with the seller, we finally closed on our new place on 29 August 2013.  It's a 95 acre former Amish dairy farm.  It was cut out of a larger parcel and the buildings were all built in 2005.  It's sturdy, large, and basic.  Perfect for the Epicness we have planned for the region.    


 We don't have electricity, water, septic, internet, tv, heat, or any other of that sissified stuff; but we're working on it.  We'll keep you posted as we gain functionality.

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A Little Update With a Side of Hope

So...it's been two months since we posted. Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah  Happy New Year and anything else we might've missed. As you can imagine, we've been a little busy.

Our Christmas card photo outtake. Much more "real life" than the original.

On December 15, we closed on our house in Pittsburgh -- just 2.5 months after we put it on the market. We sold it to a young couple buying their first home who seemed to love the house's mix of old bones and new renovations. It's sappy, but it warmed our hearts to know they would go on to create their own memories in a house that was so good to us.

For the fact that we moved in mid-December, we lucked out with incredible weather throughout the whole process. We moved our stuff directly into a rental house on Lake Erie south of Buffalo thanks to a friend's mom who owns the property. We took some time to enjoy the holidays, spend quality time with family and friends, sneak off for a little getaway in Niagara Falls, and figure out new systems and routines.

Yes it looks frigid, but we still dig the view from our rental house.

All the while we kept searching for a farm. Back in October, we thought we had found the perfect property. Everything seemed to be falling into place - almost a little too perfectly. And then it fell through. Another farmer had first right of refusal and decided he wanted to purchase the property. We were a bit crushed, but we picked ourselves up, dusted off, and kept on going with the mantra that we will find something better.

So here we are today with the possibility of something better. We're not going to go into detail because there are a lot of wrinkles to iron out before this possibility turns into reality, but we would love some positive vibes sent our way. Here's hoping we've finally found our forever home.

This could be our barn.

P.S. We try to update our Facebook page more frequently and often post articles and photos we think are interesting to our readers. Make sure to Like us!

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