Sweet!

Ok, I might have overreacted a bit in that last post. It turns out that the gov't cheque arrived that afternoon, but things did not exactly proceed how I had hoped they would.
I still owed some money for various things, I paid the overlimit on my credit card, my taxes ($350!!!) and some money that I owed for an old utility bill, and after all that, setting aside enough money to pay our bills until August, I've got about $1000 left to start projects with, including gardening. Not enough, by a long shot! Just getting a front loader in here to get the digging done will cost more than that. So, it looks like we'll be waiting a while again, until I can sell some items, my motorcycle, and hopefully a payraise is coming sooner than later, and we can consolidate some of this rotten debt.

I did purchase a very, very useful item, something so useful, I can't believe I didn't get it before!!! Our power inverter has a controller device that basically lets you change all of the settings, adjust charging, equalize the batteries, change voltages, etc. It was $300, and it's ESSENTIAL!! If you purchase ANY device, and there's an optional controller, BUY IT! I prefer Outback, it's worked very nicely for me this far, and hopefully for a long time to come yet.

We've started planting trees, and it's as much work as I thought it would be, and more. I really hope most of these seedings survive, it's going to look so nice when we've got trees around the house (not to mention wind-blocking), maybe someday I can stop picking up roof shingles off the ground after every heavy wind. The next major project is the garden. We've already got 10 saskatoon berry seedlings planted, several raspberry canes, a current bush, and three blueberry bushes. I've still got about 40 evergreen trees that need to be planted, but it's kind of hard when I don't really know where I want them!
I've sort of picked a spot for the workshop/barn to go, right next to a huge depression where water apparently gathers. I'm going to dig that area right out, add some leak proofing, and make it into a pond where we will be drawing our house/garden water from. The water from the pond will be filtered through a biofilter, and stored in the large cister that I will be building, which itself will be placed 5 feet into the ground, and surrounded by the building envelope of the workshop, which should prevent it from freezing in the winter! The roof will also collect and deliver rainwater to the cistern. I will build the cistern and shop with the idea that it will be expanded later, with more water storage capacity. I hope to have 30,000+ gallons of water storage by the time I've finished. More than enough for one year's use, in case there's ever a drought here.

I'm going to be doing some light repair work on my bike, then putting her on the market for sale. It's ok, I've got another bike, which nees a new carby, but still will be placed into service once the good one is sold. I need projects more than a bike!
Pictures will be forth-coming, once I've tilled the garden spot, and I haven't forgotten about chickens, but the garden is my priority right now.