Scleameth 19 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 So I finally bought my own house and the first month of mortgage, loan payments and municipal payments are just about to be deducted... Ouch - time to calc, calc and recalc the budget! But the bigger place is absolutely wonderful! and having a big garden is great for the kids, but there is a ton of work to do and I've actually never worked in a garden before let alone mowing the lawn! There are shrubs all over the place - I think the previous owner had a goal to plant every shrub species in S.A. in this garden... I'm thinking of renting a chain saw and just holding it knee high while walking around the garden. And thorn trees OMG - there's a nice little job waiting for me to unroot at least half the thorn trees for the kiddies' sake. The other problem is that the cellphone signal is very weak at this place and I have to walk around the house: "can you hear me now? how about now?" and also means the 3G signal is poor and affects my work. But I'll have to take that up with the powers that be, or switch over to our country's monopoly land line service. But it HAS to be sorted out before Guild Wars 2 is released - that is one game I really don't want to miss out on! Having my own study is great, although I plan to play Guild Wars 2 on the tele most of the time. But not having to work on the dining room table is a big upside The kids have their own playroom, so we can just close the door and don't need to have toys lying around everywhere! All in all life is going great (until the 15th and I realize my bank account is in dire need of an additional zero) Link to comment
essjayehm 58 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Nice! Congratulations on the new pad, Edgar! You sound very excited, so that should make up for any trepidation you have about "working" the land... just knowing that it is "yours" gives great incentive to getting out there and doing "what needs to be done"; be it razing thorn bushes or weeding the garden, etc. Cell signal - maybe there is the tech available in SA for boosting your signal? They use them here in rural Canada/US for getting "high=speed" internet service and covering (construction and logging) worksites. Big yard, garden, and a man-cave... you must've died and gone to heaven, eh? Link to comment
Scleameth 19 Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 I'll look into the signal booster thingy, thanks for the tip! Yeah and the man-cave is a real bonus! I just need to have to angel chime clip playing whenever I open the door to round it all off nicely! But as you say, Scott, I've got all the time in the world to work my way through the garden and shape it the way I want. I'll paint my fingers green as a 1st step ... Link to comment
essjayehm 58 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Just the thumb And painting doesn't work. Work works. And research helps... I was having issues getting my compost to get "hot" but I looked around the interweb and discovered there are different types of compost heaps! Peeps that have lived in the area (hopefulyy for generations) are indispensable for knowledge of what grows best, when to plant, etc... If I guess correctly, spring is in the air, down there? Link to comment
Delta! 987 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Hey Scleameth. Good for you! I'll be moving from Pretoria to Stellenbosch in a few weeks time, got a better job there, and hopefully my housing issue will be resolved soon! Good Night and Good luck with the garden and unpacking! Delta! Link to comment
Dragon Brother 619 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Bought your own home hey? Sounds great! Too bad I can't afford it at the moment, gotta wait for uni to finish and get a real job. Link to comment
chattius 2,531 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 We had just finished university for 2 years, one daughter, when we had to consider taking/buying the house of my grandfather. 3 siblings and 12 cousins from my grandpa's side had to pe paid out. So 15 of 16th the worth of the house were kinda family credits, but had to be paid. What was actually working for us: BIG garden and fruit tree field. Not the first summer, but in the second we were able to produce like 90% of the food we needed on our own, cutting away a big cost factor. Now with kids helping we produce more than we need and kids sell it at market for some pocket money. That turned out as some weak points: not much public transport, so hard for kids to visit friends, cinema, sport clubs, ... or get a small job like baby sitting, newpaper delivery... I fought all the nasty plants with an ancient Einachser/Motorhacke: was also used for small transports to surrounding fields ground leveling street cleaning (even snow) gadgets for gras cutting, snow blowing, a plow ,... We have hilly terrain, so a single axle 'tractor' is better fitting, less risc to roll down a hill We removed all the thorns, deep plowed, and planted potatoes to soften the ground in spring. In autumn , after potato harvest we put mustard seeds for green covering, they are also a nice natural fertilizer. So in thze second year we finally had a garden to work with. Link to comment
gogoblender 3,071 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 You sound ecstatic Edgar, congratulations! Oh man, you just dredged up a ton of memories for me when our family moved into our first house. We had been living in apartment after apartment, and finally moving into a place with some land, grass (yeah years of lawn mowing for me and my brother ) and... shrubs! Loads and loads of shrubs. Actually, pretty much most of my memories from that time is of just having to always put in so much time after school to help out with grass, watering, garden. Solid memories, and you've got some kids. Easy labor gogo Link to comment
Scleameth 19 Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Just the thumb And painting doesn't work. Work works. And research helps... I was having issues getting my compost to get "hot" but I looked around the interweb and discovered there are different types of compost heaps! Peeps that have lived in the area (hopefulyy for generations) are indispensable for knowledge of what grows best, when to plant, etc... If I guess correctly, spring is in the air, down there? Yep - spring is in the air and my shrubs are blooming !! There is also some sort of compost heap that the previous owner tried duckt-taping together, but yeah, I imagine I'm getting a "Plants of SA" book for x-mas Hey Scleameth. Good for you! I'll be moving from Pretoria to Stellenbosch in a few weeks time, got a better job there, and hopefully my housing issue will be resolved soon! Good Night and Good luck with the garden and unpacking! Delta! Hey man good luck down under - loads of my friends and family is moving down to the Cape away from the big city rush. Stilbaai is gonna be filled with Valies pretty soon! Bought your own home hey? Sounds great! Too bad I can't afford it at the moment, gotta wait for uni to finish and get a real job. Enjoy your jobless years, mate. Working is just no fun at all! I wish took up golfing sooner! We removed all the thorns, deep plowed, and planted potatoes to soften the ground in spring. In autumn , after potato harvest we put mustard seeds for green covering, they are also a nice natural fertilizer. So in thze second year we finally had a garden to work with. Oh man, I'm sweating just reading this post fortunately I won't be needing 'em heavy duty machines, well it would be cool to drive over to the store in one of those just to annoy the taxis! Easy labor now I just need to unpack the sewing machine and get the little ones to work! Link to comment
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