Welcome to Cranky Puppy Farm!

This blog belongs to two Gen X-er's smackdab in downtown Kansas City where we've been renovating and decorating two old Victorians built in the 1890's. Our life is filled with 3 demanding Pomeranians (1 of them cranky, of course), honking cars, noisy neighbors and the hustle and bustle of city life but we dream of the day when we can move to our 40-acre farm and hear nothing but the wind and the cows next door. Until then, we're chronicling our triumphs and mishaps here as we try to garden and preserve on 2 city lots, raise chickens, and learn all those things we should have learned from our grandparents. Welcome to our world - we hope you'll stay awhile!

Meet the New Neighbors!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013


It seems like I have been waiting forever for the day when I could introduce you to our new neighbors, Dave and Christine.  Please take a moment to meet them over at their blog, The Deadly Nightshade, and learn about how they have turned their suburban yard into a veritable edible paradise. They love old houses and dogs, keep bees, and have even more chickens than we do.  Dave likes to brew beer and mead (so we know where J. will be), and Christine teaches popular local classes on herbs and has even published her first book.  What's not to like?

The way in which our fates intertwined is actually kind of crazy.  Back in October, Christine posted about a Victorian house that she had fallen in love with, but the price tag was a staggering $595,000.  Now I will say this...I fell in love with it also.   If I were rich I would plop the cash down today and move this weekend.  But $595k?  In St. Joe?  That seems kind of insane, even if it's on the National Register.  But, seriously, if you love Victorian houses, you have got to watch the virtual tour.

It was right about that time that J. and I were thinking about putting our 1893 Victorian project on the market, so I posted a comment that she could find really nice Victorians for much less than that one and that we were going to put ours on the market.  How could I have known that one little comment would leave to a wonderful new friendship and selling the house without it even going on the market?

Christine and I hit it off immediately when we first met - her energy is just infectious and she's so giving. She offers alot of her classes for free. When she and Dave came over that first night, they brought us a gift of unfiltered honey from their bees. Such nice people!

She has even more energy than I do, so I think Dave and J. might be in trouble when the two of us get together. She's already planning for a huge orchard on the property, which is something we're interested in doing here at Cranky Puppy as well. We started with 3 dwarf apple trees, but we're talking now about planting at least another 5 trees in 2013.

With the closing scheduled for February 6th (just 3 weeks away!), we had the appraiser and inspector over today.  Christine also had some folks over from the Giving Grove and the Lincoln County Extension to talk about plans for the orchard not just on the 3 vacant lots that belong with the house, but also plans for creating a community orchard on some of the vacation lots that we have here in the neighborhood.  I think it's an awesome idea, as it's been shown that getting the community involved in shared gardens\orchards actually reduces crime.  I had to work and couldn't join them, which was disappointing, but I'm sure Christine will fill us in over on her blog.

Thanks  again for stopping by and, if you haven't already, take a look at The Deadly Nightshade.  I promise that Christine's humorous style will have you adding it to your list of blogs to haunt every day.  And stay tuned for our adventures as we combine forces this year to create an urban mega farm.  We are so excited!

Til next time,

5 comments:

  1. Squee!!! I can't wait! Three more weeks! Three more weeks!!!! (have I used enough exclamation marks?) I fear I will be absolutely useless for anything else from now until moving day.

    I...can't...wait!!!!!!

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  2. Fantastic introduction and thanks for sharing!!!

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  3. Oh no... I need herb classes!!! I would even pay!!!! Thank you for all this info and the links!

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    1. I'll probably re-start teaching the Parsley, Sage Rosemary and Thyme class out of the house by next spring, POSSIBLY this fall. I'd probably better get those herb plants re-established before holding a class. The PSRT classes out of the house are a lot of fun, and only $25 per person!

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  4. Somebody owes me a $50 "ugly fine" for parking that Prius in front of my house, that's all I know.

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