PrairieMouse's House

Planting my own vegetable garden. This winter I will plan out just where I am going to lay several ground boxes and what I will plant in each one.

Change your own oil on your car or truck. This is something my dh has started to do this summer and we will continue to do so.

Collect and use rain water instead of municiple or well water. Now this isn't something I thought of before. We can use one of our plastic barrels and collect rain water for those days when/if we loose power.

Mulch your garden with local organic mulch instead of store bought products. I can put to use the local farmers who make their own mulch therefore helping our own people rather than buying something from the store.

Use home-made compost and free manure to enrich your garden's soil. THIS will be no problem at all since we have horse 'piles' everywhere. hehee

Grow non-hybrid vegetables and save the seeds for next year's planting. I have my order ready and will place it in February.

Grow potatoes and save the fingerlings for next years planting. This is something I was thinking of doing in our 'basement' it is technically a 'crawl space' but large enough to stand up in and has a dirt floor. We will experiment this winter,

Build a root cellar to store your harvest. Again we can put our 'basement' to use.

Start a small orchard for a variety of fruits. We will be planting two apple trees, a fig tree, and a pear tree this spring.

Learn how to preserve food by canning. This we have been working on for the past two years. I just wish I were able to can more things.

Raise bees to help pollination and for honey. (Honey is the only food substance that will not spoil.) Now I know some of you that know me may think I am crazy but we have the perfect spot for bee boxes and we ARE going to attempt it in the spring. I have a gentleman down that road that has done it all his life and is willing to get us started.

Raise chickens for meat and eggs. Now as many of you know this is a sore spot for me since I lost all my chickens this past summer to some unknown varmet and if I can catch the lil bugger I will have more chickens in the spring. We are on the look out for a MINK! ggrrrrrrr

Raise sheep for wool and meat. I was thinking of raising a few sheep but dh prefers cattle, so that is what it is!

Preserve vegetables by sun drying them. We started that this summer, we learned how to sun dry pumpkin rings as well and will have a few of those for pumpkin pies in the middle of summer YUMMOO!!

Spin wool into yarn for making clothes. Do this to! We were given Llama wool from a local farm and we are working on making our own hats, gloves, and scarves for this winter.

Make your own furniture out of tree branches. OH NOW THIS WOULD BE HEAVEN. There is nothing more appealing to me then log furniture. We are going to have to work on this one.

Preserve vegetables by freezing them. I have done this with pole beans but haven't done anything else yet. Working on this one too.

Grow herbs for cooking and medicinal purposes. Oh yes,, the growing of the herbs. Well I successfully grew and use a rosemary plant but my mint died, my peppers dies and my tomatoes never grew. I really need to work better at this. My thumb seems to be black instead of green.

Use edible wild plants to supplement one's diet. We started using Dandelion this summer, more for my health than anything but I plan to add more plants for this purpose.

Use containers to grow vegetables in small places. I have a hutch in the kitchen that we are going to add a plant lite to and pray I can grow more things then.

Conserve electricity. Now this is something I am truly working on. Seems we have something going all the time. Lights, tv's (for background noise even) or the stereo. We really need to use less around here.

Grow grapes for preserves or raisins. MMM we have a grape vine that took a beating after my FIL passed away, I am trying to learn how to get er goin again.

Build a pond and raise fish for food. We can do this too, we have a pond on the property it just needs some work.

Use clothes lines to dry clothes instead of a mechanical dryer. I can do this in the upcoming summer as well, now that we have the horses blocked off of the yard.

Grow grains to feed your own livestock. Now there is a thought, Anyone have any tips on this one.?

Bake your own bread. Working on this one too. I have a bread machine but want to learn to make more by hand.

Run a small business from your home. Do this one too, just need to apply myself more.

Barter goods and services with your neighbors. Wishing I had more neighbors now.

Use a push mower instead of a gas or electric mower. Well, with a three acre yard that might be a bit challenging.