Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Garden still growing
I am truly blessed in this dry year. I just finished reading an article about this year being the worst drought year since the dust bowl days. This year my garden out preformed any garden I made in previous years. I spent a lot of time learning how to fix the soil in my garden and preserve moisture. I feel using this knowledge is what made the difference. I'm going to continue my quest for a bountiful healthy garden and soil as the year continues.
That having been said, today we were out in the garden. I picked a bag of beans for the cooking pot. My husband harvested a rather large turks turban squash. One of the biggest he has seen, or so he says. Unfortunately our watermelon was infiltrated by a rather determined bug....so it started to rot before it was ripe. A real shame too because in another two or three weeks it would have been ripe. Our pumkin is trying again to set a pumpkin after it's first refused to grow beyond tennis ball size. We still have lemon cucumbers growing and producing. We have some more spagetti squash on the vine...I hope it grows well and ripens safely...bug free. I have two more rather large squash growing in the garden...I don't know how big they are suppose to get, but I hope they get there soon. I want to plow the gardens under and start my fall/winter garden soon. My goal is to be able to grow/preserve enough to get us through the year. I am trying 3/4 season gardening and canning/freezing to do that. So far freezing is easiest, and canning taste the best.
My chickens got a lot of the garden refuse...and loved it. I could hear them clucking and picking from 5 feet away. They love extra food. I noticed they don't like dried grains much...they prefer bugs and food scraps. Maybe I have "spoiled" them. Wishing you all a nice cozy night on the homestead, a properous week, and blessing of health.....D
That having been said, today we were out in the garden. I picked a bag of beans for the cooking pot. My husband harvested a rather large turks turban squash. One of the biggest he has seen, or so he says. Unfortunately our watermelon was infiltrated by a rather determined bug....so it started to rot before it was ripe. A real shame too because in another two or three weeks it would have been ripe. Our pumkin is trying again to set a pumpkin after it's first refused to grow beyond tennis ball size. We still have lemon cucumbers growing and producing. We have some more spagetti squash on the vine...I hope it grows well and ripens safely...bug free. I have two more rather large squash growing in the garden...I don't know how big they are suppose to get, but I hope they get there soon. I want to plow the gardens under and start my fall/winter garden soon. My goal is to be able to grow/preserve enough to get us through the year. I am trying 3/4 season gardening and canning/freezing to do that. So far freezing is easiest, and canning taste the best.
My chickens got a lot of the garden refuse...and loved it. I could hear them clucking and picking from 5 feet away. They love extra food. I noticed they don't like dried grains much...they prefer bugs and food scraps. Maybe I have "spoiled" them. Wishing you all a nice cozy night on the homestead, a properous week, and blessing of health.....D
• 0 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Thank you so much for sharing!
I want to thank all of you lovely women for sharing. I did speak to my boss about it and she said "labor costs are high" and again promised full time. That day she had me clock out early. I though I had made it clear I needed an 8 hour day, but she seemed to have forgotten. I have since quit the aforementioned job.
My DH is currently seeking employment and going to school so he may be able to find a better job. However, the labor market is tight. I stayed at home with the children for many years, but went to school at the same time. That is why it is easier for me to find a job. I also believe I should stay home with the children, but I am struggling with the belief it is my job to do whatever I can to provide for my children in the event my husband can't. He is trying. I see him try everyday. He is a good man with a good heart. This has him so down. I support him 100 percent in his efforts. He did mention a job prospect to me, but it is pending or something. (I don't fully understand) In the mean time he is focusing on getting an education, so that he can easily find a good job. I know around here a man will be hired quicker and for more than a woman, so it would be best for our family once it happens.
I have an online store, that I will post. Most of it is books...so I don't know if it will relate to you all or not. It is called Mitchell's Shoppe on Ebay. I am just building it up. I plan on expanding to children's Usborne books soon. I also support a campaign called "Caps to the Capitol" on my about me page....I got my girls involved in it and they were so thankful to help little babies in another land. We crochet baby hats and sent them to "Save the Children". This was very exciting to my girls that something they made with their small hands could help babies....this was a few months ago.
Here is my shoppe:
http://stores.ebay.com/Mitchells-Shoppe_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZQ2d33QQftidZ2QQtZkm
I hope you enjoy...and give me feedback on items I could add. I am very new to this so any feedback is helpful. This is my first real store. I was hoping to add more "homesteader" type things...like Angora rabbit crochet baby booties and blankets in the future...but for now this is what I have available. Thank you so much for your comments....I'll go comment your pages. Hugs.
My DH is currently seeking employment and going to school so he may be able to find a better job. However, the labor market is tight. I stayed at home with the children for many years, but went to school at the same time. That is why it is easier for me to find a job. I also believe I should stay home with the children, but I am struggling with the belief it is my job to do whatever I can to provide for my children in the event my husband can't. He is trying. I see him try everyday. He is a good man with a good heart. This has him so down. I support him 100 percent in his efforts. He did mention a job prospect to me, but it is pending or something. (I don't fully understand) In the mean time he is focusing on getting an education, so that he can easily find a good job. I know around here a man will be hired quicker and for more than a woman, so it would be best for our family once it happens.
I have an online store, that I will post. Most of it is books...so I don't know if it will relate to you all or not. It is called Mitchell's Shoppe on Ebay. I am just building it up. I plan on expanding to children's Usborne books soon. I also support a campaign called "Caps to the Capitol" on my about me page....I got my girls involved in it and they were so thankful to help little babies in another land. We crochet baby hats and sent them to "Save the Children". This was very exciting to my girls that something they made with their small hands could help babies....this was a few months ago.
Here is my shoppe:
http://stores.ebay.com/Mitchells-Shoppe_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZQ2d33QQftidZ2QQtZkm
I hope you enjoy...and give me feedback on items I could add. I am very new to this so any feedback is helpful. This is my first real store. I was hoping to add more "homesteader" type things...like Angora rabbit crochet baby booties and blankets in the future...but for now this is what I have available. Thank you so much for your comments....I'll go comment your pages. Hugs.
• 0 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Finance Questions...
Originally when I was hired out of the home I was promised full time work. In fact, I made it clear I would not work for less, because of gas. I am not getting full time work. Today my boss told me to clock out after just four hours. Four hours barely covers the gas it costed for me to get to work. I am trying to determine whether or not it is worth working outside of the home. Sure I'll get a pay check ...but it will not replace the rsources I've used getting to this job and provide for the ones I'll need to continue working. "It is time like these that try men's soul", well perhaps women's too.
I am hoping and praying for an oppurtunity to arise. Something I can go with. I am trying everything I can to get some income. So I said Finance Questions....my question is....would YOU continue to work a job that was promised as fulltime but turned out not to be...if your work only covered the gas it took to go to and from work. You couldn't pay bills, or anything....I await your replies.
I am hoping and praying for an oppurtunity to arise. Something I can go with. I am trying everything I can to get some income. So I said Finance Questions....my question is....would YOU continue to work a job that was promised as fulltime but turned out not to be...if your work only covered the gas it took to go to and from work. You couldn't pay bills, or anything....I await your replies.
• 2 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Homesteading VS Finances
Recently my family found itself in a sticky situation. How to make the ends meet. My husband had a good job working for a mill, but recently that ended. This past week I haven't had the joys of gardening daily, or spending time just watching the chickens play. I have been looking for work. Why? Can't I make enough from the homestead? As of yet...no. I am a writer, a teacher, a singer, a shop owner, a home based business operator, but compared to my husbands pay check...it wasn't beans. Ok ok ok, so cut back right? Surely if we cut to the BARE bones we could make it....some months yes...barely. But other months no. My income is too variable...and too miniscule too save a cushion for those less than perfect months. So I had to job hunt.
Just thinking of it makes me sigh....I love working...for myself. However working for someone else just smacks me as wrong. Call me crazy, but WHY do millions of people prefer to work for someone else? Maybe it's the stability of knowing your pay each week. If I could get my work off the ground better...I would know my pay. (It would take a month or two of work to do that) Maybe it's easier....it is. I don't have to think at my new job, but the thinking is the FUN part of working for myself. Maybe, people are just trained that way....and this is true mostly. Most people can not see the work world any other way...your either employed by someone or jobless. I have often been called "jobless" by others...told I didn't "work" because I wasn't working for someone else. That is plain baloney.
That having been said, I am working outside the home. I am working over 45 minutes away....(cringe). HALF of my pay will go to gas. HALF. So..I am actually making less money than my business if you go on a per hour basis. BUT the "hours" aren't guarenteed in my business....so I work. I still run my business, my store, and write. But the only work anyone accepts as work is that which I do for another entity. This is very frustrating to me.
I want to become good enough in my own business that I can support my own family with that business. I know hundreds maybe even THOUSANDS of people want the very same thing, but I really feel I can do it. I am constantly adding new products to my store, having sales, and reviewing specials. I am adding different LINES of business and different sectors to it as well. I pay for these distribution rights, but so far they are paying off. Little by little I believe I can build my business and support my family on the homestead. Until that day comes though I must work for someone else too...so most people work 8 hours and head home. I work 16 hours 5 days a week, and 8 on the weekends. Add to that all the farm chores, household chores, homeschooling, and making "extras" for the holidays...well you have a woman that works non-stop. That's ok though...I'd rather work 100 hours a week becoming independent of the big city jobs and needing a huge income, than work forty hours a week to be lost without that steady income. Wish me luck....I might need it.
Just thinking of it makes me sigh....I love working...for myself. However working for someone else just smacks me as wrong. Call me crazy, but WHY do millions of people prefer to work for someone else? Maybe it's the stability of knowing your pay each week. If I could get my work off the ground better...I would know my pay. (It would take a month or two of work to do that) Maybe it's easier....it is. I don't have to think at my new job, but the thinking is the FUN part of working for myself. Maybe, people are just trained that way....and this is true mostly. Most people can not see the work world any other way...your either employed by someone or jobless. I have often been called "jobless" by others...told I didn't "work" because I wasn't working for someone else. That is plain baloney.
That having been said, I am working outside the home. I am working over 45 minutes away....(cringe). HALF of my pay will go to gas. HALF. So..I am actually making less money than my business if you go on a per hour basis. BUT the "hours" aren't guarenteed in my business....so I work. I still run my business, my store, and write. But the only work anyone accepts as work is that which I do for another entity. This is very frustrating to me.
I want to become good enough in my own business that I can support my own family with that business. I know hundreds maybe even THOUSANDS of people want the very same thing, but I really feel I can do it. I am constantly adding new products to my store, having sales, and reviewing specials. I am adding different LINES of business and different sectors to it as well. I pay for these distribution rights, but so far they are paying off. Little by little I believe I can build my business and support my family on the homestead. Until that day comes though I must work for someone else too...so most people work 8 hours and head home. I work 16 hours 5 days a week, and 8 on the weekends. Add to that all the farm chores, household chores, homeschooling, and making "extras" for the holidays...well you have a woman that works non-stop. That's ok though...I'd rather work 100 hours a week becoming independent of the big city jobs and needing a huge income, than work forty hours a week to be lost without that steady income. Wish me luck....I might need it.
• 1 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Gardening in High Gear!
I have been trying a new method of gardening. It is a combination of methods actually. It is Intensive, in order to get the most for our measly space that I have prepared. But it is mostly organic. I add wood shavings and chicken manure, compost and kelp powder to the dirt. I add fish guts and DE. I am trying to build my soil first. I want my soil to be full of health and nutrients. What is the point of eating if it isn't for nutrition? But that is what most people do! Live on processed high fat high carbohydrate, refined and devitaminized left-over farm garbage! Not to mention the pesticides!
My children have fresh wholesome squash, bright yellow like dripping butter, and brimming full of vitamins. They eat fresh zucchini green as spinach and twice as tasty, filled with wholesome goodness not easily found out of the garden. Only the truck farmers that come daily to town can come close to this kind of freshness and flavor. Most do it organically too. I am happy to provide at least some of the delights associated with homesteading for them. Today I picked 6 crooked neck squash, and a pot full of green beans for dinner. Two days ago we had plenty of zucchini we put in our spaghetti. I have plenty of squash blanched and frozen for future dishes. What a blessing the garden is for a mother of five! I truly don't know why anyone would think it too much of a chore! I admit, in the beginning when I had NO idea what to do I did. I made wayward attempts that left me with less than stellar results. I sweated and cried even. Yes I did. I threw my back out tilling by hand. Oh the pain of learning. But now I have made more educated choices, I have read more and tried more. These past three years I learned to leave the rows behind, ditch the chemicals, and put back with what the earth provides. This has all increased my yields and my happiness. (Not to mention saved my back!)
I hope everyone learns the blessings of a garden. My 5 and 6 year old learned where food comes from, what squash leaves look like, what a corn plant looks like, how a watermelons flowers look, that plants need water, and food like us....and so much more. They even learned some bad bugs and good bugs. They learned to blanch and freeze. How to cook squash and what a treat it is to have in spaghetti, or eggplant casserole. From start to finish they were there through it all...helping all the way.
My eldest enjoys the fruits of our labors and has been engaged in the cooking aspect more so. She learned blanching retains flavor and color. That zucchini can be used in bread...(What in bread MOM!) And yes it DOES taste good. You should have seen her face. She was shocked it tasted so good and went on to have seconds....see you can get them to eat their vegetables. Well that's all I have to write today...thanks for the comments.
My children have fresh wholesome squash, bright yellow like dripping butter, and brimming full of vitamins. They eat fresh zucchini green as spinach and twice as tasty, filled with wholesome goodness not easily found out of the garden. Only the truck farmers that come daily to town can come close to this kind of freshness and flavor. Most do it organically too. I am happy to provide at least some of the delights associated with homesteading for them. Today I picked 6 crooked neck squash, and a pot full of green beans for dinner. Two days ago we had plenty of zucchini we put in our spaghetti. I have plenty of squash blanched and frozen for future dishes. What a blessing the garden is for a mother of five! I truly don't know why anyone would think it too much of a chore! I admit, in the beginning when I had NO idea what to do I did. I made wayward attempts that left me with less than stellar results. I sweated and cried even. Yes I did. I threw my back out tilling by hand. Oh the pain of learning. But now I have made more educated choices, I have read more and tried more. These past three years I learned to leave the rows behind, ditch the chemicals, and put back with what the earth provides. This has all increased my yields and my happiness. (Not to mention saved my back!)
I hope everyone learns the blessings of a garden. My 5 and 6 year old learned where food comes from, what squash leaves look like, what a corn plant looks like, how a watermelons flowers look, that plants need water, and food like us....and so much more. They even learned some bad bugs and good bugs. They learned to blanch and freeze. How to cook squash and what a treat it is to have in spaghetti, or eggplant casserole. From start to finish they were there through it all...helping all the way.
My eldest enjoys the fruits of our labors and has been engaged in the cooking aspect more so. She learned blanching retains flavor and color. That zucchini can be used in bread...(What in bread MOM!) And yes it DOES taste good. You should have seen her face. She was shocked it tasted so good and went on to have seconds....see you can get them to eat their vegetables. Well that's all I have to write today...thanks for the comments.
• 0 Comments
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Hello!
Hello Cyber Homesteader folks! I thought it was a dream finding homesteaders on the net! Lo and behold it isn't...
I am a 26 yeard old mother of 5 darlings all under age 10. I am educated and may be going back to college to get a four year degree. I am married to a wonderful man that I have been in love with since I was 16 years old, but it took me ten years to actually get him to marry me! We have a nice little home in Arkansas on ten acers of land with a small creek that runs through the back end. There are two small springs in the forested 2.5 acers we own, and a huge rock near a planting step where we had our wedding. My husband said if we sell the property we're taking the rock. (It's about 4 ft wide, 3ft tall, and 2 ft. deep...probably weighs a ton.)
I am new to homesteading. My grandmother was a country queen, but my mother never picked up any of her skills...and so neither did I. Grandma taught me the basics of sewing and baking before she passed, but otherwise I lost a university degrees worth of homesteader education when she left. I always had an interest because I watched grandma do so much...cooking, saving back food and money, re-using ordinary things to make them extra-ordinary. I saw this everyday when living with her. I wanted to be just like her of course.
As I grew older, I read about Little Women and Laura Ingell's. Ma and Pa were the parents I longed for. I wanted t be able to make something from little to nothing. At the time my own life was in extreme turmoil, with a new step-father and a mother that tried her very best, but just couldn't understand me. I always felt the way we lived was different or wrong, but mostly it didn't suit me. However neither did chores. I remember my new step-grandma (Granny) taking me to her friend's farms and I would pick snap beans and stawberries till I was brown and thirsty. The sun would set and I'd come in with buckets full. Granny would inform me visiting was almost over, but her friend's would give me a cookie and real raw milk for my reward. That was GOOD! I remember begging to stay at her friend's house. They had a life I wanted to live...I promised to pick beans all day the next day if they let me stay. Of course I couldn't stay, but her friend played a little bit on the piano for me just before we left. Granny said they were too old for children, but the lady said she was thankful for my help. That is the kind of life I want for my children.
I want them to feel secure. To know we will have food, heat, clothes, and so on...because mama can grow it, and papa can cut wood, and mama can sew. I grew up with out those securities most of the time. My children now have a more secure life than I ever did, but it isn't good enough for me. I can't produce 50 percent of our food much less 100 percent, which is my goal. I am not an experienced seamstress by any means. I finally learned to can food using the water bath method, and dry food with a dehydrator. I would like a more natural drying method though. I usually do all the wood work...cutting, hauling, splitting....say what you want...but I am better designed for it unless I'm pregnant. (Then my husband must take over this chore) I want to produce 90 percent of what we need. I realize now what life is about....doing something for you and your family ....and finally if you can your community.
I didn't come to this realization overnight...but this modern way of living has only led to death, disease, conflict, enviormental destruction, isolation, social disorder and destruction, and the absolute obliteration of the nuclear familiy. This is what is ruining the world! No one wants to see it...believe it, or think about it. In 9th grade a very wise teacher taught me that, the family as it is today is not the family as it was known just two generations ago. She taught us how, over time, the nuclear family and extended families, got seperated, and ultimately destroyed. Now family recipes are disappearing into Mc Donald black holes...kids will lose their family traditions. Some may never taste peach cobbler, or strawberry pie. How many have had good whole raw un-homogenized milk? It's been made ILLEGAL in some states....How many have tasted a real free range egg? How long until we don't have the July 4th Bar B Que because it's too hard? Or no fireworks because they're too dangerous? That is why I want to homestead. To give my kids a sense of belonging, tradition, values, character, and warmth that today's Mc World can't provide.
I hope you enjoy my stumbles along the way. I know eventually I will.
I am a 26 yeard old mother of 5 darlings all under age 10. I am educated and may be going back to college to get a four year degree. I am married to a wonderful man that I have been in love with since I was 16 years old, but it took me ten years to actually get him to marry me! We have a nice little home in Arkansas on ten acers of land with a small creek that runs through the back end. There are two small springs in the forested 2.5 acers we own, and a huge rock near a planting step where we had our wedding. My husband said if we sell the property we're taking the rock. (It's about 4 ft wide, 3ft tall, and 2 ft. deep...probably weighs a ton.)
I am new to homesteading. My grandmother was a country queen, but my mother never picked up any of her skills...and so neither did I. Grandma taught me the basics of sewing and baking before she passed, but otherwise I lost a university degrees worth of homesteader education when she left. I always had an interest because I watched grandma do so much...cooking, saving back food and money, re-using ordinary things to make them extra-ordinary. I saw this everyday when living with her. I wanted to be just like her of course.
As I grew older, I read about Little Women and Laura Ingell's. Ma and Pa were the parents I longed for. I wanted t be able to make something from little to nothing. At the time my own life was in extreme turmoil, with a new step-father and a mother that tried her very best, but just couldn't understand me. I always felt the way we lived was different or wrong, but mostly it didn't suit me. However neither did chores. I remember my new step-grandma (Granny) taking me to her friend's farms and I would pick snap beans and stawberries till I was brown and thirsty. The sun would set and I'd come in with buckets full. Granny would inform me visiting was almost over, but her friend's would give me a cookie and real raw milk for my reward. That was GOOD! I remember begging to stay at her friend's house. They had a life I wanted to live...I promised to pick beans all day the next day if they let me stay. Of course I couldn't stay, but her friend played a little bit on the piano for me just before we left. Granny said they were too old for children, but the lady said she was thankful for my help. That is the kind of life I want for my children.
I want them to feel secure. To know we will have food, heat, clothes, and so on...because mama can grow it, and papa can cut wood, and mama can sew. I grew up with out those securities most of the time. My children now have a more secure life than I ever did, but it isn't good enough for me. I can't produce 50 percent of our food much less 100 percent, which is my goal. I am not an experienced seamstress by any means. I finally learned to can food using the water bath method, and dry food with a dehydrator. I would like a more natural drying method though. I usually do all the wood work...cutting, hauling, splitting....say what you want...but I am better designed for it unless I'm pregnant. (Then my husband must take over this chore) I want to produce 90 percent of what we need. I realize now what life is about....doing something for you and your family ....and finally if you can your community.
I didn't come to this realization overnight...but this modern way of living has only led to death, disease, conflict, enviormental destruction, isolation, social disorder and destruction, and the absolute obliteration of the nuclear familiy. This is what is ruining the world! No one wants to see it...believe it, or think about it. In 9th grade a very wise teacher taught me that, the family as it is today is not the family as it was known just two generations ago. She taught us how, over time, the nuclear family and extended families, got seperated, and ultimately destroyed. Now family recipes are disappearing into Mc Donald black holes...kids will lose their family traditions. Some may never taste peach cobbler, or strawberry pie. How many have had good whole raw un-homogenized milk? It's been made ILLEGAL in some states....How many have tasted a real free range egg? How long until we don't have the July 4th Bar B Que because it's too hard? Or no fireworks because they're too dangerous? That is why I want to homestead. To give my kids a sense of belonging, tradition, values, character, and warmth that today's Mc World can't provide.
I hope you enjoy my stumbles along the way. I know eventually I will.