Welcome to Dana's blog!

goals for homesteading

You know, I am not sure anymore. I do still WANT to live off the land, but I definitely pick and choose. I WILL HAVE ELECTRICITY!LOL Do I want a compost toilet? Yup. Will I take care of it? I don't know!LOL Do I want to grow my own grain? Yup. But I don't see DH complying w/that either. I'm pretty happy w/what we have. I really wish we had some more fruit (berries/grapes), but DH and I have different ideas about those things. I bought asparagus and it's still not planted cuz we couldnt' agree on where to plant it! He runs down to the Amish and looks at their set up, which is great, but he wanted to put it by the fencerow (like hers) and I said YOU CAN"T! The farmer behind us SPRAYS and will kill it! He refuses to set up another garden/bed too. We aren't doing strawberries cuz the Amish give us our fill (and then some....). I do eventually want to make soap, cheese and candles. Those are on my list, but I have no idea when. I think when the boys are older and Joey can help more.

I'd love for us to butcher our own pigs,b ut I don't see Dh wanting to do that either. I'm hoping to convince him to go watch the Amish or find someone who will help us and trade for experience.;)

Our grocery budget is less than $35/week for food so I think I have that under control. It could obviously be a lot better tho. DH is slowly willing to eat whole wheat grains more and more, which obviously helps and does encourage me to cook/bake more.

I also want to really DO SOMETHING w/my herbs. I have a decent herb garden and most years I just weed it!LOL I do use chives regularly. Well not this year, cuz we ate all the yukon golds in one setting (DH accidently dug them all up at one time and I used them all--we thought there were more.....!LOL). I have peppermint and I LOVE peppermint tea and I just need ot cut it and USE it. I even bought a steeper! Our neighbor told me how to make a cold peppermint tea, but Amish don't seem to use measurements and 'some' mint wasn't really enuf direction for me!LOL She is willing to teach me or answer any questions I ask. And I introduced them to spaghetti squash, but I don't think they liked it.

Maybe this spring when our school is wrapped up, I might give this more thought.

Goals

07:07, 2006-Feb-9 .. Posted by motherearth

I must have electricity also, either that or a huge solar panel just for the computer! Can't live without that!
I'm glad to see someone else struggles with herbs, I grew peppermint last year and never used it. But boy, did it look nice in that pot! Terrible, this year I hope to do better!
I'm sure that is really nice to be able to go look at the Amish farms, what a treat!

Untitled Comment

09:54, 2006-Feb-9 .. Posted by Dini

Y'know Dana, making mint iced tea can't really be done with directions, since it is all a matter of personal preference. My grandma's is heavy on the sugar. Mine is heavy on the lemon and mint. MIL's has just a hint of mint and no sugar or lemon unless you add it yourself by the glass. Don't be afraid to experiment!