2009-May-6 - Quote for Mothers Hearts....

Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate.

~Charlotte Gray

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2009-May-6 - Sell, Barter and Give…oh my!

 

Sell, Barter and Give…oh my!

Odd, how a twist in the economic ’style’ of this country has brought back some age old thought and wisdom. When it comes to ’stuff’ and ‘things’ we really evaluate what we ‘need’ vs the,  ‘eh, I could do without’, when times get a bit ‘uncomfortable’.

As we prepare to make our big move, we are finding that there are things we have here at this location, that we have no use for in our soon to be location. 

As we ‘look around’ and see things we have, but truly do not need, or want to move— because hey, let’s be honest, it’s nice to have things that make life easier! It’s nice to have ’the latest model’. Question IS…Will we ‘need’ these things in our new homestead? We see opportunity, to barter or sell those things, to get the things we will really need and use at our new place. Or do we know someone who could really use something we have, but really never use? BLESS THEM!!!  Give it away!

 Anyhow, that leads me to my point of this post (really!) I have found lately that folks are A LOT more apt to sell for cheap (or somewhat reasonable), barter (whatever happened to this GREAT idea!?), or even GIVE things away!  I have also found that there are a variety of places to find what we do need on the cheap or even FREE.

Let me give you an example.  A few months back as we were planning for this big change in our lives, we knew we’d better start shopping around for a few things.  We also knew we’d better start planning on getting rid of a few things. So, to Craigslist I go.  I start checking daily on a few key items we are hunting for. Sure enough, within a few days I find the fuel tanks that my husband is looking for!  Best part? The seller is open to bartering! (I find this a LOT these days on Craigslist) Anyhew…for a truckload of wood (that we wouldn’t be able to take with us anyway) and an air conditioner, (that we would not want to be running and sucking up our off grid power!) we got the 2 huge fuel tanks we needed. Voila!

Just yesterday I stopped by the Salvation Army and gave away a bunch of very nice clothing.  Many nice things the children have outgrown, never worn or had been given that they just didn’t care for–we had a bunch of baby clothes that our son never even wore (folks give babies FAR too many clothes! lol), some clothing that I had, that was very nice, from when I worked outside the home… many moons ago, that hadn’t been worn since the day I left the cubicle behind!  I am sure all these items could bless someone else though, and help empty my closet, clutter and moving load!

Searching Craigslist is a great blessing!  We’ve sold goats, refrigerators, given away a piano to another homeschool family….bartered for equipment, bought some spendy tire chains for the truck that were less than 1/3rd the price new, bought some “impossible to come by–sold out game” — baseball tickets, for a special outing for one of the children and daddy’s ‘day out’….we even acquired one of our Livestock Guardian Dogs through Craigslist!!!  Check out their “FREE” section too!

Now my REAL find.  We homeschool, we love books…. and I have a myriad of options and know of TONS of places and vendors to buy from , when it comes to buying books and materials. TONS.  I found this place (via Craigslist too!) that is a couple hours from me, geographically, and I’d heard of it before–just never drove the distance to go check it out.  Well, come to find out, (this is SUCH A HUGE BLESSING!!) this is a GOLDMINE of a gently used local homeschool bookstore/curriculum shop!

The best part? I email them with my list of book titles, or curriculum wants–they shop for me, pull my choices right from my list–and UPS it to me!  This is homeschool heaven, folks!!!!!  I will share–because you can email Jessica your list and since they ship UPS, you can have your order shipped direct to you too!  They are professional, carry a HUGE variety, have NICE stuff, and make finding titles EASY. I love em!  The shop, for any Northwest Washington locals, is “Homeschool Potpourri” in Kirkland.

 Next idea for maybe getting rid of things that you’ve got that you just don’t truly need and are cluttering your home and life, is FreeCycle!  You can not only get rid of things you don’t need any longer and that will bless someone else–but you can find things you do need, for FREE!  FreeCycle is a non-profit, staffed by volunteers, and is a great way to ‘recycle’ and  GIVE to others who may need something, that you no longer have need for-it’s a win-win!  Check out their site for specifics at www.FreeCycle.org

When we buy, sell, barter and giveaway with one another–we are helping out neighbors, and ourselves…saving time, money, reusing, recycling…sounds like a winning combination to me!

Lisa

Lisa is blessed to be a Wife to Marc, a Mama to 4 blessings, and a Keeper at Home! They live a God centered, family centered, homesteading lifestyle of learning in the mountains of the Northwest. They operate their family run business Homestead Originals where they specialize in handcrafted candles, soap, and gifts for the Homestead. She is also the author of the Homestead Simplicity E-book series that focuses on Encouragement for the Homekeeper, Simple Family Living, Natural Cleaners, and Making Everything from Scratch! Come on by and visit Lisa’s Blog for great ideas, tips, freebies and contests too! To contact Lisa, email Lisa@HomesteadOriginals.com

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2009-Apr-24 - Frugal Gardening

Thinking about starting a garden this year? More and more folks are, with the state of the economy, the ability to afford quality food for our familes, and all the ‘junk’ in the food supply!

Gardening is a labor of love! Love of our family and our desire to feed them well and enjoy quality food!  Not only does gardening result in excellent food, of the best quality, it is a learning experience for the whole family that develops knowledge & skills that are useful for a lifetime!

We’ve raised vegetables, fruits, & herbs in huge gardens, small gardens, raised bed gardens, container gardens….you name it!

This year,  we will be growing our herbs and veggies in containers. We are moving to a new homestead, and with repairs, building and raw land (not to mention a short growing season)…putting in a large scale garden, as we hope to do next year, is more than likely out of the question.

So…we will plant in containers.  No, not any fancy schmancy ‘garden center’ pots. We’ll take the frugal route and use old bakery and deli buckets with holes drilled in them.

Of course, any containers will do. 

If they are free and do the job, they’ll work-they may not “look
 super pretty”, but then again-we’re not waiting on the folks from Better Homes & Gardens to show up…Backwoods Home, maybe…lol.

Another route is larger sour cream (think Costco size here) or ice cream containers!  Another frugal option if you or folks you know have cats, ask them to save their large plastic kitty litter buckets!  We’ve found at local grocers bakery and deli departments they have tons of those white ‘food grade’ type buckets (some even with lids, which is a great option for food storage–but that’s another post!)  and they are more than happy to just give them away! 

Just be sure to drill holes in the bottom and you’re set!  We’ve also used old tires for containers, they work great stacked to plant potatoes too!  Old tires just clog landfills, most folks are all too happy to have you just haul them off–no charge!

Don’t have room for containers or raised beds, much less a full scale garden? A few pots on the patio, in your windowsill or using your flower beds along the house to plant edibles rather than flowers will do just fine too! 

“Somethin’ is better than nothin’ and if theres a will, there’s a way” I always say…

Happy gardening!

Lisa

www.homesteadoriginals.com

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2009-Apr-6 - Homemade Buttermilk

I love to make anything and everything homemade if I can!  So when it comes to the kitchen, homemade is definitely a priority!  I just love to ‘create’ my own buttermilk!  This makes SUPERB pancakes, salad dressings, biscuits and so much more!  This is so easily done. 

 

I grab a quart of organic, raw buttermilk from my local Natural Foods Co-Op (you can use regular store buttermilk too!)  I take 2 cups, I then pour this in one of my (very clean) half gallon glass milk jugs and fill the rest of the way up with raw goats milk (You can use store bought milk here too if you wish).  I set this out on the kitchen counter for 12 hours. I give it a little shake, and put in the fridge. Voila!

 

Use clean containers, and fresh buttermilk and milk to start.  It should smell ‘buttermilk-ish’ not ‘bad’.  I’ve yet to have a bad batch.  I use a good amount of buttermilk and if you always keep it FRESH, and keep 2 cups to make a new batch…you’ve got your own homemade buttermilk! (This is akin to a ‘starter’) If you don’t use so much buttermilk, just cut this recipe in half!

Lisa

www.HomesteadOriginals.com

 

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2009-Mar-27 - He will handle things.......in His timing....

To: YOU

Date: TODAY

From: GOD

Subject: YOURSELF

Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day.

I love you.

P.S. And, remember...

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

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