Winterpast Homestead

1. Buy raw ingredients instead of prepackaged foods. If you don’t know how to cook, learn. You’ll save on food bills, and your body will thank you for it in the long run.

2. Buy in bulk from a local health food store, or place bulk orders directly with mail-order companies. If you can’t meet their minimum order size, go in on an order with another family, or organize a larger food buying club.

3. Avoid the middleman and buy directly from farmers. Look for farm stands, community supported agriculture programs and farmers markets.

4. Eat fruits and vegetables in season, when they are least expensive. (Once, we found organic watermelon for three cents a pound!) Stock up when they’re cheap and freeze or can any excess for later use.

5. Keep up with what’s in your refrigerator and make sure nothing spoils. Once a week, make soup or casseroles to use up vegetables and other leftovers.

6. Calculate the price of food per pound when you visit supermarkets. Doing the math will help you spot good deals.

How to Avoid Rent

8. Find a live-in elder care position and help someone stay out of a nursing home. There’s always someone desperate for reliable help, and often there are no qualifications needed other than compassion.

9. Help renovate a house in exchange for lodging. This is how we came into our current home.

Piggies on The Homestead and other chat

We have a bred sow coming to the homestead tomorrow afternoon and I'm hardly ready for her. She is due within the month, so we'll work on a suitable section of the barn for her, ready for piglets. Hmmm....how many piglets might we have here soon?

Our Miss Kitty came up from the barn Tuesday to eat, as she usually does. She weaned her Easter morning kittens a while back, and has been looking just this side of side-splitting the past couple of weeks, so we've been watching her to see when she might drop her newest litter of kittens. Well, after her meal, she stretched out, lounging in the sunshine of the front steps, and all of a sudden one of the youngers came running in -- "Miss Kitty pooped on the porch". Gee...nice. Upon walking outside, the comment changed, though, to "Miss Kitty didn't poop poop...she pooped out a kitten" complete with lots of eeeewwwwws and a couple of awww, gross.

See the benefits of living on a homestead and homeschooling? Yeah...neither did I. I think we need some new lessons in how babies, baby kitties at least, are born.

Either way, Miss Kitty seemed a bit caught off guard this time around. This is her 3rd litter...first she had only 3 and none made it to 2 weeks old; then her latest batch, our Easter kittens, numbering 5. This time, however, Miss Kitty was large enough for way way more....she had 8 total, losing one very tiny weak girl within an hour. I think she's a bit over whelmed with so many. She's a great momma, but she's just a bit weird about it all this time around. She feeds them a short while, then comes out of her 'nesting area' and sits away from them for the longest time. So far, everyone seems to be doing well, so we haven't intervened. Guess I'd have been overwhelmed had all 9 of mine come together at once, too.

We will be starting to set up a table at the local Farm Market here, I'm thinking August 1st. I spoke to the man who runs it and he has no problems at all with our selling baked goods and the like. Our market is very small....only 3 or 4 set up weekly for the most part, but it's a place to wet our feet with all of this and see how it goes. Truthfully, it won't take long for word to spread that "that Amish family with all the kids is selling baked goods" and we'll see if it's worth the time and such to get there. They are open Wednesdays & Fridays, but we'll start with Fridays I think. Well...with school starting, maybe Wednesdays would be better. We plan to sell our loaf bread, maybe some quick breads, assorted cookies and some homemade jellies. I'm not sure about pricing -- what do you think? I know folks around here jump on homebaked goodies, and loaf bread seems to be a treat to many. We thought with school starting, the cookies might go well for lunch box treats. We printed a flyer up to take along as we won't have all these things with us each time unless things go really well...

useless pondering out loud here...

All the economy's problems, including slumping home values, which threaten to make people feel less wealthy and less inclined to spend in the months ahead, represent "significant downside risks" to economic growth.

Economic growth is slumped? I need to get out more, I guess.

Of course I have heard all these sorts of stories in the past several months (well, the better part of a solid year, really). I may live in the boonies, but I'm not exactly in a cave here.

So, people are feeling 'less wealthy' and are inclined to spend less money. Sounds like greed to me. I suppose it all trickles down into economic collapse somewhere, but still, it's mainly selfishness and greed if you look at it honestly. When prices begin to creep upward, some folks just naturally ignore them and figure they will creep right back down. They don't for one second consider their spending and look at ways to save a little here and there. They go on with life as normal, using one excuse after another....I have to have this, I need to go there....all the while grumbling about the cost of this and that.

I am far behind many folks when it comes to stocking my own pantry and being able to shop my own store of supplies. Then again, I'm pretty far ahead of a lot of people, too. I'm not set up for serious long term homestead survival, but I'm not running into town all the time either.

Want to save on the high gas prices? Some will tell you to trade in that gas-guzzling SUV and opt for a more compact car. Yeah, right. First off, I don't know but a tiny handful of folks even willing to ponder that idea, let alone act upon it. Second, that doesn't help me, really. I am in the smallest vehicle I can use for my family. Bare minimum, we need to be a 12 passenger van family here. So, let's say I'm stuck with my large gas monger. Must be a way I can still save a little at the gas pump.

We are homebodies. We don't drag up and run into town for every little whim. If we make it once a week, that's fine. Even better is not going but every other week. My husband can stop at the store if an emergency arises -- he's already out and about, and passes several stores in his day at work. I know some who call themselves homebodies, but they spend more time in town at the store, at the library, here or there, than most folks. Be honest with yourself -- just how many trips to town are truly necessary in your life?

I plan ahead. I plan our menu -- haven't been to the grocery store in about 3 weeks now. Now if I can plan ahead for a week or more of needs here, anyone can. Most folks only have to plan for 3 or 4 -- I am planning our needs for a group of 10, plus homestead animals. There's no excuse for not being able to do it aside from plain old fashioned laziness. I have a friend who ran into town just to pick up a movie to watch. That is ridiculous. You'd use a gallon or two of gas, pushing $10 in most areas, just to rent a movie? What -- you don't own a book to read out loud for entertainment? There are no games to play inside our outside? Silence bothers you that much that you need to spend $10-14 between gas and a movie just to be entertained? I feel sorry for you. Even in the middle of the city, we had lightening bugs to chase and watch, books to read, pictures to draw and color. We don't need a movie to be entertained. (of course, there's those 8 children at home....that provides more than ample entertainment around here!) This same friend drove to town one afternoon because she wanted to bake brownies and didn't have any cocoa. I just laughed at her and asked if she was kidding. I'm all for chocolate, but I'm not driving into town just to get cocoa to make brownies. That's insane.

What do you do to save on money around the homestead? Gas prices are what they are, and to think they will ever be less again is probably a fool's vision. We probably aren't going to get any 'cost of living' raises either, so the budget income isn't going to change...just the outflow is changing. What are you going to do about it? What are truly prepared to do about it? Some folks used to look at those who prepared as the lunatic fringe. That isn't the case anymore. Us sitting on the lunatic fringe are fast becoming the practical norm. We were once townies, always needing to be in with the action, out in the public eye at all the stores and libraries and parks in town. Jumping into every event that came our direction. Now? Now we have seen the light of true freedom, if you think about it. We have seen the prices rise ever-so-slowly, and we have implemented plans to keep our portion, rather than spend it with the masses on useless endeavors. Maybe we are the ones who have brought the economy to the sluggish slump they claim it's at, I don't know. What I do know is our paycheck is what it is, gas and food costs are what they are. We aren't willing to watch the forces that be take our money in return for a little of their pleasure. We chose to make serious changes in our living manners in order to keep our pennies at home in our own kitty.

How much are you willing to do to save your money? How much 'self sacrifice' are you truly willing to make? If you keep rationalizing this trip or that expenditure, you aren't truly willing to sacrifice much. You might as well stop the moaning and grumbling over all the prices. They aren't going to change for the better, and really, you don't want them to. You'd have nothing to grumble about.

A Great Summer Day...

Our day started slowly today. Lauren woke early (before 7AM) and then went back down for a nap from 8-10. Lilli woke at about 9:30ish. When Lauren woke from her nap we all had breakfast (Cheerios for Lilli and Raisin Bran for Lauren and I) and I started a load of laundry.

We all got dressed and did our hair and then it was time to hang the clothes out to dry. The girls played outside while I did that.

*Letting the chickens, turkeys and guineas out to free-range for the day (we don't do this too early or we don't get any eggs...they hide them and we can't always find them).

*Watering the chickens, turkeys and guineas (they free-range all day and we feed them in the evening).

*Putting Violet (our milk goat) and her buckling out in the field for the day. They stay in a stall in the barn at night and we move them out to the field each day. They have a nice size yard attached to their stall so they are fine if we don't get them out to the field, but there is much more for them to eat and much more room to play in the field than in their yard, so we put them out everyday it's not raining.

First on the list, not so fun. I had to go to the credit union to file a dispute. Somebody is taking money from my checking acct each month to make an AT&T payment. I don't even have AT&T, I never have, and I don't even know anybody who does. I tried calling AT&T but they said to leave a message and to file a dispute. So I did. I have no doubt that my money will be returned. I love my credit union.

Then we headed for the nearby grocery store. We picked up picnic foods and a few necessities.

Then we headed for the nearby park. It isn't a park we go to often, so it has a lot of different things to play and climb on than we are used too. We had a blast. We ate our picnic lunch of deli meats, sandwiches, chips, and blueberries and then we headed for the play area. Lauren had so much fun and there really was a lot she could do. Usually she's too small to get up high, but this one is made great for that...very safe. Lilli had a great time running through all the different wooden areas too. It was just an enjoyable time for all of us. We ate a few cookies on the way home.

Lauren barely made it out of the park parking lot before falling asleep. LOL. It's about a 15-20 minute drive home and we had to stop at the feed store for chicken feed (100# chick feed=$30) and the post office. I drove really slow and took a back road home as both girls were sleeping by that time.

We came home and had a snack and Lilli and Lauren watched a movie while I tried to straighten the kitchen (why can't you tell it now?) and start supper.

Lance had called and said he had to come home, go to the bank and get pig feed, and then go back to work...so we only saw hime for about 2 minutes in between. He just called again and thinks he'll be home about midnight.

The girls and I had supper...BBQ Chicken, broccolli, mac and cheese, and crescent rolls. Both girls ate great all day today! YAY for that.

After supper, the girls put their swimsuits on and I put water in the turtle pool for them to play a bit while I did evening chores. They had a fantastic time and it was about 7:30PM by then.

*Feeding and watering the meat chickens (or just checking that their feeder/waterer is still full from morning)

*Feeding and watering the cats. (The dogs get fed and watered throughout the day, but not after 6PMish as we are still potty training the puppy and we like him to make it all night without accidents).

*Bringing Violet and her buckling back in from the field and putting them in their stall with fresh water.

I should note that these are MY chores only...Lance feeds and waters the pigs and cows in the morning and the evening as well.

After swimming and chores we headed in the house and a nice warm bath for the girls. They played in there for about 45 minutes (They LOVE water...LOL).

After tubby they had a snack and watched Scooby Doo before it was finally PAST time for bed.

We all went to bed at around 10PMish and the girls fell fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. I got back up and am on the computer while waiting for Lance to get home.

Tomorrow looks like another great day. We are heading to the beach with SIL and niece. Another day of swimming...yay! :)

Winterpast Homestead

~Upcoming Changes~ Coming This Fall !!!!!

75 Cost Saving Tips....

Good Cheap Food

How to Avoid Rent

Piggies on The Homestead and other chat

useless pondering out loud here...

A Great Summer Day...

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