Living on Less

My daughter kneading some bread dough with me standing by to help.

I've always been fascinated with simple living and enjoying simple pleasures. But modern entertainments are very addicting and very hard to break away from, especially when everyone you know has the latest technology and expect you to know what they're talking about. (We've resisted the new smart phones and like using our prepaid cell phones, but for some reason the smart phones don't seem to be going away!) The hardest thing for us to get rid of is Netflix.

I ran across this interesting article that talks about living simply and a couple's story about how they drastically reduced their cost of living. It gets a little soap-boxy toward the end, but I think there are some interesting principles he discusses in there.

"How We Went from $42,000 to $6,500 and Lived to Tell About It!" 

Now that we finally own our little piece of land, we have so many better things to do than to be entertained by technology! Yesterday is a good example. We did a ton of yard work. We even got my garden tilled. Yay!

Other things I got done: I dug up a random round flower bed in the yard, cut out some sod from where I wanted our garden, and laid sod over the patch. We moved big rocks (and broke the wheel barrow - oops!), dug up daffodil bulbs, marked off a flower garden, and transplanted tulip bulbs. I set my 5-year-old son to digging up a line of bricks at the end of the gravel driveway by the house and he really got into it. He was so cute to watch - digging up a single brick, exclaiming how cool it was, and running over to the flower patch at the other end of the yard to lay the brick in the trench I'd dug to mark the bed off. Back and forth, back and forth he would go so busy, busy, busy. He loved it! After awhile he and his little sister were looking red-faced from being in the sun, so I sent them inside to cool off with some lemonade and to watch some "Busytown Mysteries". (alas, that blasted Netflix!) After awhile my son started crying, and begged me to let him go outside to dig up more bricks. Unfortunately, he had finished his job, but I was so happy that he liked the work. I think children need to work, just like adults do. It's so satisfying and rewarding and it can be so fun!

I need to think more about how we can realistically simplify our lives even more, because I know we have room for improvement and there's so many things that I'd like to do, but succumbing to entertainment has wasted a lot of my time. I need to take that time back!

On a side note, I found this site that had a neat list of homesteading magazines.

One of THEM

Today I walked into a Tractor Supply Co. store for the first time with my kids. I had this strange giddy feeling looking at boots, chicken feed, and rabbit cages. I had never really had an excuse to go to a store like this except for painful wishful dreaming about the all elusive "some day". But now I'm one of THEM - those people that shop at farm stores because I need that kind of stuff. On the way out a lady walking in came up, squeezed my arm and blessed me for having two red-headed children. haha! I love small towns.

On the way home we stopped at a local farm that sells produce and I found out they raise their own pasture Angus beef. Sweet! Driving home on the back roads brought me such sweet happiness. I'm finally living in the country! That drive home is mine and we get to look at beautiful farm land and my kids get to see the other way to live - with fresh air, a pleathora of trees and fields, gardens and chickens.

Yipee!!

Moving to the Homestead

I wonder who's going to be plowing this steep driveway? Hmmm! 

I apologize for my semi-long absence. We just had a crazy couple of weeks with moving to our "new" 1900s farmhouse. It has already been quite the adventure and we've already learned a few important things about being a homeowner and about self-reliance.

1. Just because you have a well, doesn't mean you're totally set for water.

In the 5 days since moving in, we've already had a couple frustrating experiences with our water shutting off unexpectedly. It turns out that we had run the well dry. In Maryland?!? It rains a lot here, right? Well, it turns out we live on a ridge that doesn't get as much water as other places. The person my husband talked to said that she has two wells dug at her house, and her mother has three! Our house only has one for four people. I'm beginning to understand why we don't have an outdoor spigot and why the previous owners put gutters on the smokehouse to collect rainwater in a rain barrel. I'm going to have to take a leaf out of his book.

See, living in suburbia, I did think about our water consumption, but the water was always there in never-ending supply (unless there was a water main break). Here in rural-ville we are totally dependent on the water table and are subject to regulating our own water useage - until we dig another well, that is. Even though Maryland does get a lot of rain, we are going to need to be more cautious and prudent with our water use. That really means only one load of laundry a day! (I made the mistake of doing two loads of laundry, taking a shower, and then my husband tried to take a shower. The water shut off in the middle. Oops!)

2. No one is going to pay me to mow my own lawn.

Well, I never seriously thought that, but right in the middle of mowing the half of our .82 acres that isn't wooded, I thought, "Man, I should get paid for doing this. Oh wait. This is MY grass. No one's going to pay me to mow it!" hahaha!

3. There are more bugs in the country.

Huh. Go figure! Right now I really loathe earwigs (ew!), stink bugs, carpenter bees, and sugar ants. Hey, bugs, I live here now, not you!

I am totally stoked to have my own house where we can build and do everything I've always dreamed of doing. I even heard a neighbor's rooster crowing off in the woods, so I know I'm not alone. I'm really hoping to get some chickens soon. Where do you get some chickens around here, anyway? I even have my spots picked out for some raised beds. My poor itchy spring planting fever is going crazy! At least we've been able to pick some of our potted strawberries and lettuce.

A Name for the Homestead

So, when I started this blog I never expected to actually name our eventual physical homestead "Knotty Oak", only because it was a name that I came up with and my husband had no imput on it at all. I really wanted it to be a name that we both agreed on and liked and felt fit our land.

Well, after being out to the property a few times and getting a sense of the place, this is the name we came up with:  Rocky Pines. The land is very rocky, in fact the cellar of the house was hand carved out of rock and literally looks like a cave down there. And there are a lot of beautiful, tall pine trees on the property. So, the name seems to fit really well! When I mentioned the name idea to my husband he approved with a thoughtful smile saying, "Yeah... I like that!"

Of course, the land isn't ours yet. We're still awaiting word from the seller on a few things. But it's so close! I hope everything works out. I can nearly imagine us there already. :-)

Nearly There Homestead!

Isn't it cute?
The windows are a little small, though.

Last week we put in an offer on a house and it was accepted! This means that the reality of owning our own homestead is nearly within our grasp! Woohooo!!!

It was built in 1900, has a sweet little wood stove and sits on .82 acres. This means that I can have freakin' CHICKENS! And some rabbits and a cat and the sled dog I've always dreamed of having ever since watching "Iron Will" and "The Adventures of Natty Gann" as a teenager...

Okay, I need to slow down and take things one at a time.

The property is half woods and has, seriously, a functional outhouse in the middle of the woods. Seriously. Sure, I wish it had a little more land and another bedroom and a second bathroom would be nice (wait, it has an outhouse, so no big deal! haha!), but we are really excited. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high in case the inspection reveals something too scary.

The thing is, is that as far as I can see there are no oak trees. There are quite a few pines near the house, and I can't tell what the deciduous trees are at this point of winter, but do you know what this means? I can't name it Knotty Oak Homestead. It would just be lame without an oak tree. I guess I could plant an oak tree, but I really want to use the space to plant some fruit trees instead. And lots of red currant bushes. Mmmm. Currants. :-)

So what should we call it? Any ideas out there?

Volunteering & A Soap Box

I just spent a couple hours at the Days End Horse Rescue farm this morning. Today I curried a beautiful chestnut horse and learned how to push him around (to get to his other side), and I mucked out two stalls. I really enjoyed these chores, lost in my own thoughts and enjoying the feel of my hand running across the horse's coarse hair as I brushed him. I even enjoyed the heft of the shovel, heavy with wet sawdust and dumped it into my cart. It's a good exercise, living in suburbia, to get a taste of outdoor work and taking care of animals. It gives me a glimpse into what I might want on our own homestead in the near future.

For a long time, it's been hard to look at houses for sale. It's this tortuous thing that my husband and I do every now and then. It's like we can't even help ourselves. After awhile I would get sick of that longing ache and tell my husband we had to stop. It's so hard to look at something that you can't have!

Well, the other day something changed in my thinking. Instead of focusing on what we don't have, what we can't do, I realized that right now is the time to be doing the research, to be finding out what we do and do not want in a home and land. At the Mother Earth News fair, I talked to one of the workshop teachers and her husband after her class ("Why Homegrown and Homemade"), and they warned me to be careful about buying land in the "country". Her husband said that a lot of times, farmers sell off bits of their farmland in parcels of 5 acres or so to people who want to live in "the country". But what you need to know is that a lot of these farmers have sprayed their fields with who knows what for who knows how long and when you buy that parcel of land neighboring a used field, who knows what they will continue to spray on it! I had never thought of that before and I am so glad they told me that. It's one more thing to add to our list of what to look out for as we're looking for a place to settle.

This morning on the radio I heard this advertisement for Monsanto (a big {evil} agricultural company) and
 it said "Monsanto - working with farmers in the U.S. and internationally towards sustainability". I yelled at the radio, "Yeah, RIGHT!" Monsanto is one of those big bullying ag companies that created the GMO crops out there - crops that aren't reliable, crops that cannot be planted from their own seed, crops that spread their contaminated pollen into unsuspecting farmer's fields that have saved their seeds for generations. I am all for GMO foods required by law to be labeled. Do you know why there's such a big fight against it? I think it's because 80% of what's in the stores would need to put "contains GMO food products" on their packaging. It's so scary and it is so sad that it's getting harder and harder to have pure foods. - Another reason to look for land away from farmer's fields so that my own plants won't be affected.

Okay... I'm off my soap box now.

Mother Earth News Fair 2011

We got back late Saturday night from this year's Mother Earth News Fair in PA. We left our kids with some friends, which was a very good decision. Everyone was much happier all around that way! This was actually kind of an early anniversary trip for my hubby and me. We were married in December, but it's hard to go anywhere if you don't like skiing. (I do want to go snow shoeing this year though...) We had a great time at the fair. (And it sure helped to bring our own lunch. Lines were crazy...) If you're curious, advance tickets to the fair were only $15. That's pretty darn reasonable!

I just have to say that the fair was fabulous! There were a lot of great improvements over last year's fair. For one, the book store section was 6 times the size it was before, in the center of the room, and they sent 25% off coupons with our tickets! Hooray for coupons! I got some awesome books. I even read one I got already called Maple Sugar: From Sap to Syrup - The History, Lore, and How-To Behind This Sweet Treat. The book was awesome! (I really just love Storey Publishing. Their books rock.)

Okay, enough gushing. Here are the workshops I attended:

1. Chick Days: First steps to a backyard flock - Jenna Woginrich

2. A Year in the Life of a Micro Farm - Andy McCallister (how awesome that he put his power point online!! - click on the title of the workshop for his power point link)

3. Food Sovereignty: Get Big Ag and the goverment out of your kitchen - Robin Mather
If you're tired of the government telling you what you can and can't eat, if you're angered by Big Ag's refusal to label GMO foods, a food sovereignty initiative may be the solution. Learn how tiny Sedgewick, Maine, passed the country's first food sovereignty laws, and get the nuts-and-bolts materials to do the same.
Robin's Blog: http://thefeastnearby.com/

4. The Backyard Rabbitry: Rabbits for Meat - Jenna Woginrich

5. Working Companions: Dogs for small farms and homesteads - Heather Houlahan

6. Why Homegrown and Handmade - Deborah Niemann

7. Keynote Speech: Taking the First Steps to Sustainability - Jenna Woginrich (got my books of hers autographed and got a free unproofed copy of her new book "Barnheart" due out in December! Woohoo! Thanks, Jenna!)

My husband went to other workshops talking about bio-diesel, passive-solar homes, and other geeky technical stuff like that. It was great to divide and conquer!

I took notes at all of the workshops and I'm planning on typing them up. So, if you're interested, just let me know and I can e-mail you the notes.

Books I got: Maple Sugar: From Sap to Syrup, Chick Days, Homegrown and Handmade (I just found out that this book isn't even released yet! Huh!), How to Grow and Preserve Your Own Food (a Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series booklet with a compilation of articles on one similar topic), Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey (Grit Country Skills Series), and my husband got a booklet on straw bale building specifications for builders. We just might have a straw bale structure in our distant future... :-)

The fair was so fun. I can't wait to go again next year! (Sorry no pictures! I was rushing around looking at stuff and forgot I was lugging around my camera. Sheesh.)