| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 06:22:31 AM
For me it was back in 1983 when I learned & made old fashioned lye soap.....I grew up during the hippy era & always loved the simply ideas they had...so for me it was trying to do soap which was something I never thought I could do. I found the recipe thur Mother Earth News & thought how cool is that!...so that was the start of my wanting to live a simplier life without all the hoopla but wanted the hard work that went with it also....Now that I am older some of the hard work is too hard for me but I have learned to simpify ideas ect so they work for me but still make me feel like I am doing something good......Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ursula Norsedottir |
Posted - Dec 19 2011 : 8:49:29 PM
Well, I'm not sure how it happened, because I was always afraid of getting dirty and eating anything besides potatoes and pasta growing up. But I was a young wife, 18, and pregnant, and I somehow acquired a book from my then-in-laws. It was a copy of "Back to Basics", and I had no idea how it would change my life! All of a sudden I had a little veggie garden, and even a little compost pile. They both failed miserably, but I did it again the next year, and I started making jelly. Again, my garden failed, but by the end of the second year, I had a pressure canner, a sourdough starter, was baking all of our breads from scratch, could get 5 different meals from one chicken, was cloth diapering, and had phased out diaper cream in favor of a homemade version. I had big plans for chickens, goats, and bees. My divorce threw a wrench in the works, but after 5 years and a new Hubby, we have our feet on the ground and on the right path. I still have that book :D
http://theblackbearden.blogspot.com/ |
| Lindsay C |
Posted - Dec 13 2011 : 06:04:42 AM
My husband had been doing "homesteadish" things for years before I met him, but the very first thing I did that made me feel that way was deliver a goat. We had only had our first group of goats for about 12 hours when one decided to kid. Of course, the kid was wedged in there funny and I had to reach in and help pull it out. Then, I don't know if the momma was stressed or what, but we ended up bottle feeding that little goat for months! I felt like wonder woman and a midwife all at the same time! haha
Lindsay
Farmgirl Sister #1452
http://crowsonshire.blogspot.com |
| Dusky Beauty |
Posted - Nov 29 2011 : 9:25:47 PM
I'm trying to get back "the family farm" that my parents lost along with their marriage. Mom ran the business in town, and dad was feckless (he didn't even drink to be able to claim alchoholism. Just sloth) and let it fall into disrepair so severely it wasn't habitable any longer and we had to sell it just to get a "normal" home that was more manageable for my mom on her own.
It was a lovely 60 acre spread in coastal oregon with heavenly weather patterns that kept us just out of reach of the bad seaside weather. Endless forest, meadows, a huge apple orchard, a big old barn, a powered shop with a machine shed and extra stalls, a covered riding arena, and fruit trees and garden patches courtesy of the previous owners exotic botanical hobby. The dream, squandered and lost, everything it produced literally left to rot on the ground. Makes me sick that it will take me over 20 years and thousands upon thousands of miles to reproduce something half that good.
"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated." ~Gandhi
http://silvermoonfarm.blogspot.com/
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” ~Will Rogers |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Nov 10 2011 : 12:45:06 PM
I too am a military wife & hated living on military posts.....I always felt so crowded...I had small gardens & hung up my clothes also even though we had a washer & dryer in the apt....everyone thought I was nuts not to take advantage of the so called free electricity ect but i loved the smell of sun dried clothes......I don't miss that life at all...I enjoy having a house & yard big enough for the chickens, cats, gardens & open space where i can walk & not have to worry about being looked at....Thomas' unit is coming home early from Afghanistan in Dec instead of Feb & he will once again be a Reservist instead of enlisted...i will be happy to have him home...I hate that he has to be sent to these places but I understand & support him....but its so nice to go back to the simplier things when I know he is here & safe with me. I don't cook much when he is gone so will love getting out the flours, corn meal ect & making things from scratch again for him....Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| Crystal Koelzer |
Posted - Nov 05 2011 : 11:44:20 PM
I was the same way, raised in the country and then moved to Tucson (over a million people) with the military. Talk about shocking! I was the only person to use the clothes line on base. My grandma always said that I was born in the wrong time, that I would have done good 100 years ago. That always made me feel good. She has been teaching me to do things like canning and sewing.
This spring we will be done with the military and moving back to the country. We are really excited but my husband is worried about finding a job and having enough money. And he keeps getting frustrated by me because I am not. I know the Lord will provide and am excited to put all this knowledge of self sufficient living into play. I am excited for the challenge.
But the original question was where did you start, I started as a small child gardening and canning with my grandma. My love of the land and simple life started there.
quote:
Originally posted by BarefootGoatGirl
I grew up very country and moving to a very crowded and controlled military post was a huge shock to me. I made a meager attempt to assimilate, but it didn't work at all. I was the wife with cloth diapers on the clothes line out back (even though the dryer in my apartment ran of free electricity), homemade bread in the oven, and a potted salad garden in the living room window. When we moved off post I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions in the neglected flower beds of the rental property. Since then I have raised several batches of bitties in a spare bathroom and had an open door policy with a bottle fed goat. I can't wait to get back to homesteading with my kids again. Its a live we love and miss.
www.muddyprincess.wordpress.com
www.barefootfashion.wordpress.com
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| FieldsofThyme |
Posted - Nov 01 2011 : 05:53:52 AM
My first homesteading thing ever, was learning to make homemade applesauce with my grandmother's apples. I then learned to crochet, sew by hand, and grow an herb garden. I did that many years before we bought an old farm house with 6 acres. Then raising chickens for eggs, and growing a garden. After that it escalated to dairy goats, stocking up, raising meat chickens, dehydrating, heating without electricity (wood), foraging, crafting by hand (in many ways now), using solar power vs. electricity, and many other ways of homesteading. The next thing for us, is to make goat's milk soap and cheeses, raise beef, and hogs. Long term goals are building a solar powered hot water heater,and an outdoor summer kitchen with a wood burning stove. We are also planting fruit trees each year.
Farmgirl #800
http://pioneerwomanatheart.blogspot.com/
http://scrapreusedandrecycledartprojects.blogspot.com/
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| tammyknit |
Posted - Oct 31 2011 : 1:17:01 PM
Probably the first thing was gardening and then canning. A couple of years ago we made a little bit of maple syrup and want to do more this year. I also dehydrate and am doing more every year. Does knitting some of my own socks count? Also quilting. Want to have chickens when we finally get to build our house. We already own 50 acres, but the house is going to be expensive..so we are taking our time.
Tammy |
| naturemaiden |
Posted - Oct 31 2011 : 06:16:15 AM
I dont have my own land yet....but will someday soon. I already know what I will be doing...raising chickens, maybe a cow, making butter, soap and candles.
Thing is..i already make soap, candles and butter. The big difference will be when I get my own land...i can do more, build an outdoor bread oven, a permanent fire pit, grow more food, build a root cellar, put up a greenhouse.....oh the dreams.
when you rent you are limited.
connie
http://www.naturemaiden.com/ - Soap & Candle
http://modern-day-laura.blogspot.com/ -My Personal Blog
http://www.prairiefarmherbs.com/ -Herb Plants for the Home Garden
http://www.thriftyfarmgirl.com/ -My Online Thrift Shop
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| FarmDream |
Posted - Oct 30 2011 : 7:33:00 PM
I grew up with homesteading in one way or the other. My Granny, whom I love with all my heart, went through the depression, so had lots of skills on just about everything. My mom liked canning and hand crafts. My dad liked gardening and tinkering in the garage. I'm really fascinated by all things homestead. Sometimes it's a challenge to myself to see if I could manage if the power went out, etc. In a lot of ways I'm also a survivalist. But that's a WHOLE other topic...
~FarmDream is Farmgirl Sister #3069
Live Today, Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow
http://naturaljulie.etsy.com
http://julie-rants.blogspot.com |
| acairnsmom |
Posted - Oct 29 2011 : 10:25:49 PM
I was a kid on my grandparents ranch which would now be considered to have been off the grid. No electricity, no indoor plumbing...I loved that place and dreamed for years of having my own place in the country. I guess the first thing I did towards that goal was back in the late 70's, early 80's DH and I started our first garden. Shortly after that I started hanging my close out rather than use the dryer. Decades later I learned to can and make my own bread. We finally this year moved out onto 40 acres and I hope to very soon have various critters. Don't know that we'll ever be off the grid but that sounds good to me!
Audrey
Toto, we're not in Kansas any more! |
| Fiddlehead Farm |
Posted - Oct 27 2011 : 04:38:19 AM
What a wonderful group of homesteading women!
Funny how things come full circle. When I was a young wife and mother, we lived on a little farm and had very little money. I had to wash clothes in an old wringer washer, sew my children's clothing, heat our house with wood and make do with very little. Now I am doing these things not because I have to, but because I want to.
We don't live in the country yet, but I am homesteading on my double size city lot. I grow and can all of our vegetables and fruits. I bake all of our bread. We have made cheese, smoked meats, made sausage, dehydrated various foods and make our own dry mixes. I reduse, re-use, recycle and re-purpose as much as possible. We are raising rabbits for meat and are working on the city to be able to keep chickens. We have been looking for property for about a year now. I think that this spring might be the time, but if not, I will continue my homesteading in town!
http://studiodiphotosite.shutterfly.com/
farmgirl sister #922
Don't go with the flow...you are the flow.
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.
- E. B. White |
| walkinwalkoutcattle |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 6:27:00 PM
My first thing was moving from CA to KY! LOL! I'd say one of the second things was either canning or getting cattle. It was so exciting! We're still so proud of what we've accomplished!
Farmgirl #2879 :)
Starbucks and sushi to green fried tomatoes and corn pudding-I wouldn't change it for the world.
www.cattleandcupcakes.blogspot.com
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| msdoolittle |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 11:11:06 AM
My very first thing was growing a garden. I didn't get into food gardening for quite some time, but still. I have had a garden at every home I've ever lived in. Sometimes just container gardens, but better than nothing! Then came sewing about 3 years later and then canning a couple of years after that.
Now I bake bread, raise chickens, and all of that stuff. Won't go back!
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| queenmushroom |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 08:51:50 AM
It's funny, here in Maine, we do get severe weather in the winter time. The power outages aren't as bad as they were when I was a kid. I remember one time the power was out for 3 days. Mom had to melt snow on the wood stove for dishes and daily hygiene (we supplemented oil with wood anyway power or no). Funny thing is, when I talk to mom, now, and she may mention how long the power has been out if there had been a bad storm, I just chuckle because I live off grid. The other thing I find funny about storms in Maine, many people, when they hear severe storm, will go out and stock up on everything. Not really a big deal, but if they have an electric stove and no wood stove or fire place or generator, how are they going to cook? I've never really figured that one out yet.
Lorie |
| YakLady |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 08:39:01 AM
I moved into our 30 year old log home a year and a half ago. I already had the milking goats, but I ordered chicks and my soap supplies. We are using up all our left over liquid soap for guests when they come, and not buying any more. Why pay for water?
I also started stock piling canned goods, laundry detergent, and other useful things you don't want to run out of- like toilet paper and ammo.
Our power goes out about once a month for whatever reason- it's not a big deal if you're busy working outside :) In winter, it makes me glad we swapped that stupid pellet stove for a wood stove! No power with a pellet stove=no heat.
~Natalie~ Just a farmgirl in Western Montana. http://mtnme.blogspot.com
Starting a family and raising Tibetan Yaks, Nigerian Dwarf Goats, Laying hens, Muscovy ducks, and a few dogs. |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Oct 26 2011 : 08:12:24 AM
Yeah aren't military bases fun??? NOT...lol...its like its own little town run by uppity woman who have Capts ect for hubby who think they are better than everyone else...Now i should state not all were bad but I hated it....I too, had a nice herb garden, dried my clothes on the line & everyone around me thought it was a waste of time....needless to say being a strong willed woman I closed my ears to them......Thank goodness I did have a few country girls around me who understood...I would love to be completely off the grid again but my hubby doesn't like it...which I can understand with him having to be in 2 wars but I sure would love to not have to depend or pay for what we have to pay for now.....Since he has been gone this time I went 6 months without hot water...I carried huge pots of heated water for baths, washing dishes ect...never bothered me on bit but when I had to have surgery & my sis was coming up finally broke down & had the hot water heater fixed for her...lol.....its funny but I just don't care if I have these things or not....in my earlier years I lived completely rough & never thought about what I was doing I just did it...it was never a burden....plus when I was in West Africa only when I went to the main city did I ever have the electricity, hot water ect....I know what I like is not for everyone but there is something so peaceful to my heart & mind doing things like my great grand parents did...plus it helps me understand those times in history before the industrial revolution....Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| BarefootGoatGirl |
Posted - Oct 25 2011 : 10:51:10 AM
I grew up very country and moving to a very crowded and controlled military post was a huge shock to me. I made a meager attempt to assimilate, but it didn't work at all. I was the wife with cloth diapers on the clothes line out back (even though the dryer in my apartment ran of free electricity), homemade bread in the oven, and a potted salad garden in the living room window. When we moved off post I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions in the neglected flower beds of the rental property. Since then I have raised several batches of bitties in a spare bathroom and had an open door policy with a bottle fed goat. I can't wait to get back to homesteading with my kids again. Its a live we love and miss.
www.muddyprincess.wordpress.com
www.barefootfashion.wordpress.com
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| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Oct 22 2011 : 05:42:56 AM
Jen I love the fact someone noticed you were 'different' in a good way & that your father in law could see that you would do what needs to be done with out batting an eye. what a compliment for you...I seem to have the opposite happen with me...I get the 'why would you do that' everyone thinks i should just go to the store & buy what I need instead of reusing things or going to the trouble...but for me its not trouble to do what I do & that seems to be too hard for them to understand.....I have found that I have to tell people often that I have a pioneer woman heart for them to get it...which I find a shame that I have to justify why I do what I do...one its good for my heart, two its using things that normally would go to the dump by others & three I love that fact that it just took my time not lots of money which can be used for other things like getting someone else to cut my firewood since I can't do it anymore......I think one of the funniest things is people think raising chickens is a waste of time until i offer them a doz eggs as a gift!...lol...I have never been turned down...Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| Dusky Beauty |
Posted - Oct 21 2011 : 7:11:20 PM
My father in law was the first person to remark that I was "different" from other women he'd seen all his life in Southern California. He was visiting us for a couple months and one of our pipes burst under the house and we were without water. He and DH were working on it when he saw me go outside with a big flat bottomed dutch oven and a bucket. He watched me push the top layer of snow aside and fill up the bucket and pot. I set the dutch oven on top of and the bucket near the blazing woodstove and he asked what I was doing.
"Oh, I need to wash dishes." "Oh wow, you're melting snow for water?" "yeah no reason to wait till you guys are done." "Why is it on the stove?" "I figure I might as well boil it for free too."
I guess he figured his boy had "done well" at that point. He would have expected a woman to whine about the water instead of do anything pro-active! LOL
"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated." ~Gandhi
http://silvermoonfarm.blogspot.com/
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” ~Will Rogers |
| oldbittyhen |
Posted - Oct 21 2011 : 4:55:55 PM
The first thing my late hubby and I did, was take all the layers of carpet and dirt out of the house, which had been empty for many years, and re-drywall and paint all the rooms, then refinish all the wood floors that had been covered up with 3-4 layers of dirt and carpet. The next thing we did, was fence, and cross fence, and with 250 acres, it took a couple of years, and also repair out buildings and barns, by useing the wood from outbuildings and barns that were not saveable. We put in a big garden the next spring, along with chickens, 2 hogs and of course horses...Fortyone years and 4 kids later, it is my home and I would not have traded anypart, and I raise and grow almost everything we eat...
"Knowlege is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Oct 21 2011 : 2:50:19 PM
Well, as an adult (I think I always did sort of homesteady things growing up as well) I first did canning when I was a young wife (the first time) at 18. LOTS of canning. I have never stopped. I sewed alot of my first son's baby clothes that year as well and during those young and poor years (that never really stopped, even when I got old somehow) I made most of the gifts I gave. And ALWAYS a garden..no matter where I was planted.
I can't imagine doing anything differently
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| natesgirl |
Posted - Oct 21 2011 : 09:58:33 AM
Canning!! I learned to can from some old recipes from my grandmother and made jelly and jam. I thought I was really something with homemade jelly and a little postage patch garden. Now, I make jelly between other things I'm canning and have a 5000 square foot garden, berry bushes, fruit and nut trees and I'm in the process of building a root cellar and a greenhouse.
I look back at that first summer of cannin now and laugh. It was the beginning of the disease that has taken complete control of our lives. I will have animals in a few years and will be completely food self sufficient. With my girls homeschooled and my Hubby completely onboard, I seem to be able to make everything work kinda 'Little House On The Prairie' style, with a rotor tiller!
I enjoy the brainstormin and plannin we do for the buildin and creatin of everything we need for our little 3 acres of solitude!
Farmgirl Sister #1438
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
| Lieberkim |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 9:46:25 PM
You ladies are amazing! Lets see, I've never lived off grid or been a true homesteader but a lot of the things that usually are labeled as being homesteading is how I was raised. Both my parents grew up in isolation and so I was taught to garden, can, build a fire etc from a pretty early age. I've got pictures of me as a child with the potatoes from MY garden. Growing up I loved anything like Anne of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls and I always wanted to live in an isolated area, without electricity, homesteading, living the old fashioned simple life. I have made soap before but I'm no expert, only done it once. I'm slowly working towards my goal. We live in a pretty isolated area (45 min - 1 hr to any town). I have chickens, goats, horse, guinea fowl. I'm hoping to eventually get pigs. I had sheep and turkeys but I did some serious downsizing when we moved. I'm desperate to learn how to spin and weave and I want alpacas. I make yoghurt, cream cheese and ice cream with my milk and I'm hoping to start buying some equipment and make my own cheese. I've done some of the dirt simple stuff before but no hard cheeses etc. I sprout my grain before grinding it and bake from scratch. I dehydrate too. Fruits mostly but this year I made some goose jerky and it is GOOD. I've been trying to get my herb garden started now for nearly 9 years but something keeps getting in the way of it happening so I'm determined to get it started next year. Oh and I'm hoping to get Ancona ducks next year. Think Noah's Ark and you'll get a picture of how I want to be!!! :D I just got Satin rabbits as a dual purpose animal, meat and fur. Brand new to them but it's not to difficult to figure out. And of course I've got the barn cats and a farm dog (who went and had puppies!!!) My goal is to raise my children to be self sufficient. To know how to do everything for themselves and make what they need. It makes my heart soar when my children ask, "Who made that?" instead of "Where did you buy that?" And they already know more about where their food comes from then most adults do!!
Excuse the mess & the noise, my children are making happy memories |
| queenmushroom |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 09:02:49 AM
When I first moved into my house, the only rooms that were useable were the bathroom (which we had to gut and redo) and the downstairs bedroom (which is now my son's room). The flush, sink and shower worked as well as the propane lights. My dh (boyfriend at the time) and I had to dig many years of bark dirt, rocks, brick and just plain junk out of our basement just to get the floor leveled up so that we could pour a cement floor. All the debris was carried to the bulk head in 5 gallon buckets and dumped into the bucket of my dh's agco tractor. There was a huge boulder that held up the chimney. We had to take the chimney out and the boulder as well. DH tried jack hammering it. Didn't work. So we had to pull it out of our bulk head door with his agco tractor and chains. Not an easy feat, but we did with with out damaging anything. Having grown up under privileged, but used to the normal amenities, living off grid has not bothered me too much. My bf in college helped me move in. She wasn't impressed by any means, but I could see the potential in the house. I told my dh, later on, that if there hadn't been the running water and 2 rooms "fixed", I would never have moved in. We're constantly doing something to the house.
I've always cooked from scratched. I watched my grandmother do it. My mom did it too (though she has a bland taste), so that's where I learned. I've always wanted to walk in my grandmother's foot steps. I canned stuff from our gardens for the first time 3 years ago using a boiling water bath. I love to expirament (sp?) with cooking, but am not completely brave at some things.
Lastly, one of the first things that I ever made for my house was lace curtains. I had some lace material left over from crafting, hemmed them over and sewed lace trim on one long end and bottom and put the rod pouch at the top. Very simple. All the curtains in my house, except in the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom are hand made.
Lorie |
| Annika |
Posted - Oct 20 2011 : 08:42:39 AM
Raising chicks and hand spinning were my first attempts. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, so that when we are able to buy land, I'll have much of the basics down. Soap and cheese are next on my list.
Annika
Farmgirl & sister #13
http://thegimpyfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
http://pinterest.com/annikaloveshats/
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~Leonardo DaVinci
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