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to buy the land we want. The credit union that we use does not finance raw land I know that the Lord is in control and He provides all things. He has provided this lovely home that I pretend is my farmhouse About the garden ... I have a square foot garden and I H A T E it! Not enough nutrition IMHO in those little plots of food. So I want a traditional row garden and I have been reading and reading and getting more and more confused Well, I'm off to pretend for another day .......... Blessings! ~Heather |
... it has to have a house on it. BUMMER!!! I am SO SO SO wanting to get out of suburbia as fast as I can while my children are still young. But it looks like we have to wait longer so, my husband is going to sell his Jeep and buy an older one with cash and then we'll just pay off my van and keep it instead of getting something newer. And we'll take the $$ and start saving it up.
and He is providing a fence in the next few weeks and an outbuilding which I will pretend is my barn 
(except I won't let my oldest daughter know that or she'll want a barn cat in there for sure!!!). As soon as the fence is done I will begin my garden. Yes, in July. 
... seriously, though, I'm going to just go ahead and build it and plant my fall crops in it. I'm in the lower end of zone 7 so it should be fine (according to our extension service). And if it's not we can just count it as a learning experience and the garden will be that much better come spring next year.|
I'm home this morning because today is my daughter's ballet recital and we live 45 minutes from our church - there's no way we would get home in time, so ... I've been thinking about the clothesline. I do think that our in-laws would flip, so I have found the perfect plan ... Check it out ... Martha Stewart .... just love her! http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel1179&catid=cat298 Once we get our fence up it will be no problem to put in something like that Blessings! ~Heather
ETA: okay okay I have been thinking about this while getting ready this morning and I don't think that the above would work. Sounded good, but I don't think it would be enough line. But I am not sure
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but I want to put up a clothesline. We live in suburbia, but with a fairly good sized lot. We are about 2 weeks away from putting up a privacy fence and he asked me to wait until then (heaven forbid someone have a visible clothesline in their backyard So ... waiting until the fence is up to get going on more "homesteading" things like ... putting up birdfeeders and birhouses (to attract more birds), moving my garden (yes, I did say moving it - it's a square foot garden and, well, I just don't like it!), building a potting bench with my Dad when he retires in June, and putting upa clothesline By the way ... where do I get a clothesline anyway?????????????????? |
... I think my in-laws (who own this house) will think we have really lost it how! |
Let's blame it on the FIAR girls, shall we? I learned so much that day and came home with my head swimming with info and my heart full of inspiration. I began grinding my wheat and making my bread, and then my MIL bought me a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme But let's remind for a sec ... two summers ago I got fed up. I got fed up with getting sick. I was at the library with my daughter and came across "What the Bible Says About Healthy Living" by Dr. Rex Russell. I just "happened" upon it ... right Right then and there my family changed out eating habits. This is what we did: I began shopping at Whole Foods for all my groceries Organic everything No hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated anything No artificial flavors or colors No preservatives No hormones or antibiotics (only organic milk, meat, eggs and chicken) No nitrates or nitrites No pork No shellfish or catfish Nothing white - no white sugar, no white flour Life drastically changed! I no longer got sick, I lost weight like crazy (I was not watching calories or portions or anything other than the type of food I ate) and I felt great. So fast forward past when I got my Zo to the past couple of months. I really feel like the Lord has put this desire in my heart ... to live off the land, to eat what He intended for food the way He intended it. I began planning next year's school for my daughter and became really interested in nature study. As I looked into it more, the more my desire grew for nature ... not manicured nature that we have in suburbia ... real nature they way it is in the country. Then my husband took me to show me his new hunting club. He didn't think that I believed how nice he said it was. it is AMAZING! On one piece of the property when you pull in you see a house with a big oak tree with a tire swing. Down beside the house are animals ... free range chickens (this is where we get our eggs), goats (so happy and healthyh), horses ... my heart pounded as I looked around. I wanted to live there ... I wanted to jump out of the car and never return to suburbia. And thus began my dream. The ladies on the FIAR boards have been so helpful and encouraging, and I also joined Mary Janes Farmgirl Connection, and those ladies are super nice and helpful as well. I am learning as much as I can and planning on doing all the things that farmgilrs do until I get a farm of my own ... gardening, canning, bread making, sewing ... My husband is dreaming with me and that is so nice! Only time will tell when it will come true, but I know that it will ... some day ... Blessings! ~Heather |
Those wonderful |
My daughter is a dreamer ... she has a terrific imagination. She likes to pretend and gets everyone involved. Lately this is her play "Pretend we live in a farm and ......" she is everything from a sheep that needs shearing to a barn cat. Whenever she asks me to pretend that I say, "OKAY!" and I dream away with her (little does she know that she's dreaming away with me
Since I have a blog at homeschoolblogger and one here, I think I will devote this one to my journey toward self-sufficient living. Oh, I am itching to get out of suburbia and into the country, but it's just not time ... yet ... so I will continue dreaming
I am currently trying to read read read as much as I can.
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From my husband, for Mother's Day, I got a bouquet of flowers and .... a trip to
Now, before you
And he bought me a sprayer for my garden and the following books:
Country Wisdom and Know How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. From Lehman's Catalog:
This oversized book is a complete guide to simple living. Almost 2000 illustrations and photographs describe over 8,000 useful skills including raising animals, cooking, crafts, gardening, health and home. Learn to cook with edible flowers, raise a healthy rabbit, give a good foot massage, or piece a quilt. All the answers to your country-living questions are in this book. The sheer bulk of information it contains is amazing. Includes detailed table of contents, index and appendices.
and
Hobby Farm: Living Your Rural Dream for Pleasure and for Profit. From the author's website:
This is the first book in a new line of books about small farm options for those who are new to the country from the publishers of Hobby Farms Magazine. It will cover moving to the country, gardening and crops, livestock, preserving the harvest, money-making options, and more.
You can read the first chapter here.
Oh, and I also picked up a copy of Mother Earth News.
I think I am going to order a catalog from Lehman's ... it looks like a farmgirl's best friend.
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I started a square foot garden this year, but I don't like it ... the plants don't seem to be as healthy as I would like. I think I am just as old-fashioned kind of gal and I want a traditional row garden. So, I have asked for some advice from the lovely ladies at Mary Jane Butter's Farmgirl Connection and they recommended:
Four-Season Harvest & The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman.
So I ordered it off of eBay. I also ordered "Garden Primer" by Eliot's wife, Barbara Damrosch.
I also checked out "The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food" from the library and it looks to be a wealth of good information.
I have ordered every seed catalog I can get my hands on, as well as garden and farm supply catalogs. My husband and I are enjoying learning and dreaming ...
We're going to do as much as we can to be self-sufficient until that day (of moving to our own land in the country) arrives ...
This entry is a jumble of thoughts as I feel I have begun at the beginning ... I will write more later, but the baby is waking now and I am going to go start me day
Blessings!!
~Heather |
).
you must remember that I have a 
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yes, I am dreaming and dreaming and dreaming of a farm ...
land and a small farmhouse and a barn and some chickens and goats, maybe a horse and now I am thinking of also having a family cow ... I read a great article about it at Backwoods Home - Finding, Buying, Milking and Living with the Family Cow.
So now a good friend that I have met over the internet (Hi Michelle!) introduced me to Mary Jane Butters and her FABULOUS Ideabook*Cookbook*Lifebook: for the farmgirl in all of us:
It's a wonderful book full of stories and pictures and ideas and inspiration. I found it at our library the other day. I brought it home and have been eating it up because it is full of delicious stuff!
I joined her Farmgirl Connection to chat with other farmgirls and wannabes about everything from our dream farms to making your own soap to milking cows to finding land ... and more. And I have received such a warm welcome ... I even bought a cute little apron for my dishwashing liquid from Aunt Jenny ... gotta start somewhere, right? Although no one could accuse me of not wanting to be a farmgirl if they saw my kitchen ... I love old antique signs and I have several ... farm fresh milk, fresh bread daily, drink milk, and then two new ones - one says seeds and the other says grow.
So now here I am ... pretending that my lovely home is my farmhouse. That's what I am going to do ... dream and live in the moment as if I were already there. That way I think I won't become discontent with the blessings the Lord has already provided for me.
I even asked my husband last night if I could put up a clothesline .... "After we get our fence" he told me with a smile ... I know all my dreaming makes him smile. Well, we should get our fence the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep you posted on that.
Gotta run ... I hear the baby waking ....
Blessings to all!
~Heather (farmgirl wannabe ...........) |
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dare I say it? Grace has slept through the night 8+ hours for the past 4 nights in a row ...
I wonder if she'll do it again tonight?
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I homeschool and have a blog on homeschoolblogger and a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse and saw that they started this blogosphere ... so I thought I would join.
I chose this template because I want to live in that picture at the top
more later ... ~Heather |