New Links to Helpful Websites

Since I am still (unfortunately) in the "research" stage of this whole thing, I thought I would post some of the websites I have found to be interesting and that I hope to be able to use more in the future! I have categorized the links into "Homesteading" - here are various websites I have found that have great info for various aspects of homesteading, "Simple Living" - where I posted a couple of articles I definitely need to implement to simplify my life, and "Seed Sources" - which I plan to utilize later. They are sources of organic, heirloom seeds, and I am already drooling over all the weird and random things I can grow! That's all for now! Enjoy the links!

Best Book Ever!!

So I know it has been a while since my last post - but I have been quite busy! I am still in research mode (um because that's pretty much the only mode I can be in at the moment!) and have been trying out various natural/ sustainable living practices (though without necessarily for the reason of being more natural or "green", but more because a good experiment seemed in order :) The most notable experiments include making more things from scratch (especially bread - now I can never go back to store-bought and my waistline will probably never go back either. . . ) and my 30 day no shampoo challenge which I have been secretly blogging about (secretly because nothing's worse than starting something, blabbing to the world about it, and then chickening-out and stopping and then having to explain!) But I'm almost to the end, and I love it so I feel free to share :)

So anyways, the reason for this post is to review a book I recently bought called Mini Farming: Self Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham.

Not only is this book comprehensive and gives great starting information, but I feel like my farm dreams are more attainable now. I don't need 100 acres of prime farm land, but on literally a fraction of an acre, I can grow enough produce to feed our family and have enough left over to sell (even $10,000 worth!!) It has step by step info on how to start up what the author calls a "mini farm". The only thing it is lacking is information on keeping bees, which is something I would be interested in doing, and it seems like an important part of many homesteads (especially with all the pollination that's going to need to take place!). But there are a bazillion books on the subject and I would probably be better off getting more thorough information from an expert (they are bees, after all - a little intimidating!) But awesome book anyways - I highlighted all over it, will be putting page flags and making notes soon on specifics. Now I can't wait to put it into practice!

Research, research, research. . .

Hi everyone! So I haven't forgotten about this - in fact it has been rather consuming me! I figured, well, I'm not moving anywhere at the moment, so I might as well start researching stuff. So I thought I would mention some of the resources I have been looking at recently, so that anyone else interested can look at them too (and also so that I don't forget what I looked at :) So without further ado, here are three resources I thought were interesting:

First, I checked out the book The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It by John Seymour. Though it seems that it is written for the homesteader in a colder climate, it has a lot of really great information. It gives tips for not only setting up a parcel of land, but even smaller areas too, like for your backyard or a community garden. Honestly, I had no idea community gardens existed - some cities have plots of land that you pay a small monthly or yearly fee to cover water and supplies, and you can grow whatever as long as you maintain it, and they even sometimes have master gardeners come to speak to give gardening pointers. This book also goes into the different kinds of animals you can raise and all sorts of maintenance and craft things. It doesn't go into a lot of detail on each one, but it is a good basic overview. It is kind of sad how much of this practical knowledge has been lost over the last century.

The next book I checked out was more of just an interesting read rather than a how-to guide. It was called New Pioneers: The Back-to-the-Land Movement and the Search for a Sustainable Future by Jeffrey Jacob. It was a sociological study of the history of the movement, and typically what kinds of people are attracted to this lifestyle, the challenges they face and the rewards they reap. Very interesting read. One of the major points I learned from reading this is that this process takes a LONG time - it doesn't happen overnight. It is something you work at to constantly build and you eventually get to the point that my third resource is at . . .

Probably the most interesting thing I have read so far has been the website urbanhomestead.org and its corresponding blog Little Homestead in the City. This family has transformed their tiny urban home and lot into an almost completely self-sufficient homestead (on 1/10 an acre!). They even have farm animals and bees and it doesn't look like crap. You may think, big deal. But they produced 7000 lbs of produce last year and so therefore provided almost all their produce (90%) for the full year and had enough excess that they sold for $20,000!! These people are serious! And they are seriously awesome! You can get sucked into their website for hours :)

So anyways, these are the main resources I have read since my last post. If anyone knows of any others, please let me know!