On Being Self-Reliant

I'm not sure where the want of being self-reliant started. I remember my Mom baking every weekend and sewing us matching dresses when I was little. Even when I was older she made some awesome garlic dills! But I don't suppose that was being self-reliant so much as doing something she enjoyed from time to time.

When I got into high school I discovered "Mother Earth News". What a revelation THAT was. I didn't know people lived that way. No one I knew did, that's for sure. That's when I decided I wanted to live in a log cabin somewhere in the hills. No electricity...no running water. Ummm yeah. That didn't happen. I went along with the flow. Lived like everyone else. Hated it. In the meantime I raised three kids and kept wishing I at least lived in the country and not in town.

A few years ago I came across an internet forum called Homesteading Today. Whoaaaa! There were other people out there that had the same ideas I did! So I read and absorbed and learned from all the helpful folks there. What an abundancy of knowledge all those people had and how great that they were so willing to share! I decided that I would try and make my dream a reality.

About a year ago my partner and I found a place in the country that we could rent REALLY cheap. Five acres and plenty of room to have a garden and eventually a few critters. Today I am waiting for my first chicks to arrive. They'll be here in a couple of weeks and I am soooo excited! I have the brooder ready and we'll be starting on the coop this week. I've got 5 buff orpingtons and a buff roo, 5 barred rocks and 5 white rocks and a white rock roo on the way. Soon we'll have farm fresh eggs for breakfast and eventually fresh chicken for dinner and eggs and chicks to sell.

Our garden is tilled and waiting for us to get out there and get planting. I think the weather is going to stay nice now so we should be able to do that soon. We already have a lot of our seeds started. Hopefully everything grows well this year. We'll be planting 4 types of tomatoes, 2 types of beans, pumpkin, watermelon, lettuce, cucumbers, onion, zuchinni, strawberries and peppers. I also have seeds for lavender, various herbs and several types of gourd. I hope to sell the herbs and birdhouses, bowls, etc. that I make from the gourds. There are a couple of apple trees, grape vines and blackberries here already. I made grape jelly and juice from the grapes last year and they were so good. Much better than anything you can buy in the stores.

I'm hoping to do a lot of canning and dehydrating this year. I now make my own laundry detergent, too. Totally chemical free.

I doubt that I'll ever be totally self-reliant, but it's good to know how to do these things. Especially nowadays when going to the store is so expensive and the economy is so bad. I will always have electricity and running water I guess, unless a time comes that they aren't available. Then I will make do. I don't HAVE to have electricity as I have oil lamps to use for lighting and I can live without things like the internet (although I would sure miss it. lol).

So, I continue to learn how to do new things all the time. First chickens and maybe a couple of dairy goats for next year. And I definitely want to raise rabbits again. But, one step at a time. It's just nice to know where a lot of our food will be coming from. Free from chemicals and over processing. Healthy. Yes, life CAN be very good!

Tale of the Happy Pig

Once upon a time (when I was very small) I was given a Lefton china piggy bank. I always smiled when I looked at him and he always smiled back. He was a very happy pig. He jingled and jangled with coins over the years...making a wonderfully musical sound when I shook him. For many, many years he sat smiling on my dresser grinning ear to ear as only the happiest of happy pigs do. One day he got broken. I don't remember exactly how. (I'm sure it was so traumatic that I blocked it from my mind.) But, no matter...the happy little pig was no more.

Last week Earl and I went to a small shop that sells antiques and collectibles. It's alway fun to go there and I almost always find some little thing to bring home. One time it was a set of miniature abc cookie cutters in a tin. Another time a Royal Albert teacup with beautiful pink roses.

I was browsing all the tables in the nooks and crannies of the shop when, all of a sudden, I spied a familiar smile. I smiled back. And now, a happy pig sits on my dresser once again grinning ear to ear and making a wonderfully musical sound when I shake him.

My Country Life

We moved out to Willow Road back in August. I fell in love with the property the first time I saw it. A small, somewhat run-down 150 year old cottage on 5 acres that's bordered by a forest preserve. There's a very small stream of fresh water that runs along the north side of the driveway. Cold and crystal clear. There are grape vines and blackberry bushes and a couple of apple trees.

The house itself needs a lot of cosmetic work. The kitchen and bathroom both need a piece or two of drywall to be finished up. The kitchen floor is old cracked tiles and even when it's swept and mopped doesn't look particularly clean. The Living room is a putrid shade of apple green and the bedroom is a pale pink disaster. Those two rooms will be painted come spring. But, this old cottage is sturdy and well built. No cold air is sneaking through the windows like in newer homes I have lived in. So, even in the below zero temps we have had this winter, we stay warm and toasty inside.

There's a small basement that works well for storage. Other than that there are three main rooms (kitchen, living room and bedroom) plus the bathroom and a small room off the kitchen that I use as a pantry/library.

We've picked grapes and blackberries. I've made grape jelly and fresh grape juice. Earl has found arrowheads up in the woods.

We've watched a family of skunks wander the fence line, a raccoon enjoy the catfood that the landlord leaves out by one of the outbuildings for the MANY cats, and the other morning when I woke up I saw three white-tail deer bounding out of the field and disappearing into the woods.

This summer we saw a million fireflies at night. I hadn't seen so many since I was a kid and would go catch them in jars. And the stars......I love going outside on a clear, cloudless night and looking up into the heavens. The stars truly are like diamonds in the night sky. Living in larger cities and towns for the last decade or so I hadn't been able to see the stars at night. Too many lights I suppose. Out here the stars ARE the lights.

Winters of Youth

"Winter came down to our home one night. Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow. And we.....we were children once again. "~Bill Morgan, Jr.

When I looked out my kitchen window this morning I was greeted with our first real snowfall of the season. Snow dusted like powdered sugar on the ground and frosting the bare branches of the trees. Took me back to the days of snow angels and sledding and playing "king of the hill" on top of those huge Wisconsin snowbanks.......

Winter and I were companions then.

Now, decades later, I much prefer curling up with a warm throw, a creamy mug of hot cocoa and a good book to being outside in the cold. But, when I look out the window and remember the winters of youth, I smile......

Words of Wisdom

Pause, Relax,Breathe.....words that I think I will follow.

It's Not My Fault

OK.....I'm a cashier. I'd really like to greet you smiling like this.





But when you come in the store like this......


Forgetaboutit!!





I did not purposely ring your purchase in at the wrong price. Each item is scanned in by computer and I have nothing to do with how it rings up. If it is, indeed, the wrong price I will happily fix it for you. However, don't get offended when I ask another employee to do a price check for me first. Sometimes you read the sign incorrectly and sometimes you just plain lie hoping to get the item cheaper. Sometimes it's an error on our part and we need to know this so it can be fixed.

When you call to tell me that I neglected to ring in BOTH $3 off coupons for the two products you bought, please be sure how much your coupons were for. In this case one was for $1 and one was for $3. And they are, indeed, on the receipt you insist on bringing in the next day when you complain to the manager.

Do not think you have to have exact change to pay for your purchases and take 10 minutes digging through the bottom of your purse while I have a line of people waiting behind you. It does NOT make it any easier for me when you give me exact change. I could care less. Especially when you have a $4.98 cent purchase and insist on giving me $100.98. The hundred dollars pretty much messes me up. Especially first thing in the morning.

Please understand that if you bring in 10 rolls of film that I cannot possibly have them done for you in an hour. For one thing, the machine can only handle so much at a time. The hour thing is based on one roll of film, and even that depends on how many are before yours. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

If you want to use a coupon on something you need to have that coupon with you. I can not ring in a coupon that I haven't been given. Likewise, I can't take a coupon good only at another store. I am not allowed to do that. Don't tell me about how another store would have taken it. Go to that other store then.

There will be more. Stay tuned.

My Favorite Poem

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost