My Little Homestead

About seven months ago we decided to embark on the homesteading lifestyle and work towards self-sufficiency as a family. While we have learned a lot in the last few months, we have not had the bountiful success I had hoped. Chalk it up to inexperience I guess.

We did manage to plant some fruit trees and bushes as well as a vegetable garden. So far we have harvested one blackberry, one strawberry, one blueberry (although more are ripening), one tomato and one cucumber. Not exactly enough for a family of five to live off of.

That’s the bad news. The positive side is that we did learn a lot. We built two raised garden beds and a compost bin. Our compost is looking good (as good as decaying vegetables and newspaper can look anyway) and we sold a lot of unneeded clutter at our yard sale. We have cut down on buying unnecessary stuff and eating healthier food. We make more homemade.

We are planning a homemade Christmas instead of racking up credit card debt. We have gotten more involved in our community and have “smelled the roses” a little bit. We are calmer and happier.

So all in all we haven’t accomplished everything that we hoped this season but Homesteading is a year round lifestyle and we’re still making strides. And next planting season we will be more prepared and a whole lot wiser.

When my husband and I decided to convert to a homesteading lifestyle, we sat down and discussed the goals we had for our Little Homestead. I had visited the Path To Freedom website and saw their personal self-sufficiency ratings. My husband and I used their measures as a starting point for what we wanted to accomplish. Many of the things on their list also made ours, we’ve added a few and left off the ones that didn’t fit with our personal vision or the parameters of our property (like keeping goats).

Here’s what we’ve decided to work on for now. We imagine we will change our list as we go and hopefully, when we move to a bigger piece of land someday, we can add a whole bunch of new things to aspire to.

Homesteading Goals

• Home Haircuts - Luckily my husband is fine with a razor cut (not quite buzz cuts but pretty short) and my sons get their hair cut by their aunt who is a stylist. My husband was complimented on the haircut I gave him earlier this month much to my surprise and pleasure. He is planning to do my hair someday soon and I will give my daughter a haircut before school. I’m hoping all goes well. All in all I would have to say we have this goal 80% accomplished with predicted 100% by the end of September.
• Buying In Bulk - This is a bit difficult for us since our home is so small. We are currently in the process of transforming our basement into more useable space so we can set up some shelves and a chest freezer down there. As of right now, we buy a few things in bulk so I would say we are about 50% of the way to accomplishing this goal.
• All natural cleaning - we haven’t gotten too far with this yet since I am still using up the commercial products we already had. As I run out of those, however, I will be mixing all natural, homemade alternatives. I would have to say we are 0% accomplished at this time.
• Using reuseable bags - I bought 10 reuseable canvas bags and have been pretty consistent about using them but have forgotten them either at home or in the car from time to time. I would give myself a score of 90% for this goal at this time.
• Replacing paper towels with cotten cloths - You can get cloth napkins at thrift stores and yard sales much cheaper than buying cotton dishcloths. I recently spent $5 for 8 napkins that can be used to pick up spills and clean instead of paper towels. I still have paper towels to use up and I am being very conservative with them. I would say we have only achieved this goal 30% right now.
• Income from home business - Currently my husband works two jobs, neither of which are home-based, and I am building up my blogging and internet marketing business. Eventually I believe we could make a decent living from selling things that we grow, make and build. I have a vision of a small-time general store named “Carpenter Crafts” both online and as a real world stand. Unfortunately as of right now only a tiny, tiny amount of our income comes from our home business so I have to give a score of 2% for this one.
• Eliminate Over-the-counter medications - Due to several serious medical conditions between my son, my husband and myself, we could never eliminate commercial medications completely. However we do aspire to eliminate the OTC drugs that we currently use for headaches, pain relief, gas, constipation, etc. There are natural herbs and spices that cure most ailments which I’m currently studying. As of yet we haven’t gotten too far with this either so I have to say 0% for this one too.
• Cooking from scratch - As a family we have never been big on convenience foods. We have eliminated frozen waffles and pancakes. I now make them and freeze them for the upcoming week. We still use instant oatmeal but once we run out I don’t plan on buying more. I still have a weakness for microwave popcorn but I’m looking into a PA (popcorn-eaters anonymous) meeting to try and kick the habit. Other than that we’ve cut out instant potatoes, instant soup, and store-bought sauces. In total, we’re accomplished about 55% of this goal.
• Eliminate eating out 90% of the time - We eat out quite often. Between the pooly designed kitchen and my illness, I find it difficult to push myself to making dinner. Let’s call it what it is, mostly laziness. Well there is no room for laziness on the homestead so we are going to work hard next month to not eat out more than once for a special occasion (My son’s birthday). We have no score for this unless you want to go with the 0% again since we just ate out for lunch yesterday.
• Eating with the seasons - Without even realizing it I have usually eaten with the season becasue in season foods tend to be cheaper. Once I set up a specific meal plan though, I found I was buying things out of season because I needed them for the meals. I plan on setting up seasonal meal plans to go with the seasons of my area. Our percentage for this as of now? Roughly 70%.
• Growing our own produce - This year was the first year we planted a vegetable garden. We also planted two fruit trees and five berry bushes. Unfortunately we didn’t know much about planting or growing food and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get much of a yield this year. Next year we will know more and hopefully we will do better. Again I have to put this at 0% since we haven’t grown anything that we could eat yet.
• Growing our own herbs - Luckily herbs are easier to grow and I have had some luck with basil, parsley, and chives. My second batch of herbs didn’t do as well but I wasn’t around to water them so I think neglect did them in. All in all, I would give myself a score of 75%.
• Beekeeping - By the time we decided to give beekeeping a try and figured out an area that would be good to keep them, it was too late in the season to buy them. Apparently, started bee hives (ones with a queen and a ready made hive) sell out early. Now we know to buy them early next year. Until then we get a big fat 0% for this goal.
• Keeping Chickens - We haven’t found a good place to buy them and we havne’t built our coop yet. I’m still in the studying and research stage of chicken ownership. 0% again.
• Canning/Drying Food - We are in the process of looking for a cheap, possibly second-hand, pressure canner and dehydrator. Until we can afford the equipment there isn’t much that can be done. We could can tomatoes without a pressure canner but we haven’t managed to grow any yet and we haven’t bought any due to the salmonella scare. Now that is over, we’ll probably look into canning some tomatoes.
• Buying Energy Star appliances - we have made the commitment to replace our appliances with Energy Star appliances as they need replacing. Our dishwasher is already Energy Star, as is our air conditioner. Our dryer and stove are fairly new and aren’t Energy Star so it’ll a be awhile before we get to buying those. On the other hand, our fridge and washing machine are very old and mostly on their way out so will need replacing within the next year or so. I figure a 30% for this one.
• Solar Energy - We’re looking into ways to create a solar oven and solar energy collection but haven’t gotten into building them yet. 0%
• Using Greywater - I’m still trying to sell my family on this concept. Fresh water is such a big part of the culture today that when you suggest reusing water (even if it’s only to water plants) you are likely to get a look of disgust. 0% for now but I’m going to keep trying.
• Replacing electrical tools with manual - I’m ditching my electric can opener and opening my cans manually instead. Not only with I use less energy, I’ll free up precious counter space. The same goes for my mixer. In the workshop, my husband can use a manual screwdriver instead of an electric one and for small jobs can use a manual saw. I’m not sure how commited to the cause that he’s willing to be but for now I’d give us a 15%.
• Rainwater harvesting - I started doing this almost immediately because I hate using all that water from the hose to water the garden. I have a couple of bins set up (I use big plastic buckets with lids). Unfortunately we haven’t had much rain this season but I get a 65% for effort.
• Reduce flushed water in the toilet - I have read about filling a plastic bottle with sand and putting it into the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water that gets flushed. We haven’t gotten around to doing it yet but we have plans to do it this weekend. 0%
• Composting - We have been composting since the beginning of May. It seems to be gong fine but we won’t have any compost into next season. On the good side, we do compost 90% of everything that we are supposed to. Therefore, 90%.
• Reduction of packaging - We’ve taken steps towards this simply by buying in bulk and reusing plastic containers. For example, we buy a large liquid soap bottle and use it to refill the smaller bottles we have from previous purchases. I’m sure there is more that we could do so I’ll give us an 80% on this.
• Practicing the 4 Rs - The four Rs are reuse, recycle, reduce and repurpose. Before we throw anything away we ask ourselves if there is a better thing we can do with it. Often we donate things that we don’t want. I have been keeping old clothes that are too stained or worn to donate for makign braided rugs. We compost. I turned an old dry sink that didn’t fit in my house into a planting center for the workshop. This fall (when it’s a bit cooler) I plan on refinishing our tables and chairs rather than replacing them. All in all, we’re about 85% on this since we do sometimes forget to recycle something or we buy new when we don’t really need to.
• Crocheting - I have a basic crocheting skill but I would like to work on it so that I can make sweaters and other cold weather clothing for my family. I give myself a 50% since I can crochet, know the basic stitches and can read basic instructions.
• Sewing - This is a tough one for me. I have a brand new sewing machine and think I have it threaded correctly but have yet to figure out how to use it to make something useful. I’m thinking about taking a basic skills sewing class. It might be worth the money to learn such a valuable and versatile skill. But for right now I get a 0%.
• Carpentry - My husband is a wonder with wood (I guess with a name like Carpenter it’s probably in his blood) but I have yet to work any wonders. My husband has built a few things around the house and plans to build a small boat so we can go fishing out on the nearby ocean. In fact his first job was working for a shipbuilder at age 12. I’ll give us a 50% just because there are still many things around the house that aren’t made by him.
• Soap making - I have tried soap making before but I didn’t have the patience. Soap making equipment is on the list of homesteading supplies that we still have to buy. 0%
• Candle Making - This story is basically the same as the soap making. 0%
• Fishing - Once again, waiting for the money to buy the equipment. We also need to look into a good place to fish off the shore nearby until the boat is built. 0%
• Seed Saving - We haven’t had anything to harvest yet so I’m not sure if seed saving is going to be possible for most of our plants this year. I have read about it and have hand instructions on how to do it if I need them. 0%

That’s all we have so far. It doesn’t seem like we’ve accomplished much yet but homesteading is difficult and time-consuming work. There isn’t much time for sitting down and relaxing when you’re a homesteader. Still I’m loving every minute of it and think it’s the best decision my family and I have ever made.

In my quest to learn more about simple country living and getting back to basics, I checked out a few survivalist websites. I figured the two would be similar since getting back to the basics is all about surviving on your own merit and producing as much of your family’s needs as possible.

Simply put, I was wrong. The survivalist websites I went too (and I won’t mention names or links) seemed to be set up to create paranoia and selfishness in the name of survival when the “end of the world as we know it” comes. They are more about building shelters to horde food and keep out the remaining survivors than about making your own clothes and growing a backyard garden.

I am about surviving. We have talked as a family about what to do if something really horrible happened and we got separated or some of us died. We have talked about protecting our home and property against looters and criminals during a disaster. We have emergency supplies in case we need them. We are prepared. We would do what we would have to.

But I am not about to live my life planning for the end of days or preaching about Armageddon. Despite the fact that I believe the United States is heading for an economical, political and social breakdown, I am working hard to make sure that my family can weather the storm. I don’t foresee the end of the world anytime soon, just the end of the lifestyle we have become accustomed to.

Homesteaders take pride in growing their own food, sewing their own clothes and earn an income from their small home businesses. Survivalists firmly believe that the world is ending and they are gathering goods so they can survive the worst. While I don’t necessarily agree with the things they say or believe, I support their right to conduct their lives however they choose as long as they are not hurting anyone else.

Store-bought silver polish is smelly and comes with a arm length list of warnings about wearing gloves and using in a well ventilated area. Anything with that many warnings can’t fit into the simple country life that homesteading is all about.

An effective and safer alternative to commercial silver cleaning products is to mix up a paste of simple baking soda and water. I don’t do any specific measuring, I just keep adding water until the paste is thin enough to be brushed on with an old toothbrush but thick enough to stay on the silver until wiped off.

Using this homemade alternative is a bit more work though. Expect to have to wipe with a damp cloth several times before all of the baking soda paste is removed. You’ll also have to spend some time buffing the silver in order to get an uniform finish. However I think the extra time and effort is well worth keeping toxic chemicals away from my family and the sense of accomplishment when the silver is sparkling is much better than taking the “easy” way out.

These pictures are from a few weekends ago - Mother’s day weekend actually. It’s taken me some time to figure out how to use the digital camera and how to upload these pics to the blog.

This was our first weekend as a family working on the homestead. Usually it’s just me and dh but I took advantage of Mother’s Day by asking the boys to join in and help plant the border on the side of our driveway.

First they had to dig up and remove all the weeds. This was much more work than they had expected but they were troopers and finished the whole thing. Once the dirt was mostly vegetation-free, they raked grooves into the dirt and scattered the border mix we had purchased. Halfway done and we ran out of seeds! So off I ran to the local Wal-mart to get some more and finally it was all planted.

While the boys were busy, I was doing a couple of things at once. First I was in the house making a loaf of homemade bread - mmmmmm. Due to the rising time I had plenty of time in between to be outside with everyone else.

First DH had to finish the raised garden beds which will hopefully be less stress on my poor back. Then I could transplant the vegetables I had been growing inside since late March.

And the bread is done! Who wants a slice?

Growing fruit on the Homestead

Tiny Strawberry Plants. I can almost taste the jam already.

Our little peach tree. We won’t get peaches for a couple of years though.

It’s slow going but it feels so good to be working our land and working towards a more self-sufficient life for our family.

Every since I was a little girl I have been intrigued with farming and the pioneer days. Little House On The Prairie was my favorite televisions show and I dreamed of someday waking up at the crack of dawn to milk cows and gather eggs.

Unfortunately land where I live in Rhode Island is very expensive and we couldn’t afford much more than a small “fixer-upper” sitting on 5000 sq ft of land for our first home. Allowing for the space of the house, driveway, and garage (shed), we are left about 3700 sq ft to work with. Not exactly the mini-farm I was dreaming of.

I put my dream aside as a “maybe, someday” and didn’t think much more of it.

Then the economy went to hell in a hand basket. Food, gas, everything is more expensive - too expensive. So I figured I would try starting a little garden just to grow the most expensive herbs and vegetables that my family likes to eat. Tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and peppers.

Off to the local Benny’s (hardware store) for some seeds, soil and seed starter planters. For about 40 bucks I figured I would save hundreds in produce this summer and fall. I surfed the net for simple gardening advice since I have never successfully grown anything before. In fact, my mother and sisters stopped giving me plants for gifts years ago because it was cruel and unusual punishment for the plants.

While searching the net, I came across the term “Urban Homesteading” which is basically living the simple farm life no matter how small your plot of land is. You can well imagine how exciting this new concept was to me.

I sat down with my family and talked with them about Urban Homesteading (although in our case it is more like suburban homesteading) and they were excited enough to be willing to give it a try. So I set out to learn as much as I could about it. Here’s some of the points I have learned:

• There are no set rules for homesteading and the proper definition varies depending on who you ask. But generally, it’s about producing for your own family - food, clothes, furniture, whatever, as much as you can. Also there is a push towards conservation (waste not, want not) and reducing your family’s dependence on consumer goods. Some people see it as an economic choice, a political choice or simply a personal choice. I see it as a little of all three.


• Once upon a time in this country, many homes were their own little industry, self-reliant and self-supporting. Homesteading is a movement back towards that concept and is one I agree with wholeheartedly. I think the main thing our society needs is self-sufficiency, the ability to take care of yourself and separate a want from a need.


• Homesteading brings families closer since every member is needed to work for the support of the family. My boys work cultivating and cleaning and repairing just like my husband and me. My daughter (who is four) helps fill the watering can and watering the garden.


• Once you have the basic supplies, you will save money and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that comes with growing your own food, baking your own bread and making your own clothes, furniture, etc. Nothing in the world feels better than sitting down after a day of good, hard, productive work.


• Just about everything can be producing within the household. And by selling your surplus, you can earn money for the bills and supplies that you can produce.


• It’s better for the environment and earth when you produce what you consume and opt for reusing, recycling, and re-purposing instead of just buying new. Homesteaders are careful with their land and their property because they have to be so they are less likely to use harmful toxic chemicals for growing, cleaning or building.


• Lastly, the homesteading ideal is becoming more and more popular as the economy gets worse and people are desperate to find a way to get by. I believe we will see more people growing their own food, sewing their own clothes and repairing rather than just throwing away and buying new.

I’m excited about giving homesteading a try and exciting about having this blog so I can share this experience with you. I hope that you will research homesteading and consider implementing some, if not all, of the simple living ideals into your home life.