Joys of Canning with the Bounty from Your Garden

Ahh the joys of canning and reaping the rewards all winter long. I canned assorted jams including jalapeño jelly, tomatoes, salsa, peaches and applesauce. The rack above was completely full by the end of summer/early fall. With just my husband and I we have gone through a lot of the canned goods this winter. I hope my garden is successful this summer so I can more veggies. We're a little late planning our garden this year because of our work schedules.

So Many Goals

Goals, goals, goals. As homesteaders there are so many thinks to learn it can be very overwhelming so my husband and I made this list to remind us of the goals we need to achieve to become more self-sufficient. This poster is taped on our closet door in the bedroom so that we see it every day. There are over forty items that are on the list and here are just a few:

Stockpiling

All right I have to confess I'm a stockpiler. I was one long before I was a homesteader. I can't help it. It's almost an addiction. However isn't stockpiling part of being a homesteader? At first I didn't see it like that but I do now. You do need to be prepared for a disaster, lack of income, or do it just to save money. I have gotten away from stockpiling the convenience foods, cleaning products, toilet paper, paper products, feminine hygiene products to pretty much health & beauty items.

Craft Project: Fabric Panels

We'll techinally I don't know the name of these things but that's ok.

I’m really in the mood to redecorate my whole house but can’t spend a lot of money so I’m been thinking of what I can do. So to begin my redecorating journey I thought I would start with one room, my living room.

Raising Chickens: Part I-Raising Chicks

Like I have mentioned in my first post we have quite a few chickens and we have had our fair of raising chicks this past summer. We weren't really prepared for raising chicks like we should have been when we brought our first batch home. First off we really don't have a good place to raise them in a ventilated, draft free area.

My First Post

This is my first post on my new blog and I'm very excitited to share my journey with others. My husband and I have been trying to homestead for just over two years. We aren't were we want to be but it's long journey. We live in the country about 25 minutes from a large town on 6.5 acres. This was a large change from living in a large city in an apartment.When we first bought our house, four years ago, we didn't really have homesteading in mind we just knew we were tired of living in the city and wanted more space. After a year and half of living in the coutry we began to start homesteading with little things like reducing our propane and energy usage, hanging clothes to dry and just being more aware of what we are eating. Then we got 5 chickens (hens) and now we are up to 40 chickens (hens and roosters). I never has fresh eggs until then and I love them! We hope to add more livestock this year. Please stay tuned becuase I will be posting what I'm doing to have more self-sufficent lifestyle and to live the homesteading dream.