I have an odd question......

Laura Zone 10 · #21 04/14/10, 06:27 AM

Thank you so much for the amazing advice.

Quote:

Easier said than done:
Get rid of both the TV and the TV habit.

I see that a couple people mentioned the idiot box. Used to be there was something on it that was remotely educational. Not now.
I personally do not watch it often. I will watch part of a hockey game, or part of a foot ball game. Sometimes I will watch a program on Food Network. I kick the weather channel on to see what's up with the weather, but that's a few min. My oldest daughter is the same way. Just really not interested.
Now.......my boy, he can get sucked in. But if I say something, he is quick to realize what is happening, and shuts it down. It's my youngest and dh.

Now that it is nice weather, I really would like to wean them off this time-sucking machine. Advice on that would be awesome. I know this seems like "well duh unplug it and throw it outside". But, my dh LOVES the tv, and I cannot just unplug and pitch. They say when you quit a habit you are to replace it with something good.......

We have 5 acres with about 7 trees on it. It takes about 7 hours to mow, so we only mow twice a month. If it doesn't rain? We mow once a month.

Quote:

For example, start a small garden

I just put in ten, 10 x 3 raised bed boxes. Fertilized the soil and planted my onions and potatoes. I will also plant blue corn.
My oldest daughter has a 20 x 20 garden and she has several things she is planting.
I have several raspberry canes that are great producers.
I have 3 apple trees and 2 pears (dwarf) in the ground. Last year one apple tree produced 3 apples!! This year I am planting 2 more apple trees, and one more pear. I also need to find a 'mate' for my cherry!

I can, and last year had to buy my (most of) produce from the local farm. My tomatoes were a bust last year.(hence the making of raised beds) My apple and pear trees did not produce (they were young).
I canned peaches, pears, apples for pies and cobblers. Apple sauce and apple butter. Raspberries (and froze those) and tomatoes.

My fil is giving me his 'tumbler composter'. One of those compost bins on a spinner thing, so you can set it up, put stuff in it and spin it. So I will set that up by the raised beds and that will help my soil.

I am super blessed, as two of the three of my kids are super helpful. House hold chores are done without asking or badgering. The boy will dig holes to China if I ask, and he won't bat an eye. I try to explain to him what I am doing while I am doing it hoping some will sink in.....
My oldest daugther gets it totally.

I am getting the outside 'set up'.
Tis the season.
I have all my starts on the table (tomatoes are SO SMALL...I hope they don't die on me again) I have my raised beds in and ready. I have the materials to turn my raised beds into mini green houses later.
I have plenty of seeds to start my herbal garden too.
Just need to prep that bed.

I would like to start a 3 month storage plan, and I am really struggling with that. I have searched a zillion sites, and printed a zillion lists....and it's pretty overwhelming.

I would like to get chickens this year, but I need the coop first....

Dh is not, totally, 100% with me. He will 'entertain' my ventures, but you can see and hear in his voice he is not digging on most of what I do....
So I do have to tread lightly..

Please keep the advice coming. And if you have any ideas on how to wean a family off tv, I sure would love to hear them.

7thswan · #22 04/14/10, 07:31 AM

Sounds like you are doing real good to me. As far as the TV, maybe just agree to certian programs,and no more. I know it would be hard my dh likes the TV too.

ginnie5 · #23 04/14/10, 08:14 AM

we went cold turkey on the tv. I had the cable turned off with the intention of getting a convertor box off freecycle or something. I've quit looking. We watch what tv we want online and bought a cable to hook the computer up to the tv. That said we haven't hooked them up in over a month. Just easier to watch it on the computer.

Beaners · #24 04/14/10, 08:15 AM

Everyone talks about television, but I find I lose more time to the computer every single day. We NEVER watch television but I can eat up an entire afternoon checking forums and craigslist and ebay and email groups and youtube, etc. And most of the time I will justify to myself that I am "researching" something or another. I might start out looking for the right times to fertilize something or how to fix something that's broken. An hour later I'm still clicking around even though I only needed five minutes to find what I was looking for. Internet is far, far worse in our house than tv.

It can be hard to find a balance between jumping in to get things started and not getting in over your head. I have pages and pages of "to-do" lists. I'd try to focus on a single major project and have a couple minor ones at the same time. If there are things that only need a one time large commitment of time, try to get them done and out of the way. It is a huge motivator to see things that have been accomplished. (Try making a list of all the things that you have tried, whether or not you have succeeded. That always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.) Perennial plantings like the ones you have started are great for that.

Regarding the 3 month storage plan, for that time frame I would just buy the same stuff you usually eat, but more of it. Label the tops of cans or packages, write it down or record it in excel, and put it on some shelves. For 3 months you don't need to worry too much. If you don't like the way you have it set up, you can always change it as you eat it and buy more over the next few months. That said, we have had a couple cases of vegetables next to the bed for the last 3 months because I haven't gotten around to putting them away where they belong. Sometimes "everything" doesn't happen and what we do isn't really that much to begin with.

I also have more success when I focus on things instead of spreading myself too thin. If you want to have a great garden this year, make that your number one priority. If you want to have chickens this year, make that your number one instead. If you want to put up a lot of food, focus on canning. If you want to have fresh baked home ground bread every day, then that will be your number one. Having at least one thing under your belt is a far more positive experience than juggling a dozen things but not mastering any of them.

I try to do something every single day. Maybe it's making newspaper pots for my seedlings, maybe it's fertilizing the trees or berries, maybe it's breeding the rabbits, maybe it's setting eggs in the incubator. None of those take a ton of time but they are something that I can start and finish and say that I got done. Hint: weeding will NEVER be on that list for me. Maybe weeding a single crop, but never weeding in general.

Honestly, it sounds like you are doing a lot of neat stuff. I'm sure if you took the time to notice all the things you are doing you would find that you've managed to get a lot done. Even with distractions like the tv and a long to-do list, you're doing good things!

Kayleigh

ErinP · #25 04/14/10, 10:51 AM

Frankly, I never would have identified myself as a "homesteader" until just the last year or two.

We're ranchers.

But, I'll echo everyone else and suggest taking it slow.

1. Thirteen years ago when I first got married, I planted my first garden. Despite having grown up in a green-thumb household, most of what I've learned about gardening has been through my own trial and error.
It was also about this time that I started cooking from scratch, though I still used boxes pretty regularly.

(We've always kept the pantry pretty well stocked just because for too many years, we were 50-100 miles from a not-tiny grocery store and only shopped once a month)

2. Eleven years ago, I took my first canning class. I also started sewing fairly often. ...Mostly simple things, like curtains.

3. About ten years ago, I started canning/freezing in earnest because we were on a ranch where the boss's wife liked to can, so we made it a group thing. All the wives would get together in her kitchen and we'd can and freeze as a group. It was fun AND productive.

4. About that same time, I found a bread recipe that I liked and started baking more often. Though mostly just for fun. No bread machine. I did it the old-fashioned way.
We also got our first batch of chickens.

5. Eight years ago, I started sewing clothes fairly often. I had a little girl and who doesn't love dressing up their little girls?

6. Five years ago I really got into quilting (post-Katrina, I helped our local quilt group put quilts together for handing out at the shelters).

7. During this time frame I was cooking more and more from scratch and less and less from convenience stuff.

8. Two years ago, we bought 40 acres of our own and have been building on it ever since. An outhouse first, next the shop, currently the house.

9. Within the last year or so, I've gotten very concerned about the crap in our food supply and environment and have been making more and more from scratch. Bread machine is going several days a week. We just started milking one of the ranch's cows. (An Angus, but she's unusually docile and gives plenty of milk for both us and her calf). And so on. We should have had our own beef this year, but our steer died last summer.

So, we're still buying from the neighbors.

So far as the tube, are we the only ones who watch PBS, the History Channel, TLC, or Discovery?? If we could just ala carte those and RFD, we'd probably dump the rest. But the entire thing? No thanks!! To much stuff to learn in this world and not enough time to do it in!

Pelenaka · #26 04/14/10, 11:54 AM

When I was younger Time found me. Now I have to be well rested, carry a huge flashlight and a large pillow case for hunting down time. Always remember when clubbing to daze not render unconscience. For a truely down home version store time in antique wire bail canning jars but remember to date for expiration. Display proudly!

Funny I always thought that once my 4 children were older and could help with homesteading activities such as canning being techno Amish would be a snap. While their degree of help has increased, now they can prep produce for canning with minimal or no supervison their time is now divided between school, school sponsored softball, & church. Now to mention the occassional employment opps such as housecleaning or child care. Then because I don't want to steal from my own child I do just let them be a teenagers & 'iss away time now & again.
We don't have cable nor home internet access. Nor a WII.

Point is there will never be enough time in the day to do it all. Pick & choose what is vital then homestead smart. I don't plant canning carrots because I can glean them for free. I don't weed because I use newspaper mulch. I don't sew because I can barter or buy used clothing cheaply. I do however mend. I make 30 lbs. of decent soap once every 2 to 3 years if I have collected all my ingredients for free.
Also know that despite homesteading smart the moment you become so proficient with a given task that you now find yourself with a measurable amount of Time, another time sucking aspect of homesteading will present itself to you. A task that you now belive you can't live without.

For hubby it has been gathering & storing free firewood for the 2010-2011 heating season now that we have a woodstove. Followed by teaching himself blacksmithing.
For me well I'm busy forming the NTHA - National Time Hunter's Ass. There's a logo to design, bumper stickers to order, a convention to plan, ...
Seroiusly, it's pie making. Fancy melt in your mouth crust, deep dish, slap the pimp, Martha Stewart younger & prettier sister, to die for pies that I am using to barter with.
Because if I barter then I don't have to spend time earning the money or going shopping ...

~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/