Member Jillian
MemberForum Replies Created
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I love canning meat. It’s been a great way for my kids to learn how to put together ingredients for a meal. I love canning chili, stews and soups of all kinds. My kids love teriyaki chicken. They make rice and broccoli to pour it over. My husband loves having seasoned taco meat for a quick burrito for lunch. I enjoy having the open freezer space available for freezing my berries and tomatoes. My oldest daughter is in college and loves it when I send her Cajun red beans and lentil soup. Oh the possibilities.
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We purchased 10acres in January in cash and are committing to the freestanding way of life. We can’t afford to purchase a hoop house at this time. If we won, we’d build the ends ourselves. My biggest reason for wanting one is this year I lost half my garden to feral cats that people across the way feed and allow to breed. It was devastating to have to toss everything including my beautiful organic soil that I worked so hard to build during a time we were struggling with layoff. I do think growing in hoop houses and high tunnels will likely be how we garden from here on out. I refuse to put it on a credit card so slow and steady will have to do. Thanks for all you do. And best wishes to everyone.
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Until I read Toni’s post I would have had food at the top of my list. Food ensured my kids’ survival and I didn’t want any store dictating that. So I began gardening, to cut grocery costs was able to put more money towards my car payment. I made friends with people who had fruit trees that would let me come pick what I wanted. I would can and freeze it all with jars I got at an estate sale for ten cents a jar. That was how I began my journey and I’ve never looked back. Even all these years later, my neighbor brings me her free range organic turkey carcass every holiday so I can boil it down and can broth. So while I wanted no debt, I knew I had to tackle food first to achieve that goal.
1. Thought
2. Food
3. Debt
4. Energy
5. Water
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It does taste better. Your grandson is lucky to have a grandparent to have that experience with.
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I’m sorry to hear that.I would totally help you if I were near you.
Although, my husband used to not help at all and now he helps when I ask. I have to celebrate the wins. He was laid off last week. The one thing I wasn’t worried about was feeding my kids. He sleeps in and spends hours on his phone on FB. Meanwhile, I haven’t stopped. He looked up from his phone Thursday wanting to know what was wrong. I blinked because there was nothing wrong. He just never realized how much I did in a day. His excuse to not clear our home/ garden site at our new property was he didn’t have a tractor. We went down there together and he looked at all the wood I had cleared and asked how I did it. I had moved a little bit at a time by hand each time I drove down there.
Now, he’s a bit more motivated. I think it was a mindset thing. Sometimes we simply have to lead by example. It just takes longer for some people to get there than others. Hang in there. You’ve got this.
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I love that you’re doing that for them! You’re a great neighbor.
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That’s awesome! Good for you. I have similar fears as I do a lot more homesteading than my husband. Our land has no cell phone signal for 5 miles. When I’m about to go down there, I call a friend and say where I’m going to be and if they haven’t from me in the next couple hours to call 911. (Totally serious about that) I have forgotten to check in and she shows up yelling that she though I was dead in a ditch. It helps me feel more settled. My husband doesn’t understand and I often get the eye roll as well.
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I love that Thought is at the top of your list. Until I saw it, it hadn’t occurred to me that freedom of thought would even need to be mentioned. But we as a society are constantly bombarded with shiny new everything with easy monthly payments so you can buy more.
My biggest obstacle is getting other people to acknowledge that there is another way. I have so many people tell me, I can’t live without debt. My answer is there must be a way. It’s in the Bible, The debtor is a slave to the lender. Yet it is the very people beside me on the pew, telling me they love my ambition, but debt is inevitable. Why do more people not realize it is a choice?
It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting explaining to people why I refuse to get a construction loan and why I spend so much time in my garden when it would be faster to just go to the store. It’s a choice one has to make freely for his/herself.
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I’m a literal person and need things spelled out sometimes. I love that you did the math on that. I read it twice and took a picture to show my husband.