Waiting....

Well I haven't gotten here to post, I wish I could say it's because Spring has finally sprung, but well that's not the case.  It snowed again today, and was just plain old cold.  The dining room table hence forth known as the GROW table will be full.  In this picture we have the peas, garlic, beets, tomatoes, celery and some other tomatoes.
   This weekend is rumored to be warming so keeping my fingers crossed the larger garden plot need some work still as well as the yard in general!  Hope everyone is keeping warm or thinking warm.  Happy gardening!

Snow, Sunshine and Food-saving!

   Woke up to snow and sunshine.  Yea! Sunshine, I think the whole family is lacking in vitamin D.  So todays plan was to take a look at a three burner cook stove that is going to be discontinued through Costco.  We tend to by from a local grocery, but while we were there figured I would check out the price of meat.  We really needed to stock up the freezer.  I think all we have left was some salmon steaks and a stray bag of corn.

    The stove was a go, came with some cast iron. BONUS!  They had  a pretty good deal on pork sirloin so we picked a large one to divide up into chops and roasts.  Sale on sweet and hot sausage and some ground turkey and large package of chicken thighs.  Brussels Sprouts large bags I think we picked up three or four ( yes my kids eat brussels sprout) So I figure with the canning we did in the fall, this freezer restock it will be two months before we have to hit the grocery, I'm not counting things like milk and eggs, but trust me if I could get the city we live in to allow goats and chickens it would really be a full two months.

Here is a few pictures of the FoodSaver with the Pork sirloin and brusssels.  Anyone else use a FoodSaver or do you have another way of stocking up for the family?

One Warm Day

     Sitting here sipping on some honey and cinnamon tea (sore throat) I am thankful we had a nice day here Saturday.  We accomplished a good deal.  The hoop house is up an ready, managed to get a few tires turned inside out for planters  and some garden planning.  So the above picture is the hoop house. This is one of the raised beds from last year, it was a little shallow so he added a second tier attached some pipe clamps (not the technical term, but my version) and for the hold your breath part, bending the pvc pipe! Okay I held my breath and stood back a little.  It looks fantastic I can't wait to get stuff in there.  I'll post pictures of the re-purposed tire planters next.  They were very hard to turn inside out but are really cool, especially painted.  I will be sticking those in the front yard for my "tea" garden.  Looking forward to longer and warmer days, night all!

Do We Know Enough?

This is a dream of ours, the more we learn the closer we feel to it.  Nothing large just enough to feed family and maybe a small veggie market. Okay maybe a few chickens and goats too.   W e are constantly on the look out for a couple acres and a "fixer upper" house.  Recently we have come across a few.  One in particular that I have come back too time and time again.  It's been on the market for a while, it's almost like it's waiting for us!  But I'm sure everyone looking feels that way.  Then I realize it's the right price, but does it have what we need?  How's the soil? How is it zoned?   How's the community?

Do we know enough about soil to even ask that question?

Experiences anyone???  Anyone in North Carolina need a good neighbor??

Growing a Tea Garden

Part of our gardens this year will be an herb garden.  We have grown some in the past, the usual; sage, basil mint, and parsley.  But this year as I was cruising an online store looking at different seeds I came across this from My Patriot Supply .  Okay I am a tea junkie so I am excited to give these a shot.  My thrifty husband has collected some old tires which I'm hoping to turn into decorative planters.  Each tea will have it's very own spot in the front yard.  Maybe I can get the kids to do some signage for me.

List of Herbs

Catnip
Chamomile
Lemon Balm
Wild Bergamot
Echinacea
Peppermint
Lemon Mint
Anise Hyssop

My Thrifty Hubby

     We do a lot of shopping at our local thrift stores, okay this is truly my husbands forte I rarely find anything worth while.  This trip he found some PVC pipe .99 a piece.  So with a few elbows this is what he comes up with.  His estimate on the cost of this mini greenhouse somewhere around 25.00.  

      

                                         Our ground is still frozen, but I can't wait for spring!!!!

Getting Started

So as my husband and I were shoveling 3/4 ton of  horse manure (romantic I know) for our backyard homestead,  he says "you should blog about this."  

Well here goes.  We are a family of six, three of the four kids still at home.  We are moving towards self reliance.  We want to grow our own food, not depending on what is or isn't at the grocery.  Better yet a healthier lifestyle.  We have a bigger dream, to move out of the fast paced urban lifestyle to one a little more laid back.  So sit back, welcome to our journey this is just the beginning....