TRUE NORTH

Black Thumb

2010-01-03T22:50:00.006-05:00

As I stated earlier the garden didn't quite turn out like we had hoped it would. Although it seemed like it was gonna grow out of control it faded rapidly and we lost a lot of crops. I'm mystified by most of it, but we were able to figure some things out.

The big loss was our tomatoes! At one point the plants were huge and we had lots of green tomatoes and that's when the tomato bugs moved in. They didn't seem like to much of a problem though. We would just pick them off (although they are well camouflaged and hard to spot) and smash them on a rock. However, just as the tomatoes began turning red I started to notice the leaves wilting and white speckles on the ground around the plants. I thought this white stuff was tomato bug droppings and so we increased our efforts to destroy the ugly little creatures. Yet, no matter how many we got rid of the plants still looked sickly. Before long the tomatoes started to develop nasty brown spots on them and became mushy. at this point we had lost the crop but didn't quite know why.

After some research and talking with other gardening folks we came to the conclusion that our tomatoes had been hit by Blight. Not positive about that or how they contracted it, but by next season I hope to know for sure. All and all, Melissa was able to harvest some cherry tomatoes for salads and such, but our big canning dreams had to be canned.

Our corn, having survived an early deer ambush, did produce fairly well. I'm not sure exactly how many ears we harvested, but the ears were small. They tasted good and we froze about a dozen of them but i was pretty disappointed in their overall size. I think I need to plant more corn next year.

Cucumbers did well and we canned a lot of pickles and we ate a ton in our salads. no real complaint here, although next year we want to plant more....we really loved those pickles!

The Squash plants grew like mad, but just like the corn, the squash were stunted and never matured into anything edible. I did learn that I planted too many and had they ripened we probable would have had more than we needed.

Onions were good for the most part, but we never got any large ones...they just wouldn't grow. I even bent all of the plants over as I heard this would promote the onions growth. it did a little but mostly we just had small bulbs.

Radishes did fine, at least the ones that grew which were only a handful. Again not sure what happened here. Can't figure out why most just seemed to die.

The potatoes were also a big disappointment, but I think I'm to blame. First of all I think I planted a few weeks to late, and second, I didn't buy seed potatoes. I just took ones we had that had sprouted eyes...cut them into smaller pieces and buried them. We did harvest some but not nearly enough; maybe 10 pounds but that is being generous.

The green peppers did well I thought, we just didn't plant enough. Again, we'll be putting more in the garden next year.

Pole beans...didn't do so well after the deer attack. We did manage to get a few handfuls but we had lost most of the plants to the deer.

The watermelon never matured, but I think that was partly due to planting them to late. The plants grew good, but the melons never matured....same as the squash.

So that's the short of it, but I do think I learned a little from the experience.

1: My soil isn't that great. I have heard that I can get it tested to see what it is lacking and I definitely need to get that done. However, i didn't want to have to buy a bunch of stuff to add to the soil, but I may not have a choice.

2: Protect against deer and other animals early on. The stuff I did do worked; I just need to do it right when I plant.

3. Plant at the right times. To be honest I was a little overwhelmed when it was time to get the garden started and wasn't as prepared as I should have been. That won't happen again.

4: Learn more about the plants I am growing. I had researched a lot about general gardening when we started, but I think I really need to advance my studies on the specifics. I had thought if you plant it it will grow...I was wrong. There is a lot of wisdom needed in gardening.

All and all, for our first garden, I think we did OK. if my soil is poor and it was indeed blight that smoked are tomatoes i won't feel so bad about the slim harvest. yet, since our goal is self sufficiency I need to get this gardening stuff down. It's hard to eliminate buying food when you don't harvest enough of the things you grow. If this were the old days and we didn't have a grocery store, it would be a very hard winter for us.

If anyone has any ideas after reading this and viewing the pics...Please share your thoughts!

Not all those that wander are lost....

2009-12-30T23:31:00.004-05:00

So where have we been?

Well, the answer is far from simple. Of course I could describe how busy we have been. The end of summer and the months before winter had brought many changes to our lives. A wood stove (that we hadn't planned on getting this year) for one created a rush to get enough wood cut before the snow fell kept me quite busy, along with weatherizing the house for the coming cold. Melissa's business kept her engaged, and before we knew it the new year was upon us.

Yet, although those reasons are true...it is not the full truth.

Our Journey has not been without its trials and tribulations and as such there were times when what we set out to do last November was put to the test. Money of course was a big issue and although we had reduced our living expenses there were (and still are) times when the bills we couldn't cut outweighed our income. Our garden, although starting with a bang, fizzled out at the end and we lost a lot of our crops. Vehicle repairs and home repairs added up and the strain on our relationship as a family became quite heavy. I really could go on and on with a long narrative of negative experiences, but it's self-defeating and a little self-serving.

You, see the truth of the matter is...we survived! Everyone struggles, but it took me awhile to figure out that it's not the struggle that matters, but how well you handle them. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger", right? Easier said than done, but there is some truth too it.

It wasn't so much the new problems and challenges our new life style presented; it was how we dealt with them. Frankly when I looked at these things we were going through they weren't all that different from the issues we had pre-homesteading...it was just the way we handled them. In the past we would have bought our way through the difficult times. We would have spent ourselves happy buying new toys and things to make us feel better and mask our hurt. This time around though that money wasn't available to shelter us, and we had to look at what was going on with no anesthesia. Yeah, it was painful but that pain brought new and exciting alternatives to dealing with it.

Jesus Christ brought us through it, plain and simple. No need to mince words here...its a fact!

So, for the last few months there's been some anguish, disappointment, and failure. But, there has also been some really great things going on too. I've hid from this blog for awhile, partly in self-pity and partly from facing certain truths. Here's the thing though; we didn't quit...we pushed on and we're still here ready to begin a second year that's as full of hope and grace as when we first started. We only slowed our steps on the journey, now we're ready to run again!

100% Homestead!

2009-08-21T15:15:00.001-04:00

This photo depicts an entire meal from food we grew and raised ourselves!!! YEAH!!
Herb seasoned pork steak, fresh corn on the cob, herb seasoned red skin potatoes, and fresh veggie salsa! The meal was one of the best I’ve ever had and I’m sure it something to do with that fact that we did it all ourselves. It was so satisfying knowing we can provide for ourselves and actually eat VERY well!

“Hunger is the best pickle.” Benjamin Franklin

2009-08-21T15:03:00.006-04:00

Cucumbers were True North's first veggies to grow out of control. I swear they grew by the minute. Each day I am getting at least 4-5 cukes from the garden. After eating as many as we could in salads, with dip, soaked in vinegar with onion, we finally decided it was time that we canned some of them. And what else do you do with cucumbers? You make pickles. MIL got a recipe from our Aunt Vivian that is said to be easy and tasty. Well so far is rings true for the easy part. We will see in 2-3 weeks of the tasty part does as well. Below is the recipe. I used my fresh dill from my herb wheel as well. We ended up with 6 jars of pickles.

Aunt Vivian’s Dill Pickles
Recipe for 1 quart

-1 head of fresh dill in bottom of jar
-Add whole cukes or cut into spears to fill jars (clean cukes)
-1 garlic clove added
-1 more head of dill on top

The following combined and brought to boil

-¼ t of Alum
-1 cup of white vinegar
-1 cup of water
-2 T of Kosher salt

Pour over cukes in quart jar. Cukes will be ready in 2-3 weeks!

The Herb Wheel

2009-08-21T14:54:00.004-04:00

This past winter I read many books about gardening and in one of them they had diagrams of cool herb wheels. Basically an herb garden in the shape of a wheel instead of the standard square garden. Pat and I decided to make our own this summer. We had some odds and ends laying around from years past of landscaping décor so we lumped it all together to see if we had enough to make one. Low and behold we did! We started with black edging and made it into a circle then nudged the circle here and there to get it the right circumference. We dug a line around the circle and inserted the edging into it to keep it stable. We used more of the edging to make spokes and then filled all the sections with nice fertile dirt from the pig pen. We then outlined the outer wheel with brick to reinforce the circle walls. We used bricks in the center and I hand painted the herb name that would grown the in corresponding section to add a little personal touch to it. The center piece are parts of our pine stumps that were used earlier to make the pine stump fence and a few deer antlers from deer pat killed from years past. We planted Rosemary, Parsley, Cilantro, Dill and Basil. With lots of weeding, watering and sun....all came up very well, except for the Rosemary. Not sure what I did wrong there but no growth! I love using fresh herbs when cooking and I will dry the rest to use for the year.

Home Grown!

2009-08-14T15:49:00.010-04:00

Garden Update:

The Garden is doing really well, at least we think it is. Since this is our first time growing anything I guess even a little success goes a long way! Melissa is keeping an actual tally of what we have harvested so when it's all said and done will post up what our overall haul was.

Corn:Right now the corn is looking good even though deer ate most of it early on. The few stalks they didn't eat have multiple ears on them, and the ones they did eat still managed to survive and are producing. Not ready to harvest yet, but I think it will be soon!

Cucumbers: I planted six hills of cucumbers; 3 normal ones and then 3 that are a 'pickling' variety. Two hills of the normal ones and one hill of the other type are pumping out a vast quantity of cucumbers. We've already been eating them and soon we'll try our hand at making pickles.

Watermelon: Like the cucumbers I planted 6 hills. Although all came up, only three are really producing. We have a couple of tennis ball sized melons and quite a few more smaller ones. The ones that aren't growing well, I believe, has more to do with getting behind on weeding than anything else.

Peppers: All the pepper plants are doing good and producing. No complaints here...we've been eating them on a regular basis!

Egg Plant: My mom had bought a few of these plants so we planted them and lo and behold we have a bunch of them producing. We just harvested one Egg Plant yesterday and fried it up. Never had it before and it was pretty darn good as a side dish.

Squash: This stuff has grown great right from the start. They all came up and we have a ton of squash growing...I'm a little worried. Next year I'll probably only plant half of what I did.

Onions: The first round of Onions we planted as seed and nothing grew. We then planted bulbs and they have been doing nicely. We hopefully will get some large onions out of them, that is if Melissa can keep her hands out of them, lol.

Head Lettuce: At first we didn't think they where going to grow, but we did have a handful come up. They look ok, but I think they are a long way till harvest. We'll see what happens.

Green Beans: They took a beating from the deer, but what we do have left are producing. I just took a handful of beans inside today. I'm not sure if we'll ever get enough to can or freeze but at least will have some for a couple of meals.

Potatoes: Plants look good and we've been doing a lot of research on when to harvest. We're not there yet but we believe its close.

Tomatoes: We've got tomatoes! Big ones, medium ones, and little ones. We've ate a couple, but most are still green. I have a feeling here in the next few days we are going to be neck deep in tomatoes. That's exactly what we want though. We've got a lot of plans for these red veges!

So that's it, but what have we learned to do and not do?

First, protect against deer. Early on, the deer came in and ate most of the corn and green beans. Although those things have survived I think our harvest would have been better had it not happened at all. After the attack, I set up a few fence posts and hung shiny tin plates from strings that I stretched between the posts. I also tied human hair (from our brushes) on the posts, about half way up. I then took some hair clippings and scattered them around the perimeter of the garden. Lastly, I used a mixture of 1/2 bottle of hot sauce to a gallon of water and sprayed that occasionally on the plants. I'm not sure what worked or if all of it did...but no deer since doing this. I haven't sprayed the sauce mixture in quite awhile nor have I refreshed the hair, so maybe the plates were enough. Next year I'll have my anti-deer defense set up early.

Bugs: Hadn't seen any sign of these types of pests until just a few days ago. While tending to the tomatoes I started notices what looked like little black poops littered around some of the plants. After a few minutes of investigation I saw the culprits. Nasty green monster worms! We found 8 of them and promptly squashed them. Now I look every day...haven't found anymore yet!

Weeding: Don't ever get behind! A camping trip and a few days of not feeling well and things got out of control in a hurry. Btw, I love weeding! It;s very peaceful in the evening...kind of like a reflection time: to think of things gone by and things yet to come.
Advise: We are getting it from where ever we can. Family, friends, strangers, books, Internet....there is so much info out there, and a lot to absorb! We've got time though and I feel we've learned so much already

We have been told that our abnormally cool summer has stunted growth this year. I can only agree. Things have been pretty hot lately and I think that"s why we have seen a growth spurt.

All in all though it has been well worth the trouble. Melissa mentioned the other day that it has been so nice eating fresh vegetables daily...and we're broke. Normally, when short on cash the fresh veges would wait. Not the case anymore! Feeling more self sufficient is always good too...it's a big motivator. I have to say...the whole family seems to love the garden (the work included)!

Give me a Brake

2009-08-04T08:49:00.003-04:00

Over the course of my life I have worn many hats and done a lot of different things, but when it came to anything mechanical I would always defer to a professional. Especially when it came to our vehicles. It was always my thought that if you needed repairs, minor or major, you went to the shop, pulled out your plastic, and walked away with a fixed car and some type of warranty.

Well, that type of thinking is over for us, and so when the brakes on our Blazer started squealing I knew I was soon going to be delving into realms unknown. To be honest I wasn't too worried about the actual job of changing the brakes, but I was worried about my tool situation. I have always believed that I could do just about anything as long as I have the proper tools, and proper tools were exactly what I did not have. My collection of automotive tools is a mismatched and unorganized mess that is crammed into two large tool boxes. Most of these tools are from stuff my Dad had laying around and the rest are just odds and ends I have acquired over the years.

Just to make sure It was indeed my brakes making all that noise (which I was 99% sure) and to get a price quote so I could see how much money I was going to save, I took the Blazer into Midas and had them look at it. The estimate they gave me was $236.00 for brakes and rotors. Apparently I had let the brakes go too long and now the rotors had to be replaced. My habit of procrastination was costing me. Once again the hard lesson that 'putting things off and being frugal doesn't mix well' was rearing its ugly head.

Anyways, with the information about the parts I needed at hand, I headed over to a local automotive store and purchased what I would need. Brakes, rotors, a small packet of grease and some spray cleaner...the total: $100 and some change. A difference of $136 from the Midas quote. The way me and Melissa looked at it...that was $136 dollars we didn't have to earn, and that is a good thing.

The next thing I did was 'google' anything I could pertaining to changing brakes, which thankfully there was a ton. So, with a couple printouts in hand, my new parts, and a smattering of odd tools, I went to work.

At this point I'd like to tell you how smooth everything went, but if I'm being honest I have to tell you that my lack of tools (and quality tools!) was a problem. Once I figured out what size I needed to take of my caliper bolts (18 mm btw for anyone with a 2002 blazer), and discovered that I had every MM size except 18 I had to go buy a socket. Returning with my new socket I immediately broke my old and shabby ratchet. This prompted another run to the store, but this time I bought a wrench. My savings (or money we don't have to earn) was being depleted. At least my useful tool collection was growing.

As I suspected, once I had the proper tools, the actual job was rather easy. It did take the better part of the afternoon, but when all was said and done...the brakes worked great!

New skills and accomplishments are a great recipe for successful homesteading!

“And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

2009-07-30T23:54:00.005-04:00

When we decided to start our style of homesteading we decided to make a list of all the skills we had that could generate money. Although we were lowering our expenses, we still needed to be able to make money to pay for our necessities...mainly land taxes, medical bills and our house payment.

One of the skills that was on the top of my list was Tattooing. I have been tattooing on and off since I was a teenager, and Melissa worked in a tattoo shop when I met her. Over the years we have opened and closed two tattoo businesses, and sold our equipment numerous times. Yet, through all of that I have always loved the artistry behind tattoos and have always been drawn back to the craft after long absences.

Since it is a skill I have and love, and I now have the time to dedicate myself to the art...I have once again started slinging ink. The wonderful part about it is that in the past I was so concerned about the money side of it that I would lose sight of how much I enjoyed creating permanent art on people. Now don't get me wrong, we still need the money, but now it is not the primary focus. For once in my life I can truly enjoy tattooing

Here's a sample of my most recent work and If you like you can visit Sanctus Tattooing, my blog that will display images of my work.

A visit from family

2009-07-27T00:51:00.004-04:00

Note: It is far easier to post in the winter when things are a lot slower...

That being said, July has been a good month with lots of things happening including my older brother James (Aka: Wojo) and his family visiting from Vegas. We spent nearly a week with them and had a blast.

James and his wife Jean have lived in Vegas for some time now and we rarely get to see them. James is a Worship Leader at his church and heads a Dave Matthews tribute band called Dangerous Hours, Jean works for a law firm. They are moving to Alabama soon and that will be great because they'll only be 11 hours from us.

James' son, James Jr. lives in Texas and it has been a number of years since we got to see him so that was really nice. He's 15 now, the same age as my daughter, and has grown a lot since the last time we saw him. I know his school's football team is trying to get him on the field, but like his dad he's dedicated to his music.

They also brought their friend Cookie, a girl from their church. She was fantastic and we were glad to have her as a guest. Gabrielle got along great with her!

While they were here we tried to get a number of things accomplished besides relaxing with a cold one on the deck (which we did plenty of:P), and telling Chuck Norris facts! One of my projects I really wanted to do this year was move some very large pine stump fences and make a decorative boundary across the front of our family cemetery. When my father passed away we decided to have him buried on the property at a place where he and my mother always wanted to build a home. It's a beautiful hill with large maples over looking a small valley, and although they never did build that house...it sure is nice visiting him there.
It was a good thing my brother and nephew helped in this endeavor. The stumps where very large and heavy, and a good ways into the woods. We knocked it out in just a few hours, but there was no way I could have done it myself.

We also brought the whole crew Geocacheing and made a day of it...with a picnic included. We were 2 0f 4 on caches found, but I think everyone had a really good time. I know me, Melissa and Gabrielle did! I think my brother and his family might be hooked.

All in all, it was fantastic to have them here. Last time they were up for a visit my trucking schedule was a mess and I had very little time to see them. Sometimes, when homesteading gets tough and the struggles seem endless, I have to remember why we are doing it. Family.
A year ago I wouldn't have been able to spend the quality time I did with them. I'm thankful and I'm blessed.

Thanks Melissa for the photos.

This little piggy went to market!

2009-07-16T23:20:00.006-04:00

With just a little more than 3 months at True North, our two pigs have been sent to The Butcher Block...literally. The Butcher Block is a butcher that lives close by us and was highly recommended.

Of course, like all things at True North, this process was not without its problems. Unfortunately I can only blame myself, as usual. Back when we decided to get pigs and we were doing our research, one of the things that was stressed was to make sure you had a way to transport your livestock. Well, needless to say I waited until the last minute and my transportation plans fell apart.

I have a small trailer that I use to haul wood and my plan was to build small walls around it, load the pigs up, and away we'd go. That was until I got my truck stuck with the trailer on...unhooked the trailer...and then proceeded to back over the hitch, crushing the mechanism that attaches to the ball, ripping off the right side tail lights and the license plate. Now, before you feel too sorry for me I should disclose that all this damage took place in February, and I kept putting off the repairs. The next thing I knew the pigs were ready to go, the trailer wasn't, and I had a ton of stuff to do that wasn't related to either. Such is life...and one day I'll learn procrastination is not a virtue, especially when your trying to save money.

Enter Russ: Russ is the man we bought the two pigs from. From the start, when we first met him, I thought he was great. Good-natured, friendly, and didn't treat us with disdain because we didn't know what we were doing. Instead, he guided us through this process; first by selling us wonderful animals, then checking them out when they closed in on the finishing line, and finally by transporting them in his trailer to the butcher for a very cheap price (20 bucks!). Thanks Russ, we'll see you next spring when we buy the next set of pigs!

So Russ shows up, and my pigs practically run into his trailer and lay down. I had Melissa and my older brother James (visiting from Vegas...more on that later) there for help, and Russ had brought one of his hired hands. All that man-power...not needed! Our pigs had been great from the beginning, and it appeared that they would leave they way they came....in good spirits!

After the loading, me and my brother followed Russ to the butchers, and after some quick introductions we unloaded the pigs. Again, with hardly any prompting, the pigs jumped off the trailer and headed inside. It was the last time I would see them alive. With that we filled out some paper work and decided how we wanted them butchered.

As we were returning home I took some time to reflect on the pigs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not squeamish about these types of things; I've hunted for years, but this was a little different. Never before had we raised an animal for slaughter. I had not gotten attached to the pigs, but I had gotten attached to our routine and their squealing during food time. I am also very attached to bacon and ham, so my nostalgia didn't last long. However, we did enjoy our time with them and we are looking forward to next spring when our pen will once again be occupied by a couple of smart and entertaining animals, whom, if only for a short time, will live like kings at True North.

Once I get the final cost of the butchering, and exactly how much meat we get I'll post up how cost effective it was to raise them. A special thanks goes out to Norm (my mother's husband) for purchasing the white pig and helping us off-set our costs! On to the pictures:

Keep it secret...keep it safe

2009-07-02T23:43:00.005-04:00

For those of you that have never tried Geocaching....you've got to give it a chance!

Although we have had the link up on our blog for sometime now, it was just the other day that we actually tried our hand at it. What is Geocaching you ask?

(from their website)
"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

As far as the "high tech"goes it is true that you need a GPS device; luckily for us we had one that we purchased a few years ago. I haven't looked at prices on these things in some time, but I believe you can get them pretty cheap. Ours is a Garmin Nuvi 200 and is very basic, but it does the job. All you need is to be able to type in coordinates and most dash-board GPS allow this.

So, how does it work? You go to their website, www.geocaching.com and register (easy process). From their you can type in any postal code or town and it will give you lists of Geocaches in that area...and their is usually a ton. Just in our small town their was a lot! At that point you get the coordinates, put them in your GPS, and away you go..

We have found 6 geocaches so far (in 2 days) and all 6 were within a two mile radius of us. A couple we couldn't find, but we'll be back again for another try:) Once you find a cache you can take/leave an item, then log your visit on the website. My description may come off as a little dull, but believe me it's addicting.

In fact, if you like to walk or bike, have free fun, and enjoy nature...it's really the way to go. Next time we'll take some photos so we can share them. I hope if you try it you'll have as much fun as we have had.

Are we there yet?

2009-06-25T10:49:00.004-04:00

The guy we purchased the pigs from came over yesterday. He said the pigs look great and we could butcher them now if want. Although he said if it were him he would wait another 2 weeks to get a really good chop out of them. So the countdown begins! We have 2 weeks to find our butcher (which he recommended a good one) and the biggest most important thing to find some one to buy our other pig to cover the cost of the one we keep. He said we are looking at about $1 per pound hanging weight, plus the cost of butcher. So we hope to get about $300 or a little more. That will work perfect for us!

Oh and on a funny note....apparently he said we have 2 boys (brothers). Not a boy and a girl...poor black one has had an identity crisis all this time.

The $2 Chair

2009-06-24T10:38:00.007-04:00

A while back someone asked for close up photos of the chair I found at a yard sale. Sorry it took so long to post them, but here they are. I bought this chair for $2. It's super cool and seems pretty easy to build. You can even sit in it, though I have a plant on it by my front door.

They keep growing and growing and growing....

2009-06-24T09:44:00.011-04:00

The garden is taking shape! We have the following growing successfully; watermelon, onion, 3 kinds of tomato, acorn squash, pole beans, potatoes, corn, 2 kinds of cucumbers, peppers and radishes. Crossing our fingers for the lettuce to come up. We planted strawberry's that were already established in a bed and dug up and given to us (Thanks Norm). They seem to be doing good.

We were unsuccessful with our first batch of onion, cauliflower, broccoli, seed peppers and carrots. I think we planted the seeds to deep in the ground with the combination of the not-so-warm weather here in Michigan. We even had a frost in June.

A few things we have learned:
1)Plant seeds inside before season starts.
2)Plant like package says or what fellow family/friends say who have grown it before.
3)Check the weather to see if rain is coming, no need to waste our own water.
4)Don't always count on the weather....LOL

MIL says we should be able to harvest the radishes soon. They were our first crop to be planted and looking nice.

Oh the NOT so little, 3 LITTLE PIGS. Yes they have grown. The are so damn big I think we will be butchering them sooner than expected. The guy we bought them from is coming out today to let us know what he thinks. We were told it would take from March to July to fatten up. About 4 full months. I think ours did it in about 3 and 1/2 months. So far the girl (black one) has fattened up a bit larger the the boy (white one). We still have to make a final decision on the butcher. We've had lots of info thrown at us. We need to keep our costs as low as possible. We halos need to get rid of the other pig. Our plan was to eat one, and sell one to pay for the one we eat. Well at the very least cover as much of the costs as possible.

A few things we learned:
1) Pigs eat ALMOST anything. If they get good scrap, feed and can graze, they leave the greens (grass/weeds/corn husks) til last and may not even eat them at all because they are full.
2)Pigs are pushy and taste test everything. Walk into the pen and suddenly you and your tools become a food samples.
3)Even a big heavy feeding trough and water trough get knocked over. Better to have them nailed to the fence.

Little Enlightenment's

2009-06-16T14:55:00.005-04:00

You must plant seeds like the package says. Even if you think you have a green thumb.

Drying laundry on the line does not take as long we thought!

Tools break the more you use them, buy quality to begin with.

Struggles

2009-06-16T08:43:00.017-04:00

With so many things that have happened over the last month. I struggled to decide which topic to write about. I decided how ironic it was that I struggled, when that is kinda what I wanted to write about... struggling. LOL, I know I'm not making any sense, but hopefully that will change.

It seems that lately we have been overwhelmed with things... things to do, places to go, people to see, jobs to do. I have found that the hush of winter is not at all as bad as I once thought is was a few months ago, when I was bored out of my mind. I have found that things when thought about or dreamed about are oh so much more romantic and well lets just say it...EASY. But you add the above "tasks" to your dreamy little wonderland, and you have struggle.

Yes I know we were warned that things would be hard and they are, but I don't want to lose sight of the goal. It gets overwhelming when the journey is not enjoyed, when all you want is the end of your task to be near.

Money struggles. Yeah I know cry me a river, but we all are going through it so I though I'd share our story, it's our blog after all! We've not been desperate yet, not starving yet, but we have gone without, and a bill or 2 have been late. It's definitely not for lack of trying, just didn't balance the budget properly and my work is unstable at best. We have managed to keep our heads above water thankfully for now. But it has put jobs behind, like the chicken coop. We have yet to finish that, so it sits partially done and we still have no chickens.

Garden struggles. Ok we all know that this is new territory for us. We've NEVER done the majority of things we have attempted to do, but yet we still try pathetically. The garden, oh the garden. She's a force to be reckoned with. It's a love/hate relationship we have with our garden. So far she has been planted for about 1 month. Well the first half of it anyway. The out come in 1 month is 3/4 of it didn't sprout, so we replanted a bunch and cheated and got some starter plants. Well it was MIL who got them, I think she felt bad for us slaving away and getting no results. The second part of the garden is all Pat. He has been a regular ol' farmer!! He's spent hours sowing, and weeding, and just loving it and it's worked. And the result...we have growth!! Well I should say sprouts, but it's growing and that's all that counts. Now we're told the hard part comes, the bugs...haven't had to deal with that yet, as nothing had grown before. But we're armed and ready with piles of books, magazines, and precious advice from loved ones.

Time struggle. Where does it go? I remember sitting by the fire this winter and anxiously awaiting for the sun to warm us and spring to get sprung. Obviously summer is nearly here and you can tell by the looks of our barren blog that time has gotten the best of us. I think time is one of the hardest struggles of all. But we have all been through it and I'm sure all want and need more of it. But alas...that's life right?

So I thought with this post, I'd put a few pictures of around the homestead here at True North. Hope you enjoy..

Better late than never

2009-06-02T11:23:00.002-04:00

So it's been damn near a month since we posted. The month of May is jam-packed with fun things and we got a little caught up in all the excitement and found no time to blog. Mothers day, my b-day, memorial day, highland festival and planting the garden. We'll post about them all when we stop to take a breath. The pigs are gigantic. Still haven't gotten the chickens yet and we've been learning so much!

One Mans Trash.....

2009-05-06T08:45:00.009-04:00

The past couple of weekends marked the beginning of Garage, Rummage and Yard Sale season. I love this time of year. It's like a sport for me, hunting down that treasure that's oh so needed.

I picked up quite a few things for us this time around, couple shirts and a great pair of $100 coveralls for $9. I especially like if for finding clothes for Gabrielle. You know she's still stuck in the name brand world so that's what I keep my eye out for her, 3 shorts 2 shirts...score!

Household things are pictured here. The chair is by far my favorite find for $2. Pat's going to try and replicate it so we have a few more around the homestead. The planter was .50 cents and the cupboard was $4. I did practice bartering a lot, everyone that I made an offer to accepted. So offer away, it really works! Great deals for great stuff wouldn't you agree?

Here Comes The Sun...

2009-05-06T00:29:00.004-04:00

For the first time ever...here at True North...we are harnessing the awesome power of the Earth!
Let the northerly winds howl and the golden sun blaze, for no longer will we sit by and watch as these magnificent natural energies elude our grasp. We have captured them...sun and wind, and bent them to our needs!!

I have built...a Clothes-line.

I know it seems funny and for many this simple device is and has been a part of their lives, but for us it is new and amazing. Yesterday, as me and Melissa hung our first load of laundry out to dry we couldn't resist being excited about our newest endeavor. Instant savings; from washer machine to clothesline, we eliminated the energy hog known as the dryer. Why hadn't we done this before? I guess we were just too busy to save ourselves money. It's nice having the right perspective now...working to save money versus working to earn money...

So today I put on my first clothes dried by nature, and lo and behold, I didn't notice any difference in them. Except maybe the fact that they smelled better, felt better, and frankly looked better.

I did have to invest some money in the materials for the clothesline. Four 8' 4x4 treated posts and clothesline, but that minimal cost should pay back dividends in the months ahead. As far as construction goes...it was pretty simple. Again, I can not believe we hadn't done this before. It's too bad that T.V. never made hanging your clothes out to dry a cool thing to do. It is, and I feel like I've been missing out.

Re-Volt

2009-04-27T22:12:00.007-04:00

It was at the beginning of November 2008 when we decide to get serious about reducing our debt...and in order to do that, we had to get a hold on our monthly expenses. Our electric bill was at the top of the list...so that's where we started. At this time though, I was still truck driving cross country, so what follows is really a testament to Melissa's and Gabrielle's willingness and determination to lower one of our most costly bills.
Our entire house runs on electric; heat, air, lights, well pump. We have two meters. One is the Main meter and the other is called the Dual Heat meter. Only our furnace runs on the Dual Heat meter, and everything else is on the Main. The good part about that is we get a slight discount on the Dual meter. Needless to say, our electric bills were quite high, especially in the winter and the hottest parts of summer when we ran our air conditioner.

One of the first things, and the most important, that Melissa decided to do was turn the thermostat down to 63 degrees, bundle up, and supplement the heat with our fireplace. Of course we had never seriously used the fireplace before...it was more for decoration and mood, so there was not exactly a lot of wood laying around for her to burn. Luckily, I had a few days off and was able to cut up some wood before I hit the road again.
Yes it was cold. The fireplace did an ok job of warming the living room, but the rest of the house was quite chilly. Yet, my wife and daughter persevered; extra clothes, big comfy blankets...and very rapidly the electric bill began to plummet.

The second thing we discussed and put into action was our appliances and such. We of course switched all our light bulbs over to CFLs...and then we started doing some in depth research on other ways we could save when it came to our appliances. Most of them (fridge, oven, washer...etc) are older models and there was no way we could replace them with newer, more energy efficient ones, so we had to find a way to deal with what we had.
I looked into the water heater and learned that we only needed to have ours set at 120 degrees. The installer had ours at 130, and with a little turn of a dial I reduced the electric bill. Amazing. One article I read said you could save as much as 6-10% by reducing your temperature setting in this way.
Next was the washer. We always had it set on hot/cold cycle and again...with a flip of a switch...turned it to cold/cold, and set the wash cycle to the quickest setting. I can't be sure how much this has saved us, but using less hot water (hot water heater) and having the washer run for a shorter period has to be doing something. Amazingly, our clothes are just as clean as they where before the changes!
There wasn't too much we could do with the dryer. It was winter and we couldn't hang anything outside to dry even if we had something to hang them on. We did debate unhooking the dryer vent and letting the heat circulate inside the house (another article suggestion), but opted not to do that. However, we did set drying time to 20 minutes and would check the clothes to see if they were done, resetting the time if needed. We used to just put them in for an hour whether the needed that much time or not. Btw, I'm in the process of putting a clothes line up right now...the dryer will be semi-retired very soon.
The dishwasher was easy...we just decided to not use it anymore. There where some conflicting points of view as to whether or not hand washing dishes is more economical then using a dishwasher, but I have no doubts that with judicial use, hand washing is way cheaper than having that machine chugging away. Not to mention our dishes are cleaner now then they ever were before.
Electric can opener...Gone! Seriously, I swear I had more problems using it than the hand held one we use now. Maybe not a huge hit to our electric usage, but now it's not any hit at all.
Refrigerator was next. We had read that a fridge should be 36-40F, and the freezer should be 0-5F. If a fridge is set 10 degrees lower than needed (or freezers set 5 degrees lower than needed), it can increase energy use by as much as 20-25%. Since the fridge is the second largest user of electricity...right behind the air conditioner, we got on this one right away.
With the research we had also learned that having appliances, lamps, TVs, computers, etc...plugged into the wall...even when not on, still used electricity. someone had coined the phase as "Ghost Amps". Apparently, these devices, while plugged in, sit there sucking your hard earned money right from the wall. Solution...we unplug them now when not in use. Some of our stuff, like the entertainment center that has multiple devices in one area, all got plugged into a power strip. That way we can flip just one switch and they all get shut down.
Then there are the other things. We shut off lights when we leave a room, take quicker showers, use towels more than once, watch less TV, use candles, and probably a number of other things I can't think of, because now, in just a short period of time, using less electricity has become second nature to us.

Our electric bill used to run us anywhere between $275 and $350 per month depending on the season. Last year at this time we were using 130 Kwh per day. Almost immediately we saw a savings. The first month we had dropped our daily usage drastically and now we average 70 Kwh per day. For us it's a big difference...our eclectic has been cut in half! Since we wont be using the air conditioner this year we believe that we can get the electric bill down below $100 this summer. When winter comes we'll have a real wood furnace, so hopefully that savings will continue. All that savings and it doesn't really seem like we're doing that much different.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-04-20T18:49:00.010-04:00

It seems to me...from emails and comments I have received, that there is misinformation floating about. Apparently, there is confusion as to which one of our animals ate our three little chicks. Their untimely demise was bad enough, but to accuse the wrong animal of doing the awful deed is criminal.

The Good:
Maximus...aka The Baby Boy. This seemingly normal toy fox terrier is anything but that. He is a 'Good Boy", and we often shower him with that and other similar types of praise. If fact we strongly believe that Max wants to be a 'Real Boy', and as such would never harm defenseless chickens. In this photo it shows Max leaning in towards the chicks...not in an aggressive manner as those in the media might suggest...no, Max only wanted to kiss them. Verdict: Innocent.

The Bad:
Pretty Kitty...the cat with an identity crisis. He eats dog food, fears the outdoors, acts creepy on most occasions (gaining the new name: Creepy kitty), and is a brutal mouse eliminator. In the winter months nary a mouse survives long. As the weather becomes cold, and the mice seek refuge in our house it is to their folly. Pretty Kitty will not suffer them to live long. So, BAD to mice...didn't give the chicks a second glance. Verdict: Innocent.

The Ugly:
Gypsy...the dog gone wild. Once she was a loving animal that desired staying close to us and enjoy the comforts of home. Now, she seeks to escape at any given chance and attempts to terrorize nature's wild life. It is a constant battle with this wayward dog to keep her out of trouble. Yet, her place with us is secure for we have had her for many years. Her ugly behavior, however, might lead to a fenced in pen and a permanent 'outside dog'. Verdict: Guilty.

All joking aside, Gypsy really is a concern for us. We love her very much, but she is having difficulty finding her place at True North. We've become more vigilant when it comes to her escapes, and we our investigating alternatives to the common chain. Hopefully, very soon, she wont be a worry for us, but a joy like she once was.

The Red Flannel

2009-04-20T12:10:00.004-04:00

Back when we first started homesteading, we had so many ideas as stated before in previous posts and of course in the introduction. One of those were to buy only used items where we were able to. Of course clothing is super easy to buy second hand so we began frequenting resale shops often. On our visits to these shops I would try with little avail to get Pat to buy things I thought he might need; work pants, work boots, shirts and flannels. After much convincing, over many days and many stores, he picked a few things, one of which is his red flannel. He said "oh I really don't need it, but whatever it's only a couple bucks, I guess we'll get it". WELL...as you can see in the photos on our blog, the red flannel has become a True North beacon! Pat has definitely taken to heart my re-use and re-wear polices. We love the red flannel!

Little Enlightenment's

2009-04-20T11:56:00.003-04:00

We have found that every so often we learn a little something along our journey so we decided to do a regular post titled "Little Enlightenment's". Little Enlightenment's are what we refer to as small tid-bits of things we never knew before. Most are not of great importance but are none the less something we learned along the journey. Last weeks EL's were the following:

1) Sap is hard to get off of your hands! Note to self: put your gloves on before you pick up evergreen branches.

2)Pigs like evergreen branches. Who would have thought they would eat the branch and all!

3)Bird feeders get a hard clump of food in the bottom of the feeder, so clean it out! The seed doesn't fall very good if you don't. Then you can't watch the birds while you drink your coffee every morning...lol

Thank You

2009-04-20T11:48:00.003-04:00

I want to personally thank all of those who have recently visited and commented to our blog. Since the publishing of the article in USA Today, the response from friends around the world via comments and emails have been overwhelming and truly heartfelt. It means a lot to us that you have taken the time to read our stories and share yours as well. We plan to visit each and everyone of your blogs and try to respond to all that have taken the time to comment to us. Thanks to you all for your support of our little journey.

An Unexpected Path In Our Journey

2009-04-16T08:28:00.004-04:00

About two weeks ago I received an email from Judy Keen, a reporter from USA Today, requesting an interview. She said she had found our Blog while researching for an article she was planning on writing; an article that would, amongst other things, show how some people might be changing their lifestyles due to the economic situation in America. Although our decision to begin our self sufficient journey had less to do with America’s economic position and more to do with our personal choices on how we wanted to live as a family…it was a factor, no doubt.
Out of curiosity I ‘googled’ Judy Keen. At this point we weren’t even considering doing the interview, but we wanted to see who this reporter was. We didn’t have to look very deep. Nothing alarmed me though…she’s been in the business for some time, had some pics with past presidents, and, although naive on my part, it seemed she had a kind face. So, after a few cups of coffee, and some discussion, we decided I should give her a call and see what this was all about.

To make a long story short, we obviously agreed to do the interview, and let a photographer into our home. Why? Well, after long and lengthy conversations between me, Melissa, and Gabrielle…we came to a decision.
When we first started considering changing our lifestyle we did a lot of research on the internet…homesteading forums, Blogs, ebooks… and what we found was an entire network of people and families that were either doing what we wanted to do or were on the verge of making some serious changes in their lives. Their reasons for doing this were as varied as the people, but ultimately we discovered that we weren’t alone. We weren’t crazy. Other had come before us and succeeded. It gave us hope and inspiration, and still does! So, I guess we hoped that maybe we could give some of that back. I know it sounds cheesy and dramatic, but honestly it’s how we feel.

In the end, I think Judy Keen did a fine job with the article. The responses from it, and our Blog, have been great! People from all walks of life have been emailing us and leaving comments…

I had thought that maybe we could give others inspiration and hope, but as it turns out…it was all of you that gave it to us. Your kind words and insightful thoughts have been taken to heart. Thank you.

You can find the article here.

Ps. Thanks to the person that left the comment that this was 'The Wojtowicz's free family fun day'. Brought smiles to our faces.

Gone But Not Forgotten

2009-04-14T14:53:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately we had our first animal tragedy. Our 3 baby chicks are all gone. Gypsy our dog decided they were not a part of the pack, like we hoped she would think. Instead, instincts took over and she ate all 3. It was very sad for us all, but a learning experience none the less. We are still planning to get the 3 larger laying hens, but are undecided on whether to get babies again.

Build it and they will come.

2009-04-06T07:48:00.008-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous blog, taking care of our pigs has been nothing compared to the preparation in getting our homestead ready for them. Fencing and housing were the big concerns...and our budget...under $100 for a large pen and their pig house.

The Plan: Our first chore was deciding where to put the pigs. Although at first this seemed like a relative easy decision to make, it turned out to be harder than it looked. We have quite a bit of property, but wanted to keep the pigs close, so as to be able to keep a close eye on them and make feeding and watering convenient...but how close? Having never raised any farm animals before we were concerned about smell; everyone told us how bad pigs stink. We also considered our view. From our deck we have a beautiful view. One of our favorite pastimes is to sit on our deck, with a cold brew after a hard days work, and watch the local wildlife. The last thing we wanted to do was spoil this view with a pig pen.
After much deliberation we decided on an area off to the North side of our house. There's a lot of briers and thorns in the area and I thought it would be nice if the pigs could rid us of the eye-sore. We would be able to see our pigs from the deck, but our view of the Landscape would not be obstructed.

Fence Materials: When we first started researching getting the pigs I wanted to be able to graze them as much as possible to cut down on purchased food for them. With this in mind we needed a large pen, but our budget had to be kept in mind, and fencing isn't cheap.
Most people, who had experience with pigs, were saying that we needed to have an electric fence. This made a lot of sense to me; better containment and move-ability if I chose to "fold" them into a different area. However, I decide against this because of the initial start up cost, and, more importantly, I didn't want one more thing running off the electric meter. Our goal here is self sufficiency...not dependency. I had to take stock of what supplies I had.
Awhile back a friend of mine was doing some yard cleaning and he had quite a bit of privacy fencing that was in pretty bad shape. I helped him take it down (what was still standing!) and brought it out here to our property. At the time I planned to use it for our paintball field but never got around to it. So, for the last few years, this fencing layed useless on the edge of our woods. That was all about to change.
The fence was mostly 6' tall and was in sections of 8' lenghts. I figured I could cut it down so it was just over 3' high and use it for the enclosure. I had just enough of good sections to fence in the side of the pen that would be most visible from our house. Since the fence came with wooden posts I wouldn't need to buy any.
Now, this fencing, which was surprisingly in better condition than I thought, was painted a ghastly orange on one side. Melissa, however, had the great idea of using the unpainted side, which was a fantastic grey-weathered look, as the side we could see. the result was great...giving us a really cool rustic style fence.
As for the rest of the pen, my parents, some years ago, had raised some cows for beef. They had mostly used electric fence, but in some areas had used wire fencing. There were quite a bit of metal posts scattered throughout the property (some in good condition, others not) , that after a day of collecting them we had just enough to cover the area we needed. The wire fencing was another matter altogether.
There was plenty of the metal fence, but time and weather had knocked most of it down, entangled it in weeds, and frankly left it in pretty poor condition. The good news was that it hadn't rusted! I wont bore you with the details, but after a lot of hard work, an out of control fire, and prying it up from frozen ground, we managed to get enough of it to finish the pig pen. The cost so far....calloused hands, a few cuts and bruises, and zero dollars. Perfect.

The Pig House: After looking at a few different designs online, I decided to make a simple 'A' frame style house. We still had quite a lot of the old privacy fence left, so I figured I could use that to cover the frame work. Throughout the years we've managed to collect a number of wood supplies, through various projects and salvage, that I had no trouble finding enough 2x4's. The decking I used for the floor of the house came from the bottom of an old water bed I had dismantled long ago. With the frame built, me and Melissa, cut the privacy fence to size, and assembled (the far bigger than expected) house. We were really happy with the outcome, but due to the gaps in the fence it wasn't water proof. We needed to due something about that as I wanted my pigs to have a nice dry home.
When the basement for our house was built (7 years ago) the construction guys had left 2 very large canvas bags, the kind they fill with bags of cement and use a fork lift to carry around. These two bags have laid around the property, covered in weeds for all that time, and amazingly were still in really good condition. We decided to use the canvas, once we had cut it into usable sections as our water-proofing. We didn't want it to go on the outside since we liked the gray wood look, so with a staple gun we attached it to the inside.
Lastly, we needed something to go on the top. As it happens, back when my great-grandparents farmed this land they had pigs, and deep in the woods, lost to the wilderness, were the remnants of some old wooden pig houses. The houses were in terrible shape, rotted and fallen, but one still had a metal top piece that although rusted, was intact and ready to be placed on our new pig house. It was nice to add a bit of the old farm (we figured the pig house were at least 50 years old) to the new homestead. I'm sure when my relatives built those pig houses they never dreamed that a part of them would be used to cover swine so many years later.

The Gate: Nothing fancy here, just an old gate my father had built during his cow raising days. I think he'd be happy to see it in use once again

Me and Melissa worked really hard on this project and it was all we had hoped it would be. Spending time together, accomplishing a task, being frugal...all ingredients for our homesteading recipe. By the way...total cost of the pen and house: $0

Note: I still have enough of the privacy fence to use for a chicken coup. Thanks Hugh, the fence has been a great boon for us!

Chicken Little

2009-04-03T13:26:00.007-04:00

Our babies have arrived! When first discussing on how many chickens to get we settled on 5 or 6 of them. When we realized they might lay eggs for up to 5 years, we decided (well me…lol) that we wanted to start with 3 babies and 3 grown hens for our eggs. We could get the best of both worlds by having hens that lay immediately and having the experience of raising them from babies. So I’m now a new mommy, and Gabrielle is a first time mommy! I have 3 babies that are named Hazel, Quinnie and Matilda. 2 of them are Isa Browns (known for being a great “layer”) and one is a Bluff (known as a good “starter“ chicken). We built a very inexpensive brooder, a temporary house used to raise the chicks till they are ready to go outside, out of the following materials; A clear plastic tote with lid (free). Pat cut the top out to leave space to put the wire mesh in it for airflow (mesh $6) and affixed it to the lid with duck tape. He tried using a staple gun but that didn’t work so well, so good ol’ duck tape to the rescue. We will use the excess mesh for our chicken coop. A old desk lamp with 75 watt bulb in it (free) to warm the chicks. A special watering device that uses mason jars (free), mother-in-law Sally had one of those from a while back and was happy to see it put to good use. A lid off a chocolate milk drink mix container for the feed “trough” (free) and a 3 pound bag of medicated feed $3. Once they are grown we can let them free range off the land and give them scraps form our garden which will cost us nothing. The chicks themselves were $1.99 each. So our total came to $15. They say hens will lay 1 egg every other day, so we hope to have a couple dozen eggs a week. For 3-5 years of laying by 6 hens, we stand to net a big savings! I estimate $600 - $700 or so worth of eggs in 5 years we will no longer be buying from the store. And not to mention we know exactly where they came from!

Pigs on Parade

2009-03-30T21:35:00.007-04:00

The big moment has finally come to fruition at True North, and although to some this may seem a small event or even something blasé, for us it is a monumental occurrence. Our two feeder pigs have arrived.
Our excitement stems from a number of different reasons: like the fact that we have never raised anything remotely close to livestock or have had to so fully prepare in order to be able to provide for such creatures. In fact, the amount of time we have spent on education, research, and construction of their living area has been both exhausting and exhilarating. Yet, ultimately the arrival of these two animals heralds a gigantic step for us on our journey to self reliance. To be able to raise one's own livestock...care for them, feed them, and yes, slaughter them so as to provide food for your family is, to us, the quintessential meaning of self sufficiency.
We have only had the pigs for a few days now, and to be honest, all the work was in the preparation. The actually day to day care for them has been relatively easy. Each day I make sure they have clean fresh water, and feed twice a day. Other than that they..are, well...self sufficient. We had heard more than a few stories about pig's abilities to escape from their pens but thus far ours don't seem interested in escaping. i hope this holds true for the duration of their stay with us.
All of us have so far adapted well to them being here. me and Melissa have been planning for this for so long it's almost like we were holding our breath and now that they are here we can breath again. Gabrielle understands what we're doing and the purpose of the pigs, but on more than one occasion I've heard her say "Geez...why do they have to be so cute?" As far as our pets go; the cat doesn't even know they exist, and our dog Gypsy has only seen and heard them from a distance. She does seem very interested in what lies beyond that fence though. Maximus, our 'Little boy' as we affectionately call him, is another matter altogether.
Maximus already has an identity crisis. Obviously he's a dog, but we think he wants to be a 'real boy', and he interacts with the cat so much that he has picked up some kitty like tendencies. Now, enter the pigs...
At the first chance he had he ran into their pen and greeted them with as much enthusiasm as he could, and believe me, for a little dog he has a lot. The pigs regarded him with indifference at first, but now, after only a few days we believe max thinks he's a pig, and they see him as a small but suitable friend. He gets in their house (when they let him), steals food from their trough, ruts around trying to find out what in the earth they find so good, and has even snorted once or twice in their presence. I know for a fact that if we let him, he would sleep with them...nestled in the warm straw alongside his new found brethren. Honestly, only a pig could understands Max's relationship with food.

In my next post I'll elaborate more on the building of their pen and house, but for now here are some pictures...hope you enjoy.

Winter Wonderland

2009-03-29T19:46:00.001-04:00

Over the winter a number of things have changed at True North, but with spring coming and a whole lot of work needing to be done...I've been behind in the blogging "time capsule", so to speak. Although we are working hard to be as frugal as we can and destroy our debt, it was necessary for us to make two major purchases.

The first one was a new chainsaw:
I bought a Sthil Farmboss with a 20in bar. This chainsaw has proved to be the workhorse I thought it would be. I had done a fair amount of research before I purchased it and got many people's opinions. Most of those opinions came from fellow homesteaders at Homestead.org and their advise and knowledge was most helpful. Admittedly though, their is a lot I need to learn about cutting wood and, most importantly...sharpening the chain. Luckily I have a little bit of time to learn before I need to start getting ready for next winter.

Our second purchase was a plow truck:
It's a 1984 ford f250 and it came with a plow. I didn't know the guy that I bought it from, but after talking with him I felt comfortable with this older vehicle purchase, especially after learning that he knew some of the same people we did. Apparently we ride in similar 'Harley Davidson' circles.
The truck seems to be in really good condition and I only plan on using it for a few things; plowing, wood cutting, scrap hauling and a general purpose homestead truck. These uses shouldn't put a lot of miles on it either, but wear and tear will be another matter altogether.
Unfortunately, I have some type of fluid leak in the transmission or oil pan area and since I'm not very auto mechanically inclined yet I have it in the shop...we'll see what develops.

All in all it seems like these two investments will be good ones, even with the truck in its current state. Everyone who has seen the truck says i got it for a great price. Regardless, we needed this stuff. We'll be installing a wood furnace soon and wood cutting will become a major part of our money saving, and since our driveway is so long I had to be able to plow it myself. I was spending a small fortune to have other people plow it!

PS. Jackson has been great to be around, and I can't wait to be able to spend more time with him!

Jackson Oliver

2009-03-20T17:08:00.002-04:00

Born Feb 14, 2009 - 6 lbs 14oz, 19.5 inches long and the apple of my eye! Who would have thought you could love someone so much! My grandson is adorable and we can’t wait for him to grow up to be our lil’ farm boy.

The 2 Little Pigs

2009-03-20T16:59:00.006-04:00

We are just over 1 week away form getting the pigs. We have a lot of work done so far. The wood fence and wood gate are up. The wire fence and metal posts are up. We tested the “escape” factor with our dog Gypsy who is known to be the master escape artist and it held up!! We still have a few things left to do, finish the pig house, which has the floor done, and build the feed and water troughs. We have all the supplies and have yet to pay a dime for any of it. It’s all been recycled from Pat’s dad’s days of farming and a friend’s (Hugh) old privacy fence. HOURS of hard labor were spent harvesting every last post and fence. Yeah, everyone was right…its is HARD work, but rewarding. We still have yet to figure out to actually GET the pigs here, we have blazer and a farm truck, both with broken trailer hitches, we’re still thinking on that one…lol. We’ll have more photos and info when the pigs are finally here!

Captin' Jack’s Baby Shower

2009-03-20T16:39:00.013-04:00

The "Pirate" baby shower was a great success! I spent under $100 for all the food, decorations, prizes, and even the gifts for mom and baby. One of which was the afghan I crocheted for them (pictured in a previous post). I did extensive research on the net for any baby pirate stuff I could find (which wasn‘t a lot, had to put my thinking cap on), searched the house for all our pirate ship gadgets, luckily we like that type of thing, and pictured here is what I came up with. It was a blast and even included a “Walk the Plank” game for prizes, and cute baby pirate gift bags with maps on one side and sayings like: “Shiver me rattles”, “Swab me poop deck” on the other. A BIG thanks goes out to Gabrielle and my MIL Sally for all their help, I couldn’t have done it without them!

2 Hours & 8 Stores

2009-03-20T16:25:00.003-04:00

2 hours of research and 8 stores, netted us a savings of over $68 on our grocery/household supplies. I spent a Sunday afternoon reading the free community newspaper called the Alma Reminder and cross referenced all the savings verses what we used and needed in the house. I bought more than one item if it was something I knew for sure we need in the future. No need to pay full price later when you can buy in bulk at a discount now. The pay off was better than I expected and well worth the work. All the stores were within a 15 mile radius and we timed them with the other errands that needed to be done….ie pick up Gabrielle from school and donate plasma. It takes some time but if you stick to your “needs” only you can save a bundle!

Blood Money

2009-02-26T10:59:00.008-05:00

So, right now I'm getting ready to have a needle jabbed into my arm; you see, it's plasma donation day. For those that don't know, not only does donating your plasma save lives, but it also pays...in fact, we think it pays quite well. Between me and Melissa we can earn $500 a month laying on a table two times a week.

Alrighty.....

My original plan was to write this blog as my blood was being sucked out of my arm, but it just did not work that way. For obvious reasons the arm that is "hooked up" to the machine can't really be used during the donation process, so I try to always use my left arm so that I can use my right hand (being right handed) to manipulate my phone, a book, laptop, etc...

Today they couldn't get the vein in my left arm to cooperate, so after jabbing me a few times they finally gave up and we had to use the right arm. That pretty much shut down any typing for me. I'm bad enough with my right hand...the left is damn near impossible! It wasn't very pleasant with the extra pokes, but I did get a free candy bar because of it...so I guess it wasn't so bad. As it stands right now, I and Melissa have donated four times. She has gotten a candy bar once while I have received two of them. At this rate I'm going to have sore arms and some extra weight!

Seriously though, it has been a good experience for us. We make sure we eat a good meal before and after the donation, and drink plenty of water. That really helps avoid any light-headedness
or nausea which can be a side effect. Then when it's all over our Bio Life debit cards get "Loaded" and we're out the door. Not a bad way to make some extra money.

You can find the link to Bio Life (it's nation wide) in our link section if your interested. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to make some extra cash, and accomplish a good deed all at the same time. Here are a couple of pics of our bandaged arms.

Rest in Peace

2009-02-03T07:47:00.003-05:00

The end of January has proven to be a tough time for us. Melissa's mother tragically passed away a year ago, and as we approached the 1st anniversary of her passing a young friend of ours lost his life in a senseless car accident. Any words I might say here are incapable of expressing the sadness and loss we are experiencing.
I know that death is a part of life, but this understanding in no way diminishes the grief and confusion when someone close to us dies. My father and Melissa's mother, a nephew and a friend...these deaths have struck us so profoundly that we have changed how we view life, and has much to do with the decisions we made for this new lifestyle we are embracing. I only wish that I could have seen the importance of God, family, and friends long before those dear to us slipped, much to early, from our lives.

Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
For some the journey's slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the lord
-Author unknown

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-21T12:02:00.007-05:00

I wanted to start the new year off right, what better way than to do it frugally. Above is my totally free decorated table setting I did for our dinner party with my cousins Bobby and Sarah. The only thing I paid for was the food, which I bought all on sale at previous times, consisting of; herb red skinned potatoes, buttered asparagus, barbecued pork and a wine and grape spritzer. I used the following for the table decor; a feather boa and a top hat from our Halloween box. Confetti from a previous party held years ago when we paid for things..lol. A mask worn at our close friends Dennis & Amy’s masquerade wedding. Glass beads Pat uses for his card games. I have a decent collection of crystal that I have collected over the years, and used a lot of that. Place mats were black and red construction paper criss-crossed. Napkins were nicely folded free, fast food restaurant leftovers. A crystal bowl with glass bulb ornaments off my Christmas tree. A few strands of plastic Mardigraus beads from a party my daughter attended. A got a few tips from Like Merchant Ships She is so helpful with tips in keeping things inexpensive or even free, but still classy and elegant. One tip I used was to transplant all food, wine and condiments into pretty dishes instead of using the package you bought it in. Works every time and even seems to make the food taste better! The night was fantastic and a great start to our brand new year.

Up in Smoke

2009-01-17T18:29:00.004-05:00

Melissa touched on this topic in an earlier post, but I think I'll expand upon it because like it or not...our tobacco use is a big part of our lives; both economically and emotionally. If you've never been addicted to nicotine, I'm glad for you and hope you never travel down that road as it only leads to physical and monetary slavery. If you are shackled by the unforgiving leaf then you know what I'm talking about.
For years we have smoked name brand cigarettes regardless of their costs. My reason was pure stubbornness..."If I'm gonna smoke," I'd say defiantly, as if I'm winning some unseen conflict, "then I'll smoke what I want!" Yeah, brilliant! That theory was literally costing us $1000's each year. Obviously, quitting is the best approach, but for now it's all about reducing our costs.
We have a two front attack: First we are buying the cheap tobacco and filters and rolling them ourselves. This has reduced our carton costs from $40+ a carton to under $10. Big savings. The second thing we have done is reduced the amount we smoke.
Melissa has never really smoked that much and can make a pack of smokes last for awhile, but I on the other hand was easily smoking a pack a day. Bad on the health...bad on the pocket book. So I've adopted a new strategy. Pipe smoking.
My older brother used to smoke cigarettes and then switched to pipe. After smoking the pipe for a little while he was able to lay it down and quit smoking altogether. I'm guessing it has something to do with nicotine delivery, and the pipe smoking reduces the amount going into your body. Regardless this is now my plan. How is it working you might ask?
Well, I still smoke occasional cigarettes, usually in the morning and after dinner, but I am smoking so few now...sometimes as little as three a day (as opposed to 20) that I know the pipe is helping. I enjoy the pipe, and since a bowl lasts for awhile I don't smoke it very many times per day. Hopefully I will get to the point where I only smoke the pipe, but until then I can take satisfaction that I am smoking way less in general, and our tobacco costs have been extremely diminished. Never quit quitting!

Pat's Bakery

2009-01-10T09:40:00.002-05:00

Christmas this year inspired me to try my hand at baking. Not really sure why, it was a spur of the moment decision, but as Melissa was talking with her cousin about our Christmas dinner I blurted out that we would bring an apple pie…the whole time I was thinking that this wasn’t going to be some factory processed dessert, but instead a delicious treat that I would craft from scratch with my own hands. Sounded great…the only problem, I had never baked anything before. I was going to need help!
First thing I did was call my mom. Years of making incredible apple pies couldn’t be disregarded, and her apple pies were my favorite…I needed her recipe and her tutelage if my apple pie was going make the grade. I also knew I was going to be relying on Melissa’s baking prowess also, but for now I was keeping her in the dark as to my plans for recruiting her into Pat’s bakery.
After a quick email and a couple of phone conversations I was armed with my materials list and a warning…a warning I couldn’t take lightly. My mother suggested buying a crust! I was shocked when she spoke those words, for it was my every intent to take basic ingredients and form them into a masterpiece of culinary delight. No, there would be no buying of a frozen, dull, and unloved crust. My mission would not be thwarted by the faithlessness of my own mother.
Because of Melissa’s baking we had many of the ingredients already on hand, but apples had to be purchased. Too the store we went, and yes, Melissa came with me, and it’s a good thing she did. My mom’s recipe called for Gala apples, but at the produce section there were many apples and try as I might I could not discern the differences between them. I became agitated as I inspected each bag looking for the illustrious pronouncement of Gala, but it was useless…the bags only said “Apples”. Until, of course Melissa pointed and said “See, right there, under the word apple; it says Gala.” And so it did…who ever thought that red printing on a clear bag filled with red apples was a good idea.
With the shopping finished the day of baking was now at hand. I had my mother’s recipe, I had a Betty Crocker cookbook and I had my materials, but there was one thing missing; an expert hand to assist me on this endeavor. Simple solution you might think…ask your wife, she’s baked plenty and would be happy to help, and of course you would be right, but such a request could not be handled so flippantly. You see, I couldn’t just ask. Such a sign of weakness at this crucial moment could damage both my own wavering confidence and perhaps even snatch away the entire project as Melissa might fear an inferior product at her family’s Christmas dinner. I would have to handle this delicately and with careful guile.
I entered the kitchen, and slowly but in obvious fashion gathered my tools and edible components, and I listened. I didn’t take long. From the living room came her voice…like the soft whisper of a baking angel. “Hon, would like some help?” Hell yes I want some help I almost yelled, but with years of practiced reserve I replied half-heartedly “Sure, if you want to.”
And so it began, I and Melissa elbow deep in flower and apples, running around the kitchen like crazed bakers. It was fantastic, and through it all…the joy, the tears and the laughter…we had an APPLE PIE! It was beautiful. It was glorious. Now, hopefully it would taste as good as it looked. Two days till Christmas dinner, when relatives would tear through the delicate lattice top and devour the golden goodness inside. The wait was excruciating.
At this point I’ll save you all the gory details, but in the end the apple pie was pretty darn good. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but there was definitely room for improvement. Not quite the ending I envisioned, but satisfying none the less. Perhaps next year will be the masterpiece I had planned, but if not…there’ll always be another holiday and another apple pie.

Good tidings, comfort and Joy

2009-01-07T01:23:00.004-05:00

Christmas was fantastic this year! We thought it would be scary going into our first year not having MOUNDS of gifts for ourselves and family, but it wasn’t , it was as good or even better than previous years! We truly enjoyed and appreciated everything we got this year and so many family members really took our “homesteading” to heart and got us some great things to help us on our quest. Normally for each family (my side and Pat’s side) we draw names, that saves a lot of $$ instead of buying gifts for everyone and we continued that tradition on Pats side. However on my side we didn’t do gifts at all (which was great), we just had dinner and spent time together, we all discussed that we didn’t need to spend money on frivolous things, it was the time that counted the most. And we had soo much fun!! I do have to make note that my Aunt Nancy doesn’t follow the “ no gift giving” rule…lol. She bought us some really cool homesteading stuff and even “re-gifted” a painting I did years ago for her and had it framed. It was so thoughtful and I forgive her for breaking the rules :o)

Gabrielle and I spent over 5 hours baking this year. In previous years we baked cookies and made fudge in half that time, but we always bought the semi-homemade stuff , you know the cookie dough that rarely makes it to the oven, most of us just eat it straight from the package, (please tell me I’m not the only one who does this…lol). Anyways, this year we did it all from scratch. Made dough, rolled dough, cut cookies, baked cookies, and decorated the cookies. I even made homemade frosting this year. It saved A LOT of money, in previous years I would have spent at least $60+ on everything. This year I spent under $10. It took more time, but it was worth every minute, Gabrielle and I had so much fun, she really did most of the work! Thanks Bean!

That makes "CENTS"

2009-01-07T00:44:00.006-05:00

I wanted to share some of my money saving tips I’ve done so far. Not all have been thoroughly tested but they seem to make CENTS…lol

Laundry
When I do a load I set the wash time down to the lowest setting, example if it washed for 12 minutes before now I put it to 6. I also wash in only cold water, and I use ½ detergent of what the back says to use. Haven’t had any differences as far as cleanliness is concerned. Still ALL clean! However this has not been tested on deeply soiled items, just day to day wear. When drying I set the timer to 3o minutes and check, if its done take it out, if not put it on for 10 more. I also use the dryer lint to start our fires. I the summer I plan to mostly hang outside to dry. I also wear my outer clothes (sweatshirts, pants etc) more than once if they are not soiled, usually I’m just around the house working and cooking so it really doesn’t matter. I also hang out towels to re-use all week. I’d like to eventually make my own laundry soap.

Food/Kitchen
Oh boy I could go on forever in this category and there is still sooo much I need to learn. I have yet to learn to can, that is probably the number one thing on my list before spring comes. I did get a bunch of new canning stuff for Christmas from the family ! Thanks Mona and Norm! So far what I have done is bread and leftovers. I’m not baking my own bread yet, however I will be very soon. But the bread I have now I get really cheap about .50-.75 a loaf. So when the ends are left or it’s a bit stale I turn it into bread crumbs or croûtons. Leftovers I have found to be pretty easy. There are so many resources online to find recipes for leftovers, it’s almost silly that anyone would ever through stuff away! One of my experiments was spaghetti casserole. It was delicious. If you want the recipe contact me. I can’t wait to get started on the garden this spring, that is when I will have many more money saving tips to share.

Kitchen…well here I have quite a few things. First we unplug anything that is not currently in use (micro when not being used, coffee machine, etc.). We no longer use the electric can opener at all, we removed it and I’m selling or I'm going to Freecycle it. I try to mix by hand (instead of electric mixer) when baking, sometimes that’s impossible though with my lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow). I reuse zipper bags (washing and drying on a cool rack I have) only if meat was not stored in them, those I toss out. I wash all containers of anything that was purchased and reuse them for storage and leftover storage, including bread bags. You’d be surprised how many I have actually gone through! Eventually I won’t have as many because we won’t be buying as many. So I’m saving them all now. Paper products…GONE, all of them. I no longer purchase any paper products for the kitchen. I have cloth napkins which I think are better feeling and looking. For nasty spills I use a rag from my "rag bag" filled with clothes and towels that could not be repaired and were torn up for convenient size use, they work great. This way no kitchen towels have to get stained, just a rag! I stopped using kitchen top cleaners and quick mop sprays, old fashion mop bucket, hand and knees and some elbow grease is the ticket now. I use a lot of vinegar and baking soda to clean, it goes A LOT farther and it gets the job done much easier. I have yet to go through the gallon of vinegar I bought 2 months ago for $2. And if anyone knows me, my house is clean…lol

MISC
Free samples!! (pictured below is 3 weeks worth) LOVE THEM! If you are already online doing homesteading research or what ever you do, take the time to fill out a few lines of your name and address and get a free sample! I have been doing it for over a month and they are pouring in now. I get at least 6 or 7 a week. I have had countless free things. A free pot of coffee, free load of laundry, several free hair washings, free food samples, I can’t even begin to name all the free stuff I have given to me. Here are some links to sites I have used. http://www.mysavings.com/, http://www.freebies4mom.blogspot.com/
Paper. I reuse it all. The backs of it anyways, if I can’t write on it I save it for starting our fires (well at least some of it) I cut it up in small pieces for quick notes (kinda like the post-its) the difference is mine doesn’t stick..lol. My mother-in-law Sally gave me a stack of scrap paper notes that were stapled, I thought what a great idea! It’s like a little notebook. I keep one in my purse. All the junk mail I keep and use the backs. I have even used the envelopes to scratch stuff on if I need to.
FreeCycle. There is A LOT to get on these sites, however I found that there are many more that want it. So far we have gotten only one response from it, a really nice coffee table and end table set, but that's not from the lack of trying (emailing). It just comes down to, a lot of people are looking for stuff, and there is only so much that is being given. But all in all I can’t complain, it’s a great service intended to keep items out of landfills and it seems to be working and of course it‘s all FREE. We plan, as we go through things, to sporadically put some things on there.
Dumpster Diving. We just started looking into this so I can’t share our experiences as of yet, however we have found there is a whole community out there dedicated to it! It’s exciting and I hope to be back with more details on that soon.
Smoking. Yeah I know a nasty habit…but we do it. Pat’s seriously trying to quit, I’m half ass trying. Michigan has one of the highest prices for cigs. For premium you can pay almost $50 per carton and of course that’s what we smoked. So I decided to take the plunge and start rolling smokes. Pat started smoking a pipe instead. So we invested $60 into all our supplies. Pipe and cig tobacco, rolling machine, filter tubes, and pipe. The smoke shop was very helpful and even allowed us to sample different tobacco types before we bought. It was strange smoking right in a business…haven’t done that for years! Anyways as far as the cigarettes go it costs $12.70 for one carton of smokes now (tobacco, tubes and tax)!!! AMAZING!! Luckily I only smoke about 5-10 cigs a day so it’s roughly about $5 per week. Pretty damn good!!

The Teenagers point of View,

2008-12-18T20:04:00.006-05:00

Well i am the teenager that is being forced against my will to participate in this homesteading experience. Now I'm not gonna lie the first time my mom and dad told me about this i was in totally shock, They would just say "Now Gabrielle this is a life style change,it will be fun". What are they thinking was running through my mind over and over again. Of course there is the upside my dad would be home a lot more and that was what i wanted, and i guess we would be saving a lot of money.Some of the things though are not exactly my cup of tea. First off TV...gone,as of just a few days ago i was without tv entirely and as you probably know i live out in the middle of no where and without TV, its not the best.But now at least we have some local channels, but i do miss my shows like "That 70's show" and "Secrete life of an American teenager"The cell phone fortunetly is still here. I really think i would die without it, i know your probably thinking "oh thats so a teenager thing", but its true. Though unlimited texting soon may be gone. Another big thing that has effected me is the heat. Or lack of it. It has been quite freezing in my room so i put on the parka and try not to get frost bite..lol.Bringing wood up from the basement to the living room use to be bad but know i kinda like it, kinda, probably because I'm building my arm muscle=)All in all though life has been pretty much the same for me, but we also haven't gotten the pigs yet. Really this homesteading thing isn't that bad and i look forward to the crazy events my family and i have to encounter.Which I'm sure there will be plenty of them.

True North's Homesteading Principles

2008-12-16T20:26:00.008-05:00

As we make decisions along our way towards true freedom, we decided that we need a list of our core homesteading beliefs to help guide us as we travel this exciting and unknown road. With these principles in hand we can make sure that we never lose sight of our goals and dreams.

I. A Lifestyle Of Simplicity:
As we remove ourselves from the clutches of commercialized society we can reclaim the simple things that we have taken for granted most of our lives. With all the noise of the world around us we have stopped paying attention to the very things that we hold so important to our lives. Our relationships (or lack there of), with our family and friends and the community that surrounds us will be reestablished. Our own creativity and self awareness will be rediscovered, along with knowledge of the natural world and all its wonders. Jesus Christ will no longer be a distant friend in our lives, but a true companion and guide as we embrace this simpler way of living.

II. Self Reliance 101:
In the spirit of Homesteading we will embrace the virtues of self reliance. By learning new skills and relying on the ones we already have we will be able to provide for ourselves in a very new and exciting way. With these skill sets and a refocused frame of mind we can make what we need...instead of purchasing it, and take on the Do-It-Yourself attitude that will bring us more satisfaction than any paycheck ever has.

III. The Art Of Frugality:
By being frugal we can achieve a standard of living that is far beyond one that we have always tried to purchase. This cannot be understated for it is perhaps the core of what we are trying to accomplish. The simple act of spending less will buy us piece of mind, and the closeness of being together instead of slaving away trying to be the best consumers we can be. We will fix what is broken, mend what is torn, buy "used" instead of "new", and discover the hidden treasures of free fun as opposed to purchased fun that comes with the hidden price tag of guilt. The guilt we have felt when hard earned money was spent for something that in the end...wasn't all that fun anyways. For those things that we need, we will save for, and debt will be cast aside along with the "have it now attitude" that has been with us since we were children.

IV. Living With The Land:
In respect for the property that has been given to us, we will no longer see it as a burden, but instead see it for what it truly is; an opportunity. With our land we will grow our own food and raise livestock so that we can feed our family in a way that adheres to our other principles. With knowledge and practice there is nothing we can't grow, raise, or hunt. The satisfaction of supplying our own food will be worth all the hard work that it will take to collect this wonderful bounty.

V. Getting Off The Grid:
By relying on the powers-that-be to supply us with the energy we need, we have become willing participants in the "Plug & Play" game. This attitude has made it far to easy to simply power up anything for convenience's sake without regard to its cost. By taking on new applications of alternative energy we can free ourselves from the exorbitant costs of the electric company and have a deeper awareness and appreciation for the energy that we use. Appliances will be judged on their usefulness and ranked via priority instead of their supposed convenience.

This list of these five basic principles is a start, and perhaps, down the road it will be added to. For now though, it is a compass that we can use to help find our way.

The Rabbit Hole

2008-12-09T18:44:00.005-05:00

So today marks a major milestone in our homesteading endeavor...I put in my two weeks notice with the trucking company I work for. It's turning out to be a bitter-sweet moment. I expected to be very happy, but as it turns out there is a lot of room for uncertainty to creep in. There are a couple of reasons for this I figure:

First, our original plan was for me to wait until the end of March to quit. Our carefully laid out plan had suddenly changed, but, frankly for good reason. The cost of me being on the road, considering the amount of money it costs for food and other necessary supplies, were digging into my declining paycheck. With the financial recession taking hold, it has finally really hit my industry. So...slow freight, coupled with bad weather adds up to less miles per week, and that means smaller pay checks. Unfortunately, my spending wasn't going down, in fact it was on the rise. The more I sat for long hours in truck stops and operating centers the more I was eating, drinking (pop), smoking, etc. We did some math and some soul searching, and figured it just wasn't worth it to stay out on the road when I could earn money at home doing odd jobs, plus help Melissa in the day to day tasks that are continuing to grow as we remove expensive conveniences from our lives. Giving her more time to focus on her business. Seems like a great reason to quit sooner rather than later, and it is...but......see, there's that doubt; creeping in like a 'thief in the night', trying to snatch our dreams away.

The second reason I'm feeling this strange concoction of emotions is that I work for a large company that pays me, offers a 401k, insurance...and all the other benefits that comes from being hired by a business that's been around for 70 years. This is what I'm supposed to do to take care of my family. Work hard, earn money and benefits, and, and...wait...I don't get to ever see or be with them. Hey, that's not what society told me it would be like. That's right though, I have a lot of programing that's been with me since my first days on this earth, and it's that over-played programing that doesn't want to let me go. It's very "Matrix" like...I'm a copper-top. Linked to the system to do my part.

In the long run...I needed the doubt. I needed to wonder if I was doing the right thing. Not to make a hasty decision or one solely on emotion. I think that in this case doubt gave me pause, and I used it to make sure this was right. It is!

Time to find out what's down the Rabbit-Hole!

Come on baby light my fire

2008-12-08T12:52:00.002-05:00

OK..this is what we are using to supplement our heat. We have the thermostat down to 62-65 and we close all the doors in the house to just heat the living room and kitchen. It seems to be working pretty good. You will usually find me with a sweater and slippers on still. The problems we have run into is the wood. We got a really late start in the year and Pat had only a few days to get a months worth of wood cut. Plus the fact that this wood was not dried or seasoned at all. We ran a little short that first month. Luckily we live on 40 acres and have plenty of wood, it's time that we have a current problem with. Pat is still on the road and won't be off for a few more weeks. So each time he's home for a few days he spends almost half a day cutting wood. He cuts, I stack. Thanks to both his brothers who helped with wood over Thanksgiving, it was much needed especially with the extra company over.

Animal Handeling

2008-12-08T12:43:00.006-05:00

Ok well the goal is to own 3 pigs, and a few chickens to start. But we do have some experience in handling animals....lol. We own 2 dogs and 1 cat. Max is pictured here, he's AKA the "Baby Boy" It seems we have a history of calling all of our animals by anything but the name we really gave them. Our cat is a boy with the name pretty kitty (I know ask our daughter about that one) and we can't seem to say anything but SHE around him. And then we have Gypsy who has so many names I can't list them all here, my son Jay branded most of them. One of my favorites is "Pupper Diller". Anyways there you have it. The beginnings of our animal experience, well at least mine anyway. Pat has had more than I, thank goodness!

It's a boy

2008-12-08T12:36:00.004-05:00

Here's the blanket I've been working on for Jay's new baby. Dr's say it a boy, lets hope, everything he and Jordy got was blue at the baby shower. I'll be having a baby shower up north for our side of the family, that's when I'll give it to them. I bought most the yarn from the store but did get lucky and found some second hand at the re-sale shop that matched. Thankfully I already knew how to crochet. There is sooo much I still need to learn. But at least I got one thing under my belt.

Google-"ing"

2008-12-08T12:25:00.004-05:00

I have done many, many hours of research on the internet, looking into anything that has to do with “homesteading” or any varied version of that “search word” on google. I tried, self-reliance, going green, living off the grid, penny pinching, saving money, frugal living, gardening, hunting, alternate energy sources…etc. Each brought me a vast amount of information that I have taken little bits and pieces of and applied them to our new start on life. A few that I really enjoy visiting are, Mother Earth News (http://www.motherearthnews.com/), this is one of my favorites. Been around for years and has gotten a new lease of life seeing how so many are “going green” now-a days. It has so many useful articles and blogs. I really enjoy reading it. Another fav is Homestead.org: Exploring and enhancing the quality of rural life I haven’t become a member of anything yet, I just peek in now and then and see what others have written. I’m sure once everything really gets going for us I will join a group or 2. I'm pretty sure in a bit I will post all my links I've found. I just don't have the time with the holidays and all.

The Modern Day Woman?

2008-11-17T20:34:00.003-05:00

I have been so excited about the prospects of our new life. I felt I needed to let all the women know why I have decide to “give up” on the modern day woman so to speak.

First let me start by saying I am a 37 year old woman with 2 children, one 18 and one 15. I have always been a artistic type of gal. I’ve had every sort of art job you can think of. I used to pride my self on being “trendy", “pretty” and very “well-kept” I had MANY things I did to keep myself up. Did my nails every 2 weeks, I had hair extensions (not only cut and color, but the fake hair to boot), went to the tanner, bought all the designer name things I could. (I didn’t always have all the money to buy the REAL thing but I at least got the “knock off" version of it.) I spent many hours a week, keeping myself up to live up to the standards I thought my family , friends and especially my husband (Pat) wanted. I found it to be EXHAUSTING and really unrewarding. Pat and I were working our asses off to keep with the standard of how you should be, look, dress and feel. Pat (a truck driver) spends months and months away from home for us to keep up with the crazy “Jones” life style. I spend hours online and away from home working to earn money. In the end I asked myself, was I REALLY happy? Did I really feel satisfied? Was I really PRETTY? REALLY PRETTY? What is pretty? I know it’s a silly thought, a silly question, but isn’t that what woman want to be? Pretty? What makes a woman “pretty”? How did I REALLY feel when I looked in the mirror? Did I like what I saw on the outside, the persona that everyone saw? Was it really me? Is it how everyone views her or how she views herself? Or did I really want to be truly happy with who I was as a woman, a mother, a wife, friend, aunt, cousin, sister…a human being? Was Pat even home to see me being “pretty” ? (No, he was out working, on the road, for months at a time to pay for the “pretty“) I finally realized it is how I view myself! It was being with Pat, who always told me I was pretty. It was me being with my friends, family and loved ones, that is want I wanted…… That is what it is to truly be “pretty" isn‘t it?

Now I know what you’re thinking, I turned into this crazy tree-hugging, non-shaving, non-deodorant wearing hippy freak. But that is far from the truth. I turned into “ME”. The person I want to be, not what society wants, or the media, but what I want. WHAT I WANT! I haven’t changed my style, or personality and most won’t even notice, but I know (me, myself) that I have changed the way I live as a woman. I will no longer live up to the magazine, commercial, television version of the stick-thin, designer wearing, waif looking woman that is pretty. I have turned into… ME, just me, and I’m pretty, and all who I love know it and that’s all that counts to me!

I still have my crazy style, I still wear what I want to, I just do it for me, I don’t buy into the hype of what is hip or in style, is that really important? REALLY? I will never buy a new piece of clothing again. I buy all second hand, used stuff, and make it my own. I will mend it if it tears, I will patch if it has a hole. I may not know now how to do it all now but I will learn and that will make me happier than someone telling me that it makes me happy if I bought it! What better satisfaction than to know you did it yourself? REALLY....What woman doesn’t want to save a buck…lol.

So...what's next at True North?

2008-11-17T19:53:00.002-05:00

Our plan from the beginning has been to chronicle our transition from commercialized neophytes to practiced homesteaders. As the Blog intro states this is about the journey. A place that we can come to and document the changes, both good and bad, as I, Melissa, and Gabrielle see them. Mostly this is for us...so in years to come we can look back at where we came from and where we were going. A written time-capsule so to speak.
However, it is also for you, the reader; be you family or friend, or even stranger. It is my hope that each of you can get something from our musings. And in turn we hope to glean insight from your comments.
Rest assured though, it wont be boring. As you witness two willing adults jump headlong into a realm of the unknown and unexpected, followed hesitantly by their reluctant 15 year old daughter (who loves designer clothes)...you may just get a laugh or two.

True North

2008-11-17T18:08:00.001-05:00

Thank you for visiting our blog: True North.

We hope you enjoy reading our thoughts, ideas and dreams. Please feel free to leave us a comment...we would love to hear from you!