Pat's Bakery

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

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"

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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.