So. Much. Is going on right now. We are in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. The first in 102 years. It affects hundreds of countries. Lots of people are contracting the Coronavirus which is leading to the Covid-19 disease.
Businesses are closing. People are out of jobs. Restaurants are doing pick up or delivery only. There is hand sanitizer everywhere. Shelves are empty at stores. There’s no toilet paper to be found. Limits on items are being enforced.
I had already started working on our little homestead before this all started (in the US at least), but I have been focusing on it with more intensity. It will take about a year till I am where I want to be with our homestead (probably more), but I thought I’d share where we currently are and what the future plans are. My pictures aren’t amazing and things may or may not make sense, but I’m excited to have something positive to focus on.
Gardening
Currently we just don’t have time or energy to contribute to building a large garden… in our yard or with the community (they are doing a large community garden). I actually paid for half of the plants and seeds for our neighbor’s garden, and I’m doing some work also (we both are). In there we planted pole beans, okra, cucumber, jalapeños, lots of tomato plants, oregano, basil, rosemary, and he has volunteer mint and cilantro.
Then on our back patio I planted bell pepper, spinach, basil, cilantro, thyme, lavender, yellow squash, and lettuce. Those are just in containers.
In the meantime I am going to spend some time planning our fall garden and will be figuring out the details of how to make that work out here. We live on rocky land with no soil so it has to be raised beds. We have tons of deer and other wildlife, so we have to keep it with-in a tall fence. We have a dog that is a bit destructive, so that can be challenging. I think with advance planning and prep we will make this work.
Backyard Chickens
I have wanted to get chickens again for a long time (we have had them before, twice). We ended up buying chicks from Tractor Supply over a month ago, and we moved the larger/older chicks into their coop today. They will stay in it for a while and we will see how Loki manages with them. We hope to be able to let them into the yard, but it may take a while. The younger chicks have been moved into the dog crate in the garage for a while. They need to get a bit bigger till they can move into the coop. It’ll be a long while till they start laying eggs, but we’ll get there. We have 11 chicks so we will have lots of eggs! Can’t wait.
Homemade Things
This isn’t really new, but I’m adding to the things that I make homemade and trying new things. And I’m sticking to old favorites.
- Greek honey vanilla yogurt
- Granola and bars
- Sourdough and regular whole wheat bread using freshly ground flour
- Most dinners (see the recipes page for a lot of my recipes)
- Muffins, pancakes, waffles
- Lara bars
- Stove top popcorn
- Whole wheat crackers (sometimes)
- Tortillas (sometimes)
- Salsa
- Tomato sauce
- Elderberry syrup and gummies
- Laundry detergent (liquid and dry, sometimes)
- Soy candles with essential oils
- Some cleaners (I do prefer a few store bought natural cleaners)
- Deodorant (sometimes, other times I buy Native or Schmidts)
- Cucumbers/pickles
- Carrots
- Kombucha
- Brined and roasted nuts and seeds
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
We are trying to be better about this. We are utilizing different methods to make this happen.
We are using cardboard in gardens as a weed barrier. Whatever is leftover gets burned.
We are recycling.
We are composting. Currently we throw everything into a community compost bin in the middle of the houses, but most of this will be going to the chickens soon.
We started reusing jars and containers. It’s pretty funny to open up a sour cream container and find leftovers. Haha. We can’t recycle glass in our town (so silly to me), so I try to find ways to reuse glass containers!
Stock Pile
I have also been working on stocking up on food. I have been doing this a while; I’m not freaking out and hoarding like many others. I just like to be fully stocked since we are staying home and town is so far away, and we had the money thanks to our tax refund.
We have plenty of meat, cheese, and veggies/fruits. Butter. Milk. Etc.
We have so many pantry foods as well.
I just happened to order 25lbs of hard white wheat berries before all of this started, so I’m good there.
Anyway… I will only be growing from here.
Here is where I’ve landed with the inside of the house…
Kitchen
Living Room
Master Bedroom
Office
And I rarely take pics of the kids rooms and the bathrooms because let’s be honest, they are never very clean. Haha.
Despite the difficulty at the moment, I am realizing how much I am finally being able to live my dream. Homeschooling, homesteading, living at an amazing Christian camp, adventuring with my family, learning who I am and who I want to be, and more! We live a Wild + Free lifestyle as a family and I’m once again being who I want to be… a “granola/crunchy” mama!
And I also have a beautiful tattoo! Not related to homesteading… but related to being the person I want to be!
Simply Courtney 