Do You Want to Garden Organically and Just Don’t Know Where To Start?

Have you always wanted to transition your vegetable gardens to all organic methods? It’ s the new thing, you know. All those wannabe crunchy people out there have had some small realization that all these chemical laden foods cannot possibly be good. So maybe some of you are suburbanites that have plotted out a small garden and bought some soil and fertilizers and some seeds. Maybe you had good luck and grew a few pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers. Somehow, it just isn’t enough to make a dent in your food bill and on your lifestyle of McDonald’s and Subway. It’s a small step and that is really good. But transitioning your life to becoming more organic may have to be a lifestyle. Where do you start? Well, I can tell you how I started and maybe you will get some ideas on what would  be right for you and your family.

I moved to the country about a year ago. But until then, I was a suburbanite searching to minimize my carbon footprint, reducing our grocery bill, and transitioning into a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. Where did I get the idea? Well, I realized I had no idea how to sew. I had no way of growing my own food. And I was a clueless American that just bought everything at the store even though I had a little voice in my head that said those stores and the endless supply of money may not last forever. So I read a lot of books. I looked at other people’s websites. I learned how to make my own soap. I learned to make laundry soap for a fraction of the price. You know what happened? It was like a drug; learning all these old- timey skills made me realize that our generation was lost and if anything like an economic collapse occurred, we would all become crazy zombies that had no idea how to take care of ourselves. To make matters worse, I was noticing all the online articles that highlighted the adverse effects of high fructose corn syrup and processed foods. So let’s just say it took me close to 10 years to get where I am today. Furthermore, there are varying degrees of crunchy that you can achieve and maybe I am a little too much for you.
Let me just say that there are varying degrees of “organic” to me. There are those people that buy everything organic- food, clothing, soaps, shampoos, etc. I am not one of those people. I have contemplated the organic movement and I just think its crazy to think something is perfectly organic when less than 100 years ago we thought asbestos was a great idea. There was probably a chemical plant built in the spot that my 90 year old house is now standing on; or even more possible is a farm that probably used formaldehyde as a fertilizer. So am I truly organic? Probably not. Do I buy all organic crap? Not really. I just make an effort to do most of everything myself and in the process most of the products I use are “all natural.”

You have your plot marked out for spring. You have your non-GMO seeds and your soil has been tilled. Now what? Well, your first crop that you plant in that spot will most likely do alright. However, without properly feeding your soil, you will ultimately fail to produce good quality food in successive years. As the vegetables grow, they will take the nutrients from the soil that will help them grow properly. Therefore, if you grow great tomatoes in that spot, next year when you plant in that same spot the soil will be void of those necessary nutrients. You will need to continuously build your soil to continue to grow crops of any nutritional value. And something else VERY important; I mean, you need to imprint this next sentence on your brain or you will just get sucked into buying chemical laden crap for your garden when it starts to crimp.

YOU MUST GIVE YOUR SOIL NUTRITION FOR IT TO PRODUCE NUTRITION FOR YOU

I hope you understand this. You will have to feed your plants nutritional food for them to produce nutrition for you. Healthy plants will also fight off bugs. When your garden gets invaded by crazy little bugs that want to destroy all your precious plants, it is because they are not healthy enough to fight off pests or disease. Healthy plants, just like healthy people, will fight off all the diseases and pests that come their way. The bugs are not stupid! Just like bacteria, they will invade those plants that cannot fight back. So you must continually build your soil so that it is strong and healthy. Here are some ways that you can do this:
1. Compost- compost anything that you possibly can. Throw all your vegetable and fruit craps in a pile in the corner of the yard and the bugs will do the rest. We have a tumbler ( that I got from Craiglist for dirt cheap) and a few different wire fence enclosures that we put any degradable items that would do well in the garden. This includes chicken poop, rabbit droppings, fruit and vegetable scraps and peels, and garden leftovers. No meat, dairy, or processed food scraps go in there.
2. Vermicomposting- This is really easy to do. Take a couple of tupperware bins and drill holes into one of them on the sides and lid. I put a brick in the bin that has no holes. Then set the other bin with the holes on top of the brick and inside the other one. Then I bought a bag of red composting worms from Ebay or somewhere for less than $15 with shipping. I used newspaper and whatever other shredded paper bits I could find, put it in the bottom and wet it down. Put the worms in there with the paper. Then place a layer on top of fruit and vegetable scraps. Voila! Those little guys will create the most nutritious soil you have ever known. So fertile that it should only be mixed into the soil in small amounts.
3. Get chickens, rabbits, and any other animal that may create droppings perfect for your soil- You will have to decide this for yourself. I have chickens and pigs and because I dont feed them a meaty diet, I can use their feces in my garden. No dog poop cant be used! When I lived in suburbia, I used to go to people’s farms and clean out cow and horse stalls for their poop. I let it compost for several months and then spread it on the garden. Free compost! If your really adventurous, those animals can eventually become another food source.

4. Make rainbarrels- Again, I got some off of friends and online for cheap. My handsome hubby put spigots in them and positioned them under gutters and eves. We filtered the water from the roof with a wire mesh that we got from the local hardware store. That would also keep mosquitoes from breeding in them.
5. Slowly grow your garden space each year- We went from a small raised garden area about 12 by 12 feet and just before we moved to Maine the area had over taken the front and back yards. I was planting all edible plants that would grow well in our zone. I even planted some edible flowers that provided both pretty landscaping but would taste good in a salad. Once you get going, you will learn that even with less than a quarter of an acre, you can grow most of your own food. There is a family in California that not only produce all their own food on .10 of acre, but they also sell some of it in order to buy supplies that they cannot make themselves. If you look at their gardens, you will see that they employ a permaculture approach. This is just a fancy word for using a multitude of different plants and animals in a way that prevents pests and diseases from overtaking the garden. It also uses the thinking that if one crop fails, you will have many other food sources to fall back on. Our current monoculture approach in the United States where one crop is grown over thousands of acres creates a habitat that requires pesticides because the bad bugs can grow and thrive all in one spot.

These seem somewhat simple to do. However, unless you know how to compost very quickly, it seems like forever before the compost actually turns into something usable. That is why you will have to be creative and try to get free compost from local farmers or have animals that will create it for you. Otherwise, you will end up spending allot of money buying fertilizer products that may not be the best for you and your family.

However, the rewards are absolutely amazing! Once you make a meal that you grew and raised yourself, you will be addicted to finding more ways to grow and do things for yourself! Have more questions? Send me an email or a facebook post and I will tell you how I do things. It may not be the best way, but I have probably been there and done that! Blessings!

Adding Pigs To Our Family Farm

With much controversy amongst a few friends and family, we have once again jumped into another project. Head first, just jumping right in there is how we have always done it. We recently had a very nice former teacher of mine and friend to my mountain man hubby that passed and it reaffirmed that we are not getting any younger and unless we try we will never know.
Pigs are pretty smart animals and are a large source of meat that we can put in our freezer for somewhere around $1.53 a pound. They are hard work and if they become ill or are not well cared for, then we risk losing them and having lost our small investment in them. But the local Amish have been so kind and helpful and promised that we could help when it came time for them to butcher their animals and said that when it was time for ours, they would oversee our work to ensure we were doing it correctly. They are small now and we are going to do a winter raising. Due to the frigid climates here, we are building them a nice but smallish pen for the 2 pigs, and loading it with straw and a small heat lamp for those really frigid days. We have been researching this for awhile but now its time to take the leap.

We are buying 2 of them at a very good price. Not sure which ones, but I will be happy with whatever. The hardest part to the process is when it comes time that they are ready to be processed. I myself cannot take part because I am so tender hearted and love all God’s creatures. But I have made a promise to myself and God that I will take extra good care of them and make sure they have happy piggy lives before that time comes. All life is so precious, but we are also wanting to be sure that we know what we are feeding them and where our meet comes from. Today, the conditions that animals in commercial factories are so poorly cared for. It’s my goal to get a nice sunny area fenced off for them so they can experience all the fun things that piggies should. We will have a great big veggie garden next year and I hope that this will supplement future livestock as these guys will be processed in the spring. The kids are OK with this; we had long talks about where our food comes from and why we want to be self-sufficient in any way possible.
feeding costs and the costs of building the sctructure (which is quite minimal as Dan is cutting down trees and using free scrap wood from one of the local Amish that we have made a barter system with. We cut wood and help with his business when we can, and they allow us to dog through their huge stack of crap wood and take whatever we need.
I am quite excited for this new adventure and I hope any of you out there with pig-raising experience will feel free to comment. We chose winter time for our first raising because of the smell and flies, so hopefully, we can keep them warm and dry and happy in their new little hut.

6 Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient

Make It Homemade- 6 Ways to Become More Self Sufficient

We are slaves to our bills. We are slaves to our jobs. My goal in the next 10 years is to be free of my debt slavery and live on our homestead in our home that we built ourselves while staying debt free. I dream of a cordwood home, a woodstove, and large gardens with enough planted to feed our family for the year. I dream of being free of an electric bill. No water or sewer bill. No cable bill. No mortgage. Free.
As part of this dream, I have had to learn how to do allot of things for myself. I guess I could just run out and buy what I need, but its not always that easy. Budget issues often get in the way of this. Especially since the price of food and basic necessity items has gone way up in the last several years. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to get an better. But, wouldn’t it be a little less stressful if you only had one or two cleaners under the sink? When they got low, you could just run down to the basement and grab one of your bottle of vinegar and alcohol and refill them! Low on laundry soap? Make some! Run out of wood polish? Use some of the ingredients in the kitchen to make them shiny and pretty again! Maybe its not always quite that easy, but it can be. Here’s how:
1) Make your own cleaners- Get a couple bottles of white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and some spray bottles. Some recipes to follow. Ditch the harsh chemicals and have a naturally clean home.
2) Make your own laundry soap- Good riddance to the chemicals in your clothing. Get a box of Borax, one box of washing soda, a large box of baking soda, and 2 bars of either Zote brand soap or Fels Naptha Soap. If you learn how to make your own bar soap, then you can grate that into your laundry soap. If that’s a bit zealous for you, don’t worry. The fact that you’re reading this blog means you are wanting to be more self sufficient. That’s something! The recipe for the laundry soap to follow. Oh and get rid of those nasty dryer sheets with all those chemicals. Maybe that will be another posting.

3) Make your own crafts- birthday cards, valentine cards for the kids at school, tags for gifts at Christmas… there are lots of times when its just easier to run out to the store. Try to think ahead. Can you crochet or knit? Make a small gift ahead of time and print out a card that you make from online clip art. Most people will love that more than store bought gifts.
4) Learn a craft- As I said above, you can knit or crochet tons of unique gifts or household items. Dishcloths can be made in an hour with roughly $1.50 in yarn. Make reusable dishcloths and skip buying sponges at the store. Just wash and reuse! Make blankets, coasters, sweaters, socks, hats, mittens, scarves, and even toys. With the investment of time, you can have some pretty nice household items and clothing for very little money. I sometimes will find listings on Craigslist with free yarn and crafting supplies when older people can no longer craft anymore. This is a bath pouf and washcloth I made and love getting in the bath now! I have reusable unpaper towels instead of buying paper towels. I have rags for cleaning.

5) Cut coupons- cut your grocery bill down by gardening and hunting. Cut coupons for anything you can’t grow or hunt. There are tons of websites with free coupons. Going on a favorite manufacturer’s website and they might have their own coupons as well. However, most of the grocery items you buy in the store can be substituted for staples and you can make the rest yourself. Coffee creamer? You can make flavored creamers and it won’t have all the fake chemical ingredients either. Pancakes? Some flour, egg and baking powder and you won’t ever have to buy Bisquick again!
6) Make your own beauty products- deodorant, shampoo, lotions… all can made at home cheaply. I will go into all this in depth in another posting. Apple cider vinegar works as a great hair rinse and removes all the build up from styling products, as well as what shampoo and conditioner leave behind. For what you are not willing to make, there is someone like me willing to do it for you for a fair price with organic or all natural ingredients. Check me out on Etsy! My shop is called Mommy’s Organics.
These are only a tip on the iceberg. However, each step is a small step toward freedom. Get rid of that cable bill. Get rid of the extra phone services you don’t need. Buy used cars, used clothing, and secondhand housewares. Save money for what really matters and simplify. Use plastic grocery bags for trash bags and use reusable shopping bags (when you can remember to!). Sell off some of the electronics in your house that are sucking your electricity and weighing down. Do we really need 4 TV’s in the house watching the same show?
I will share all the ideas I have learned or heard of as I go because I look forward to the day I am free of all the bills (except taxes!)
Blessings,
Pam and the farm

RECIPES
Laundry soap recipe: 2 cups Borax, 2 cups Washing Soda, 1 cup baking soda, 1 bar of grated soap and mix thoroughly. Add essential oils for fragrance if you desire but your clothes will smell fresh and clean without it.
Stains: peroxide for blood or bodily fluid. Vinegar for food or grass stains.
Cleaners: Super Window and Multisurface cleaner: 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol, 3 1/2 cups water and put in a clean 32 oz spray bottle.
Use the above recipe without the alcohol for shower doors. Spray a few sprays after each shower.
Baking soda replaces soft scrub in the sink and bathtub. Just use a small amount with a little water. Vinegar and baking soda mixed together in the drain helps keep them open.

Simple DIY Lotion Recipe

Shea butter is a simple yet fabulous item to keep on hand. I am a soaper, so I have it on hand anyway. But this is something that is relatively inexpensive and anyone, I mean ANYONE, can use it. At room temperature, it is a solid. It is a sort of crumbly soft and when you scoop a little bit on your hand it melts almost right away (in small amounts). When I started with lotions, I started with simple.
But the picture above is just shea butter. I melted it in a pot, added some essential oils, and put it through a cake tip to make the swirls in the tin. That was all. No other added this or that. Simple.
If you want something a little more lotiony, here is where you can add 2 more fairly simple ingredients. Sweet almond oil and beeswax. The sweet almond oil is a liquid at room temperature. The beeswax is a harder substance at room temperature and works as an emollient in lotions; simply stated, it helps to mix things together. I have not ventured into lotions that contain water or any other ingredients because I have stopped here. Keep it simple. It works. It goes on slightly greasy, but absorbs quickly and works very well. I live in Northern Maine and the winters are brutal! With this, our hands are protected from the harsh wind and smell great when I add essential oils such as lavender and lemon.
Here’s my recipe:
1 cup  sweet almond oil
1/2 cup shea butter
1/2 cup beeswax
These products can be bought in bulk or in smaller amounts at many online retailers. I use several different ones and no one pays me to write so I will not name any right now. I use only one online seller of essential oils and I love her and her customer service. If you would like some links to the retailers I use comment below.  Thanks for reading! Blessings
Pam at From Away Farms
Here is a link to my etsy store, I may still have some lotions listed https://www.etsy.com/shop/MommysOrganics

DIY Green Cleaning- Make Your Own Cleaners, Save Money, and Be Healthier

OK, so maybe you don’t know this, but I am a nurse. I have been an RN for over 10 years. My dream is to someday retire from nursing and be full-time at our homestead and somehow making enough money from our handmade crafts.  As a nurse, I come into contact with allot of sick people and try really hard not to be one of those people. I eat fairly well, stay somewhat active, and try to get preventive care when needed.
But, back to the “seeing allot of sick people.” I see A LOT of sick people. It hurts my heart. I see a lot of cancer, and the incidence has somewhat skyrocketed in the last 5 years.  Is it our food? Probably with all the chemicals and processed junk that Americans eat. Not just that though, the pesticides the farmers use, the chemicals we use to clean. The poison is everywhere! I have to eliminate the poison that is in and around my house whenever I can. Does it mean that I’m perfect? No. I still have some commercial items in the house. But I am weeding them out slowly but surely. This means that I will occasionally lose crops to disease or pests. This means that I have to work harder to keep bugs out of my house. It means I have to be creative with cleaning, gardening, skin care, soaps, and even shampoos. My husband thinks it’s almost normal to pour what he thinks will be normal shampoo into his hand but have it be some sort of runny concoction that I made up this week. Sometimes it works great. Sometimes it makes me want normal shampoo again.
One thing I love is not using commercial cleaners. We use Murphy’s Oil Soap and some other such things that are store bought. But in general we try to use my homemade concoctions for cleaning. One reason is reducing chemicals. That is very important. Another reason we use the homemade chemicals is because our septic tank is quite old and we dont want to kill what little good bacteria might be left. We also dont want these chemicals leaching into our ground or water source. As a nurse, I know that there are many changes taking place because hospitals waste allot of medications into the water system and now they are finding trace amounts of all those medicines in our drinking water. Food (or water?) for thought.
So I found this book several years ago, and I think you should invest in purchasing it. It’s called “The Naturally Clean Home” by Karyn Siegel-Maier. It has over 150 recipes for cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, and anywhere in between. They are solid recipes, and I have made over 20 of them and use them every day. There is one for a super glass cleaner with vinegar, alcohol, and essential oils. I love this because it can be used everywhere. It dries nicely on glass too.
For $8, this book is very worth it. It’s compact in size and I keep it in the kitchen near all the cleaners. My vital cleaners are vinegar, rubbing alcohol, peroxide, apple cider vinegar, and essential oils. I will be writing all about essential oils and herbs coming up.

DIY Worm Composting

It may sound gross or weird, but making a worm composting bin is quite easy and inexpensive. For apartment dwellers or someone who cannot have an outdoor compost bin, this is nicely placed in a corner of the house or basement. The purpose of a worm compost bin is to have the worms process kitchen scraps and as a result, the castings or “worm poop” makes a very rich fertilizer. The “fertilizer” as we will call it is a rich dark soil but is relatively low in nitrogen so when mixed with soil or sprinkled on top of your plants, it will not burn your plants. It can be mixed with soil up to a concentration of 20% (Mother Earth News, http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/make-worm-bin-ze0z11zhir.aspx#axzz2wdvfss6L). Additionally, there are drainage holes in the bottom that allow excess moisture to collect in the bottom of the 2nd bin. This can be further diluted with water to make a liquid fertilizer.
It takes months for any results to really show. The worms do a great job; for me, it seems that they work faster than my compost tumbler. But, they can only eat so much, so if you have a large number of people in the house they will not be able to eat all the scraps. You can make multiple bins if this is the case. I don’t recommend larger bins because if you have to move it, it may be really heavy once its half or three quarters full.
I have 5 people in my household. The materials I used for this project include:

• 2- 18 gallon plastic bins purchased at the big box store for $6 each. They have many styles but I chose cheapest. They dont like light so if you’re thinking about a clear bin, I would say that your results may not be as good. If there is too much light they won’t reproduce or go near the sides of the bin.
• Cordless drill. Any will do. You can use any tool that can put a hole on the bin. The drill made a nice clean hole. I used a drill bit that made a hole big enough for a pencil to squeeze through.
• Newspaper- this will be shredded into pieces for the worms for their “bedding.” I will explain more later
• Red worms- I bought 1 lb from an online retailer here in Maine. You can dig them out of the ground if you want, but I’m not touching them!
• Kitchen scraps- Includes fruits, veggies, peels, any peels, non-dairy and non- meat foods. Coffee and the filter can be added as-is to the bin. Plants scraps can also be placed in there. They love egg shells (they reproduce in them).
• scrap wood, a few bricks, or something that can raise the top bin 3 to 4 inches from the second. They will fit into each other, but the bottom bin will hold water and you wont want the little wormies to sit in the water. They will drown.

Start by making holes in one of the lids. These are air holes so the worms can breathe. If the holes are too big, you will have some of the little wormies try to escape out the lid. If you want bigger holes, put screen over them so they can’t get out and flies or other bugs can’t get in.

Next drill holes in the side top of the bin for additional air circulation. As long as you aren’t over-feeding them, the bin won’t smell. How do you know if you are overfeeding them? The bin will smell of course! Drill holes in the bottom of this bin as well, so water and fluid can drain out. They like it moist, not wet. I put about 10 or 12 holes. Again, if they are too big, they will escape and drown.

These are 3 pieces of untreated scrap wood that we put in the bottom. This will keep my little guys from sitting in any water. There bedding is dampened when put in there and any extra fluid will drain out.

I put burlap in a thin layer on the bottom just as an additional layer to prevent the little guys from getting out of the bottom. This is optional.

I used an electric paper shredder to shred newspaper for their bedding. This acts like soil, sort of. They will compost this as well. You will put the newspaper in, dampen it, place food scraps, then layer damp newspaper on top of that.
Here is our little bit of food scraps I was saving

Next we added the worms. They come in a ball of soil with all the worms stuffed together. We just dumped them in (gently). They know what to do next.

So place the bin with holes inside the bin with no holes. Make sure it is a few inches raised so they don’t sit in the water. You can place this anywhere that is 50-75 degrees. Basements are fine. My basement runs about 50 degrees. I have mine in the kitchen right now but when fly season comes about, I will put them in the basement. Our house may get hot (we dont have air conditioners) so the basement in the summer is the best option for them. They will die very easily if its too hot or cold. My worms cost roughly $30 shipped but I am adamant in buying from small businesses as close to home as I can.
Now comes the question; What do I do next? Well, after 6 months to a year (depending on the size of your bin) the bin will fill up. It is FULL when it is one half to three quarter’s full. They cannot handle living in too much of their castings. So how do you get the worms separated from the dirt? That is a bit of a project. They do not like light at all. So, on a warm sunny day, take the bin outside and take the lid off. Wait about 30 minutes and start scooping small amounts of the dirt out with a cup or garden tool. There will be worms all over the place so be careful not to grab too many. If its going on a large outdoor garden, I would just put the fertilizer on my garden with a few attached worms. If its in potted indoor plants, you will want to make sure the little guys aren’t included. It’s a bit of a messy job, but I didn’t mind digging through the bin with the worms. I moved the eggs as-is aside and out of the way because those are loaded with the little baby worms. Then I placed all my good fertilizer in a few empty plastic coffee containers (the big ones). I poked a few holes in the top in case there were straggler worms and I didn’t get out to the garden right away. I do this once a year and that seems to be enough. If you have a large family you may want to empty it twice a year. If it’s just you or you and a spouse, I would say to use a smaller bin and empty it once per year. Unless you’re a vegan or vegetarian, than you might need more bins!!

Earthships- Plan to Build Earthship in Northern Maine Starting 2015

We are in the process of planning to build an Earthship. Coined by Michael Reynolds, Earthships are a type of home that uses earth-rammed tires and passive solar design to provide a highly dense home that stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have been studying these homes night and day; both online and through Michael Reynold's books. These houses are beautiful and yet provide all the needs you may have while on this Earth. The passive solar design allows the front South-facing windows to act like a greenhouse. The water in the house from showering and sinks are recycled into the garden beds. Rainwater is collected from the roof and used for drinking and bathing. It really provides everything while reusing a resource that will takes thousands of years to break down: tires.

Tires are the main material used for the walls and as a foundation. They are then covered with a mud mixture and then a homemade plaster is set over that. Bottles and can provide part of the wall materials for non-load bearing walls. It is a very low cost house to build and very low cost to maintain. We plan on having wind and solar electricity for the little needs we may have.

It may be hard to see but this is our rough draft of our house plans. Each room is shaped in a "U" which increases the stability and makes the walls able to withstand the weight of the dirt that is backfilled over the back and side walls. We are going to attempt to build this portion of the house this year- the shell mostly. The inside we will try to get done over the winter. The rest of the house will be finished, hopefully, over the following spring and summer. However, there are several hoops we have to jump through in order to begin the build.

The Department of Environmental Protection has to approve us for a permit because we are using more than 50 tires. We are actually going to be using somewhere in the range of 1500 tires. The DEP representative for Maine is quite helpful, and downright nice, and seems thoroughly excited that we are going to try to build this. Furthermore, our town office just received some information about Earthships so they can assess the house for insurance and tax purposes. Earthships have been around since the 1980's, but there seems to be another green movement happening and hopefully we can help others to build these cost effective recycled homes.

We will have to announce the building to all the abutting neighbors, in the newspaper, and in writing to the town. The initial permit is not cheap- $1329- but we will save that amount quickly because the tires we will be getting from the community will be free. I have friends and neighbors saving cans and bottles so we can use them in the walls as well.

These are some of the pictures that I have found online. They are mostly credited to Michael Reynold's Earthship Biotecture website. They are some of my favorite. I hope that ours will look even slightly this good!

If you would like to volunteer for our Earthship home building project in Northern Maine, let me know. Leave a comment or go to our Facebook page From Away Farms and message me.

Starting Seeds on the Cheap

It’s March, and spring is amongst us, and well, it’s still cold and very snowy here in Northern Maine. A couple years ago, we would have already had plants in the ground because South Carolina sees pretty warm temperatures even as early as February. But this year, we will have to be somewhat creative. We do not have our greenhouse built yet and it’s too cold to start any cold frames. But that won’t stop me!
Because my hubby and I are quite frugal, we are reluctantly starting some grow lights. We don’t have the warm temperatures, even on our sun porch, to keep any seedlings warm enough to sprout. But, because we are so frugal, I think we can afford a couple florescent lights on for 8 hours a day( I say that until I get the next electric bill, right?). When it warms up enough though, out to the sunporch they go!
I am a firm believer in reusing EVERYTHING. So maybe I am a hoarder. When something is needed and we don’t have it, that’s even more frustrating to have to go and buy it then to look through some boxes of junk. So here are some cheap ways to start seeds this year if you haven’t already started doing so.

• Reuse egg cartons and plant seedlings in each of the little spaces
• Yogart cups work well- you can cut them down if they are too tall (this is what I used)
• Coffee containers, sour cream, any plastic containers (you get the idea)

I used the yogart cups and cut them down to about 3/4 of their full size. It still allows the plants to get pretty good sized before they have to be transplanted to larger pots or outdoors. I reused some of the trays that I had from previous years and poked holes in the bottom of the yogart cups for drainage. The seed starting mix runs $6 or $7 for a good- sized bag, but I mixed it with a little additional sphagnum peat moss because that is cheaper. You can make your own seed starting mix also (I read a good article on www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com) but because it is so cold outside, I opted for easy this time. Also, you can buy seeds really cheap in bulk off of Ebay from farmers that package the seeds themselves. I ordered a lot of “survival seeds” from one company and got a good selection of many seeds for around $20 shipped. There were somewhere around 30 different kinds of seeds and 25-50 seeds in each packet.

It’s not much but I think we have somewhere around 150 plants going. Some of them have sprouted so hopefully now that they are a bit warmer and have the lights, they will grow well. When you see your sprouts are spindly and thin/ weak looking, it’s because they aren’t getting enough light. Having the lights roughly 16″ from the plants gives them warmth and the light they need. I could probably keep the lights on 6 hours but I’m not real sure at this point how these plants will do. They went a little too long without enough sun and it was a bit too cold out there on the porch.
How did you start your seeds and how do you save money when you’re doing it?
Blessing,
From Away Farms

Long Tern Potato Storage

Long Term Potato Storage

I have recently learned all about potatoes. Apparently Northern Maine is big into potatoes and broccoli. Who would’ve thought? I live in a small rural town and there potato fields all over. The only downside is that they do seem to use allot of pesticides and I worry what that means for my water and overall health. But that is a seperate issue. I think they may be far enough away for air quality purposes but it may be leached into my water.
My mountain man and I went last week just after harvest to see if any of the fields had some of the leftover potatoes that either were too small too harvest or the field in some areas can be too boggy for the machinery to get to. So we brought a five gallon bucket with us only to find that in less than 20 minutes we had filled it 4 times. I couldve stayed out there all night but it was time to get the kids in bed. So now what? How do I store 150 lbs of potatoes? I have only lived in the area for 5 months and am learning the value of eating seasonally and storing for year-round use. But until we moved here, I was in an urban town in South Carolina that had no farms. So buying a bag of potatoes here and there was all I knew about and in the very hot area we often had them go bad before we could eat them. Bummer.
A few things I have learned from online research and area residents:
-Potatoes can be stored for several months if stored correctly. Granted, certain types store better than others. Yukon Gold, new potatoes, and some of the other smaller potatoes may keep for up to 6 months but these should be used first. Russets can be stored for a year or more under the right conditions.
-The potatoes in the store that you buy may be 6 months old or more. Gross.
-Potatoes prefer to be stored at 45-50 degrees F and when cooler they will “sugar.” Apparently the carbohydrates will turn to simple sugar and makes it less nutritious. That’s why potatoes should never be frozen. Makes you think twice about those french fries in your freezer!
-When potatoes are warmer and are exposed to light they will sprout. They prefer to be stored in high humidity also; 90% is ideal. That is why root cellars work so well because they have high humidity and remain constant with the earth’s temperature. Ventilation is important as well. They must be stored so they can get air or they will easily rot.
Many people suggest slatted wood boxes and to put straw or newspaper between each single layer of potatoes. I, however, had neither available and am a little too frugal to look for and purchase such things on a whim. I did have some clean cardboard available and a big extra door. I layed the door on a couple saw horses and put the first 100 lbs on it and put a layer of flattened cardboard boxes on top. Placed the next layer of potatoes on that and covered again with cardboard. I placed a bucket of water under the door for extra humidity and then got one of my extra thermometers and placed in the cellar with them. It also has a hydrometer on it which measures the humidity level. Now I have an old basement that has very high humidity which is not good for storing stuff but is great for storing produce. For the first couple months I ran a dehumidifier all day but financially it was just draining my wallet in electricity. So what if its not the perfect modern basement! I will just have to store items in sealable containers and plastic bags and keep all my dried goods upstairs in the kitchen pantry. What matters is that I can store all my canned goods and produce and it will stay good for awhile. The bucket of water managed to get the humidity to 85%. Close enough I hope.
I am hoping in the coming years mountain man and I can either create a root cellar in a corner of our existing basement or dig one nearby the house. This is our first year here at this house and we hope to stay here- this was a bit of a veer off our original path. You see, we originally bought 17 acres in a very rural area about an hour and a half south of us now. But my current job as a nurse brought me to this area and I am 15 minutes from the hospital and 2 towns. My children also have come to love this house, neighborhood (there are a few kids a couple miles down the road) and the school system. So we are now thinking about possibly buying this little 1931 farmhouse and staying here. The drawbacks? Not many, but we would definitely have to do some work on it to get it where we want it to be. The benefits? Well, we were planning on building from scratch with our own materials (cordwood or log cabin) so it would save a bit of time. However, we will have to wait and see because this would be contigent on the current landlords allowing us to purchase the property. Either way, I will be sharing our learning adventures as we go. Our plans tend to change frequently but we are fluid. If we cannot buy this house I would be bummed, but I thought about asking our Amish friends nearby about land options. I wonder if anyone has ever become Amish late in life? LOL
Have a great day everyone!

The 2nd Great Depression is Already Here

Have you noticed that your money just doesn’t seem to go anywhere these days? You get paid, same as last year and the year before, but you cannot make the ends meet no matter how hard you budget? It’s because no one is telling you the truth. This IS the new norm. We ARE in the 2nd Great Depression and you will need to be very creative and readjust your thinking in order to get through these times with any sanity left.

The problem is that there are these financial bubbles that have popped or are getting ready to pop but you think it’s your fault. I spent that money on McDonald’s the other day so I must just be spending extra and not paying attention! No… the problem is that several years ago food, gas, housing, credit, interest rates, EVERYTHING was less expensive. It was easy to use your credit card because paying it back had low interest rates and low monthly payments. Not anymore! Now you are paying triple for that shirt you charged a few months ago even though it was on sale. You will now have to change your mindset and think about your life and financial situation quite differently. This IS a bad economy, it’s not getting any better, and you MUST take control of your future NOW or you are going to lose everything you have ever worked for! Ask me, I already know because I have been there and am now trying to rebuild my life through self-reliance and serious budgeting tactics.
I was already learning self-reliance when the the Great Recession occurred in 2008. I heard from non-mainstream media sources that it would happen and I wanted to learn how to protect my family and be able to provide for my family with some food security. The only reason why no one has actually said this is the 2nd Great Depression is because the long food lines are masked with EBT cards with free money from the government that will eventually run out. This will leave millions of people starving and rioting and begging the government for help. It is not a good situation at all. However, it is important that despite what the government says our economy looks like or what I say is going on, you must take some control of your financial future now. Don’t wait until another bubble bursts and you are left with little food or money to survive!
What you must do NOW to save money and start taking control:
1. Plant a garden. Any garden. Any size. I don’t care if you are working and going to school and are gone 150 hours a week, you have got to start growing some of your own food. There are crops that grow best in all types of climates and you can easily find those with quick internet searches. You can buy seeds for very little and with a few hours of elbow grease, you can have a garden planted with nutritious food for you and your family. A family in California provides for 90% of their own food on 1/10 of an acre! Don’t give me the excuse that you do not have enough space. I can prove you wrong.
2. Unplug your dryer. I mean it. Go do it NOW! Hang a clothesline. Somewhere; ANYWHERE! It will save money and your clothing will not wear down as quickly. Over the course of the year, this will save you hundreds of dollars.
3. Look locally for free or cheap food. Forage for food. In Maine, we have fiddleheads, wild blueberries, wild raspberries, and many more options. Last week, I picked dandelion greens to mix in my lettuce for salad. They are best when they have not yet started growing the flowers. Stop spreading that “fertilizer” with weed killer and consider the fact that some of those weeds are edible! Look at local small farms, look for warehouses that may sell food cheap, ask neighbors or coworkers about food options!
4. Don’t be too proud to beg. Some grocery stores will just throw away produce that may not be worth selling. Ask the produce manager if they have this food available before they throw it away. Tell them it’s for your backyard chickens EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY. You may get some food that you wouldn’t want to eat. But some of it is perfectly fine and worth putting aside your pride for.

5. Look into bulk buying coops. There are several and I know of a few that will go to any city with a minimum purchase requirement. You can have bulk organic staple foods for a fraction of grocery store prices because you are skipping having to pay the grocery store the additional cost of having this food conveniently displayed.
6. You will no longer buy new items from the store. You will have to buy all your clothing and shoes from thrift stores. You can buy used kitchen appliances for 90% off the cost. Get a breadmaker. Make your own bread for 80% less than store prices. If you go to a retail store to buy clothing, only go after the season has ended to buy discounted clothes. I got shorts and tank tops for my daughter for $1 each. I even bought some smaller sizes and sold them a few months later on Ebay for 5 times what I paid and yet the buyer still received a good deal!
7. Group your outings to save gas. I mean it. Wait to go to the stores and only go out once per week or when you are in town for work or other necessary trips.
8. Be OK with the new norm. It stinks that we are not in the prosperous times we once were in but we are no longer able to live that way. Period.
9. Don’t be afraid to ask around. I found out that I could get broccoli frozen from local growers for $6 for a case, or $2 for frozen french fries for huge bags. Dont be afraid to use connections and look for new ways to save money even if it costs time and energy.
10. Turn off lights. Disconnect your cable. Get rid of extra TVs in your house. Go down to 1 or 2 TVs. Cancel your smartphone. Share a cell phone with your husband. I cancelled my cable and cell phone and now save over $250 per month. What else can you turn off? Can you live without internet because you are close to free Wi-fi spots? Do it! If you can’t get rid of your cell phone than cancel your internet and use your cell phone internet for a wi-fi hotspot. A $20 rabbit ear antenna for your TV can provide as many as 50 channels for your TV. We can still watch many of our favorite TV shows for free.
11. Get off your medications. Eat better and improve your health through free exercise. Those medication prices will continue to get higher with Obamacare and all that government foolishness.
12. Talk to your grandparents or other older generations that lived through the Great Depression. They used newspaper for toilet paper and managed to live with very little money. We aren’t quite that hard up for money, but you better believe that I save old newspapers that people give me for free.
13. Look at cheaper methods of heating and cooling your home. Or live with the temps at lower or higher settings than you did last year. Use a woodstove and forage for free wood. We go to the local garbage dump and sign a waiver to scavenge through the wood pile and take free pallets and other non-treated wood sources. We also use this wood to make tables or other projects in the house. We aren’t necessarily super handy but you learn really quick when you have to.

14. Start prepping. Yes, I mean prep for economic collapse or natural disasters or whatever you want to tell your friends and family so they won’t laugh at you. Store extra food. Learn how to can. Do whatever it takes to store extra without jacking up your electric bill. If you get hurt at work or lose your job, you will have stored food and money that you would not have otherwise have had. Look into “doomsday prepping.” For $5 extra per week, you can buy a few extra cans of food that may keep you and your loved ones from starving if the economy gets worse. AND, yes, I do believe it will
15. PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEWS. Yes that means you! What is going on in the world will affect you! Millions of pounds of beef were recalled, pork was recalled… all going to jack up your meat prices! You may be able to stock up on food items before this if you are paying attention to the news.
16. Hunt and fish. Yup I said it. You can get meat for the cost of the supplies for fishing or hunting. Don’t know how to process it? Look on Youtube or the Google and find out. It really isn’t hard and who cares if it doesn’t look like store bought? Unless you plan on becoming vegetarian, I suggest you look at becoming a hunter/gatherer real quick!
There are many more ways to save money but I will touch on that in upcoming posts. Start with these 16 ways and let me know how much money you save because of it!
Blessings!!

I am a nurse and I am human

I am a nurse.
I am expected to care for you or your family members in the utmost professional and compassionate way. I give you medications that I need to know dosage and side effects. Maybe you have 5 medications or 50, but I am expected to know how they may affect you.
I have to bring you water, meals, and chart how much of that meal you eat. I have to consider whether your medications should be taken before or after eating. Sometimes both.
I have to wipe your brow when you have a fever. I wipe your bottom if you are too sick to. I worry about you like you are my own child, mother, father, or grandparents. I fix the broken TV remote. I adjust your bed. I come running when you have to go to the bathroom. Sometimes I cannot go to the bathroom myself because your needs are above my own.
I am expected to be super-human. I must have a good balance of clinical skills, as well as empathy and compassion because frankly, if your nurse has no personality, you are not going to feel well cared for.
I look at labs, X-rays, and all your tests and determine whether we are on the right course of treatment. But this is not all just for you; I have 4 to 5 more patients to do this same thing for.

If you are in pain, or are vomiting, I call the doctor for more medicine. Sometimes these medications have side effects that can make you feel worse than you already do. I weigh the consequences and determine whether you need the medication.

I am a teacher, housekeeper, nutritionist, maintenance expert, and waitress all rolled into one.

I love my job and wouldn't give it up for a minute because I see someone's thankful eyes and know that I am doing OK.

But is it OK to expect me to be super-human and then treat me like I am subhuman because things are not going your way? The doctor did not give you the information or med you wanted or another nurse wasn't as nice so you are angry or upset and take it out on me? Is it fair that your family sits with you 24 hours per day and I have to care for them just as much? And when your family doesn't get up to help when you run to the bathroom, its my fault for not being there in that second? I am their waitress, housekeeper and maintenance expert as well. I leave the room most times angry, upset, and sad because you feel I should be at your becking call every second yet you do not get up to help your family member at all? And then I have 4 more rooms to go to and do the same thing all over again.

I am human. I am not perfect. Our healthcare system is a mess and we are expected to perform 24 hours of work in our long 12 hour shifts. Sometimes my shifts would last an extra 30 minutes or an hour. I remember days where I was at work 2 hours later still charting all the happenings of the day. I go home and my husband gets frustrated because I didn't get out on time.

I am tired too. Sometimes I don't feel great or I have a headache. But that doesn't matter because I am there to take care of you.

So, tell me people, is it OK to curse at me, tell me Im an idiot, and treat me like I am worthless? Is it OK to treat the doctor this way too? My job depends on how satisfied you are with your care, so even when you make me cry and I silently go to the bathroom to sob, I have to get back in there and continue to take the verbal and emotional abuse. I go home and cannot even talk about what happened so my family just wonders why Mom is coming home from work crying. They are used to it now. They dont even bother sometimes.

 Please think about how  you treat people. Everywhere- at the gas station, grocery store, or library; these are people too. They have hearts and feelings, and do not deserve to be made to feel like they are worthless. They do not deserve hate. Or judgement. Or sarcasm. They deserve kindness. The old saying, "if you can't say something nice" goes a long way. Humans taking care of humans.

Try to act a little more humane.