Closed For the Winter

We are closed up for the winter now. We have only managed to finish this one room, but as we progressed we noticed that we were much faster at each tire. We closed it in with a nice sturdy roof that we plan on building a second floor on. We had some family help near the end of the season so that was a big help.

The construction sped up after this point and we started on the roof 

After this we covered the outside in a plastic that will protect the roof from getting wet during the winter and wrapped the plastic around any areas that may be exposed. We hope to get started again sometime of May 2016 again. Thank you for visiting my blog and I'll be back with other homesteading adventures!

What Does It Mean to Be a Homesteader?

We have been contacted by a local magazine and will be interviewed this week about homesteading. I guess I never really thought of us as true homesteaders- but then again, I don't see how we couldn't be. It is a little strange to hear though. We started as suburban homesteaders just trying to learn how to do anything we could for ourselves just to save some money. It became a sort of addiction from there.

 It started with a few berry bushes, a few chickens, and a dream of being able to do everything ourselves. We wouldn't have to depend on anyone. We could grow our own food, make our own cleaners, soaps, and buy the very few things that wouldn't make sense for us to make/grow. We started on 2/10 of an acre. We transformed our lawn to edibles, planted some fruit trees, and looked for any ways we could do more. It hasn't stopped since.

Now we are upgrading to 10 acres. Not much, but definitely enough for us. We have 17 wooded acres about an hour south of here, so we can travel to the site for wood and for some berries and other foraged foods. It didn't make sense to build there because it is very secluded and the town we are renting in is where the kids and I have come to love. So the neighbor across the street offered to sell 10 acres of his land. He has become like a 2nd father to hubby and I, offering advise regardless of whether we really want it. But we love it. And I think I could pretty much set up shop anywhere. The people of this town make it our home though.

We have since learned allot more skills and made even more mistakes. As I contemplated what someone would think when they pulled up, I thought about cleaning up a bit because our yard is a bit messy. I think that's part of who we are now though. To me, being a homesteader is using what you have. Maybe that wood is used for one project this year and next year we may disassemble it and make something else. We save feed bags, pallets, and boxes "just in case." Never know when you're going to want to build something like a chicken tractor. We built one last year with a lot (and I mean A LOT) of flaws, but we have managed to fix and replace some of the parts that weren't designed well. But that's ok. Being a homesteader means making a lot of mistakes. And learning from them. And then making some more. We have become accustomed to them and know that we wouldn't get better unless we did.

Homesteading has become our new normal. I used to have a clean house and a manicured lawn. Now we are borderline hoarders and have a cluttered, kinda dirty house. I think "The Clampits" when I walk through our garage and back yard. I homeschool. I have 5 or more bushels of apples in my kitchen that need to be canned. I have fruit flies everywhere and they are making me crazy. I have canning jars all over the place. I know now that this is my home. When we move into our new home it will hold the same cluttery mess. I will have school books all over. Blankets thrown across the couch. A few dog hairballs floating across the floor. I can only do SO much while keeping a full time job. Id love to stay home with my husband and farm for the rest of our lives. It is very possible that that day may come too. I dream about selling my garden extras, eggs, soaps, lotions and whatever other crafts we may learn, and making just enough to quit my job or even just go part time. Even if that day never comes, I know that we are doing all we can for ourselves and will continue to learn new things on a daily basis.

What are some things you have learned for yourself? How do you homestead? I think homesteading can happen in a small apartment or a small urban homestead. There is a family in California that have 0.10 of an acre and make all their own food and even sell some to the local restaurants. How awesome is that!  If they can do it, so can we. So think about all the wonderful things you have learned to do for yourself and brag about it! Tell me 1, 2 or 10 skills you have learned and maybe we can trade some secrets! Thanks for reading and blessings to you all!

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!

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

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!