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.