Feeds:
Posts
Comments

The plan for today

May 19, 2009 by Miranda

Recently I read an account of a woman who has her mother’s diary from the great depression. I thought it would be an interested take to start documenting my everyday life and chores so that my children have some type of documentation of what we are going through looks like. I also thought it may help those dear readers who want to make changes or try something new to see what we do. Our life is not extraordinary by any means, however, it is different than how we used to live.

Today looks like it is going to be a hot day (projected to be in the 80s).

This morning I already hung 5 loads of laundry on the line. We also mowed (with an old fashioned push mower) the front yard. There is a lot more to do. Odie is working at the hospital this week. He will not be here until next week. Z-man is outside shoveling the barn, E-girl is helping hang laundry and watch little G and SuperS. Mad-town is washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. After morning chores, the kids will be starting school work. We have to take Mad-town to town to get her driver’s permit!

Tonight’s dinner: soup and homemade bread. I have dry beans soaking and will put them in the solar cooker with some of last year’s canned tomato juice and tomatoes. Spinach growing in the greenhouse needs to be harvested. I will add a lot of spinach to the soup. Simple and frugal meal. I have a feeling that we will need to learn to eat a lot more of these type of meals in the future. Simply throw everything into the pot, add garlic, and various spices and salt. Let it cook all day. I can’t wait until we have more to harvest from the garden.

Garden: Before it gets too hot, I need to dig up more of the garden to plant peas, beans, beets, broccoli, corn, melons, squash, etc. I will dig today and plant some today and more tomorrow. Also adding seeds to the greenhouses. Yesterday I planted some seedlings (medicinal herbs such as black and blue cohosh, speedwell, feverfew, etc).

Kids home school work: today is our math, science, and history day.

Other: Cut an old pair of holey jeans into shorts for one child. Will do that for more, while keeping the scraps for extra material if needed in the future.

Have a bulk food order going in today. On the list:  wheat, beans, oat groats, rye, etc. I am checking with our neighbors to see if anyone wants to join us in the order. I am praying that others want to join. The food future looks frightening — between the collapse of the dollar and the shutting down of irrigation systems in California, I am concerned about the future of food in this country.

Going to the laundromat later tonight to do a few loads of laundry. This will mean that I will be caught up and will be able to handle doing a load by hand each day. I am looking forward to that (dually sarcastic and optimisic). I hope our child stops wetting the bed soon. That makes a few loads in itself!

I will also need to start planning next year’s classes. I am teaching some new subjects. I have a lot of planning and research to do!

Posted in garden, simple living, tomorrow | 7 Comments »

What is Success?

May 14, 2009 by Miranda

During the past few months, we have struggled with finding ways to get water into the house, learning to heat and cook with wood and live much like our ancestors did. This struggle has an incredibly high learning curve. Yes, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers may have been successful at living like this, but for those of us who are novices, it is difficult and can be a challenge. When we are learning so much at such a quick pace, other things slide and fall.

We may have learned that we can be successful at lugging about water and cooking on a wood stove. We may have learned that we can wash our clothing by hand and grow our own food, but what is the cost? While I was focusing on learning to do so much without, I have learned that I have ben failling in the rest of my life. I have been so focused on being a success as a pioneer woman, that I forgot what it meant to live a real life. Those skills that my grandmother and great-grandmother had were built over years of trial and error, not as I have been trying to do (alone and without experience).

What have I learned? That we can do all of these things, if necessary, and may continue to do some (as necessary and to keep skills). However, while we have running water, and a nearby laundromat, I will use those. I have accepted kitchen appliances from a generous friend. I have learned that being successful does not mean a glorious career nor a pocketful of useful skills (proving that you can do it all), but rather in the health and happiness of a family. I realize that I need to slow down and find real success. For me, real success is no longer outward pride, but it needs to be focused on my family and relationships with my spouse and my faith.

I may continue to write — about learning how to do without and how to adjust to a new life, but I want to refocus my priorities. Success starts at home.

Proverbs 31:10

Posted in changes, faith, family | 16 Comments »

The Farm

May 5, 2009 by Miranda

ImageThe Farm, originally uploaded by emme727.

I have not posted much lately, mostly due to the insane amount of work that we have been doing (tilling, planting, and more). This is a picture of our farm from the other side of the land. This picture was taken while I was hunting for morels.

Image

Image

Posted in going Amish, simple living | 12 Comments »

And it runs

April 16, 2009 by Miranda

Yes, we have made it 4.5 months without it, but now it has been added to our household: running water. Cold and hot!

The other day a neighbor kid (about 20 y/o) got tired of watching the kids and me carry container after container of water into the house. Every time he would drive by he would see one of us lugging a huge container of water from one spring house to the house. Snow, sleet, ice, sun, and rain, we were out there lugging water. We were as reliable as the post office.

He came over with an electric motor, took a part the jerririgged system that the Amish put together and replaced their system with an electric motor and extension cord. This pushes the water from the springhouse into a pressure tank in the basement. Once the tank is full, the water overflows into the hot water heater (left behind by the non-Amish previous owners). Of course,this is all makeshift, but will suffice for a time. I am excited that I don’t have to have a fire going simply to heat water for bathing and dishes. If things get bad, I am okay doing it all again. At least the past (nearly) 5 months have shown me that we can lug our own water and that we can heat it for all of our needs. This was better than a 72 hour test of our skills becuase it became a way of life.

This temporary fix of water is simply that — temporary. We hope to get a ram pump installed, or some other system that can be used without electricity. However, for the time being, I am eternally grateful to this young man and his fiancee who spent two days here helping us figure out water. He refuses payment, but he will be paid in kind. I will find a way to help them. This is the kind of thing that builds community.

Posted in changes, community, simple living, Skills | 17 Comments »

Spring Ahead

April 13, 2009 by Miranda

We are now entering into a very busy time of the year. From spring planting to fall harvest, life seems to revolve around what is going into and coming out of the ground.

In the last week, I have filled out paperwork with MOSA to become certified organic, I have created databases of all of my culinary and medicinal herb seeds, including where the seeds come from. Fortunately, because these are herbs, I was told that the seeds do not all have to be certified. Any purchased seedlings, however, have to be in the ground for a year before they can be sold as organic.  There are certain plants, specifically form the mint family, that cannot be propagated from seed (if you want the authentic true to the mother plant item).

I have been planning where to put my herbs. At first, I was considering putting them all into one garden. However, I have since decided to companion plant. We have an orchard, where chives can help deter specific pests. The basil will add flavor to my tomatoes, wormwood will repel lots of critters, comfrey will be grown and added to compost, etc. Although in some ways it will be more difficult to spread out all of my herbs, in other ways it will be much more beneficial to the gardens.

In my database, I have not only included the names of the seeds and where i have purchased them, but I have also included which plants they benefit, and which they need to stay away from. My borage, for example, will be planted with my strawberries.

I have started some of my seeds, but need to start even more. We have a greenhouse filled with spinach and seedlings. Spring certainly does spring upon us!

Yes, I have started my doctorate schoolwork now! 🙂

Posted in garden | 8 Comments »

Hard Times

April 9, 2009 by Miranda

I admit that as I sit here, on my 80 acres without a tv, radio, or newspaper in sight, I am pretty isolated from news of the outside world. However, there are times that I hear rumblings from my spouse or the nearby town about the new depression.

Today I visited with a local farmer (81 years old). He told me about moving to this area in 1934 during the Great Depression. The “only” reason they ate was because they had plenty of potatoes and eggs. He claims that what we are living through now reminds him of that period 70 years ago. His own grandson was recently laid off (along with a large part of the plant he works at). Around me construction workers and loggers tell me about the loss of jobs.

My husband told me that he has seen an influx of patients at the ERs. Mostly due to the fact that they no longer have health insurance. Thus medicare/medicaid are supposed to be covering more bills. However, medicare and medicaid are not covering as much, and are actually reducing funding. They are not covering hospital bills, so hospitals are losing a lot of money. Due to this, there are hospitals that are starting to lay off employees, reduce pay, or fold.

We are in very precarious times;  with unemployment soaring and uncertain futures. I feel fortunate to have a job at the moment, but nothing is certain. I am trying to prepare by focusing on reducing bills, getting food into the ground (and harvested), and purchasing tangible goods while they are still available. When China decides to dump the dollar and the value of the American dollar is depleted, we will have even more difficult times. Are we looking at a future Weimar Germany?

What are you doing to prepare for the future?

Posted in community, simple living, tomorrow | 23 Comments »

The Future of Visits

April 8, 2009 by Miranda

Okay. I am not talking about visiting people, but rather that monthly friend that comes to visit most women. After a 5 year hiatus from my visits, I was recently reintroduced to the joys of menstruation. I was one of those lucky few who have no sign or hint of menstruation during nursing — thus the extended time between…. For those of you who are disgusted by the discussion of menstruation, go ahead, leave and come back tomorrow!

Most women menstraute for about 40 years (from first menses to menopause). I am about half way in between, which means I have about 20 years left of visits from my monthly friend. I know most women use disposable pads or tampons during menstruation. I, however, use cloth pads. See, I calculated how many disposable pads I would need to last the next 20 years.: 5-7 days of menstration at an average 4-5 pads a day=35 pads a month (perhaps on the high side) . Menstruation comes every 28-35 days. That is 420 pads a year. Multiply that by the number of years that you have to menstruate. My mother was still menstruating when she passed away in her 50s. So, I estimate that I have 20 years left.  I would use 8400 pads in the next 20 years. That is a lot! Now if you want to prepare for economic hardship or peak oil by storing up on pads, you would have to store that many.

Are there any other females in your family? I have two daughters — one of which is menstrauting and the other is not yet. They have about 40 years of menstration each. Yep. We would have to have a storehouse of pads to support us through our menstruation. Who has room for that? I certainly don’t. I would rather store something useful, such as wheat, over menstrual pads.

What is someone to do when faced with the possibility of a future without disposable pads? Think about it — for most of us, our mothers or grandmothers (and certainly our great grandmothers) lived before the invention of disposable pads. They got by. How? By using rags (the term “on the rag”), or other bits of cloth which would serve as something washable and reusable until the next period. I use cloth pads — (gladrags and lunapads are two popular choices to purchase). You can also make your own pads.

For those of you who prefer tampons, there are additional options. Tampons really can dry you out, so things like a DivaCup or a Keeper work well — they capture the fluid instead of soaking it up. You remove the item dump and clean and reinsert. I figure for a lifetime, you may only need a few. Again, less of a need to have your own warehouse for menses!

I realize that some of you may not be ready for the nondisposable route toward dealing with your monthly visits, however, keep this in the back of your mind. The time may come when you need to figure out something else (do you really want to spend extra money on something to throw away?) Keep some around — just in case!

Posted in simple living, tomorrow, waste | 39 Comments »

Cutting through the — Excrement

April 4, 2009 by Miranda

We have poo. We have a lot of poo. We have poo in the barn, in the hen house, in the fields, and in a bucket.

See, when the Amish left, they let behind a lot of waste. Not only the piles of waste that will be brought to a junkyard or dump, but piles of poo. The hen house was never cleaned out. So, before we brought home our hens, we had to shovel out 10 wheelbarrows full of chicken feces. That stuff stinks. It had been sitting and fermenting in our hen house for 4+ months. We shoveled in out into a pile on a back field, where we will compost it.

The barns are full of horse and cow manure. I have not yet “mucked” the barn, but I will soon. I tried while it was frozen. However, that entailed piles of frozen poo, which I tried to chip away while it was literally frozen to the ground. I look forward to getting this out. Not only will it join a compost pile, but once it composts, it will be a beautiful addition to my gardens.

In the other barn was where they kept their pigs. Thus, that garden is full of pig manure. Again, we will have to shovel it out and compost it. I was told that i we planted flowers in the pig area, that after a year or two, we will be able to have a great garden area.

The one issue that is difficult, is when we found a makeshift outhouse. The outhouse consists of two buckets of Amish poo. I don’t mind out houses. Really. And I suppose I could even handle buckets of poo — if it were humanure bound (i.e. added sawdust, etc). However, to find two 5-gallon buckets of Amish poo really doesn’t work for me…. I have tried to decide to do with this excrement. How to deal with it is a safe way. Do we bury it? Burn it? If it was my own, I would do the humanure system — but is not. it is some else’s poo.

After my spouse made a few phone calls, asking about Amish poo, and getting a number of laughs, we found a place to bring it. I am waiting until I have a truck or trailer at my disposal. The only thing worse than dealing with Amish poo would be dealing with Amish poo in the confines of a vehicle. Imagine the scenario if it spilled ….. (shudder). So, the waste treatment plant will take our 10 gallons of Amish poo and I will be able to continue to clean up this place.

This does make us think about how we deal with this kind of waste. How do we deal with waste, such as Amish or non-Amish poo in a post peak oil world? How do we get rid of our waste when we need to dispose of it safely. I do think that the humanure system is safe — it is just not what I want to do with someone else’s poo.

Posted in Peak Oil, waste | Tagged | 21 Comments »

Building a Marriage

April 3, 2009 by Miranda

When many of us marry, we join hands and make promises to one another, not fully understanding the gravity and seriousness of the decision. We celebrate a wedding with family and friends, but once the extravaganza and honeymoon is over, what we have left is a marriage. When we grow up, there is much focus on that one day — a white dress, beautiful flowers, tears of joy, dinner, and a cake. We have a lot of information on how to buy a wedding, but little information on how to build a marriage.

The focus had been on the wedding celebration, but not on the decision to be together. The marriage is more than one day of partying — it is a decision to be together and support and compliment one another. The decision to marry is serious, but many of us turn our backs when times get tough. It is easy to walk away.

A few days ago I was to be filing for divorce. Then a week ago, miracle happened — I decided to forgive my husband.  He came home earlier this week and we had a chance to spend time together. I was still wary, and the first day went poorly. This was in part due to my own uncertainty of his change.

Things changed on the second day. I came over to his house to get his help with a project. We were discussing certain issues regarding the children, and I suggested that we not discuss in front of the children. So, we walked downstairs to discuss in private. Instead of yelling, pointing figures, and placing blame on me, he held my hands and we calmly discussed the issues at hand. I spoke of my own failures and his strengths and he spoke of the opposite (his failures and my strengths). He kissed me on the cheek, gave me hugs, and spoke warmly. The entire discussion took place while holding hands. It was not until after the calm discussion did I realize that we had had an “argument.” Not long ago, this discussion would have been angry and contentious. It would have consisted of angry words and tears. Instead, it was a discussion that came to a mutual decision.

Later in the afternoon, another situation arose, which again would have been contentious with our 15 year old. She had taken the truck and backed it up into the garage (literally). There was a lot of damage done to each — the truck and the garage.  Instead of anger, there were hugs. Instead of yelling, there was explaining. Instead of humility, there was teaching. I was in awe. I asked him of this change. He told me that although his knee jerk reaction is still to be angry, he realized that anger does not solve anything. He realized that at one time he was 15 and had made poor choices. His father yelled and was angry; which only built resentment.  He told me that as he spoke to her, he thought about how he would speak to Christ, if he stood in front of him. Would he yell and be angry? How would Christ have dealt with the same situation (if he had a 15 year old daughter who drove the truck without permission and backed into the garage)? It would not have been with anger. He told me that although it is difficult to unlearn all that he had learned as a child and an adult, that he wants to make this a life-long change. I want to trust and believe in him.

I realize that we are starting from scratch and that this past turmoil is still very raw in our lives. It  is hard to unlearn things that we had built together — reactions to one another, expectations, and negativity.  In the day we spent together, I realized that we have need to build a marriage built on mutual love and compliment. Where he has strengths, I have weaknesses. Where I have strengths, he has weaknesses.  The changes that he has made are overwhelming and positive. We hope to be moving slowly together in effort to build a marriage that will be an example to our children. I want my children to look at our relationship and see that a marriage is more than a wedding day — it is a commitment to each other and willingness to make changes and work together to build a solid foundation for the family. One cannot have a marriage alone. It takes two — looking ahead in the same direction. It also takes friends and family who support the foundation of marriage.

Posted in changes, faith, family, tomorrow | 32 Comments »

rent in trade

April 2, 2009 by Miranda

We have developed friendships with a number of Amish — many of whom are interested in renting the land from us. I need some of the land for our own use — our orchard, berries, home garden, greenhouses, and of course the herbal gardens. I have been accepted into dual programs; doctorate of naturopathy and master herbalist. As such, this farm will focus on herbs — mostly medicinal, but culinary as well. The new chosen farm name: Simplicity Springs.

We have 80 acres, all of which have been certified organic by the previous owner. I am currently in the midst of re-certifying it as organic. As one person, I have little time or ability to organically farm all 80 acres. Even when my spouse is involved, he would not have the time or ability to do a lot of the needed work on the land.

Instead of renting for money, I have chosen to rent in trade. Our Amish friends are renting tillable acres to grow wheat. They will grow acres of wheat for us in exchange for this. Another Amish friend reminded me to ask to help them — so that I can learn how to plant, harvest, and thresh wheat. Of course, I am interested in doing that (even if, according to them, it is not “work for a lady”)!

The pasture is unused. We have one young steer who was left behind. He is a bored little troublemaker. He breaks out of the gates and runs up to the house, stands before the front door, and waits for us to come out and chase him back into the pasture. He wants attention. Our Amish friends will be renting out the pasture from us. Our steer may join their organic dairy cattle. This, I hope, will keep him happier (who doesn’t need friends?) I plan on building a chicken tractor and moving my hens from one pasture to the next, following the cycle of the cattle.

In exchange for renting the pasture, they will be fixing the fences and help manage that portion of the land and help rotate the cattle so that the hens can follow.

I would much rather have this type of trade than a monetary trade. I hope that we will continue to grow relationships where we can barter and trade, rather than buy and sell. This, I think, will build local relationships and compliment skills rather than local competition.

Posted in community, simple living | 15 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started