Trying to fine a happy medium

[okiegirl1]

Ok, so I'm pretty new to this whole SS lifestyle. My husband is on board, but I'm the one pushing ahead.

We bought 2 1/2 acres with fruit and nut trees have a average garden plot, looking to get chickens in the spring (after I get hubby to build the coop), but I'm having a hard time with not going over board and being one of "those" kind of people.

I'm trying to use more baking soda and vinegar for cleaning, but haven't been able to give up dryer sheets or laundry soap. In due time.

But I start thinking about saving water and maybe I should start keeping flour in the freezer in case our economy goes to pot and staples become too expensive. Should I start storing oils, sugar, flour and salt? Or maybe I should grow wheat. what if I can't get seeds in the future. should I start saving seeds too? what if our well dries up? should I have a hand pump installed. Should I start saving rain water?

It just gets overwhelming. I really like canning, but I find I have so much joy in giving away my goodies, I don't keep alot for us.

I'd just love for someone really knowledgeable in this area to come out to our place and make suggestions for a 1 year plan, 5 year plan and 10 year plan. Our house will be paid off in 10 years, so hopefully our economy will stay stable until it is.

sorry, to ramble, I just had to get all of it out and hopefully ya'll might have some suggestions.
besides switching to decaf

-Angela

 

[Dace]

It can be overwhelming huh?

So as one of the least SS people on this board I will give you my thoughts

Right now we rent, will hopefully buy in the next year-2. Dh wants a nice house with an average lot and a pool in the burbs....while I would prefer something a little more SS conducive, but I also have kids established in this school system and I do not want to move them. So hubby gets his way.

Since my hands are tied in so many ways I focus on what I can do. I have chickens and love them to pieces. I don't have much of a garden and I need to work on that, just have not made the time. I mostly cook from scratch and have spent the last several month revamping our diet to consist of whole foods with minimally processed crap. I am fearful of the economy and TSHTF (DH is not in agreement on that) so I try to keep staples on hand....and really we are prone to earthquakes and due so basic emergency preparedness is wise.

I think that you have such a clean slate and the right set up you may be overwhelmed with doing it all, now! Make a list and prioritize. Just take your time checking projects off of your list....food (garden, chickens staples & canning ) would likely be at the top of my list, from there branch out into longer term projects like a rain catchment system. Growing wheat would be way out towards the bottom of my list, but saving seeds from what you currently grow would be at the top.
Does that all make any sense?

 

[okiegirl1]

yea, it makes perfect sense.

I would just hate to look back and think, "gosh, if only I'd done _________ than we would be so much better off." or "If only I'd planned to ________ than we'd be better off"

 

[FarmerChick]

Don't be wishing your life away....don't be thinking too far in advance. It won't work.


Don't worry about stocking salt etc. If the SHTF and we will know it will be coming, then prepare for long long term situations.

It is a balance. A balance that must fit into our own personal lifestyle.

Fore me, I wanted to be frugal and save money. Then it became I want healthier home grown foods. Then it was "what can I do without the world making for me" and make my own?

So take it in stride. Do not go overboard. Find your lifestyle and fit being more SS into it. There is no definite answer for everyone at all......

Sit back and think about your personal life and what you need and what you can change slowly. That is all you can do.

It will work fine.
It ALL get overwhelming...don't let it..LOL

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Sometimes I feel the same way, but since DH and I are still in school it helps "limit" me to stay down to earth.

I'm sure everyone has their own methods, but my favorite is picking one or two particular things and then getting that set up before moving on. This helps from keeping half-done projects laying around everywhere.

I started with chickens. While most people start with a garden, I enjoy farming animals much more than plants and the whole thing started when I noticed that DH had a chicken coop his father let go to ruins. Being the animal addict I am, I have this instistant need to fill every cage or pen I see. LOL So we bought 6 laying hens had them for a year, had eggs coming out of our ears, one morning a fox relieved us of 4 hens. I joined BYC(big mistake) and found all about those rare breeds. So I started with Javas and Dorkings, both great heritage breeds that still became broody. From there Adam built me an incubator and before long, I could replenish, cull, kill, butcher, cook, eat, and do everything that need to be done with chickens. Still want to learn to caponize, but that is unnecesary at the moment.

From chickens, we went to quail, then ducks, and then geese.

Then a garden..

Then rabbits.. with the rabbits came worms so we could utilize the rabbits to the best possibility..

Now we are working on learning and becoming beekeepers.

Also just starting to learn and shop for a cow, still a little ways off, but it's in the makings.

Prioritize and concentrate on only one or two things at a time.

If water and staples are what you are worried about, concentrate on those products first. Learn how to collect, conserve, and sanitize water.

As for staples, that a tough one because rarely is growing grain conductive. It can be done though! There is a book on Self Sufficiency that explained how to live of 1, 2, and 5 acres. Check it out!

-Kim

 

[okiegirl1]

I know I should just chill out, but my mind goes into overdrive sometimes.

I think I'll just go bake some bread and read my two new books.

Basic Country Skills
Encyclopedia of Country Living

 

[Beekissed]

I must confess that, though I am pretty SS in my ways, thinking and lifestyle, I am not one of those who prepare for TSHTF. I like to think of one year in my life. What will I need for this one year? Can I make, grow, scrounge and preserve enough to live comfortably and cheaply for this year ahead?

This short-sightedness helps me keep from being overwhelmed with all the storage choices, the what ifs?, the worry about not having things if everything goes south.

Then, in the winter months, when the shelves are stocked, firewood is stacked and feed is in good supply.......I let myself make plans for more long-term projects, like bees, livestock, greenhouses, seed saving, etc.

It's also nice if you can concentrate on developing a skills set that will get you through any number of situations, be it growing your own food, preserving the food, killing your food, surviving off the land, etc.

Water is a biggy when it comes to life in general, so its a good place to start.

 

[freemotion]

Skills are the most important thing to aquire, imo. What if your home and all you'd stocked up were destroyed in some disaster? If you have skills, you can re-build and survive. So I tend to focus on building skills. Many things I have tried a few times and then dropped....my only goal was to build the skill should I ever need it. I can't do everything ss, and don't really want to. But if I HAD to....I would be so much better off.

For example, I know how to get wild yeast for making bread. However, growing wheat? In New England? Not the most efficient use of my time or land. I could survive to a ripe old age even if I never ate grain again. Root veggies make more sense here, and maybe corn.

Interestingly, skills build on each other. So start with what interests you and WHAT YOU ENJOY the most, and you will be more successful. Then that skill will naturally lead you to other interests and skills.

People who don't cook see what I do and are completely overwhelmed by it. But what they fail to realize is that there was a time when I didn't cook much, either! Now it is like breathing.

You will get lots of ideas here and lots of support, and many of us understand that sense of panic that often happens when you first make the decision to become more ss. Try to take a breath and enjoy the process!

 

[okiegirl1]

yep, it all started with the idea of making my Christmas gifts. So I learned to make soap. then I made lotions and other bath products. Then I wanted herbs & goats milk for the soap. So now I garden. I started canning. meeting like minded people that also have goats... .... and pretty soon, here I am. Up to my neck in what if's.

I do have a stone wheat grinder in the garage. maybe I can make my own flour..... or just go to walmart.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

dont worry, okiegirl1... SS is kind of like crack. once you start you cant stop....but just eeeease into it and the momentum will lead you in the right direction for you. pretty soon you'll be looking at main stream culture and think - geez, i cant believe people would live like that.

and then you'll be like me stomping out of the grocery refusing to pay $2.50 for bagels that you can darn well learn to make yourself. so i did. and thru a series of failures somewhere in the process i set the microwave on fire and my misadventure ended up costing me $75 for a new one! i decided that home made bagels were not worth it and now i happily pay for them when i want them. the microwave thanks me.

FC is right - you'll find the right balance for you.

Mother Earth News had a really good article in the last (one before??) issue about how one author started with a blank piece of property and his year by year plan.

we started with:

garden
chickens, first for eggs then for meat
ducks, geese, turkeys
pigs (always for meat)
milking goats

next year i'll be growing grain crops (for us and critters) and hopefully a cow will be in the works.

good luck!