Homesteading

Lately I've been really into reading about how to live a more natural, sustainable life.  We've just started drinking raw milk (definitely more creamy, leaves a fat film on the roof of your mouth), we're getting half a side of beef from a grass-fed cow, and now we're talking about getting chickens this coming spring.

For the past couple years we've been trying to figure out what to do with the backyard.  It's basically a dirt pit at this time, but I was looking at a homesteading blog, and this family dug up their grassy backyard and turned the entire yard into a vegetable, fruit, and flower-filled garden.  Seriously.  The entire thing was a garden...AND IT WAS AWESOME!  I hate to weed, and that is a fact.  However, I'm thinking that maybe weeding wouldn't be such a big deal if we fill all the space with stuff that we want.  I mean, we'll have to weed at first, but then perhaps once the desirable plants start to grow, they would have a leg up on the competition.

We will probably get rid of the koi pond and either fill it back in with earth, or we've kicked around the idea of turning it into a sub-terrain fire pit.  Kind of terrace it out.  Not sure about that yet, either.  The problem is where the money will come from.  Jesse's going to school and was laid off from his job, so we're trying to be more frugal until he can find some other kind of work that is compatible with his school schedule.  So for now these plans are just that, plans.

But back to the homesteading idea.  There are tons of little blogs out there about other folks' homesteading adventures, from raising chicken, to milking goats, even keeping bees.  Bees freak me out, but they are wonderful for gardens, so I might have to revisit that idea.  *sigh*  Sometimes I wish we lived on a property that had many acres of land.  Maybe some day.  So be prepared, I may soon be blogging about our mishaps with chickens, bees, and gardens.