Starting Out - 5 Easy Ways to Begin Homesteading

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu

Have you been thinking about incorporating clean, real eating into your diet?  Making a birthday present for your best friend, but do not know where to start?  Every journey really does begin with that single step and it also requires your intention to change your current cycle and habits towards a new one.  I'm pretty sure no one ever woke up in their Frete sheets and thought you know, today is the day, I'm going to toss all my luxury away and go be Laura Ingalls and live off the land.  I find myself examining my decisions regularly and making small adjustments towards a self-sufficient lifestyle.  Not everything can be changed over night and we've been conditioned to comforts that reduce our stress in certain areas.  Here are 5 small steps to start you on your journey to becoming a homesteader:

1 - Eat and Buy Local - My husband is never going to allow me to have chickens where we live right now, so I've adjusted my expectations of how to have fresh, local eggs on a regular basis.  I sought out a woman in town whose husband tolerates her love for her chickens and buy eggs from her.  My kids come along to see the ladies and we all have a great time chatting about who pecked who this week....and then walk away with our fresh dozen.  Less stress, more local goodness.

2 - Make Your Own Food - May sound simple and straight forward, but there are so many options for pre-packed/made food that many people have lost the tradition of making food as a family.  With work schedules being hectic and kids schedules dominating so many homes (not mine!), there leaves little time in the evening to prepare foods together. If you find yourself in this situation, take some time on the weekends to make a large batch of food for the next few days.  It will help relieve your stress and leave you with many good meals that can just be warmed up.  More posts on my batch cooking & short cuts to come soon!

3 - Grow Food - Herbs and Garlic are easy ways to start growing your own food.  Adding fresh herbs into any meal will give you some extra nutrients and extra yummy goodness.  In the spring/summer time, look for ideas of container gardening or use an Earth Box to get started.  These containers are my favorite as they provide the right blend of soil, fertilizer and a cover to allow maximum growth for your veggies.  The color of the container can blend into your porch or deck making your veggies a nice vegetation addition!

4 - Mason Jars - Enough said.  I love them so much, it could be seen as an obsession.  I'm not sure if it is because of the hours and hours of Little House on the Prairie I watched as a child, but I can never have enough.  I check out yard sales both online and physical to add to my collection and enjoy them for everything from a morning cup of coffee, storing rice, beans and popcorn kernels, to my evening glass of wine.  They are so useful and look so good.

5 - Read, read, read!  Here are a few books that I read to help me get started on my homesteading journey:

• The Backyard Homestead
• The Weekend Homesteader
• Made From Scratch

5.1 - One more...Learn/Find a Craft to Make - Find something that you enjoy making from scratch and start doing it!  I enjoy crocheting....but realized knitting is not for me.  Try a few things and do not settle.  If what you are working on does not put you into that meditative state in which you lose track of time, then it is not for you.  I also enjoy sewing freestyle...but not from a pattern.  I love being creative and not following directions.  When making with my hands, I listen to my inner self for guidance and use that as my guiding light. 

Each day is a new opportunity to integrate small changes (adjustments) into your life (practice)...it is kind of like yoga. Accept where you are today and go (GROW) from there!

xoxo

Storm Preppin'

If you have not heard, the Northeast is in for a big one this week - snow that is!  No more talk about Tom's balls....we are on to the big news of 2+ feet of snow!  You know what the means right??  Prepping, cooking and baking now to get ready for the hours of snow fun ahead.  The Prepper in me is only slightly concerned that we may lose power during this storm.  Our next door neighbors have a wonderful fireplace, so we maybe camping at their house if things get bad.  Until then, I'm going to bake a few gluten free breads to be sure we all survive along with a few other goodies I will share.

My favorite new discovery is Pamela's Bread Mix which has a great recipe on the back of the package for a homemade gluten free breadmaker bread.  I've seen the Mix available before, but not until recently did I decide to give it a go.  I want to know what is in every single thing I eat.  Sounds excessive, but realistically, we should all know exactly what is in our food.  The more I can make and bake at home the more I will know.   But let's also be realistic, working full time, raising 3 children and being a wife is time consuming in and of itself these days, so finding short cuts where possible works as long as quality is not compromised.....(although, it would be fun to make homemade pizza again.)

On the Facebook page, I've linked this post with a picture of the bread after it comes out.  I tried making the bread as it calls for on the package several times now and have discovered it works well if your breadmaker has a 'rapid' or 1 rise setting.  Gluten free bread does not need the 2nd rise and the time I did try it on the regular bread setting it did not rise enough the 2nd time.  Prepping, following and baking the recipe all took less than 1.5 hours and 1.25 of those hours the breadmaker was doing the work - perfect! 

Here's the recipe from Pamela's - slightly modified for my breadmaker and preferred taste:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread Mix
• 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 yeast packet
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• warm water

Directions:

In a Bread Machine

Setting suggestion - Rapid Bread, 2 lb loaf, Dark Crust.

 

In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, heat 2 cups of water in the microwave until warm, not boiling (2 mins on my microwave).  Add 1/3 cup oil, add 2 eggs and pour all liquids into bread maker.  Then add bread mix and yeast last. Start machine and scrape down sides and corners of pan after dough has been mixed for about 6 minutes.

After baking, remove from pan and let cool before removing paddle and slicing.