UH-001

UH - 001 Urban Homesteading
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Howdy again!

All Urban Homesteading posts will be labeled UH - .

I used to think that I had to have boogobs of acreage and an Amish-Built house in order to homestead. That was my dream... chickens, rabbits, a big garden, some ducks... maybe even a cow... maybe.. I'm a little bit afraid of cows... they're REALLY big.....

However, we're a military family and live on base. And we have no idea where we could be next year and what planting zone we'll be in. Therefore, we had given up hope. We kept our dreams, but didn't count on them happening any time soon.

Then I found this site: http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/ WOW! This family has 1/10th of an acre of usable yard space and last year they harvested over 6,000 lbs of produce. Amazing!

Hmmm... why not do what I can, where I can, then when I DO get my big homestead dream place, I'll be more prepared and less overwhelmed.... hmmmm........

You know, everyone has their own reasons for doing the "urban homesteading" or "country homesteading" or "sufficiency" thing. Some people are earth-worshippers, some people aren't true earth-worshippers but really like having an excuse to go dancing naked in the moonlight. (Not that I do that... often...)

Some people do it as an extension of their religion, whatever that may be. Good stewardship of God's creation, fear of global warming, end of times, yadda yadda yadda.

I'm doing it because I really like and enjoy it. Don't know exactly why I do, but I do.

Perhaps it's a bit of getting in touch with history and my ancestors. Doing things the "old way". Keeping lost arts alive.

Perhaps a part of it is enjoying the feeling of accomplishment one gets after handwashing clothes and putting them on the line.

Perhaps it's the idea that if there's some sort of "event" (natural disaster, Obama as president, congress... whatever) we won't "feel" it as much. We may be inconvenienced by it, but our lives wouldn't fall apart over it.

Perhaps it's working hand-in-hand with God in the creation process as I plant things and manage not to kill them (immediately).

Or perhaps it's all of these things put together. And a little something "more" I can't quite put my finger on or describe...

So here's what we've been doing so far:

Learning how to can! As a child I watched my mom do this, but found it overwhelming so I avoided it for a long time. It was my big sis who helped me achieve the practical application of it and see it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought. (Keep in mind, my mom was "putting up" seasonally for 6 people. That IS a lot of canning!)

(Recipes, How-To's, and URLs will be on the next Urban Homesteading Blog: UH - 002.)

I've recently learned how to can cheese (including cream cheese), butter, and bacon. The butter turned out OK but I'm going to try a different method next time. I'll let you know how that goes.

We make our own laundry detergent and wash our clothes by hand. We use the clothes line when possible but do use the drying when it's rainy. Until the wringers come in, I will do the sheets, blankets, & rugs at the 'mat.

I cook from scratch as much as possible. My big sis (my hero!) taught me about once-a-month cooking and that helps a lot. When I don't wanna do anything on that large of a scale, I'll spend one afternoon to do a baking of bread, and cook some rice, pasta, and beans for the week. Except for the bread, these are all pretty much "hands off" things so it's pretty easy.

At the beginning of the year we're going to install some more power strips so we can more easily really turn things off. From what I've heard, some appliances can suck up more power when they're "off" than when they're on.

Do we really need that non-functioning clock on the VCR to be flashing all the time? Or the little lights on the TV and PS2 shining all the time? Nope. Not really. It's pretty easy to turn those off. Same for the microwave.

We're also going to start practicing water catchment for doing the laundry (the wash, not the rinse) and for flushing the toilet. Do we have to do these things? No, but it's good practice.

And a Garden! More on the garden later. I have an appointment so I'll end this post here. All Urban Homesteading posts will be labeled UH - ###.