Last week one of our bloggers showed how she homesteads: homemade (very nice) soap, etc.
Omgosh. Aside from building our weekend home from scratch (a little house on the prairie), I am the quintessential urban homesteader!!
Come inside my DH's greenhouse ....
It is a small portable type, on a second floor patio. He says it has a couple great advantages: very consistent growth (ie spinach leaves are all nice and uniformly tall), and a perfect absence of bugs (especially snails which decimate baby plants).
We already have about half the (small) backyard full of vegetable beds and fruit trees. And DH was dying to try to grow winter tomatoes. Ahem, this expense was my Christmas gift to him and thank goodness it has been a success.
Warm yourself in the house:
We run the central heat for about 1.5 hours in the morning from wake up to school/work departures. That's it.
But wait! Where do we get that fuel?
Um, that's my glove down there. We find wood throughout the year here and there. As well as clear the land at our weekend property (very important for fire suppression). However, I do not like power tools and saw by hand into bite size pieces. Yes, I am nuts, but it is good exercise. But time consuming.
OK, ok, all work makes Jack a dull boy. Other garden benefits?
I've made sure to plant freesias, calla lilies (shown below), sunflowers, roses, and as many other good flowers and greens to cut as will fit. (I don't like buying them.)
And you?
How do you Homestead?
March 9th, 2010 at 05:55 pm
March 9th, 2010 at 11:51 pm 1268178685
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In our long narrow side yard, where the dog gets to run while we are away for the day, there is dry poor soil. My kitchen window looks over this area, including the tool shed and the clothes drying lines right there.
So I kept trying to beautify the view with nasturtiums (big orange/yellow color and edible) and anything that would climb the wood fence. Silly me. The few calla lilly bulb/rhizomes I had thrown in there (given to me from my grandma's excess) kept coming up and I was trying to take them out. After a few years I stopped fighting them! Why? they grew great with NO water, no care, and even the dog jumped around them.
And they are great for cutting.
March 12th, 2010 at 07:02 pm 1268420576
Jerry