Kathie over at Homespun Seasonal Living has some great ideas about keeping records on your homestead.
Here’s a nice little pep talk about living in a van and downsizing. Something to consider: the couple moved out of their riverfront apartment, so money was no issue for them. That might not be the same for most folks. This article did answer a question that I had about showers: buy a membership to a fitness club.
As I do my research for building my homestead, I’d like to share the links for the great blogs and resources I am finding.
Living without Electricity and Running Water
Getting Your Finances Ready for Homesteading
The winds have shifted our course a little bit, and this means I might be able to live out one of my most recent and important life plans: to build a tiny homestead and become as self-sufficient as possible! This includes meat animals, a garden with lots of variety, and dwarf fruit trees. Everything isn’t final yet, and I’m sure I am getting ahead of myself with planning this whole thing (that tends to be a habit of mine).
What I am Looking Forward To:
I’d also like to have a set-up where I can offer fruits and veggies, crochet blankets, and the fiber from the animals. Come by and check out the animals before you take home their hair for all your crafty needs!
Keeping track of my activities the first year would be very important, from crop planting times to modifications to the property to recipes that I made using the food harvested. It would be a nice little book full of learning and knowledge for anyone else looking to start this life. Keeping it in a diary format would give it a lot of charm, I think. If I keep my handwriting legible I might be able to just copy the journal pages entirely.
Just random thoughts, maybe I needed to type it out to keep it together for myself. Also, I’m still having a big sale in my Etsy shop, 40% off everything (the link is at the top of the page).
I’ve been exploring the use of yarn and crochet stitches in witchcraft and spell work. I was surprised at how hard it was to find much information on this subject, so I decided to play around and do some readings on the matter. Since I already work very closely with with colors and have assigned meanings to them, that gave me a nice springboard to crochet and fiber in magick.
Last night I worked on making charms. The layers of each charm and specific colors hold intent, and each stitch holds a spell. From left to right: physical care, positive romantic relationships, positive dreams, and mental care.
I used to think that was a bad thing. I’ve always had a hard time focusing on one idea or project before I wanted to start another. To combat my living area being stuffed with half-finished products, I try to stick with projects that don’t take too much time to finish ( I think one week is my limit, but even that is a stretch). Here’s a TED talk that helped me figure out that hey, the fact that I can’t decide isn’t such a bad thing!
Still trying to clean out everything, still trying to start my new life, still trying to finish one goal before moving on to the next. I’ve started writing patterns for a crochet sampler afghan which I hope to have ready by the end of the month. I’m also thinking about creating some witchy charms to offer in my shop. The links for them are located on the front page menu.
I’ve only been renting for a year, so it kind of disgusts me that all of this stuff that I’m trying to sell has only been accumulated in the last 12 months.
Wouldn’t you believe it, my very first post and somehow it get eaten! I dunno what happened, but I will try my best to recreate what I wrote (typed?) before. So if it sounds dry and dull, that may be why.
There is only so long before you need to stop saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if,” and “Gee, I sure would like to,” and just do something. I have been fantasizing about a minimalistic lifestyle and decided to just go for it. Really, I don’t have anything holding me back (except for a vehicle). I unschool my daughter, L, and my work is all online.
I see this step as being a huge positive step for both of our lives. I have wanderlust real bad, folks. Like, really. And L’s education would be actually totally fun! Decide to spend a week at the beach collecting shells, watching birds, and learning about the ecosystem? Awesome.
We are still in the “cleaning out stage.” Get rid of all the things! This really forces you to figure out what you need, as opposed to what you want. This is all very hard for L, because she wants to keep all the toys. My hope is to be ready to go by the end of the year, so there’s still some time to organize.
I’m hoping to make (almost) daily posts to give everyone a glimpse into our life together, living a minimalistic and frugal life. Also, if you would like to support us, there is a link to my Etsy shop on my About page.
studiobythegrove 