Photo Credit: Vegetable Gardener

As I’ve been working on getting this year’s garden going, it has weighed heavily on my heart that I emphasize to everyone the importance of learning how to garden right now.

Right now. Not next year. Now, before your lives depend on it. Because, frankly, deep down inside, I truly believe that one day our lives will depend on it.

I believe that 100%. And I’m acting on it. Maybe it won’t be in my lifetime. Maybe it’ll be in my children’s (though I doubt it’ll take that long). But this is the number one motivating force behind all that we do here.

And if you’ve been feeling like something is coming… like you need to be getting prepared for harder times… you cannot let another year go by without getting your hands dirty and beginning to learn to grow food.

Having a pack of survival seeds and a gardening “how to” book is NOT good enough.

I’m telling you right now: Gardening takes practice. I’ve been attempting to raise my own food for three years now, and every year I face new challenges and make new mistakes. If we had depended on any of our previous gardens to survive, we would have surely starved. Even this year, I can already tell that my garden won’t be near good enough.

If a food crisis were to hit in a week from now, what would you do?

Do you already have a place in your yard where you can plant things? A spot full of rich soil, turned over and ready to plant in?

Do you have containers and compost you can start seeds in?

Do you even have any seeds? Do you have enough seeds to grow enough food to feed your family for at least a few months? A year?

Do you have any gardening tools? A hoe? A rake? A hose or watering can?

Would you know how to deal with pests, fungus, or weeds?

Do you own any gardening books??

What would happen to you if all of a sudden your family depended upon whatever you could grow yourselves?

Would you know how to start seeds? How to save seeds? How to store seeds properly?

Would you know when to harvest your crops? And how to preserve them? Do you have the necessary tools to preserve your food?

These are things that you seriously need to be asking yourself. And you need to stop daydreaming about your future garden, and start making it a reality!

Start with making a list of everything your family likes to eat. Then get online, find out which varieties grow best in your area, and order seeds or plants.

Find a place in your yard that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight, break up the sod and start amending that soil. Or build raised beds. Or get a bunch of large containers to plant in. Do something!

Bulk up your personal library with books on gardening, seed saving, and preserving the harvest. I gave a few suggestions HERE a while back.

Make sure you have some basic gardening tools. I’d HIGHLY recommend Craftsman tools. They have a lifetime warranty, and Sears will replace them no questions asked (I’ve exchanged two old messed up tools for brand new ones, no problem).

Start a compost pile. It isn’t hard. Just find a corner of your yard to start throwing uncooked produce scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, leaves, weeds and anything else organic. Turn it over every now and then, and before long you’ll have some awesome planting material ready and waiting.

Start putting in perennials NOW. Berry bushes, herbs, asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, strawberries, fruit trees… squeeze in as much as you possibly can, wherever you can. Most of these things take at least three years before a harvest, so get them established now.

I hear from so many people who tell me that they’d like to have a garden one day. Or that they feel like they need to be preparing, but aren’t sure what to do. Listen up, dear friends!

Even if it’s just one tomato plant you purchased at the garden center, you have to start somewhere, and that’s a great start. But start making serious steps toward learning a little self-sustainability. And start now. Because, I feel like we’re living on borrowed time. I don’t know how long we have, but I know we don’t have time to waste.

Don’t wait another season, another year. This is the year to get down on your knees (in more than one way!), to get dirt under your nails, sunshine in your face, and plants in the ground. This is the year to harvest your first home grown produce, and to feel the satisfaction in knowing that you can take care of yourself and your family no matter what.

Gardening is not extremely difficult. But it takes time, and it cannot all be learned in one season, or two, or three.

So, get on it people!! Spring is upon us. No more excuses.

Get out there and grow some food!

I know the media is telling us that things are looking up. I know they say unemployment numbers are dropping. And we’ve all heard them saying the economy is on the rebound. But frankly, I’m just not convinced.

The thing is, they have to tell us that. If they told us the truth, that we are most likely heading into a much deeper recession, yes maybe even a depression, then panic would sweep across our nation and runs on banks would cause pandemonium.

A recent report states that 1 in 5 Americans is either out of work or underemployed. That number is staggering! That’s 17.5 percent of Americans. Unfortunately, that doesn’t even include all of the people who have given up a job search!

Businesses are continuing the layoffs and cut backs. My husband’s work has had to cut everyone back to 35 hrs/wk. But even that isn’t helping. They just called another meeting this week explaining to the employees that the company is now $30 grand in the hole for the third month in a row, and if they don’t pick up business soon, they are going to have to make more cutbacks. I pray he doesn’t lose his job.

And all of this printing of money out of thin air has caused inflation to already begin creeping into the market. Have you noticed your grocery bill going up lately? Those of you on a tight budget may be realizing that your money isn’t going as far as it used to. My husband overheard a lady at the store the other day complaining that the Kool-Aid had gone up .19 cents since the week before! We’ve definitely noticed the price increases, and have had to raise our food budget to make room for it.

The term “hyperinflation” looms overhead. But what can we do about it? How can we be prepared should things get really bad before they get better?

I’d like to offer a few suggestions…

1. First of all, realize that the Lord is in control. We are not to fear the future, but do our best to prepare for it.

2. Build your food storage. I’ll try to elaborate on this more in another post, but it is so important that you have a good amount of food on hand. I would suggest building up a year’s worth of food supplies; canned fruits and veggies, grains (wheat, rice, sugar), beans, pasta, powdered milk, water, etc. This is a great way to prepare for hyperinflation or economic crises, job loss, or other disasters. I’d even go so far as to say that it is more important that you have a food storage built up than a large savings account. If hyperinflation were to set in, those digits you see in your bank account will not be worth one dime. Food would be a more valuable asset than worthless paper. And if you were to lose your job, food would be one less thing you’d have to worry about spending money on.

3. Consider buying silver. Do you guys realize that the Federal Reserve is pumping money into our system at an unprecedented rate?? We have never in our history done anything like this before. Do you know what happens when money is printed over and over and over with nothing to back it??

People, this is NOT GOOD.

If our currency loses it’s value, how will we buy or sell? Yes, bartering would make a huge comeback!

Again, what if that paper money you have is suddenly worth nothing? Changing some of your savings into silver bullion is definitely something to consider. Don’t think hyperinflation could happen? Do a little research into every case of hyperinflation in other countries. You’ll see it’s for real, and we are doing exactly the same things that brought it about in every other instance. If we don’t do something to stop this out of control spending, I don’t see how we can avoid an economic collapse.

I like the idea of using silver coins because they are much more affordable than gold, and would be more spendable due to their smaller values. Now, I’m not suggesting that you turn all of your cash into silver coins, but I do believe it would be wise to have some on hand for emergencies. You can buy it at local coin and jewelry stores, or order online.

4. Start a Victory Garden. Even if you’ve never gardened in your life, now is the time to start growing something! Even those of you with only a balcony can do some container gardening. Grow something!!

*If you are able to have a few chickens for meat and eggs, you might as well get started on that too!

5. Guns and Ammo. Sounds hard core, but if things do get bad you will need to be able to defend yourself and your family, and hunt for food. Ammo is getting more and more expensive. It would be nice to have a good stockpile of it. While you’re at it, a good hunting knife and fishing rod would be very useful too!

6. Get out of debt!! Check out Dave Ramsey. Seriously.

7. Gather supplies you would need if you were to live without electricity. I’ll probably have to do a whole post on this subject too!! But basically, think about how you would live day to day without power or heat and A/C. Cast iron cookware for cooking over a fire, a clothes line, solar panels, hand well pump, non-electric appliances, a wood stove… you get the idea.

8. Get to know your neighbors. These are the people you may be turning to the most in desperate times.

9. Stock up on herbal medicine supplies and books. Don’t forget your vitamins.

10. Collect several “living off the land/survival” type books. If you can’t get on the internet to google how to skin a rabbit you’re gonna be in a mess!

11. Learn Forgotten Skills. Sewing, cooking from scratch (and No, Hamburger Helper is not considered from scratch!), soap making… go visit grandma, you could probably learn a lot!!

Whatever you do, please do something. If you only do one of these things, at least you’ll be a step ahead. I wish I knew what was going to happen with our country. I wish I knew if things would pick up and get back to normal soon. If only there were some way of knowing exactly what is lying in store for us. But we don’t know. And we cannot trust the media to tell us. We simply have to be prepared to be able to take care of ourselves and our family should the hard times hit. Don’t be caught unprepared.

I’m sure I missed some really good ideas for being prepared. Have any other suggestions you can share with us??

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year that we’ve lived here on our little homestead! It was just last November when we moved in, and here it is almost Thanksgiving time again. How time flies… especially when you’re having fun!

I’ve been reflecting on the things that we have accomplished throughout our first year of homesteading. I’ve learned so much. I’ve especially learned how much more I have to learn! I would never have been able to do the things I’ve done without the encouragement, help, advice, friendship and generosity of other homesteaders.

Here is how we have slowly begun our dream of self-sufficiency this past year…

• We started our first ever garden, and learned a lot of lessons the hard way!

• We got three goats, Sweetie and Mocha, then Lucy. Sweetie was killed by stray dogs. We are raising them for milk and meat in the future.

• We planted ten blueberry bushes, and a raspberry bush.

• We planted two apple trees and a peach tree.

• We harvested black walnuts from our property.

• We were blessed with free rabbit cages which enabled us to house our first chickens. Before this I’d never had farm fresh chicken eggs!

• We finally got a water stove (for free!) to heat our home and water with fire. We still haven’t gotten it hooked up yet, but hopefully we will before it gets too cold! (more about that when it’s completed)

• My husband shot and ate his first rabbit!

• We’ve tried fresh cow’s milk for the first time, and like it!

• I’ve made butter from scratch.

• I’ve begun collecting cast iron cookware.

• We’ve been eating deer meat.

• We’ve (mostly) given up buying disposable products… even toilet paper! well, almost. Cloth napkins, cloth diapers, cloth baby wipes, cloth cleaning rags, cloth dishrag… though, no hanky’s  yet, and still disposable diapers for the newborn.

• I have a clothesline to dry my laundry. I’ve even begun trying homemade laundry detergent!

• We’ve given up our television!

• I’ve been learning how to can, and even got my first canners!

• I’ve been using natural home remedies, like for treating poison ivy and ear infections.

• We’re working hard on putting up a charming white picket fence around the yard.

• Hubby got his grandfather’s old wood stove hooked up in his work building, so that I can cook on it if we are ever without power for long.

• I’ve been making all of my own cleaning products.

• I’ve started a nice compost pile.

• And we cannot forget my biggest, proudest accomplishment ever… the home-birth of my baby girl Xia!!

Wow, what a year! A lot of changes, a lot of learning. I hope that next year, and the year after, and the year after that we are as productive as I felt we’ve been this past year. Maybe, if we keep working hard and things keep going well, we’ll be living our dream before we know it!

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

I’ve often wondered just how much we could learn about frugal living from studying how people managed to get by during the Great Depression. How did they cook meals from essentially nothing? How did they get clothing when they couldn’t afford to buy material? How did they cook and clean with no electricity? The idea of living on so little has just fascinated me lately.

I’ve been reading lots of books about Depression Era living, and have been soaking up every little tidbit of wisdom from this very thrifty generation. We all know that people had livestock and gardens for food, but how did they manage other needs? Here are some really interesting things that people did back then:

• Used the backs of worn-out overall legs to make pants for little boys and overalls for babies.

• Made diapers and underwear out of flour and sugar sacks.

• Made smaller clothes out of bigger hand-me-downs.

• If their shoes wore out before a year, the children went barefooted.

• Bartering; not only goods for goods, but work for work.

• Used patterned chicken feed sacks to make curtains, aprons, and little girl’s dresses; three sacks were enough to make a housedress.

• They mended worn out socks with a patch from another sock.

• They saved string that came loose from clothing and added it to a string ball for mending and sewing.

• They used newspaper instead of toilet paper.

• They saved every scrap of material for making quilts.

• When there was nothing more to eat, they had lard sandwiches.

But most importantly of all, they gave what they could to those in need, shared their meal with a starving stranger, and neighbors helped each other out. Truly, this is the biggest lesson we could learn from such an unfortunate time in history. When times got hard, they stuck together.