Happy Thanksgiving! This year I am thankful for my family! I have a hardworking husband and three beautiful daughters! They will all be here tomorrow for the feast. I'm also thanking God that there will be a feast tomorrow.
I have a confession to make: I don't know how to cook that well! However, I have decided it's time to learn. I am not working at the moment so there is no better time than now. For Thanksgiving I will be making turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, and two pies (apple and pumpkin). The stuffing will come from a box and the pumpkin pie filling will come from a can, but I will make everything else from scratch! I figure making the rolls and the pie crusts was stretching my skills far enough for now:) I have made turkey before so that really isn't a big deal. I'm also making deviled eggs. My kids love them! I will be amazed if everything turns out!
Big Holidays like this remind me of when I was a kid. The whole family and half the neighborhood would come to our house for dinner. Even though we didn't have much money, my mother always seemed to be able to throw together a huge holiday meal. She would start baking a week in advance. Pies, Breads, cookies, puddings, candy; she made it all. Dinner was always more like lunch because we would eat around one and then it was nap time. That evening we would eat leftovers and spend half the night playing games. My children will not be happy with me because tonight I will be hiding the computers! I can already see the looks on their faces when there are no computers to get on....I don't have anything against computers. I think they are a wonderful source for information and great way to express oneself, but Holidays are meant to spend together and I don't see being on a computer as a way to socialize with family. It's going to be an old fashion card night:)
Wish me luck! And to everyone out there, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Money Making Ideas
I've been wracking my brains trying to figure out some way I can contribute to the household income.
Growing and selling veggies is out because the park won't let me have a garden. I thought about doing some containers, but I can't afford to buy the pots and dirt necessary for this. I'm considering different containers I already own to perhaps find some that are feasible for pot plants. Oh now that did not come out the way I had intended! Oopsies!
I thought of selling compost, but again I am not allowed to have a compost pile. I was considering trying to use a garbage can to compost, but I just don't think it is realistic for what I need.
A worm farm is probably a fine idea! I have plenty of yard clippings, paper, and coffee grounds (coffee is my best friend) I can use. Problem is again I'm not allowed to have anything sitting outside! I really don't want worms in my house. I could possibly put them on my deck though. I would have to find a way to keep them warm and active in the winter time though. I could sell to the fishermen we have in the neighborhood. I could also sell the castings to people as fertilizer/compost.
Along with the worm idea I had thought about rabbits. I could put the hutches on the deck and no one would notice, right? RIGHT? (Can you say redneck?) The warm poo would keep my worms active and the act of composting would in turn keep the rabbits warmer. The worms could eat the rabbit poo and on top of the uses I would find for my worms, I would be able to sell rabbits as pets or meat. The problem with both of these again is the initial start-up costs. grrrr and it was such a good idea! I could even use the rabbits as meat myself, but I would have to find some place to take them for slaughter and butcher because I know I couldn't get away with that here!
Too bad I couldn't find a farm that could use a beginning farm hand! I could get practical experience and pay all in one fell swoop. Problems with this idea....it's past fall harvest and the farms won't be hiring until next season. I don't even know how to go about looking for a farm job....or marketing myself for one. My husband would have to drop me off before he went to work at four-thirty in the morning and no one would be home to get the child off to school.
If anyone has any suggestions I would be glad to hear them!
Growing and selling veggies is out because the park won't let me have a garden. I thought about doing some containers, but I can't afford to buy the pots and dirt necessary for this. I'm considering different containers I already own to perhaps find some that are feasible for pot plants. Oh now that did not come out the way I had intended! Oopsies!
I thought of selling compost, but again I am not allowed to have a compost pile. I was considering trying to use a garbage can to compost, but I just don't think it is realistic for what I need.
A worm farm is probably a fine idea! I have plenty of yard clippings, paper, and coffee grounds (coffee is my best friend) I can use. Problem is again I'm not allowed to have anything sitting outside! I really don't want worms in my house. I could possibly put them on my deck though. I would have to find a way to keep them warm and active in the winter time though. I could sell to the fishermen we have in the neighborhood. I could also sell the castings to people as fertilizer/compost.
Along with the worm idea I had thought about rabbits. I could put the hutches on the deck and no one would notice, right? RIGHT? (Can you say redneck?) The warm poo would keep my worms active and the act of composting would in turn keep the rabbits warmer. The worms could eat the rabbit poo and on top of the uses I would find for my worms, I would be able to sell rabbits as pets or meat. The problem with both of these again is the initial start-up costs. grrrr and it was such a good idea! I could even use the rabbits as meat myself, but I would have to find some place to take them for slaughter and butcher because I know I couldn't get away with that here!
Too bad I couldn't find a farm that could use a beginning farm hand! I could get practical experience and pay all in one fell swoop. Problems with this idea....it's past fall harvest and the farms won't be hiring until next season. I don't even know how to go about looking for a farm job....or marketing myself for one. My husband would have to drop me off before he went to work at four-thirty in the morning and no one would be home to get the child off to school.
If anyone has any suggestions I would be glad to hear them!
Obstacles
In my previous post I said we had several obstacles in our path to homesteading. The biggest one at this point would be credit. After so many years of me being laid off we are in a great pit of debt and without a second income I don't know how we are going to climb out.
Right now, we live in a trailer court. Yes you heard me right; we live in a trailer court! We pay an astronomical fee for the lot rent, but the trailer itself was free because it's falling down. At one time we had hoped to fix it up, but again without a second income this is impossible. We have now decided we no longer wish to fix the place up because living in a trailer court with all their rules and regulations just doesn't fit with the goals we have. I thought I could improve on my gardening, composting, and all around country living skills while we were here, but the new manager of the "park" does not allow regular gardens or compost piles. We are not even allowed to have a clothesline! We have to manicure our lawns so short the hot summer sun bakes them into a pile of dry brush to which they want us to add water to supposedly green them up but more often than not turns the yard (if you can call a narrow strip a yard) into an unattractive pig wallow minus the bonus of pork meat! Does this even make sense? I'm kind of on a rant here, but I really need to explain the absurdities running rampant in this place! I have a small back deck. The walls for said deck are made of lattice to help foster a sense of privacy. In the summer time beautiful bell shape flower vines climb their way up the lattice to provide living walls of privacy. In the fall the flowers and vines die back and the next summer the new vines trellis themselves over the old vines creating another layer of privacy. Well I was told these brown vines had to go because they were dead. I strongly objected, but was made to feel like an errant schoolkid who didn't realize that brown meant dead. Actually I did realize this, but my vines created more privacy by climbing up the dead vines already in place and they did it quicker and quicker each year. Last year I had to tear it all down per the manager's instructions. I did that and this year the vines didn't even make it to the top of the lattice. I'm a private person. I like having time to myself outside. When on my deck, I can spit and hit the next trailer! Now this little bit of privacy has been taken from me and I am not happy!
But I digress. I hate living in a trailer park. I want a few acres out in the country where I have all the privacy my heart and personality desires. This place needs to be in the great state of Pennsylvania because that is where my husband and I are originally from and we wish to be closer to friends and family. It doesn't even have to have a house on it; as long as I have the land the rest will come even if I have to sleep in a tent!
Probably the next obstacle we face after credit is time and health. As I said before, my husband has had several hernia surgeries and I myself have had two ratator cuff injuries, one of which required surgery, and I just had surgery on the ulnar nerve in my elbow. I need exercise which I would have plenty of if I were living a homesteading life. I have high cholesterol and all problems associated with it, but if I had a steady diet of home-cooked from scratch (you would be surprised at what some people consider home-cooked meals to be) food I believe I could beat the cholesterol problem. I am worried about time because neither of us are getting any younger and I don't want to be starting out on this life when I am fifty! Once I get started, I will do it until there is no physical way possible to continue, but if I continue to live the way we live now, stress will have me in the grave within the next five years.
Don't get me wrong, I know living a homesteading life is not easy work, nor is it stress free, but I truly believe it is less stress and the type of work it entails is not only good physically but spiritually as well.
Time and money are my enemy, but again hopefully I can find some way to have an income which will allow me to save to make this dream a reality!
Right now, we live in a trailer court. Yes you heard me right; we live in a trailer court! We pay an astronomical fee for the lot rent, but the trailer itself was free because it's falling down. At one time we had hoped to fix it up, but again without a second income this is impossible. We have now decided we no longer wish to fix the place up because living in a trailer court with all their rules and regulations just doesn't fit with the goals we have. I thought I could improve on my gardening, composting, and all around country living skills while we were here, but the new manager of the "park" does not allow regular gardens or compost piles. We are not even allowed to have a clothesline! We have to manicure our lawns so short the hot summer sun bakes them into a pile of dry brush to which they want us to add water to supposedly green them up but more often than not turns the yard (if you can call a narrow strip a yard) into an unattractive pig wallow minus the bonus of pork meat! Does this even make sense? I'm kind of on a rant here, but I really need to explain the absurdities running rampant in this place! I have a small back deck. The walls for said deck are made of lattice to help foster a sense of privacy. In the summer time beautiful bell shape flower vines climb their way up the lattice to provide living walls of privacy. In the fall the flowers and vines die back and the next summer the new vines trellis themselves over the old vines creating another layer of privacy. Well I was told these brown vines had to go because they were dead. I strongly objected, but was made to feel like an errant schoolkid who didn't realize that brown meant dead. Actually I did realize this, but my vines created more privacy by climbing up the dead vines already in place and they did it quicker and quicker each year. Last year I had to tear it all down per the manager's instructions. I did that and this year the vines didn't even make it to the top of the lattice. I'm a private person. I like having time to myself outside. When on my deck, I can spit and hit the next trailer! Now this little bit of privacy has been taken from me and I am not happy!
But I digress. I hate living in a trailer park. I want a few acres out in the country where I have all the privacy my heart and personality desires. This place needs to be in the great state of Pennsylvania because that is where my husband and I are originally from and we wish to be closer to friends and family. It doesn't even have to have a house on it; as long as I have the land the rest will come even if I have to sleep in a tent!
Probably the next obstacle we face after credit is time and health. As I said before, my husband has had several hernia surgeries and I myself have had two ratator cuff injuries, one of which required surgery, and I just had surgery on the ulnar nerve in my elbow. I need exercise which I would have plenty of if I were living a homesteading life. I have high cholesterol and all problems associated with it, but if I had a steady diet of home-cooked from scratch (you would be surprised at what some people consider home-cooked meals to be) food I believe I could beat the cholesterol problem. I am worried about time because neither of us are getting any younger and I don't want to be starting out on this life when I am fifty! Once I get started, I will do it until there is no physical way possible to continue, but if I continue to live the way we live now, stress will have me in the grave within the next five years.
Don't get me wrong, I know living a homesteading life is not easy work, nor is it stress free, but I truly believe it is less stress and the type of work it entails is not only good physically but spiritually as well.
Time and money are my enemy, but again hopefully I can find some way to have an income which will allow me to save to make this dream a reality!
Introduction
This is about the third time I have started this blog. No worries though because I don't think anyone has really read it yet. As if you couldn't tell I am new to the blogging world. I'm not really sure how this works, but bare with me and I am sure I will figure it out.
The reason I have decided to blog is to alleviate some of the boredom from being home alone all the time and some of it is to allow myself to get some of my ideas down on paper, so to speak.
I am obsessed with the idea of homesteading. I grew up in the country. It was a long time ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. As a child, I had a whole valley as my playground. My mom was an avid gardener. I quite clearly remember toiling in the dirt next to her. I also remember raising pigs to slaughter. I was quite attached to the first pig. I named it after my best friend, even though the friend didn't take it as the compliment it was meant to be! The first slaughter was difficult for me because of this. However I learned very young the price we pay (and the price the animal pays) for our food. Throughout my childhood I remember times were tough. But we always seemed to have enough food; we even had some to share. Our neighborhood consisted of three houses in the valley and we were always hosting game night which was pretty much just about every night of the week. In fact if we didn't have company it was odd. I was raised in a single parent household. My mother worked very hard to make sure we were well taken care of. My father died when I was young and I was raised on a stipend from his work years until I was eighteen.
At about the age of ten on, I was too busy and too easily embarrassed to pay much attention to the things my mother did to provide for me. All I could think about was getting out of "the life". I did just that. I still don't like living in town or in a city, but even worse than that, all these years later I have finally realized my mother was on to something.
I realize this because I have two children. Most of their lives I have worked really hard for this business or that company and barely made ends meat. I couldn't figure out how my mother raised me with so little income. I have missed most of my oldest daughter's childhood because I was working all the time. My second child is just now reaching puberty and I have missed half her young life. She's having trouble in school; the school says she has ADHD and wants me to get medicine from the doctor to allow her to concentrate. I say my child is a healthy child with a lot of energy who just needs a few acres of land to roam and a healthy diet of food without additives, preservatives, and a whole lot of other things I can't even name.
A couple of years ago I attempted a garden to help supplement our food bill. I fell in love with gardening. Who knew it was so exciting! However, I did not pay attention when my mother did all this back in the day and sadly she left me about ten years ago. My biggest regret is not realizing sooner all the wonderful skills my mother had. Now if I have a problem I cannot call her on the phone and ask questions. Although I was raised in the country I did not retain any of the valuable knowledge my mother tried to give me....instead I feel like a beginner.
I am tired of trying and failing to make it working for some one else and going deeper in debt! In '09 the company I worked for went bankrupt, in '10 the company I worked for shut down the place I worked, in '11 once again the company I worked for shut down the place I worked at. In '12 I finally got a job, thinking I was extremely lucky, but it was a sham from the beginning. I interviewed for one job which has a certain rate of pay and a certain schedule. Well when I started the job I was actually given another job with a lot less pay and a horrible (nights) schedule. After working there for about three months the owner's son called me and left me a voice mail stating I was fired!!! I was suppose to be the manager of a food establishment, instead I was the night clerk at a convenience store! I barely made above minimum wage! The supposed reason I got fired was missing too much work. I had to make a three day trip because of a family emergency. The boss knew of this ahead of time and approved it. When we got back from this trip I spoke with him and asked him if I could take more time off in two months to go back and check on the situation. He said no problem give him the dates. I gave him the dates with about six weeks notice. Again he approved the time off. When I got back the butt head fired me! So now I am stuck at home without a job again.
My husband works. He drives truck for a pop company making local deliveries. Don't let anyone fool you, this is back breaking work. Half the time the equipment doesn't work, there isn't a loading dock, and in the winter time some of these stores don't remove the snow or treat the ice in the dock area. In the last year he has had two hernia surgeries and we believe he is working on another one. Most people believe these pop companies pay good money. Again, don't let them fool you. After taxes, insurance, and child support for one child my husband brings home less than three hundred dollars a week for a family of three. This might sound like a lot, out of that he has to pay his car payment, insurance, and gas for work. He also pays the co-pays for all medical bills including the child he pays support for. So really the income we can use for rent, utilities and groceries is less than two hundred a week. Oh and in this state I have to pay school fees to the public school system to send my daughter to a crappy school. Nice.
So I come from a simple country life where having very little seem to give us quite a lot and now I am living a life where we are going into debt trying to work and unable to put adequate food on the table for our own little family let alone help anyone else out! Homesteading makes sense. I would take care of the homestead and my husband would work outside the home, at least in the beginning.
We have several obstacles in our path, but I believe with hard work, perseverance, and a tad bit of luck we can get to where we want to be. Wish me luck!
The reason I have decided to blog is to alleviate some of the boredom from being home alone all the time and some of it is to allow myself to get some of my ideas down on paper, so to speak.
I am obsessed with the idea of homesteading. I grew up in the country. It was a long time ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. As a child, I had a whole valley as my playground. My mom was an avid gardener. I quite clearly remember toiling in the dirt next to her. I also remember raising pigs to slaughter. I was quite attached to the first pig. I named it after my best friend, even though the friend didn't take it as the compliment it was meant to be! The first slaughter was difficult for me because of this. However I learned very young the price we pay (and the price the animal pays) for our food. Throughout my childhood I remember times were tough. But we always seemed to have enough food; we even had some to share. Our neighborhood consisted of three houses in the valley and we were always hosting game night which was pretty much just about every night of the week. In fact if we didn't have company it was odd. I was raised in a single parent household. My mother worked very hard to make sure we were well taken care of. My father died when I was young and I was raised on a stipend from his work years until I was eighteen.
At about the age of ten on, I was too busy and too easily embarrassed to pay much attention to the things my mother did to provide for me. All I could think about was getting out of "the life". I did just that. I still don't like living in town or in a city, but even worse than that, all these years later I have finally realized my mother was on to something.
I realize this because I have two children. Most of their lives I have worked really hard for this business or that company and barely made ends meat. I couldn't figure out how my mother raised me with so little income. I have missed most of my oldest daughter's childhood because I was working all the time. My second child is just now reaching puberty and I have missed half her young life. She's having trouble in school; the school says she has ADHD and wants me to get medicine from the doctor to allow her to concentrate. I say my child is a healthy child with a lot of energy who just needs a few acres of land to roam and a healthy diet of food without additives, preservatives, and a whole lot of other things I can't even name.
A couple of years ago I attempted a garden to help supplement our food bill. I fell in love with gardening. Who knew it was so exciting! However, I did not pay attention when my mother did all this back in the day and sadly she left me about ten years ago. My biggest regret is not realizing sooner all the wonderful skills my mother had. Now if I have a problem I cannot call her on the phone and ask questions. Although I was raised in the country I did not retain any of the valuable knowledge my mother tried to give me....instead I feel like a beginner.
I am tired of trying and failing to make it working for some one else and going deeper in debt! In '09 the company I worked for went bankrupt, in '10 the company I worked for shut down the place I worked, in '11 once again the company I worked for shut down the place I worked at. In '12 I finally got a job, thinking I was extremely lucky, but it was a sham from the beginning. I interviewed for one job which has a certain rate of pay and a certain schedule. Well when I started the job I was actually given another job with a lot less pay and a horrible (nights) schedule. After working there for about three months the owner's son called me and left me a voice mail stating I was fired!!! I was suppose to be the manager of a food establishment, instead I was the night clerk at a convenience store! I barely made above minimum wage! The supposed reason I got fired was missing too much work. I had to make a three day trip because of a family emergency. The boss knew of this ahead of time and approved it. When we got back from this trip I spoke with him and asked him if I could take more time off in two months to go back and check on the situation. He said no problem give him the dates. I gave him the dates with about six weeks notice. Again he approved the time off. When I got back the butt head fired me! So now I am stuck at home without a job again.
My husband works. He drives truck for a pop company making local deliveries. Don't let anyone fool you, this is back breaking work. Half the time the equipment doesn't work, there isn't a loading dock, and in the winter time some of these stores don't remove the snow or treat the ice in the dock area. In the last year he has had two hernia surgeries and we believe he is working on another one. Most people believe these pop companies pay good money. Again, don't let them fool you. After taxes, insurance, and child support for one child my husband brings home less than three hundred dollars a week for a family of three. This might sound like a lot, out of that he has to pay his car payment, insurance, and gas for work. He also pays the co-pays for all medical bills including the child he pays support for. So really the income we can use for rent, utilities and groceries is less than two hundred a week. Oh and in this state I have to pay school fees to the public school system to send my daughter to a crappy school. Nice.
So I come from a simple country life where having very little seem to give us quite a lot and now I am living a life where we are going into debt trying to work and unable to put adequate food on the table for our own little family let alone help anyone else out! Homesteading makes sense. I would take care of the homestead and my husband would work outside the home, at least in the beginning.
We have several obstacles in our path, but I believe with hard work, perseverance, and a tad bit of luck we can get to where we want to be. Wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)