Homesteaders

[newbie32]

Somebody here is selling their whole goat herd and supplies for only $500! I don't have the space, but I wish I did

oh well... Another opportunity will come up in a few years, right!

I feel your pain! I want a full blown mini farm so badly and when I see horses or live stock offers that are amazing it is hard to not shove them all in my large backyard and pray no one can hear them LOL. I don't have many neighbors but I am pretty sure I would be discovered.

Sometimes a whole ranch or farm is shutting down and wow the prices for things they cant get rid of just plummet!!

 

[rancher hicks]

green

 

[Raech]

Recipes sound great! And, I love bread. But, I am on an anti-fungal diet right now, and that means no bread, pasta, sugar, etc....never felt better in my life, though.

I think I would die, we eat a lot, I mean A LOT of pasta and sugars. I thought of what we had just in the last 2 days, and every meal had a bread of some sort. Starting the other night we had sloppy joes with tator tots for dinner. Breakfast was oatmeal(oldest) and cheerios(baby) with cranberry apple juice; hot chocolate throughout the day since my apartment is cold, bean and bacon soup with crushed crackers for lunch; chicken mushroom alfredo with bread sticks and mandarin oranges for dinner; and for breakfast today we had pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee/hot cocoa.

I wonder what hubby would think of a pasta/bread free week. Any recipes you want to share? He isn't very happy when I do a meat free dinner every week but I really want us to try to eat healthier.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well now I don't believe it's what we eat as much as "how much" of what we eat. Lord have mercy I can eat a whole loaf of bread my self.

In the restaurants they start us off with salad but at home that's not so. I skip the salad entirely. Not good I know.

Too, what about that soup? Made from scratch or out of a can? And that bacon, home made or stuffed with nitrates? Crackers or bread home made?

That cranberry/apple juice? Store or home made? Sure you can make your own juice. Just do it up like you'd do for jelly, reduce the sugar forget adding pectin and can it up in Quarts or larger.

Cooks country has a good recipe for tater tots too.

Mother Earth has a recipe for home made bread that requires little or no kneading. Dried and crumbed it can be stored for the next days use of breaded chicken.

Pasture fed eggs have less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff than store bought eggs do.

A bowl of fresh fruit on the dinner table can be a good thing.

Cup cakes and individual pie tarts can reduce the amount of desserts we eat too.

If the store brands didn't have those preservatives there products would spoil on the shelf.

Now as for amounts? I made DW buy smaller plates. Good garden o' peas! She has ones that are so big and heavy I can't hardly lift them. Makes my tendonitis hurt big time. IMO a ten inch plate is big enough.

Also eating at the table all together is good for the body too, in more ways than one. Mentally it helps as we talk and share our day. That of course means taking our time to eat more slowing.

When I grew up we never did this, but DW was good about dinner time. We did some of our best laughing at the dinner table.

Seems to me even half a change is better than no change at all. This is why I'm here. I get lots of ideas from folks and some pretty good recipes.

I wish you well,

Rancher

 

[boskelli1571]

Well said Rancher!
Portion control is a BIG thing - smaller plates are a great way to reduce size of servings. Eating together at meal times is also way better for you, we tend to slow down our eating while yakking so feel fuller sooner. Current research is showing many undesirable traits in some of the chemicals used in our processed foods - the biggest concern currently is 'endocrine disruptors'. It is believed they are a cause of some early onset diabetes (in kids) and have been linked to obesity, among other things. Always read and understand the labels on your processed/bought goods. Unfortunately, the research is slow because the food companies are not being helpful and have a powerful Washington lobby.
So.....in many, many ways what we are all doing is ensuring better health for our families as well as giving ourselves the satisfaction of being somewhat self-sufficient.
Let's all keep on doing what we're doing, we'll be healthier & happier! Sue

 

[Raech]

I hate to admit it but its all store bought except for the burger. We are just getting over the cold bug so I really haven't started cooking lately. I want to start making my own juice but my learning to can is slow at best, so far I have salsa and pears down. Hubby had went out and bought some new plates that I can fit 3 large steaks on, so I gave up on eating on a plate anymore and stick to a bowl just so I can manage my portions better, or the children's plastic plates. I have only recently started trying to make my own stuff and besides the occasional deer meat and the half a beef my dad buys every fall, all of my foods come from the grocery store, except in the summer when my produce is more based out of my gardens, and the eggs from my mechanics backyard. Sorry if my spelling is really off im typing around an 18 month old with a 5 year old chasing him and jumping on me, I'll fix what I can. We have started really sitting down to eat dinner, breakfast is a free for all lately and lunch is at the table normally as well. I really want to learn how to do my own juice I'm hoping that a juicer will help since my sieve and cheese cloth didn't get much juice out of my apples this year, maybe I did it wrong who knows. So now I have pounds, and pounds of apples in my freezer waiting for the juicer next spring and my dad lovingly getting me 30 pounds more.

For the longest time "ignorance is bliss" was my motto, now I am seeing what my children's future is looking like and it's scaring the crap out of me. I don't want my children filled with chemicals, and not knowing what is in their foods or how to make them. I have a fresh 5 year old who loves to garden and cook and actually asked me this morning if I knew what bacon was, his reply was "meat," I said sort of, its more pig but close enough. He asked me later if the apple he was eating for lunch was healthy or not, because if its not he is supposed to ask, obviously he didn't but that's another story. I had an "ah ha" moment today as I was reading an article about raising "spirited children" that I got in my email, and as I was reading it I was seeing my oldest as, I guess, everyone else sees him. And it made me get up from checking my computer and give him a hug, which turned into a tickle war, because he is so special to me and it made me sad to see him the way everyone else did, even for just a moment. I am proud to stand up and say that my "spirited" child will not be just another number on what they doctor's classify as "ADD/ADHD" he will not take medication, and if my husband can see it too, he will be homeschooled rather than sent to public next fall, since he already has anxiety problems. It was almost like reading it and hearing everyone say "check, yup that's him on such and such day" or "yup that's my nephew, he drives me up the wall." And then remembering his hysterical tears when I stepped outside to take a moment as I checked the mail last week, he thought I was leaving and came running outside trying to catch me before I got 10 feet from the door even though I told him I would be right back.

Sorry, I will get off my floor, since it seems I have been "killed and turned into a tunnel" per the hooligans. lol Least ways to say this was very interesting to write, and took awhile to fix my spelling. And sorry about the mini rant, but for some odd reason it just had to come out, maybe its me wanting to get back to the basics and learn more, but I just can't get that article out of my head, every time the boys laugh it scrolls through again, and I knew that you guys would understand more of it than if I would have called my mom, or worse my sisters lol. On that note I am going to turn into the kissing monster and see how long it takes for hubby to get off work.

 

[KentuckyMom]

I have some of those spirited boys and I wouldn't trade them for anything! We have five children - ranging in ages from 19 down to 7. Our oldest is a daughter, then we have a 17 year old son, a 10 year old son, a 9 year old son, and a 7 year old son! And our boys are ALL BOY! My 17 year old just spent the summer working concrete and the younger three spend every day they can outside exploring bugs, trees, dirt, etc. Play with them, enjoy them, and steal all the kisses you can! Kids grow up so very fast!!
We have homeschooled since our oldest two were in third grade and first grade. It is well worth it though not always easy! Our oldest has graduated and is working and our next oldest is a Senior this year.
We really started canning and living differently when the Lord blessed us with the last three! You have to learn to stretch everything!

 

[MoonShadows]

Quote:
LOL...you are talking to the King of Bread here. I thought I could never get off bread (all grains, sugars, etc.), but it was easier than I thought, especially since the recipes I'm using are so tasty, plus I can have nuts and cheese which I love. We are following the Diet of Doug Kaufmann from KNOW THE CAUSE http://knowthecause.com/index.php/recipes

His main site is http://knowthecause.com/

We purchased his 3 books, The Fungus Link Trilogy, and what he has to say about fungus in our foods and fungus in our bodies causing all kinds of havoc hit home with some of our ailments and how we were feeling. We started eating the way he recommended, and we are feeling better than we have in years!

 

[boskelli1571]

I have some of those spirited boys and I wouldn't trade them for anything! We have five children - ranging in ages from 19 down to 7. Our oldest is a daughter, then we have a 17 year old son, a 10 year old son, a 9 year old son, and a 7 year old son! And our boys are ALL BOY! My 17 year old just spent the summer working concrete and the younger three spend every day they can outside exploring bugs, trees, dirt, etc. Play with them, enjoy them, and steal all the kisses you can! Kids grow up so very fast!!
We have homeschooled since our oldest two were in third grade and first grade. It is well worth it though not always easy! Our oldest has graduated and is working and our next oldest is a Senior this year.
We really started canning and living differently when the Lord blessed us with the last three! You have to learn to stretch everything!

Kentucky & Raech - enjoy your kids while you can - they grow up too fast!!
Raech - the canning/preserving will come over time. As the kids get older they can help you with the little things.

 

[Raech]

Kentucky & Raech - enjoy your kids while you can - they grow up too fast!!
Raech - the canning/preserving will come over time. As the kids get older they can help you with the little things.

So far he likes to help pick and wash, and I can get him to help grab jars sometimes. Most of the time he likes to run off with my rings and play with them, so its hide and seek time them. But he does really well when we go out to the mountains to pick mushrooms and huckleberries, if he would quit eating all the berries I might have a larger bag when we get to the car, but its healthy so I can't tell him no for long, instead I limit it to say 10 berries this time, or if he eats 1 he has to put 2 in the bag, then as we walk his bag gets lighter somehow, no clue where they went. He claims "Pinkfoot ate them"(complete with fingers waggling up by his ears) LOL

They are good boys, and I know I wouldn't trade them for anything, some days its debatable if I will make it till bed time but I'm young so I guess I can do it.
Thanks guys and sorry again about the rant, I just hit a little bit too low for my own good yesterday. Going out today to get some more groceries and another heater, I really and truly can't wait till I get a house with a fireplace, I will never be cold again as long as I have wood, and my hubby can quit complaining about the power bill. Woo sah