Friday, October 29, 2010

Getting Started In Homesteading

My husband made our bread weekly!

Baking bread is such a big part of a homesteaders' life. The people who dream about being homesteaders almost always start with learning how, if they have never done it before, baking their own bread. My grandmother always baked her own until she became diabetic. After that, she never made good food again. She made her own jam and jelly, but it was horrible since it now had saccharin in it. Yuck! I'd spit it out and she'd frown at me. 

When we moved back to NY  from St. Petersburg, FL, my husband and I found an apartment in the country. It was on 26 acres of land and was an old farm that had been converted into multi-family apartments. We lived in the upstairs of the old farmhouse. There were about 4-5 apartments there and a big old barn and the land of course. We decided that was where we would start homesteading. My husband had grown up on this road where we lived, but it was not as congested back then. Now it had lots of houses built where all the old farms were. Lots of traffic so to cross the road we had to wait awhile to get to the other side. 

Learned to grow vegetables!

We tried to put in a garden down near the creek on the land across the road. The soil was not real good, but we figured we could use the water to keep it watered and not have to carry it very far. We camped out down there in our tent and it was pretty neat as it was away from all the houses and almost like being in the real country. Nothing like where we live now though! We had the police come to visit us to investigate our garden because a neighbor could see us working on it and thought it was down there away from everything because it had to something illegal we were planting! Well, we told the cop to go check it out. It was like a garden and an Indian camp too, with a tee pee and a tanning pole. Our neighbors below us, were drug dealers and they had a hoot after they found out the cops were there for us, of all people. First they were panicking, then they were surprised as they thought we were boring. The cop came back and said yes, all she found was corn and tomatoes and some green bean plants. Loved that!

My husband  was driving an over-the-road truck off and on during this time. First for one company then switched. I was working as a home health aide for an agency and worked in a health related complex for the  elderly. So while I was at work he would make the bread, wash our laundry, work in the garden, etc. Then when he went back out on the road, I started learning how to can. I picked crab apples and made crabapple jelly. None of the people who lived around us did anything like that. I had all the crab apples and wild pears I could use. 

I kept reading my homesteading magazines, such as Mother Earth News, Countryside and Backwoods Home magazines. They helped us stay focused. On week-ends we would drive all over the country looking for our property. It was a fun time and now I look back on it and see how far we have come since that time. If you just start learning how to do some things, then start doing them.........it doesn't matter if you are in the middle of a city, in the suburbs or out in the wilderness. Most of these things revolve around the kitchen and the garden anyway.

So if you are interested in becoming more self-sufficient, keep reading my blog as I will be touching on homesteading skills every week. There are so many things you can do right now, wherever you live. I have a friend who was going to seminary school and he was able to grow a little garden right on the school property. You can do a lot more than you think. 



Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole


All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole




12 comments:

wenstumped said...

That is really impressive. I'd love to do something like this someday but can't really go for it right now. Maybe in another decade or so, in the mean time I can learn stuff from your blog to get ready.

Unknown said...

I just started making my own artisanal bread. It's so easy, and I love it. I've only made wheat bread, but plan to make all kinds of different recipes. I also plan to get dried beans and "can" them (put them in mason jars with water) so they can be readily available for crock pot meals. I would like to eventually have a small garden, but I have never done well with houseplants so the idea of planting a garden still scares me a little. lol. But you are right; I am doing (and planning) on doing way more than I ever thought before.

katlupe said...

Bread is a good place to start! Everyone seems to love homemade bread so that gets your family into it too.

Learning is good, but doing something, even small steps is better than doing nothing. What happens if you have power outage and have no way to cook food? No water? Have to leave your home? Best to prepare wherever you are.......Now!

The Zany Housewife said...

Great post Katlupe! I've been researching like crazy these past few days and learning about what may grow on our patio and when to start planting. I also like to make bread and have decided to challenge myself to making a new kind each and every week. I'm excited to read more tips from you and learn from your experiences.

Lori said...

Does this mean you will be sharing a home-made bread recipe? That picture of the home-meade bread looks so good I can just smell it!

katlupe said...

Maybe it is time for some homemade bread recipes and photos.

Sunny said...

I like to make my own bread, but after making sourdough bread, leaving the house while it was rising, and coming home to dough overflowing the bowl I invested in a bread machine. I do know that if I needed to, I could make my bread without the machine.

Frugal Down Under said...

Very interesting post.

My Dolly will be going to preschool next year and they do lots of gardening there. I think the teachers teach simple living as the classroom is not full of new glossy plastic toys.

I hope to volunteer once in a while with their gardening projects. I find it hard to juggle full time work, a part time job, quality time with my daughter and home-keeping. I hope to cut back work by 2 hours a day in 1 year time so that I can squeeze in more cooking, gardening and crafting.

Bookncoffee said...

It is all very interesting! I wish I could be home more to do things like bake bread. I enjoy reading blogs like yours and getting ideas though.

Sonya
http://mymellowpages.blogspot.com/

Dawn Lopez said...

What a great post! I love baking bread, but I don't take the time to do it as much as I would like to! Glad I stumbled on your blog! I stopped over from the no rules blog hop! Come visit us any time =]

-Dawn

Unknown said...

awwwww the bread looks yummy ^_^ I'm sure you enjoy it

The Redhead Riter said...

You truly are an inspiration. When I was a SAHM, I made our bread all the time and there is NOTHING that compares to the lovely smell of freshly baked bread.