Uncle Bernard Lupole 1917 - 2009

Uncle Bernard died yesterday. Our telephone message system didn't work yesterday so we didn't know till today. We went to spend today with Larry's Dad for his 89th birthday and found out. Uncle Bernard would have been 92 tomorrow. He lived for over 19 years with cancer. Changed his diet and that is what made the difference. When his doctor told him that he had cancer, he smiled and said, "Oh boy! I'm going to heaven!" The doctor looked at him as if he had lost it. So now he shall.........

Uncle Bernard's first wife died long before I met him. He remarried and found himself a wonderful wife, Aunt Lois. She said when he asked her to marry him, her father warned her that she would be a young widow one day as he was so much older than her. Well I am happy to report that they were married for more than thirty years! Very happy years too.

Everybody thought he should have been a pastor. He was a strong spokesman for the Lord. When he visited people in the hospital or nursing homes before he left he would always offer up some prayers...........other people would always ask if he was a pastor. No, but he should have been. Yes, heaven is rejoicing today as Uncle Bernard Lupole has come home!

Who Says Solar Does Not Work????

Today is our little girl, Nikita's 11th birthday! I never thought I'd haver her this long. One thing is that my animals do live long lives and they are basically very healthy. She is very overweight and I wish I could put her on my low carb eating plan. But she wants NO carbs at all. Her being a big dog, she loves her raw meat. But I can' afford to feed her that all the time and she does not understand.

People do not understand how we live if we are not using grid power. They think we are out of power if they do not hear from us for a certain amount of time. I cannot stress enough to others, "We are NEVER without power." You are. Our system just keeps working regardless. Maybe we have to run our generator to charge our batteries in the sunless state of New York, but we still have power.

When there is a storm here we do not have to worry about our power going out. It is on. Only if we unhook it for some reason would we be off our system. Our power is in fact, more reliable than the grid power. I know someone who had a solar fence charger that was defective or the battery would not work, so she would say all the time (in front of me knowing very well that is how I live), "solar does not work." Who is she kidding? I know it works! Plus, if my batteries were defective and would not hold a charge they wouldn't work either!

I think people are scared of using it. Scared of not having the power. To tell you the truth, if it wasn't for me liking my computer so much, I wouldn't even care if I had power or not. I could live without it and keep doing like we are doing right now. Washing laundry by hand, using kerosene lights, carrying our water in from our hand dug well, etc. We have done all that most of the going on ten years that we have lived here anyway. I used to write by hand and I'd really hate going back to that as my hands hurt sometimes.

I am really looking forward to getting our conveniences put in. Using my new washing machine will really improve my laundry day! Having running water in the house is going to be fantastic! I do hate the carrying of the water buckets though my poor husband ends up taking the chore from me most of the time. It used to be my job, but when my knees got so bad he started doing it.

I knew when we moved here that I'd be sacrificing many things that I was used to using. But what were we really giving up? Really? Neighbors? I was never the kind to visit next door or hang out with my neighbors......even when I lived in a fancy neighborhood in Vestal, NY. I have always kept to myself and did things alone.......until I met my husband. Him and I seemed to be perfectly matched. We like that alone time. We can sit next to each other all day and not say a word. Later we talk for hours until late into the night. I never knew anyone who I could tell my every single thought or idea to and not have them laugh at me.

When we first moved here our only visitors were our grown children, my Jeff and his daughter Hollie Sunshine. Both of them loved being here with us out in the forest. It is like being the only people in the world.....until a vehicle drives by to remind you that we are not. We never used to visit anyone except for our parents and my brother, Mickey. Then my best friend moved close by and we used to go to her house all the time. She got mad at me because she thought my blog on myspace was about her and it was not. But she convicted herself by thinking and believing it was.......it was a Christian based blog and she is not one. Anyway, after that friendship ended we had discovered we had neglected many things on our homestead by visiting and socializing. So we have done alot of things this past year on our place and it is improving.

Homesteading Couples

Living the simple life isn't always simple. And sometimes it can be downright discouraging. But it helps if you have someone to share it with - and especially if they want it as badly as you do. In my own life, my husband, Larry, and I evolved to this lifestyle together. If one of you does not really like this lifestyle or was forced into it then that person will never really get into it. I doubt they will ever really like it as it is a hard life compared to what is considered "normal life."

There are many jobs on our small homestead to be done. No squabbling about my job or his job. If it has to be done and he's not here to do his usual job, I'll do it without a second thought or complaining to him about it later. Many times I do it as surprise for him. It works the other way too as he does my regular jobs often. We work together as a team and like it this way.

Of course it helps to have a strong relationship. And during the tough times, this is especially important. This is a way of life. It's probably not going to get any easier as the work will always be there. For the most part I really enjoy the work I do on our homestead.

I like the way he brags to people about how well I can start fire in a woodstove or how I can go out into the woods and bring in enough dead wood to keep a fire going until he gets home. The first winter we moved here we did not have any wood ahead and had to go out in the forest to gather wood just to get through. I went out there almost daily to drag in whatever I could find. I do my share of bragging about all the many things he has built or how he can charm a couple of runaway Thoroughbreds into following him home!

Nothing says "I love you" more than coming home after a day of the much dreaded errands in the closest city to find that he's got my bath water hot and ready for me to unwind in! Often, I have done the same for him. It's those little things that really count.

I have found that one of the things that I do when he gets angry for some reason, whether I agree or not, I don't say a word. Just let him rant and rave and go about my business until he is over it (a little tip I learned from my mother who was married to my father for 60 years.). Then we might laugh about it later. Many times if you say something at that moment it could lead to an arguement and hurt feelings.

So many couples I know, say they can't be together every day like we are or they wouldn't have anything to say to each other. Not us! We talk to each other constantly. Since we don't have a television or go away from our homestead very often we are together alot. We both have plenty of other activities that keeps us learning and our minds sharp. Plus we both are complete computer nuts!

Just because you spend the day getting firewood, fixing fences, digging in the dirt, cleaning the barn, baking bread and canning, etc, doesn't mean there's no time left for romance on the homestead. After a luxurious soak in the tub.......some scented body lotion........maybe something feminine to wear (you must still have something!) might let him know you're in the mood for romance. When you're setting the table for dinner with your good dishes........a nice tablecloth...... a couple of candlesticks.......add a bottle of that homemade wine you saving for for a special occasion (this is that special occasion!). Don't forget some romantic music! Now enjoy.....you deserve it!

Solar Baby - My New Site!

I have been very busy here. One of the things taking up much of my time has been designing my new website. It is http://solarbaby.org and my goal with it is to bring all the informtion to you and my other readers who may be interested in setting up their own systems. You can always start small like we did. Or you can even still be on the grid and just supplement your power with a small system. Cuts your electric bill. Plus it teaches you and your family how to live with a system and conserve your power. You will also love the fact that when your power company has an outage you will not. All the neighbors will see your house all lit up and your tv on........you might end up with company!

Another thing that has happened to me last week is that I have been looking for more than a few years now for a very close friend of mine. We lost touch with each back in the 1980s. Maybe 1985 or so. Anyway, she was living on Long Island and my then husband and I split up and I moved. So even if she came looking for me, I wasn't there. I signed up with a few of those search for people places, and nothing ever showed up. I put an ad in the pennysavers and newspapers and never heard a thing. I did find someone with the same exact name who lived out on Long Island and sent her a letter and waited........and waited. Never heard back. I was bummed out on that.

Then back in July I posted on craigslist under the lost ads. Nothing. A few days before Thanksgiving I posted some items for sale on craigslist again.......and something told me to post another lost ad for her. Well I did. Then forgot about it. Thanksgiving Day I went to shut my computer down to finish up the Thanksgiving Dinner I was cooking and there was an email from craigslist! It said, "She is my sister. What is your name?" I sent back and next thing I know she sent me her telephone number! Needless to say, we FINALLY talked to each other. And she came over on Sunday after church and spent the day here. We were looking at photos and laughing and crying all day.

You know the funniest thing about this whole story........she lives 14 miles from my home and has lived there almost as long as I have lived here. Plus everytime I drive to the nearest city of Binghamton, NY, I drive right past her house! So strange. We even go to some of the same stores. She said she didn't look for me as she was afraid I was living that life on "snob hill" and she would not fit in to my life. That tells you how much my life has changed. I told her "wait till you come to my house." You never would believe that I lived that lifestyle unless you knew me back then. So she saw a huge difference in my life now. But she also said, even though she is not into homesteading herself, she said we are headed in the right direction. And I say, "Yes, we are!"

Please be sure to check out my site. And if you need to buy books at Amazon, please click my book store link and buy them from my store. I would really appreciate it.

Have a nice day!

katlupe

Hunting Season Again In New York

It's hunting season here in New York. I do not mind hunters usually, as I did grow up in a family of hunters. But these hunters drive round and round with their loud diesel trucks making so much noise they announce their presence way in advance. My three horses know they are coming at least five minutes before they appear. So I imagine the deer do too.

Animals have awesome hearing and smelling abilities! And speaking of smelling abilities, that is another thing they do, smoke cigars and what have you, plus their own human smells announcing to the wild life "here I am! I have come to kill you!" The thing to do is to not take a shower just before heading out in the woods. You should also wash your hunting clothes with lye unscented soap only and then let it hang out in your barn or outside for the week till you have to wear it. Don't use shampoos or deodorant or anything that will tip the animals off to you being out in the woods.

My brother hunts with blackpowder guns only and he will sit for hours in one spot and not talk or move around. He usually always gets his buck. It takes patience. He is a very experienced hunter though having hunted from the time he was very young with our father. He now has his own Wild West Show and puts on western re-enactments in Cooperstown among other places. He also sews leather garments, holsters, etc. all sorts of things working right from the hide. I guess it sounds like I'm kinda proud of my brother and maybe I am. But he does so many things that are not done that much these days. Like he build beautiful blackpowder muskets and rifles. That though is not what I planned to write about exactly. I don't mean to tell you how to hunt if you've been doing it for years. Everybody has their own methods.

I wanted to say that I think that more hunters are out this year due to the high cost of food this year. The grocery stores are charging us some hefty prices for a little package of meat. And then there's the question of it's safety. I have cut down on it and have stocked up lentils, beans, dried peas, etc. Found other sources of protein and have to say they make me feel better health wise. So maybe meat isn't that big of deal after all. Given my choice I'd much rather have fruits and vegetables than meat anyhow. It's just that my husband likes his meat in his meals.

Well if you are a hunter, stay safe and remember those deer have awesome noses!

Food Planning For Winter On A Budget

The Grocery Game and Coupon Mom are web sites you join to save money on your groceries using sales and coupons that are posted on their sites. Anybody could do the leg work themselves to find this information out, but for the measley five bucks a month the Grocery Game charges it's easier for most folks to pay for the service. Lots of people love it and save tons of money on their grocery bills. Which is very good. It made me think maybe I could subscribe and save some on ours..........

Well, what was I thinking? I found out from the Get Rich Slowly blog that it only pays if you eat store bought processed foods. If you are eating organic, natural, fresh or bulk foods there are no coupons or deals for those. Mostly boxed foods, frozen foods, new products that they want you to try, etc. So basically, the bottom line is if you are a homesteader or self-sufficient type of person, you will not want to subscribe to to a site like that-unless you join to save on pet food, paper products, personal products like shampoo and toothpaste, household cleaning products. Which is why I might still join. But not for the food products unless it is a condiment or something I do buy at a store.

I like to grow as much as our food as we can. What we can't grow or what crop fails that year I try to buy locally so I can still put it up for the winter. Yes, I do try to put up enough food to get us through from one harvest season to the next. We keep increasing our raised beds and hopefully will be adding fruit trees and berry bushes this coming year. We had to get our land cleared first, which my husband did himself with no equipment except a chainsaw and manual tools.

This harvest season I was able to can wild elderberry juice, wild blackberry jam, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, beets and applesauce. Now that the gardening part is over, I will try to acquire meats to can. I have been buying store bought meats, as I am able to get them at low prices. Low prices being the bottom line for me at this time. Now if I was wealthier.......I'd be buying only organic, pasture raised meats.

Canning isn't the only way I store foods. I have a root cellar that I wrote about on here a few days ago. So I store foods also. This year I have stored potatoes (had an awesome potato crop!), acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkins, onions and herbs and hot peppers that I dried.
All summer we lived on the vegetables that we can't store, the zucchini, yellow squash, dandelions, plaintain, lambs quarters, lettuce, mesculin, cucumbers, peppers, salad tomatoes, new potatoes, swiss chard and fresh wild berries.

Living in the middle of the forest adds to our food plan immensely, as there is so much available out there. I use pine needles for tea and that is also a good way to get a high dose of vitamin C. I haven't even begun to make a dent in how much is really out there. I am learning more though every season and it is something I really enjoy. After all ,God put it there for us to use for our health and our food.

One thing that really got me thinking about this is that yesterday my husband cut down a tree that the top of it had fallen in the wind last week on our horses' fence line. Inside the tree was bird's nest packed full of bedding and elderberries. He felt so bad! Hopefully, that bird had made other nests in case of something like this happening. I know chickadees do make many, so I hope he planned for that type of emergency. Which is why people too, should not depend on grocery stores or freezers......both can go down.

katlupe

"He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."Romans 8:11