homesteading

I would like to be a homesteader. Is that possible? I have no idea. I guess I just keep telling myself that I need to take baby steps. The husband and I have taken some gigantic leaps in the last year. We bought a nice 2 acre plot of land...then we bought a cute new car - a Toyota Yaris which gets 42 miles to the gallon, not quite a Prius, but also half as expensive. Then when my father in law broke his back, the husband and I decided to back off on our plans for taking out a ridiculous mortgage to build a home that wasn't even going to be our dream home. Then a house on the same street I grew up on went on the market...and here we are...in that home...in town...and on .22 acres of land. We still own the land, but now are getting a little nervous about how we can continue paying for all of this stuff when I would like to be at home after we have kids.

So this summer I started my own little "urban homestead" project. I decided to do some container gardening. Well container gardening took on a life of it's own. I have 12 tomato plants, a jalapeno plant, a red pepper plant, green pepper plant, 3 cuke plants, basil, cilantro, and parsley. It is kind of crazy to look at the steps going to the upstairs, and then the little deck up there, completely covered with pots of plants. I am hoping that I can get something from the tomato plants, and figured the more I plant, the better chance I have :-)

Now, I would really love to have goats. I used to be in 4-H when I was little and had goats at that time. They never lived at my house, but I went and took care of them everyday. I milked them and showed them at the Windsor Fair. It was a lot of fun. However, I don't think they will let you have goats in town anymore. So, I thought, well maybe we can get some chickens. I can get a few, enough for keeping us supplied with eggs. Nope, the town won't let you keep chickens either. I haven't figured out why yet, but I am sure they have some "good" reason.

That leaves me with just the gardening, which maybe a good thing at this point. I tend to jump in full throttle without really knowing what I am doing. I think my little container garden is a good start. And to satisfy my need for animals, I think that we will get a dog in the fall :-) My hope is that I can take a lot of the produce that I *hopefully* get from my plants, and learn how to can.

I love tomatoes. They are in just about every recipe that I make. I can't get enough of them. I always make huge pots of chili, or meat sauce, or veg sauce. I love to have it in my house. I love to make pico de gallo. I love salsa, and will put it on most everything. I like them in sandwiches and raw and in soup. So because of all this, and because of the ridiculous amount of money I spend on tomato products each week, I am hoping that I can can a lot of tomatoes. And I guess that if my plants don't produce enough fruit, I will hit up the farmer's markets and just buy as many as I can :-)

I am sure this post was all over the place, but that's where I am at right now with my little projects. I am hoping for big outcomes, but preparing for big losses :-) Now I just feel like I need to make a list of things that I am currently doing to cut my energy consumption, and what I would like to do down the road. Maybe that is later though, since I really can't think this early in the morning!