homesteading problems Archives

I’ve lived a simple, what most people call a simple, life for close to fifty years now. I have become an anachronism. Separating wants from needs has become so ingrained, I cringe looking at shopping carts in the stores.

This is the second post on this topic. The first is on Telling Wants From Needs from last week.

Food

I am addicted to eating as are all the people I know. The smart homesteader will plan a garden to supply food all year. This isn’t as simple as it sounds for lots of reasons.

There are some foods easy to grow that I just don’t like. Green beans come to mind. The only reason for me to grow green beans is to sell them. What do I do with the ones that don’t sell?

I grow crops we will and do eat. Yard long beans can be used like green beans and I like the flavor. And I put up the extra peppers, squash (Frozen summer squash is a great soup base.) and tomatoes to use next winter.

These Zephyr summer squash are useful to the homesteader several ways. One is food. Second is a product to sell. Third is soup or stew stock for next winter. Successful squash plants need frequent squash bug checks and a shovelful of compost under the hill.

One of the things not done here is eating out. I cook. That doesn’t mean I never use frozen meals, but they are rare. Take out buffet can have vegetables added and make meals for more than one day.

Skipping most snack foods and sodas has side benefits. One is saving money. The other is better health.

For me caffeine, most white flour and sugar are not options. Weaning away from these food drugs, and they are drugs, does have withdrawal challenges. For around two weeks not even you will want to know you. You will feel terrible and grouch at everything. If you stick it out, things do get better.

I used to read book about pioneers and wonder how they could get by on five pounds of sugar for a year. I opened a bag last November. Half of it is still in the canister. Cakes, cookies and other desserts are not on the menu except for special occasions.

Side benefits of this are having less tarter on the teeth, fewer calories to burn off and finding food actually tastes good. Mentioning those fewer calories matters as a person gets older. Your metabolism slows down meaning you need less food. And those extra pounds get a lot harder to shed.

I grow three varieties of okra, Burgundy, Jing and a green variety (Burmese is preferred). Each one has a different flavor and degree of slime. Many people don’t like okra as it tends to be slimy. That slime thickens soups. It can sell well as it is an unusual crop at Farmers Market.

Clothes

When I was teaching, students were so concerned with their clothes. Sometimes they seemed more concerned with their clothes than with their education. They were more focused on rating what other people were wearing than on what they were putting into their minds.

And ten years down the road, those clothes mean nothing. The education is what opens doors to your life.

My goats are not worried about my clothes. They don’t care if I show up in jeans or shorts or fancy slacks as long as they get to eat. My chickens are the same.

Jeans last me about three months before I’ve worn holes in the knees. Those holes may be the fashion in some places, not here. Thrift store, here I come. Out come the scissors and cut the legs to length.

These won’t do for town, so I do have a town wardrobe. But this is simple. Most of the clothes have lasted for years. Forget the latest fashions. They are only a way to get you to spend more money.

I guess it’s time to close for this week. Separating wants from needs seems to cover more territory than I anticipated. Which is strange as it is so normal for me. Continued next week.

In these times of high inflation (I remember the 1970s and 17% interest.), homestead financial battles start taking shape. Money and time are the two sides.

Everything about homesteading takes time. When I stopped teaching, I put my wristwatch aside and thought I was free of its tyranny. Naivety.

My goats are milked twice a day. Ideally this is at the same times twelve hours apart.

Plants take a certain amount of time to grow to become productive. They must be planted at the right times or your work has no results. The same is true for mulching and watering.

These may not require a wristwatch, but they do lock you into time budgeting.

Goats like to eat. Dairy goats need good feed and hay to give lots of milk. Both are expensive. Obviously my High Reaches Nubian herd is well fed and spoiled.

On the other side is money. Money for taxes, feed, vet bills, supplies, groceries and personal items.

The homestead financial battles pit the need for time against the need for money. If you get a job, you lose the time. If you stay home to work, you need an income from something.

A budget has two sides to it as well. One is income. One is expenses. To stay solvent, the two sides must balance.

Stop and take a look at expenses. Which ones are for needs? Which are for wants? In homesteading, knowing the difference is vital.

On my homestead the needs are gardening supplies, chickens and goat feed. Some groceries such as flour are needs as well.

There are wants such as internet, haircuts, clothes (These straddle the two. Used clothing and repairing lost buttons, torn seams reduce clothing costs.), the latest book or movie. Many of these have alternate, much more inexpensive alternatives like the library for books, magazines and movies. (I except haircuts as I am a lousy barber.)

A homestead can bring in money. Selling eggs is one way. Milk and cheese are iffy as health regulations can get you into trouble. Produce requires a bigger harvest with more time and expense and a desire to eat or preserve the extra. Selling livestock.

The one sure thing is that the homestead financial battles must be considered and won by anyone wanting to homestead.

Why am I thinking about these now? One is inflation and the increase in expenses it has brought. The other is my novel still untitled and unfinished.