Homesteading As You Age

 Around The Homestead, Homesteading  No Responses »
May 012013
 
I was reading on Countryside Magazines website this morning and I loved the article “Growing Old in the New Normal Will Present Some Special Problems”.
There is so much truth in this and many of these things I’ve started to notice myself.  My health isn’t the best, and I have trouble keeping up with things like I did a few years ago and I’m just in my 30′s!
In generations past families lived together and tasks were shared.  As mom and dad aged, they could take on easier rolls on the homestead.  Shelling peas, watching the little grandchildren etc.  Now most families don’t live together when the children have grown and married.Personally I think that this is something that will change as time goes on.  With the economy not being good, so many people are having a hard time keeping up.  Huge numbers of the younger generations are still living at home because they can’t find work, and are hugely burdened with education debt.
Their parents or grandparents are having a hard time keeping up with the heating bills in the winter.  Not to mention the ever rising gas and grocery prices.  This is on top of the normal physical work it takes to care for a home or homestead.
I think that as time goes on we will see more families going back to the way things used to be and sharing their homes more often.  As long as families get along well, there are huge benefits to this.  Not only are living expenses shared, but the grandparents can spend more time with their grandchildren.  Likewise it helps to give mom and dad a break!  Chores can be better shared based on each persons abilities.

I’m seeing more of this happening in our area, and if the economy keeps heading the way it has I expect more families will find this is a good solution for them.

countryside – homesteading – self-reliance – simple life
Truly original country magazine for readers seeking voluntary simplicity and greater self-reliance, with emphasis on homesteading, home food production, gardening, cooking, food preservation, etc.


This post has been reshared 1 times on Google+
 View this post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog for WordPress.

Kim Mills on Google+

Around The Homestead ~ Tree Pruning, Seed Starting and Ice Storms

 Around The Homestead  No Responses »
Apr 132013
 

This past week has been up and down here on the little homestead.  We are still fighting the tummy flu, but not as bad as last week.  Some of the little ones are over it all together, and others have had a few relapses.  Hubby is ok thankfully, but I’m still fighting it.  I think I really just need some extra sleep and that would help so much.

Earlier in the week most of the snow had melted here and we wanted to start pruning the apple trees before the buds started.  They badly needed work!  The trees were at least 12 years old, and planted by the last owners.  We had never pruned them, but they did produce a lot of apples most years.  Still they were suppose to be semi dwarfs and were starting to get much bigger then they should be!  We found a great YouTube channel with demonstrations on how to prune apple trees.  I highly recommend Stephen Hayes UK videos!

We still have more pruning we want to do on the trees, as I think the tall leaders need to be cut back.  But now that the trees are budding we’ll wait until next winter to do that.  Hubby was also worried about possibly hurting the tree by taking off to much to soon.

The first two photos below are before shots, the third is an after.  It looks so much better!  For some reason I’m missing an after photo of the first tree.

IMG_1076

IMG_1077

IMG_1079

A video tour of our homestead on April 8th.

A few photos of puppy, just because he’s cute. :)

IMG_1083

IMG_1084

In the middle of the week I was feeling a little better and started getting my seeds started.  Tuesday I started:

  • 37 Heinz Tomatoes
  • 11 Jersey Giant Tomatoes
  • 5 Golden King of Siberia Tomatoes
  • 12 Sub Arctic Plenty Tomatoes
  • 10 Mini Red Bell Peppers
  • 8 Paradicsom Peppers
  • 18 Basil plants
  • 18 Sage plants
  • 18 Thyme plants
  • 18 Giant Cape Gooseberry’s
  • 18 Yellow Ground Cherries
  • 36 Huckleberries

That’s not a bad start to the season.  They are all tucked safely into the greenhouse and I hope to see they start sprouting in a few more days.

We had a LOT of rain this week and the news had been buzzing about a big winter storm coming.  I’m not to worried about a big snow storm, but I don’t like it when they start talking heavy freezing rain.  It does so much more damage.  We were suppose to get hit with the storm on Thursday.  When we woke up it wasn’t doing anything outside yet, but by about 8:30 you could hardly see out the window.  This only lasted a few hours, then it stopped.  All afternoon the weather was fairly clear and I started to think we missed the storm.  Nope, it had not arrived yet.  The freezing rain started late in the evening and the winds kept picking up all night.

When we woke up this morning, our alarm clocks were flashing.  So at some point during the night the power had been off.  For how long I don’t know.  We all over slept because it was so dark out and not having an alarm didn’t help. lol  The windows were coated in ice and it was still raining out.  We had a good half inch of ice on everything.  All the schools and buses in the area were shut down.  Also many roads because so many telephone poles and hydro lines were down.  Our area had about 30 000 people out of power and last I had heard Ontario was 115,000 with out.  Our power flicked and serged a few times during the day but staid on for the most part.

IMG_1090

IMG_1091

IMG_1092

IMG_1093

IMG_1094

IMG_1095

IMG_1096

IMG_1097

IMG_1098

IMG_1099

IMG_1100

IMG_1101

IMG_1102

IMG_1103

IMG_1104

IMG_1105

Kim Mills on Google+

Not So Wordless Wednesday

 Around The Homestead  5 Responses »
Mar 272013
 

It’s been a busy few weeks around out little homestead.  Last week was a good blast of winter again, it really felt more like January!  But yesterday the weather started to warm up again and the maple sap is flowing again!  The weather looks great for sap all week. :)

We’ve had a birthday, with our oldest daughter turning 11.  Oh my where has the time gone?  She was our tiniest baby born and now she is almost as tall as me!  What a wonderful young lady she is growing into.  We surprised her with a digital camera for her birthday, and as you can see below boy was she surprised!  I think she’s taken about 500 photos already.  She can’t wait for us to go on a nature hike and photo all her discoveries.

IMG_1052

IMG_1053

She was just as thrilled with the new kitchen knife and Micky Mouse stickers from her sisters.

IMG_1045

Of course puppy was very excited with all the noise and partying going on.  He grabbed one of the party blowers and ran off with it. The little monkey thought if he took it into his crate I wouldn’t notice.  Hmm nope sorry pup!  I snapped a quick photo before taking it away.

IMG_1042

As I mentioned we had quite a few good snow days last week.  These photos were taken after the first storm.  Please excuse the finger prints on the door. lol

IMG_1038

IMG_1039

IMG_1040

IMG_1041

The last snowfall was great packing snow!  The kids took advantage of that to start building a snow fort.  Actually they told me it’s an igloo.  We’ve been studying the Inuit!

IMG_1071

I also found a tray of snowballs by our back door.  When I asked the kids what these were for they shared that they were recreating the underwater mussel hunt from the FIAR book For the Very Last First Time.  Awesome!!  I love it when kids reenact what they have been learning.  You know things are really sticking when they do.

IMG_1043

And lastly a photo from a few weeks ago when we tapped our maple tree.

IMG_1029

IMG_1030

Kim Mills on Google+

Snow Storm & Maple Syrup

 Around The Homestead  9 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

There have been many huge bangs the past few days as ice and snow are melting and falling off the roof.  Maybe spring is coming? lol  We had a really good snowstorm recently that left us with a few feet of new snow.  But not nearly as bad as a nearby town, who’s snowbanks hubby says is almost as big as the houses!  I hear we might be in for another storm tomorrow night and Wednesday.  How bad it will be depends on the temperatures, at least according to the weatherman.  We will either be bombed with rain or snow!  Either is ok with me, I just hope it’s not more freezing rain.  Our last thaw we had a few inches of ice and slush everywhere.  When that froze and was covered in snow it was nasty moving around.  No surprise that last week we had 2 or 3 snow days for the local schools and closed roads again.

We had a small order of firewood delivered last week to, or I think it was last week. lol  Hmm I seem to not be keeping track of my days very well.  That happens when every day is gray and stormy and looks the same!   We had a cord of hardwood delivered, we use this mostly overnight.  That monster pile of slab wood we had delivered back in the summer was getting low.  I think this past year was the first time we started burning the woodstoves full time in September.  Otherwise we wouldn’t have been getting low this time of year.

But some good news with the warmer temperatures starting, we’ll be tapping our maple tree soon. :)   I can’t wait for fresh maple syrup!  I’m hopping to make snow taffy with the kids this year.

 

Kim Mills on Google+

What Are Your All Fime Favourite Garden Varieties?

 Gardening  3 Responses »
Jan 212013
 

It’s been a crazy year and while I don’t really do New Year Resolutions, I do like to take time through out the year to look at what has been working well and what could use some tweaking.

We have had 4 garden seasons in a row that were extremes in temperature, rainfall or drought.  I would really like to find ways to help our gardens to do better in extreme conditions.  Last year I posted about the film Back to Eden, we really wanted to try that method last year and with our drought it might have made a big difference.  However we found wood chips were very hard to find last year, and straw was very expensive.  So we decided to go with a living mulch system instead.  Over all I really did like using the living mulch!  What set us back was the extreme drought that set in so early, this caused the clovers to not germinate until late in the season.  Instead of tilling it under this fall, we have left it to grow and will plant in the old rows this spring.  I’m hoping that the clovers having a head start this year will make a big difference.  While they did compete with the plants for moisture they also offered much needed shade, and made a home for a huge number of predator insects!  I’m hoping to be able to find enough mulch to cover the garden on the hill, and if possible the raised beds and shady area garden to.

Another area I’m hoping to improve on is increasing the varieties of plants I grow.  I would like to have a few varieties that do well in cool short seasons, and hot dry conditions.  What are your all time favourite garden varieties?

 

 

Kim Mills on Google+

Around the Homestead ~ Cold Weather, Wood Stoves, and Christmas!

 Around The Homestead  6 Responses »
Oct 202012
 

It’s amazing how fast time goes by isn’t it?  I’ve been so busy AND sick that I just haven’t had much time to sit down here as often as I would like.

The past few months I’ve been fighting some crazy virus, when I think I’m over it I get hit again.  Poor hubby has been fighting it as well.  Thankfully the kids are over most of it now!

We have our new wood stove all hooked up and I love it!  We had an old cook stove in the summer kitchen, but it took up so much of that little room you could hardly move around.  Our new one also has a flat top so I can easily cook on it if need be.  It’s an older wood stove, Canadian made to!  The brand is Lakewood and I’m amazed at how well this stove works.  I would have to say it’s the best wood stove I’ve ever owned.  We stumbled on to it about a month ago on the way to town.  Someone had it at the end of their driveway for sale.  I can’t believe how heavy it is to.  I could NOT lift it no matter how hard I tried. lol  Poor hubby had to get that monster into the house all by himself.  It is very solid compared to the NEW stove we bought about 5 years ago.

Our weather has been pretty cold since early September, and we have been burning one or both stoves every day.  We have had a few nice days recently and need to finish getting the yard work done.  It has been raining so much that we haven’t been able to finish cleaning up the gardens yet.

We are getting close to finishing off that huge pile of fire wood.  It seemed like it was the never ending pile. lol  I think we will have it finished by the end of the weekend.  This is the huge pile we had delivered this year.  It’s now down to a small pile at the far back.

Since our weather has been so cold, much more like November then October, I’m more in a Christmas mood then a fall one.  I’m eager to start decorating, but making myself wait until at least the start of November.   Hubby jokes that I’m pushing his Grinch button. lol  Silly goof.

So while I’m waiting a bit to start decking the halls, I’m working on ideas for gifts and craft projects.  I’m planning to crochet some snowman this year and maybe a gingerbread house.  I’m not sure what else yet.

Has anyone else started their Christmas crafts?  What are you working on?

Kim Mills on Google+

Fall Is In The Air

 Around The Homestead, Gardening  7 Responses »
Sep 212012
 

The weather has been quite cool lately.  In fact we have had to use the wood stove on and off for a few weeks now!  We’ve had the odd nice day, but over all it’s been rainy, windy and cool.  One night recently it went down to 5C.  I don’t think we had a frost, but I wouldn’t be surprised to get one soon.

We have dug up some of our potatoes to see how they did.  We didn’t have high hopes for them after the terrible drought this year.  Sadly, they have not produced well at all.  After digging some from different areas of the gardens, we found that some didn’t have anything under them.  Others had one or two tiny, tiny potatoes.  The plants close to the compost pile had larger ones, naturally. lol  But we noticed something very odd.  The potatoes are light as a feather.  As we picked them up, we were wondering if they might be hollow inside!  No they are not hollow, but they are spongy and pithy.   They will not be good to eat, so we are going to just till the gardens and try to pick up what we can for seed.  Hopefully they will store ok, and not rot.

Like everything else this year, we’ll have to buy this years potatoes.  Frustrating, but it could be worse.

 

Kim Mills on Google+

Schoolhouse Review ~ Zane Education

 Homeschooling, Reviews  No Responses »
Jul 312012
 

Photobucket
My children are visual learners and love to watch videos.  So I was excited to have the opportunity to review Zane Education.

Zane Education is a subscription based site that has educational videos  covering 260 topics, each with subtitled videos, lesson guides and quizzes.  The exception is the math videos that are actually from Khan Academy, they are not subtitled as they were not created by Zane.  Zane Education states that they belive they have found “The Missing Piece©” in education, videos with subtitles.  You can read more about that here.

 Photobucket

Zane has a study center that is very helpful for family’s.  Inside this area there are Zane’s thesaurus and encyclopedia as well as a link to their downloadable catalogue and video guides.  One that is of special use to our family is the Christian Learning Guide.   A number of the Zane videos contain evolutionary teachings and this guide goes over the videos to point out things you may want to discuss with your children before hand.  They say that all videos listed in the Christian Learning Guide match up with Christian beliefs, however I would still recommend preview all videos before showing them to your children.  This is something I would do with any program as every family is unique in what they want to be viewed at differing ages.

My thoughts on Zane are mixed.  I do appreciate the huge volume of educational material they have put together.  For our family, I think it would work better as a supplement rather than our core.  The videos are informative but are more like a slide show with audio and subtitles then a true video.  My children liked them but not as much as a “normal” documentary we would watch.  The videos could also not be made full screen so it was difficult for all of us to watch them at the same time.  Each video did have a learning guide, but it was not the style that our family uses.  We are more of a Charlotte Mason and living books approach and use more narration than quizzes to assess our learning.  What worked for use was to use the videos as a resource to introduce a topic, then have the children narrate orally or written what they had learned.

PhotobucketZane offers a free account with access to the math videos and some demo videos for other subjects.  There are a number of pricing plans that can be viewed on their website, including by subject plans or grade level.  Their Gold membership includes access to all content.  It is $17.99 a month or $197.89 a year.

From now until the end of August Zane is running a special for 35% off any 12 month Bronze, Silver or Gold membership.  Your promo code is: ZE645HSM

 

To read other reviews of Zane Education please click the banner below.

 

Photobucket

Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a complementary subscription to Zane Education to review. However all opinions are my own honest views or that of my children. Prices are quoted as of the time of this post and are subject to change.

Kim Mills on Google+

Homestead Potluck #1 ~ Link Up Your Homesteading Posts!

 Homestead Potluck, Homesteading  No Responses »
Oct 212011
 

For some time I’ve thought about starting a homesteading link up.  Now that we are moving into the fall season and things are slowing down it’s a perfect time!

Why the Homestead Potluck?  A potluck is a gathering of friends all bringing their favorite dishes to share.  While many of us can’t gather together in person, we CAN still share our recipes, craft projects, and general news from around the homestead.  This is open to ALL homesteaders, urban homesteaders and rural a like.

It’s been a busy week here on the homestead.  Although a cold and rainy one!  I’ve been blessed with lots of apples that we will be working though.  My Aunt shared apples from her Mac tree, a friend of hubby’s shared apples from their farm.  Also our 2 trees are waiting to be picked!

I think there will be a lot of applesauce, apple butter and baked apples in the next few weeks!

 

Please save the Homestead Potluck button at the top of the post to link back to this post!



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Kim Mills on Google+
 Older Entries