Homesteading

The picture is a little crooked....story of my life. For the past year or so, even before Jason and I were officially "back together" we started talking about the type of lifestyle we want. In our first marriage (to each other, of course) we never really had goals, or plans, we sort of just lived day to day. Now that we have a son though, we have come to the realization that there is a bigger picture, and we have to plan for it. We hear so much today about "living green," and our impact on the earth, and the disaster that has become the food industry, the horrible economy, people losing jobs...so on, so forth. At the risk of sounding like fanatics, we wanted to be smart and prepare for whatever future was in store. We struggled with wanting to protect the earth, without worshiping nature. We wanted stability without having to depend on the economy, the job situation, or any form of natural disaster. I'm not sure what this involved entirely, but we decided we want to live as self-reliant as possible. Living in the city of Phoenix, it can be done (check out these urban homesteaders) however, we have never really enjoyed living in the city, and we love seasons and green...and we just miss being back east. So, after careful consideration, we are moving back to Kentucky in just a few weeks. Eventually, we plan to have our own "homestead" but we are going to take very small steps to accomplish this goal.

Our goal is five years. Let it be known, that I cannot sew...I am a horrible cook...I don't know the first thing about gardening. But this isn't going to stop us! A few summers ago, I tried my hand at container gardening on the patio of my small apartment. It was going good, and I had a lot of growth...until the neighbors cat came and ruined all of my beautiful plants! This little attempt proved that I had somewhat of an ability to grow...so, I am convinced that I can make it happen with a little bit of trial and error. It's going to be a learning experience, no doubt, frustrating...but we are excited to make this transition.

I have been doing so much research on the topic, and here are a few websites I have found that I've enjoyed (I have about 50 bookmarked...but only decided to share a few!) I decided to include these because they either have great resources/links or great pictures!

Backwoods Magazine
Frugal Homestead
Living off the Grid
City Boy Moves to the Country
Going to the Country


I hope you stay tuned to this crazy adventure we are about to get into...