Pursuing A Family Economy

The Lewis Family learning to butcher chickens last summer

Farmer John and I went on a lunch date earlier this week and I told him I was serious about earning money from our land this year.  Nothing grand- just keeping on top of the garden so I have excess to sell, adding another dozen laying chickens and trying our hand at some broilers for ourselves and a few to sell to friends.

Then, to my surprise, my husband said he really desires to leave his corporate job and come home to make a living on the land. This is the first time he said it as a definite goal not just a pipe dream.  We both shared our desire for a lifestyle of "needing" less and in the process freeing ourselves from modern consumerism and economics.

I laugh because we are both admittedly middle aged (44) and for our mid-life crisis we don't want to go buy hot rods or take early retirement to a tropical island.  We want to need less and provide healthy food and knowledge to our community.  It is a dream different from most.

Now, I don't think it will be easy.  We will probably have to work harder then we ever have. But I do think (if it is within God's will) that it is obtainable.  If we build our customer base slow without incurring debt and let God open doors then I do believe John could come home in three years or less and we'd be working for ourselves not somebody else.

Herrick Kimball over at The Deliberate Agrarian has been doing a series on Family Economies and his last post really captures our desires.  You can read it here.

We will be writing a proper business plan soon but our plans include: selling eggs, broilers, veges, herbs, flowers, bread, jams, and crafts this year.  Michigan has a great cottage food law that allows us to sell up to $25,000 worth of product from a home kitchen without needing any sort of license and because we don't want to be the next "Tyson" and want to keep things on a micro level we also weed out a lot of other government regulation. 

In the future we want to add animal fiber and goods, goat milk caramels and soaps, bramble fruits, and an orchard.  We aren't sure if we want to CSA or Herbal CSA but we will want to add educational classes and a green house for annual flowers and potted veges/herbs.  (The latter will require at least a $40 yearly micro grower state license.)  We want this to be a venture that our kids can add to with their own ideas and talents and I've always wanted to do a magazine and write agrarian non-fiction. (As well as the fiction I have in the works.)  But we aren't doing any of this with a get rich mentality or desire.  Our desire is to be closer as a family, closer to God, closer to the land and the rich, healthy heritage of agrarianism and be blessed with an opportunity to share it with others.

I'd love to hear the stories of others doing the same!

You Might Be A Homesteader If...

Your husband gives you these for Christmas!

To go with this that he got me for my birthday. (Click the comments to find the answer.  Mr. Herrick Kimball of The Deliberate Agrarian guessed correctly.)

You also might be a homesteading/fly fishing/bamboo fly rod building kind of guy if you get these from your wife for Christmas...

And you might have homeschoolers in your household if you purchase things like this for Christmas...

And what celebration would be complete with out cookie decorating! (And eating.)

  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cookie Cheer Up!

Well, we have a snow blower that works but unfortunately I don't have a snow blow operator!

Yesterday after plowing the drive and my wonderful path to the barn, Farmer John started to complain about his wrist hurting. He was in so much pain before work this morning I told him to go get it checked out.

Diagnosis... Tendonitis! Yah... so no nice plowed path to the barn.  We aren't quite ready to give that responsibility to our son with anything more than a shovel at this point in time.

Had another surprise diagnosis today... strep throat for my nine year old!  Keep the good times coming!

So what can you do when it is cold, snowy and you have "patients" to keep happy?  Make Christmas cookies!

Who doesn't feel better after a frosted Christmas sugar cookie? 

Usually we have a traditional recipe we follow but I found a new recipe that includes sour cream in it and it seemed like a good day to give it a try.

We didn't mess with Christmas shapes today since it was just a "test" run.  We stuck with easy-peasy circles.  Plain white frosting and simple sprinkles.

The verdict... Yum! I think this may be my new traditional recipe!  I will definitely need to make lots so that my son has fuel to snow shovel my path to the barn.

You can find the recipe for  Cut-Out Sour Cream Cookies and frosting here!

They certainly boosted spirits at Creek Cottage Homestead.  Happy baking, frosting and eating!!

Homesteading Means Staying At Home

Just a couple of nights ago I was sighing and feeling extremely stressed out and unhappy because all I seem to be doing lately is running around.  An errand here, the library there, this child here, that child there... Frustrating! I just want to be at home doing the things that need to be done.

Well, today the Lord gave me a nudge to remind me that He is in control.  The brakes on my car are failing and Farmer John deemed the car unsafe to drive.  BOOM!  Just like that I don't have to run around anymore.  I get to stay home.  Now, it actually is kinda inconvenient (Had to put my son's guitar lessons on hold and when do I grocery shop?) but really it is a blessing in disguise.

My husband's work schedule is such that he will be home so that I can have the car for Wed. evening church services, and city girl's theater lessons  (for 10 weeks) and he will be off most Sunday's as well. Those are the important things. Everything else will work itself out.

We currently don't have the funds to get the car fixed so we are going to be living life as a one car family for a while but I really don't mind. The Lord never works in ways that I expect but he knows what is best for me.  The Homestead is where my heart is!  Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Homeschooling In The Orchard!

 

We took our first homeschool field trip of the season today.  We went apple picking at the U-pick farm in Fennville.

 

They had tons of varieties to chose from.  We only got a few kinds. Some for baking, some for sauce and some for eating.  They are so much better then any grocery store apple.  It was almost like eating sweet, crisp candy.

 

I sense apple pie for dessert tonight.  The ladies over at Homestead Blessings are cidering.  What do you like to do with apples? 

 

I'm having some issues with uploading photos right now but if I get it working I have a lot of fun pictures to post.

 

 

 

 

Family Time & The Family Economy

With our new school schedule we have added an evening "family time".  Our first family time together last week was met with mixed reviews.  Farmer John wanted to get everyone involved with his future business, Bamboo On The Fly (tentative name), and so we all tumbled out to the garage to work on his current Bamboo Fly Fishing Rod.  I must admit only John and our two littlest (Reagan and Taylor) were overly excited to do this.  Later I realized that I had to confess sin because I was less than championing my husband's vision at the time. (Which is really silly because I very much want him to leave his "corporate" job for a home-based, family biz.)

Yes, we put a blowtorch in the hands of our 13 year-old son!

 

 And our 15 year-old daughter

 Not our 4 year-old- she was content to make up her own games with balls and badmitton birdies!

 

Here I am with the torch.  The pieces of bamboo for the rod are slid into the copper pipe and then the pipe is heated with the torch.  This dries the bamboo.  You could see the steam being released at the tube ends.

 

 

As you can see the garage is highly unkempt.  Farmer John is on vacation this week and so one of our projects (practical arts for school) will be cleaning the garage.  By mid-October we'll be getting heavy frosts/freezes and the cars will need to be parked inside overnight. (Farmer John does not want to scrape ice at 3:30 in the morning!)

 

Leave me a comment if you are interested in a Handcrafted Bamboo Fly Rod!

 

If you are wondering about family economies check out Kevin Swanson's Generations Radio show (search the archived shows for "family economies) and Herrick Kimball over at The Deliberate Agrarian writes frequently on this topic too!

 

Free Foraged Food & Turning 9

I love nothing more than getting something for free.  It gives me great satisfaction.  My husband surprised me on Labor Day.  He was one of a few managers that had to go to the warehouse to "walk" it and make sure everything was okay since it was closed for the day.  He asked me to come along because there was a lone apple tree on the edge of the property and the apples just fall to the ground each year.  We were gonna pick those apples and make use of them. (We had permission.)

We didn't get too many because we didn't bring a ladder (I had to stand on the hood of the car) but we did get enough for a pie.

One our way too and from the warehouse I pointed out to him every "stray" apple tree along side the road that didn't look like anyone did anything with.  They were stand alone trees at the edge of fields and had fruit littering the ground. I told him we should go ask permission from all those landowners to access the apples.  I had been thinking this for a couple of weeks and John was surprised that I was thinking along the same lines as he was.  What can I say... the budget is miniscule and free food is enticing.

I also pointed out an apple tree on the road by our house on an abandoned bank owned property.  Again with no ladder we couldn't get the good apples but we got a bag full of apples that had fallen on the ground and we fed those to the chickens with the intent to get more if needed.  It takes so little to make us happy.

Yesterday was a day of celebration. Reagan turned 9!  We cancelled school and she chose to spend the morning at the mall with her big sisters, trying on clothes and then spent the afternoon with her dad and brother shooting air guns and bows/arrows.  Oh to be nine and have so many interests!  She is currently latch hooking away on her birthday gift.  Happy Birthday #4 child. We love you!!!!!

Surprise, Surprise!

 

City Daughter

Today was a day of pleasant surprises for me:

1. Six people to the dentist with not a one cavity! City daughter does need her wisdom teeth pulled though.

2. I was researching the YA market (Young Adult Books) and found out that the Christian publishing industry is really latching on to YA.  Yeah!  I'm not sure if I want to go Christian or Mainstream when I'm done with The Follower but it is good to know I have more options.

3. My tomatoes are really starting to ripen.  I may have enough ripe to start canning!

4. I remembered I had a Costco package of pork chops in the freezer.  Meat for dinner!

5. Farmer John made it home from Detroit meetings in time to eat dinner with us.

6. City daughter baked my favorite cookies for dessert... chocolate chip!

What a really good day!  Simple things make me happy :)

Losing it Mondays!

200 lbs must go!

Hmmm... I have some fat showing too! I'd like to drop 20.

This is the start of my husband's journey to health.  He just entered a weight loss contest at work and weighed in today at 360 lbs. His ideal weight is in the 160's.  That is 200 lbs. to lose folks.  He has been able to lose weight before successfully, however some injuries happened that made working out too painful and he gained it all back.

With the start of this contest and a new shift beginning at work it is ideal for us to begin working out again. And I do mean us... the entire family.  We do it together from John on down to Taylor. I think we will start with walking.  It shouldn't be too hard on the joints and we'll take it slow and build up.  By the time winter comes round we should be in shape enough to start our work out videos and weight training. (This will be on top of any homestead work like chopping and stacking wood.)

We don't have too much of a change diet wise.  We've already cut out most junk food and eating out and I buy mostly whole foods. (I confess to having artificially colored corn on hand for children who immediately want food when they get up.)  We will need to increase our vege intake and watch portion sizes.  One thing John has to monitor on his own is sampling the Costco samples and not being tempted by the food court at work.  The frozen yogurt isn't too bad but calories add up.

I just want to state right now, we will not stop eating eggs from our free-ranging chickens or grass-fed meat, cream and butter.  These things are healthy for you!  I will not buy low-fat anything or diet anything- it's not natural people.  I will cook from scratch the things we like and take a meat on the side approach.  I will practice and perfect catching wild yeast at home and turning it into healthy bread. I also want to research "cleanses"- not the kind bought through a program or a store but made from scratch at home.

I think our biggest challenge is just getting moving and finding more energy. And of course for me... I keep hoping to catch a joy of cooking.  I love to bake and will make loaf after loaf of bread to perfect it but there is something about cooking that just doesn't do it for me.  But I really do need to transform into a chef.  That is unless some one knows Bobby Flay and he wants to just come live with us. We've got a great spot for him in the basement... as long as we aren't working out.

So join us every Monday and see how and what we are doing to make ourselves healthier.  I'll want to know what you are doing too!

Country Sundays are the best!

Spent a wonderful day of rest with my husband and my two youngest daughters on Sunday. The teens were off to Mid-Summer Lord's Day at Harbor Baptist Church in Holland so it was just parents and littles for the day.

The festivities started on the way home from church.  We were almost home and notice dust coming from the farm across from our house.  They are building a new barn to house their dairy herd but they don't usually work on it on Sundays.  As we drew closer we saw a cow out and about and then another... and another... and another.  They were running around the construction site, up and down dirt hills and out into the road having a marvelous time... at least 20 or 30 of them. (They have a dairy herd of 300'ish and a beef herd of around 100'ish.)

It isn't unusual for a calve to get out of its pen from time to time but this was the first time we had seen any bigs out.  We quickly put the car in reverse and went to go get the farmer.  He was just on his way out to catch them when we drove up and had his farm hands with him.  He thanked us and disappeared to corral cows.  They got them under control pretty quickly.

We found it all rather funny and I'm sure the farmer is glad we did.  Apparently the lady who we bought the house from was not amused by such happenings and was constantly complaining and making life hard for the farmer.  Now, he may be an industrial type farmer but I still respect what he does and appreciate the hard work it takes, not to mention I still buy my milk from the store so his service is vital to me. I don't understand why people don't treat farmers better.  Do they not like to eat?  This isn't Star Trek where replicators just make food appear.  Someone has to work hard to provide it! (I might add that this is a young farm family... second generation... we want to be an encouragement to them.)

After the cow excitement we spent the day relaxing outside.  (City daughter wasn't home to complain about the great outdoors.)  We had target practice, watched chickens, built a fire and roasted marshmallows and just in general had a marvelous technology free day!  I am so thankful for God and his wisdom to give us a day of rest.

 Daddy and daughters (Every girl needs a pink gun!)

 Reagan (Katniss Everdeen) Lewis

 Target Practice!

 Dancing in the great outdoors...

 

 Chickens on the move...

 

 The rare red-headed, blue clothed squirrel posing in her natural habitat! (There isn't a tree in our yard that she can't climb.)

Construction site across the street where the cows were playing.

Grandparents, Shopping & Beestings!

Grandparents:

 

Mom and Dad Schuh

We said goodbye to my parents today.  They headed toward home this morning.  I always love when they come and I hate it when they leave.  I love living in Michigan except for being so far from family.  The spot where they parked their trailer looks sadly empty.  Sigh. 

 The entire clan posing for the camera (set up on the BBQ)

 Closer pic with me at the camera... the way I prefer it!

 The kids... do they look hot and sweaty?  We all were... it was right before we finally got a storm to cool things down.

 

Shopping:

I made two discoveries while out shopping today.  1. If you are looking for flip-flops and/or sandals now is the time to buy.  All the stores are clearing out their summer stuff in order to make room for fall items.  My pair of dress flip-flops (yes, I said dress flip-flops- I might be a redneck.) broke a couple of days ago necessitating replacement.  I found a great pair for $8- 1/2 off. I am pleased.  I was willing to spend up to $15. 2.Sadly, it is cheaper to buy full length pajama pants at Old Navy and Sears and cut them to the needed length (long shorts) instead of sewing your own.  My daughter needed some summer sleepwear and she didn't want the short shorts or full length pants that most stores have.  She was willing (and able) to sew some but the fabric she wanted was $6 a yard (which is actually not that expensive as far as fabric goes) and she needed around 3 yards.  Hmmm... $18 to sew or $10/$12 dollars premade.  For pajamas we'll go with the latter but it is still hard for me to buy something new and then cut it up.  It seems wrong, just like buying jeans with the holes already in them.

 

Beestings:

It would appear that some type of stinging bee-like creatures have made a nest in the ground in my red lettuce.  I was picking tonight and felt a prick.  I thought maybe it was a thorny weed I had brushed against but while inspecting the injury (on my lower leg) I noticed "bees" flying around the area.  Ahhh... I've been stung.  The pain was not very strong at first but boy did that pain level rise.  I had to call harvesting to an end and rush inside to tend to it.  Thank goodness for plain old baking soda and water paste.  It may look funky on my leg but the relief was almost instantaneous.

 

What home-remedies do you use for bee-stings?