Progress Is Good

I started this Blog as a way to record my progress toward living on my own little homestead.  My main goal to own land and live out in the country hasn't changed, I am however taking a slightly different route than originally planned.  And until I am able to purchase any land, it makes good sense to practice homesteading where I am. 

In one of my first posts "First Steps" I mentioned a list of skills I wanted to tackle while I was still working.  These included purchasing a pressure canner and learning to can vegetables, fruits, and meats, begin to bake my own bread and make butter, cheese, and yogurt, and to put a small garden in my back yard.  I have the pressure canner now, plus a water bath canner and a dehydrator and have canned pinto beans, water bathed a dozen different types of jams and jellies, and dehydrated a ton of apple slices that my son and grandson promptly consumed.  I still need to practice making breads and cheeses from scratch. 

I put the small garden in the back yard in 2013, that's the one I resurrected last summer and learned all about tomatoes with.  It had cabbages over the winter, and I'm preparing it for 'root' crops for this year.  And of course I have the new beds in the front yard, too.

Also on the list is to make Mead (a honey wine), learn first aid, and begin saving seeds.  I saved some of the tomato seeds from last summer - (an interesting process for another post) - but those tomatoes were hybrids so I'm not sure what I'll get if I plant them.  When I buy seeds I make a point to purchase only heirloom seeds, however last year's tomato plants were gifted to me.  I marked the packet with the saved seeds 'hybrid' but since I have heirloom tomatoes I can save from in my spring/summer garden, I doubt the hybrid seeds will ever be used. 

I feel I've made some progress toward my goal and although I've had to change my route a little, I know where I want to be, and I'll get there, eventually.  (I suppose I should add 'learn patience' to my list!)  And I'm still reading everything I can find on homesteading, farming, gardening, and rural life. 

 

Until next time, never give up, never surrender, and may all your dreams come true.