Big decisions!

So, I've made a huge decision. I have decided that after I graduate from HACC, I need to grab a few acres and truly make Homesteading on the Small Scale happen on some property and not just in a condo.

I love small and simple living, and while I've toyed with going over to New Mexico, I realized I really love the East Coast, I don't care for sand, or scorpions, and my dog would be VERY unhappy in that kind of climate, and so would I. I then remembered fonder times in a little area called Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, and that is where I am looking into making this happen, but I am also keeping options open in another town, Gretna, VA.

My goal with this plan is to obtain less than 5 acres, clearing only what I need (1 acre) for gardening, a tiny house for a homestead and a barn for the livestock, mainly alpacas and goats. I'd like to leave the rest wild, and find a teacher who can show me how to properly forage without poisoning myself and without causing great harm on the environment.

Picking up and moving and downsizing even further than where I am now; 800 square feet to 200 or less is a HUGE thing and I'm not going to kid myself at complete self sufficiency, or even being completely off the grid, especially all at once. It will have to be a process, but once I make this transition, I don't plan on turning back. I'm ready to set down some roots in my own part of the country side.

Crowd-funding is the only way I'm going to be able to make this move with the overhead of building the house, buying the land and getting things going a bit. On the side, I've placed my indiegogo widget and you'd consider making a tiny donation to help make this happen, it would be so amazing. I would love to take this blog and make it better by bringing my knowledge into a more complete practice. I'd also like to be able to organize workshops and classes for others who may be interested in a similar lifestyle. The best that could come from this is immense; learning to live in a way that is more in tune with mother earth, with each other, and with oneself.

All it takes is your spare change in combination with what I'm able to do on my end, and we can add more forward momentum to the tiny house and homesteading movements.

Thank you for your donations and your support! I hope to see you all soon with a new entry. If there is a topic you'd like to read about, let me know.

So you want to build a solar oven. Pt 1

So you want to build a solar oven? Good Luck!

There are kits you can buy, or you can buy more heavy duty materials to make it last longer. Well I'm broke as balls; you know "welfare budget" and all, so I wanted to figure out how to do it with found objects, things I had around the house, and minimal purchase, but from things only found at the local dollar store. Information about the benefits and blah dee blah of solar ovens will come in a different post.

Pictures will come as I make it happen, and so I'll write this sort of like a diary...

Day 1: 10/7/2012

Dear Diary,
   Today I want to build a solar oven. I've seen examples and web pages and want to see about building one of my own.

I have a lot of cardboard boxes around here, let's see what i can come up with.

I made from parts of 1 box, a 15" x 15" with 6" sides. I taped it with duct tape, just to hold it together, so i could have my hands free.

The great thing with this is that I can always build the sides up by gluing and taping more cardboard. Perfection and beauty not required.

I want to essentially paper mache the cardboard to make it more durable. So I made home made Mod Podge like this:

1 Pint Mason Jar
1 Bottle All-Purpose White Glue (Like Elmer's, but a generic brand will be just fine. It needs to be non-toxic. This type of glue does not release under heat.)

Into the jar, I poured the bottle of glue, which a typical bottle will be just a little less than half of the jar. I filled the rest with water, put on the lid, shook, a voila; home made mod podge for a fraction of the price. I think I paid 37 cents for mine from the clearance shelf at Walmart.

I used brown paper shopping & lunch bags, because that's what I have at the moment, and pasted on a layer on the box and I'm letting that dry tonight.

I also am using a cooling rack with a piece of cardboard cut to the size of the top, duct taped it in place, and have the bottom pasted with brown paper too. I'm letting that dry tonight as well. That will be the base of the "cooking" part of the oven, where I'll be pasting aluminum foil.

The Outside box is larger than the inside box. I'll be crumpling newspapers to put in between the two. The air between them as well as the newspaper will insulate allowing the cooker to be more efficient with less heat loss.

That's all I've done for tonight. I'll check back tomorrow.

*Disclaimer* There are fantastic free plans, and kits out there available over the internet. This is not the ONLY right method. This is an experiment. If it works, great. If it doesn't, well, we'll try something else.

Website Recommendation: Homesteading and Survivalism Store

I have recently come across a website called "Homesteading and Survivalism Store." This place is chock full of information, links, products and friendly people!

There is even a CD-ROM of 24 FULL books, over 4500 pages. Many of the books on this are from the late 1800's through the 1950's. Lots of great information that has been generally lost as an art form about canning, and preserving foods for long term storage. I'm going to order the CD-ROM in a few weeks, so that I can well, HAVE and review it for you. I love canning and pickling my own foods.

But anyway, check out the site, let me know what you think. If you already have this CD-ROM, let me know what you think about it?

1. Homesteading and Survivalism Store - http://homesteadingsurvivalism.myshopify.com/
2. Homesteading and Survivalism Store :: Canning, Preserving, Dehydrating Food CD-ROM -  http://homesteadingsurvivalism.myshopify.com/products/canning-preserving-pickling-and-dehydrating-food