Homesteading Heartstrings

If you have read my blog in the past you may notice that I changed the name of my blog again. I decided that this blog is about the journey, the process of getting to where I am going and one that will probably never be fully completed. So for now that title feels more fitting.

There are so many amazing blogs out there about homesteading and self sufficiency that it makes me wonder if I really have anything to contribute to the mass of information already out there. But, after so many months away from blogging I find that I really do miss it.  I miss making note of the things that I continue to do on a daily basis that are out of the ordinary in this age of convenience. I miss the interaction with other like minded people as well.

In my day in and day out life I am a nurse on a critical care unit and there a very few people who understand my fascination with this kind of a lifestyle, heck I don't understand why I feel so strongly pulled towards a harder way of living but I always have been. There is something in me that gets the most amazing satisfaction in laying out an entire meal on the table that was produced entirely on my own land, from the animals that I have raised and from the sweat that went into the vegetables that I have grown in my own yard. I have written before about how strongly I feel that we need to keep these old skills alive and pass them down to our children and grand-children. I still feel that way.

These days prepping for disaster has become a popular thing to do and I am all for that but if one of those scenarios does come to pass there had better be plenty of people around who know how to start from scratch and exist when the canned foods run out.  I definitely don't shun modern living, I think the internet is the greatest thing to ever happen in my life but I think that we take it all for granted and assume it will always be there, what if it were not? Could we get by? I digress, that is a topic for another blogger.

With those thoughts in mind,  I am re-dedicating myself yet again to continuing this blog even if only for the personal satisfaction of making note of this journey that I am on. Through all of the ups and downs in my life I always come back to the same place in my heart, the desire for a little place of my own in the middle of nowhere. A place where I can put down permanent roots and settle into the task of building a working homestead with gardens, chickens and goats to start with. Room to ride my horses for miles and a place that my grandchildren can run wild on and look forward to visiting. I am not there yet but I continue to work towards that goal daily, paying down my land, learning new skills and perfecting the ones I have already learned. I hope to do a better job of  making note of what I am doing regularly so that other like me can learn from my successes and failures along the way.


 

The second half of life.

The summer of 2013 has been a big one for me, first I turned 50 in June, a fact that continues to boggle my mind because besides besides my body not cooperating with what I want it to do I still feel like I the same woman I was years ago. Only the new little lines on my face and the grey in my hair and the aches in my joints that I try to ignore remind me that yes indeed time marches on.

Secondly, July 16th I got married again.  After a long 4 year period of friendship and dating I knew this was a man who I could build a life with.  Together we share the plan to build a small homestead in New Mexico and to pursue the idea of becoming as self sufficient as possible.
So, the second half begins. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Strawberry Leaf Tea

Today I did something I felt was actually blog worthy, at least in the homesteading world. I made Strawberry Leaf Tea. A project that made me just a little bit nervous.

Strawberry tea, like other berry teas has many reported health benefits, high in vitamin C, it is used to calm upset stomachs and digestive issues. As a nurse I know that many of the modern medicines used today began as herbal remedies so I am always interested in learning about alternatives from nature.

When I moved from my old house I carefully dug up all of my strawberry plants that were just beginning to bloom and moved them to the new raised beds I had set up in my new location and hoped that they would survive the transplant. They did amazingly well and produced a decent crop of berries. Here in Florida the dog days of summer are just beginning to set in and I believe the plants are done producing any more fruit but the leaves were still green and thriving so I decided to try something I came across somewhere along the way, making tea from the leaves of the plant. Before I started I tried to find information online about how best to proceed but there was surprisingly little out there but just enough to get me through the process.

I picked the leaves and washed them carefully removing all of the stems. I made sure to pull out any that looked to be wilting or damaged as I had read that as the leaves begin to decompose they become toxic to humans and can cause nausea and cramping, the part that worried me. 

Then I set them on my dehydrator racks to dry out. I have an old Excalibur Dehydrator that I bought at a yard sale over 20 years ago that is still going strong.

Anxious to see how the tea might turn out I decided to dry and handful of leaves in the microwave. Since I

do not have a tea infuser I improvised by tying the leaves up in a thin cotton dish towel ( I use these for cheese and yogurt making too) and pouring boiling water from the tea kettle over to create and infusion. 

Nothing I found online told me how long to leave the leaves infusing so I used my best judgement and decided that this pale green color was just about right. I worried that the tea might be very bitter but it was surprisingly pleasant almost citrus like. I sweetened it with a little honey and enjoyed the whole cup. It has been a little over one half hour since I drank it and I am experiencing no bad side effects so I suppose I will live and will definitely be drinking more of this unique tea blend. 

Not Home Yet .

More transitions happening in my life. I am moving yet again. My oldest son and his family are out on their own again and I don't need this big house I am renting so I have decided to downsize and begin my transition to New Mexico. I still have about two years before I will officially make the move but the wheels are in motion.  The next two years will be all about getting ready to trek my horses, dogs and possessions the 2000 miles to what I pray will be my final stopping point and the beginning of building my homestead in the sun.  In the mean time I am collecting information, learning new skills and trying to organize .  
Wish me luck. I'm really ready to see this journey move in a new direction. This is not my picture , but it is pretty close to what my life looks like today. 

Balloon Fiesta 2013

Spent the second week in October back in New Mexico and Colorado two of my favorite places in the world. Finally got to attend the annual Balloon Fiesta outside of Albuquerque and it was well worth the trip.   Two of my children were able to join me, we rented a car in Denver and spent some time there with family and then had a road trip down to Albuquerque.

Although we were freezing , we have thin Florida blood it was such an amazing site.

Transitions

Sunset from my property in New Mexico .     

    

Its me just sending a note out to the blogging universe to say that I am still here but have had so many things going on in my life that blogging became low on the list of priorities. It seems the longer you stay away the harder it is to jump back into it but I miss putting my thoughts into words. Hopefully I will have time soon to get back on track in more ways than one. Some of the things I need to do include revising my homestead wish list this time with the move to my New Mexico homestead in mind. I believe I can finally start the countdown to making that move, although it is still going to be a bit of  a wait Jan 2015 should be the beginning of my transition to my new home 2000 miles away where I will finally begin to build my permanent homestead/mini farm. 

With the move in mind some of the things I need to gather information and learn about include:

Composting Toilets

Solar Power

Bee Keeping

Gardening in the High Desert

Feeding and keeping livestock in the High Desert where pasture is minimal and weather and predators can be challenging.

Straw Bale Building ( Although I don't think my home will be straw bale I dream of building a little guest house using this method).

Miniature Cattle.

Heritage Breeds of livestock native to the Southwest.

Trail Riding in the Southwest.

I have a vision of the life I want and a plan for how to get there now I just need to remember to not get so focused on that dream that I forget to enjoy the here and now everyday moments that come along.

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles California where nobody I knew made anything from scratch, so the idea of making my own pumpkin puree was something I was unfamiliar with. For years I have wanted to make my own puree for pumpkin inspired baked goods, but never seemed to get around to it till this year. I never imagined how incredibly easy it is to do.
For many of you fellow homesteaders this is nothing new but I know there are plenty of people out there like me who grew up in very different homes where convenience was the only choice so for you I say if I can do it so can you.

I came home with a plain old Jack O Lantern Pumpkin that I bought for 2.99 and went online to research how to bake it. I quickly learned that pumpkin aficionados say that you need a small sugar pumpkin to make pumpkin puree for baking but that is not the pumpkin I had and decided to try it anyway. There are plenty of resources online including some pretty funny you tube videos to find out how to do the job but the steps are so easy and the results were delicious even from this plain old Jack O Lantern pumpkin.

First clean out the insides of you pumpkin, save the seeds for roasting, I also saved the stringy insides to give to Hamilton my pot bellied pig who loved the treat. Cut the clean pumpkin in half and place upside down on a baking pan and bake at 375 till soft to cut through. Let the pumpkin cool and peel of the outside peel. The peel became a treat for my horses making the whole pumpkin edible with the exception of the stem. Cut the soft baked inside of the pumpkin into chunks and place in a strainer mashing up a bit to allow some of the water to drain off. Once most of the liquid has drained away you can mash the remainder up up to make puree. I read that is can be pureed further in a food processor but I was afraid it would become to liquefied. I read online that is was not really safe to can pumpkin so I froze it in freezer bags about 16 oz. each (the amount in a can of pumpkin puree). My medium pumpkin filled 9 bags, so the cost savings over buy canned is significant.
 The house smelled amazing while the pumpkin was cooking. I used the puree to make pumpkin spice cake and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I loved this project and went right out and got another bigger pumpkin to make even more puree for the freezer. I see this a project to be repeated every year when pumpkins are in season. The only thing that will make it even more fun would be to use pumpkins that I grew in my own garden but I am not there yet...someday.

Pretty addicting site.

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Florida Sunset

One of those life is good moments.

Meet Sampson

The newest member of my family a 10 year old Percheron named Sampson. He is a lovely disposition gentle giant that rides like a dream.

Blogging on the go

Somewhere along the way i got completely out of the habit of blogging. With the integration of a smartphone and Kindle Fire into my life I rarely log onto the internet from my actual computer. I do find that I miss the self reflection that blogging allowed me and the interactions and feedback i got from blogging. So today i am challenging myself to begin blogging on the go using my Android phone or my Kindle and to stop using my lack of time at home as a reason not to blog.
Tons of things have happened in my life this past tear that i w ish i had put in my blog but I let time get away from me.

So I'm diving in here from my phone with some pictures of my trip to New Mexico this past June.  
Some of these are from the Sandia Parkway Tram at an elevation of 10,000 feet. One is in Old Town Albuquerque and the last is the view from my property near Mountainair where I hope to live one day soon.