All things homesteading.
We began our homesteading adventure sometime during 2004 or 2005. Johnny's grandmother, affectionally called Ma-Ma, told us about Countryside Magazine. We tore into the magazine whenever it came in the mail. We couldn't wait to see what else we could do and what others around the country were doing on their properties.
We started out small and took on one project at a time: gardening, composting, canning (first with pickles and jams eventually leading up to stocks, beans, meats, etc.), hanging clothes out on the line, and now we're looking into raising chickens and hogs. A few years into this new adventure Johnny realized that we could start salvaging building material from the new subdivision going in down the road. So, with permission from the builder, we took all the lumber they weren't going to or no longer could use. We removed and straightened the nails and stored the lumber under our home. All our efforts eventually turned into a shed, front porch, a deck, a back porch and a playhouse. We salvaged more wood and that was used as siding and interior paneling on the new addition to our home. We have saved thousands of dollars simply by salvaging wood and reusing what others discarded. Homesteading is not something we take lightly. My husband prefers to call it "country living", not homesteading, as this is what our forefathers did before us. They used what they had or did without until they could afford it. They built their own homes, raised their own food and praised God through it all. This is what we aim to do with our country home. |
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