A Homemade Countertop Compost Container

 

I did a project yesterday that is super cute and super easy to do with just a few supplies. I made a countertop container to collect my kitchen scraps and I love it!


SUPPLIES:

Empty large coffee container

Carbon filter sheet

Hot glue gun

Screw driver

Duck tape

Chalkboard tape

Chalkboard pen

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1. Plug your hot glue gun in so it's ready to use.

2. Take your empty coffee container and punch 8-10 holes in the top with a screwdriver.

3. Lay your coffee container lid upside down and trace around the smaller part on your carbon filter sheet with a white colored pencil.

4. Cut out the part that you just traced and glue to underside of coffee container lid with hot glue gun. This is going to eliminate any smell from your container

5. Choose a duck tape pattern that you like and line the outside of coffee can vertically while overlapping strips to fit the coffee container.

6. Write "Compost" on your chalkboard tape with your chalkboard pen and attach to container.

 

 

 

This is a fun project that even a child can do and it would make a great Christmas gift for those who want to start collecting their compostable food scraps and don't want to buy an expensive countertop container. You can collect several used coffee containers from friends and family and the rest of the supplies listed above will make you several of these homemade countertop compost containers.

 

Let me know if you make one and put a picture of it on the Facebook page!

 



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Learning Your Grandparent's Skills

Sometimes, (okay, okay... a lot of times) I can get pretty worked up about stuff. Just a week ago, I was at a meeting at church with some older women and we were sharing some recipes that they had from their mothers and grandmothers. Well, this led to a conversation between me and my pastor about how we want to butcher a pig someday. In my enthusiasm of the topic, I said how I want to render my own lard and how awesome that would be.

You know what happened next?

These older ladies laughed at me. Now, they did not do it to be mean at all. I think they were just surprised that I would say something like that. They don't understand that all the things they did and were taught as a children have not been shared or passed down to us who are younger. They are thankful for modern convenience, and so am I, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't learn the skills in case modern conveniences are not so convenient someday.

I'm actually glad the whole conversation happened, and since then, I have been able to think it through more and this is the conclusion I have come to...

If my generation does not learn how to do this stuff, we will lose these skills FOREVER!

Seriously. Just think about all the things are grandparents used to do that we don't do anymore. We are raising a generation of children that think their food comes from a grocery store only! They don't even realize that carrots come from a plant in the ground or that their hamburger they just ate is from a cow.

I'm thirty-nine years old and I remember my grandparent and mom growing gardens, canning produce, and butchering deer. My husband and I are passing all these skills on to my son who will hopefully pass them on to my grandchildren and so on. The scary thing is, most folks are not doing this. The majority of American homes are so busy with making double incomes that they don't have the time to gain skills that could save their lives someday. Money ain't going to save you if the economy collapses...just sayin.

You watch and read the news don't you? You have to know that things can not always stay the same as they are right now. I hate to burst you all's bubble, but things could, and probably will, get bad around here again. Just because we live in a generation that is high-tech with modern day conveniences does not mean it will always stay that way. Do you realized the Great Depression was less than one hundred years ago?!

Oh, how we in America like to think that we don't need to work to learn anything because it's all handed to us on a silver platter. We go to third world countries to try and "save" them but you know who will need the saving if things get bad? Not them. They know how to survive in very rough conditions. They don't take a drive down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up their groceries on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, we can, and should, help people who need help, but as much as we are giving to them, they also have knowledge they could give to us concerning survival. They would love some of things we have, but they can make it without them if they have to.

Okay, enough of the lecture. The whole point of this post is to tell you don't wait another day to start learning how to be more self-sufficient. Start thinking about your grandparents and what skills they have and start learning them. Go to the library and check out some books. Learn to can for heaven's sake! Even if you can't grow a garden where you are, you can at least support your local farmers' market and put up food from them - just start somewhere.

I'm telling you straight up that if we do not teach these skills to our children, in another hundred years or so, we are going to have a country that totally relies on their grocery stores and government for everything. So run, don't walk, and get started.

Here is a list of skills that you need to start learning:

1. Bake your own bread products.
2. Butcher an animal from killing it to packaging it.
3. Grow a garden.
4. Learn to use a water bath canner and a pressure cooker.
5. Have backup methods for cooking food without electricity.
6. Learn to hunt with a bow and a gun.
7. Have alternative things in your home in place of prescription drugs - like essential oils and herbs.
8. Learn how to forage and what wild plants are edible and not edible.
9. Get an alternative heat source besides and electric or gas.
10. Find a way to collect clean drinking water.
11. Learn to sew, knit, and crochet.
12. Start collecting cooking ware like cast iron pans that will last forever.

I have not succeeded in doing all these things yet, but that's my story, right? That's the journey I'm on and the reason why I hunt and have a homesteading blog. There's no excuse today with all the resources at our fingertips for not learning these skills. Heck, the first thing you should probably do it call up your grandpa and grandma, sit down with a cup of coffee, and start asking them questions. They have valuable information you need to learn. Do it before it's too late and they're not here to teach us anymore.

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A Homesteader's Kitchen - Granny Miller Style

 

 

I would like to introduce you to a fellow homesteader who's going to let us take a look into her kitchen. She lives in an old house, and after trying to fix up her kitchen, she decided it would be best to do a complete remodel.

You can follow Granny Miller at:
Granny Miller
Facebook

The first link is a what her kitchen used to look like. You can see that here.

The remodeled kitchen link is here.

Check out other homesteader's kitchens here.

Hope you enjoy seeing another homesteader's kitchen. Make sure to go and like Granny Miller on Facebook!

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Top 10 Must-Have Kitchen Appliances for a Homesteader

 

 

 

I can't remember the exact day when I started incorporating more natural alternatives into our lifestyle, but I know it was sometime after my son was born in 2004. After his birth, I began to realize that perhaps the majority of "health" foods, and advertised "health" foods, are not everything they claim to be. You can read more about that story here.

I began taking this a step further when moving to Kentucky and I started to dream about owning a homestead where we could hunt and raise our own meat, and where I could grow a big enough garden to supply our vegetables and fruits throughout the entire year. Oh, and I needed chickens! A girl has got to have chickens, and if all the stars align right, mine will be coming this spring! Once we made this dream into a reality, my list was, and still is, a mile long of things I want to accomplish around here. 

An area that I have invested the most time and money into is for kitchen appliances that help me make food from scratch quicker and easier for my family. I have taken the time to list out the top appliances, in my opinion, that you need to have in your homesteading kitchen. Some of these I own and some are on my list to purchase as soon as finances allow.

Top 10 must haves for your homesteading kitchen:


1. KitchenAid Mixer

I am frugal by nature from growing up with a mother who had to coupon to afford groceries, so for me to spend this kind of money on a kitchen appliance was very, VERY hard. But, my husband talked me into, and I shopped around to get the best deal possible on it. It was so worth it! I use this  more than any other appliance in my kitchen. I use it to make bread, desserts, cookies, whipped cream, and for grinding venison. It is a must have for a person who wants to cook from scratch while using a tool of modern convenience.

2. An Immersion Blender

I bought this immersion blender at a garage sale for $5. It was brand new and still in the box. I texted my friend, Susie Homesteader, and asked her if she thought I needed one and how useful it would be? She said to absolutely buy it, so I did. I use this thing ALL the time. I use it to make bullet proof coffee, blend up my canning tomatoes, to cream soups, and much more.

3. Cast Iron

In my opinion, cast iron cookware is a must. I have spent countless dollars on nonstick pans only to replace them year after year when they became scratched. Getting my husband to warm up to the cast iron has taken awhile, but now that's all we use. We do have one nonstick pan that he uses occasionally, but in my stubbornness, I refuse to use it. It's kind of neat to think about my great grandchildren using my pans someday!

4. A Pressure Canner and A Hot Water Bath Canner

How can you be a homesteader if you don't put up your own food? Even if you don't have room to have a garden, you can take advantage of the local farmers' market and preserve foods that you and your family can eat all year long. I highly recommend having both a pressure canner and hot water bath canner.

5. Mason Jars

Do I even need to explain why you need these? After all, they are a homesteader's signature. Plus, you can't have a canner and not have mason jars. Mason jars can be used for more than canning. I use them to store homemade body cream, toothpaste, and deodorant. I also use them as flower vases, for spices, and to decorate my home. You may find good deals on mason jars by searching your local Craigslist or going to auctions and garage sales. Don't forget to get this resource with your canner and mason jars.

6. Books on Homesteading and Homemade/Natural Living

Making a choice to homestead is like choosing to have an education in all things DIY. In order to be able to learn how to do homesteading projects around the homestead, you must have resources. Here are a few books I have, and some I recommend you adding to your collection as I plan to in the future.

The Backyard Homestead
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading
Chicken Hot Topics
Homemade Beauty Essentials
Natural Beauty from Head to Toe
Homestead On
Cheesemaking for Beginners
Feeding Your Hens Right

7. A Food Processor

This was another one of those items that I had a hard time spending money on, but I'm absolutely glad I did. I use this food processor all the time during canning season to make my squash relish (which is a big hit around here with my friends.) I also use it to chop nuts, shred cabbage, and many other things.

8. Cookbooks!

I know you can find almost any recipe online these days, but there's just something about holding a cookbook and flipping through the glossy pages that make it feel special. Here are the ones that I personally have:

The Joy of Cooking
Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Comfort Classics, etc
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays
Paula Deen's My First Cookbook
Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook
Healthy Choices Cookbook

I also have six church cookbooks I have collected over the years, which tend to be the best ones out there, if you ask me.

9. Stainless Steel Pot

I have this stock pot and I use it for cooking broth, heating my canning produce, and making large batches of soup, chili, and more.

10. Wool Dryer Balls

One of my personal goals this year is to replace dryer sheets with wool dryer balls. I have just recently stopped buying fabric softener, which was really hard for me because I love the smell of it on my clothes. I plan to use my essential oils to scent my clothing by putting some on the wool dryer balls.

There are lots more things I want to add to my homesteading kitchen like a grain mill and a professional meat grinder. For now, I will use what I have, and as the budget allows, I will keep adding to my collection.

Being a homesteader doesn't require a milk cow, goats, sheep, pigs, or chickens...although they sure are nice to dream about. Homesteading is a state of mind! You do what you can with what you have. You use your resources and time efficiently to make the most out of both. You decide that instead of buying your food products, you are going to try and make them yourself just like your grandma did. If you never have a farm, land or animals, you can still do a lot of self-sufficient stuff and, yes, you absolutely can call yourself a homesteader! So go and get those books from the library, mama (or papa) and start doing what you can where you're at!

I encourage you to save and share this post for future reference as you build up your kitchen appliances for your homestead.

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A Homesteader's Kitchen Series

 

Don't you love to take a peak inside other peoples' kitchens? I know I do! I'm starting a series this week, and for the next couple of weeks, about homesteaders' kitchens. My homesteading friends and I are going to let you take a tour of the most important room in our homes. It's where the magic of cooking from scratch, making our own body care products and, in my case, homeschooling happens. 

 

Our kitchen is pretty small considering our entire house is less than 1200 sq ft. The kitchen is my favorite space in the house and where we spend the majority of our day. We have an open floor plan and our home doesn't seem so small with that and the 10.5 ft ceilings.

 

Come with me on a tour of our kitchen...

This is where the dish washing takes place. When we built our home in 2012 we found a few of these cupboards on Craigslist. My husband built the rest of the cupboards along with all the doors. At the house where I picked up the used cupboards they had a sink they were throwing out and replacing during their remodel. Well that sink has happily been in my kitchen for almost four years now. As you can see, we do not own a dishwasher. Most of the time it's not a big deal, but when canning season rolls around I sure would love to have one. After you're on your feet all day, the last thing you want to do is wash a sink load full of dishes.

 



 

This is the pantry. My husband also built this for me after we moved in. He made me a spice rack on the door and a slanted shelf in the pantry so we can store our canned foods where we can easily see what we have. He also built all the shelving in the pantry and those are the handmade crates we make for our family business that are organizing all our food.

 

This is where the coffee magic happens every morning. I'm not sure I will stick with a Keurig long term but for now it's working for me. I switched to using a refillable pod to cut down on grocery expenses and so far so good.

 



This is my baking counter. I make all my breads and baked goods here using my KitchenAid Mixer. That's my aloe plant that I use for burns and skin irritations and a picture of my boys on the windowsill. Those are sheds we've found on our property hanging on the wall and that's our butter dish on the counter. We leave our butter out and don't refrigerate it.

 



 

This is the island and the cook stove. I found the cook stove used on Craigslist too. My husband built this island along with all of the kitchen countertops. Isn't he the best?! That's my Lodge 12 inche skillet that we use daily, the Pioneer Woman salt and pepper shakers, and a honey serving jar.



 

 This is the glass slider door that leads out onto our deck and the closed door goes to our laundry room. The dark wooden sign above the slider says "Friends are Family One Finds Along the Way." Living away from our family and only have friends down here made this sign appropriate for our home.

 

 

Here is a view from the corner by our kitchen table.

 



 

The view from the corner by the glass slider door.

 



This is where we eat and where homeschooling takes place. The tote to the left organizes all of Evan's books for school and the map is used as reference while learning. The dry erase board on the wall is used for daily to-do lists, scripture memorization, or diagramming sentences. That's a placemat hanging on the wall that shows the presidents of the United States since we are studying our government and the election process right now.



This, of course, is my pride and joy. This is the shelf my husband built me to store my homemade canned goods. The bottles along the top are ones we've found while hiking in our woods.

 



 

 

This picture is taken from the countertop where I do my baking.

 



This is where I keep my cookbooks, cloth napkins, and the teacher's manuals for school.

 



 

Well that's my humble kitchen. It's nothing fancy and all but a few things are handmade by us. I hope you enjoyed the tour of Little House on the 100 Farm's kitchen. Let me know what else you want to see from our home. Keep your eyes open for future posts on the blog of my friends' homesteading kitchens. 

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Why You Should Use Cast Iron Pans

 

I know there are a million articles out there telling you why you should use cast iron to cook with and I'm about to give you another one.

My love affair with cast iron started when I read some articles about how awful the nonstick pans are for you. I can't tell you the amount of money we spent on what we 'thought' were high-quality pans just to have them scratched up and flaking junk off in our food within a year's time.

I am not saying that cooking with cast iron has been the easiest to learn, and we still have days when our food seems to stick when we don't want it to, but I believe that cast iron is worth it and here's why:


1. Cast iron will last your lifetime, your kid's lifetime, your grandkid's lifetime....should I go on?

You get the picture, right? When you invest in cast iron, you are investing in pans that will last your entire lifetime and into future generations. There are antique cast iron pans that people are still using today from the 1800's. I like to picture my great-granddaughter using my cast iron and talking about how this used to be her great-grandma's pan.

2. Cast iron saves you money.

If I added up the money we spent yearly on nonstick pans prior to using cast iron, I could have easily bought this set of cast irons pans about three times. In the name of self-sufficiency, it doesn't get better than never having to buy pans again.

3. There are actually health benefits when cooking your food in cast iron.

It's called cast IRON which means that cooking with it is going to add iron to your diet. I have a tendency to be borderline anemic and cooking with cast iron is a way to help with that condition. Many women who are still having monthly cycles can benefit from the extra iron provided by cast iron pans. But, the biggest reason to switch to cast iron is to get away from all the synthetic material and chemicals in other types of pans. Cast iron and stainless steel are what you should be using if you want to avoid toxins when cooking your food.

4. They are really easy to clean.

When I cook an egg in my small egg skillet, I usually clean it by just wiping it out with a towel. That helps to keep it seasoned so your food doesn't stick. If it has a lot of food stuck to it, I will put a small amount water in it and boil the water to get the food unstuck. I then season it really well again. We season all our pans with bacon grease that is strained and collected after cooking bacon.

This is my collection of cast iron. Some were purchased by me, some were purchased for me, and some were bought at garage sales. Finding them at garage sales for a reasonable price has become much harder because people want to call them antique and stick an outrageous price on them. Make sure you check on prices. A lot of times you will find a cheaper price on Amazon.

 



 

 

5. Cast iron can go from the stove to the oven.

 

You can use cast iron on your stovetop, in your oven, and even in an open fire. It doesn't get more versatile than that.

 

Taking care of your cast iron may take more time than using other pans, but to me the time is worth the effort. Many people give up on cast iron before they really get the pan good and seasoned. They don't understand the more you cook with it the more it becomes nonstick. Most of our pans are just like nonstick pans now because they have been used so many times.

 

 

These are my reasons for switching to cast iron. What are yours?

 



 

 

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2016 Goals

 

Can you believe 2015 is over and we are in 2016 already? Here's to messing up our check dates for the next three months! I have been wanting to get this post up for a couple weeks now but time has gotten away from me. At the beginning of every year I try to look at where we are and think about the things we need to improve upon.

Here's the list of our 2016 homesteading goals:

1. Move our garden to higher ground so that it doesn't flood when we get large amounts of rain.

Last year we had a huge problem with our garden because of all the rain we received in Kentucky. We are moving the garden up to higher ground this year hoping this helps.

 

2. Build a chicken coop and purchase chickens.

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Top Ten Posts for 2015

Here are the top ten posts for 2015 from Little House on the 100 Farm. Thanks for all the support and encouragement toward our family this year! Just click on the pictures to read the posts.

10. Please Don't Become Self Righteous With Your Choices

9. It All Started With Butter
 

 

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2015

I thought it would be fun to look back on the 2015 year and see some of the highlights of our year.

This is a picture heavy post. I'm glad I take lots of pictures all year and have a blog to record all the fun, and not so fun, things that happen in our lives.

 

 Remember that time I lost my mind and decided to put together this huge puzzle? That was how our year started off. We glued that puzzle, framed it and stuck it on my boys bedroom wall.

 

I had my first article and more published in a magazine. I am still writing for the Molly Green Magazine, and I suggest that all homesteading/homeschooling people subscribe to it!

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Little House's Freezer and Canning Inventory

 

Do you keep an inventory of your freezer and pantry? I decided today to do just that today. I am going to try and keep a list of all that we have available to make it easier to meal plan. I am not sure how many of you will find this interesting, but here ya go!

FREEZER INVENTORY:

Venison Burger - 69 one pound packages

Venison Steak - 4 one pound packages

Venison Roast - 4 roast


Venison Back Loins - 2

Corn from our garden - 33 quart bags

Green Peppers - 9 half quart bags

Strawberries from our garden - 1.5 gallon bags full

Multicolored peppers - 2 half quart bags


HOME CANNING INVENTORY:

Canned venison - 17 quarts

Canned Tomatoes - 43 quarts

Applesauce - 7 quarts, 6 pints

Apple Jelly - 4 jelly jars

Blackberry Jam - 3 pints, 3 jelly jars

Dill Pickles - 5 quarts, 3 pints

Pears - 9 quarts, 3 pints

Squash relish - 5 pints

Apple pie filling - 4 quarts

Green beans - 14 pints

Kidney beans - 10 pints

Pinto beans - 6 pints

Navy beans - 1 pint

Chicken broth - 4 quarts, 1 pint

Potatoes - 4 quarts

Spaghetti sauce - 16 quarts, 1 pint

Salsa - 6 quarts, 5 pints

Pizza Sauce - 7 pints

Bread and butter pickles - 3 quarts

Peach sauce - 3 quarts

Strawberry jam - 1 jelly jar

Peach jam - 1 pint

Ketchup - 9 quarts, 1 pint

This is not all the food we have in our freezer. We also have stuff like butter, leftovers, and frozen fruit we bought from the grocery store. I also have a pantry with pasta, flour, and etc. in it that I still need to inventory. What's on this list was put away from our farm or from a local farmer here in our town, except the pint of peach jam, which came from a friend, and the kidney, pinto, and navy beans that were dried beans bought from the store and canned here.

Living my dream right here on this farm!

~Jenn

 

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How To Can Venison and How To Use It



 

Have you ever pressure canned venison?

We have been canning venison for quite a few years now. I believe it's worth your time to learn how to do it. We love to use it for vegetable soup, BBQ sandwiches, and venison and noodles. It makes the meat really tender. Basically, anything you would use pulled pork or shredded beef for, you can replace with canned venison.

Here is how you do it:

1. Well first you need a deer and deer meat.

2. Cut your deer meat up into cubes. We cut the neck, front shoulders, and hind quarters up into 1-2 inch cubes.

 

3. Stuff canning jars with raw meat and use a wooden spoon to help pack it down into jars. Use as much meat as you can stuff in there to make it full.

 

 

 



 

4. Put 2 tsp of canning salt in jars. Do not add water or liquid to your jars. Put canning lid and ring on after wiping rim of jar to make sure it's cleaned off. This assures that the lid will seal correctly.
 

 

 

5. Put 2-3 inches of water in your pressure canner. Set jars in pressure canner and put lid on on your canner. Make sure you have a really good seal on your pressure canner lid. Bring pressure up to 15 pounds of pressure. Once it's up to pressure and it starts hissing and ticking, you time it for 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, let the pressure come down in your canner before removing jars. This can take up to an hour.

 

Please don't be afraid of a pressure canner. If used properly they are a really great tool for a homesteader to have in their kitchen.

 

Leave questions in comment section and share this post to let other people know that they can pressure can their venison!

 







 

 

 

 

 

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Molly Green Sale

Are you a homesteader or homesteader wannabe?

Do you homeschool?

Do you work from home while homesteading and homeschooling?

Are you interested in ways to manage your time and household well?

If any of these apply to you, whether one or all of them, then you need to hurry up and take advantage of this sale by Molly Green. I have been writing for Molly Green for about a year now. Everything about this magazine and website is awesome for us who like to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. I encourage you to take advantage of this sale while they are having it. It will end on October 31st.

 

 

~Jenn

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It's Okay, Mama, To Try and Make Money for Your Family

This post is coming straight from my heart this morning. .

I want to talk about how I am learning that it's okay for me to try and make money and still stay home. For some reason, over the years, I have decided that trying to run a home business wasn't being fair to my family. If I was to try and do that, it would mean that they would be neglected. Oh how my mind has changed recently.

I am going to let you in on a little secret that I have experienced just by doing something different these past nine days. I have intentionally been getting up between 5:00-6:00 in the morning to make time for things that are important to me that I don't have time to do in my regular daily schedule of homeschooling, appointments, field trips, cooking, and taking care of my home responsibilities. It has been life changing. I started a course called Make Over Your Mornings by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom and she has been coaching me through how to get my life more organized and how to fit in what I am passionate about.


Over the course of the last couple weeks, I have discovered that I am passionate about my oils. I have been passionate about my oils for a long time but I have never thought of actually turning that into a business that would help support my family. Y'all, these oils are changing peoples' lives and I don't mean by just making money from selling them. So I am not going to be afraid to tell people about my oils anymore. If I have something that I think can help you in an area of your life, I'm going to share it with you.

I am passionate about homesteading and learning the skills that are required for that lifestyle. That's why I started a blog. I want to help people to know that there are alternative ways of living and not being caught up in what the majority of society says is "normal." I want to hang on to our grandparents' ways of preserving, hunting, and making things from scratch.

I am passionate about writing and telling y'all what is going on in my life and giving you tips on things that I do to help me around here. That can be anything from getting out of debt, making homemade rolls, or what I use to mop my floors that doesn't contain nasty chemicals.

I am embracing my weirdness for the first time in my life. I am realizing that, perhaps, God has a mission for me and I can use the online world to point people to Him all while helping people to live a more sustainable, self-sufficient life. Do I have this whole homesteading, essential oil, homeschooling, hippie life figured out? Heck to the no! I am learning more everyday!

The point of all this is to say that, yes, I have ads on my blog (which I have struggled with in the past but not anymore), yes, I am going to tell you about essential oils, because I love them, and, yes, I use affiliate links on my Facebook Page to tell you about products I want or love. Yes, I am going to try and make money for my family from these links and ads and oils. We have goals and dreams to accomplish during this lifetime and so do you! How can we achieve those if we don't have money? Money isn't evil, it's a tool that should be used to God's glory. You shouldn't love it or hoard it, but you shouldn't be afraid of making it either.

I have learned that by being passionate about something and trying to earn money for my family while staying home makes me happier person. When I can wake up in the morning, get into God's word, and make time for things I am passionate about, I feel renewed and excited about facing the day. I feel like I have a purpose and a passion. Obviously, my first priorities in life have nothing to do with blogging, oils, or money. My first priorities are God, my family, and my responsibilities around the home. Crystal's course has taught me how to keep those things first and still have time to add on what makes my heart beat a little faster and what gets me excited.

So I am asking you give support to the mom who wants to add more income to her family and still wants to stay home with her children. Share our blog posts and Facebook pages. Tell others about our home businesses, whether it's oils, thirty-one, Pampered Chef, etc. Host parties in your homes for us and help us to get our business up and running. We are all more than just moms. Motherhood is such a privilege and I wouldn't change it for anything but I still want to have those passions that put a little bounce in my step and get me out of bed at 5:00 am.

~Jenn

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My Top 10 Favorite Blogs

I decided I wanted to share my favorite blogs with you all today. You will be able to tell shortly after glancing at my list that I have issues. My dear friends, we have known this for awhile now, haven't we? Let's just say that I like a variety of things.

So here are the top 10 blogs or websites that I visit almost daily.

1. The Small Things Blog

Kate is so funny and down to earth. She always makes me laugh in her YouTube videos and also gives me great information on how to use makeup and style my hair. As a former cosmetologist, I love this blog!

2. Stacy Makes Cents

I have followed Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents for as long as I have been following blogs. Her, and her husband, are debt free and try to give advice to others to help them escape the slavery of debt. I watch her almost daily on Periscope and boy does she cracks me up. I have learned how to make better bread and where to get a great looking wallet that's pretty and can keep my cash categories separate.

3. The Elliott Homestead


Shaye Elliott at The Elliott Homestead pretty much lives my dream life. If I had a genie who would grant me a wish, I would chose to live exactly as Shaye does. My husband likes to tease me and say that I don't have the first idea of what it's like to really have a farm and farm animals, but I'd sure like to give it a try! Shaye is down to earth and funny, yet serious and shares her faith regularly. She is also my up-line for my essential oil business!

4. The Unplugged Family

This is by far my favorite homeschooling blog and it has been for years. In fact, she is probably the only homeschooling blog that I visit almost daily. I love her method of teaching and she has really shown me how implement the Charlotte Mason method into our school day. She makes a choice to live against what society says you should do by not having television and choosing to celebrate biblical feasts instead of the commercialism of Christmas and other holidays.

5. The Crush With Lee and Tiffany

Lee and Tiffany are my favorite hunting couple. Glen and I love to watch their show and we buy the seasons as they come out since we don't have a satellite or cable hookup to watch them. They are very passionate about deer hunting. I am pretty sure my husband and Lee could be BFF with how obsessive they both are with deer hunting and food plots. I like Tiffany because she is passionate about hunting but is still very feminine, while being surrounded by a bunch of men.

6. Money Saving Mom

Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom is so motivating she exhaust me sometimes! She is very encouraging to those who want to start a business online and has a ton of good advice for how to keep your priorities straight and accomplish things during the day. I am going through her Make Over Your Mornings Challenge right now and I just pre-ordered her Money Making Mom book on Amazon.

7. The Prairie Homestead

Jill's blog was the very first homesteading blog I ever followed. I learned a ton from her and she sparked my desire to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. She has so many homemade recipes on her blog and is such a valuable resource for those who wish to learn about homesteading.

8. Molly Green

Molly Green is a great resource for those who desire the homesteading/homeschooling lifestyle. They also cover home keeping and home industry. Their magazine is pretty darn cool and you can even find articles from me in there! :) Their whole magazine and website pretty much sums up my whole lifestyle. I am a stay at home mom who wants to keep house well, homestead, homeschool, and earn some money while doing all this!

9. Whistle Pig Hollow

Something about Ashley's writing and her laid-back approach to life is appealing. I have reached out to her on several occasions for advice and she is always willing to help. She is so good about telling you when something she has tried is failing or has failed. But then she puts her big girl panties on and tries it again a different way until she succeeds. She is very motivating to me.

10. Homestead Blogger's Network

The Homestead Blogger's Network has been the most valuable thing for my blog. They are the most helpful, friendly, non-catty group out there. There are no quarrels or trying to one-up each other. There entire site is based on trying to help homestead bloggers get their blog posts and information out there to the public. They have been the ones that have helped me get my website up and showed me how to pin my posts on Pinterest, taught me about how to put social media icons on my website and much, much more. They have so many blogs they help promote that I can't even begin tell you all my favorite peeps on here so I will just direct you to their site and tell you that a lot of those blogs they promote are my online friends and you should follow them!

Well, there you go. I told you I was a mixed-up woman. I think I can sum it up by saying I am a woman who likes to be self-sufficient, frugal, homeschool, and hunt..... all while looking good! ;)

Hope your day is filled with what matters most to you and you keep striving to improve yourself on this journey.

~Jenn


Disclosure: In order for me to help support my family with my blogging, I may receive monetary compensation or other forms of compensation from product reviews, links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations. I appreciate your love and support as I try and earn some extra income so I can stay home and homeschool my son. Much love to you, ~Jenn

 

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Five Reasons to Start a Homestead

Why on earth would a person want to start a homestead during this day and age? I mean, come on, you can go right down the road and buy everything you need from Wal-Mart. So why make yourself work harder than necessary?

Our Homestead

 

When it's more convenient to just buy everything you need, and who really cares these days if you can make a loaf of bread from scratch, why start up a self-sufficient homestead?

Well I am about to give you five reasons why you should start one.

I started dreaming about having a homestead four years ago. We were living in a big, beautiful, brand new house I thought would make me happy, but something starting stirring deep in my soul and the excess of having a big house with a family of three really started to bother me. I felt like we were not being good stewards with our finances. I was slowly waking up to the reality of consumerism and it's affects on people and I wasn't willing to be just okay with that anymore. Not that I am perfect....I enjoy a $5 coffee every now and then too.

I have always been close to my grandparents and I love sitting and listening to them talk about their childhood. I'm fascinated with learning how they survived back then and how it was the norm to cook, bake, and harvest your own meat rather than buy it at a grocery store. I must say, big corporations and government assistance have made it very convenient for us to solely rely on them. I am not a prepper but I do believe that tragedy can, and will, strike again. It's a cycle that happens naturally throughout time. I often wonder what people will do when times get hard again? How will they feed their families from nature when they've never learned how to? We have entire generations being raised right now that don't even realize the meat they eat comes from a cow! It's ridiculous how far removed we are from our food sources and the reality of where they come from.

My grandpa and his homemade chicken coop.

 



 

 

Five Reasons to start a homestead NOW:

1. Your children need to learn how to provide for a family when times get bad.

You may not live to see this but they most likely will. Don't you want them to be able to care for your grandkids and survive? What's that saying again? "Give a man a fish and he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime." That's the mentality you need to have with your children. You want them to learn self-sufficiency by growing a garden, working hard, and hunting for meat.

2. Use what God has given you wisely.  

If all it takes is a little time and effort to bake a loaf of bread, make up some biscuits, and grind our own meat, that's what I want to do. Sure, the initial cost of some of the equipment for this stuff is high, but in the end it saves you a ton of money.

3. By being more self-sufficient and stretching your dollars, you can help others.  

If the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as yourself  how you doing on that? Sometimes, loving others as yourself means providing physical things for them. I cannot provide for others if I am up to my eyeballs in debt and I am barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes providing for others may not come in financial ways but in the time it takes to bake or fix something for them. All skills you learn when you decide to start homesteading.

4. It's healthier for you.

Let's be honest, when I make a loaf of bread for my family there are about 4-5 ingredients in it. When I buy it from the store (which I still occasionally do...I'm not perfect by golly) it has numerous ingredients that I can't even pronounce. Have you ever tasted a tomato from the grocery store and then tasted one from a home-grown garden? Absolutely no comparison, my friends. A tomato from a garden is a delicacy that is sweet and juicy while a store tomato is flavorless and has a chemical treatment done to it so it ripens rapidly and looks red.

 

Harvesting the non-sprayed, non-GMO corn we grew this summer.

 



 

 

 Putting corn up for the winter months.
 

 

Fresh veggies from the garden.
 

 

 

 Canned tomatoes for the winter.
 

 

 

Making bread and hamburger buns.
 

 

 

5. If "You know what" hits the fan....we'll be okay.

I have full confidence in the abilities that we have acquired over the years and know we can survive quite awhile with these skills. It's empowering to know that you could survive off the meat you hunt and veggies you grow if you had to. Ma and Pa Ingalls, along with my grandparents, knew how to do all of this. I'm sure Caroline would have loved electricity and a washer and dryer....and I love mine. But I also love learning how to do without it if the need arises. I am not going off grid anytime soon because I don't want to, but I want to learn the required skills if it was to become necessary. Obviously, God is the ultimate provider for us when things get rough, but He gave us a brain and we ought to use it.

Honestly, a lot of the reason why people are not more self-sufficient these days is because of time issues and laziness. We don't have the time or the ambition. It's sad that society has fed us the lie that if we're not running around like crazy, consuming everything we can, working 2-3 jobs making money to pay for all our 'stuff', we aren't accomplishing anything. I may be a conspiracy theorist but the world sure has done a good job at making us not think for ourselves. I mean, if the TV wasn't there to tell us how to dress, think, feel, and act what would we do?

In closing, I want to encourage you to try something new. Make a loaf of bread, can some tomatoes from your garden or farmers market, or find someone to teach you to hunt. There are so many YouTube videos and resources out there to help you on this journey. Please know that I am not an expert and I'm learning things every day right along with you!

Some resources to get started on your homesteading journey:

Homemade: How-to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh, and More Naturally

The Backyard Homestead

The Encyclopedia of Country Living

The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading

There are many, many homesteading websites you can visit. I recommend checking out the Homestead Blogger's Network. Some of these bloggers have become personal friends of mine and they have lots of great resources for you.

I hope your day is filled dreaming about future homesteading goals like mine will be!

~Jenn

Disclosure: In order for me to help support my family with my blogging, I may receive monetary compensation or other forms of compensation from product reviews, links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations. I appreciate your love and support as I try and earn some extra income so I can stay home and homeschool my son. Much love to you, ~Jenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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