15,000 Square Foot Urban Farm Goes Portable | Your Olive Branch News – yobo.
Tag Archives: homesteading
Rain Barrel Question?
I was reading Your Farm in the City by Lisa Taylor and there was information stating that rainwater from rooftops might be toxic. Any one ever hear such a thing? I have two 300 gallon barrels and would hate to think that the water in them could be toxic. I do use it for my vegetable garden. Advice anyone?
Big water saver for little $$$.
What? Still no lights!
At the mercy of the lines!
My oh my do we ever rely on gas, electricity, oil, etc. I have yet in my 50+ years to experience having my utility lifeline severed. I do though have complete sympathy for those who have been forced due to the weather, to live without power. I truly believe that from here on in we are going to live at the “mercy of the weather”.
I feel the dramatic changes we have seen in the weather are here to stay. It is understood that societies’ reliance on utilities has caused many of us to become complacent. If you have never had to go without, how can you know what it’s going to be like? Even the choice to live a greener or more sustainable life will not have most of us looking to live such a primitive life.
Being born and raised in the north I have many friends and family who have seen their share of catastrophic weather this year. From a tornado in the summer to the snowtober event of last week they have had to endure considerable amounts of time without electricity. Keeping tabs on many of them has forced me to think about the real effect this loss of power can have on a household.
While my elderly father has a wood stove, I forgot he had a well and septic, this means no water because the pump runs by electricity. He is forced to truck by pail snow up to bathroom tub so they can have water to flush. Just a simple flush becomes a problem. The old rule of letting the yellow mellow is being observed, you can not go weeks without flushing. A basic routine for most of us.
Living without lights for a few days is survivable, but thinking about all the other so called necessities we now use to get through the day makes one realize that preparing for these events takes strong will. Being prepared to live without our cell phones that need charging, the refrigerators that need to stay cold, the generators that should be the saving grace, even needs gas to run….and if you can’t get the gas from the service station because the power is out well then you are the SOL.
It is times like these that push some of us to consider what we can do to make life a bit less inconvenient when we lose our power source. It has been done many many years before us and can be done again with a little old thing call ingenuity. A basic move is to have foods that do not need so much preparation. More fruits and vegetables that do not need to be kept in the fridge would help in a situation like this and would even slim a few waistlines!
Another simple a tip I found online, if you use solar lights in your yard they can be a source of safe indoor light when it gets dark. I know it is just a matter of time before I get to experience life without power, hopefully it will not impact me as much since I am working to live a simpler life. I will be jonesing on the loss of the net though!
Got any other great ideas? Let me know.
Cut Home Expenses – Money – Savings – Bargains – Deals – AARP
Try homesteading. To boost their populations, some rural communities in Minnesota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa provide free land to build a home, often with tax incentives. Do a Web search for “free land” or contact the Center for Rural Affairs for details.
via Cut Home Expenses – Money – Savings – Bargains – Deals – AARP.
Columbus Day
Today is a federal holiday to honor Christopher Columbus and the role he played in discovering the America’s. For those of us who need a bit of a history refresher you can check out Myths about Columbus’ Expeditions Dispelled.
Columbus definitely lead a simpler life and while I yearn for such, I am sure glad that I am able to enjoy many of the creature comforts progress has brought us. I do though curse many technologies and blame them for the current madness that has encumbered many fine folks. We have becoming glutinous with no regard to where the by-product of this gluttony goes. Into the trash, creating landfills the size of football fields to dumping all sorts of products down the drain, polluting our water sources. Maybe today is the day to begin taking baby steps to living a more sustainable life.
Click the link above to see what small steps you can take today. Every small effort helps the environment. My personal journey began 2+ years ago. Moving from a condo to a one acre plot has made me somewhat of an urban farmer wannabe. This one acre and several small changes have made me more conscious of every choice I make in my daily life. Today I have a garden that I am fighting with, two 300 gallon rainbarrels, two clotheslines, one homemade wood and one of those umbrella style that I bought at a yard sale. I have wanted to see how that style holds up.
The clotheslines.
A wood chipper to make my own wood chip mulch. The other day I had my 25-year-old, living at home son, out in the yard picking up sticks. After about 1/2 hour he asked “WHY”? All the dead limbs, branches and even pine cones make mulch for my garden beds.
Picked up sticks.
The other small changes I have made
- Big water saver for little $$$.
- Cantaloupe from garden.
So you can see that it is possible to make changes that are simple and fun!
