Big Plans on a Tiny Homestead - Where to Start?
Okay, so the blog is up and running. There's a singular post on my new Instagram page. And my Pinterest account is at least created. I have pages of research strewn across my bedroom, in my purse, on my kitchen table, and under the living room sofa. I think I check Zillow every day to see if my perfect dream home is finally available in my price range. But at some point, the dreaming and the planning have to change to implementing, and it's a little scary.
Narrowing Down a First Step
Big dreams are reached when many little steps are achieved. I want a year's worth of food storage - water bathed and pressure canned - in my root cellar made by my husband. And the first step to that is to successfully grow a multitude of crops. But the first step to that is to successfully grow one crop. And the first step to that is to prep a garden. And the first step to THAT, starts in the kitchen.
To Prep a Garden
Prepping for a garden starts before the soil and before the seedlings. It starts with:
Making tiny changes to become more sustainable and more frugal with your cooking. Today I made soup. I don't even like soup (usually). But I'm learning to love the process of using up what I have and turning it into a wholesome, filling meal for my family. This soup was made with a random potato I had laying around and the last bit of chicken from dinner two nights ago. The kids and I actually had seconds.
Saving your scraps. I have a ziplock in my freezer slowly filling with vegetable scraps for my first attempt at homemade vegetable broth. And this small bowl is sitting on my stove, waiting to be filled with more potato skins and egg shells for my compost. Do I actually have a compost yet? No. But that's future Alexis' problem.
Meal Planning. I know, you hear it from everyone. But it's said so often for two reasons; because it works and because it's so hard to stick to. Last night, I didn't feel like making and eating stuffed peppers, so we had some leftovers that were supposed to be for dinner tonight. That trade off means I got to enjoy my easy meal sooner, but it also means that I definitely have to cook dinner tonight. My best advice is to remain flexible - to a degree. Can you change up what's for dinner tonight based on the fact that you have no energy to cook at 5pm after wrestling your son to change his 8th poopy diaper in 6 hours and mopping up multiple puddles of urine after a full day of potty training? Yes. You can and you should. But should you throw your meal plan out the window and order takeout instead because someone else cooking is always way more convenient? Probably not. Utilize leftovers, and use a meal planner that you can erase and rework to give yourself some built-in grace during the week. This one on Amazon is similar to the one I use now (paid link, please see my disclosure policy).
Starting in Wisdom
You don't have to start 10 varieties of beans and 2 beehives tomorrow to start homesteading. You don't need to buy a new home with more land and space for a barn to start homesteading. And you don't need to know everything about Nigerian Dwarf Goats to start homesteading. You just need the courage, the patience, and the wisdom. Proverbs 14:1 says “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down” (ESV). It's so easy to get caught up in the minutiae. What pH is your soil? Exactly how many hours a day do you need to harden off your seedlings? Where can you find heirloom seeds instead of hybrid? None of these questions or answers matter if all you do is get bogged down by them. The definition of folly is a “lack of good sense.” And when your dream is to homestead for your family, good sense says that research only gets you so far. Earlier, I said “the dreaming and the planning have to change to implementing, and it's a little scary.” But change is found in the scary. Welcome it with wisdom. Nurture it with simplicity.
