New Things I would like to learn

I have been making lists of things I would like to be able to do, to help Ivan make his dream a success. I am sure I have a lot to learn but I don't want to forget the journey. So I want to share my thoughts with you as I set out on this new advinture.

This past month I have been doing a lot of reading about homesteading, myself.  I have been pleased about how much information I have been able to find on the internet which has been both helpful and inspiring. I have come to believe the change to this life style might be hardest on the women folk.  There is such a change in the way we do things now, many of the things we just take for granted.  So my thought is that I must educate myself to lessen my chance of discouragement.  One of the greatest changes for me will be that I won't be able to get to the store more then once a month and in the winter it could be longer.  So I need to learn how to plan and organize my food supplies and house hold needs.  I found a wonderful program that has helped me in that direction as fare as planning my shopping lists.  You can find this wonderful tool at: http://www.mountain-software.com/  it will still take some dedication in planning but this program is going to be a real help.  I believe that making your home as comfortable and inviting as possible it key to making this change a success.  So where to start?  I know that I will not be able to run to town every time I needed something so I have thought of some of the do it yourself things I could learn.

make bread

make cheese

make butter

soap making

canning and preserving

dehydrating 

laundry

supplying a homestead kitchen.

food storage

furnishing for a homestead home

herbs

herbal home remedies

gardening

my chosen home business

thrift store shopping 

 

I am sure my list will grow as I learn more about this 

Looking at my list I thought I would make bread making my first task.  Now I have to tell you it is not like I have never made bread before but my bread in the past was heavy and didn't rise very much if at all.  If we should decide to build a brick cabin my loaves would do the job.  If my family was going to have fresh bread I must to better then that.

After watching a number of you tube clips on bread making I begin to look for just the right bread recipe and finally found one on a web site called . The Family Homestead  Crystal also has a lot of other helpful information on her web site to help the aspiring Homesteader homemaker! I will share some of that later.

Probably one of the of the biggest things that I did different when making my bread was a suggestion I found on Youtube.  They combined water oil and yeast and let it set and work before ever adding the flour.  It has worked well for me to do it this way and my bread has turned out nicely.  I am trying to make bread once a week this recipe makes 5 large loaves. The family will pretty much use up that amount of bread in a little over a week.  I have found that it is good to put 2-3 of my loaves in the freezer because they mold much faster then store bought bread.  I have not sat down and figured out the cost for making my bread but I can tell you it is way cheaper then what I was buying it for.  I was paying between 3.75 -4.80 for around 3-4 loaves a week which works out to be around. 60.00 - 76.00 a month.  It is amazing the ways you can start saving when you start really sitting down and looking at what you are spending.  I had no idea I was spending that much on bread.  I am afraid to start breaking down the rest of my shopping!!!  (I might have to reconsider coupon clipping) 

The bonus is that the bread tastes so good and is better for my family!  Ivan wants me to start grinding our own wheat.... I will let you know how that goes later.

Ivan told Sarah that if we are going to live in the mountains she could have a goat . (Ivan hates goats) Ivan hates goats but love his little girl more and she loves goats.  We will probably have chickens too so I guess I need to add these to critters to my list. like can you dehydrate milk? Could eggs and milk help bring in any income?

It might be kind of crazy since we are trying to be vegan but I decided that I should try making cheese.   Since we will be having milk around I thought I should investigate different ways we could make use of it besides drinking it.  I will begin by finding the simplest cheese to make, and go from there.  I will let you know what I find.