You Grow Girl

I'm reading "You Grow Girl" by Gayla Trail right now. I've only been reading for about an hour and I've already learned some really cool things. I've also learned that I should have been sowing seeds LAST MONTH.

The cool things I've learned are actually from her website, yougrowgirl.com. She has a "Seed Starting Plan" chart that you can print out to let you know when to start sowing seeds, when to plant, etc. She also tuned me in to the online Farmer's Almanac, which gives all kinds of LOCAL gardening information and magically already knows where you live. I also learned that instead of buying tiny pots to sow seeds in, I can make my own out of toilet paper tubes for free. I just wish I'd started saving them back in February...

I'm going to keep reading this book and checking out this website. Maybe it's got hints for "late bloomers." HA! Get it? Late BLOOMERS.

Homesteading

The "homestead" bug has bitten me. It all started because of a conversation about milk. Let me explain.

For as long as I can remember, my family has always bought skim milk. But recently I needed to buy whole milk for a recipe I was making. I drank some of the leftover milk and it was like drinking a freaking milkshake - it was so good.

So one night my husband is drinking milk and I mention this. And this is how the homesteading idea came up:

Me: Whole milk tastes like a milk shake!
Husband: You should taste milk from a Jersey cow. It's like drinking cream.

That was how I came up with the idea of starting a homestead. Husband and I started talking about it and the more we talked, the more we both liked the idea of having our own "mini farm."

In a perfect world, our mini-farm would have: a goat for milk (cows are too big), 6 chickens and a rooster, an alpaca for wool, and two horses (for husband). It would also have a kitchen garden with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, brussel sprouts, basil, cilantro, and garlic. We would need a couple of barn cats (to keep the mice out of the barn, of course), and a dog to keep the critters away from the chickens.

The mini-farm is something we want to plan for and slowly build up to. We feel like this is something we need to do in the next five years because we don't want to be too old when we start. (We actually already feel like we're too old at 41 and 42 - but phooey on it.)

So this is the time line as of right now:
1) Grow, keep, and harvest a year-round vegetable garden in the city.
2) Fix our house up to sell.
3) Get a realtor, sell our house and buy a place on the outskirts of town to start the mini-farm.
4) Plant a new veggie garden.
5) Build a barn.
6) Start buying animals, etc.

I haven't always wanted to live in the country, but for the past few years, the thought has appealed. The only thing I would miss about living in town is pizza delivery. The rest - loud neighbors, louder cars, busy roads, vandalism - can all take a flying leap.

I did a little online research and found a family in Pasadena, CA that has been homesteading since the early 80's. They are HARDCORE. But soooo interesting! Check 'em out here.