Man, have things been SUPER crazy here around our .44 acre homestead in the making! We've been busy learning SO many new things that we've not had the time to sit and post anything on our blog. We have been able to manage uploading to our ijustwannagrow facebook page to try and keep people learning what we're learning and answering as many questions as we can to help pass on the learning we're learning or have learned. Our facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/ijustwannagrow?ref=hl . Come by and like our page and stay up to date on our progress in having fun "growing" as a family and sharing with friends and family!
This year is quickly coming to an end and my head is spinning how much we accomplished for ourselves here at home, how much money we've saved in doing more ourselves, and how much more we've learned throughout this year!
Some of the things we've learned:
>how to make our own laundry detergent (thank you to the Duggar Family for sharing their recipes) by the way we've washed laundry on $18 worth of homemade detergent for the ENTIRE 12 months of 2013! Who needs a coupon, seriously?
>learned how to stretch off brand liquid fabric softener
>learned how to make our own cleaning products
>learned how to grow fresh greens through the winter
>learned how to grow new crops successfully: 3 types of kale, pumpkin, salad mixes, broccolini, potatoes, and a few others that I just can't remember
>we grew our own: scallions, chives, rosemary, oregano, sage, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, bib lettuce, salad greens, spinach, radishes, carrots, eggplant, pumpkin, summer squash, LOTS (buckets) of tomatoes, over 200lbs of cucumbers, swiss chard, dill, pole beans, bush beans, okra, savoy cabbage, broccoli, kale, potatoes, green peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and a few others that I just can't remember right now
>learned how to make a green bean teepee
>learned how to sheet mulch with cardboard requiring NO DIGGING to start new garden space
>learned how to merge two flocks of chickens: we're up to 9 and adding 4-6 more in the spring! YAY
>learned how to pressure can from YOUTUBE VIDEOS LOL
>learned how to buy meat in bulk by only buying one meat at a time then canning it all up for the pantry
>learned how to dehydrate with skill
>learned to get out of buying prepackaged foods and do it ourselves now or don't buy it in most cases
>learned how to make our own instant rice blends, and herb blends
>learned how to cost every thing we buy based of cost per unit of measure
>learned how to share MORE than we ever have before
>got to help teach several families how to grow their own food, how to raise backyard chickens, and how to can their own food
God has been TRULY amazing this year to our family! My head still spins when I think about all He has brought us through, all He has shown us, and all that He continues to ask us to learn/grow moving forward!
We are truly blessed with amazing friends & family and we've been apart of some amazing "growing" opportunities this year both in the garden and out of the garden this year!
Got a busy end to 2013 coming up, and looking forward to growing more both in the garden and out in 2014.
So definitely stay tuned!
Glory to God,
ijustwannagrow
