The Happy Homesteader

It has been awhile since we have posted at The Happy Homesteader blog and I can personally say I have really missed being an active part of the Farm Dreams community. Our extended family has recently experienced an unexpected loss of a young member of the family and it has been a very difficult thing to deal with for many of us. Death of a loved one is never…

The Happy Homesteader

To do anything that takes time and effort requires some form of inspiration and motivation. Take a job for instance. What could possibly cause a person to get up early, rush around to get chores done, leave before its full light, work for 10 or more hours a day away from home in a stressful job, rush home to spend a few hours with family and share a meal…

The Happy Homesteader

It seems that in every endeavor a person pursues there comes a time when they reach certain plateaus in the experience and things can become monotonous or even a drudgery. I hope I am not alone in this but it seems that many people I have come in contact with have expressed at least a similar feeling about things. Some times its a job that becomes that way, perhaps due to the many tedious responsibilities of one…

The Happy Homesteader

One of the things I find very interesting about people is the way they handle situations especially difficult ones. There are many personality types and different personalities handle things different ways. Some are very passive while others can be more reactive and even aggressive. I think it also has a lot to do with a person's background and the way they were raised. Its often the case that if parents…

The Happy Homesteader

There is a saying that I have often heard through out my life in a variety of different forms. Maybe you have heard some form of this as well but it comes from an old poem by Robert Burns entitled To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785) and it goes like this "The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry, And leave us…

The Happy Homesteader

One of the life lessons that has taken me awhile to figure out and is still a bit of any issue for me is this... There is a rather big difference between enjoying a certain activity or a certain experience and that of being truly happy. The truth of that fact applies to just about every aspect of life.

For example, spending too much on the credit cards brings enjoyment and pleasure while doing the shopping…

The Happy Homesteader

Hello,

We have the wonderful privilege of now being a part of the Official Farm-Dreams Blogging community and will be posting here on Tuesdays each week. We wanted to tell all of you a little bit about ourselves and what our plans are for our Homestead and what you can expect to see here on The Happy Homesteader Blog each week.

We are a family of 4, mom and dad and two small children,…

I have had this discussion with many people. We try to eat as healthy as possible as a family and we choose Organic products if at all possible. Not everyone understands this decision and question why it is even important at all. Organic produce and meats are often more expense than the other products that are…

I love to watch my kids play. They can become so consumed for hours in some kind of make believe world they have created in their minds and with their toys. It’s their imagination that I appreciate the most and it always amazes me what they come up with. I have often thought that a lack of imagination was one of the…

One of the biggest concerns we have as a family and that we have heard others express is making sure that our food is as healthy as possible. What that means to us is that we try to grow as much of our own food as possible and purchase what else we need from trusted local growers. In some instances we do visit local…

In a online PDC, Permaculture Design Course, I am taking I was asked what my thoughts were on the Primary Permaculture Ethics and what we can do to apply them in our lives. Here are some of my thoughts, what are yours?

The primary Permaculture Ethics are:

1. Care of the Earth

2. Care of…

Without getting too far off on a tangent regarding Permaculture I wanted to take just a few moments and list some of the reasons why I believe the subject of Permaculture is not a new idea. Although Bill Mollison developed the primary ethics and principles of Permaculture in the not too distant past along with work…

In some of my previous posts at our website I have referenced Permaculture and linked to some videos that have shown the tremendous benefits of applying Permaculture techniques on a large scale. We do not have a large piece of land and likely will not for the foreseeable future so why do I think Permaculture is so important? Well, it is for a wide variety of reasons but primarily because it focuses on offsetting and repairing the…

I really enjoy a trip to the Farmer's Market. I love to browse all of the fresh produce, many homemade and natural products, and different crafts that local growers and artisans have produced. This past weekend my son and I took a trip to one of the local market's in our area with a list of organic veggie's and fruit to get, primarily for juicing. We were looking for Kale, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cucumbers, Italian Parsley, Romaine Lettuce, and Spinach. We also had a request for Pears but we…

I over planted the Zucchini again this year, I’ve got five groups of 2 plants each. Needless to say, we have a lot of Zucchini right now. What are we gonna do with all this stuff? We’ve had Zucchini bread until we can’t take it anymore. We’ve baked it, fried it, grilled it, sauteed it, and even shredded it over our eggs in the morning. We’ve given it away to friends, offered it to neighbors, and even set it out on the street in a bucket with a sign that said “FREE”. Despite all of that, I’ve…