Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Homestead Update

I am reading the Encyclopedia of Country Living and it has been really eye opening. I find that maybe my view of homesteading is off a little. I want to be self sufficient as possible with what I have. Living in town and renting we can't have livestock but I can grow a lot of our food. My husband hunts but I've always hoped that he wouldn't get a deer because I wouldn't eat it or prepare it. My attitude hasn't been correct... if deer is what we can do then I should eat it. Imagine the savings...especially since my uncle processes his own and will help my husband. Here is a part that really made me think....
" My ideal woman milks a cow or goats, gardens, and cares for her children herself. She hasn't got time for dishes with 10 ingredients. And my ideal woman wants to use as few store-bought ingredients and gadgets as possible. She's looking for from scratch recipes or making up her own."
I want to be like that...I want to use few store bought ingredients and gadgets.... but I have been so brainwashed that we need everything....it will make life easier...it will take less time... etc. How do we break free from all society says we need?

The grocery store makes it so easy not to cook... bread is cheap, yet filled with all sorts of preservatives and other yucky things. It takes time to make our own bread and buns- we must make time in our day and get busy! Eating out is so easy since there is a fast food place every five feet in town- cooking from scratch again takes time and effort to plan!

Another part of the book that got me thinking is this
" To have 365 days of independent eating, you've got to learn to eat what you grow, and you've got to learn to grow what you want to eat. If you don't like what you have, eat it anyway and use the energy of your distaste to figure out how to get what you'll like better. If your only meat is deer, eat deer until you can raise something else!!"

How true that is... and how spoiled we've become to demand all sorts of fruit not in season and meat that has been raised filled with hormones and antibiotics!! Not that long ago our nation only ate what they could grow....meat, dairy, and garden!!

How do we get back to the basics? And be content with it?

2 comments:

Michelle said...

My husband is a big hunter, so I can relate! I don't like the taste of deer meat, but I have learned to use it. I have found that I can't really taste it if I use it in spaghetti or chili. Another option is to mix it half and half with ground beef. This way you are buying much less ground beef. I hope this helps!

Anonymous said...

My husband and son do a lot of hunting but mostly deer (we've also had wild boar, and alligator). We have deer for at least half of the year in the freezer or the pantry because I can it. If you prepare deer with onions it is better. If a younger deer is harvested the meat is more tender. If a buck is harvested then you have to be careful how it's hung and skinned so as not to pierce the gland in the back legs as this will ruin the meat. We also found an Amish processor that makes awesome deer bologna for $1.00 lb. We love it and I've never liked deer bologna before. Anyway, I love your blog. I strive to be that woman you mentioned in the one of your latest entries, too. Keep up the hard work and together I bet we can get there.

S.D. in Millwood Oh