Welcome! Share our country living journey as we learn how to homestead, build an organic sustainable vegetable garden. Savor the tastes of Slow healthy cooking, baking and putting food up. Create a cottage garden and tend our farm animals. Live a simpler, greener, healthier and slower way of life. Pioneering a journey towards self-sufficiency one step at a time.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Working on the farm

The weather has been a little crazy here in Alsea. Rain and a lot of it, sun just enough to make the grass grow and now hot .. hot ..hot! We have cut grass, pulled weeds and cleared brush. The grass keeps growing and the weeds, they just keep coming. Will be cooling down I hear so back to clearing brush around the pond. Oh did I mention we mow all this by hand, no riding around here. (I think a John Deere is on Rick's x-mas list)









Moving oak limbs






out to the burn pile













Mowing the fields




Still mowing
















Will he ever be done?


Looking  good!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Times are a Changing

Times are a changing....so we'll also be making some changes. The past six months have been spent getting my health back and reflecting on how I live my life. Changes... fresh organic eating, breathing fresh air everyday, more water intake, sunshine and a lot more physical exercise. I'm in pursuit of living a simpler, healthier and slower way of life.

This will age me, but back in the 70's we homesteaded 100 acres. We raised three children, chickens, pigs, one milk cow and thrity head of black Angus cattle. We grow a large vegetable garden and fruit orchard, canned food for winter and put hay up in the summer for the cattle. We made all of our food from scratch. We tried to do as much for ourselves as we were able.

Now some thirty years later, we still live in the country, only we have downsized to just 10 acres. More than enough to keep us busy.  We have a few challenges to work out, getting some good drinking water, redoing our garden with raised beds and hoop houses to extend our growing season. I think the list keeps growing every time I look at it.

If you would like to join us in our homestead journey you're welcome to read along as we transition to a greener, healthier lifestyle.