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I'm just happy to hear she's not a mohel. :hide <covers crotch>

Out of curiosity, which one of you self-proclaimed SS Crones is this? Please step forward.

Again, please don't get me wrong here. I'm not denying the fact that the majority of people have a faith in something. I'm simply acknowledging that from personal experience, I've never met a die hard homesteader who wasn't fiercely devout. I enjoy this forum because the people within it...

I've also noticed that you never find diehard homesteaders who are athiests. Most seem to be strongly devout Christians. I'm guessing if you're choosing to live a lifestyle where you're constantly teetering on the edge of just staying afloat, with no one to rely upon but yourselves, that...

Diligence. And a bit of part-time help. :) Those photos are from when we were planting a full 2-acres of garlic. Now we've scaled down to 2/10ths of an acre, all hardneck varieties. Much more manageable. One of the big challenges with establishing a garlic patch is that garlic is an...

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, apples can indeed be grown in Southern California; you simply have to choose varieties suited to your climate. Many won't do well out there, but some are ideally suited. I'm guessing from the varieties you've chosen that you got your trees from Trees of...

Farmfresh: Thanks for the suggestion and for the hello. I've altered the title of the journal accordingly.

Yes, a Diavolicchio is a type of Italian chili pepper. But it's more of a broad category of chili than a specific variety. It literally means "Little Devil."

It's easy to get caught up in definitions or semantics. I wasn't so much curious about what the official definition or etymology is of the term 'homesteading,' but more the differences between the people who consider themselves homesteaders vs. the people who simply identify with the concepts...

I did the whole Stevia thing about 8 years ago but just never could acquire a taste for it. Even in its pure, refined form it leaves an odd, bitter aftertaste. I also bought a container of the actual dried and pulverized leaves, which I believe I STILL have sitting in the pantry. I...

That's quite an astute observation. The fence went up in August of 2008 and the one thing I discovered this past spring was that I had inadvertently trapped a number of woodchucks within the orchard area resulting in them destroying about 20 fruit trees by girdling the bark off of them up to...

Thanks for the kind words. I don't plant nearly as much garlic as I'd attempted original. My plans upon buying the land back in 2004 were to have an organic garlic farm exclusively. But I got bitten by the fruit tree bug and the garlic is now only about 1/10th the size of what I...

John: I'm flattered that you took the time to actually wade through all of the info on orchardman.com . Yes, plans are for a 14.2 kW PV system comprised of 45 SunPower 315 PV panels, but I've got to do it in two stages. The first 5 panels will be the awning on the cottage, and the remaining...

I try to grow a good-sized patch of garlic every year, almost exclusively the hardneck types that send up scapes, or flower stalks. One other attribute that's distinct about hardneck types is that each clove needs to be planted by hand, which is one of the main reasons the majority of large...

I appreciate the kind words, but I'm actually quite a distance from the Self-Sufficient Life I aspire to have someday. I've also been blessed with a talented, Ecological Architect to thank for the cottage design. Check out his page on Sustainability and how he employs this within his design...

It's an intriguing site; it's just a shame they had to pollute it with so much advertising to make it work.

I totally understand what you mean. I was a member of one of the Homesteading forums briefly and there seemed to be (and I don't mean this disparagingly in the least) a sense that being a homesteader was about deprivation; conveniences and comforts are frowned upon. It seemed bad for...

I'm curious how the folks on here would compare the concepts of Self-Sufficiency to Homesteading, as well as the personalities of the folks who tend to identify with one term over the other. I know some people would equate these two terms, but others will probably see distinct differences...

John, It's nice with the SunPower 315's that you can actually have a 1.5+ kW system with only 5 panels. I believe this is the most energy per square foot that you can get with a residential solar panel.

I just find it really cool that someone could bake and cook with that stove AND use the boiler within it to heat 10 radiators throughout a house. And all using sustainable energy.