30 Day Homesteading Challenge - October 2021

tortoise

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This challenge has been more challenging than I expected because of its design/order/pace. I have objections. :gig Can I play it like bingo please? :gig

Here's my update. I'm going to call this challenge completed. A similar challenge is worth repeating. It feels good to try something new and make some new goals.
  1. Replace one meal - IDK which one, my goal in SS living is not depending on grocery stores, so this is a constant
  2. Repair a hole - I found holes and I know how to darn them, but it hasn't bee a priority lately.
  3. Plant [another] edible - 2 trays microgreens, 6 1020 flats of greens started in winter greenhouse
  4. Identify [another] edible - I bought two books on foraging in my region and shelved the topic until spring.
  5. Replace one pantry item - flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, granulated sugar
  6. Begin a ferment - sourdough starter, kefir
  7. Bake bread - check, check, check, check, check
  8. Research animals - have sheep, still researching better ways to move and manage them. I want to DH to build a chute, I have ideas and picked up Temple Grandin's book on moving small herds/flocks. Also did some prelim research on AGH and decided that's still distant future.
  9. Kitchen practice - sprouted whole wheat bread, blanch almonds, grain mill/make flour
  10. Save kitchen scraps - made bone broths and kept the batch going 18 days until the first bone disintegrated, saved the good bone for future batch, otherwise I was lazy and gave kitchen scraps to chickens/goats.
  11. Start compost - n/a? only thing I could think of was building a hot box for my greenhouse, but that's low priority / not happening this year.
  12. Build one thing. :gig
  13. Sew something - I have the tools, supplies, knowledge and no time for it.
  14. DIY cleaner - I don't need cleaner now. I make a vodka/vinegar/water unscented cleaner. DH hates it.
  15. Reuse waste - I used a box to make a thing for DS6's violin lesson? does that count?
  16. Relax :gig
  17. Dehydrate - sprouted wheat berries, spinach, bread cubes and bread crumbs
  18. Line dry - I got my drying rack out of the basement. Is that good enough?
  19. Shop local - I switched to getting cream line milk in glass jugs. It's not terribly local - 100 miles away. I buy it from a local bulk food store. I am switching from granulated sugar to local maple syrup and local honey.
  20. Find a class - I read books.
  21. Write a goal - growing grains
  22. Library card - n/a. check?
  23. Get a fruit tree - not the season for it. Some young apple trees were girdled and didn't survive 2020. I picked a local nursery to buy fruit trees from in spring.
  24. Buy in bulk - 25# wheat berries.
  25. Meal plan - :gig meal planning is the most anti-SS activity IMO. I plan by opening the fridge and picking out the things that will spoil first and then figure out a way to convince my family to eat them.
  26. Connect with others - I'm going to have to count a private message to a forum member who lives in my area, even though we haven't met in person. Between 4-H and living in a rural agriculture area, I feel connected enough even though I'm not really. if that makes sense?
  27. Plan garden - check!
  28. Budget for garden - purchased seed
  29. Watch documentary - :gig who has time for that? I read books?
  30. Reflect - every day.
 

Britesea

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Sprouts are easy even in an apartment. Guinea Pigs are even easier than rabbits to take care of, although you need to make sure they get some vitamin C since, like humans, they do not produce it in their own bodies. Doves, quail, pigeons or chickens- produce eggs as well as meat with varying needs in housing and noise control. (most people will tell you they actually ENJOY the sound of doves cooing in your back yard)
When I was a teenager, we had a Samoyed who needed grooming regularly. I saved the wool from his undercoat and taught myself how to spin with it. (maybe not the HIGHEST quality yarn, but it worked)
 

tortoise

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Day 1 - One SS meal

I feel like I need a whole week to prep one meal. 🤣

  • I have home-grown, home-butchered lamb roast.
  • A jar of homemade BBQ sauce didnt seal, so I need to use it up. I didnt grow any of the ingredients in the BBQ sauce, but I started from fresh tomatoes.
  • I can bake bread. I can convert my recipe to use honey or maple syrup (which I can buy local) instead of granulated sugar from the grocery store.
  • I have spring mix that needs to get eaten. I didnt grow it. I can start a tray of baby greens today though!
 

Okiepan

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To nixtamilize corn use pickling lime in water let it sit overnight then rinse , heat the water up add the lime let it cook for a while them take it off the heat and rinse in the morning, that is how I start my corn nuts process
 

Britesea

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To nixtamilize corn use pickling lime in water let it sit overnight then rinse , heat the water up add the lime let it cook for a while them take it off the heat and rinse in the morning, that is how I start my corn nuts process
A couple of years ago I read about an experiment some people tried at Nordic Labs where they tried nixtamalizing other grains, and even legumes, to increase the bioavailability. Here's a list, along with suggestions for use.
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Mini Horses

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Try to give up your modern conveniences, smart phones , electricity, vehicles, fast or processed food and all the creature comforts we have now , go back to walking or riding a horse or mule , keep a journal then after 30 days tell us about it , would be a neat project if it was feasible, who knows one day we might try it
I would be back at my grandparents house then! I could actually do what you suggest but, miss a couple things of convenience. I have lived without the electric, running water, appliances....yep. Well water with bucket and rope, wood stove, washboard and tubs, plus the famous outhouse. I'd love a horse to be my transportation.
was contemplating something like this today. I popped leftovers into the fridge and it got me wondering about food/meal prep habits pre-refrigeration, and then about food safety.
They used a cold spring for cooling, ice in winter. You think pickling and fermenting is new? No, it was a method to preserve food....and salting, dehydrating, winter clamps for vegetable storage, cellars just dug into a hillside...or deep holes. Some foods were just kept heated until consumed. Cheeses were a way to use, preserve dairy. A bird or rabbit was butchered just before cooking time. Veggies picked for each meal. Dried bean types were grown for storage ability as much as nutrition. Winter temps allowed meats to be smoked, butchered, stored. Seasonal eating was always the norm, storage (and no groc stores) made it so. Canning was a way of life! Water-bath at that. Many things can be WB safely with longer processing time. Seed was saved or traded, no fertilizer bought. Everyone had to hoe, weed, harvest. Sears catalogue was valued TP, along with dried corn husks....nothing wasted.

What we eat now is very different from what was grown and used then. Most root veg were left in ground as long as possible. Some even mulched to prevent freeze.

It can be done. Some countries still exist in these ways. We are spoiled. 😁 :old
 

flowerbug

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I despise the sound of a refrigerator running. If I am ever single I may decide to skip the fridge. Then again, I use the fridge to compensate for fatigue when I'm preparing food.

when we replaced our old refridgerator one of the things we were really happy about was that the new refridgerator is pretty quiet when it runs. it has a smaller compressor motor in it that runs more often, but it is so quiet we don't really notice it at all.

i really hate about any noise in the morning until i wake up, then i have more tolerance. :)
 

frustratedearthmother

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I would love to use a horse and buggy, at least spring through fall. I live in Amish country so the town 6 miles away has hitching posts around town. DH says no. I can bring just about anything home except a horse. If I acquire a horse, the horse and I will suddenly be homeless
How about a team of mini-oxen? Wouldn't that be cool!
 

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