Getting There

Sometimes I feel like an imposter.

Really, I do. Although we do live simply in many ways, sometimes I feel like an imposter because I am writing a blog about self sufficiency, and yet I live in a small (and ugly) city house with a backyard that is only about 150 square feet. I have books about homesteading in my sidebar, yet I don't feel that I homestead at all.

Sometimes I wonder, why would anyone read my blog? What do I have to offer, when there are other bloggers out there that can showcase their chickens and goats, their cellars full of home canning, their children roaming through the woods and hiking up mountainsides, the homemade quilts they whipped together, their cozy woodstoves in the winter? I have none of those things. When I started this blog I hoped that maybe by now we would be living out in the country, but it hasn't worked out that way.

Sure, there is such thing as an "urban homesteader," and many people do it quite successfully...but I don't even seem to have the time to really do that. I was so late getting my herb seedings started this year that they are still just small seedlings and look silly out there in my raised beds. I don't think I'm going to be able to harvest any lavender at all this year at this rate. My two tomato plants are similarly tiny, and the zuchinni...I just planted the seeds a week ago. I was also late even buying my other herb plants, so no sage, thyme, or basil for me!  And I was so excited to have a spice cupboard this winter filled with organically grown dried herbs!

My sewing machine continues to gather dust--so much for beautiful quilt I wanted to make before Amy was born--I haven't even started it! I have noticed that knitting is a favourite hobby with many bloggers, but me? I have never knit anything but square dish cloths, and a very misshapen teddy bear...and I have a feeling that is as far as I am going to get. It's all incomprehensible to me.

I am not even sure if we are going to get a chance to go strawberry picking this year, as it is strawberry season right now and Chris is so busy with work...he's doing wholesale orders for our Etsy shop and also doing other full time contract work as an industrial mechanic on the side! I suppose I could find a way to take all the kids with me...but last year it was hard enough to keep Jasper from trampling the strawberry plants with two grown ups present...I'm not sure if I can tackle that task on my own. (If you knew Jasper, you would agree with me.)

I hope we find a way, because last year's strawberry jam was sublime!

Perhaps others can relate to my struggles, and that's a good thing...I hope I can be encouraging to others who want to live a simple, deliberate life, to concentrate on the things that really matter, to do things for themselves, and yet who don't find it an easy path. I hope so, because sometimes I feel like I am only acting a part, and I feel a little nervous that someone is going to notice that I am not genuine enough, that my life is not as simple and beautiful as I might pretend. Actually, many days our house is chaotic, everyone is squabbling, the VCR gets used more than I care to admit, and supper is something out of a can or a box...Some days I am so frazzled trying to care for the children, get some homeschool lessons in there somewhere, and keep the house in reasonable order, that I wonder if I could even manage a big garden and some animals on top of it all. Although, perhaps seeing something other than asphalt outside my window might help my state of mind, I don't know...

It just seems to me sometimes that I have a long way to go, before I get to the place I want to be. A very long way!

Book Review: The Fat of the Land

One of my favourite books on homesteading and simple living is The Simple Life and How to Live It, by John Seymour, who was often called "The father of self-sufficiency." Sprinkled within that text are fascinating excerpts from an earlier book he wrote, entitled The Fat of the Land, in which he told the personal story of the homestead he and his wife created back in the 1950s on a rented property in the UK.

The Fat of the Land seems to be difficult to come across--print runs are few and of limited quantity--but last year I did find a new copy on Amazon. I enjoyed reading it very much. While some of the information is dated, and while many of the British terms Seymour used were incomprehensible to me (those pertaining to money and measurement especially), overall I did get a lot out this book.

I liked the way Seymour showed how their homestead grew gradually over time. When he and his wife first moved into their remote cottage, which they rented for a mere 25 pounds per year, they had been living for several years on a boat. They wanted to settle down because they already had one child and planned to have more. But they hadn't planned on creating a homestead in the least--it just evolved over time, as one thing led to another.

For example, they started out by getting some ducks and geese to save money on meat. Then, a cow, because it was too much work to walk a mile every morning to the nearest neighbour to pick up their milk. They then had more milk than their young family could use, so they purchased pigs to consume the excess milk--then, with all the manure from the cow and pigs they decided to increase their gardening. Then, because they then had so much land under cultivation, they bought a horse to help with the work. And of course then they needed to improve their grassland for the horse...and so on.

I liked the way he showed that while producing your own food is an economical, healthy, and satisfying thing to do, it does take a lot of hard physical work. He doesn't gloss over the amount of work that goes into a homestead, or romanticize anything about this kind of life. In fact sometimes he is rather blunt about various elements of country living. But he is enthusiastic about fresh air, unadulterated food, and hard work as an effective means to achieve good health to an old age. (And in fact, Seymour did live to the age of 90, staying active until shortly before his death.)

There is a section at the back, written for a later edition, where he gives specific advice for those wanting to start their own homestead. He is not optimistic here that many of us can do it with rising land prices, and praises the idea of communal living.

Overall, I think The Fat of the Land is a worthwhile read for those starting on their own homestead, or just dreaming of it. It will give the reader a good understanding of the way plants and animals on a small family homestead exist interdependently as part of a whole, and will also perhaps diffuse some of the overly romantic notions a few of us have about life in the country.

What we do without.

I was recently rereading this old post of mine, in which I mused on the meaning of "simple living."  I wrote that to me, simple living means

"embracing a basic, fundamental form of living--shrugging off all the excess complications of modern society, and instead living in harmony with the land and the seasons, rising with the sun, growing one's own food, enjoying the company of family and friends, staying close to home. This type of life that I picture seems to me to be the way people have lived for hundreds, even thousands of years, before modern technology changed our basic patterns of life."

Then I got to thinking: What "excess complications of modern society" have we, as a family, shrugged off? I write often on this blog about the things we do, but rarely about the things we do not. And I think the latter is an important point too. Life is so busy and crowded in the 21st century, that we can all benefit from being selective about what, among all the abundance of everything out there, we allow into our lives.

1. Electronic gadgets. Although we love our home computer and use it for so much, we have never felt the need to own any kind of hand-held electronic gadgets. To be perfecty honest (and I know this will make me look silly) I'm not entirely sure what a Blackberry is. The kind I am familiar with is normally used to make jelly...

2. Cell phones. Neither Chris nor I has ever owned a cell phone. I just don't see the point. Yes, there have a been a few times he was at the grocery store and it would have been nice to be able to tell him to pick up something extra that I remembered, but in our view, this very occasional convenience isn't worth a monthly payment, as well as another object to carry around and try not to lose (I lose my keys often enough as it is!). We have a basic landline to our house, with one phone--which I bought second hand for $4--attached to it. This works just fine for us.

3. Two cars. We only drive one car, which is 15 years old. To me, one car is expensive and troublesome enough. I don't think I would want to have two cars to keep repaired and insured. Having only one car has the added effect that we tend to spend more time together, because we aren't able to go in different directions at the same time.

4. Television. We canceled our cable tv about 3 years ago, and never looked back. I love not having so much noise and so many advertisements floating throught the air in our home, and I especially love that my kids spend more time on imaginative play than they did in the cable tv days. We do have an old second hand tv that was given to us (just a regular tv, not wide-screen) that we use for occasional videos or DVDs.

5. News. We don't read the newspaper, listen to the radio, or otherwise seek out news at all. The constant stream of ready information today, I find to be overwhelming. Not to mention the fact that much daily news is depressing or upsetting. I have enough to worry about in my own daily life without worrying about what's in the news, too. Yes, I am often the last to know about important events, but if something truly monumental happens I'm sure to hear about it from family or friends--and much sooner too, than people would have heard of important news in previous times, when information might take months to make its way across the globe.

6. Extracurricular activities. We do put the kids in various activities at our local community centres (soccer, swimming, etc.) but never more than one activity at a time. With multiple children, our family life would quickly become far too busy if we put each of them in two or more activities. And I don't believe that the children themselves really like to be in a rush all the time. Right now the only thing going on is Owen's swimming lessons, and they are a fun weekly event, to which Kira often tags along to watch.

7. Fashion. Chris and I have never been the least concerned about the current fashions in clothing, furniture, home decorating, or vehicles, and I'm glad, because this has saved us so much fuss and bother over the years, and allowed us to be perfectly content with owning mostly inexpensive second hand possessions.

Those are just some of the common elements of modern life that we are happy to do without. We enjoy living our life simply, being together most of the time, working with our hands, and appreciating the things we have and the beauty of the natural world. Our children spend most of their free time doing things like digging in the sandbox or making play forts, rather than rushing around on a schedule. Although we have little money, overall our stress levels are very low.

I would love to hear my readers' comments on this topic. Please, share with me what things you have chosen to do without, in an effort to keep life simple and joyful.

A surprising result.

I posted a little while back about removing almost all the toys from the boys' bedroom, in an effort to get the endless mess under control. With only a few things remaining (blocks, books, favourite teddy bears, a tea set, and their little metal Thomas the Tank Engines) I really thought that they would miss the rest of their toys, and would therefore be eager to keep their room clean in order to get them back. Not a bit of it! Instead, they do not care. At all. In fact, I am tempted to say they are happier with less toys. Really!

Since I removed all the excess toys, the boys have been happy as clams. They have been making castles, roadways, and houses for their trains with the blocks, having tea parties, reading, playing in the sandbox when it isn't raining, splashing in puddles when it is, having fun with homemade bubbles, and producing enormous quanities of drawings. Jasper asked me once, only, where his Fisher Price farm had gone, and since then forgot all about it. 

Of course this doesn't solve the problem of the perpetually messy room. It's still strewn with clothes, blocks, Kleenex, and other random objects all the time. But I am so glad to see that the boys don't miss all the other toys. It's nice to know that children really don't need a lot of possessions to be happy and have fun.

Now what to do with all the extra toys which are tucked away? Many of them are beautiful toys that Chris made, so I don't want to give them away...I think probably I will take out various toys on a rainy day for something "new" and different, and then put them back again. I don't think I will ever allow that many toys to be stored in the boys' bedroom again.  Having large quantities of toys is simply not necessary, and indeed leads to stress when excess mess is created. Less is more. (And yes, I see the irony of me saying "kids need hardly any toys" when we sell toys for a living! But it's true.)

My poor neglected sewing machine...

I am finding it challenging to adjust to life with a brand new babe, whilst still homeschooling, running a busy Etsy shop, and trying to get a wee bit of housework done now and then. Most days, if everyone gets three meals, is dressed in relatively clean clothing by noon, and gets to bed on time, I'm happy!

I haven't had time to really think about this year's garden, although I did get some herb seeds planted. They are all lined up on my ironing board in the back window, like last year. I just stuck the seeds in some dirt in some styrofoam meat trays, and it seems to have worked very well.  Although I know it is getting late--and my ironing board is full!--I also planted some heirloom tomato seeds and some parsley seeds today, and when I get another few minutes I'm going to plant some red pepper and zucchini seeds. I don't know where I'm going to put the plants (or even the seedlings for that matter) but I'll think about that later!

The calendula seeds (seen below) sprouted very quickly.

Has anyone ever planted calendula? The seeds are just freaky looking! At first when I opened the packet, I thought there was some mistake. But no, this is what the seeds look like!

Although caring for my family is my main activity every day, I have been quite busy with our family business as well. The job we thought Chris was going to start back in March seems to have fallen through, which is disappointing but perhaps a blessing in disguise, because he's been working full time on his toys anyway. I don't know how he could manage two full time jobs. We've also had some custom work to do on top of the Etsy shop--for example, just a few days ago we sold a large order of spinning tops to our local farmer's market, who hands them out to children in the summer.

With all the general busy-ness around here, my sewing machine has been sorely neglected. I look at it longingly when I go into our back room to do up shipments of toys, or to do laundry, but somehow I never get around to using it. In fact, the thread got all jammed up before the baby was born (which is over a month ago now) and I still haven't untangled it. The entire area is so messy too. It doesn't help that when I am back there wrapping up packages, Jasper follows and starts rummaging around through my things!

I know what I need to do is become more competent with the baby wrap I have, so I can wear Amy around the house while I get things done. But I can't seem to get it right--that piece of fabric is just so LONG, and I don't seem to be coordinated enough to arrange it properly. I tried looking on Youtube, but every video shows a different technique and most of them are not for newborns. Well I will keep at it! It would be super convenient if I could nurse the baby while she is in the wrap, too. My sister kindly loaned me a couple of simple slings (the kind that are not adjustable) and unfortunately they are too small for me, since my sister is petite and I--ahem--am not. :)

And speaking of the baby...she is hungry, and so I must away...

Spring sugar cookies.

I heard Canada geese overhead again early this morning, and wee birds chirping in the yard. Although a few piles of snow remain here and there, most of the grass around here is visible now (albeit rather brown). I was in the mood today to do something to celebrate the imminent return of spring, so I decided to make some cookies!

In my 1920s copy of the Good Housekeeping cookbook I found a simple recipe for brown sugar cookies, which can be rolled out and cut into shapes. So l cut them into the shape of eggs (with a cookie cutter of course), and sprinkled cinammon and sugar over them. I was hoping they would turn out looking like brown speckled eggs. I'm not sure that they really do, but they do taste good, and the children gobbled up quite a few!

Spring Sugar Cookies

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
About 5 cups of pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar, then add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat well. Add half the flour (sifted with salt and soda) and mix in. Add more flour, enough to make a dough which may be rolled. (I had to add closer to 6 cups of flour, but it depends on what brand of pastry flour you use, I find).

Chill dough for at least half an hour and then roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into shapes - eggs, bunnies or flowers. Decorate with sprinkles or cinammon and sugar if desired. Bake about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Be sure to take the cookies out of the oven as soon as they are starting to brown around the edges--overbaked sugar cookies aren't very good.

Eat them and think about how happy you are that spring is on the way. :)

Well, there you have it. I thought I might as well share my little idea today, in case anyone else was in the mood to make cookies and happened to have an egg-shaped cookie cutter in their stash like I did!

Slackerdays.

I have posted before about my love of rhythm and routine in our days and weeks. One tradition, if you could call it that, that I have come to especially enjoy is my Saturday morning routine. Chris and I work hard every day of the week, but Saturday we have come to call Slackerday instead.

On Saturday mornings, instead of hurrying to get showered and dressed, do lessons with the children, and conduct shop business, I make the children pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then, I make myself something yummy with eggs, bacon and cheese--like this perhaps:

And while I munch on it and sip a nice hot tea, I allow myself to linger over reading my favourite blogs and message boards as long as I like. Eventually the kids will start watching a video on tv, and I make my way upstairs to get a long luxurious shower.

After my shower, once I get dressed then the slacking part of my day is over and chores, cleaning, and shopping begin. But I do so enjoy those Saturday mornings! I feel it's vitally important to have some downtime, and having downtime on a regular schedule gives me something to look forward to every weekend.

Signs of spring.

The weather has gone above freezing quite a bit here lately, although we did get more snow last night. I was looking out the window in our back room and I was so glad to notice signs of life appearing in the yard.

I guess this past winter must have been milder than some we have gotten in the past, because I found last year's parsley sprouting again, which hasn't happened before. (Parsley is a biennial, but only in fairly mild climates.)

My research tells me though, that the second year parlsey plants spend most of their energy making flowers and seeds rather than leaves. So I guess I'll be planting some more seeds this year if I want to get enough parsley to dry for next winter.

I also saw lemon balm growing:

I am always childishly excited in the spring when plants like this come up again, when in the fall nothing was here but a few dead looking brown sticks.

On the other side of the yard was a dandelion! Perhaps I'll add these healthy greens to my next salad. And next to it what looks like my old Siberian irises, although I thought I pulled them all out last year to make way for vegetables.

All these green sprouting things reminds me that I need to get some herb seeds sprouted soon. This past week my medicinal herbs seeds arrived from Mountain Rose Herbs.

All of these herbs are going to be going into the healing salve I'm planning to make this summer, along with some plantain, which I can find easily anywhere in our neighbourhood. The lavender will also be used for making potpourri, the chamomile for tea for upset tummies and for baths to soothe sunburn, and the yarrow I am going to try using along with rosemary to make insect repellent. (One catalogue I have claims that yarrow is a "proven" mosquito repellent, so I figured I'd give it a try!) Some day I'd love to have a huge herb garden and make all kinds of herbal products, but for this year, I think these projects will get me off to a good start.

How wonderful it is for those of us in temperate climates, to feel the thrill of seeing life sprouting from the ground again each year in spring. Every year, it is just as exciting for me. I can't wait to start those seeds now!

Is anyone else getting any seeds started at the moment?

Edited to add: Early this morning, I heard Canada Geese honking overhead...which means  spring really can't be far away, if they have decided to return to the North. I assume those birds know what they're doing! :)

I've been blogging for almost a year now...

I just noticed the other day that I began this blogging journey in March of 2010. How enjoyable and rewarding it's been for me to share my triumphs and struggles as we move towards a simpler life, with like-minded folks from all over the globe. I really have had fun, and met some wonderful friends along the way.

Since it's been a while since I began blogging, I thought maybe it would be a nice idea to do a sort of review post for those of my dear readers who are new. I myself find that sometimes when I find a new blog that I like, it's frustrating if I can't figure out what the blogger is talking about from time to time because I haven't been following all along and don't know the details of their lives.

So, for those readers who are relatively new to my little corner of cyberspace (be it ever so humble), hello and welcome! I'm happy to have you here. My name is Laura, but I often go by Laura Jeanne online to distinguish myself from the many other Lauras out there born in the 70s (I wonder if it has anything to do with Little House on the Prairie?). I live in a smallish city in Southern Ontario with my husband Chris, and our three children, Kira (12), Owen (6) and Jasper (2). We have another little one on the way at the end of March or beginning of April. I homeschool the children, which is something  I truly love to do, not only because it gives me an excuse to fill the house with books (I am an extreme book geek), but because I really love having us together all the time, and being able to watch my children grow up before me so closely. It just feels right to me.

Although we live in a small townhouse with a tiny, shaded backyard, we're trying to live a simpler life right where we are, gardening, sewing, cooking from scratch, all that kind of stuff. We'd really, really love to live in the country someday on our own homestead, and have chickens and goats and a huge berry patch, but for now we are trying to be content where we are, and learn all the skills we can so that someday when we do make it to our country home, we won't be clueless. Right now I am focusing especially on sewing, which I have discovered I love. I'm especially excited to try sewing myself some clothes after my shape returns to normal, since I have never been able to find clothes in the stores that I like.

Here's a little review post I did about the skills we learned in 2010, and another one detailing our goals for 2011.

Here's a post from way back about what simple living means to me, and another one about living deliberately.

We run a small family business, called The Wood Garden, which offers natural wooden toys and dishes. Chris handcrafts our products in our small garage, and I take care of the business side of things. We enjoy this and hope we'll be able to do it for many years into the future.

The photo at the top of my blog, I just love and I don't think I'll ever be able to replace to my satisfaction. It's a photo I took of Owen 3 or 4 years ago (I can't remember) when we were renting a lovely little cottage just north of Barrie, Ontario. I love everything about the image, but especially how the bridge seems to be leading us into a place of glowing light - it feels representative to me of the brighter future we are hoping to make for our family by stepping off the beaten path, and living a more simple, deliberate, and family-centred life.

Well, there you have it. I hope I've cleared everything up for those lovely people who might stumble across my blog and wonder who we are. :)

Winter down time.

My regular readers have probably noticed I haven't been posting very often lately. Honestly, I just haven't felt like it!

Something I have noticed since moving myself and our family towards a slower, more simple, natural way of life, is that I seem to notice the changing of the seasons more, and I notice the effect of each season on me more. Does that makes sense? I am no longer distracted by television, shopping, rushing around to activities...living a quiet home life, I really feel each season in a deeper way.

Right now, obviously it is winter. Just the other day Ontario was the recepient of a snowstorm, and our area was the hardest hit of all. We got a foot of snow over the course of one afternoon and evening. I think we got a bit more snow last night, too. And it is cold this morning! Looking out the window next to the computer, I have to admit, I don't feel like venturing out there.

The view from my livingroom window. See the squirrel tracks going from tree to tree?

I feel blessed and glad that I am a stay at home mom, that I can stay warm and cozy and relax here in our home with my children. It feels right to me this time of year to do this. Don't worry, I still make sure we all get some fresh air now and then...but in general, I feel like I am moving at a slower pace than at other times of the year.

Hence the reduction in blog posts. It seems that there is so much to write about in the spring and summer, but right now pretty much all I am doing is reading, needlework, a bit of sewing, relaxing on the couch...all inside stuff which doesn't seem worthy to talk about. (Of course I am also kept busy by the everyday work of cooking, cleaning and homeschooling, but that stuff you really don't want to hear about, do you?)

It doesn't help I'm sure that I am also very pregnant. This definitely makes me move more slowly than usual, and it's all I can do to find the energy to get organized for our new arrival (which, by the way, we are expecting in late March or early April).

The view I see when I look down. Notice no feet?

Right now I am working on moving Jasper into the same bedroom as Owen (he currently sleeps in our room) since we will soon have another little one sharing our bedroom. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but right now I feel like it's a lot of work, all that organization, cleaning up toys and moving clothes around! I still have to pull out all the newborn clothes and go through them, too. I wonder when I will get around to it.

I probably sound lazy, and the truth is, I have felt a bit lazy lately. But I'm okay with that. Winter has always been a time for humanity to rest and think before the flurry of activity that comes with spring. So I am embracing this feeling of slowing down. And I also know that soon, with a newborn around, rest will become much harder to come by. So I should enjoy it while I can, right?

Which is all my roundabout way of saying, I'm sorry I haven't been posting all that much--but this is likely not going to change for a while. While I do look forward to the green grass and breezy walks of spring, right now I am enjoying doing less, just relaxing while I await the coming of spring and a new life to our home.