Well, I never thought the day would come would I would see the bottom of my five gallon pail of laundry soap and yesterday was that day. I had made my own liquid laundry soap a year and a half ago after reading The Green Guide that had a simple recipe in it for making your own detergent. Now, I didn’t end up using their recipe, but it inspired me to make my own and I used a recipe from The Wellness Mama. And did it ever last. I can guarantee that each load of laundry cost less than five cents. It took less than twenty minutes to make. And I could use it in my front-loading high efficiency washing machine. It’s basically magic.
Read moreHow Plans Can Change
Try as I might to plan everything that will grow in my garden this summer, plans can change.
My winter plans were filled with sheer optimism. I had read books about gardening all winter, I ordered my seeds in February so I could start my seedlings in March, and I had my list ready for all the soil amendments I needed to add to the front garden beds so that I could have the biggest bounty of garden goodies this year. I was so excited to put these plans in to action and watch my garden grow. Now, I was prepared for some things to go wrong, and I knew I might have to reseed a few things, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for a small bump (literally) in plans at the beginning of the gardening season. And that sounds a bit misleading, so I better hurry up and get the point.
Read moreBackyard Chickens or Backyard Quails
The other day I was talking to my best friend about making changes in my life to make it more self sufficienct, and my friend suggested quails. He says that if you can care for a hamster, than you can take care of a quail. (He is my lifestyle idol. Well one of them. Definitely top of the list.) So I am all over the google trying to learn about quails and what it takes to raise them. And after a while, I started to think, if I am thinking about having backyard birds, then maybe I should consider chickens as an option. And so that brings me to the debate, backyard chickens or backyard quails?
Read moreWhat I Love About Urban Farming & Urban Homesteading
Life these days is pretty easy. Essentially everything we have was made to provide a sort of convenience for us. Marketers needed something to do and they figured it out; they created a "need" and we bought in. This is nothing new. But I certainly think we all forget how good we have it when we can drive to the grocery store in a car to pick up food, we didn't grow, and then to go home, to a house we didn't build, that is heated by fuel we didn't have to collect. Life is good. Cars and grocery stores were created to make our lives easier and more convenient. Especially for the masses living in urban centers. Since so much of what we do and have was created to make our lives more comfortable I am wondering if it has made us any happier. I know it is hard to tell, given that we haven't had to live a life without modern conveniences, but do you think it has made us any happier?
Read moreGrowing Our Food - Part 2: Spring is Nigh
On our afternoon walk today, I noticed something strange, something you usually don't see this time if year in our Northern part of the country... grass. Yes, it was grass! I know my friends on the Eastern part of the country will be cursing me with their arctic temperatures and never-ending snowfall, but over here things are heating up. There was actually a warm-ish wind. I wasn't even wearing mittens. And suddenly it dawned on me, that Spring is right around the corner.
Now, any local would tell me I am nuts and the minus thirties will be back before I know it, but I think Spring is only a few weeks away. And that means it is time to get a few things started for the ol' summer garden. Last year, I was frantically trying to locate a few items for free (of course) off of Kijiji at the last minute, and this year I will not be caught off guard. Seeds have been ordered, so I can cross that off the list, but there is still a lot more to do.
Read moreFarm City by Novella Carpenter- A Book Review
Farm City - The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter
Most people have a running list they keep of their favourite books. For a long time, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving was number one on my list. So many others have moved up and down that list without ever knocking number one out of place. That was until I read Farm City by Novella Carpenter...
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