Comments on: HOPESOLUTIONS

By: Mia

Mia — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:39:32 +0000

I love the pictoral posts. Always helps me to see...
Keep it coming. You all are inspiring.

By: AROUND THE URBAN HOMESTEAD | Little Homestead in the City

AROUND THE URBAN HOMESTEAD | Little Homestead in the City — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:24:24 +0000

[...] HOPESOLUTIONS | [...]

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:32:07 +0000

Happy New Year Y'all

I want to make my Garden thrive this year and have it make a larger than hobby dent in the food bill. In addition, I will be riding my bike as transportation more than ever, 6000 miles plus!

To help with the Gardening goal, I would like to buy Freedom Seeds from you, is it possible to arrange a time to buy in person? I am in So Cal too. I would like to discuss what seeds are the best to plant in the winter and the next season. Please email me about that.

Thank you,

Carl

By: Eloise

Eloise — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:34:50 +0000

Don & I hope to expand our garden into our lawn and plant corn, beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes. Our hens should start laying eggs in February (we live in Calif). We also plan to plant several semi-dwarf apple trees. Our very first winter garden (that we started very late) will produce onions, leeks, spinach, celery, sugar snap peas, turnips and sweet peas.
I'm hoping to get good at baking my own bread, hopefully in the solar oven, but 2 attempts at bread in the sun oven has had poor results - good crust, but too soggy in the middle.
Your homestead has been a humungus inspiration! Thanks!

By: kitsapFG

kitsapFG — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:02:39 +0000

My focus is on upping production from certain crops this year. I will be taking steps to increase yield from several crops that have been under performing to their potential. Changes in planting timing, spaciing, and changing up a few varieties are part of the approaches to be taken. I am also striving to get to more than 50% of our annual fruit needs this year. We are already at 100% of our veggie production but have real space limits which makes fruit expansion a bit of a challenge.

By: DAn

DAn — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:03:05 +0000

I need to make my garden more inviting. I sure invited the birds and the bees but what about other people. How do I invite you to grow your own food? I am thinking about maybe putting on a barbecue with some music. Buy some beer and play dominoes and tell my friends about what ive been kinda secretly doing. I know they would really be surprised.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:58:32 +0000

rely on seeds already collected, to plant in garden....
taking my collection of oil lanterns and using them for actual light, instead of only to display...
turning off all heat registers, except only two..
putting in weatherstripping around doors and windows, to lower all heat bills....
installing water collection barrels on downspouts...
set up a worm bin, under kitchen sink...
already found a viable place to sell cilantro, radishes and tomatillos...first time to grow it, this summer....
triple raised beds to 9, instead of current 3 from this past year...
collect cardboard for weed barrier, in first stage of planting...
gather fabrics and yarns, out of closets, to be accessible for projects, to work on in evenings....
plan occasional pot luck dinners, with fresh grown foods, with friends and family...
try...(difficult to do) but try to incorporate more vegetarian recipes into daily cooking....
share what I grow, with food bank and senior center....
make homemade laundry and bath soaps...
keep a journal of accomplishments and new ideas....
find or even start a group for "homesteading" way of life
use cold water in place of hot....
get out the baking utensils and USE them.....
make use of 'gramma's aprons~
and, ok, start to 'wear the skirt'...
stay connected to this website................

By: Margy Porter

Margy Porter — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:24:53 +0000

Thank you so much for the inspirations!
Notes: found a loom at Goodwill wool from a small farmer for $20 and borrowed a spinning wheel Maybe I'll get back to using them?!

Hopesolutions:
1. Grow even more of our own food at home!
2. Plant MORE edible landscaping... I love fruit trees.
3. Teach more friends and community folks to grow/ save their own food- we formed a canning community last summer and it would be nice to see it grow.
4. Continue to use less "stuff" and throw away much less.
5. Welcome many new babies gently into this world (I am a Midwife).
6. Love and support my family as they walk thru 2010!
Blessings on your journey!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:39:03 +0000

Like others, this blog has become an inspiration to take a look at what else I can do to green up my life, and provide me with a real example of what a family can do if they are dedicated to living a sustainable life. Thank you, Dervaes family!

Plans for this year:
1) Start up our homestead in earnest (having just moved to one!)
2) Make my own ollas (I'm a potter).
3) Expand my garden/greenhouse to extend the growing season of our northern climate!
4) Learn more about canning this year.
5) Continue to expand composting/mulching/recycling activities.
7) Get to know local organic farmers - they are a treasure trove of knowledge!

So many hopesolutions...so little time! Though after reflecting on this topic last night, my partner and I decided that time has to be made for what is meaningful and important to us...so here we go!

Blessings for the New Year!

By: Rose

Rose — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:19:07 +0000

Anais your blog is an inspiration and seeing you planning to do even more this year is more inspirational. We are wading into being more self-reliant. Last year we turned more of the garden over to vegies and acquired two chooks. From small things big things grow.