Back To It!

Well, it's January. All the birthdays are over. The Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays are over. Life has returned to a more or less normal state, and it's time to get back to our Grand Plans. We've made some big steps toward a more self-sufficient life recently, so I hope we can keep up the momentum.

Our soon-to-be garden plot has been laid out and tilled. We will be working organic compost and other amendments into the soil soon, and have started some seeds indoors. Here in north Texas, we can grow virtually all year, and as extra insurance, we brought home a mini, portable greenhouse. I also have a proper compost bin on the way to start making our own.

We had a bumper crop of pecans this year, so I've spent countless hours collecting and shelling, and I still have bags upon bags of them in storage. This was the first year we've gotten a really good quality crop from our trees, and I'm very excited!

Our new puppy is shaping up to be a very good boy in deed, and showing good potential as a possible hunting dog and all-around helper. He's still young enough to be very easily distracted, but I think he'll be an excellent dog once he's fully formed. Plus, he's just as sweet and loving as he can be, and who could ask more than that from a dog?

The big news - since we aren't allowed to keep chickens, we've decided to keep rabbits! We scored some used hutches and supplies today, and have a spot out back set aside for the Rabbitat. There has also been quite a bit of research going on around here, so we're quite flush with ideas, discussion, plans and the like. Nearly all of our meat and fresh produce, all of our eggs and about one third of our cheese comes from various local small farms, so the garden and the rabbit raising will simply be another step toward providing for ourselves and rejecting the unsatisfactory choices offered to us by the retail world.

Future plans include a dual purpose solar oven/dehydrator, learning to knit, learning to tan hides, and experimenting with small scale hydro power.

Stay tuned!