A Fascination...

Have you considered living "off the grid?"

Well I have. The more I read about it, the more I realize I'm clearly not prepared to do it but I'm certainly fascinated by the subject.  Some of the television programs we watch show people who are working towards a life off the grid. It's not just a matter of deciding to do it, there's a whole lot of work involved and even more planning. Whew!! I was tired after reading just a few stories of how people got started on their journey to live off the grid.

It seemed I needed to read more and more, to learn what their lives are like, to understand what it means and what it takes. I'll let you know up front, it won't be in the plans for my future. However, were I twenty years younger, I would definitely be having a go at it.

Aside from a stockpile of non-perishables, whether in a root cellar or basement, there are other things to consider; water, fuel, the means by which to keep meat frozen or cured, heat when the weather turns cold, and, of course, paper products and items for personal hygiene.

In one story the writer advises you to put items on your list when you're low on that item. Not when you are out. In his situation, he and his wife made trips to town only once every couple of months. They quickly learned that there were certain things they simply could not do without for weeks on end. In their case, coffee was high on the priority list. I don't drink coffee but I thought that was pretty funny!

There are a lot of things these 'off grid' people give up in order to live the life they want to live. They have electricity by means of solar power and batteries. They've learned that certain times of the day are less power-exhaustive so they use this time for internet use and television time. Typically they go on-line in the mornings for just a couple hours (both have home-based work) and in the evenings, if the power supply is high enough, they'll watch a couple of hours of television.

Everything revolves around their power supply. They never receive an electric bill. They do have a generator for 'just in case.' But as the story goes, they feel like using it is cheating. They don't use it unless they absolutely have to. They live in the mountains of Colorado. The power they do generate is primarily for the refrigerator and freezer.

They have a sizable garden, they have chickens for eggs, meat and fertilizer, they have goats for milk. They use the milk for making soaps and cheese and for their own consumption. They hunt deer and elk, they trap beavers and they set snares for smaller game like rabbits. They do some fishing. The meat is typically frozen - the freezers are solar powered!

Almost all vegetables are canned, saving room for meat in the freezer. Onions, potatoes, leeks, carrots and other root vegetables are stored in straw in the root cellar. They grown cabbages, beets and an assortment of greens. If they eat bread, it's typically made at home and with whole grains that they mill themselves. They grow and dry their own herbs and pickled vegetables are high on their list for daily consumption as anything with vinegar, keeps a gut healthy.

They are strong and healthy from daily exercise on their homestead. They cut down trees for wood fires in the winter, thereby saving that precious energy. They use wood for cooking during all seasons and have mastered several techniques in the way of cast iron cooking. Fascinating stuff!

Chopping wood, tilling their gardens, tending their grounds and upkeep on their homesteads are all in a day's work. Indeed, I thought I was busy! I do think I'll put wood chopping on my list of things to learn how to do.

Their breakfast is early as they're out by daylight tending to things. Lunch is their feast with meat, vegetables and cheeses. They eat fruit to curb their 'sweet' cravings. In summer, dinner is light, typically a salad from their garden with more pickled vegetables. Maybe some left-over chicken added, if there is any. They especially like chow-chow and pickled green tomatoes. During the winter months, soup is their mainstay for dinner. All kinds!

I'm not sure that it's a simpler way of life but surely it must be a healthier way. They don't go to jobs, they don't have traffic issues, there is no pollution. They take care of themselves and they protect their land and livestock from animal predators.  And, as I said before, they do not get an electric bill. Both an impressive and difficult way of life. Something to think about.

I've always felt I was born too late, probably decades, I would have been happy as a clam living the pioneer life. It's probably why the homesteader life is fascinating to me. How about you?

Keeping it Country

Well folks I'm closing in on six years here in Tennessee. I can't say I'm officially a country girl but it wouldn't be for lack of trying, learning and doing. I see life differently now and I'm happy to say that living out here in the country has taught me lessons I never thought I needed to know.

Fences have to be checked and mended regularly, trees will fall in the driveway when there is no hint of a breeze blowing, hunters will trespass and poach, wood needs stacked even if you don't feel like doing it, kindling needs gathered and sometimes, in the winter, you might not see another person outside your home for days on end.

When I first moved here, I wondered why people waved at me when they didn't know me at all. They can be sitting on a mower when I drive by and they always raise their hand. They might be checking the mail at the box and the hand is waved. They pass me on the road and sometimes they just lift their fingers from the steering wheel in a small sort of wave. It never fails to happen though and I've actually become a waver myself. I don't know the people I'm waving to and they don't know me but it's a 'country' thing to do and after you're here for a while, you just do it too.

If I tried that in Florida, I'd be in a perpetual state of waving!

I've gotten used to no traffic lights, very few stop signs, no lines on the roads and by all means, no street lights. At least not on these old back roads. Friends from Florida visited recently and the drive from the interstate to our home was a 'white-knuckle' experience and I completely understand. The main road they traveled on is said to be so curvy you can see your own taillights. I'm inclined to agree as it's dangerous even in the daytime. My friends came in after dark.

There is no Wal-Mart in this county and I'm perfectly fine with that. We buy our beef and pork from a local farmer. He's open from November-March and we're welcome to view the entire operation. In fact, when you drive up, the entire operation is right there; cows grazing in the pasture and pigs grunting as they happily wallow in the mud. They are slaughtered in the most humane way possible.

To some the word slaughter is too harsh but it's the reality. In fact, all the meat that everyone consumes must be slaughtered. At least these animals aren't being raised in feedlots and then herded into a commercial slaughter house where hundreds of animals are processed on a daily basis. Only a few at a time are processed and the butchers are experienced and mindful of keeping waste to a minimum.  

It seems healthier to me to buy direct from the farm and there's no doubt it tastes better. It actually has a lot of flavor! Though I still have to buy chicken from the local grocer, my hope is that it will be available on the farm someday too. I'm sure there are chicken farms around here somewhere, I just haven't found them yet!

My friend Brenda told me she didn't like venison, that it didn't sit well with her. I shared my thoughts with her; maybe it wasn't cooked right (which does take some learning and practice), or, perhaps her system was so used to the growth hormones and antibiotics in industrial meats that all-natural meat was being rejected. She found this thought interesting and something to consider.

I explained that in the same respect, my system rejected most restaurant food. It just depends on what you're used to and what you have eliminated from your food sources. Your body will let you know if it doesn't appreciate your 'food decisions.' Ha ha ha!

Speaking of my local grocery, it's very much small town shopping. The cashiers, all three of them, know me and greet me when I walk in the door. The produce is locally grown, the fruit is typically from Florida or California. They have country hams hanging in the meat department, they make their own sausage and cure their own bacon. They don't have a pharmacy or a bakery and they don't sell beer or wine. It's customary for the bag boys to help you to your car with your groceries and they take the buggy without asking, it's just their way.

Sure it may take me 25 minutes to get there but there's no traffic, no traffic lights and no crowds. I'm spoiled by always being able to park right up front by the door. Always. Try that in Florida, right?

I've learned the art of building a good fire - just getting it started was a challenge at first!
I've learned how to string barbed wire fencing and the importance of good gloves!
I've learned how to use the weed-eater and the importance of wearing long pants when doing so!
I've learned that drinking water all day is a good thing!
I've learned how to relax, that things will get done and that I can't do it all in one day... or one week sometimes!
I've learned that my family and friends are just a phone call or a facebook chat away and that's important as days go by.

Keeping it Country!

A Couple of Canning Short Stories

Canning my own hot pepper sauce - July 2015
For years "Trappey's Bull" has been our favorite bottled sauce. Should I find that I must once again purchase hot sauce from the store, "Trappey's Bull" will continue to be the choice. Long ago my friends, Steve and Sherry Daugherty, introduced me to it and I've never found one that tasted better.


We eat a lot of hot sauce so I decided to try my hand at it. A few ingredients from the garden and I was on my way!


Since I have been picking tomatoes every other day this summer, I decided to put them to use as hot sauce. The recipe I found called for eight cups of tomatoes. You would be surprised how many tomatoes it takes to make up eight cups! Trust me, it's more than you would guess. I guessed and I was wrong. lol


Fortunately, I had plenty of tomatoes with me so it didn't hold up the production of the sauce. I'll make note so I have enough for the next batch. In canning I find that note taking is essential. I always think I'll remember little things that happen or that "make" the recipe but that's not the case at all. Rather I always forget. My recipe books are full of notes for next time.


My friend, Claudia, and I love growing hot peppers. I'm not sure why when we can only tolerate just a little heat but we do love growing them. We grow jalapenos, habaneros, ghost peppers, cayenne peppers, hot banana peppers, etc. These are especially handy when you want to make your own hot sauce. It doesn't take much! I think my recipe called for a cup and a half. I used two cups, couldn't help it, they were too pretty not to use them.


You'll definitely want to use gloves for this process and you'll want to be careful not to nip the gloves while chopping the peppers, it's easy to do!


While the ingredients were cooking on the stove top, the whole place smelled like a wing house... mmm! After cooking down for about 45 minutes, the mixture goes into half pint jars and into the water bath canner. The recipe said it would make six half pints, I somehow ended up with fifteen half pints... don't ask me, I've no idea!


The batch does have to go in a blender to make it smooth. Well that turned out to be fun in itself! I put about three cups of sauce in the blender, turned it on and out of the top it splashed! All down the blender, all over the buttons, all over the counter and all over my hands. So much for wearing gloves to protect me from the hot peppers! lol!


After that, you guessed it, one cup of sauce at a time, holding the blender cap very tight! I made note in my book to help remember this next time...


I'm excited to try this sauce on some smoked chicken, ribs, and so many other things. I'll put it in chili, beans, tacos, etc. Anytime I can use it, I will!


I might even share it with those friends of mine who like a little heat when they eat. It's hot but not too hot. It's tasty without being wimpy. No one likes a wimpy hot sauce.


This recipe could certainly be made without canning it but I've no idea how long it would be safe in the refrigerator (if there's even any left to refrigerate). For me, canning is the way to ensure quality and safeness.


The making of it was a bit of a lengthy process but it's fun and it's so worth it to have all that hot sauce on the shelf. My tomatoes won't go to waste and Claudia and I have another reason to keep growing all those hot peppers!


Have you made your own hot pepper sauce? I'd love to hear your experience and I'd really love to see your recipe!


Canning Vegetable Soup - July 2015
So for my first attempt at canning this soup I got just a little over-anxious. I cut up my fresh vegetables, got them measured and in the pot. As directed they were to boil five minutes before ladling them into the jars.


The directions clearly said 'hot jars.' But in my haste, I let my jars cool down too  much and the bottom of the jar cracked as poured the first cup of soup into it.


What a shame to waste so much food but with the possibility of glass being in the mix, I had to let it go. Of course I quickly recovered because there were still three quarts waiting to be filled.


I ran the jars under very hot water then proceeded to fill them with soup and with no more breakage. Whew!


I ended up with three quarts and a pint to put on the shelf. I was sure hoping for more but I'll make a bigger batch next time, now that I know. Duly noted in the canning book!


This canner holds seven quarts and that would be much more worth it as they have to stay at ten pounds of pressure for an hour and fifteen minutes. For that kind of time, I'd like a bit more to show for it.


Ingredients: Tomatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, celery, onions, water (I used homemade vegetable broth), salt and pepper.


*I'm thinking about adding cabbage to the ingredients next time!

Five Years Go By and Still I Learn

In five years so much can happen! I'm living proof.




I never thought I would be living in the woods, yet here I am.
I never thought I would be jobless and happy about it, yet here I am.
I never thought I'd be able to cook a decent meal, yet I do it regularly. 


When I think of all the opportunities I've had to learn and experience new things, it's pretty overwhelming. I wouldn't trade it for the world. But then, who would want this messed up world anyway?




I always had a garden in Florida but it wasn't much of one. A few tomato plants, some green peppers and jalapeno peppers. Lots of flowers - some even survived! Some geraniums bit the dust and were considered an annual sacrifice.




"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" Remember that children's nursery rhyme?




Well, mine has expanded more and more every year. It's a garden that provides food enough for Wally and I and then some. I go overboard on tomatoes and can never get enough of them. I've found that field peas grow very well in this soil, more so than any other pea out there.  They've become a favorite!




Lettuce wouldn't grow for me in FL but here, no problem! I have twenty four lettuce plants in the ground and, nature providing, they should be giving us food within a month. We've had so much rain that they may have drowned - fingers crossed that this isn't the case!




So I can say that I have learned to grow new things and in doing so I myself have grown for gardening is always a learning experience.




I sure get my hands dirty this time of year and now that I know how to make Karla's "Gardeners Hand Scrub," I get them as dirty as I can knowing they'll be sparkling clean afterward!




Losing a job of twenty years was a bit daunting. Okay, it was more than a 'bit' daunting, it was darn right scary. I found myself wondering what I would do all day, how would I pay my bills, what about my savings? All those things go through your head all day and all night. About a week after not working, I realized that everything would be okay. In fact, everything turned out great.




I have an income so the bills get paid. I'm fortunate in that I don't have to work and instead can be in the yard on pretty days and in the cabin, toasty warm, on rainy or snowy days. No more traffic worries, no more stress of the job, no wear and tear on my car, no planning for time off.




The instant I open my eyes, I think about all my family and friends and I hope they are as happy as I am. I never know what time it is, except when it's time to eat and that's only because my stomach tells me! I don't live by a clock. I track the days on my calendar but only because I don't want to miss a birthday or other such important date. I don't even take the keys out of my car.




Because we have seasons here, I get to see so many beautiful things every day. From the trees blooming in spring to the wild roses growing on the edge of the yard. From the creek running through the property to the ice, frozen on the porch in winter. Even the birds change from season to season. I'm always amazed how nature knows what to do and when. I'm learning to take those clues!




Who knew this Florida girl would love a wood stove so much? Hauling and stacking the wood, gathering kindling and sizing up the wood pile to determine whether it's enough. Sure it's work but it's so gratifying when that fire roars and warms this home. It's a beauty to watch, it's a skill to build and it's a source of heat that can't be beat. hahaha did you know I was a poet? LOL me either!


Speaking of hauling wood, I have a sizable pile of it out in the yard that needs to be stacked right now. The problem is we've had so much rain that the wood is wet. Wet wood is heavy, very heavy. I'm not that ambitious and it will still be there when I do get in the mood to stack it - another benefit of not going to a 9-5er every day.


In the spring I plant. In the winter I haul and stack wood. In the summer I can vegetables and mow the grass. In the fall I watch the leave changing colors, seemingly overnight. During all seasons I walk through the woods, I even have a walking stick that Wally cut down for me. It's small enough for my hands and has a cool vine winding around it. Sorry if you get bored with all those photos of the woods on facebook!


I never tire of being in the woods. I know it's not for everyone and I totally get that. I always knew I wanted to be in the woods, I just didn't know how happy it would make me. People here always wonder how I could leave Florida to move to Tennessee. I guess they like heat, humidity and endless traffic?


I started putting my food pictures on a separate facebook page and so far, lots of people have liked the page. Some of them I don't even know? I love the comments from everyone and especially ideas you have for new recipes! Barbie Beeler - keep 'em coming :)


I have to say there aren't many things better than standing at my kitchen window on a cool spring morning with the smell of bacon frying, biscuits in the oven and tomato gravy simmering on the stove top.  All that canning in the summer really pays off when fresh tomatoes aren't available.


Today is sunny and the high is 68 degrees. I think this post is done seeing as how nature is calling me to the other side of the door...


"How is it that one match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box of matches to start a campfire?" ~Christy Whitehead