BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Jilly's small town homestead journal

Hi, Jill.
Wow! You have really immersed yourself into living frugally.
I am very impressed and would love to experience some of the things you are doing.
Are you able to do things like canning fruits and vegetables or is that not cost effective?
Looking forward to your continued adventures! Have you published a book on how to live cost effectively yet?
Take care

Hi, Jill.
I love your outdoor kitchen.
One question:
Do you plan to use animals such as chickens for eggs or are you strictly a vegetarian?
Enjoying reading your updates.
Take care.

Jilly, have you done any alternative construction on your place? Like hay bales, using old tires in concrete slabs, cordwood masonry, etc.? How are you dealing with building codes, or do you have many in the area where you live? Was that part of your decision to by the land you have?
Another question: I bought some microfiber cleaning cloths from an MLM company, I love them, but they are expensive. how did you get yours?
On home haircutting: years ago I checked out videos form our public library. I cut my family members hair mostly based on those. I bought a a pair of student stylist shears for $15, they work great. My supercurly hair gets a treat a few times a year of a pro hair cut, but the touch-up cuts are done at home. Now there are great how-to videos on youtube for home haircutting. For men, a lot of clippers come with a DVD now showing how to do the cuts. My DH was in the military, and learned how to keep up his fave version of the military cut, he has been out a few years, but home haircuts still keep that look for him. If you want to learn that cut, many men who have been in the military for more than 3 years know how to do it, its just getting them to talk

I am enjoying this thread! I want to hear lots of others experience so the day me and my family move out to our modern homestead, we are ready!

Today will be a big homestead day - weekends are good for that. Most of the activity is little things. I'll report on the little things and then get to answering everyone's excellent questions.

Right now - got my prairie bonnet on to protect my face from the sun, and also sunscreen on my arms. Wearing shorts and a light colored tank and flip flop.

It's in the upper 90s and I have my fans going, door is shut, and windows are shaded except for the east-facing one, which is cracked with the fan set in it. A north facing window would be better but i don't have one. East is the next best option.

Lights are out - the cracked window is unshaded to allow in light.

I added last's night's urine output to the compost, along with some rotted produce from the food pantry (i try to take their leftover items that are no longer fit to eat).

I'm using compost tea diluted with rain water to water my garden. Everything is suffering from the heat. I now have shade sheets around several garden areas.

My solar USB charger and solar lights are outside getting their juice.

I went to my shed and grabbed a new deodorant container that I had bought free using super couponing skills. I had used up every last bit of the deo from the previous tube by rolling it all the way up and scooping out the remainder, then applying it with clean fingers.

I recycled the plastic container parts. No trash!

I filled today's cool splash bucket from the cool wellwater jugs that sit in the shade. The rainwater barrels are in the sun and that water is too warm today. I brought the bucket inside to dunk feet and face and splash on arms. At the end of the day this water will go on my tomatoes.

For my decaf coffee, using well water, and an inexpensive folgers coffee brand. I add my own cinnamon and vanilla from the dollar store to make it taste gourmet. The coffeepot is a four cup model that uses half the watts of the normal 10 cup kind.

Dumped my kitchen compost bucket outside. Used rainwater to rinse the kitchen bucket.

Checked my dehydrator. The apples dried perfectly and taste very good. I will do more like that today. They are supposed to be rubbery.

I might have overdried the tomatoes. They are crispy and shrivelled. I will try again but use the sun for that instead of the dehydrator. The extra heat might be too much. Must keep experimenting. I have a LOT of tomatoes to dry!

Brought in more apples to chop and dehydrate. I am hugely encouraged. I did them the lazy way - i didn't add anything or blanch them or whaterever the recipes say will make it look prettier at the end. Chop and lay to dry - i frankly don't care what it looks like. YMMV.

Unplugged the coffeepot and moved the hot decaf to a thermos to keep it warm. Less watts than running the coffeemaker's hot plate for the hours I nurse my beverages!

Reajusted my fans to better cover my work space. Added a third small fan to the back of the studio for more air movement.

Washed up some dishes in sink and handwashed some toilet cloths (urine only). Grey water emptied to fruit trees.

Cut up some more toilet cloths. Taking a break!

It was hot today!

I watered my fruit trees with used splash water after taking a little cool down soak. I mushed down my compost. I spread some more mulch until it got too hot. I made sure my tomatoes were safely under shade sheets to help them against the blazing sun.

I carried many containers of steel to my utility trailer, and also loaded up a small mountain of cardboard boxes to recycle. I will sell the steel, hopefully monday.

I added diatomaceous earth to my bin of cat food, and stirred it up so it was coating all the kibble a tiny bit. This is to prevent fleas and parasites in my cats. I am running out of DE, so i might need to spend the money I make on the scrap steel to pick up more. DE is not cheap. I get it from the feed store, and they also sell it on Amazon.

Started my second batch of Kvass, this time a double batch that i will add fresh garden mint to. I had to wait until dark to use the toaster and heat the water for the kvass; the appliances are outside but i didn't feel like being out there with them!

I would have liked to heat the water and make the toast without using electricity, but that would have required a fire. Fires are banned right now and it's really too hot to use a fire...

I don't think I can toast bread in a solar oven, and i needed a large quantity of boiling water anyway (a gallon and a third). So yes, I used watts for this. When it gets cold again i'd like to do the toasting and water boiling in my fire pit.

I picked a bunch of nice five gallon water jugs out of the town recycling bin today and am thinking of spray painting them black and using them to heat bath water (passive solar). I've seen this done on some blogs and it seems easy enough. I think i even have some black spray paint.

I have a nice old spindle wooden headboard set to Freecycle, but am a little wary of having to deal with strangers now that dan is gone.

Susan, thank you so much! I didn't realize you were reading along. It's great to see you here.

I love cooking outdoors - why does it always taste better?

Hi AKlisa! I don't have any kind of automatic unit like that. I use cold water for my laundry, which seems to work better on most stains anyway. I also use cold water for my dishes and other cleaning, or sometimes cook really dirty cups or something in my crockpot for extra cleaning.

I make sure everything gets a nice spray down after a cold dishwashing with a 1:1 water/vinegar mixture, or use a straight spray of hydrogen pyroxide. I air dry everything, since i think the dirtiest thing in kitchens are dish towels.

Anything that I feel needs any more sanitation goes outside to sit in the direct sunlight.

If i want hot water for something, i can use the microwave, electric kettle, hot plate and a pan, coffeepot, crockpot, a solar cooker or even sit a kettle over a my firepit. It depends on how much of a hurry i am in, and how many watts i feel like using.

Next winter I will have my little pot bellied stove installed in here and will be thrilled to learn to cook with that.

So i don't bother with propane or a hot water heater. It's just an expense i can do without. If i had to deal with poopy diapers that would be one thing, but there are no diapers here.

Have you ever used one of those on-demand counter units? It seems like a great idea!

I am going to answer every question, i promise. I love your questions and your enthusiasm.