BellaOnline Forums Money Frugal Living Lori's Suburban Homesteading Journal

Ooo, Lori, that sounds like an ideal frugal book! Is it done yet?

Glad your compost is perking along. Don't forget you can add hair from your brushes, coffee grounds and filters, pet hair, paper, paper plates, small cardboard pieces and bits of cloth. Also the water from boiling potatoes, pasta, eggs or whatever.

The firecrackers is a sweet idea! And hanging a line in the garage seems like the perfect compromise. It's dry and warm and won't bother DH.

Wanna see your book!

Okay, I'm back after being out of town plus having to deal with a slew of medical care issues for my aunt and daughter. phew.

Good news and not-so-good new as far as the homesteading goes...

Setbacks:
1. My husband wants to cement over the area where I set up the compost heap. He is going to set the smoker/grill upon it. He is opposed to a compost heap anyway. He insists that everything returns to the earth in one place or another and that "nothing is lost" so I should not worry about it.
2. He also took down my clothesline. It had been there for decades, cemented base and everything.
3. We had artificial turf installed in both the front and backyards. Not natural.

Promise of progress:
1. He is erecting a place for me to hang laundry in the garage.
2. The artificial lawn should save an estimated 22,000 gallons of water a year.

I will focus on what I can do. I'm trying not to pout about the compost heap. I'm going to focus on my drying box so I can make some jerky as gifts and sun-dried tomatoes when they're ready to harvest.

I am so impressed by your ciders and vinegars, Jilly! How long do they have to ferment before you can enjoy them? I'm thinking of making limoncello. It takes months to mellow.

Lori, why is your hubby adamantly against doing cool homesteady things?

The artificial lawn is a great idea! That really will save you so much water every year, and you won't have to buy pesticides, fertilizer, or use gas for mowing. It's a great solution and they make really realistic grass carpet now.

Do you have a photo to share?

BTW, this is absolutely not true:

"He insists that everything returns to the earth in one place or another and that "nothing is lost" so I should not worry about it."

Not to argue about things, but modern landfills are mummification tombs. Nothing decomposes. All the nutrients are locked up. The wastes have to be in self contained buried cells to prevent leachates from mercury and other toxins from entering the water table.

I've visited both landfills and transfer stations. Your hubby might be thinking of transfer stations (piles of rubbish). But that isn't where waste stays. It goes from the transfer station, where anyone can visit, to the landfill, which is very complicated to visit and well protected from casual inspection.

Oh, Lori, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to yooooooooou!

Oh, thank you, Jilly!

My homesteading efforts have taken a back seat to other matters, including writing. But I am pleased to see my first tomato ripening on the vine and I harvested fresh basil last week.

I think I need to organize my calendar a little better to include my homesteading goals.

Well, despite not having my outdoor clothesline, I still manage to air-dry my laundry. It just makes sense since we're having a hot summer. Don't want to add more heat to the house via a dryer.

I just harvested armfuls of fresh basil. I thought about drying it but decided it would be better to turn it into pesto sauce and freeze in batches. Dry basil is so readily available and I just won't use it up that quickly. I shall put some leaves atop some miniature pizzas tonight.

It's been a chore to fight my family from tossing out usable items. It's a holdover from having to clean out my aunt's hoard. But there are some containers I really want for my own homemade pickles or caramel popcorn. A Dell keyboard box is flat and perfect for wrapping prettily to give a few dozen cookies as a gift.

I am hand-making some cards today, in between all the writing and shuttling my daughter to another medical appointment. Oh, and I need to pick up pine nuts, garlic and olive oil for the pesto. Gosh, I let my pantry run low. Not good homesteading practice, eh?

ooo, i think freezing batches of pesto is a superior use of the basil for sure. Yum!

Glad the clothes line in the garage is working well! it's a great idea.

Well, I guess I must be satisfied with what I *can* do versus what I can't.

I might put in a papaya tree. It's sitting on the patio in a pot but I'm unsure if we want a papaya tree. I love papaya but there isn't a whole lot you can do with papaya except for eat it fresh or puree it. I'd prefer a mango tree or even an apricot or plum tree. Peach, although it can be a pain since the fruit has such a short shelf life.