Begin at the Beginning

    Not ruby slippers but close enough. This is, of course, a photo from summer and not from the early spring that it is right now, temperatures ranging from 20F to 70F within a day or two of each other and the wind howling as the planet shifts, a leaning toward the sun just as the golden coneflowers in the fields will do later in the year. 

    So it is spring and almost to the date of the last frost. Some seeds have already been planted because they need the cold spells for germination. Others are sleeping in their packets, dreaming of that sun they will reach towards upon their birth.

    Why ruby slippers? When I was a child, there was little on TV that mattered to me. We watched a few variety shows on our small black and white TV that sat on a little rolling cart in the living room, tucked away, not often used. 

    But when The Wizard of Oz (with Judy Garland) was broadcast once a year, usually in March, I was front and center on the floor, staring up at that magical box. I watched it every year of my childhood. 

    And every year I cried when Dorothy exclaimed at the end of the movie, "There's no place like home!"

    But another line from the movie is also relevant here. It's when Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, says, "It's always best to begin at the beginning." And so we will.

    Spring, the beginning of the homestead year, when seeds are started and chicks bought and baby lambs and piglets delight us with their arrival. 

    This blog will tell stories, share advices and outline historical and traditional methods for living on a homestead and living AT home. While I'm not trying to live off-grid (although I have) or as a 18th century re-enactor (I have not), I find those methods extremely helpful and terribly relevant in the 21st century.  

    I find myself a curious bystander to global and national events that parallel cycles in history. I am aware that no one expected the Great Depression of 1929, no one expected rationing during WWII. And now, NOW, we are actually seeing the cliff-hanging of economies and the precarious value of the petrodollar and both the tie-up of food commodities for political reasons as well as the degradation of the quality of our food. 

   We don't expect long power outages, a lack of ready fuel, an inability to purchase seeds, or a breach in internet service, but they could happen. 

   So feel free to print what you think might be useful or keep a notebook handy to write useful ideas down. 

    I confess, I am lacking in technical skill and equipment. I have an old cracked iPhone 6 for a camera (no cellular service) and I don't often remember to have it with me. And I have a nearly 10 year old laptop that can no longer be updated. 

    So bear with me, please. Think of me not as someone who isn't "professional" enough to give you what you are used to with all the colorful bells and whistles, but as a grandmother with whom you sit and share a cup of tea - unhurried and relaxed.

Each post in this blog will fall into one of the following categories to make it easy to find what you may be looking for:

• Homesteaders - stories of homesteaders & homesteading
• The Farm - advices and methods for soil, livestock, gardens
• The Home - food preservation, mending, off-grid, home life
• Kinfolk - generations young and old, homeschooling, family
• Folk Healing - plant medicine and tonics, nutrition
• Musings - the art, philosophy, and poetry of homesteading

And so it begins. With spring and what's growing right outside my door....